Friday 8 May saw the annual Trinity Extension Award BBQ take place, celebrating students’ achievements and participation in the cross-school academic project competition.
The Trinity Extension Award is an exciting opportunity for the school’s academic scholars – and non-scholars – who are interested in broadening their knowledge, to immerse themselves into the elected theme for the year, and produce an essay or artefact, using academic referencing and a bibliography.
This year’s theme was ‘curiosity’, which the students interpreted in a whole host of interesting and different ways, with essay titles including ‘The curiosity of exploration: The Space Race’, ‘The case of curiosity: why you should always be curious’ and, ‘Is Curiosity the Drive of all Human Knowledge?’. We were impressed to see entries from 29 non-academic scholars, who had challenged themselves to think outside the box and push their academic knowledge and abilities, reflecting Trinity’s ambition for lifelong learning throughout the school.
The awards are split into both a Lower School section for Junior, First and Second Years and a Middle School section for Third and Fourth Years, with both including a shortlisted and highly commended section as well. In the Middle School section, Fourth Year Arhan impressed with his essay on ‘What is Curiosity?’, to win first place. While Second Year Thomas impressed in the Lower School competition, winning with his essay on ‘The role of curiosity in the development of 3D printing’.
All 166 students who entered were treated to a BBQ on Friday afternoon in the Dell. They relaxed with games of chess and football, with a guest appearance from Headmaster Mr Kennedy who kicked a few balls around with the students too. The winners were then awarded their prizes, with everyone receiving a certificate.
Reflecting on the competition, Mr Halliday – Head of Academic Scholarship and EPQ – explained that, “The Trinity Extension Award is going from strength to strength. The quality of submissions has increased substantially in the three years the competition has been running in this guise, and it is clear to see that boys are honing their skills. Creating your own title or coming up with an artefact idea is difficult, and the students have thrown themselves into this challenge. It is great to see them stretching themselves beyond the narrow confines of subjects and thinking cross-disciplinary. The skills of academic research, referencing and formulating a cohesive argument are often not developed until much later in a student’s education however the TEA facilitates students developing these whilst investigating an area of interest. ”
Well done to all the students, we can’t wait to see more amazing entries next year!
The TEA is part of the broader scholars’ programme in which we look to support our most able students to stretch themselves beyond the curriculum through facilitating engaging and thought-provoking opportunities.
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