It was wonderful to kick off our Senior Societies programme this week, with a number of visiting speakers and student-led discussions taking place.
Students in Years 11, 12 and 13 were privileged to hear from our Senior Societies keynote lecturer, Katie Perrior, who in 2016 became the first female Director of Communications at 10 Downing Street. During her lecture entitled, ‘What would you do if you were not afraid?’, Katie spoke about having courage, being confident and resilient and not being afraid to make mistakes. Following her talk, students had the opportunity to ask Katie questions, and she shared stories of her time working for Theresa May and Boris Johnson and offered her opinion on the current political landscape.
Other events over the week included History Society, who enjoyed an engaging speech from our Year 13 students on Dr Janina Ramirez’s ‘Femina’, uncovering the lives of lesser known medieval woman. Art Society welcomed Dr David Peggie for a talk entitled ‘The Elements of Art: Analytical Chemistry at the National Gallery, London’. Culture and Anthropology Society were joined virtually by Deputy Head Monk of Ryosoku-in temple (Kyoto, Japan) and Zen Buddhist master, Toryo Ito for a talk on creative ideas and Zen Buddhism and finally Film and Media Society enjoyed a discussion and presentation of Maya Deren’s 1943 Short Film, ‘Meshes of the Afternoon.’
With over fifty different student-led societies on offer, providing leadership and enrichment opportunities, we look forward to the plethora of talks that will take place over the year.
