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St Edward’s:
150 Years
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Chapter 5 / Doorways and Gateways
Technology opened up new possibilities for the
Cafés
by
enabling real-time contact with organisations around the
world. The first venture was in 2011 when St Edward’s Science
Department ran a large inter-School
Café
at St Edward’s called
‘Coral Reef Crisis’, during which the pupils were able to talk to
marine ecologists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in
San Diego, California. How different from those school days in
Victorian England; from ink wells to ‘Skype’!
Dr Kendall Williams
Head of Science
Chemistry
Of course, chemistry is a very old subject, with its roots in
Islamic culture and the study of al-chemistry, or alchemy as
it was known in the West. However, it is in many ways still
a thrusting, young and vibrant subject right at the forefront
of technological advancements, from the development of the
material graphene through to atmospheric chemistry and the
study into how and why the climate is warming. We like to
think that in the Chemistry Department we still have strong
elements of tradition yet embrace new ideas.
The Chemistry Department is an interesting mix of old
and new. The department still resides in the grand 1930s
building by the Woodstock Road entrance, but has expanded
and spread across the whole of the top floor since the Biology
Department moved to the Ogston Building. As a result, we
have five good-size laboratories equipped with projectors
and data loggers etc., but still with all the curious bottles of
interesting-sounding chemicals on display in the drawers.
With the introduction of the International GCSE Science
to the School, there is a re-establishment of traditional rigour
to the curriculum but without losing sight of the real-world
applications for the subject, and this continues in the Salters
A Level course and IB in the Sixth Form. Sixth Formers devise
their own investigations, carry them out and evaluate them
using their data to suggest improvements. This provides a
good grounding for what is required in practical Science
modules at university.
There are also the guest speakers and trips keeping both
pupils and staff up to speed with the latest developments,
such as how to create an energy map of a reaction (including
contours), chemical aspects of forensic science, and the
chemistry of wine. This year there is also a new Chemistry
Instruments extra-curricular club. Shells also get stuck into some
extra-curricular practical Chemistry in the Shell Circus, including
making their own paint and looking at various forms of energy.
discussed. But peer over a pupil’s shoulder and you may be
surprised at what they are reading: the canon still remains at
the centre of literary studies at St Edward’s, but alongside the
greats of English and American literature pupils are currently
reading works from Japan, Nigeria, Sudan, Norway, Sweden,
France, Greece, Russia, Canada, Australia and Columbia.
Outside the classroom, matters have also changed quite
dramatically. There are now unprecedented opportunities
for English enthusiasts: during the last academic year, the
Department’s Phoenix Society ran four Shakespeare theatre
trips, hosted visits by novelists, university professors and a
company of actors, invited a folk band to read and sing poetry
to them, and took in a museum exhibition, a ballet at Sadler’s
Wells and an opera at Covent Garden. So what we call ‘doing
English’ is more diverse than ever before, and often more
challenging and exciting, both for pupils and for their teachers.
Jason Clapham
Head of English
SCIENCE
In 2008 St Edward’s School proudly opened the new Life
Sciences Building (now the Ogston Building). The School
currently has 25 Science teachers and five technicians, housed
in two Science buildings with 16 laboratories and two teaching
rooms. All pupils study Biology, Chemistry and Physics to
GCSE and large numbers continue to study the Sciences in
the Sixth Form for both A Level and the IB diploma. Pupils
are encouraged to look beyond the syllabus and can regularly
attend School science societies (‘Bioradicals’, ‘Cavendish’ and
‘Priestley’), to hear lectures and debates about Biology, Medicine,
the History and Philosophy of Science and Science in Society.
In 2004, as Head of Science, I started a popular and
accessible strand of Science event at St Edward’s called ‘
Café
des Sciences’
, which are themed sessions, bringing together top
scientists with pupils to consider topical and engaging scientific
matters. The original idea was to create a discussion-based
forum where pupils had the chance to consider scientific issues
in a café-style environment reminiscent of the
branché
Saint-
Germain-des-Prés area of Paris; once the nerve centre of the
literary and intellectual world. One of the successful features of
St Edward’s
Café
is that pupils research the topic to be discussed
in advance so that they are able to debate with confidence. As a
result, pupils are already ‘experts’ when they enter the
Café
and
are able to question and argue with much more authority. The
pupils are active and interact with each other and the scientists.
Recent visiting scientists have included Richard Dawkins,
Steve Jones, George McGavin and Kate Lancaster. Topics for
discussion have included climate change, evolution, the abyss,
shark ecology, nuclear fission, biodiversity, science of cooking,
parasites, forensic science, coral reefs, mimicking the sense of
smell, and science at the movies.
In 2007 St Edwards’s Science Department started working
closely with the Oxford International Biomedical Centre to
develop the concept of
‘Cafés des Sciences’
, and involve other
schools, both maintained and independent. This association has
led to a joint annual Science Symposium held at St Edward’s,
where top scientists lecture and debate with school pupils,
university students and members of the public. Communication
Café des Sciences
, Richard
Dawkins in the Old Library.
Computer technology also made an appearance in
the classroom while I was there, with the IBM School’s
Computer, which was a portable (it took three boys to lift
it) computer that displayed to a television set, and was
programmed using a decimal three address instruction set.
– Howard Thomson (A, 1966–71)
Left: Upper Sixth Tom Lord (left) and Jonathan Goddard
(right) carrying out the practical phase of their A2 individual
investigation coursework.
Below: 4th Form girls Alexandra Ellis (left) and Camille Bonini
(right) performing an acid-base titration.
Bottom: Chemistry laboratory, 1964.