We had been desperate to run our Summer Programme in person, as a huge amount of work had gone into the preparation of these courses and a large number of students had already booked and had their hearts set on joining us. However, the high numbers of Covid infections in some countries and the prohibitive travel restrictions in others have really given us no option but to run online. While it is possible that we would be able to run operationally, Sevenoaks is a diverse school and the fact that so many students would have no way of joining us makes the decision an obvious one.
While this is clearly disappointing, we are in the enviable position of having already run two successful online courses which we know work tremendously well. Both the 2020 Online Summer Programme and the 2021 Online Easter Programme were huge successes, with students describing the courses as ‘eye-opening’, ‘interactive’ and ‘inspirational’.
These courses are aimed at ambitious students from all over the world who would like a taste of Sevenoaks teaching. Over the course of each one-week session, students will take part in 15 hours of live, interactive lessons in Critical Thinking and Social Leadership, taught over Zoom by Sevenoaks School teachers.
There will be two classes running simultaneously each week. One class of Year 9s and 10s (age 13-15) and another class of Year 11s and Year 12s (age 15-17) will spend two and a half mornings enjoying lessons on Social Leadership and two and a half mornings of Critical Thinking. Students will use breakout rooms to work together to come up with their projects and presentations.
Sessions One and Three will run from 08:00 – 11:30 UK time while Sessions Two and Four will run from 13:00 – 16:30 UK time. These different times will allow us to have students from all over the world take part.
Social Leadership will teach students about differing leadership styles and some of the world’s greatest social challenges before working together in teams to present innovative ways to create change.
Critical Thinking will focus on Artificial Intelligence and its various strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that is poses as the world moves into the post-Covid era.
Each class will also took part in two afternoon activities, run by Mr Ed Gibson, Director of Summer Programmes, playing fun and communicative games which will allow the students to get to know each other on an informal basis.
Both Critical Thinking and Social Leadership are enormously important topics that have only grown in significance as the world has adapted to Covid. We can’t wait to meet our next batch of students and hear their differing viewpoints.
