Wellington College

On Saturday, our Academic Scholars immersed themselves in a packed programme of debates and talks spanning economics, politics, science, philosophy and technology. In a single day, they heard Martin Wolf on the future of the AI economy, Louis Theroux on the online world, Michael Gove and Leo Varadkar debating the power of Big Tech, Kishore Mahbubani challenging Western assumptions about global power, and Sabine Hossenfelder, Antony Valentini and Philip Ball debating the strange implications of quantum [...]

At the end of August, our Fourth Form Academic Scholars took part in a two-day residential trip to the University of Cambridge, designed to further the Academic Scholarship Programme’s aims of fostering intellectual curiosity, intellectual humility, belonging, connection and, above all, an enjoyment of learning. Despite being only two days, the programme was packed. Scholars were challenged to grapple with the ideas of Game Theory in a session led by Mo Tanweer of Cambridge Judge Business [...]

What does it mean to be an Academic Scholar? At Wellington, academic scholarship is not simply about attainment. It is an attitude of mind. It is about curiosity, independence, intellectual confidence and the capacity to think deeply with others. It is the pupil who asks why? The pupil who keeps thinking after the lesson has ended. The pupil who reads, debates, explores and challenges ideas, not because they are told to, but because they want to know more. [...]

At the Third Form Academic Scholars’ Presentation Evening, pupils had the chance to show what happens when young people are given the space to explore big ideas across a wide range of disciplines. Last night students, staff and parents gathered for the culmination of the Third Form Academic Scholarship Programme. Throughout the year, pupils have attended weekly sessions designed to spark curiosity and introduce them to new ways of thinking, from linguistic puzzles, philosophy and psychology [...]