Sport - Rugby School

Activities
2009/10
Activities
The Extended Project and the Philosophy Zone
The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is growing fast
and looks set to become a central component in UK post-16
education, as well as having significant uptake internationally.
One of the reasons why the qualification is proving so attractive
to schools and colleges is that it offers the opportunity for the
development of a higher education model of learning within a
secondary context. It is therefore of value as a preparation for
the challenges of university study. This point was made by the
1994 Group of universities, who commented:
“The Extended Project is widely welcomed in principle and in
prospect. A large majority of departmental admissions tutors
expect to recognise it as a positive attribute when selecting among
applicants with similar levels of achievement (both high fliers
and those at the borderline). Tutors also welcome its potential to
enhance study skills, to align with undergraduate modes of study
and to provide additional diagnostic evidence when selecting
among applicants.”
The Philosophy Zone programme culminated in a major student
conference in March. Part of the conference featured a live
online discussion. Remarkably, this was joined by students from
Australia. Passion for philosophy, it seems, runs strong enough
to gainsay the need to sleep!
JLT
Haileybury Model United Nations
There is a high degree of overlap between the set of skills that
the EPQ qualification is designed to develop, and those which
are part of philosophy: thinking more deeply about conceptual
questions, exploring the relationship between different fields of
study and engaging in ethical reflection. Philosophy, therefore,
is a subject which has a central role to play in the preparation
for, and writing of, EPQ dissertations.
The philosophical element has been emphasized in the
development of the Perspectives on Science course, and the
widening of the Perspectives learning model to other subject
areas. Students using this approach learn elements of philosophy
by engaging in argument about questions of a philosophical
nature, rather than by didactic teaching of the history of ideas.
Seminar discussions are used to build skills in argument, analysis,
synthesis of perspectives and oral communication.
To explore the potential of Perspectives-based partnership
arrangements, in September 2008, Rugby School set up a
programme called the ‘Philosophy Zone’, which links the four
sixth forms in Rugby. Local schools’ participation has been made
possible via sponsorship by the Warwickshire Local Authority
14–19 section. Over 50 lower sixth students have participated
this year. There are four Philosophy Zone seminar discussions
each week, to which Rugby School students also come.
The Philosophy Zone online was launched in September 2009.
Currently, nearly 400 students and staff have accounts for the
zone. There are weekly podcasts, with linked discussion threads,
a space for discussion of project ideas, resource links and a
philosophical quotation of the week. Following publicity on the
BBC news website, a number of schools and colleges from the
UK and Australia have joined the zone.
A delegation of five students (Jonathan Willetts, Elise Johnson,
Astrid Nestius-Brown, Thomas Schafranek and Salem Qunsol)
represented the Republic of Indonesia at the annual Haileybury
MUN conference at Haileybury School. The conference lasted
three days and went extremely well considering it was the
School’s first time participating in such a conference.
In the Disarmament Committee, Jonathan Willetts successfully
guided through a resolution to debate on the question of the
unregulated international transfer of nuclear weapons with
twelve signatures when only ten were required, which is an
astounding result. Meanwhile, in the Human Rights Committee,
Salem Qunsol was able to merge his resolution designed to
protect the rights of orphans with two other delegates’ proposals
to create one resolution made by three different countries.
Elise Johnson was also successful with her resolution concerning
the exploitation of young workers. This meant all of the
delegation’s co-written resolutions were passed into debate,
an extraordinary achievement. Throughout the rest of the
conference, involvement from the delegation was obvious.
The delegation had high debating skills and asked the right
questions at the right time, making sure they made an impact
on the conference.
All in all, the Rugby delegation left a huge imprint on the
conference and did extremely well considering it was their first
time.
Salem Qunsol
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