Year Seven Scholars Delve into the History and Geography of the School Site
On the Thursday after half term the second group of Year 7 Scholars had their first ‘twilight’ session of the term, led by School Archivist and Geography teacher Mr Andrew Beattie. Beginning in the classroom the students were taken back to the Mottingham of the 1860s and, using maps of the time, were able to compare the school and its surroundings with how things are today. Where has the ‘Smithy’ in the village gone and how convenient not to have the challenge of crossing Grove Park Road (which was not constructed until after the map was drawn). Many people may not have known that what is now Mottingham Station was Eltham Station, but why and when it all changed, the students were able to explore.
Leaving the classroom, the group moved outside, where the weather was, to say the least, uncertain. However, after a day of heavy showers, spots of rain during the first activity failed to turn into anything worse, and the group was able to explore the school grounds in relatively cool conditions, with the thermometer in the Stevenson Screen (which the pupils examined) recording 18 degrees (and a recent minimum of 1 degree, from the chilly weather during the nights before half term, and a maximum of 34, from the half term heatwave).
After exploring the mysteries of what other weather recording equipment can be found in a Stevenson screen, the group went to the far reaches of the school site to look at the hard engineering of the River Quaggy, undertaking some cloud identification, complete with Latin names and translations, en route. It was a fascinating session combining different disciplines and as with all aspects of the Scholarship Programme seeking to enthuse and encourage thinking outside the syllabus.
