Summer Schools
In addition to educating our own pupils, we use our facilities and expertise to run summer schools during the school holidays.
The 31st annual Eton College Universities Summer School (ECUSS) was held in July 2012 for 130 state school students. The course is designed to give the students a taste of what life at university is like and the subjects offered were: Maths; Maths with Physics; Maths with Chemistry; Physics with Chemistry; Biology with Chemistry; English; History & History of Art; French; Geography; and, Classics. In addition, the students attend the General Course which consists of lectures and tutorials on a range of philosophical issues and also participate in recreational activities ranging from drama, music and sport to silverwork and cookery.
A survey of the 2011 ECUSS students was completed by one third of the attendees. Of this group, 95% obtained offers from Russell Group universities. 93% of the group applied to Oxbridge and 54% obtained Oxbridge offers. Some of their feedback is below:
Coming from a comprehensive school background, applying to Oxbridge did not seem like a potential academic route. It seemed far too remote to consider but attending the Eton Summer School helped me to understand that passion for my subject and willingness to dedicate myself to it were the true characteristics that a prospective student should display… as a result the Summer School was a life-changing experience for me. (History Student 2011)
Overall, I found it very exciting to be stretched beyond what I had experienced before. The mock interview was extremely helpful – it was very similar to the actual interview I had at Cambridge. I also found some of my best friends who I have seen regularly ever since. (Physics Student 2011)
It gave me confidence in my application – I realised that I could really hold my own in a class full of Oxbridge applicants. (Maths Student 2011)
The 18th annual Brent Summer School for Gifted and Talented students involved24 boys and 24 girls, all Post GCSE (Year 11) from 9 of the 13 secondary schools from the London Education Authority of Brent. They joined us for a 6 day Residential programme of Personal Development during July 2012 including teamwork, creative, social, academic, tutorial and activities designed to nourish the soul and excite the spirit for all those involved. We offered a wide range of subjects (13) including Mandarin, American Politics, History of Art and Philosophy. Every subject was well subscribed and this year there were specialist sessions on Culture, Learning, Enterprise and Further Education. The aim of the course is to bridge the gap between GCSE and sixth form and to encourage the students to study A levels and aspire to good universities.
Rowing Instructional Courses were first established in 1994 and now provide 232 youngsters the chance to take part in this sport at the Eton-Dorney Rowing Lake.
We have run our Choral Courses since 1985. These provide seven residential week long courses for 430 singers in the Sixth Form or first year at University. Choral Evensong was broadcast live from College Chapel on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday 18th July. As well as contributing to the choral tradition in the country, they give students from a wide variety of backgrounds the chance to sing together at a professional level.
We also provide use of our schoolrooms at no charge to OxFizz an organisation which provides mock Oxbridge interviews to school pupils on its Bursary Programme. 178 such interviews were conducted in the Michaelmas Half 2011 to pupils not at Eton.
