Yesterday was a day of real academic enlightenment. Insight Masterclasses, run by current leading experts in their fields provided students with the opportunity to really further their understanding of their chosen subjects. The Masterclasses aim to provide information about which students generally could not learn in schools.

Creative Writing workshop gave the students a new variety of very applicable skills to enhance writing skills. The students dive into both prose and poetry and learnt creative mechanisms writers often use to gain inspiration. The students wrote a short piece about Oxford, encouraged to use real street names, colour metaphors and writing from different perspectives.

In the Film and Production workshop, students learnt and discussed the structure of writing and producing a film, through analysing the methods films would typically introduce characters, settings or mood changes. The students learnt the power music and lighting can play in dramatically increasing the suspense for a viewer, or how it can be used to make a character appear more menacing. Students had the opportunity to create a short movie plot, including characters, setting, props and themes. They then had to pitch their ideas to the rest of the class and their teachers, hoping to gain investment.

In the evening, after an extremely proactive day of learning in the classroom, students ventured out to Oxford University Parks, where the counsellors laid on fun games of football and rounders to allow the students to blow off steam and get some exercise. They appear to be settling into Oxford life with ease, immersing themselves fully in the experience.