Page 8 - The Malvernian - Autumn Term 2020

THE MALVERNIAN
8
Climate Change
Founder members of the Environmental Action Group (EAG), Emily Finch (No.8), Felix Alber Stroltz (SH), Alisa Gudkova (No.4), Ginny Lawrence (No.6) and Kitty Holroyd (No.6) were invited by The West Worcestershire Climate Coalition (who bring together organisations and individuals with shared concerns over climate change) to take part in a zoom interview with Harriett Baldwin MP as part of an ongoing initiative of Harriet’s to consult with Environmental Groups in her constituency. Representatives of XR, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and other more local groups also took part, and the students involved found it interesting to see how such a meeting progressed
and developed. Our students contributed to the ‘group chat’ element and Felix was able to draw on his experience of Climate Change in the Alps to contribute to the live discussion on line with Harriet herself.
As a result of the discussion, Harriet Baldwin has agreed to ask a question in the House of Commons reflecting some of the issues discussed and a further meeting convened later in the year.
Mrs Nichola Cage
Teacher of Geography & Head of Pre Sixth
Upper Sixth Mock Oxbridge Interviews
On Field Day this term, our Upper Sixth Oxbridge and elite universities candidates were given the opportunity to do mock interviews. This involved being questioned by a panel of two expert academics (teaching staff) from their chosen field. Through the ensuing conversations the candidates were probed and challenged about their subject, knowledge and skills in order to ascertain their independent powers of thinking and argument. Some candidates were given an unseen text or article just prior to the interview in order to ascertain their conceptual abilities when ‘put on the spot’. For example, our law candidates were given the
case notes on Pretty v DPP about the right to life (or not) in a case of an attempted assisted suicide. In a similar vein, the candidates hoping to read English were given unseen poems and asked to interpret and comment. In all, it was a day when the boundaries of knowledge and wisdom were tested and genuine intellectual scholarship pressed, all to better prepare them for, hopefully, success when they encounter the ‘real thing’.
Bradley Wells
Teacher of English and Head of Academic Scholarship