Studying in London

One advantage of living in Cambridge is that you can get to London easily without having to live there. While on a course this week, I was reminded how many universities are a mere hop, skip and a jump from King's Cross Station (and, therefore, only 50 minutes away from Cambridge). The most well known may be University College London:

But there are others too. For example, there's the School of Oriental and African Studies.

There's Birkbeck College.

And the Institute of Education.

There are also some fascinating places on the doorstep, including the British Library and the Wellcome Collection which, as this photograph shows, really gives you a new perspective on life.

Book of the Month: October

Africa has produced some amazing authors and one who has been causing a stir recently is Uwem Akpan. With rave reviews in The New York Times, The Times and a whole host of other newspapers, Akpan is hot literary property. He's even won the ultimate accolade: the approval of Oprah Winfrey. (Note slight tone of irony here.)

What makes all this adulation so surprising is that Akpan is a Nigerian Catholic priest. He doesn't bash you over the head with his religion but clearly his beliefs are a major motivation behind his writing, as this fascinating interview with Granta Online reveals. However, the reason I have chosen Say You're One of Them, his debut collection of short stories, as the Sixth Form Book of the Month is not because Akpan is a priest but because the stories themselves are so good.

Be warned: Akpan writes about some truly horrific events - everything from the Rwandan genocide to child trafficking - but he does so in a way which  is always deeply humane if not always terribly hopeful. The book's waiting in the library. Why not try it?

More Sporting Excellence

One of our Lower 6th students has just returned from the Rampton show where she won first place in her class. You may notice that she is clutching two trophies: that is because she was also overall Champion of all the classes. Many congratulations.

Words of Wisdom

We were pleased to welcome back one of our former students today. Claire recently completed a Chemistry degree at Oxford and was here to pass on words of wisdom about how to make the best of the Sixth Form and what to look out for when applying to university. If you would like to see a video of an interview she did a couple of years ago about her experiences click here.