On February 4^th, Mrs Hilliam and Miss Hendry took members of the Aspire group to the Oxford Academy Conferences day at Wellington school, Taunton. Along with many other schools, students from years nine to thirteen sat down to listen to the first of the four talks of the day.

Julie Arliss, the founder of the conferences, gave a fascinating talk on claims about the afterlife and life after death. She explained the different theories and ideas philosophers had come up with over the centuries (dualism, monism, materialism) and also talked about a woman who had had an out-of-body experience and claimed she had seen God’s presence. It was interesting to hear different people’s views on a very difficult philosophical question and to learn about all the different types of beliefs and ideas. The second talk of the morning was given by Professor Tom Greggs from the University of Aberdeen. Professor Greggs talked about Historiography and who had the power to record History and choose what should be taught. He referenced George Orwell’s famous quote from ‘1984’, ‘Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past,’ and taught us about the Whig view of history and other views such as Marxist, Feminist and Womanist Historiography and Black history. He also made the point that most traditional accounts of historical events that we read are written by and are about the higher classes and often the monarchy, not the majority of people living at those times who were the working class. Professor Greggs finished by helping us understand that historical events are different for different people – for instance, in Britain, the Second World War ended in 1945 whereas it ended later in Japan because of the atomic bombings and also carried on through into the Cold War (it is therefore very difficult to pinpoint an exact end date as the war had many consequences).

After a quick break, everybody reassembled for the conference debate. The motion was ‘This House believes that the monarchy should be abolished’ – Professor Greggs argued for the motion and Julie Arliss argued against. After two very convincing arguments, each school nominated a speaker to give their view on the debate with a very wide range of views across the room. Although the opposition eventually won the debate, it was very interesting to hear both points of view; everyone really enjoyed the opportunity to voice their opinions and participate in the discussions.

After lunch (during which Dr Lewney who later gave a talk played his rock guitar for us), Dr Christopher O’Neill gave a talk on the ‘Psychology of Outstanding Achievement’. He talked about how outstanding achievement and talent are not something you are always born with but are things you can build up and work on in life if you have the drive to do so. He told us about Thomas Edison’s famous quote, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,’ suggesting that if you worked hard enough at something for long enough, you could eventually be outstanding at it. He also told us about the ‘Stickability’ effect and the psychology of being tenacious and self-control, and how that can contribute to outstanding achievement.

The final talk of the day was given by Dr Lewney, a physicist and electric guitar player who taught us about how Physics and Music (especially guitars) link and gave a brief but very interesting explanation of string theory. He taught us about different wavelengths of sound and showed us how the strings on traditional guitars differ from those on more modern, electric guitars. He finished his talked by giving us his own very skilful rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ with Physics related lyrics and equations written into the original tune!

Overall, the conference and each of the talks were fascinating; everybody enjoyed themselves and learnt lots of new information about the wide range of topics that were spoken about. Thank you to Mrs Hilliam and Miss Hendry for a brilliant, interesting and memorable day!

by Maddie Whitmore, Year 9