Out of the January gloom came the news that nine of our Year 13 students have received an offer to study at Oxford and Cambridge. The offers range from Linguistics to Law and from Maths to Archaeology. You will have no doubt seen the celebrations on our social media.

There is always so much to celebrate at High Storrs, but I wanted to write this blog about this achievement in particular.

Firstly, it shows that our teachers are experts in A Level provision and inspire our students to explore beyond the curriculum. You do not get an offer to study at Oxford or Cambridge if you have not ventured beyond the syllabus of your A Levels and our experienced and talented staff absolutely encourage our highest fliers to do this.

Secondly, it shows the tenacity and ambition of our young people. It is a tough process and I, and many others work with students from Y12 onwards to plan for and make an application. We offer all kinds of extra sessions and support, but it ultimately comes down to our students having the gumption to go into those assessments and interviews and shine. And they do.

Thirdly, our wider community plays an important part in the preparation. Alumni, governors, parents and friends of our school play a key part in the interview preparation. Every year this reminds me just how invaluable it is for our students to attend such a long-standing Sixth Form with supporters and connections all over the city and beyond.

Finally, I am a great believer of equality of opportunity and as a state school girl from the north of England who went on to be an undergraduate at Cambridge and a post graduate at Oxford, I want to support and champion every student in our community, to feel as ready to apply as any peer in a famous public school in the south. Oxford and Cambridge are not the be all and end all (I make that crystal clear to those that apply and do not get an offer) but they might be the perfect next step for an 18-year-old who wants to study challenging French literature, ancient archaeology or, in my case, the wonders of medieval Europe. I am so proud that our experienced Sixth Form team of teachers and support staff AND our wider community are skilled at helping students to make it happen.