Dear Parents/Guardians/Students, We hope that you have been finding our weekly KAAEP Bulletin a useful set of ideas and resources for extra things to do and explore. Many thanks to the students who have taken the time to get in touch with questions, or to let me know about some of the things they have watched or done from ideas they found in the KAAEP Bulletin. I am always delighted to hear from you! Please be aware that some of these opportunities are scheduled online broadcasts and that they are released at short notice. Please take a quick look to ensure that you do not miss out on anything that you might really want to watch. Watch out for: The Oracy Challenge. There is only one oracy challenge in this issue, and it is challenging in that it asks you to explain visual information, and comment on your own interpretation of what it is telling you. I would be really interested to hear how you found this one, as I think it is quite a difficult thing to do. Talking out loud about your learning and your own ideas will help you to develop your thinking and your ability to express your ideas in writing. Finally, many thanks also to parents and students who have already been in touch to offer suggestions to share with our school community. It’s wonderful to have this exchange of ideas across the school! Pam Stokell Head of Academic Enrichment pstokell@kaacademy.org

The Chalke Valley History Festival has transformed into an Online Show for 2020!

From 22nd to 28th June, every evening at 19:30, the Chalke Valley History Festival will be broadcasting an episode focusing on one of the originally planned speakers for this year’s Festival, filmed in person and intercut with images and film footage, as well as a new Living History feature, specially filmed contributions from a host of other historians, and previously unseen features and footage from the CVHF archives. Worry not if you miss any of the episodes, as you will still be able to access them on

their website after the event. https://cvhf.org.uk/ In addition, comedians Al Murray and James Holland will be airing a daily podcast about the festival, the importance of history and including interviews from a raft of historians, from Michael Wood to German writer and historian Nora Krug, and from Professor Gary Sheffield to Tim Bouverie on Chamberlain and appeasement. They will also be out on the road with a living history special. The podcasts can be found on Acast or iTunes here: https://apple.co/2YsZXQV https://play.acast.com/s/wehaveways

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“The World after Covid” with Professors Peter Frankopan and Ngaire Woods The Big Tent! Live Events are part of the work of TORCH Goes Digital. (TORCH is the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities). For those of you who enjoyed Peter Frankopan’s talk at our school in October 2019, this is another opportunity to hear him speak. It is a recording of the event on 18th June. Interestingly, in answer to one of our students’ questions at that talk, Peter Frankopan said that what worried him most about our world was

the emergence of a virulent contagious disease for which we had no vaccine or cure, and which would spread so easily because of our highly connected world. And here he is, in conversation with Professor Ngaire Woods, discussing the possible aftermath of just such an event. https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/live-event-peter-frankopan-ngaire-woods

The next LIVE events in the 'Big Tent' programme: Live Event: Professor of Poetry Lecture Thursday 25 June 2020, 5.00pm-6.00pm Live Online Event Tears were apparently given to humans as compensation for the Fall - from Homer to contemporary drawings. In this lecture, Alice Oswald will look at the strange connection between water and grief. Live Event: Homi K. Bhabha ‘On Being Unprepared' Thursday 2 July 2020, 5:00 pm - 6.00 pm Live Event Homi K. Bhabha is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is one of the most important figures in contemporary post-colonial studies.

The Economist – Educational Foundation

I am very excited about this set of resources, which are brilliantly prepared and thought through. In these days when the media appears to be all-powerful, and photographs are carefully chosen to tell the “right” story, this is a timely reminder to all our students that photographs can tell a multitude of different stories, depending on which angle they are taken from, and how they are

presented. So, when should we believe our eyes? Here are some discussion starters: How do photographs help us understand the news? How should newspapers choose their photographs? Do photographs give us the whole picture? Download activities Once you have worked your way through this resource, you might want to challenge yourself to photograph the same thing in different ways. Can you create two contrasting impressions of the same subject?

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National Theatre at Home have released a new set of plays! These recordings of fantastic live performances are released every Thursday evening at 7pm,

and can be accessed at any time for the following week. For the next few weeks, the programme is as follows: Small Island The National Theatre’s epic production of Andrea Levy’s Novel, which traces the history between Jamaica and the UK through WWII to 1948. Streaming now until 7pm on Thursday 25th June A Midsummer Night’s Dream This is the London Theatre Company’s immersive production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, featuring Gwendoline Christie and Hammed Animashaun. Streaming from 7pm on Thursday 25th June until 2nd July Les Blancs Yaël Farber directs the final play by Lorraine Hansberry: a brave, illuminating and powerful work that confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution. Streaming from 7pm on Thursday 2nd July until 9th July

Diamond Light Latest Webinar Diamond Light Source would like to invite you to the final (for now!) instalment of their current webinar series, a Live Family Webinar ‘3D X-ray Vision!’ on Wednesday 24th June at 1:30pm.

Everyone is welcome to tune in as this webinar is specifically aimed at a general audience and no previous knowledge is required. This week we will be finding out how Diamond’s light can be used to 3D image anything from bees’ eyes to spinal cords, ancient seeds to prehistoric plankton, and knee joints to COVID-19-affected lungs. Tune in to see how imaging techniques can be used to provide exceptional insights into the past, the present and the future.

David and Amy from Diamond’s Public Engagement team will be joined by Andrew Bodey, a scientist on the X-ray Imaging beamline I13, who will take us through how the beamline works and how it has been used to image a wide variety of samples from fields such as biology, materials science, geology, medicine, archaeology and engineering. Andrew will then answer your questions, and David and Amy will be on hand to answer any questions you have about Diamond in general. Tune in on Wednesday via Zoom (please note: questions will be submitted via the ‘Q & A’ function and all attendees will be automatically muted on joining). To receive the joining link please register for the webinar via the following link:

https://diamondlight.zoom.us/webinar/register/3115876435158/WN_YpqbXt0hRVOhkInvBUaRFA Once registered you will receive an email with the joining instructions. On Wednesday all you have to do is click on the link in the email and you will be taken straight to the webinar. Don’t worry if you miss the webinar on Wednesday, the video will be posted online shortly afterwards, and you can catch up with previous webinars on the Diamond website here.

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Speakers for Schools – Inspirational Live V Talks King Alfred’s has a long-standing partnership with Speakers For Schools, an organisation that connects inspirational speakers

with state schools all over the country. In the past they have provided our school with many truly inspiring speakers who have put on assemblies or talks for our students. During these strange times, Speakers For Schools are organising a series of weekly livestreamed short talks that students can access from home. Please go to https://www.speakersforschools.org/inspiration/vtalks/upcoming-vtalks/ for update to details on each week’s talks. Tues 23rd

June 10am

Richard Waterworth, General

Manager, UK & EU, TikTok

Rich Waterworth will be joining SFS and

students across the UK to discuss his own

career journey and to demystify TikTok

and the work that takes place within the

organisation!

Tues 23rd June 2pm

Tamara Holmgren, Engineer and Project Manager, BP

Join SFS and Tamara Holmgren, Engineer and Project Manager at BP on International Women in Engineering Day for an interview that will focus on STEM careers and Tamara's career journey to date.

Wed 24th June 10am

Maurits van Tol, Chief Technology Officer, Johnson Matthey

Maurits van Tol will be interviewed by SFS before moving to student Q+A. Tune in to learn more about Maurits' career in STEM and life lessons and advice.

Wed 24th June 2pm

Bernadine Brocker Wieder, CEO, Vastari Group Ltd

Interested in how exhibitions are put on? Join Bernadine Brocker Wieder to explore how she got to where she is today and more about her role.

Thurs 25th June 2pm

In collaboration with Penguin Talks: Big Narstie & Ciaran Thapar

How to believe in yourself British MC, rapper, TV presenter and author of How to be Narstie, Big Narstie, joins youth worker and freelance writer, Ciaran Thapar, to discuss the importance of living your own life and believing in yourself.

Fri 26th

June 10am

James Worrall, Founder,

Leaders in Sport

Join us as James Worrall shares life

lessons and top tips from leaders in sport.

HOW TO JOIN THE VTALKS

Join 10 minutes before the VTALK to be ready

You can join without needing a Microsoft Teams account – Watch how here

For full speaker descriptions visit the VTALK Schedule here

And if you have not been making a point of watching at least one of these inspirational talks each week, then you can go to the VTALK LIBRARY here and catch up on past talks!

Finally, for more information, please go to:

https://www.speakersforschools.org/inspiration/vtalks/accessing-vtalks/

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Live Streamed Events from the Ri:

Lyman Page on cosmology Tuesday 23 June, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Lyman Page is one of the world’s leading experimental cosmologists, and his work involves making precise measurements of the faint thermal afterglow of the Big Bang (known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB). In this talk, Lyman will explain how

variations in the CMB formed, how they reveal the age, size, and geometry of the universe, and how they offer a blueprint for the formation of cosmic structure. Book here.

The rules of contagion Tuesday 30 June, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Why are some diseases predictable, and others swamped in uncertainty? And what about the outbreaks that never happen at all? This talk will explore the hidden laws behind outbreaks that seem to be driven by randomness.

Join epidemiologist Adam Kucharski as reveals how new mathematical approaches are transforming what we know about contagion. Book here.

Past Ri talks to watch at your Leisure:

Artificial you: AI and the future of your mind Can robots really be conscious? Can we merge with AI, as tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil suggest? Is the mind just a program? In this talk, Susan Schneider explores the philosophy, ethics and cognitive science behind the idea of merging or replacing our brains with artificial intelligence. Watch here.

Andrew Szydlo's chemistry club The Royal Institution are happy to share with you the first in a series videos filmed from Andrew’s home in London. In this series, Andrew will be taking us into the chemistry of coins and photography, how a chainsaw works and even how to fix a leaking tap! Watch here.

The UCL Medical Sciences Lecture Series

University College London are launching a new series of lectures covering medical sciences, designed to inspire Year 11 and 12 students. They are starting off, not surprisingly, with a talk about the challenge of treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients on the front line: ‘COVID... every breath you take... we'll be helping you.’

This talk will be given by Professor Mervyn Singer, who will also tell us about his innovative work with Mercedes Formula 1 to develop new devices to help patients, and answer your questions. Join Professor Singer on the 26th Jun e at 12.15pm, for an online lecture and Q&A The lecture is free, but you will need to Register here or, alternatively, go to https://bit.ly/uclmedicalsciences Mervyn Singer is a Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at UCL, and author and editor of several critical care textbooks. He has a major research interest in bringing technology out of labs and getting it to the patients who need it most.

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From the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, all sorts of amazing stuff!

This time, RAL and the STFC have surpassed themselves! Do take a look as there is bound to be something of interest! Talking Science Lectures RAL is well-known for its fantastic public science talks. You can

find past Talking Science lectures here: You’ll need to enable

Adobe Flash Player in order to view the recordings. The talks can

be found under the “STFC Public Lectures” link on the menu on the left hand side.

Exploring inside atoms to understand the universe - Particle physics with Dr. Ben Smart Thursday 25 June at 14:00 (Years 11-13) o What's inside atoms? How do the smallest things that make up the universe work? How do

we learn new things about them? Come find out the answers, and explore the world of particle physics, with physicist Dr Ben Smart.

o This is also a chance for your students to ask any questions about particle physics they may have had from their A-Levels.

o To register, please visit https://talkingscience2019-20.eventbrite.co.uk

Scientific Computing at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Friday 26 June 14:00 (Years 8-13) o Join RAL scientists for a virtual tour around our Scientific Computing facility and hear about

some of the fascinating work they do. o Students will be introduced to a challenge based on flexipede, one of the first computer

animations in the world, which was created at RAL in 1967. Students will be asked to send in their code, and one student will receive a prize of an Arduino Starter Kit.

o This is also a great opportunity for students to find out what it’s like to study and work in computing – one of the key skills employers are looking for at the moment!

o To register, please visit: https://scientificcomputing-jun2020.eventbrite.co.uk

Lasers, chocolate and the moon Thursday 2 July 14:00 (Years 10-13) o The Central Laser Facility (CLF) at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is home to

some of the world’s leading laser facilities: from advanced laser systems that can pinpoint individual particles to some of the most powerful lasers in the world. Join us for an introduction to this amazing facility, and an experiment that you can do at home.

o This event will take place via zoom webinar. It will last approximately 45 minutes.e 4 and 5. o To register, please visit https://lasers-chocolate-moon.eventbrite.co.uk

Royal Observatory Edinburgh: Fascinating Online talks The Royal Observatory Edinburgh is running a series of weekly astronomy talks. You can find more information, and a link to register, online: https://www.roe.ac.uk/vc/public/astronomy-talks/index.html You can also view past talks.

Science seeks to answer question: Where do we come from?

BBC’s Jim Al-Khalili seeks to explain how science seeks to explain the occurrence of Life on Earth and how it could have come about. In particular, it celebrates the life of Alan Turing, whose work contributed hugely to these ideas.. This is a fascinating documentary and is well worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_yOueFMe7c

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A

Are you in Year 11, 12 or 13? Are you looking to expand your research around your subject and do not know where to get started? An excellent place to start is the KS5 KAAEP Reading List, which is in the Students’ Documents of the VLE and can be found here. These lists have been compiled from recommendations made by our own teaching staff, across all subjects. Further afield, here are two excellent resources for you:

Wider Reading from Causeway Education: This is a really helpful website for finding inspirational resources that are specifically linked to your subjects. It also, specifically, addresses the question of how to use your super-curricular reading to create a paragraph on your reading for a university personal statement. Desite the site name, it is not just about reading as there

are links to websites where you will also find talks and podcasts that you can dowload. For STEM subjects, please click here. For Social Sciences and the Humanities, please click here. The University of Oxford Reading Bank: This is a really useful website packed full of book reviews written by students at the University of Oxford, and where you will also find a few favourties reviewed by tutors and lecturers. You can browse through the many reviews until something that catches your eye, or you can narrow your search by subject. https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/applying-to-univ/reading-bank/

Reading around your Subject in general And if you are in KS3 and KS4, we have Reading Lists for you, too. Of course, if you want a challenge, there is nothing to stop you looking at the Reading List for a Key Stage above your own, but be aware that some of the topics may not be appropriate to your age and you should discuss books chosen from these lists with your parents.

KS3 Reading List KS4 Reading List

The CC Python Challenges

Can computers be used to create art? How fast can a computer read all of Wikipedia? How long would it take to walk every street in Oxford? Work out the answers to these questions and more with our series of “Explore beyond School” mini-projects based on Python, a programming language. A new challenge is released at the start of each month. And don’t make the mistake of

thinking this is just for students interested in reading computer science at university: a knowledge of a programming language is useful for all STEM subjects. These challenges are designed to stretch Year 12/13 students keen on studying STEM subjects at university. This can be your first taste of Python and you will need to install Python 3 on your computer (available online for free). For more information, go to https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/admissions/python-challenges-page

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The Cure Presented by practicing medics, The Cure takes you on a journey to the frontiers of world health, from cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs to advances in affordable healthcare for those who need it most. This series looks at some of the world’s most intractable health problems and the inspirational people working to find a cure. This is a regular must for any student interested in a career in medicine.

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/thecure/

TedEd This site is a spin-off of the world-popular and rather addictive Ted Talks, originally set up with teachers in mind. It is crammed full of short videos on all sort of fascinating subjects (e.g. What is the history of Video Games? and What is the definition of comedy?), and the videos are conveniently grouped by topic to simplify your search. Well worth taking a look! https://ed.ted.com/series

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History This far-reaching resource tells the story of the arts and global cultures through the museum’s collections, combining essays, works of art and time maps. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

If you are interested in Engineering… …Then this is the site for you! Developed by the University of Cambridge, its opening statement claims to help you prepare for competing for engineering places at the top universities. It does this through providing you with a mixture of games, problems to solve, and past exam questions to work through. https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/

Becoming Human For any student thinking of studying anthropology, or just interested in the story of human evolution, this is a fantastic website. It includes news from the world of research, as well as an interactive timeline on the history of humans. It also has a number of games and activities to illustrate some of the concepts of human

evolution. http://www.becominghuman.org/

iLove Languages I am always on the look out for sites that celebrate the learning of languages, as these are not so easy to come by. This website does not have the most attractive of home pages, but there is a wealth of information here. Good places to start exploring this site would be “Collection of Links”, “Language Learning” and, for those sixth-form students considering the study of linguistices at university, the “Linguistics”

section. http://www.ilovelanguages.com/index.php?category=Languages

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A Fascinating Look at Cartograms I remember there was a digital interactive resource at the Bodleian Library’s recent exhibition on Maps that totally fascinated our students: a series of maps of the world where territories are resized on each map according to their importance to the subject of interest. You can get lost here for a while, and learn a great deal about the world. https://worldmapper.org/

The Oracy Challenge: Being able to summarise a text or a talk effectively is a key skill. This is a variation on it, in that there are no words for you to summarise. Choose one or two cartograms that really grab your interest, study its implications carefully, and think about how you would explain (a) what a cartogram does, and (b) what this particular cartogram tells us, plus any other comments that you think would interest your listener. Then you need to go and find someone to present this to – either someone in your family, or a classmate online. Make sure that you speak in full sentences, using connectives where appropriate to make your talk flow, and using specific/technical language. Can they give you some feedback on how fluently you were able to do this? Did they understand your explanations?

A Book Review with a difference University College Oxford has a whole series of short (less than 5 minutes) book reviews presented by its undergraduate students. If you are interested in History, then this review by Dan will probably have you reach for this book. The review will also give you an exciting insight about studying history at University, and Oxford in particular. Watch here.

Space Store Talks Online The Space Store Channel has seven talks on aspects of Space such as Alien Worlds and ARIEL, Exploring Inner Space and A Virtual Voyage to the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjvl2quYK9xzgerEZ4-6-62SpWuaYaPTn Competition Corner The first two competitions listed here were also published in last week’s KAAEP Bulletin, but I am copying them again as I really think you should consider preparing an entry. It really isn’t about winning (although that is, of course, a very pleasant experience), but taking part in academic competitions will push you out of your comfort zone and will develop and hone your abilities. It will also help you to develop a “having a go” mentality, which is a valuable asset, and will make you stand out in university applications. So for all sorts of reasons, have a go.

Earlier this year, Ofcom launched a competition, in partnership with The Financial Times, asking 16-18 old students in the UK to share their ideas on the future of TV. The original deadline for entries was 9 April. However, due to the coronavirus, we chose to extend the deadline to 30 June. So

there is still a chance for students to enter the competition! More information, including the competition’s terms and conditions, is available on their website. For a chance to win a £100 voucher prize and see their work published on the FT Online, students aged 16-18 are asked to submit a blog-post or video in answer to the following question: “What must traditional broadcasters and streaming services do to make sure they appeal to the audiences of tomorrow?” Please be aware that if an entry is chosen to be published, only the first name and age of the student will be included. However, if students choose to submit a video whilst wearing school uniform, it is possible that this may identify their school. If you have any questions, please contact: studentcompetitions@ofcom.org.uk