Super-Curricular Activities

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Resources for Super-curricular Activities:

We aim to provide a challenging and stimulating education for all students to help them achieve their full potential. In addition to the curriculum subjects studied and the wide range of extracurricular activities available at lunch times and after school, teachers will identify additional opportunities relevant to their subject beyond the classroom. In addition there are reputable external providers of enrichment activities; day long master classes, residential weekends and summer schools that students may want to consider.

Competitions:

https://competition.thebigbangfair.co.uk/about/

https://www.esu.org/competitions/schools-mace/

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/teachers/academic-competitions-schools-and-colleges

https://www.see-science.co.uk/whats-on/competitions/

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/schools-and-colleges/activities-by-subject/psychology/psychology-resources/national-psychology-competition/

https://zealous.co/ciwem/opportunity/UK-Junior-Water-Prize/

Economics Competitions

Interest Rate Challenge, the competition designed for 16 to 18 year old students across the UK – details https://www.bankofengland.co.uk

English

Connell Guides Short Story Competition, open to all year 11 students – details https://www.connellguides.com Commonwealth Essay competition, open to anyone between 14-18 years of age – details https://www.royalcwsociety.org Christopher Tower Poetry Competition, open to 16-18 year old students in the UK to write a poem and is run by Christchurch College Oxford – details https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/research-and-academia/enter-tower-poetry-competition

Humanities Competitions:

St John’s College Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition, open to all UK students currently studying in Year 12 https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/events/classics-and-ancient-history-essay-competition

Super-curricular Ideas for Subject Areas

The HE+ website brings you super-curricular resources created and written by Cambridge students and academics including challenging activities, engaging videos and reflective questions. The content is aimed at school-aged students looking to go beyond the school curriculum and discover their passion for a subject today. https://myheplus.com/

Virtual Subject Masterclasses by Cambridge University: Run from 27 July to 4 August, virtually https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/masterclasses

University College London: As part of their outreach UCL has a variety of useful resources, including masterclasses and personal statement workshops. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/widening-participation/learners/year-12-and-13

London School of Economics (LSE) Outreach: Mentoring, tutoring, pathways to Law, pathways to banking and finance, Saturday school. Often aimed at students from London schools but their free lecture programme is open to all. https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/widening-participation/Sixth-form-college/pathways-to-law-london-years-12-13

London School of Economics (LSE) Free Lectures: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events

King’s College London – Factor Maths Programme: This is a Maths club aimed at Y12 and Y13 students which offers students challenging problems aimed at developing and enriching thinking. Criteria apply in terms of location and diversity. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/mathematics/outreach/kings-factor

Student Investor Challenge: Each year, Year 12 can be part of a major competition, organised by the London Institute of Banking and Finance, which can last several months. It will provide a useful insight into trading in stocks and shares. The Student Investor Challenge gives students the chance to experience what it’s like being a stock broker in a fast-paced and competitive market. Teams, consisting of four members aged between 14 and 19, take control of two investment portfolios with £100,000 of virtual money for each one to invest in the stock market. https://www.libf.ac.uk/study/financial-education/student-zone

Eton Summer School, July in Year 12: Ten day residential at Eton College. The residential course costs but those on a bursary can apply for financial support. Only 120 students can attend and location and being from a state school are factors. https://www.etoncollege.com/eton-outwards/summer-schools/

Sutton Trust Summer Schools: Fantastic summer schools at one of twelve partner universities (Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Imperial, KCL, Nottingham, Oxford, St. Andrews, UCL, Warwick, Royal Veterinary College) for high achieving students from low or middle income families. The Summer Schools are 100% free. There are 130 different courses across 11 of the UK’s top universities. The dates for the Summer Schools vary by subject and university. https://summerschools.suttontrust.com/

Oxford University UNIQ Summer Schools: UNIQ is open to students studying in their first year of further education, who are based at UK state schools/colleges. Students make a single application between December and January and can be selected to participate in one of two activities: UNIQ Digital or UNIQ Spring and Summer. Students get to experience university life, the tutorial system, have university lectures and seminars and meet students from throughout the UK. The summer schools are completely free to attend. Register between November and February if interested. https://www.uniq.ox.ac.uk/

Villiers Park: A charity that offers free virtual subject workshops. https://www.villierspark.org.uk/courses-and-workshops

FutureLearn: A range of short online courses to deepen subject knowledge through this amazing MOOC site (Massive Open Online Community). Very useful for stretch and challenge and a students’ personal statements. Free to access and complete each course though there is an optional payment for a certificate. https://www.futurelearn.com/

University of Warwick Podcasts: https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/podcasts/media/

University of Oxford – ‘Explore your subject’. Explore the resources or select a subject area such as Humanities or Social Sciences, followed by a specific subject (Classics, English, etc.). https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/applying-to-univ/resource-hub/

https://www.ox.ac.uk/oxfordforEE/springboard

Ted Talks

https://www.ted.com/talks

https://www.mindsunderground.com/muarticles/

Ideas for Specific Subjects:

Biology

Wonders of Life with Brian Cox https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6fcqrr

Horizon documentaries with Michael Mosley https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf/episodes/player

Biology TED Talks https://www.ted.com/topics/biology

Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Case Book https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ghp29

Business and Economics

Radio 4 Podcasts

‘Bottom Line’ huge array of topics. 30 mins podcast with 2-3 people interviewed on a business theme https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sz6t

Applications of Maths useful to studying Economics at University. https://www.youtube.com/c/3blue1brown

Stand Up Economist. https://standupeconomist.com/

An Economist Walks into a bar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SkoG9FWP4w

Topical Short Videos from The Financial Times Publication. https://www.youtube.com/c/FinancialTimes

Topical Short Videos from the Economist Publication: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheEconomist

Panic: The Untold Story of The Financial Crisis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QozGSS7QY_U

The Bank that Bust The World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyOnR2AMs-k

Too much maths too little history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rXBBqMmIP8

Masters of Money: Keynes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEYdS5sUR90

Masters of Money: Hayek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIYqTj402PE

Masters of Money: Marx. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaIpYo3Z5lc

Economics in Ten (podcasts) – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/economics-in-ten/id1450116373

Computer Science

Mysteries of the mind can be solved: A brain in a supercomputer. Henry Markram. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3wMC2BpxU

Big Data: Watch the TedTalk on the year open data went worldwide. Tim Berners-Lee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YcZ3Zqk0a8&feature=youtu.be

Computer Science. University of Oxford Podcasts – Audio and Videos Lectures. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/computer-science

Radio 4 Podcasts. ‘Computing Britain’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bq6j1/episodes/downloads

Law

Radio 4 Podcasts – Law. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tgy1

Mathematics

NRICH – free mathematics enrichment. https://nrich.maths.org/frontpage

Underground Mathematics. https://undergroundmathematics.org/

Mathematics for Natural Sciences Workbook, University of Cambridge. A document full of maths problems. https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergradnst/files/misc/nstworkbook.pdf

Radio 4 Podcasts – Mathematics. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrss1/episodes/downloads

Psychology

Radio 4 Podcasts – Psychology. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxx9

Politics

Radio 4 Podcasts – ‘Political Thinking with Nick Robinson’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04z203l/episodes/downloads

‘Yesterday in Parliament’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02s8yk1/episodes/downloads

Philosophy

Radio 4 Podcasts – ‘Moral Maze’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qk11/episodes/downloads

‘The Public Philosopher’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nmlh2/episodes/downloads

Sociology

Radio 4 Podcasts. ‘Thinking Allowed’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qy05/episodes/downloads

Science