A HISTORY student from Shadsworth who achieved a first at Oxford University said she hopes to inspire other pupils from East Lancashire to study there.

Rheagan McAvoy visited her former secondary school, Our Lady and St John’s Catholic College, Blackburn, just a week after achieving a first-class honours degree.

The 21-year-old, who studied history for three years at the university, spoke to former teachers and groups of Year 11 students, aged from 15 to 16, about her time at Wolfson College, Oxford.

The former Oxford student said she wanted to break the cultural stereotype that surrounds studying at Oxford or Cambridge universities.

Rheagan, of Borrowdale Avenue, said: “One of the things I have noticed is not many people from the North West go to Oxford because they do not see many people they can relate to there.

“I myself have loved it though. I only knew a girl from Wigan from the North West at the university.

“But it was not as scary and intimidating as I thought it would be. Even if people were from different backgrounds it was not hostile at all.”

After achieving three A stars in history, law and English at A-level, the former St Anthony’s Primary School pupil went to study at Oxford in September 2015.

When she first received the offer, she said: “I was in shock. I would not really talk about it with anyone until I got the results.

“I got a conditional offer in January but they wouldn’t accept me until they saw my results in August. I was shocked and secretly happy.”

The former St Mary’s College student’s proudest achievement was completing her 12,000-word thesis, which was graded as a first.

Rheagan, who joined the Oxford Law Society, wrote a thesis about Lancashire schools in the 1950s and 60s.

She researched the relationship and differences between grammar and modern secondary schools in East Lancashire, including Witton Park Academy and Blakey Moor Grammar School in Blackburn as well as several in Burnley.

She said: “On the relationship with grammar schools and secondary modern schools I argued they were different because working class people were less likely to go to grammar schools than secondary modern schools. I spoke to teachers from the different schools and focused on the relationship between the family and the school.”

Rheagan has set her sights on becoming a lawyer and is looking to apply for a graduate scheme in September.

On her return to the school, she added: “It feels like a long time ago, and different because we are in a new building and never been in it before but seeing the teachers there when I studied here makes it feel like I only left five minutes ago.”