Page 8 - Speech Day Booklet

ACADEmIC HIgHlIgHtS
Economics
English literature pupils attended the Cheltenham Literature Festival hearing talks by writers including Oyinkan Braithwaite, Richard Dawkins, Sebastian Faulks, Erin Kelly, Denise Mira, Celeste Ng, James O’Brien and Max Porter. They also attended the Hastings Literary Festival and the Brighton Arts Festival where they heard talks by new dystopian authors Joanne Ramos and Season Butler. Theatre trips included Measure for Measure
at the Barbican, Twelfth Night at the National Theatre archives, and Jane Eyre at the Devonshire Park theatre. Visiting speakers offered insights into the poetry of Wilfred Owen and A Streetcar Named Desire, and Paul Lowden returned to run a day workshop leading to a pupil performance of an abridged Hamlet.
Pupils put on Hamlet in a day Extended Project Qualification
Over 100 sixth formers worked towards their level 3 Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).The EPQ is highly regarded by universities, and involves pupils submitting a dissertation of 6,000 words on a chosen topic working alongside an academic mentor.Topics this year included:
• Has the rise of nationalism in politics created a divided society?
• How do crime documentaries influence public opinion?
• Should the NHS further invest in music therapy as a treatment for
autistic spectrum disorders?
• What are the philosophical and theological implications of
scientific investigation and discovery?
• To what extent was Henr y VII a successful and just monarch after
the Wars of the Roses?
• To what extent have neuro-marketing strategies become an
intrusive part of everyday life?
• Has an increase in immigration led UK culture to become diluted?
Pupils benefited from visits by a number of high-profile speakers including Lord Tyrie (chair of the Competition and Markets Authority),Toby van der Meer (CEO of Hastings Insurance)
and Philip Broadley OE (board director at AstraZeneca and Legal & General).They have also pushed themselves beyond
the boundaries of the A-level course with the school’s first-ever submission to the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Budget Challenge, and are the first group to follow the school’s newly launched fundamentals of financial services course overseen by the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.
Pupils with Lord Tyrie
English
English Department trip to the Cheltenham Literature Festival
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