On Thursday 17 March 2022, Churchill was delighted to welcome the Welsh Minister for Education Jeremy Miles, as part of a Cambridge University event organised and run by our Widening Participation Officer Sandy Mill and our Lead Admissions Tutor Jonathan Padley.
Jeremy was making his first visit to the Cambridge in his new role, to celebrate the success of the University’s work with Welsh Government’s ‘Seren’ educational outreach project.
The Minister and Seren representatives’ day started with meetings and discussions at the Old Schools with the Pro-VC for Education Graham Virgo, Deputy Head of Education Services Mike Nicholson, Director of Admissions for the Cambridge Colleges Sam Lucy, and Admissions Tutors from across the Colleges. Amongst other points during these conversations, colleagues were shown the University’s newly-launched ‘Applying to Cambridge from Wales’ webpage.
The group then returned to Churchill to take part in a roundtable with current Cambridge students from Wales, to reflect on their experiences and discuss ways in which the University’s partnership with Seren could be developed further.
The day ended with a celebratory formal evening meal, attended by Churchill’s Master and Senior Tutor as well as current Welsh Cambridge students.
Speaking of the day, Jonathan said, “It was a privilege to host the Minister and so many colleagues from across Wales, in evidence of our mutual commitment to widening participation in HE, particularly through projects like Seren. Cambridge and Welsh Government have now been collaborating in this area for the better of a decade, both on Seren itself and the research that preceded it. We’re hugely proud to support Wales’ brightest academic students and the brilliant teachers who work with them.”