The 2025 season of outreach has begun! Corpus is committed to reaching out to students from underrepresented backgrounds and regions, which is why we have developed this intensive effort to bring young people to Cambridge to experience the University themselves, and to see that Corpus is a College which welcomes any candidate with a bright mind and a passion for their subject, regardless of their previous experience.

This week the Admissions Team welcomed 20 students from across the country for two days of medieval discovery at Corpus and the Parker Library. This is the third year we have offered the programme, which is offered to Year 12 students (Year 13 in Northern Ireland/S5 in Scotland) who are interested in studying English, History or Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at university.

As usual, the participants enjoyed a full schedule of activities. They began with workshops on Medieval Manuscripts by Parker Sub-Librarian Tuija Ainonen and Head of Conservation Flavio Marzo, followed by a workshop in the Chapel on creating wax seals delivered by Parker Librarian Professor Philippa Hoskin (right), who is an expert in the subject. Philippa was the Principal Investigator in the AHRC-funded project Imprint which explores what the incidental impressions made on wax seals at the time of their creation (finger and hand prints) reveal about the who was involved in the physical acts of sealing legal documents and what this suggests  about how ordinary people understood the act of legal record creation and the significance of these 'security' seals.

The evening session of the first day was delieverd by Corpus PhD student Logan Rivers, 'Tropes, archetypes and stereotypes: the medieval on film'.

The following day saw morning workshops held by Dr Tim Glover, Parker Library Early-Career Research Fellow, and Daisy Bonsall (Trinity College) on 'Medieval manuscripts and English literature' and 'Let's talk socks: Textile production in the Anglo-Scandinavian world', respectively.

Afternoon sessions covered 'Gender in medieval literature' with Dr Francoise Charmaille, Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, and our own Outreach & Admissions Coordiantor James Davies-Warner on 'Scripts and Scribes'. Finally, James and Naomi Walker-Pearl, Undergraduate Admissions Manager, hosted a session on Admissions top tips and Q&A. 

Barely taking a breath, on Sunday the team will welcome 50 students and teachers from our Link Area of Northern Ireland, split into subject streams to learn about studying at Cambridge, the Admissions process, super-curricular resources, prospective career pathways, robotics, problem-solving and much more. They will overlap with a group of Year 11 students from North-East England designed to inspire and motivate high-achieving, pre-GCSE students to help them with their A-Level subject choices. Later, in July, we celebrate those students who completed this year's Pelican Programmes, which expanded its offering in 2024 to include additional subjects such as Physical Sciences and Pyschological and Behavioural Science. Finally, we will welcome our sixth cohort of Bridging Course students for three weeks in September.

On 25 April the College holds its Offer Holder Day for the prospective 2025 cohort, and the annual summer Open Days take place on 8-9 July.

Many thanks to the Admissions Team, the participating academics, the student helpers - and of course the hospitality staff who housed and fed the participants.