Last week, our Junior Heads of School were appointed as ‘experts’, and participated in an ‘ExpertEd’ Zoom collaboration. The event was part of an outreach initiative between Oundle School in Shrewsbury UK, and Imperial College, London. The central idea driving this opportunity is the provision of curriculum enrichment for state funded schools across the UK - involving University academics, professional mentors and, in our case, accomplished students who are peers in age but have a different view of the world to share. 

A remarkable opportunity, it not only enabled our Junior Heads of School to participate in an international event, but also granted them the chance to partner up, ‘virtually’, with younger, less privileged students in England and share their observations about what living in Thailand is like.

Ananya, Mednga, Ton and Jaeda participated in a unit of ExpertEd named ‘Settlements’, in which they were challenged with answering questions about both what it is like to live in Bangkok, and their observations on inequality and local community development. The UK students are also studying New York and developing solutions about how they might consider colonising Mars at some point in the future!   

Our students' responses to questions from UK students have been recorded and are currently being broadcast in several schools throughout the UK, alongside a video created by Year 13 students Naka and Maymay - a commentary on daily life in Thailand, inequality, and their wonderful community engagement project supporting the Rim Klong Suan Luang 1 Community.

Well done to all four of our capable Junior Heads of School, who spoke with conviction and offered some interesting insights, invaluable to young students across England learning about culture, food and life in Bangkok without having the means to visit in person.

We hope to continue to build connections like this as Shrewsbry's 'Outreach Partnership' work grows and we connect to support educational equity locally and globally! Follow @OutreachSHB and the #PartnershipsSHB for more details.