Sixth-formers from a deprived area of London are to live and study as undergraduates at Oxford University to boost their educational aspiration and achievement.

BSix Brooke House Sixth Form College in Hackney, and Pembroke College, Oxford, have launched what is believed to be the first official partnership between a school and an individual Oxford college.

Every year a group of BSix pupils will spend a week at Pembroke learning the study, research and analytical skills necessary for academic success. The aim is to dispel any pupil preconceptions that Oxford is “not for the likes of us”. Ken Warman, principal of BSix, said: “This is about saying that if you have to jump six feet to get to Oxford, then we have to train our kids to jump six feet. It is not about lowering standards.”