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Oxford for South East

Oxford for South East is Oxford University's Outreach Consortium that works with schools, pupils, teachers, parents and carers in local authorities across the South Coast and the Thames Valley.

Portsmouth spinnaker tower

This area is currently under redevelopment. Please get in touch directly with the relevant college forming part of your regional consortium if you have any questions about our work in your area.

About us

What is Oxford for South East?

Oxford for South East brings together four Oxford colleges with established links in the region: St Hilda's, St John's, St Hugh's and Somerville. Together, we work with pupils, teachers and families to provide bespoke support where it’s needed - from helping raise attainment to offering professional advice about applying to university - as well as innovative online resources.

Every year the University of Oxford receives many high-quality applications from students from the South East of England. However, when we look at these applications in more detail, it is clear that we attract more applications from some parts of the region than others. For example, students from coastal areas are underrepresented at Oxford, and we want this to change. 

Local Authorities in this region extend from those clustered around the South Coast - Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Medway, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surrey, Hampshire - to those around the Thames Valley - Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham.

Trinity, University and Brasenose continue to provide outreach support as required for state schools across the Thames Valley.

Aims

Our aims are ambitious and focus on supporting students from backgrounds that are underrepresented at Oxford, and their schools. OXSE will develop outreach programmes which:

  • Support raising primary level, GCSE and A level attainment of students
  • Offer educational opportunities to explore big ideas, current educational goals and ambitions,
  • Offer information and skills development to support studying in FE, HE and the University of Oxford
  • Encourage more students from underrepresented backgrounds  to aim for top universities and to achieve their goals
  • Support increasing the number of students from under-represented groups
  • Ensure Oxford University is a realistic goal for anyone with academic talent and commitment.

For more details on the research underpinning these targets, please read the University of Oxford's Access and Participation Plan.

Please note that if you or your school do not fall into our access categories, there is still plenty of advice and support available for you here and on the University website. All schools, sixth form and further education colleges have a point of contact within University of Oxford who will be happy to provide information and advice on admissions and outreach.

Thames Valley

The Thames Valley area covers the 8 local authorities of Bracknell Forest Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Reading Borough Council, Slough Borough Council, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council. As part of the wider South East region, Milton Keynes is also grouped with Thames Valley rather than South Coast local authorities for the purposes of Oxford outreach. 

The University of Oxford receives many high-quality applications from students across the Thames Valley and as a whole the region is well represented amongst Oxford undergraduates.  

Information and guidance on supporting Oxford admissions is available for all state schools across the region.  

We also provide targeted support to and prioritise outreach engagement with schools on the basis of lower rates of progression to higher education and the University of Oxford. We also prioritise engagement with students from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds. 

For information on what outreach support is available in different local authorities, please contact the colleges below. 

Get in touch

The three colleges which make up Oxford for South East collaborate in planning and evaluation to ensure a consistent approach across the whole region. To make communication timely and manageable, they each have a direct responsibility for a number of Local Authorities within the region – if you’re a student or teacher from the South East, you should get in touch with your ‘linked’ college below in the first instance. 

St Hilda's College: Hampshire, Surrey

St Hugh's College: Kent

St John's College: Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Southampton

Somerville College: Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Buckinghamshire