A Level Humanities students continued to enjoy a fantastic programme of speakers this term with weekly talks from world-renowned experts in a range of fields. Dr Ilan Kelman, a UCL professor, spoke about disaster relief and how communities can organise themselves to prepare for climate emergencies. Talks from Dr James Rodgers, a former foreign correspondent who now teaches journalism at City University, and Tom Lambert, a consultant with the World Bank, allowed students to see how their Politics and Geography studies fit into real world careers.

Both speakers were very generous in offering advice about how to follow an interest in international relations at university and career level, and several students came away from these talks having caught the bug for journalism or to work in an NGO!

Finally, we heard from Dorit Oliver-Wolff, a Holocaust survivor, about her childhood in Hungary hiding from the Nazis and her achievement, against the odds, of becoming an international pop star in the 1960s. Students and staff alike were moved by her story and her incredible sense of humour. We were all truly grateful for Dorit’s willingness to share the traumas she experienced to educate younger generations and help them to work towards a safer future; mostly, we will remember the way she showed that just 'surviving' is not the end of the story - the lives she and many others who lived through the Holocaust have led since 1945 are inspiring in their own right.

The Humanities Spring Speakers’ Programme has been a huge success and Humanities teachers have been incredibly impressed by students’ commitment to come and learn from the range of experts that came in. The questions asked throughout the term have been thoughtful and perceptive and we have seen our A Level classes at their intellectual best. As a school, we are immensely grateful to all the speakers for the time they have given up to come and speak. We look forward to a new series next year!