Springwest Scholars

Springwest Scholars is a co-curricular opportunity for students who have demonstrated high levels of motivation and academic achievement. It aims to empower students to develop their Intellectual Virtues: ambition, autonomy and curiosity. We do this through facilitating students to undertake extra research, exposing them to knowledge beyond the curriculum and enriching their cultural capital.

Autumn Term 2025

The aim of this term was to introduce students to challenge content to expand their knowledge and improve their questioning, debating and discussion skills. 

We looked at the following concepts: 

-Why do we see patterns in nature? Why are hexagons the most efficient shape for honeycomb? (Golden Mean, Fibonacci Sequence, Biomimicry)

- How 'I' is AI? (Chinese Room Experiment, Turing Test)

- Should we settle in space? (Tim Peake)

- What really separates a moth from a butterfly? (Lepidoptera, insect migration, wing patterns) 

Spring Term 2026

In this half term, students worked on their presentation skills, creating slides about a topic of personal interest and then presenting this to the Scholars. The Scholars were able to ask questions for the presenter to respond to. 

Student topics included:

- Aviation

- Gothic Literature

- Software Engineering

- The job of a Diagnostician 

- The Evolution of Cars 

- The use of Plants in Medicine 

The Scholars also visited the University of Oxford and took part in Oxplore debating workshops.

Summer Term 2026

The aim of this term was to build on the Scholars' interests to build their knowledge and enable them to engage critically with difficult topics focused on STEM. 

We looked at the following concepts:

- The Use of AI in medicine 

- The Science of Perception (Optical Illusions, Auditory Illusions)

- Neuroplasticity (The Backwards Brain Bicycle) 

- The Science of Learning