Funded by the philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl through the Sutton Trust, the school offers an opportunity for young people each year to try university life at research-led universities.

The school’s aim is to encourage university applications from students from non-traditional backgrounds aged 16+ in Year 12. These include those with no family history of university attendance, those whose parents are in non-professional occupations or who attend schools with virtually no history of sending pupils to university.

Over 120 students are attending this year’s school, which consists of a one-week taster programme of lectures, seminars and tutorials, providing students with an accurate idea of life as an undergraduate at university.

Doug Jennings, Outreach and Summer School Officer at the University, said: ‘The school provides an important opportunity for Bristol and universities in general to promote themselves to students from schools that have little or no record of generating applicants for university places. We hope that by the end of the week the students will be convinced that higher education is for them.’

In addition to their academic programme the students will also have the chance to take part in a range of social activities including a dance workshop, debating, an open-top bus tour of the city and a variety of different sports.