St Gabriel's College, Lambeth visits St John's

In mid-November, a group of Year 9 and 10 students from St Gabriel’s College in Lambeth visited St John’s for an introduction to Higher Education. The day involved an Introduction to Cambridge talk with the Access Officer on topics such as College life, student finance and how to select a course. This was followed by lunch in the College Buttery after which the students were given a tour of St John’s with a current student.

The day was rounded off with a trip to the Old Library to see the ‘Medical Marvels’ exhibit which included a 1555 edition of Vesalius 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica'. Vesalius is known to have been the first anatomist to use human dissections in his research, and so corrected a lot of the errors of previous anatomists. The students also saw unusual items from Dr William Heberden's 1740 'Materia Medica' cabinet such as goats' blood and a dried and preserved lizard.

Mother Ellen Wakeham, Chaplain at St Gabriel’s, commented that they ‘had a great time at St John's, and all the students found it really inspiring.’