For Families
As a parent or carer, you are in a great position to support your child as they make decisions about their education. Here at Oxford, we value the role played by students' families and carers. We want you to have all the information you need to feel confident in your important supporting role.
our core offer
We have put together the following resources to help you to encourage them to look ahead and consider the implications of their choices.
If you would like to know what is on offer directly to your children of school ages, please see our For Students pages.
Online parent HE support sessions | Enrichment resources | Additional opportunities
Live online parent HE support sessions and further online support
Trinity College outreach for parents & carers of children in state schools
When it comes to deciding the next steps after school, everyone benefits from the support of the family and friends who know them best.
The team at Trinity College run an online live session for parents in which we cover questions about costs and finance, student support and well-being. These interactive sessions give parents the chance to ask questions and meet current students. The aim of our parent sessions is to explore the following themes:
- The benefits of going to university alongside the costs
- What the University of Oxford has to offer prospective applicants
- Helping parents and carers feel more confident about their role in supporting their child's future choices
We run these sessions in the summer and autumn term, and they are advertised through your child's school. Parents can also book onto a choice of dates independently, by checking out our upcoming events on the Trinity College website. If you are a teacher and want to discuss planning a session specifically for your students’ parents please get in touch to discuss directly by emailing: [email protected]
Further Online support
As a parent it is not always easy to know how to help, so the University of Oxford wants to make sure everyone has to hand the information that might be needed.
The University has produced a website page and a downloadable guide explaining why we believe university might be the right next step for a child and why Oxford might be a good fit. There's advice on how students should set about choosing what to study, preparing for university and how to put in a strong application.
We want parents and carers to know that students are in safe hands at Oxford and how seriously we take their wellbeing. We also understand that parents will need to be clear on how costs will be covered, and to be reassured that our financial support for UK students is some of the most generous offered by any university. This information and the written guide can be found on Oxford's dedicated parent and carer website.
Enrichment resources for your young people
Oxplore: The Home of Big Questions (KS3, 4, 5)
Oxplore is an innovative digital outreach portal from the University of Oxford. As the ‘Home of Big Questions’ it aims to engage those from 11 to 18 years with debates and ideas that go beyond what is covered in the classroom. The big questions aim to tackle complex ideas across a wide range of subjects and draw on the latest research undertaken at Oxford. Oxplore aims to realise aspirations, promote deeper thinking and stimulate intellectual curiosity. This could be an effective tool to aid thinking and discussion skills development. Find out more about Oxplore and explore some of the Big Questions.
Inspiring Digital Learning Materials (KS4, 5)
The University of Oxford has compiled the best of its digital resources to support learning and exploration. They can help parents and teachers to feed the curiosity of growing minds and inspire them to think broadly. These resources can also enable older students to explore their passions and interests further, and to discover more about Oxford. You can find these all in one site online.
Competitions for pupils (KS3, 4, 5)
Several colleges and departments of the University of Oxford run competitions which are open to students from schools and colleges.
Preparing an entry for one of these competitions is a valuable experience for academically motivated students so please do encourage your young people to enter. There are also some exciting prizes to be won. Further details can be found on the school competitions website.
Trinity Talks – ONLINE LIVE (KS4, 5)
Suggested text: Trinity’s postgraduate students and academics are offering supercurricular enrichment to secondary and sixth-form students at state schools. The interactive sessions feature a college academic or postgraduate discussing their area of academic interest and expertise, with a mix of topics ranging from the politics of Brexit and the future of plastics to the sequencing of the human genome and Virginia Woolf’s modernism. Trinity’s Access and Outreach team also provide a brief overview of super-curricular enrichment and how it relates to thinking about higher education. Each session contains a Q&A for participants with the academic and the Access team. You can view more on the Trinity website online outreach page, and you can access the most recent talks on a YouTube Playlist here.
Gardens, Libraries and Museums (KS 1-5)
The University of Oxford's Gardens, Libraries and Museums are open to the public, providing broad access to the internationally significant collections held by the University as well as to the research and academic activity happening across the University.
There are an enormous range of opportunities available to families to take part in FREE events, visits and programmes at the University Gardens, Libraries and Museums. Trinity College encourage parents and carers to look at the website page especially for families to find out what is on offer.
Additional opportunities families might be interested in include:
knowledge exchange, public engagement with research local community The Oxford Educational Deanery department for Continuing education