STUDENTS in Oxford are sacrificing their spare time to bridge the city's 'stark' town and gown rift.

Hundreds of people studying at Oxford University and Oxford Brookes have been trained to work at schools in disadvantaged areas of the city, to help pupils meet their potential.

The programme is called Schools Plus, run by Oxford Hub, and sees students volunteer to tutor children in 14 partner schools.

Sara Fernandez, director of Oxford Hub, said: “It is wonderful hearing from tutors about their sessions and hearing about their meetings with all of the pupils in schools.

“We’d like to invite everyone in Oxford to play a role in tackling educational inequality in the city.

"Feedback from teachers shows the scheme plays an important role in adding capacity to local schools and helping to raise aspirations of the pupils.”

The programme is funded by donations and grants, and volunteers’ help ranges from reading with young pupils to supporting A-level students with subject-specific revision.

Students are trained by Oxford Hub every September and the latest cohort started at their schools at the end of October.

Each receives a DBS check for safety reasons and works on a voluntary basis between one and two hours per week.

An online fundraising page set up by Schools Plus points to a 'stark educational inequality existing in Oxford city'.

The page adds: “Despite its elite and wealthy image, Oxford city experiences high levels of educational inequality.

“In particular, children from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle to achieve good results throughout primary school and at GCSE exams. Schools Plus will help to boost attainment.

“For the student volunteers, Schools Plus will set them on a lifelong journey of civic engagement, continuing their involvement in challenging educational disadvantage for life.”

Last year 250 students took part in the scheme, volunteering at primary and secondary schools across the city.

In 2016 the Oxford Mail revealed that in the past 10 years, 292 people from Oxford were awarded a place at Oxford University.

However, just a tiny percentage came from poorer areas and not a single place was awarded to anyone from Blackbird Leys or Northfield Brook.

The most recent Oxford City Council data for deprivation shows that wards such as Blackbird Leys and Barton are still seeing low employment rates and poor educational attainment.