Our Applicant Days in February and March went incredibly well – we actually saw almost double the number of applicants and their parents than we anticipated! Of course, we hope that the more students who come to see us, the more will place us as their firm choice and we are already starting to see students naming their firm and insurance decisions. It has been a very busy time for lots of A-level students; attending several applicant days whilst juggling coursework and revision is no easy task. But any admissions tutor would tell you that it is worth putting in the time to make the right decision for you.

The other event that followed hot on the heels of our last Applicant Day was a networking event for teachers in secondary and further education. We wanted to create an opportunity where university lecturers and school teachers could discuss teaching strategies and share best practice. We hosted representatives from schools across Surrey and held some really fruitful conversations. An examiner from the A-level board AQA attended and answered all sorts of questions about the A-level syllabus and her thoughts on its future. Dr Holly Luhning, one of my colleagues at Surrey, spoke about the new Creative Writing A-level that AQA are offering and several of the teachers were very excited about the possibility of teaching it alongside English language and literature.  We also had a really interesting discussion about teaching Gothic literature and how teaching thematically affects our understanding of text and context.  I’m hoping that this meeting marks a first step in creating and maintaining a strong network of relationships between the University of Surrey and our local schools.