first time , as well as our annual primary school football tournament , welcoming seven schools to the Sennocke Centre . We were also delighted to run our first chess competition and hope to make this an annual event .
Nitrogen delivered by the Sevenoaks Head of Physics , James Tate , and took part in a squid dissection with Biology teacher John Witton .
One school commented , ‘ The 94 children we brought were enraptured by the demonstrations : they were challenging and scientifically rigorous but explained so clearly .’ This year we expanded on previous Science Weeks by running science and technology lessons for KS2 pupils , led by Sevenoaks teachers and assisted by our students . Pupils got to go pond dipping in Biology , made slime in Chemistry and learnt about the engineering behind constructing bridges using K ’ Nex .
We are also very proud to have a strong relationship with schools that run the IB ’ s Career-related Programme and hosted the annual IBCP conference in March where we welcomed 40 headteachers , governors and representatives from a range of educational organisations for a series of presentations by IB officials .
We also expanded our sports outreach programme this year , running 14 different activities and teacher professional development sessions for local primary schools . Events included hosting the Sevenoaks Water Polo Club primary school tournament , which introduced many youngsters to the sport for the
Sadly we had to cancel this year ’ s Kent Academies Network Universities Access Programme ( KANUAP ) Easter residential and summer residential , an outreach initiative we have been proud to sponsor since 2013 . Working together with the other sponsor schools , including Tonbridge , Skinners ’ and Benenden , as well as Cambridge University , the programme seeks to develop the aspirations , confidence , critical thinking skills and overall academic skills of highly able students at non-selective schools across Kent so they have a better chance of gaining access to top universities . We were happy to host over 50 students and mentors for a three day ‘ online residential ’ to finish off the school year and keep the students focused on achieving their goals .
Lastly , our Outreach Box programme continues to gain momentum . The boxes are comprised of subject-specific educational resources which are loaned at no charge to local primary schools . In October we welcomed 36 teachers from 13 different primary schools to a special open evening to demonstrate the scheme and provide teachers with the confidence to use the resources , particularly the technology-themed boxes , and lead workshops in their own classrooms . Since their launch , the boxes have travelled over 40,311.5 km ( 25,048.3 miles ), equivalent to one journey round the circumference of the Earth ( 40,075 km ). During the Covid-19 pandemic , our collection of Outreach Box laptops were distributed to pupils at five local primary schools to support their online learning at home .
We look forward to engaging in many more outreach and partnership initiatives as we look to help out where we can , and learn from others .
Dr Adrian Rainbow Deputy Head Co-curricular
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