Our pupils have been getting out of the classroom–both within Cambridge and without–during their Enrichment sessions this half-term. Take a look at our galleries below to see our pupils visiting the Botanic Garden, Imperial War Museum in Duxford, the Zoology Museum, Shepreth Wildlife Park, the Natural History Museum in London, the American Cemetery, Flatford Mill, and more!
As part of our priority to get pupils outdoors, we offer regular Forest School sessions in rotation to classes in Upper Prep through Year 8. Through these experiences, we want our children to relish the unique delight that is available through time in nature, in addition to building their confidence with a new set of skills and a growing a sense of responsibility for the great outdoors.
During this half-term, Year 2 and Year 7 pupils have been enjoying time in Clare Wood during their weekly sessions. Year 2 have been learning to whittle, practising wilderness cooking, creating natural arts and crafts, playing woodland games and more. Year 7 have practiced all of the steps in fire lighting including laying, lighting, striking and safe extinguishing. They have learned to cook rudimentary ‘what veg do I have?’ soup, tasted nettle crisps and dandelion cookies, and learned about which plants in the woodland are good for us and which may contain toxins best avoided. They have constructed water filters to purify the water from the stream and learned about filtration and the purifying properties of charcoal. They have also mapped the woods, laid trails and followed each others’ pathways to solve quizzes, find new destinations and experience the journey.
We hope this time in the forest will stay with our pupils long after their time with us, teaching them that nature offers a sense of satisfaction, refreshment and enjoyment that can only be found by stepping outside.
Earlier this week, families gathered in Panton Hall to watch Year 5 perform Alice the Musical, a delightful production based on Lewis Carroll’s familiar classic Alice In Wonderland. The performance was a true crowd pleaser, with whimsical song and dance numbers and a set that helped bring the captivating absurdity of Wonderland to life. But best of all were the outstanding performances by the pupils portraying all of the story’s weird and wonderful characters, from the Cheshire Cat to the Mad Hatter to the Queen of Hearts. Well done to Mrs Watkins and the class for all of their hard work, and thanks to Mrs Zurcher for her musical support, Mrs Robertson for artwork and prop design, Miss Pearce-Higgins for managing the lighting and Mr Campbell for setup of the stage and lights.
This week, Seniors thought about the relationship between science and faith during an assembly talk with Steph Bryant of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, a Cambridge-based research group focussed on the understanding of religious beliefs in relation to the sciences.
Ms Bryant, who studied the Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, guided the pupils through a frothy chemistry experiment to illustrate the idea that science is primarily about observation, testing, and measurement. It can help us understand the world around us by explaining how things work; but we need to look elsewhere when we want to explore questions about meaning, purpose, and the ‘why’ of things. Religion, by comparison, is meant to examine questions like ‘Does life have a purpose?’ or ‘Why is there a universe?’ Because science is unable to fully answer these questions, she explained, having a broader perspective that considers many different fields of inquiry—including religion, morality and ethics, history, and aesthetics—can give us a richer and fuller understanding of the world.
She encouraged the young people to be open to many different fields of study that they will encounter at school, which will all feed into the bigger questions about life and where they fit into that bigger picture.
Many thanks to Ms Bryant and the Faraday Institute for an inspiring and thought-provoking assembly.
Congratulations to Heritage Alumnae Coralie Bell, who completed the London Marathon this past weekend in a phenomenal 3:02:53. Coralie, who was in our first class of leavers in 2016, ran in support of The Brain Charity after working for the past four years with a family who have three children with spastic paraplegia, a rare disorder. Coralie recently earned a degree from Leeds Medical School and will soon be starting as a Junior Doctor in Scunthorpe.
