BRIGHT young things at Bolton are aiming high with aspirations to study at world leading universities.

Bolton School and Rivington and Blackrod High School organised the inaugural Oxbridge Conference to show students in Bolton that places at Oxford and Cambridge were within their grasp.

More than 90 A-level students and Year 11 students from Rivington and Blackrod, Turton, Thornleigh, UTC Bolton, Bolton Muslim Girls School, Canon Slade, Bolton School attended the conference held at the Art Centre at Bolton School.

The conference was arranged to encourage more young people from Bolton to apply to the universities and is the latest in a series of initiative being run in Bolton to show them that Oxbridge is within their grasp.

Like many towns Bolton does not send as many students to these universities as it should.

Last month, the Sutton Trust published research showing that just eight top schools – most of them private – got more children into Oxbridge than 2,900 comprehensives combined.

Recent Oxbridge graduates spoke to the students about university life. They included Bolton School pupils Isabella Sabini, Emily Varley and Olivia Hosker.

The students heard talks by Richard Petty from Oxford University and by Dr Matt Bullimore from the University of Cambridge, as well as taking part in a number of practical activities designed to help students take the first steps towards planning their university application.

Paul Canning, head of sixth form at Rivington and Blackrod High School, said: "This is just one way of encouraging students to picture themselves as the Oxford and Cambridge students of the future. They are all very capable young people, who can go on to a top university.

"The message throughout the day was this could be you."

Catherine Winder, head of the sixth form at Bolton School, added: "Oxford and Cambridge, along with several other top universities, can seem like distant and daunting institutions. This day was all about demystifying both the universities, and the application process."

For students the conference made them realise that Oxbridge was a real option.

Rivington and Blackrod High School student Natasha Witter, said: "The day really opened my eyes, and made me think that maybe, Cambridge University is for me. Before today I never really thought that obtaining a place at either of these universities would be achievable."