We've been busy in Outreach and Widening Participation recently, and can't wait to share with you what we've been up to. 

We're coming up to the end of April and I can't believe so much time has flown by so quickly already! A lot of work, time and dedication goes into organising and leading our Outreach sessions, so I would like to thank our Student Ambassadors, College Staff, Department Staff and the Alumni who were involved in bringing these events into fruition. Our Class Act Officer, Daisy, and our Access Officer, Ahmad, have worked particularly hard, always making time for our Outreach events alongside their studies! Starting from February, here is an overview of what we've done:

February

Oxford and Cambridge Information Days (OCID) South West

Robinson hosts a series of webinars alongside Downing and Trinity Hall in Cambridge, and Merton, Exeter and Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford. The OCID webinars are a collaborative programme between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They are designed to provide students and their supporters with an insight into the two institutions: the structure of the universities, what student life is like, the application process, and how to prepare a strong application. This year we hosted four sessions in collaboration, covering the major elements of making an application for prospective students, teachers and guardians. We look forward to hosting them again next year!

Kingsgen Foundation Visit 

We hosted a large group of students who visited us with Kingsgen Foundation in February. The students took part in a taster lecture at the Law Faculty, an introduction to the Cambridge Admissions Process, as well as lunch and a tour around the college. We were joined by committee members from the Cambridge ACS who led an introductory session on life at Cambridge and a Student Q&A. We were joined by former, current and (then) future ACS committee members, including Nmesoma, a first year Robinson Land Economy student who has since gone on to become the ACS President for 2025/6!

It was a pleasure hosting a group of such ambitious students at Robinson and we hope to see them again soon. 

College Visits from Link Area Schools

We have also visited numerous other school groups at Robinson since February, including St Cecilia's CofE School, St John Bosco College, Chace Enfield School and Highams Park School. Our school groups have very much enjoyed seeing some of the college grounds, including visits to other colleges, faculties and departments. To all of our Student Ambassadors involved in welcoming these students to the college: Miracle, Stefan, Daisy, Ash, Ellie, Ahmad, Harriet, Dan, Nmesoma, Wahida, Abu, Sabrine, Oli, Archie, Aishah, Katiann, Ammar, Max, Ria, Kohune, Danie, Nicole - a massive thank you to all of you!

Brilliant Club Graduation Ceremony

February was a busy month for college visits! We also hosted a Graduation Ceremony for The Brilliant Club, which saw 114 students in years 9 - 11 from ten distinct groups celebrate their successes on The Scholars Programme, marking the end of an extended project led by a PhD research supervisor at a Russell Group University.

For more information on The Brilliant Club, please see here. 

March 

Robinson Access Programme draws to a close

Our online Robinson Access Programme drew to a close in March with our final session being on what happens after Robinson, aka. 'Careers'! I would like to thank George, Rebecca, Lauren and Alice for joining us on the panel to share their experiences of their transition from life at university to work. I would like to thank George, Rebecca, Lauren and Alice for joining us on the panel! Other sessions included: 

• Introduction to University and Cambridge (including Finances, Student Life and Courses available)

• Maths Workshop with Dr Tom Crawford

• Interview Workshop with taster questions led by our Student Ambassadors: Dan, Milly, Oli and Daisy

• Psychology Lecture with Ellen Davenport-Pleasance

• English Workshop in the style of a 'Practical Criticism' Seminar with Gwenda Koo

Students fed back to say that the sessions were "informative", "interactive" and "engaging", particularly from students who indicated that they had no prior knowledge about university life and about Cambridge, in particular.

STEP Offer Holders' Event

Our STEP Offer Holders' Event was hosted for Offer Holders from state-maintained schools as an opportunity for them to get hands-on practice and advice in preparation for their notoriously difficult STEP examinations coming up in a few months' time. Dr Chris Warner, Director of Studies in Mathematics, and Bob Rawlinson led preparatory sessions alongside a number of Student Ambassadors currently studying Mathematics at Robinson. The balance of teachers and students allowed for our Offer Holders to get a good sense of both the strong academic teaching style and informal, friendly atmosphere at Robinson! Thank you to Albie, Lingzhe, Philip, Daniel and Karan for being a helping hand to the participants! The Offer Holders were also invited to a talk hosted by Dr Tom Crawford the day before on work from his PhD on 'Using Maths to Clean the Ocean'. 

CP Hughes Teachers' Conference

The annual CP Hughes Teachers' Conference was once again hosted in Malmesbury and we were joined by representatives from six different schools in our Link Areas. The sessions were led by Dr Scott Annett, Senior Tutor and former Admissions Tutor for the Sciences and Kaz Rawdanowicz, the College's Outreach and Widening Participation Officer. The sessions included an overview of the Admissions Process, with specific advice on supporting students from Widening Participation backgrounds, an insight into what makes a strong application from the perspective of an Admissions Tutor, as well as opportunities during the year for super curricular activities and engagement with schools. The Conference ended with a live mock interview with Dr Scott Annett and Elsie Hayward, a second year English undergraduate. I would like to thank Dr Scott Annett and Elsie for their time at the Conference as it was sincerely appreciated by our teachers in the feedback given. 

Teachers in attendance fed back to say that "the structure was very informative and gave plenty to think about in terms of supporting students to be more aspirational" and it was "interesting how accessible this could be to state schools". A particular focus was placed on the mock interview as being the most insightful. We will continue to provide information for younger years in preparing them for thinking about university applications as well as reminders and information signposts for Admissions Tests, as teachers expressed the most concern about lack of confidence in supporting students in these two areas. 

We actively maintain our strong relationships with schools in our Link Areas and are looking to welcome representatives from more schools in our Link Areas in following years, particularly those we have not yet had contact with! 

April

Link Area School Visits

From February to April, I have visited 28 schools in our Link Areas, including schools in South Gloucestershire and North Wiltshire. During these visits, I have spoken to a number of Year 10 groups, as well as our usual focus of older years, in answering their questions about university life and introducing them to the idea of Higher Education, why people do it and how to choose whether it could be for them! 

As well as this, I led numerous Interview Workshops with Year 11 and Year 12 students potentially looking to make Oxbridge applications. Students were asked to prepare answers to some sample questions and to expand their thinking by structuring their answer in a clear and concise way, as well as being challenged further to explore their topic independently after the session. I heard some very engaged and creative answers, definitely with potential to stand the supervision system and style of 'thinking outside the box' which I tried to encourage in the time we had! I'd like to thank the schools that hosted me and I look forward to continue working with them in the coming year. 

Women in Science Festival 

The annual Women in Science Festival is always a big part of our Outreach calendar and celebrates the successes in our academic community and encourages young women and non-binary students to pursue their journey in STEM. This year, we were joined by 41 participants from around the UK and worked with the Department of Physics, Department of Engineering, the Whipple Museum, and the Cambridge Widening Access to Medicine Society to deliver a series of lectures, workshops and informative sessions for our participants. In order to see the whole college, the students were sent on a scavenger hunt around the college with a map, looking to find all of the female scientists whose names spelt out a code detailing the prize for the first team. The scientists included Wafaa Khater, Nergis Mavalvala, Ada Lovelace and Hannah Fry, who was recently appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at Cambridge!

The participants also took part in a Student Conference in which they were able to showcase their research posters, judged by our Postgraduate student panel. They received feedback and we had four winners in distinct categories. The students went away having learnt more about others' chosen fields and having shared their own interests with the other participants. 

I would particularly like to thank our Student Ambassadors, Lucy, Nam, Mango, Holly and Wahida, as well as our lecturers and session leads, Dr Rebecca Burton, Dr Ankit Dilip Kumar, Dr Preethi Rajendram Soundararajan, Winnie and Emma from CamWAMS, Dr Jinx St Leger, Dr Nicki Humphry-Baker, Stephen Martin, Parisa Linneker, Kelly Li,  Sadhana Lolla and Alison Giles. A lot of work also went on behind the scenes to make the events work, so another thank you goes to the Catering Team, Liam Martin in AV, and Lily Callaghan, our conference photographer. 

Student feedback was incredibly positive, and I've included some of the comments below as an example: 

"I think I'll look back on this residential for a long time to come as it was an amazing experience outside of the curriculum, and it was a pleasure to partake in it [...] I believe the effort put into this event and keeping everyone safe and welcomed was seen by everyone who participated and once again, thank you so much for your efforts!"

"It was such a great experience and all of the student ambassadors were amazing honestly!"

Refugee Council Visit 

We hosted a lovely group from The Refugee Council who came to Cambridge on a trip following the completion of their programme which focused on individual and group projects surrounding social issues relating to refugees, including their portrayal in the media and how this affects individuals in this group as well as perceptions of them outside of this group. The individuals in the group were from a range of backgrounds, some studying at other universities on an access course, some studying for their GCSEs and some looking to apply to university. The group joined us for lunch and a session with some further information on what's available in Higher Education for them in the UK. We were joined by Alex and Marika from the Foundation Year and Kirstyn from Realise shared some resources on where to access further information for students from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds. 

Offer Holder Tours

Wrapping up our April Outreach events were our Offer Holder Tours which welcomed our current Offer Holders to Robinson and speak to an undergraduate in their subject about what they should expect if they join us in October! 

Thank you to Nam, Lucy C, Lucy RV, Suo, Serene, Kai, Sam, Anrong, Wahida, Philip for leading our tours and speaking to our Offer Holders, assuring them that it won't be all that bad (hopefully!)

We want to support our Offer Holders wherever we can and particular focus is given to students from Widening Participation backgrounds. To hear more about the Pegasus Scholars Programme from one of our Pegasus Scholars, Daisy (English, 2023) you can watch a video made with support from another one of our alumni, here!

In the meantime, we've also worked with our Student Ambassadors, Sabrine, Daisy and Ahmad, on uploading content on our social media channels, including our new TikTok channel, which includes some short-form information snippets, student accommodation tours and informal insights into student life at Robinson. 

Once again, thank you to everyone supporting out Outreach events and we look forward to working with you further, as well as welcoming anyone who would like to participate! If you would like to get in touch about Outreach and Widening Participation at Robinson, please feel free to contact me on outreach@robinson.cam.ac.uk

You can also sign up for our Outreach Opportunities Newsletter, here. 

Kaz Rawdanowicz

Outreach and Widening Participation Officer, 2025