The Skinners’ Kent Academy Students Shine at Olympics Masterclass
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On Saturday 18 May Charlotte, Georgia, Jackson, Jazmin, Sam and Wyatt, took part in the Olympic themed Masterclass Day organised by the West Kent Independent and State School Partnership. The day was held at Mascalls School, with a choice of four Masterclasses.
The science focused class started with a practical session in the lab, planned and led by one of our science teachers Ms Hawker, evaluating the effectiveness and claims of various sports drinks. This was followed by a session on the chemical structure of performance enhancing drugs and the tests used to detect them. The final session in this masterclass was a debate around various positions on banning or allowing performance enhancing drugs.
The Geography and Business Studies class set students the challenge to prepare a bid to host the Olympics. Miss McCreadie, our Head of Geography launched this class by briefing the students on the criteria used by the International Olympic Committee to assess bids and giving them information packs on five world cities. For the rest of the day the students worked in groups, guided and supported by Miss McCreadie and Mrs Ribbans-Opara, to prepare a bid for one of the cities. The winning bid came from the team representing Chicago.
A History and Classics Masterclass looked at the Ancient games, the revival of the Olympic games in the late 19th century, the modern games, and how the Olympics might look in the future. According to the students in this class the Future of the Olympics seems set to include virtual games, to reduce the carbon footprint, and to feature the new ‘sports’ of eGames.
The final class focused on marketing and promoting the games. The students started by writing a poem which reflected the aims and principles of the Olympic games. They then selected a range of video clips and edited them together as visuals to go with a recording of their poem. Finally, they chose music to complete their short promotional film.
All of the groups presented their work to an audience of parents at the end of the day. Congratulations to Sam and Charlotte who volunteered to present part of their masterclass experience to the assembled parents, students and teachers.
Well done to all of The Skinners’ Kent Academy students who took part and thanks to our teachers, Ms Hawker, Miss McCreadie and Mrs Ribbans-Opara, as well as the teachers from The Judd School, Kent College, Mascalls Academy and The Skinners’ School, for giving their time and expertise to provide this enriching opportunity for our students and the students of all the schools in the partnership.