Marlborough College beaks delivered our fourth annual Summer School for Grammar Stream pupils from Swindon Academy during the week of the 13th June.
60 pupils from Year 7 and Year 8 at Swindon Academy engaged in challenging lessons based on Science, Psychology, Geography, Philosophy, Modern and Ancient Languages, History and Computer Science.
A central theme of this year’s Outreach Summer School was Space, with several activities in our mobile planetarium. There were many academic highlights including a thrilling web-scraping programming exercise, led by Marlborough College Lower Sixth, which connected pupils to the International Space Station, and enabled them to look down to earth from the ISS webcam in real-time.
On the sporting front, there were opportunities to try something new. Everyone took part in Water Polo which proved a real hit and the Year 7 boys had a go at Fives, showing a lot of enthusiasm and athleticism and throwing themselves into a game they had not seen or heard of before.
The week also included trips into Marlborough Town. There was a tour of The Merchants House, a rare and remarkable seventeenth century house belonging to silk merchant Thomas Bayly, a look at the many Blue Plaques in the High Street and a terrifying tower climb at St Peter’s church. We are indebted to the many local volunteers who helped with these excursions.
This life-changing Summer School is a huge and important event in our partnership with Swindon Academy. My colleagues were amazing, and I watched many brilliant off-syllabus lessons.
Running alongside this Summer School was an activity week for local primary schools which combined visits to the planetarium, the Blackett Telescope, and the College’s Nature Trail.
Colin Smith
Outreach
