Humanities Week Report

Humanities Week began Wednesday 3rd May 2018, but the shorter week has not damped the celebrations. The week began with an assembly by Mr. Garlick who discussed this year’s theme of People and Place in the context of Historical research. His presentation focused upon how in researching our family tree, we come to understand how experience of family life is often affected and influenced by our experience of the place in which we live. Mr. Garlick had traced his own family from a village in Wiltshire in southern England, to London and onto Denver in Colorado, USA. Our lives and choice of living place are just a small chapter in the ongoing story of the former, indeed future, choices made by other family members.

Our Photography Competition has received a significant number of entries and displays the creative talent on hand here at BSC. Photographic images on show outside Rooms 1 & 2, describe places and people from here in Sri Lanka, to Norway, The Netherlands and to eastern Asia. Student entrants have mounted their work well and have supplied aphorisms that enable the viewer to appreciate the creative process experienced by the photographer. We have our own favourites, but the completion will be judged by a panel made up of judges from outside the Humanities department. We hope to announce the winners during Friday’s morning assembly.

Students have also entered the essay and writing competitions, and the standard here, too, is high. Essays on particular historical characters have been entered, as have poems, diary entries and experiences. We have been very privileged to read these and, once again, impressed by the high standard on display. We also very much appreciate the time taken by students over the holiday to compose and compile their entries, and this in itself suggests the level of commitment BSC students have to their school and to extra-curricular activities. Students across Key Stage 3 are engaged this week in a poster competition, the results of which shall be displayed outside rooms 1 & 2 over the next week. There is a Poster Quiz completion on the first floor, too, which students are encouraged to enter.

On Friday, a final assembly will be held. Mr. Gareth will sum up the week and speak about the importance of Humanities education, and the role skills learned in this area of the school have on the way we engage with other subjects in school, and in life. The Humanities department hopes that the activities on offer this week help raise the profile of History and Geography in the eyes of BSC students, and provide a flavour of some of the themes under examination.