Oxplore Festival Birmingham

Hello, I'm Samina Khan. I'm the Director for Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach from the University of Oxford.
I'm at the Oxplore Festival, this year in the wonderful city of Birmingham.

The Oxplore Festival continues to inspire curiosity in Key Stage 3 learners and opens up new ways of thinking beyond the classroom.

Here at the festival, students get to experience a completely free event with interactive workshops, shows and challenges led by Oxford staff and student ambassadors, as well as a buzzing exhibition space full of hands-on activities.

Research shows that enrichment and supercurricular opportunities at this age play a critical role in helping students stay on track academically. And it's a perfect way for students to be introduced to the University of Oxford and higher education, seeing it as both exciting and attainable.

Students who might not normally put themselves forward, do exactly that and engage in conversations, building their confidence. And that's the point of this festival.


The value of the festival is that it's tailored to young people.

It's about awakening that inner curiosity that every child has.

It's been really nice to see the kids just a bit more independent, looking at stuff that they don't necessarily have the opportunity to do in a day-to-day.

They’ve have really loved having that hands-on experience, seeing different careers in terms of what they can go into.

I think it's really cool that there's an alien languages stall, or a philosophy stall, or like, a library stall and a robotics stall. I think it's really cool that, they can explore
all of their different interests.

They enjoy being pushed and challenged. And they enjoy doing something different
from outside the classroom setting.

I love that we get to talk to kids that maybe are not thinking about uni,
but just to, like, give them an idea that this is a possibility. That it's, like, more accessible than they could ever think.

It is addressing pupils’ curiosity and getting them into thinking.

Some of the kids seem to be a lot more confident. It’s more relaxed, they’re with their friends,
so they express themselves more.

The enthusiasm from all the staff here has been amazing for them, yeah.

They're actually encouraging the kids to get involved and the kids to talk.

Yeah it's really good to get to talk to a range of students, especially ones
that come from backgrounds like mine, because I'm also from Birmingham.

It's really accessible. So for them to see that actually it's not just sitting in a lecture hall, and it's something that they can access is fantastic.

They want to know more because of how fun and enjoyable it is for them.

That's a key element for everyone to have that light bulb moment.

And it is so nice to see passion in like such, such young people.
It's amazing.

Like when I was in year 7, 8 and 9, I would have loved things like this, which wasn't available in my area.

With all the debates, with the questions and stuff like that, it was really good because it promotes oracy and literacy in-between the learners.

It would help to raise their aspirations and help them to focus a little bit more on their learning.

After the Oxplore Festival, we hope these conversations will continue both at home and in schools, and for students to remain engaged and seek answers to their questions.
Maybe these seeds of curiosity grow into the idea that studying at a university
like Oxford might be for them one day.

We know that sustained contact and engagement has a positive impact. The Oxplore Festival is the jumping-off point and introduces schools, students and teachers to the wider Oxplore ecosystem. Today is just the start.

We'd love everybody to get involved in our love for learning.
To find out more, look at our Oxplore programmes on our website.

[www.oxplore.ox.ac.uk]