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On Wednesday 20th November, at a very dark and early hour, the year 10 thinking group, accompanied by Mrs Chamberlain, Mrs Amosu and Miss Arscott, set out for Cambridge University. After enjoying the expressions of alarm on various commuters’ faces as they came face to face with an unexpected - and perfectly behaved - school party, and with a variety of distracting entertainment en route, mostly provided by Guneeka’s games, we arrived in Cambridge and proceeded to walk, with commendable swiftness, to our final destination. There are 31 colleges in the university, all of which are connected to particular areas of the country so that they can work with schools in those places, and Gonville and Caius is Bromley’s ‘link college’.

Our day consisted of various talks about the university and what it might be like studying there, a delicious lunch in the first year accommodation block, and a tour of the college by current students. Students asked lots of thought-provoking questions and gained a much greater insight into how university works in general and Cambridge in particular, from the range of subjects studied (at Cambridge, from ‘Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic’ to ‘Natural Sciences’) to the way student finance works. We particularly enjoyed seeing the extraordinary college library, and hearing of the University Library, one of only five ‘copyright libraries’ in Britain, which have a right to a copy of every book published in this country.

Overall the students acquitted themselves superbly and enjoyed the day - feedback ranged from ‘it was a nice homely feel’ to ‘they were welcoming and kind’. We were aware that ‘the study expectations were high’ but felt the students were ‘very nice and down to earth’. To leave it to one student to sum up, in terms of one of the points that was emphasised throughout the day - ‘I believe that getting in is more achievable. The idea of passion in my subject has got me reading the news and catching up on ground breaking studies’.

Thanks to our students for being exemplary and all the staff that made the trip possible.