Senior School Enrichment
To complement our GCSE curriculum we offer a series of enrichment lectures designed to challenge, inspire and broaden horizons. Over 30 talks are held throughout the year by visiting speakers on subjects which fall outside the boundaries of the curriculum. The aim of these lectures is to encourage pupils outside of their comfort zone and allow them to gain an insight into, and be inspired by a variety of experiences that our speakers are able to share with them.
This target has certainly been achieved this year with speakers ranging from ex-England Cricket and Rugby International Alistair Hignall to Holocaust survivor Rudi Oppenheimer.
Throughout the year pupils were able to hear about real-life examples of leadership, both good and bad, and ask engaging questions to the likes of Master Chief Intelligence Officer Mike McKay from the US Navy, Group Captain Brian James from the RAF and Ian Saunders from the Police Force.
Mike McKay, Directorate of Operations for NATO in England challenged the pupils on their communication and leadership skills, before putting them through their paces with some of the work done with recruits joining NATO. DSI Saunders then delivered a talk titled “An Extraordinary Career Working with Extraordinary People”, talking through his experience of working in the police force, whilst also challenging the pupils with some case studies – seeing which direction they might go had they been running the investigation, and Group Captain Brian James shared lessons from his time as a fast-jet pilot with the RAF in both war and peace time.
Dr Lisa Chambrlain-James from Trilogy, delivered a thoroughly fascinating lecture on ‘Bad Science’ and ‘fake news’, whilst Loughborough University’s Dr Gemma Witcomb addressed a group about the challenging topic of gender stereotypes. The school also welcomed Simon Rowe from KLFM Radio station. Simon addressed a fascinated group of pupils about his career path, working in the media and radio whilst also sharing his own experiences where he had to show resilience, drive and determination.
Additionally Patricia Duff delivered a lecture on her Archaeology work at Cambridge University and around the world, Dr Richard Lissaman from Warwick explored the links between Maths and Computer gaming, Ross Viner discussed the developments in renewable energy and Mike Hart showed the pupils how 3D Brain scanning is being used by neuroscientists, including exciting advancements in 3D modelling designed to help surgeons carry out complicated surgical operations.
“The wide range of Lectures available to the pupils has allowed them to explore potential career paths as well as ask questions of those who are leaders in their field, whilst the challenging topic areas and content have stretched the pupils outside of their comfort zone. We are very thankful to all of those speakers who have given up their time to visit this term and continue to help make our pupils even better.”
Mr Alex Laybourne, Deputy Head of 6th Form
