Year 9 Pupils Explore Their Interests

At Heritage, we strive to offer a broad curriculum across every subject area, enabling young people to develop many interests and competencies. But we also want to provide opportunities for our pupils to dig deeper into topics and areas that have especially sparked their interest. 

The Year 9 Independent Research Essay is one way that our Seniors can take their learning to deeper levels, inviting pupils to research a topic question and then to analyse, evaluate and reflect their findings in an 800-1500 word essay, with support by a subject teacher.  In February, our Year 9 class successfully submitted the essays that they have been developing since the beginning of the academic year. 

During a recent Senior Assembly, we celebrated this important achievement. Year 9 pupils Cecilia, Daniel, Josh, Liberty and Sandy presented their topics to their fellow pupils, each doing an outstanding job of engaging their classmates with interesting questions and well-researched information on their topic of choice. At the end of the assembly, each member of the Year 9 class received a certificate in recognition of this accomplishment. 

We think you will agree that the topics chosen represent a remarkable breadth of interests across the arts, humanities and sciences. We are eager to see where their interests lead them next! 

• Alfred: Why was  the Battle at Passchendaele a failure?
• Angus: Should a viable alternative be found to using embryonic stem cells in modern medicine?
• Cecilia: How important was Coco Chanel’s influence on the development of fashion? 
• Daniel: How did privatisation affect British railways?
• Evelyn: Should animal organs be used in humans?
• Joel: What effect did the bombing of Pearl Harbour have on the outcome of WW2?
• Joshua: Why are sharks so misunderstood? What could be done to change their reputation?
• Liberty: Why is Hound Dog the perfect American song?
• Luke: Why should Christian Othodox Icons be used in places of worship?
• Olivia: Should art galleries be publicly funded?
• Pamela: What were the factors which influenced developments in saddle making?
• Petar: How important was Nikolai Tesla’s impact on modern science?
• Phoebe: To what extent did the Roman Empire influence the Modern World?
• Rosie: What are the best ways for teenagers to learn French?
• Sandy: Should David still be called ‘a man after God’s own heart’, as was first told in 1 Samuel  13-14, even after all his transgressions, and why?