It’s been a terrific year of intellectual stimulation and exploration for the Academic Scholars, which will culminate in our first Academic Scholars’ Summer Celebration evening on 3 July.  

Scholars from Year 7 -13 have engaged in thought-provoking and exciting discussions at Café Society, a space for unrestricted discussion covering a dazzling range of topics and themes. The aim of Café Society is to really stretch and challenge the students’ ability to think critically in a space where they feel free to express themselves and develop their confidence. Ms Banks and I have been really impressed with the high level of engagement and curiosity demonstrated. In addition, a weekly lateral thinking puzzle has amused, engaged and on occasion completely foxed our Academic Scholars! 

The Academic Scholars also worked collaboratively with scholars from other year groups on a presentation: for Years 7-10, a topic of their choice; and for Years 11-13, the specific topic was feedback - a review of the current literature, what this looks like in practice and how it is shared with students across subjects at Blackheath High. Each group also had to consider which were the most effective methods of feedback according to student questionnaires. This focus on feedback was purposefully chosen to align with the research of our staff Teaching and Learning group, led by Ms Blythe and Miss Rivers. The winning presentations from both Years 7-10 and Years 11-13 will be announced at the Summer Celebration event in July. 

Here’s a small selection of Café Society discussions this year - impressive in both range and eclecticism of topics/themes! 

• Dynamic pricing – what is it and is it fair? 

• Determining worth – how do we decide the value of something? 

• The business of Taylor Swift  

• The history of Blackheath High School – the changes that would have occurred in girls’ education during this time and what might have remained the same 

• Ethics surrounding the euthanasia debate 

• The pioneering medical procedures of Dr Semmelweis 

• What happened to Tsar Nicholas II and his family & the various Anastasias making a claim to the title?   

• The difference between talent and genius  

• The impact of loss of a sense (e.g. taste, sight); long and short term memory loss 

• The Portuguese man ‘o war – how it functions as a colonial organism 

• Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition (the built-in human ability to learn) 

• Artificial intelligence: what is it and how do we define it? How long has it been around? 

• Dystopian novels & films: Brave New World, The Machine Stops, The Time Machine  

• Copyright and ownership