Dedicated linguist Olivia Clarke has achieved her dream of gaining a place to read Spanish at Oxford University.
Olivia’s journey to the prestigious university began in 2014 when she joined King’s Leadership Academy Warrington. Her love of languages started in Year 7 with French and eventually led in Year 9 to the decision to study both French and Spanish in her GCSE options.
After gaining Grade 9s in both languages, it was Spanish Olivia decided to continue at A level and her talent was demonstrated by the fact she was fluent in the language by the end of Year 13.
Early in her A level course, Olivia’s drive and ambition led to the decision to seek a place at Oxford. She set about preparing for the entrance exams and fine tuning her Spanish language skills with the support of subject lead Miss Simms.
Even the 2020 lockdown didn’t dim her determination of perusing her dream and she spent hours practicing by discussing current events in Spanish with Miss Simms to she was able to show Oxford her dedication to the language, culture and desire to become a professional linguist.
This hard work paid off when Olivia was offered a conditional place requiring A* A Levels for entry at prestigious Exeter College, which has been at the forefront of Spanish research and teaching ever since the subject was established as a degree course at Oxford more than a century ago.
Olivia has now started her first year at Oxford.
Miss Simms said: “Olivia is a true role model for our younger language students and we look forward to having the opportunity for Olivia to show our young linguists around Oxford in the near future.”