A teenager is preparing to study at the oldest university in the English-speaking world after she secured a place at Oxford.

Sophia Banner, a Warwick Academy graduate, will begin her course in archaeology and anthropology in October.

She said: “I’m very happy that I’ve been able to get the opportunity and I think it’s going to be a wonderful learning experience."

The 18-year-old was helped during her application process by Bermudian alumni of Oxford University.

She explained: “You do your regular application on UCAS [Universities and Colleges Admissions Service]. You give in a personal statement and that applies for all unis.

“Then for Oxford you do have to do an interview. I did mine on Zoom because, of course, during Covid it was a bit difficult to get all the way to England for a couple of days.”

Ms Banner added: “Thankfully there was someone at Warwick who had been to Cambridge so she was able to put me in contact with the Oxbridge alumni association, which allowed me to make contact with people in Bermuda who had been to Oxford or been through an interview process.

“It was actually really fun and I got to do a practice interview with those people, which was a lot of fun.”

Ms Banner, a talented artist, initially had other plans for her further education.

She explained: “I first started off actually looking for costume design degrees and then I did a complete turnaround and went into archaeology and anthropology, which was fantastic.”

The teenager added: “I came into archaeology more from the textile route.

“I started looking at textiles and then archaeological remains of textiles and that’s where the costume design fed into it and then the textiles of other communities.”

Ms Banner, who was valedictorian when she and her classmates graduated in May, said: “I looked at a large amount of colleges with the help of the guidance counsellor at Warwick.”

She said other options she considered included institutions in Edinburgh, Durham and Exeter.

Ms Banner added: “Oxford just had a really wide programme. It enabled you to study a whole range of things from the very basics of anthropology to very specialised subjects.

“I think it was what actually drew me towards it — the variety of things that you can study.”

She said that her three-year course will include several weeks of fieldwork.

Ms Banner added: “It’s incredibly interesting and taught by some of the best people in the world and, of course, you’ve got the ability to research any topic you wish, so it’s the dream.”

The University of Oxford website says that it is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, with teaching existing in some form since 1096.

Ms Banner said: “Even if I would have gone to Durham it would have been fantastic but I guess Oxford is just the cherry on the cake.”