A Curious Year at Truro School

A Curious Year

at Truro School

This past year has seen the School delve into the first of our new values, curiosity, and what a curious year it has been! As a School community, we have focused on promoting curiosity at every opportunity: learning to question, learning to challenge and learning to overcome obstacles.

A student said recently that what others see as impossible, she sees as a challenge to overcome. This is the power of curiosity.

Our new Sixth Form Diploma is one initiative that boosts curiosity. Happily, it is an initiative that has also very much been shaped by our students, to allow them to broaden their understanding of the world and explore topics of interest. The wide array of curricular and supracurricular activities within the programme allows the students to be experts if they wish, or generalists if they prefer.

Curiosity in the Diploma has seen them plunge to the depths of the pool during scuba-diving lessons, get under the bonnet of a car with practical learning tools and even master the art of self-defence.

The rest of the School was gripped too by the fever of curiosity, with some suitably curious questions posed and answered, during trips and as a part of our day-to-day learning: Can we find out how musical genres affect our memory?

Can we test submarine ballast in a bathtub?

Is your mobile phone really the dirtiest surface in your house? (Apparently, it is.)

Does looking at images of mouldy cupcakes change your appetite?

Are superheroes gender-stereotyped?

Is a dog dressed in a suit perceived differently from a dog in a tracksuit? (Apparently, it isn’t.)

And our staff have been feeding this curiosity too. MFL lessons now start with ‘grapple time’, a daily linguistic challenge, whilst our History Department has had to quell curiosity somewhat and disappoint pupils who were hoping to find the final resting place of the school’s first-ever donkey, buried somewhere on the front terrace.

The Physics Department has enabled our budding astronomers to view Jupiter and its moons, and solar flares on the Sun, while the Art Team arranged night drawing and underwater drawing (how curious) in Cape Cornwall.

The English department hosted a visit from David Devanny from the Creative Writing faculty at Falmouth Uni, which culminated in a ‘riotous’ communal poem, accompanied by interludes of improvised jazz. And this list is by no means finite.

At Truro School Prep, curiosity is a value that is nurtured and encouraged every day as our children learn through play and exploration. One stand-out curious moment from this year was the re-creation of the Great Fire of London. Children were able to experience how quickly fire would have spread as their own (cardboard) replica of London went up in flames.Another memorable moment was the construction of a real race car with Mrs Sparkes; their curiosity enabled them to design, build, test and refine their car before driving it for real under race conditions.

Or perhaps it was a visit from Volcanologist Dr James Hickey that (literally) sparked curiosity, as children investigated lava flow using cola and Mentos. Again, with every day being filled with stimulating learning opportunities, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to curious happenings.

The culmination of our Curious Year was, of course, the Festival of Curiosity, held at the end of the Summer Term. We were wowed by plays, concerts, exhibitions, sporting contests and quizzes. We welcomed speakers, including former footballer John Gayle, Author Seth Burkett, positive psychology coach Faye Edwardes and Spaceport’s Melissa Thorpe. And, through a Curious timetable, we inspired, challenged and entertained our pupils with design tasks, maths riddles, circus skills and science and innovation.

Next year’s values focus will be compassion. As we have done with curiosity, we will thread through the year the importance of better understanding the impact of our choices, behaviours and actions on others. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you next year.