SCHOOL NO PHILOSOPHERS THINK THEIR WAY TO THE TOP
A team of young philosophers from Wells Cathedral School in Somerset has won the UK Philosothon Trophy for a second year at the annual Philosothon competition held for schools across the country at King’s College Taunton. The inter-schools competition is based on philosophical dialogue, with students given topic questions and stimulus reading materials in advance to enable them to prepare and each candidate marked by an academic philosopher on their contribution. This year’s tasks, created by Julie Arliss of Academy Conferences, who spearheaded the Philosothon movement in the UK, included ‘What is art?’, ‘Is the purpose of life to be happy?’, ‘What is the point in education?’ and ‘What makes you, you?’ The Wells Cathedral School team
comprised 11 pupils ranging in age from 14 to 18. All six of the younger pupils study religion, philosophy and
ethics (RPE) at Wells. The fi ve older pupils in the team currently study philosophy and ethics at AS- or A-level, enjoying a varied curriculum, from ancient philosophy right up to modern-day complex ethical issues in business, medicine and the environment. The students from
Wells Cathedral School were awarded the overall trophy: a bronze sculpture of Rodin’s Thinker; and also came away with two other prizes: the best Year 9 philosopher award for student Susanna Mackay and the best Year 11 philosopher award for student Marianne Sutton. Head of religion, philosophy and
ethics at Wells, Eleanor Smith, said: “The Philosothon is a unique
challenge and experience for our young philosophers; it allows students to build on knowledge from across the disciplines and on the dialogue presented by other students. We’re thrilled that our students have yet again won the trophy, showing themselves able to critically engage with philosophically challenging concepts with students from other schools to the highest standard.”
CHESTER’S CODING CHAMPS
Girls studying computing at The Queen’s School, Chester entered the Grok Learning Computer Science Challenge competition. For a number of weeks they undertook 32 increasingly complex tasks to test their skills and knowledge of the Python coding programme as well as their problem-solving abilities. After leading the way for much of the competition against
groups of pupils from as far afi eld as Australia and Hong Kong, fi ve girls eventually fi nished joint fi rst. They were Year 10 pupils Tabitha Madhavan from Mold, Rachael Turner from Wirral, Sophie Astbury from Chester, Libby Dawson from Chester and Olivia Durnall from Tattenhall. Year 10 and Year 12 computing students also recently took
part in an Oxford University-endorsed ‘computational thinking’ challenge. The girls had to solve a number of complex logic puzzles against the clock. Tamara Fox was awarded Best in School with a number of pupils receiving distinctions.
SCOT TISH SKI SUCCESS
A six-strong team from Loretto School in Scotland has earned a total of ten gold and silver medals on the ski slopes of France. The team triumphed at the recent British Schoolgirls’ Ski Championships in the Haute Savoie ski resort of Flaine, returning as the leading Scottish school team and with a medal haul of four fi rst and six second places in both individual and team events including slalom, giant slalom and combined. The Loretto team of Lucy Buchanan- Smith (14), Alice Buchanan-Smith (17), Katie Stuart (15), Alexandra Stuart (17), Genevieve Baird (15) and Francesca Baird (17) were up against 32 teams and 147 competitors from schools and clubs from the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Loretto headmaster Dr Graham Hawley said:
“This is a wonderful achievement by all the girls who skied superbly against some stiff opposition. Particular mention must be made of Genevieve Baird’s top-class performances on the slopes.”
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