SEVEN high-achieving Richard Huish College students have received offers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge - a "particularly impressive" achievement given the challenges brought by the pandemic.

Five of the students have received conditional offers from Oxford, and two have been offered places at Cambridge subject to grades.

Students with their sights set on Oxford include Louisa Wall, who has been offered a place studying biochemistry at Christ Church, and Astrid Kiernan, who has an offer to study English language and literature at Mansfield College.

Johannah Matthew and James Morrell have both received offers to study music at Oxford, while Luke Lifton plans to study physics at the university’s Worcester College.

Somerset County Gazette: OXBRIDGE OFFERS: James Morrell, Grace Howard, Louisa Wall, Will Painter and Astrid Kiernan after receiving their Oxford or Cambridge offersOXBRIDGE OFFERS: James Morrell, Grace Howard, Louisa Wall, Will Painter and Astrid Kiernan after receiving their Oxford or Cambridge offers

Will Painter and Grace Howard have been offered places at the University of Cambridge.

Will has been awarded a place to study law at Magdalen College, and Grace aims to study natural sciences at Pembroke College.

Somerset County Gazette: UNIVERSITY: Huish student Johannah Matthew has received an offer to study music at the University of OxfordUNIVERSITY: Huish student Johannah Matthew has received an offer to study music at the University of Oxford

Richard Jones, progression and learning centre manager at Richard Huish College, said: “Navigating an Oxbridge application in a pandemic has certainly been an added challenge for this group of students.

“They have also faced even more competition for places as many students have deferred their places from previous years making the achievements of this group particularly impressive.”

He added: “At Huish, we identify students considering Oxbridge in year one and provide wider academic enrichment to develop critical thinking skills.

“The Academic EnRICH Programme features specialist advice on making a competitive application and input from Huish alumni to support interview preparation.”

The college will host an Oxbridge talk in the next fortnight for current first-year students who want to learn more about the universities and their application processes.

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