Balliol offers a selection of year-long academic programmes: Floreat, Frontier and Fibonacci. The courses are open to Year 12 (S5) students from state schools across the UK, and start in the Spring Term. Many participants have gone on to make successful applications to Oxford, and other competitive universities. Currently, Balliol has students at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels who previously took part in the programmes.
Floreat centres on the Humanities, Frontier on the Life Sciences and Fibonacci on Mathematics (and related fields). Each programme is designed to academically challenge and stimulate those who are interested in applying to competitive universities.
Successful applicants will be expected to attend a series of online seminars (5.00pm‑7.00pm), an Oxbridge admissions talk and a two-night residential stay in August. The seminars will begin in the Spring Term and end shortly after Easter. Participants are recommended to allow two hours of working time each week to complete assigned tasks in advance of each session. The August residential will take place at the Balliol College site. Before arriving, attendees will be required to complete an essay, a research brief or a problem sheet in preparation for an Oxford-style tutorial. It should be noted that no recordings will be made during the programmes. As such, it is vital that applicants are able to commit to all seminars and events.
The programmes are free of charge. Financial support is available during the residential trip to cover travel costs. It should be noted that this is only available for participants who live in households which fall into POLAR 4 categories 1 or 2 or ACORN categories 4 or 5.
You can find your POLAR 4 score by visiting the Office for Students website and entering your postcode into the search box (make sure that there are no spaces in your postcode). You can find your ACORN score from the Acorn Webpage.
Selection Criteria
All three programmes are open to UK state school applicants. It should be noted that applications from Balliol’s link region (East of England) will be prioritised, alongside the children of armed forces personnel and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Balliol College evaluates a student’s existing qualifications as an indicator of their academic potential, alongside contextual information about their school. As a general guide, we prefer applicants with 8 GCSE grades (including some at 7,8,9 or A/A* grades, or equivalent). For Scottish applicants we prefer applicants with 7 National 5 grades (with some at A grade).
Information on our 2025 Programmes:
On Thursday 10 October we hosted an information evening for those who wanted to learn more about these programmes. Students who missed the event are strongly advised to watch the recording on our college YouTube channel before submitting their application.
Applications for all three courses are now open. If you are interested in applying, please fill out and submit the relevant form:
Fibonacci — Application deadline is Sunday 15th December 2024.
Frontier — Application deadline is Sunday 15th December 2024.
Floreat - Application deadline is Sunday 15th December 2024.
Balliol College Floreat Access Programme
Floreat is a year-long academic programme offered to Year 12 students from UK state schools. The programme includes a residential summer school in Oxford during which students take part in a tutorial.
The Floreat programme offers the opportunity to engage with Oxford-style humanities teaching, and is offered to students free of charge. The bulk of the academic content is delivered through a series of virtual academic seminars held on Wednesday evenings led by Oxford University representatives, hosted after school hours from 5.00pm‑7.00pm.
This opportunity suits academically able students who are interested in studying a humanities programme at Oxbridge and who are keen to engage with academic ideas outside their school curriculum, ahead of applying to university the following year.
‘This programme has definitely encouraged me to apply and I now feel as Oxford could be for me’. Raphael, 2022 — Currently in his second year at Oxford reading Law
‘I’m now much less nervous about Oxford being a “stuffy” environment. The college was really relaxed!’ – Olivia is joining Balliol in October 2024 to read English.
‘The tutorial greatly increased my confidence in my abilities whilst challenging me to think more deeply about a subject I really enjoy.’ — Chanelle 2024
Balliol College Frontier Access Programme
Frontier is our science programme. Like Floreat, Frontier consists of a series of virtual academic seminars held on Tuesday evenings from 5.00pm — 7.00pm for which students will have to prepare, beginning in Spring Term followed by a residential in August.
This opportunity suits academically able students who are interested in studying a science programme at Oxbridge and who are keen to engage with academic ideas outside their school curriculum, ahead of applying to university the following year. Students explore topics with input from a range of science subjects.
‘Frontier has made Oxford feel like something achievable’ - Alexander, 2023 — Alexander received an offer to Study Biology at Balliol and will be joining us in October 2024.
‘I made lots of amazing friends and applying to Oxford now seems much more achievable.’ — Safaa, 2023 — Safaa received an offer to study Medicine at Oxford for October 2024.
‘It was really nice to talk to like-minded people who share my passion for the sciences and to have a personal tutorial to develop my knowledge and skills. I now feel ready for university and the challenges I will face in the future’ — Theo, 2024
Balliol College Fibonacci Access Programme
Fibonacci is a programme for students who aspire to study Maths or a heavily Maths-focused course at Oxbridge, or another highly competitive university. It is open to UK state school students who are in Year 12 and are studying Maths A Level (Further Maths is helpful but it is not a requirement). Students should be aspiring to achieve an A* at Maths A Level.
Just like Floreat and Frontier, Fibonacci consists of a series of virtual academic seminars held on Monday evenings from 5.00pm‑7.00pm beginning in Spring Term, followed by a residential trip in August.
‘Fibonacci gave me confidence in my mathematical abilities, by speaking to like-minded people who are not out of my league intellectually (as I had previously been worried about). It was an incredible, eye-opening experience.’ — Freddie, 2024
‘This experience was the perfect opportunity for like-minded students to be in a supportive environment and reach our full potential.’ — Ella, 2024