AC A D E M I C C LU B S
Catalyst for Success
Catalyst Club has continued this year with activities taking place in year group bubbles. by
DR SMALE
ECONOMICS Mr Mackintosh took the Lower Fifth through a fascinating session on the economics of chocolate, a subject which they would not have the opportunity to look at until A Level. ENGLISH LITER ATURE Third and Fourth Form were both hosted by Mr Healy separately and looked at The Tempest, leading into descriptions of pupils’ own ideas on the concept of Utopia, leading to some interesting and diverse ideas coming forward from the pupils!
PHYSICS Physics started the year with two sessions for Fourth and Lower Fifth Formers, led by Mr Tuohey and Dr Smale, focusing on the Mars rovers, and looking particularly at Perseverance which launched in July 2020. ETHICS Mr Gooddy hosted a session on Fair Trade in RS, where Third Form pupils took the roles of different workers in the chain of banana production. They discussed who should take what proportion of the profits on each banana sold and found out how trade is often not as fair as it could be.
MODEL UNITED NATIONS
Whilst the year was severely hampered by – well, you know – the Model United Nations still managed to enjoy a successful virtual conference in the autumn term. Pupil representatives enjoyed debating major issues facing the world’s countries, as you can see from the pictures!
82 The Exonian 2021
MATHS Three maths sessions ran for each year group which looked at imaginary and complex numbers with Mrs Cartwright, Mr Parry and Mr Reynolds. The pupils were introduced to the imaginary numbers and then taught how to add and multiply them. ART Art ran three sessions on negative space where the pupils drew the shapes of gaps in a piece of artwork, then cut the shapes out and made those negative space shapes into 3D models. Mrs Escott, Mrs Rafferty-White and Mr Wilkins each ran sessions.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY In DT, the Third Form pupils were guided through the basics of CAD software by Mr Rose to construct a Lego brick with the correct dimensions. The bricks were then printed by Mr Saunders using the 3D printer. The final sessions of the year ran in classics for Fourth Form and Lower Fifth Form by Dr Keane, who has now also taken charge of running Catalyst Club. Many thanks to all of the staff who have given up their time this year to run a Catalyst Club event.
