Oxford Masterclass for the Highly Able

On Friday 25 January fifteen high achieving Year 10 and 11 students attended an 'Oxford Masterclass for the Highly Able' in central London.
The focus of the day was on the capacity of students to manipulate abstract ideas and make connections across subject areas, and pupils heard challenging university-level presentations. They heard lectures from Julie Arliss (Oxford University) who examined fundamental philosophical and theological debates about identity and the afterlife, Professor Tom Greggs (University of Aberdeen) who discussed some key considerations we should have when studying the historiography of British and European history, Dr Christopher O'Neill (Oxford University) who explored the psychology of outstanding achievement, and Dr Mark Lewney, an academic who uses the science of electric guitars  to explore the nature of reality and string theory. Pupils also enjoyed a panel debate on the abolition of the monarchy.