ACADEMIC PRIORITY TIME: IN FOCUS

Shells and Removes have been using their Monday evenings to fine tune their scholarly ambitions thanks to our reinvigorated Academic Priority Time (APT) sessions. A carousel of activities delivered by staff – in addition to talks by visiting speakers — allows boys to explore unique and interesting topics within the sphere of academic subjects, but beyond the confines of the examination syllabus.

During the Michaelmas term, our youngest boys explored Cryptic Crosswords with Mr Swain, Crystal Building with Head of Geology, Mr Bedford and the Thucydides and the Russo-Ukraine conflict with Messrs Taylor and Lord. Their practical engineering ability was put to the test in an Engineering Challenge with Mr Pullen, and Mr Wood explored the choices facing military and strategy leaders during World War 2 in The Armchair General. The Removes considered Ancient and Modern Gender and Sexuality with Mr Campbell, looked at War Photography from across the ages with Mr Greed and took part in Chemistry workshops with Dr Lebedeva, a former research scientist.

Mr Rathbone, Academic Director, has been particularly impressed by the boys’ willingness to get involved and explore new areas of study: “Academic Priority Time exists to show that the primary purpose of the school — academic learning — can take forms beyond the standard classroom lesson. Extension work stretches the brain and feeds enthusiasms. It may also create different and exciting dynamics whereby teachers and other academic staff create activities which develop in the boys a love of topics and themes way beyond the all-too-evident constraints of the curriculum. This is vital for developing habits of independent study and general knowledge which will be crucial for application to the best universities. It is also, most importantly, a great deal of fun.”

“APT allows boys to attend talks by outside speakers from a range of fields and our guestlist is rather impressive. My experience is that we can write to almost anybody — bar perhaps the President of the United States or the Pope — and they will come and address the boys. APT is also a time for more advanced language learning, scientific experiments, art and design work, robotics, computing and discussion fora, such as subject reading groups and Symposium. When boys make a good use of it, APT works as a wonderful complement to classroom learning.”

Thucydides and the Russo-Ukraine conflict

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