Oxbridge/Centre of Excellence year 8?!

[Seriouslymole]

DS has been selected based on CAT scores to attend a centre of excellence at his comprehensive. They focus on preparing students for Russell Group/Oxbridge universities. I suspect, reading between the lines, that it is a lot of extra-curricular stuff.

I have no idea how DS feels about this as he isn't home yet and I only had the email this morning. He is bright, he passed his 11+ but didn't want to go to a single sex school. However, he has not settled well at his current school and I wonder whether this might help. He has also had a really recent diagnosis of a life-changing (but by no means life-limiting) medical condition which has thrown a spanner in the mental health works. He has lost his love of life and to some extent his love of learning, which he always previously.

My positive thoughts are - this might help him find some like-minded friends and may bring back his enthusiasm for school. My negative thoughts are - how on earth do you keep that sort of motivation from such a young age (12 nearly 13) and isn't it really early to be focussing on universities?

You're overthinking it. You don't say whether or not it's a state or private school, so I'm assuming state. They may do some extra curricular stuff. They may visit some universities. But it will all be age appropriate, and fun, and optional. Its never too soon to think about the future. My ds visited Oxford Uni in year 8, and is now applying there for 2022 entry. At no point did he feel pressure to apply or not apply, but I think the visit did inspire him to apply, and certainly demystified it.

Also, be wary of the school talking up "Russell Group" universities. That shows a degree of ignorance about university league tables.

It will be about raising aspiration in that cohort of bright kids. I doubt they’ll be ramming oxbridge down their throats but rather exposing them to the idea of aiming for top universities, possibly some masterclasses, open days, maybe some extended learning projects etc. I looked up the details for my old school and they are still massively under represented in sending students to top universities. Some schools just don’t foster the right sort of ambition or belief so I’d be biting their hands off.

Thanks for the view points. Yes, I think it's a great thing. We have a parent meeting about it next week so we'll see what they say there.

And yes, state school.