Year 10 girl from Tulse Hill gets a place on Oxford University’s ‘competitive’ programme

A Tulse Hill girl who won a place on a “highly competitive” engineering program at Oxford University says she now wants to go there.

Aishah Babajide, a year 10 student at City Heights E-ACT Academy, applied for the prestigious university’s Uncover Engineering program on the advice of her maths teacher.

Out of hundreds of applicants, she was shocked to find she had secured a place.

Uncover Engineering is a four-day residential program for girls and Year 10 students that allows them to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects while providing a glimpse into life at a top university.

Around 30 girls from across the UK who have demonstrated a passion for engineering and problem-solving and expect to achieve at least six GCSEs at grades 7-9, including maths, science and English, have been chosen for the programme.

Aishah traveled from her home in Tulse Hill to Oxford last month with her teacher Alecia Watson, where she stayed at St Hugh’s College.

She commented: “It was like being in a Harry Potter movie or a palace!”

There she enjoyed four days of carefully organized activities, including tours of relevant university departments, a visit to a recycling and waste management facility, talks from women in engineering and various workshops involving computer-aided design, robotics , coding and drones.

“It made me see that girls like me can have successful careers in STEM. Engineering is often seen as something for men, but this made me think that maybe we can change that for the next generation.”

“Now I’m thinking about a career in software engineering and robotics, or maybe mechanical or electrical engineering.

“I loved my time at Oxford and now I’ve been there and experienced it for myself, I think it could be a place for me to study.”

Alecia Watson, Director of Mathematics and Associate Assistant Principal at City Heights E-ACT Academy, added, “This is such a valuable and important program and has introduced Aishah to a world of possibilities. She is a hardworking, dedicated student who excels in the classroom and it has been wonderful to see her confidence in her abilities grow as a result of the Uncover Engineering program. She is certainly capable of studying a STEM subject at any top university and we are all excited to see what the future may hold for Aishah.”

Oxford University’s Uncover Engineering program takes place in April each year and is fully funded by the university.