TANYA Brown is the first Access student from Peter Symonds College to try for and receive an offer from Oxbridge.

She is one of the 40 upper sixth students at Peter Symonds, from 24 secondary schools, who have received conditional offers – 15 from Oxford and 25 from Cambridge.

Tanya, 24, is thrilled with the prospect of studying Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Lady Cavendish College in Cambridge.

Hannah Sparkes and Matilda Ferry-Swainson, who were home educated until their GCSEs, are also looking forward to gaining the grades to take up places at Cambridge.

The figure this year is fewer than in some recent years.

College Principal Stephen Carville said: “I am extremely proud of this year’s group of students, who have received offers from Oxford or Cambridge universities against such tough opposition.

“There are very few schools or colleges, of any kind, anywhere in the UK, state or independent, who can match this figure. It is a testament to the talent and hard work both of the students and also of their teachers and advisers. We must also pay credit, in this achievement, to the secondary schools at which these young people studied before coming to Peter Symonds College.”

Four of the students studied at Henry Beaufort and Westgate, three at Swanmore College of Technology and Perins and Thornden, two at Test Valley in Stockbridge and two at Kings’.

The students, with their subjects, colleges and secondary schools are: Abigail Robinson, Experimental Psychology, New College Oxford, Alton Convent; Tessa Lee, Natural Sciences Fitzwilliam Cambridge, Cams Hill School; Ewan West, Engineering, Girton Cambridge, Cams Hill; William Wilson, Chemistry,  University College Oxford, Canford; Diana Flindt, Natural Sciences (Physical), Magdalene Cambridge, Churchers; Kelly Whitaker, Law with French Law, Exeter Oxford, Churchers; Francesca Barber, English, Trinity Cambridge, Henry Beaufort; Rivkah Hatchwell, Philosophy, Clare Cambridge; Henry Beaufort; Eleanor Ridge, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, Henry Beaufort; Tamsin Woodman, Natural Sciences (Biological), Trinity Hall Cambridge, Henry Beaufort; Matilda Ferry-Swainson, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Queens Cambridge, home educated; William Hurrell, Engineering, Selwyn Cambridge, King Edward VI; Alexander Smith, Chemistry, Queen’s Oxford, Kings’; Meg Honigmann, English, St John’s Cambridge, Kings’; Tanya Brown, Psychological & Behavioural Sciences, Lady Cavendish Cambridge, Moira House Girls; Zachariah Gilmore, Maths, Queens Cambridge, Perins; Jonathan Hart, Medicine, St Catharine’s Cambridge, Perins; Olivia Probert, Natural Sciences, Downing Cambridge, Perins; Sophie Compton, Veterinary Medicine, St John’s Cambridge, Rookwood; Eleanor Wolverson, Geography, Churchill College Cambridge, South Wilts Grammar; Emily Niblo, French and Italian Pembroke Oxford, St Annes Catholic School; Sarah Attrill, Biological Sciences,  St Catherine’s Oxford, Swanmore; Anna Burningham, Chemistry, St Edmund Hall Oxford, Swanmore; Sophie Guerreri, Natural Sciences (Biological), Girton Cambridge, Swanmore; Jack Peach, Maths, Girton Cambridge, Test Valley; Eleanor Gravenor, Music, Exeter Oxford, Test Valley; Jasmynne Bushrod, Chemical Engineering (via Natural Sciences), Jesus Cambridge, Testwood; Hannah Sparkes, Classics, Downing Cambridge, The Bridge Education Centre; Frederick Barnes, Chemistry, St Hugh’s Oxford, The Clere School; Karan Chadda, Medicine, Downing Cambridge, The Mountbatten; Alexander Dalgleish, Computer Science, Robinson Cambridge, Portsmouth Grammar School; Alistair Smith, Physics, University Oxford, The Romsey School; Rosemary Brook-Hart, French and Spanish, Wadham Oxford, The Westgate; Fiona Brown, Geography, Girton Cambridge, The Westgate; Joshua Carter, Maths, Downing Cambridge, The Westgate; Harriet Collier, Linguistics, Murray Edwards Cambridge, The Westgate; Timothy Bird, Geography, Open Oxford, Thornden; Danielle Lewis, Maths, Fitzwilliam Cambridge, Thornden; Darius McArdle, Chemistry, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, Thornden; Isobel Ager, Japanese, Queen’s Oxford, Wykeham.