Oxford and Cambridge are the England’s oldest and most prestigious universities with a reputation for preferring students from upper middle class backgrounds. So it is remarkable that 41 students from East Ham’s Brampton Manor Academy have been offered places to begin studying there later this year. The students include a refugee, a child in care and others from various minority ethnic backgrounds.
Despite being located in one of the most deprived boroughs in the whole of London, this state school is now second only to Eton – the UK’s most prestigious private school – in terms of Oxbridge offers. Brampton Manor sixth form opened in September of 2012 with the aim of increasing the number of students from lower income backgrounds progressing to Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities, and this year’s results – their best yet – are an indication of their success.
We checked the hashtags #BramptonManor and #41Oxbridge on Twitter and found a number of different opinions.
Some cynics thought that 41 students from the same selective sixth form in East London is suspicious, and their Tweets question the credibility of the reports.
Others were angry at the press for branding Brampton Manor Academy “East London’s Eton”, rather than reporting the news with the real name of the school. “Stop glamourising Eton when celebrating the achievements of folk you don’t deem worthy of it”, said a Twitter user. Also, some think it is not correct to compare the two schools since their funding is so different.
Others highlighted the achievements of the East London youths which contradict the running media narrative surrounding young people in Newham.
Most people felt proud and motivated by this recent development, since Oxbridge looks less “unachievable” now, despite “who you are or where you grow up”.
Brampton Manor’s 41 have proven that student success is not contingent on a pupil’s family, cultural or economic background. One user Tweeted, “The only way you won’t get into Oxford or Cambridge is not applying in the first place”. The school is selective, with students undergoing a rigorous interview process before being potentially accepted and its continued focus on high-intensity learning has already doubled the number of Oxbridge offers compared to last year, when 25 students were offered places and 20 of these subsequently began their Oxbridge careers in October 2018.
