“At OLA we encourage pupils above all to follow their interests, providing a broad range of options to enable them to do so. Every single subject gives value over and beyond the subject matter involved. Good teachers don’t just open a door to knowledge but, whatever their specialism, teach skills that go beyond it. In this way our children develop into rounded human beings with a range of personal and academic aptitudes that will be useful to them for the rest of their lives.”
I am a little embarrassed to confess that, while passionate about Arts subjects at school, I was less excited about Science. As at OLA, the Science subjects at my school were part of the core curriculum and all pupils were required to study them to ‘O’ Level. While I could relate to Biology and developed an interest in environmental matters, leading to huge enjoyment of an Environmental Studies option in the Sixth Form and a month long expedition to Iceland on the back of this, I could never quite see the point of Chemistry and Physics. This, I think, had something to do with the teachers I had for these subjects, but was also a general failure on my part to understand why they were important.
I still have my Physics exercise book from this time with its comment from my teacher, a laconic Scot who had clearly noticed my lack of enthusiasm: ‘Cheer up! Only two weeks of Physics to go.’ In the end, by slogging away at Hooke’s Law, colloids and other (to me) impenetrable material, I did achieve some decent grades – better, in fact, than in my preferred Biology – but was relieved to be able to move on to pastures new in the Sixth Form.
Looking back, I am disappointed that my youthful imagination wasn’t stirred more by Science. It is, of course, very much en vogue among young people right now, not only because of the many excellent popularisers of Science like Brian Cox, Steve Jones and Richard Dawkins, but also because of the exciting advances in human knowledge and technology that have come with it. Added to this, here at OLA we have a wonderful team of Science staff under the inspirational leadership of Mr Easton. This means that we always have a healthy number of students opting to study Science at A Level, enthused by the windows it opens and encouraged by their parents and the prevailing zeitgeist. As a result, while some other subjects end up being taught in very small groups, Science subjects rarely are. Students regularly take their interest to the next level and recent choices for university subjects have included Biomedical Sciences, Nuclear Physics and Medical Engineering.
The current popularity of STEM subjects can, however, lead to the danger of schools downplaying the benefits of other choices. A healthy balance in the curriculum is always needed and students should never feel they need to choose certain subjects just because they are seen to be more highly prized than others. I write as a Classicist who is well aware of the dominance that Latin and Greek had in the curricula of independent schools over many decades, and how long it took for Science to find a place in them at all. Despite the well-documented benefits of a classical education, the 19th and early 20th century public school curriculum lacked breadth and, as well as needing an injection of Science, in the end had to make room for the study of modern languages and the other subjects that go to make up today’s timetable.
At OLA we encourage pupils above all to follow their interests, providing a broad range of options to enable them to do so. Every single subject gives value over and beyond the subject matter involved. Good teachers don’t just open a door to knowledge but, whatever their specialism, teach skills that go beyond it. In this way our children develop into rounded human beings with a range of personal and academic aptitudes that will be useful to them for the rest of their lives.