The first half of term saw the launch of our Sixth Form Lecture Series. Organised entirely by our Sixth Form Subject Reps, these lectures are open to Year 12 and 13s who can choose to attend either of the two different topics on offer and will be happening fortnightly on a Tuesday morning.

First up was our Chemistry Lecture which attracted an audience of over 40 students in the Main Hall to listen to our speaker, Dr Philip Ball, Editor of the Nature journal and columnist in Chemistry World, Nature Materials and BBC Future. Dr Ball is a Chemistry graduate from Oxford University and holds a doctorate in Physics from Bristol University. He is a contributor to a wide range of publications including New Scientist, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The New Statesman as well as having featured on radio and television. Dr Ball spoke about his career path, his achievements and gave valuable advice for choosing a career path. 

Well done to Chemistry Rep Isobel for setting up an excellent and engaging lecture and thank you to Dr Ball for sharing his insights and time with us.

Taking place simultaneously was our Art/History of Art lecture, again open to all our Year 12 and 13 students. The speaker was Simon Hitchens, a British artist who focuses on rock in sculpture. Thank you again to Art Rep Isobel for organising a great lecture.

In October, our Geography Rep Esmée H invited in Masha Gordon, founder of Grit&Rock, which aims to get more young women interested in mountaineering to speak about developing resilience, building on her professional and athletic experiences (two Guinness World records, and a successful 16 year career in the finance industry before switching careers to focus on mountaineering).

Meanwhile, our Drama Reps arranged a talk by Ben Harrison of theatre company Grid Iron (which has specialised in site specific, immersive theatre for the last 25 years and is a part of National Theatre of Scotland) and Itxaso Moreno, an actor with an extensive repertoire of credits throughout Scottish theatre and European theatre. Ben and Itxaso discussed their long standing collaborative work together as director and actor, how this was formed and how they forge new creative work together, with a focus on Grid Iron’s recent 5 star production ‘Doppler 2021’ which was meant to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe 2020 but was cancelled due to Covid. They also discussed making theatre in the age of Covid and reflect on what is to come as theatre returns in 2021-22.

On November 2nd, it was the turn of History and Maths as topics for discussion. Our History Rep Aurelia A approached Etta De Benedetti Reinach to speak on discrimination, racism and memory of what happened to Etta’s family during WWII in a talk titled “Holocaust and family memories.” A retired teacher of English literature and comparative literature, Etta  gave lectures in Italy but also cooperated at the University of East London in the Department of Clinical Psychology. Professor Donald Gilles, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Science, UCL, Department of Science and Technology Studies and Professor Grazia Letto, Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics, London South Bank University were also in attendance.

On the same date, our Maths Reps Mia M and Esme W were delighted to invite Alumna Eleanor Williams delighted to invite Alumna Eleanor Williams, Master in Maths and Comp Sci, back to school to give a talk about her pathway from NHEHS, to her current job at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute in Bioinformatics. Eleanor spoke about mRNA sequencing and predicting microRNA/mRNA interactions, and how this can lead to re-growing part of a liver. Her talk also featured the impact of machine learning and also how she enjoys working alongside biologists who specialise in different areas of the body, including the heart, liver and brain.

In addition to the lectures set up by our students, Miss Aherne also organised two excellent lectures for our Sixth Formers in the first part of term. We were thrilled to hear from Mandy Hickson, one of the UK’s first female, fast-jet pilots, who spoke about how she overcame obstacles to develop the skills needed to succeed in such a demanding career in a talk titled “Choosing Your Own Path.” Our students were also given valuable advice on dealing with anxiety in a talk from Mental Health Campaigner Natasha Devon MBE.

Next up are our Physics and Modern Foreign Languages lectures which are scheduled for mid-November before Dr Sandra Sequeira from LSE will be leading our Economics event at the end of the month. We look forward to seeing who will be our next guest lecturers!