Elephant Group

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In partnership with Elephant Group access, at Caterham we endeavour to support and encourage our year 12 and 13 students, with high aspiration and academic ability, to continue their education at a Russell Group university. Russell Group universities are world renowned for their research and academic challenge and rigour.

There are 24 Russell Group universities in the UK, including Oxford, Cambridge, York, UCL, King’s College London, SOAS, and Newcastle. Russell Group universities open up doors for future careers in law, medicine, engineering or teaching – as well as offering hundreds of other courses. Russell Group graduates are recognised for being academically able, and often recruiters and organisations will look to employ those students.

The Elephant Access (TEG) provides a range of activities, trips and experiences to support students’ aspirations, attainment and applications to Russell Group universities. For example, across 2021-2022, we took students to trips at Oxford, Cambridge and King’s College London! We also hold lots of insight, and Q&A opportunities for students, as well as personalised support.

Being a part of The Elephant Group (TEG) at Caterham was a really useful and insightful experience as it gave me the opportunity to think about university throughout my time in sixth form and encouraged me to be aspirational, applying to Russel Group universities.

The Summer School was especially helpful, allowing me to work with students from other schools and university students, who I got to know gradually over the week, building my confidence to ask questions about their experiences and familiarising myself with university study methods. This later helped me feel more prepared for the application process and in considering what kind of university experience I wanted to have.

Our trip to St Anne’s college was a chance to become familiar with Oxford university and its application as well as being able to speak with people who had done history there and interact with them, practicing interview prompts and talking about what I enjoyed about my subject.

The Sixth Form also supported me throughout the process in many ways. All the staff were happy to help with all the questions I had and I benefited greatly from check-ins with both Ms Machnicki and Ms Copsey, who spent lots of time with me editing each draft of my personal statement, preparing for my interview, answering my questions and helping me research my universities, as well as helping me build my confidence up over the year.

Hope Edwards (Year 13, 2022)

“I attended the University of York. Since I was at a Russell Group university, I was recognised for my academic potential and secured an internship at the Home Office in the Public Protection Unit in my second year. I was also able to receive lots of career support, which helped me onto the Teach First Leadership Development Programme. I continued my studies at UCL, and King’s College London, which I have found to be challenging, rewarding and unforgettable!” Ms Copsey

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