Impact Report 2022-2023

13 IMPACT REPORT

STEM Activities In January, St Edward’s hosted the annual Biology Symposium in collaboration with the Oxford International Biomedical Centre. The North Wall was at capacity with an audience made up of Teddies Sixth Form Biologists and pupils from 11 of our partnership schools. This year we welcomed Oliver Featherstone from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Naroa Ibarra-Aizpurua from the University of Oxford, Dr Oliver McCallion from the University of Oxford and Dr Hana Hassanin from the University of Surrey. In celebration of National Science Week in March staff from the Physics department visited Cutteslowe Primary School and delivered interactive demonstrations to every year group in the school with the aim of inspiring inquisitive minds. Themes included magnetism, electricity, air pressure and the light spectrum. Over 100 Year 6 pupils from three local state primary schools came for an afternoon of Christmas-themed fun. Our Biology, Physics and Chemistry departments gave interactive lectures with the theme ‘The Science of Christmas’. Physics staff discussed Rudolph’s ‘Incredible Journey’ highlighting the issues of friction and how fast he must travel. The Chemistry department focused on ‘The Colours of Christmas’ and chopped up poinsettia plants as part of their investigations. Following this, Biology teachers captivated everyone with ‘Plate to Poo’ by showing everyone the digestive journey of our Christmas dinner. We ended the afternoon with a visit from Santa Claus and Christmas carols around the tree.

Modern Foreign Languages – School Centred Initial Teacher Training (MFL–SCITT) Since September 2022 St Edward’s has entered into a partnership with the NML 3 SCITT and has become a training hub for aspiring language teachers. In September 2023, we welcomed our first cohort of trainees. SCITT is a government-funded scheme which offers trainee teachers a unique experience comprising a blend of academic training and school placements in both state and independent schools, as a route to qualified teaching status (QTS) and a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) delivered by Sheffield Hallam University. Trainees divide their time between their placement schools and hub and central training days. We are constantly developing our collaboration with local schools to develop our network of host schools in support of the hub and trainees. Modern Languages are at the core of any broad and balanced curriculum. Learning languages is a vital skill that helps prepare students for the wider world and broaden their minds. At a time when teacher training recruitment is proving a challenge at national level and targets are often missed, St Edwards is proud to be part of the solution by supporting the training of MFL teachers. The SCITT seeks to recruit talented and passionate linguists to become the next generations of language teachers.

3. NML: National Modern Languages