New College students set for Oxbridge

A record 11 students from New College Pontefract have secured offers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

The ‘Oxbridge’ set are poised to study a range of subjects, including law, sciences, Maths, computers, psychology and geology.

A Level pupils Darcy Noble, Abigail Tankard, Cameron Briggs, Alison Nicoll, Tom Clark, Jarrod Ashton, Tom Bennett, Gideon Mills, Martha Glover, Sherilyn Cripps and Beth Cotter have all been praised.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All 11 who had interviews received an offer. This is the largest number of students at the college to be offered a place at the country’s two highest ranking universities. Four of the students are the first in their family to have gained an offer at the universities.

Executive principal Pauline Hagen said: “We are very proud of the tremendous success of our students in securing 11 offers from Oxford and Cambridge, two of the most competitive universities in the country.

“Their success reflects the sustained hard work of the students and staff who work on our Oxbridge applications, and illustrates that state school students can access top flight universities when given the right support.”

A key part of New College’s Oxbridge success story is its Excellence Academy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Staff work with talented students and provide targeted support.

The teenagers took part in the sixth form college’s Gifted and Able programme that helped prepare them for interview. This included an additional weekly support session and one to one meetings with the Oxbridge careers tutors.

Assistant Principal Stuart Nash said: “This is a fantastic achievement for our Oxbridge applicants and for the New College Excellence Academy itself.”

Related topics: