Heathcote Celebrates Oxbridge Success in 2021
Heathcote Sixth Form is celebrating a fantastic year of Oxbridge success in 2021. Director of Sixth Form, Ms Tobia, tells us more...
Of the seven pupils who were invited to interview, four of those have now received offers, three at Oxford and one at Cambridge.
Joe Freeman has an offer to read Geography at Hertford College, Oxford. A delighted Joe said; “If I had never moved to (Heathcote) I would never have thought about applying to Oxford, both Ms Tobia and Ms Ayub pushed me and I am very grateful. I’m excited for Uni life and what it has to offer, the fact that it is at such a credited University is the icing on the cake and I can’t thank this school enough. Without the move I made I wouldn’t be in the position I am today and I am indebted to the school because of this. I am continually working hard to make sure my teachers predict the grades I need, and I look forward to what the next few years have to offer.”
MaryAnn is hoping to study History and Politics at St John’s College and Hafsah has an offer for Biology at Pembroke College, both also at Oxford University. MaryAnn has taken a gap year, but told us; "Applying to Oxbridge was always a daunting prospect to consider as I was always doubtful about my ability and background. Without the motivation from my mentors at Heathcote, I would have never had the courage to dream of Oxford but they continuously urged me to back myself and seize the opportunities that came my way. I never felt alone as the school provided me with sessions from outside teachers, one to one tutorials and also emotional support to combat the rigorous application process. I'm immensely proud to be studying History and Politics at Oxford in 2021 and hope in years to come my achievements will be on display to show what Heathcote students have the potential to do."
Rachel Lott will hopefully go on to study History and Spanish at Murray Edward’s College, Cambridge. She will be joining Aliza Zafar, our alumni at the same college, who will be going into her final year as a Psychology student there. Rachel said; “I’m very grateful to my teachers for supporting me through the application process, they helped me at every stage and made applying seem a little less daunting. I’m excited to hopefully start studying at Cambridge in the autumn doing a subject I love!”
Heathcote’s success this year also showed the strong connection with alumni as both MaryAnn and Hafsah are currently on a gap year. Despite this they were supported with interview preparation and have continued to have really strong links to the school after leaving us in 2020. I am particularly proud of the grit and resilience they have shown in pursuing their goals amidst all the uncertainty of the pandemic and they have embodied the Heathcote School values of Encourage, Challenge, Succeed. We are also really proud of the wide range of offers across the cohort at top universities including King’s, Bath, Warwick, York and Bristol among others, not to mention looking forward to hearing back from employers about our apprenticeship applications this year.
In the last year, Heathcote Sixth Form has expanded the opportunity for practice interviews by engaging with a network of Cambridge graduates, working alongside Forest School. We have also strengthened our ties with our link College, Gonville and Caius by sharing programmes for all year groups to attend – keep an eye on our bulletins and on Google Classroom for specific details about events coming up.
Ms Hillman, Headteacher, is absolutely delighted with these success stories and is confident that , despite the pandemic, this is only the beginning of a chapter of more amazing achievements that reflect the ambition and resilience of our pupils.’
Ms Tobia
Director of Sixth Form