The University of Oxford has launched an ambitious national strategy to improve the diversity of our student body. Christ Church is particularly pleased to be part of the Opportunity Oxford programme and has increased our Opportunity Oxford cohort in each year of the scheme so far. Alongside this, colleges are working together across UK regions. Christ Church is the link college for the London Borough of Barnet, as well as working together with St Anne's College and Trinity College in the North East of England. Find out more about link colleges and the main point of contact for your region here.
Christ Church is committed to widening access and works with schools to raise aspirations, demystify life at Oxford, and encourage applications from students with academic ability and potential from all backgrounds. We work with students in Key Stages 3, 4 and 5, along with their teachers, careers advisors, parents and carers. We run talks, workshops, and events, both in Christ Church and in schools, with the objectives ranging from raising aspirations with younger students, to preparing for the application process with sixth-formers.
You can find out more about everything we offer by clicking the tabs below.
Working with Students and Teachers - concertina
Geographical Diversity and the North East of England
We always look forward to meeting with teachers and pupils in the North East. Our Access & Schools Liaison Officer visits the region regularly, and schools can book sessions by contacting us at access@chch.ox.ac.uk. We are also really excited to be collaborating with St Anne’s College and Trinity College on our annual sustained contact programme in the North East, Aim for Oxford.
We are committed to encouraging and supporting promising applicants from across the whole of the UK. We know it can cost a lot to attend our Open Days if you come from further away, so we help cover those travel costs for students in financial need.
Ethnic Diversity
We are keen to develop initiatives aimed at supporting students from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups with their Oxford applications. Our Ready Set Code programme for Black and Mixed Black women who are enthusiastic about Maths and Computer Science aims to support pupils in exploring topics outside of the school curriculum, hoping to inspire them to continue their engagement with Computer Science and to consider studying it at university.
Through our Access Hub we collaborate with charities, student groups, and other organisations supporting students from minority ethnic backgrounds. These have included Target Oxbridge, Thinking Black, the Oxford and Cambridge Sikh societies, and Onyx Magazine. Find out more about our access and outreach partnerships here.
Gender Diversity
While Oxford and Christ Church have overall made more offers to women than to men in some of the most recent admissions rounds, in some courses women remain under-represented. Christ Church holds an annual ‘Women in PPE’ day, in order to encourage and support applications to Oxford from women for Politics, Philosophy and Economics, a course that has a long-standing gender imbalance. Please contact access@chch.ox.ac.uk if you would like to express an interest in our ‘Women in PPE’ event.
Sustained Contact Programmes
Our access and outreach activity focuses on sustained contact programmes, which we offer in all our link regions. As well as launching the Aim for Oxford programme in the North East in partnership with St Anne’s College and Trinity, we also run our Christ Church Horizons programme. Horizons is offered to pupils in Years 10, 12 and 13 from state schools and colleges in our London link area, Barnet. Find out more about the Horizons programme here.
We also take part in the University’s sustained contact access programme, UNIQ, offering both online support to students, as well as in-person residentials in Oxford. We hope to welcome students attending UNIQ at Christ Church in the summer.
We regularly collaborate with The Brilliant Club, welcoming pupils on the Scholars Programme to Christ Church. We are also excited to start a new collaboration with the Brilliant Club to host a residential as part of their sustained contact programme in the North East. Find out more about our access and outreach partnerships here.
Engagement in the local community
Christ Church plays a lead role in supporting IntoUniversity Oxford South East, a centre tackling educational deprivation in our local community. Based in Blackbird Leys, it is funded by a Christ Church alumnus, with matched funding from the University and help from the Queen's Trust. IntoUniversity works with local schools and young people to dramatically increase their excitement about learning, their motivation to study and their levels of achievement. Many Christ Church students volunteer to offer targeted support, tutoring, or mentoring, and we are delighted to host IntoUniversity events and ‘graduation days’ in College.
Resources for Teachers and Students
We have created some guides and videos tackling some key aspects of the admissions process, including advice about the personal statement, admissions tests, and the interview. We are keen to make the Oxford admissions process as transparent as possible, so we have published general feedback from the latest admissions round for all courses offered by Christ Church here. We hope this will be helpful for teachers advising future Oxford applicants.
Prospective students can ask questions to our student ambassadors, who are current Christ Church undergraduates, using our Unibuddy chat platform here.
Teachers and careers advisors are welcome to contact us for help and advice on how best to support their students in making applications to Christ Church and Oxford. When visiting schools we are more than happy to speak to staff about Oxford admissions, either informally or as training with groups or staff meetings. The University website also has a range of information, including teachers' resources and teachers' e-newsletter, and there are resources uploaded to the TES. The University of Oxford runs a range of events for teachers, including Regional Teachers' Conferences throughout the country.
We are always happy to work with and help trainee teachers, and encourage them to get involved with access initiatives. Christ Church supports the Teach First Leadership Development Programme and is able to offer a limited number of bursaries to finalists and completing graduates who are going on to any form of government-funded teacher training.
Who to contact
We welcome contact from all schools, both in our link regions and across the country, and would especially encourage schools with little or no history of sending students to the University of Oxford to get in touch. We aim our activities at Gifted and Talented cohorts, particularly students who will be the first generation in their family to apply to university, students on free school meals, and students from areas with low participation in higher education.
For general queries about admissions, email admissions@chch.ox.ac.uk.
The first point of contact for school visits in general, for schools in the North East, and for the Aim for Oxford programme is our Access & Schools Liaison Officer, Joel Butler (access@chch.ox.ac.uk).
If you are interested in the Christ Church Horizons programme or if you are from a school in our London link borough, Barnet, please contact our Admissions & Access Manager, Ana Hastoy: ana.hastoy@chch.ox.ac.uk.
