Record-breaking Year for The OxFizz Access Programme
It has been a bittersweet few weeks for us at OxFizz.
Last Friday, we announced that OxFizz will be winding up in January 2021. In the days running up to the announcement, the team were busy wrapping up our autumn season, which concluded on December 13th; publishing two insightful reports on the barriers facing disadvantaged young people applying to Oxbridge and better understanding performance gaps at admissions interviews; and gathering the final data on our 2020 Access Programme.
It has been a record-breaking year for our Access Programme! Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and going digital, we have delivered 4630 hours of support, expanding by a further 60% on 2019.
Our 2019 Impact Report highlighted a need for more sustained contact with, and support for, our young people. With this in mind, we have kept the number of young people accessing our provision at a similar level to last year’s programme (454 in 2020; 467 in 2019), enabling us to strengthen the contact time provided by an average of 67%. We are incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve this year!
To find out more about how we have supported our young people, see our Access Programme 2020 Impact Report.
Another figure that stood out to us was the number of volunteers who helped us deliver our programme - up 131% on 2019. We have blown away by the kindness, enthusiasm, and patience our volunteer community has shown throughout this rollercoaster of a year. We really could not have done it without you all, thank you so much.
In the foreward of our Impact Report, our Executive Director, Chris Gurney, ponders the implications of our closure: “Our work this year indicates the gaps that still exist in provision for young people making applications to Oxbridge. The loss of our Access programme makes that gap even larger!” As we approach what feels like another year of uncertainty, I would like us to reflect on what we have been able to achieve as a community over the last 12 months. The closure of OxFizz will inevitably leave a gap, and we are all too aware of the implications of COVID-19 for educational inequalities, but the success of our 2020 programme is reassuring. It suggests that there is a growing community of individuals and partners with their own expertise and a shared purpose. If we want to continue improving access to Oxbridge, collaboration in the field of widening participation research and practice is crucial.