Encouraging applications to King’s is only the first step in a continuing effort to support students applying from backgrounds which have little experience with study in Oxbridge.
Once offers have been extended in January, following the Admissions and interview cycle, offer-holders whose files indicate that they are applying from lower income families, or schools that are under-performing, or with little or no experience with higher education, are now being offered weekly tutoring in their principal subjects to help them meet their A-level (or equivalent) offer. Those who are successful are then invited to participate in the Bridging Programme, run in partnership with Christ's College, which began in 2020. This program offers a two-week, pre-term session in September to help these students acquaint themselves with the workings of the College and University, meet a group of their peers, form friendship and support groups, and experience the Cambridge system of lectures and supervisions.
Once matriculated in October, these students are then offered tutoring support in their subjects, after consultation with their Directors of Studies and the students themselves. Such tutoring can continue through the second year of academic study or, in some cases, could last just for a few weeks in order to cover a single topic to which they have had no exposure. In every case, the needs of the individual student are primary and as much or as little tutoring as desired can be accessed; and all of these possibilities have been made possible through the generosity of donors.
