Access

My job as Access Rep is to encourage applications to Pembroke, and a large part of that is debunking myths about Oxford. While my work as Access Rep doesn't directly affect you in the same way that other JCR positions do, the only way that access work can have a decent impact is if as many people as possible get involved to share their stories about choices, applications and student life, and so my role is to make sure everyone is aware of the opportunities available to do this. It's really easy to get involved with Access work, and can involve any time commitment from a lunchtime answering questions or 'scavenger hunting' with Year 10s around the city (basically just taking silly photos...) to a day helping at conferences and open days, or a week or so helping with residential programmes. All of these basically just involve talking to younger students from all sorts of backgrounds and showing them around Oxford, which is fun, easy to fit in with everything else, and can be very rewarding.

Whatever your background and however you want to help, there are opportunities to do it. There are two main schemes running across the university: Target Schools (www.targetschoolsoxford.com) and Oxford Access (www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/liaison) - check out the websites and look out for their stands at the Freshers' Fair in October. Alongside this, Pembroke also has its own initiatives, thanks to a newly formed partnership with BSix College in Hackney - a successful pilot summer school for a few of their students was held at Pembroke this August and hopefully lots more events will be happening over the year.

Get in touch with me if you are interested in helping with Access in any way at all, and look out for e-mails updating you about upcoming events throughout the year.