This week, a group of our year 7 students were joined by students from Queen Elizabeth’s School – one of our most important partner schools – for a day-long workshop on climate change and climate action.
First, the students enjoyed presentations from two science teachers, providing them with the knowledge and scientific language with which to talk confidently about environmental issues. (They learned about the use of data and observation from things like ice cores and fossils, green-house gases and negative and positive feedback loops.) Since the aim of the day was for each group to make a persuasive presentation to a range of audiences such as local businesses about why and how they need to change, the students then studied a range of rhetorical and literary devices as tools they might employ for their own pitch. (They considered a speech by Greta Thunberg, and poems of warning about the peril the planet finds itself in.) It was great to see such a range of material in the final presentations which included hard-hitting and particularly passionate speeches, poignant poems, thought-provoking sketches, and even memorable advertising jingles.
Partnership work is highly affirmative of the emphasis NLCS puts on intellectual stretch and challenge. Our programme of Partnership days allows our students to move beyond their ‘comfort zone’ by encountering their peers in the wider educational world. These workshops with other schools also develop subject knowledge and passion, and most importantly in today’s world, raise students’ confidence in their presentational skills.
