Lower Sixth Electives Programme 2024-2025

Lower Sixth Electives Programme 2024-2025

Introduction Welcome to the Lower Sixth Electives Programme. You are to choose three ten-week modules, one for each term of your Lower Sixth. There is a wide choice, covering Technology, History, Philosophy, Music, Politics, Literature and much more. Despite the varied offering, each Elective shares a common goal: to promote learning for learning’s sake.

Please enjoy!

Mr Tolputt Head of Sixth Form

Mr Uglow Director of Studies

The List Coming of Age – a Novel, a Play, a Film, a Song, and maybe a Pantomime with Mr Tolputt

Introduction to Philosophy with Mr Waldron

Memories and Colour with Ms Peach-Toon and Ms Williams

Music Appreciation - uncovering the magic of music with Mr Watson and Mr Wilson

Production Planning/Strategic Thinking with Mrs Brown

Provence, Marcel Pagnol and Cézanne – the other France! with Miss Boubkari and Miss Garitey

Welcome to Dystopia with Mr Everling

A World in Conflict – using geography to understand global tension with Mr Uglow

Coming of Age – a Novel, a Play, a Film, a Song, and maybe a Pantomime Why am I offering this Elective?

Like most of my friends (and, I suspect, many of you), I enjoy reading books, listening to music, watching films, and going to the theatre. I am no special expert in any particular form, but that is ok: my interest is broad and varied, and it brings me pleasure. And so I thought I would offer an Elective in ‘cultural appreciation’ that straddles literature/ performance genres to explore works linked by a common theme.

The theme I have chosen is ‘Coming of Age’. Why? Coming of age stories typically present a teenage protagonist who is growing out of childhood and into adulthood. That is all of you (and was me once), so I am hoping for lively debate, insightful observation, and engaged connection.

What will you get out of this Elective?

If nothing else, you will read a book, recite a play, listen to a song, watch a film, study a pantomime, and generally have fun: the Elective will include The History Boys (Bennett, 2004), The Breakfast Club (Hughes, 1985), Now is the Month of Maying (Morley, 1595), Cinderella (Terry, 2023), and a choice of coming of age novels.

But there is more: you will develop (or further develop) an appreciation of a range of arts’ genres, you will hone skills of analysis and research, you will explore links and commonality between contrasting works. Above all, you will learn from each other: through discussion and debate, and by listening to each other’s honest and personal reaction to the works that we will study.

Please note: I hope that that there will be one (or several) opportunities to go to the theatre/cinema throughout the duration of this Elective. As with any School trip, there would be an incurred cost; attendance, however, would be optional.

Introduction to Philosophy Why am I offering this Elective?

Philosophy is the art of thinking well - of learning to see the world differently. It is exciting, liberating and even a little risky. It is exciting to discover that things are not as they appear to be; that there is a deeper truth beneath the surface of things. It is liberating to cast off inherited ideas and to learn to think for yourself - like waking up in the middle of the street, and realising that you have been sleepwalking all this time. And it is even a little risky. Perhaps Philosophy is a universal acid, eating away at everything until there is nothing left that is certain and secure. Or perhaps it is the safest and most rigorous path to truth. This is your chance to find out.

What will you get out of this Elective?

Introduction to Philosophy asks ten questions that require a philosophical answer, allowing you to formulate and argue your own ideas. Among other things, it asks what the world is really like, and how we can know for sure; what it means to be a person, and what really matters; and how you can live your best life. If you are comfortable with your illusions, look away now. Philosophy will challenge you to doubt, to think and to wonder.

Memories and Colour Why am I offering this Elective?

Memories shape our lives. We all experience life in different ways, in this Elective we would like you to explore recreating your own experience through developing new skills to produce an abstract painting. We are passionate about the concepts within modern art and how you can relate a feeling, positive or negative, through an expressive medium. We will teach you the steps and techniques throughout this Elective to produce a masterpiece worthy of a place in the Tate Modern.

What will you get out of this Elective?

You will discover how artists make abstract art; it is not as easy as smearing paint all over a canvas. You will gain knowledge of composition, colour, painting methods, working on canvas, and how your own thoughts can influence an effective result. To participate in this Elective, you do not need to be an artist, but to successfully create a piece of artwork that reflects a personal experience, you must be engaged, creative, and courageous.

Music Appeciation – uncovering the magic of music Why am I offering this Elective?

Music is magic! It can make us think, act and feel differently, and we all approach it in different ways. Some music makes us cringe, some makes us cry, some we can listen to thousands of times without ever getting tired of it. What makes music so special, and the only art form humans have devised that can say so much in so many different ways?

What will you get out of this Elective?

We’ll take a tour through the whole sweep of music history to discover how the sounds and symbols we know today came to be, and the diverse roles music has played in various societies at various periods in history. We’ll look into our own musical tastes, trying to unpack what it really is about the music that makes us like it, and why it is that we don’t all like the same things. We’ll also look at the links between Music and other Arts, to uncover why music is the acme of human achievement!

Production Planning/Strategic Thinking Why am I offering this Elective?

Working out a strategy for making products to a deadline and within budget is a large part of managing a DT department. I feel the skills I use are valuable and transferrable to many scenarios in life from time management and target setting to negotiation and collaboration. I would like to offer the opportunity to students to take responsibility for a team or individual project from start to finish.

Example scenario: You (and your team) have been invited to use the school workshop to develop a proposal for a charity that wish to use their funding to provide seating to be used in temporary refugee camps.

What will you get out of this Elective?

As part of a team, you will be responsible for delivering a project on time and on budget. You will need to provide prototypes and a quote for cost and lead time for delivering your seats.

You will have the opportunity to develop strategies for managing time, materials, and budget while discovering the importance of effective listening, negotiation, and compromise within a team.

You will learn to collaborate, deal with disputes, learn how to set targets, and monitor progress. How you share responsibilities within your team, between planning, problem solving, calculating, designing and manufacturing will have a significant impact on your success. How will you keep everyone on course and motivated?

Provence, Marcel Pagnol and Cézanne – the other France!

Why am I offering this Elective?

When asking any average person about France, you would likely hear the words: Paris, the Eiffel Tower, croissant and wine. However, there is a much more intriguing and deeper side of French culture: la Provence!

What will you get out of this Elective?

We would like to invite you to the realm of sunshine, warmth, but also family secrets, legends and mysteries. Through the words of Marcel Pagnol and the eyes of Paul Cézanne, embark on an enriching adventure in the South of France, where French literature, film making and paintings never cease to find inspiration.

Welcome To Dystopia Why am I offering this Elective?

Increasingly, I look around the world today and see Literature and film mirrored in our society. Orwell’s police state, Huxley’s drugged happiness or The Matrix’s virtual reality. Do societies look at these critical texts as a template for success? Can we fight against this dystopia? Is it too late for us all? I love that art can reveal more of the world around us than reality often can.

What will you get out of this Elective?

Within this elective you will explore your place in society. You will gain a good grounding in some essential dystopian texts and start critically applying art to reality and reality to art.

We will look at some of the most groundbreaking dystopian texts, ideas and how they fit into current world affairs, issues and conflicts. The increasing presence of cameras and state tracking, the double speak of politicians and global conflicts that are no longer fought just by human beings. We will look at the origins of utopia and dystopia and what we are really working towards as a society.

This elective will explore literature, film and documentary to study dystopia in the world today. Come along if you are an inquisitive individual who likes to challenge your way of thinking. This is an ideal elective for anyone interested in current affairs, politics, literature, management or anyone that likes to have a good argument!

A World in Conflict – using geography to understand global tension Why am I offering this Elective?

We live in a world in which division and tension is accepted as an inevitable part of life. The news is peppered with stories about hostility between Russia and her neighbours, or tension within the African continent – and we accept this as part of the status quo. I want to explore why this might be the case by looking at the geography of particular areas of tension so that you might better understand the roots of these relationships.

What will you get out of this Elective?

Put simply, you will better understand the world around you. You’ll learn to spot the things that make a nation vulnerable, and who knows – you may be able to predict the next crisis to hit the news!