Fab exam results and predictions but not even an interview from Cambridge Uni.

[nandio]

12GCSEs only 2As and the rest top grades.4A* and A predicted at A level - no interview from Cambridge. Not BME but white working class.

Why would Cambridge not interview a student of this calibre?

Yes those are good points.

I was being hyperbolic about most libraries closing, but the situation is pretty dire all the same. Locally, our system has been gutted - numerous branch libraries closed and the main library opening hours drastically reduced. Budgets for buying new books are also cut.

I think a lot of parents make the mistake that pointless MC activities are really important. Of course you need the grades and to do other things but certainly in stem you need a love of the subject.
A lot of extracurricular activities are just there for the form and don’t add anything. You need to do something relavent that you are good at too.
Volunteering randomly won’t cut it. Neither will doing ballet. It is a case of finding something the child is actually interested in which can be tricky.

I think a lot of parents make the mistake that pointless MC activities are really important. Of course you need the grades and to do other things but certainly in stem you need a love of the subject.
A lot of extracurricular activities are just there for the form and don’t add anything. You need to do something relavent that you are good at too.
Volunteering randomly won’t cut it. Neither will doing ballet. It is a case of finding something the child is actually interested in which can be tricky.

I am finding all the angst over relevant extracurriculars quite mystifying.
Surely if you have the kind of commitment needed to keep yourself going through an Oxbridge degree - which in my experience is damn hard work - you will be doing this kind of stuff already. I certainly did - I was teaching myself Greek and attempting to read More's Utopia in Latin before applying for Oxford Classics, and dh who is a mathematician had already gone way beyond the A level and STEP syllabus because, well, that was what he was into. Currently I know an Oxford chemist who was into natural dyeing - an unusual preoccupation for a 17 year old boy but not a surprising one for someone with an obsessive interest in how chemicals interact! Friends who did modern languages had taught themselves bits of other languages without help from school. And so on.
Should my kids (who are pretty bright, attend an average comprehensive but are currently too young to have to worry about this stuff) turn out to be Oxbridge minded / capable, I would think extra curriculars would be the least of our worries - I would be far more concerned over whether their school was providing high enough quality teaching to allow them to get the raft of top grades they would need, and whether it was preparing them to think critically in their subject such that they could cope with the additional tests.

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I just want to point out that both Cambridge and Oxford draw a distinction between supercurricular and extracurricular. Supercurricular is reading Ulysses when your set text is The Dubliners. Extracurricular is joining a Michael Flatley Appreciation Society. Supercurricular describes enrichment activities that demonstrate your commitment to your chosen subject. Extracurricular is stuff you like doing outside school work.

Eprunier - brilliantly put! I wish my DC's school could have given such a great summary.