Taking a Forensic Approach to Learning
Our Higher Potential Learners (HPL) and Excellence pupils have been fully engaged with their Excellence Award projects, having experienced some unique challenges outside of school this term. Activities linked to Science, Languages, Sociology, Computing and 3D Design have been tailored to help our gifted students the chance to explore their areas of expertise and interest in more detail.
Our talented linguists from Years 8 and 9 attended a Careers in Languages day at Admiral Lord Nelson School in Portsmouth, where they interviewed guest speakers in their native language in order to discover their profession. They also embraced the opportunity to learn an entirely new language to the point of being able to hold basic conversation, something that our Language Leaders fully immersed themselves in excelled at.
Scientific excellence was explored in September through visits to the prestigious Royal Institution of Science in London. A group of our HPL and Excellence science students were privileged to take part in workshops on forensics and Newton’s laws of motion. During the first excursion, our Year 9,10 and 11 students explored the use of forensic investigation in criminal cases, using concepts and techniques normally taught at university. The workshop was hands-on, allowing pupils to collect and type DNA samples using specialist laboratory grade equipment. This was excellent revision for GCSE science students, and a great introduction for Year 9 students to a topic that they will be studying in more depth next year. The workshop allowed our pupils to gain experience in lab experiment processes at an advanced level. From the preparation of agar jelly to the use of micro pipettes, pupils spent four hours going through each stage of the DNA profiling process, leading each group to successfully compare the samples to the DNA found at an imaginary crime scene. The group were able to question the experts to really understand the detail of the forensic investigation process. This workshop provided the insight and inspiration for several Year 9 Excellence students to explore forensics as a project for their Excellence Award.
In our second HPL and Excellence visit to the Royal Institution of Science, our science, 3D design and computing pupils attended a workshop about vehicle crash testing: focusing on vehicle safety and the forces that can act on us in the event of a car crash. Using video examples and a selection of building materials, our pupils learnt about ways that structures can be designed to improve our chance of survival in the event of an accident. After understanding the principles involved, the pupils were given the chance to build their own crash test car to see if they could design it in a way to preserve their passenger, in this case, a Pringle crisp!
Year 8 pupil Bernard T-M wrote this review of the day:
“The Crash Testing workshop on the 23rd of September 2026 at the Royal Institution of Science in London was an incredible opportunity to experience and learn about something that we could not cover in the same way in science lessons to the same degree of depth. I think that the hands on approach is significantly more enjoyable and educational than simply learning from a textbook or researching online. Learning about forces and motion, how to improve transport safety, and building our own crash test car was really good fun. The crashes were entertaining to watch and I learned a lot from actually watching how the cars crashed. The slow-motion replay was satisfying to watch. As for the staff at the Royal Institution, they were friendly and informative, and we learned a lot from them!”
This experience has also been the catalyst for several Excellence Award projects, including the bespoke construction of a remote controlled ‘crash car’, complete with a coded run program. The content of the workshop crossed over into several subject areas, including science, 3D Design and computing.
In October it was the chance for our Sociology, Computing and Excellence HPL pupils to participate in two seminars delivered by Professor Simon Kolstoe from the University of Portsmouth. Prof. Kolstoe specializes in medical research ethics, and was involved in infection modelling during the Covid 19 pandemic. Our pupils engaged in an interactive workshop requiring them to ideate a way to identify the infection model of an unknown disease, and to find an ethical way to discover how the disease is spread, and how it might be cured.
Our second session focused on the very current topic of Artificial Intelligence, in which Prof. Kolstoe is currently lecturing his undergraduates. This time, our pupils were shown examples of how AI has developed rapidly over the past few years, and how it has demonstrated the ability to think independently. The question and answer session that took place after the seminar ran over by a long way, a good measure of how keen our pupils in Years 7-11 were to find out more.
After the half term break, HPL and Excellence will focus on creative arts and the natural environment for the remainder of the Autumn and into the Spring Term, with trips planned to an orchestral recital at Turner Sims concert hall, an Art appreciation activity at Southampton Art Gallery, and a field visit to Swanwick Lakes to explore ecosystems up close.
This the inaugural year of the Excellence Award and it looks set to see some of our pupils achieve their Tertius Award by using these unique learning opportunities to complete projects of their own design and outcome- truly independent learning!
You can read more about our HPL programme here.
