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The Henry Box School Scholars Achieve Top Grades

Twelve Year 9 students from The Henry Box School have achieved top grades in a challenging academic programme called The Scholars Programme. They have all achieved a 1st or a 2:1 which are the equivalent to good or excellent grades at A-level. The Scholars Programme is co-ordinated by an award winning charity called ‘The Brilliant Club’ whose mission is:

‘To increase fair access to highly selective universities by placing PhD students in state schools to deliver university-style teaching to high performing pupils’.

Following a trip to Cambridge University the students were given a series of tutorials at Henry Box led by Hannah Greenstreet, a PhD student in the English Department at Oxford University. Hannah’s course was titled ‘Seeing Differently: Feminist Approaches to Theatre’. This covered women’s theatre in Britain from 1907 to 2017. In the final 2,000-word assignment students were asked to evaluate a contemporary play using different feminist approaches. The year 9 students had no previous knowledge of feminist theory or contemporary theatre.

The students worked very long hours to ensure they completed their assignments to a high standard.

Laura, one of the students on the programme said, ‘I have learnt how to put complex ideas and evidence into an essay and how to use more sophisticated language.’

Mrs Wells, the teacher who is in charge of the programme said ‘This assignment was one of the hardest pieces of writing the students have ever completed; and there was plenty of frustration, sweat and tears on the writing journey. However, they all persevered displaying many of our school values like resilience and ambition. Throughout the programme they were mature, thoughtful and a real pleasure to work with. We are really proud of what they have achieved.’