An idyllic start to the 4th day of our summer school, the English class went to the orchard tea rooms at Grantchester for cream tea, hot chocolate and passionate discussions about literature. Grantchester is a beautiful and popular spot for Cambridge students after exams, where everyone heads to the river that flows through the city to go swimming. Our students headed down to the river and talked about creative writing by the banks: an extremely fitting atmosphere, the river is a favourite of many Cambridge alumni, including Virginia Woolf and Ted Hughes.
The law students headed over to the crown court! They were able to watch a few Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings, which are an essential part of the legal system. The judge also spoke kindly to the students (an experience that was completely new for them) and gave them an overview of the British legal system, explained how covid-19 and barrister strikes have created a backlog of cases and gave the students opportunities to ask questions, even in his very busy day! One student asked about changes in the legal system in his career and he talked to them about increased protection of vulnerable witnesses, in particular children, and how there have been fantastic improvements in that field! The students left optimistic, and it was so great to see.
After a busy morning of lessons, some students tried out their taster courses whereas others went around the city for the much-awaited Instravaganza! This was a fun treasure hunt, where students were given lots of clues about things to find all over the city and then take a picture at every location. Some spots were the famous Mathematical Bridge and the 900 year old Round Church. You can check out these photos by searching #ReachCambridge2023 on Instagram, and the best ones will be entered in a competition for a fantastic prize! 
The students all then tucked into a well-deserved pizza with their colleges, and it was great to see how quickly friendships are forming and how relaxed everyone is looking! After a long day, the students had a more low-key evening lecture, where they watched an academic film called H is for Harry. After the film, the students got the chance to have a Q+A with the producers: everyone was so eager to ask questions that we overrun – the producers were so happy to see how keen and interested everyone was! We are looking forward to our first excursions tomorrow to London!
As usual, head over to our Instagram and Tiktok @reachcambridge if you want to see more pics!
