Balliol has two access programmes for Year 12 students: Floreat (Humanities), and Frontier (Science).
Balliol College Floreat Access Programme
Floreat is a year-long academic programme offered to Year 12 students from state schools in the London borough of Brent, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The programme offers the opportunity to engage with Oxford-style humanities teaching, and it is offered to students free of charge. The bulk of the academic content is delivered through a series of virtual academic seminars, led by Oxford University representatives and hosted after school hours. The programme also includes a residential summer school in Oxford during which students take part in a tutorial.
This opportunity suits academically able students who are interested in studying an arts/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.
Taught sessions begin in Spring Term and end shortly after Easter. Students will have work to complete prior to attending the residential in August, during which they will receive support with the application process. Participants need to commit to attending all the seminars and the residential.
‘In all likelihood, I would not have applied to Oxford, let alone Balliol, had I not taken part in the Floreat access scheme. The programme allowed me to meet similar people from local schools, helping me to grow in confidence both academically and socially, and helped me to realise that applying to Oxford would be the best thing I could possibly do to pursue my love of History.’ — Gregory Brinkworth came to Balliol in 2016 to read for a BA History and graduated with a first class honours degree.
‘Collaborating with like-minded individuals has developed both my understanding of topics and confidence in expressing my ideas.’ Alex, 2021
Balliol College Frontier Access Programme
Frontier is our science-based sustained contact programme which is open to Year 12 students who attend state schools in the London borough of Brent, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Like Floreat, this programme consists of a series of virtual academic seminars, for which students will have to prepare, beginning in Spring Term 2023 followed by a residential in August 2023.
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 the two themes of Health and Improving the Environment with input from a range of science subjects.
Further information and slides from the information evening.
On Thursday 3 November 2022, we ran an online information evening covering both of these programmes for 2023. if you would like to see the slides from that presentation, please use this link.
Application Forms
If you would like to apply for place on either Floreat or Frontier in 2023, please use the appropriate link below to submit an application. The closing date for applications for both Floreat and Frontier is 17:00 on Sunday 4th December.
Please do consider whether the time commitment required is realistic before submitting an application, as spaces for this opportunity are limited and we cannot take new participants once the programme has started.