Parent Power is run by The Brilliant Club, and aims to empower parents to ensure their children have a fair chance at education, and the best opportunities to pursue successful careers. The Newport (Casnewydd) chapter is the latest to join the UK-wide Parent Power initiative, and generously supported by Admiral Insurance. The College also provided seed-funding to set up the chapter.
Research consistently shows that whilst young people may have academic ambitions, what they choose to do after school is strongly influenced by the adults around them. In the UK today, graduates from the most competitive universities are more likely to access professional careers, and have higher rates of life satisfaction. On average, they will also earn £10,000 more annually than their peers. But access to these life-changing opportunities is not equal. Parent Power, originally created by King’s College London and Citizens UK in 2017, exists to empower communities to tackle this inequality, by providing accurate information, advice and guidance on accessing higher education.
Under the leadership of organiser Becky Burn, the new Newport Parent Power chapter is a community of 117 families from the most disadvantaged areas of Newport. In June, they visited Jesus College for a one-day event to learn more about accessing higher education, the support available to them and their children, and to take part in one-to-one mentoring.
Members of Newport Parent Power at Jesus College Oxford.
Experts from Careers Wales, Mind, and the University of South Wales covered a range of topics, from navigating school to understanding university finances and apprenticeships. Dr Matt Williams, the College’s Access Fellow, delivered a session on metacognition and self-efficacy, attended by over 90 people.
Feedback from the event demonstrated just how much value the members of the Newport chapter found in their day at Jesus. As dad of two boys, Lee said: “Oxford and Cambridge was something I never thought would be possible for children like mine. Parent Power has shown that isn’t the case, and has helped me encourage my boys. Also, hearing from Matt Williams was fantastic, and I took in a lot he had to say and it gave me more confidence that my son or any other low- income family can do this.”
Mum Florina added: “Newport Parent Power is a great group, really informative for all parents out there, regardless of their aspirations in terms of their children’s educations. I think it is particularly useful for those parents who are not 100% familiar with the education system in the UK. Looking forward to many more meetings! Thank you!”
Matt says, “The chapter’s rapid expansion in just this first year shows that there was extraordinary untapped demand for this sort of work in South Wales. We are proud of the College’s historic connection to the country and people of Wales, and we remain committed to raising aspirations, and engaging with young people, their families and carers about pursuing higher education. We are delighted to be able to contribute to the work of Newport Parent Power, and will continue to do so.”
What? Why? When? aims to engage, encourage and support young people to consider applying to top universities like Oxford by sharing information and advice on a range of topics, from admissions tests to choosing a subject. It also aims to recreate the Oxford tutorial experience for listeners, and debunk common misconceptions about life and learning at Oxford.
The podcast builds on the success of the team’s YouTube channel, which now has over 27k subscribers – the largest following across Oxbridge colleges. Matt, who hosts the new series, says, “We want to share what it’s like to sit in on an Oxford tutorial, to chat with our lovely students, and to unravel the world’s mysteries!”
The Trinity term series, which features eight episodes, was recorded in College’s new SOUTHWORKS Digital Media Lab. The first episode asks ‘Who Creates Language?’. To listen to the podcast, click here. You can also watch the ‘vodcasts’ on the Access YouTube channel here, and keep up to date on the latest shows by following the podcast’s Instagram account @whatwhywhenpodcast.
Thanks to the generosity of two College alumni and their families, we have been able to support our Welsh outreach summer school in perpetuity, and create a new endowed graduate studentship. These gifts also enabled the College to consider more more broadly how we wanted to recognise our commitment to access publicly. In the film, Matt announces the naming of two key spaces in our new Cheng Yu Tung Building – the fourth quad and tower room – which bring the College’s commitment to being inclusive and accessible to the forefront.
The fourth quad will be known as the Welsh Access Fund Quad. This beautiful outdoor area of the new development will become a convening place for everyone in our community, especially in the summer months, when the flowers are out and the new café is open. It will be enjoyed by future generations of our students, who can study or read here, meet their friends and other members of our academic community. The quad is named in honour of alumnus Oliver Thomas (2000, Economics & Management) and his family, whose generous support of the College’s Welsh Access Fund means we can continue to inspire the best and brightest students from Wales to aim for Oxford.
The College’s new Welsh Access Quad, part of the Cheng Yu Tung Building which is due to open later this year.
Matt also announces the naming of the new Buchanan Tower Room, in honour of alumnus Captain Angus Buchanan VC (1913, Classics). Buchanan joined College in 1913 to read Classics but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted in 1914 and within two years had been awarded first the Military Cross, and then the Victoria Cross. His VC was awarded for exceptional bravery after he rescued two of his men under gunfire during a battle in Mesopotamia. The following year, he was blinded in conflict.
Captain Angus Buchanan VC
Buchanan returned to College after the war and restarted his degree, changing from Classics to Law. Despite his disability, he lived life to the full – continuing to participate in College sports and immersing himself fully in the running of the Jesus JCR. He successfully completed his studies in 1921, and went on to become a solicitor and highly-regarded member of his local community. We are delighted to name the Buchanan Tower Room in his honour, thanks to a generous gift by alumnus Christopher Richey (1984, MPhil Management Studies) and his family. The £1m gift, announced in April, will enable the creation of a new endowed graduate scholarship to support home graduate students in any subject, and forms part of the College’s strategy to create more equitable opportunities for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. The naming of the Buchanan Tower Room will ensure that one of our most courageous former students is remembered and appreciated by generations of students to come.
A view of the new Buchanan Tower Room from Market Street.
Matt says, “As the College’s Access Fellow, I greatly look forward to bringing current and prospective students to these two new spaces; spaces that speak across the generations to tell inspiring stories of inclusivity and equity of opportunity, and reinforce our mission to support, encourage and enable academically-gifted young people from all backgrounds to feel welcome at Oxford.”
Read more about Captain Angus Buchanan VC’s time at Jesus in a new article here.
Jesus College’s Access Channel hosts a wide range of videos to inform and support prospective University students.
Latest data shows the channel now has 9.38k subscribers, roughly 16% more than its closest competitor, King’s College, Cambridge (7.68k). The Jesus Access channel is home to a wide range of video content that aims to inform and support prospective Oxford students as they navigate their way through subject choices, the applications process and interviews and tests. It also provides content that aims to demystify the Oxford student experience; presenting tours of the city and Colleges, and sample lectures in subjects as broad as ‘Can justice be engineered?’ and ‘Women in early Islamic Religious Life’. There’s also a film for those who might get rejected by universities like Oxford, in which Matt shares his personal experience of university rejection, and explains why it’s not the end of the world and can actually be a positive outcome.
Dr Matthews Williams. Access Fellow
While Matt hosts many of the engaging films himself, viewers also get to meet undergraduates, postgraduates and College Tutors who are keen to share their first-hand experiences of admissions, the University and Jesus College. In the past month alone, a video of a sample Mathematics interview with Jesus Fellow and Associate Professor of Statistics Robin Evans has been viewed over 116k times. A mock interview video hosted by two Jesus 3rd year Physics undergraduate students has been watch over 35k times.
Matt says, “I started posting videos in lockdown, when school visits to Oxford became impossible. The aim was to open up the university and its admissions processes to everyone. I can’t quite believe how many views and subscribers we have gained since the start of lockdown, but I’m delighted by the response from our subscribers, both in the UK and around the world. The channel’s growth has in large part been thanks to transformative donations from our alumni, supporting digital outreach.”
He also has further ambitions for the channel going forward; “I fully intend to see how far we can take this! With the College’s Digital Hub opening in 2022, we will have new infrastructure to improve the quality of our digital outreach. Next summer we will also hire digital interns from amongst our undergraduates, to continue producing content that will be of help to people that otherwise do not have access to such information or resources.”
The Jesus College Access channel can be viewed here and you can find out more information about all the College’s Access and Outreach work here.
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