Stretch Programme

Selected year 7 & 8 pupils have been attending a Saturday stretch programme at Stowe. The first session in October was a lecture on Linguistics, where pupils explored click language and the origins of language as well as decoding language. It was an exciting talk, with some Year 8 pupils inspired to research linguistics for their project qualification.

On Saturday, Stowe Stretch held its second session supporting prep school scholarships. The focus was on learning how to participate in a Philosothon. A Philosothon is a competition which aims to foster the best elements of academic enquiry. Students are provided with a stimulus (on this occasion, two thought experiments which allowed exploration of the nature of ‘thought’ and how ‘thinking’ differs from an algorithm) and then awarded points for insight, collaboration, and sensitive management and expansion of the thoughts of others. The pupils engaged beautifully with this complicated idea and drew out nuanced arguments. Their interactions with one another were a delight to experience and they gained a lot of additional understanding of the scoring process and how to improve by aiding in the facilitation of the discussion. As ever, staff at Stowe were impressed by the eloquence, intelligence, and grace shown in the way [WHS] students participated. We all now better understand the purpose and importance of thought experiments and thinking. I’m excited to see all the students again for an essay writing session later in the month.

Victoria Lee-Stevens (Head of Elite Applications and Oxbridge at Stowe).