All Sixth Formers at Oxford High School have the option of undertaking an Extended Research Project that is carried out during Year 12 with dedicated supervision from among OHS teaching staff. You have the freedom to choose whichever area of academic specialism appeals to you, exploring and researching an area of personal interest extending far beyond A Level and relishing the intellectual freedom this provides.
Our Extended Research Project offering is strengthened by support from our colleagues at the University of Oxford, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and other local experts. Through these connections, you will be matched with an external mentor whose advice and feedback will give you a taste of the rigour found working under a university supervisor.
The combination of mentoring and challenge is why leading universities rate these research projects so highly, as they demonstrate a degree of intellectual rigour rarely seen at this stage in a student’s education. Our students, meanwhile, relish the independent learning skills it teaches them before they move onto their next phase of academic life.
In terms of output, students undertaking the ERP are required to produce either a researched dissertation or a practical piece, such as a drama production, a piece of creative writing, an exhibition or film. They must then must present their findings to an audience of fellow students and staff. These evening and lunchtime presentations occur throughout the year. Topics chosen cover the entire academic range and recent presentations have included perceptions of the medical profession in the media, space travel to Mars, the psychology of advertising, the healing properties of laughter, the challenges of creating a vaccination for T.B., women’s rights in the Middle East and how to design the cities of the future.
The Mary Warnock Extended Research Project
