Oracy Extra-Curricular Activities
At the heart of our school values we believe it is important to provide ‘real experiences’ to develop talk and learn how to analyse and talk about talk. At Biddenham we have evolved a series of opportunities for students, of which these are a few:
First Give (in conjunction with the Harpur Trust): presentations prepared by year 7 students who then perform to their class and then an audience from the community.
Student Forum: to have a say on school life in an open forum.
Student Panels: taking part in interviews of teaching candidates who aspire to work at Biddenham.
Debate: opportunities for students in year 8 to develop an understanding of 'debate', and put their skills into practice by taking part in the regional finals of 'Up for Debate' in London, after ‘battling’ it out in front of their class and year group.
“I think we should do the 'Court Trail' again, because it gave me many new opportunities, new friends, an experience to decide my future career, and many other things. I'm so grateful for this experience but next time I would love to visit the Royal Courts of Justice.” – Tyra T
Philosophy for Children: to discuss moral issues in depth through teacher questioning and student inquiry projects.
Assemblies: to deliver assemblies to their peers.
Sports Leaders’ Activities: leading and instructing students from our feeder primary schools.
Science Christmas Lectures
Each December, the year 12 Biology, Chemistry and Physics classes are involved in the ‘Biddenham Science Christmas Lectures'. Students split into small groups and prepare and give short presentations on scientific areas of interest.
Some of the winning presentations are shown below. These students all won a prize of a 'Very Short Introduction' book of their choice, which were kindly donated by Wadham College, Oxford.
Special mention to Alisha whose biology presentation on the ‘The Science of Procrastination’ was so good we felt it deserved a wider audience than just the A level scientists, and asked her to present it at our sixth form assembly.
“Thank you so much for helping me be able to present, and helping practice in the hall. It really helped with my projection, as I was totally scared no one would hear me – that didn’t seem to happen!
Additionally, I’m grateful you got me to present in the hall in the first place. It was scary but I enjoyed it in the end, and felt almost a ‘wash of pride’ when I finished, especially when people applauded.” Alisha
