Another set of outstanding EPQ results!

Our Y13 cohort have continued the trend at Forest for achieving outstanding EPQ grades.

The Extended Project Qualification gives Forest pupils an opportunity to follow their own interests and really get their teeth into a topic or subject that they might not be studying at A level. It doesn’t have to be in essay format – pupils can choose to create an artefact, or even put on an event or audience piece.

Completion of an EPQ constitutes some of the best preparation for university study a Sixth Former can undertake. The Russell Group of elite universities, for example, describes the EPQ as a ‘valued qualification’ and ‘one which requires evidence of planning, preparation and independent learning’, whilst the University of Cambridge ‘welcome the EPQ and encourage applicants to take one.’

As is always the case at Forest, the range of project titles and topics this year is illustrative of the diversity of interests and talents amongst students in the Sixth Form. By way of illustration, please find some successful topics below:

• Artefact: How can Echo’s perspective in the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus be communicated in an Indie Folk song?
• Can Britain be held responsible for the Crisis in Yemen?
• Can children form the necessary mens rea for a criminal act, and thus, should children be liable to be charged with murder?
• To what extent does the trend of anti-war sentiment prevail in British poetry and novels written in response to the First World War between 1914 and 1935?’
• To what extent are mRNA vaccines more effective than viral vector vaccines
• Does language limit our thought?
• Should reptiles be kept at pets?
• To what extent are electric cars more environmentally friendly than petrol-fuelled cars?

Our Higher Project Qualifications and Extended Project Qualifications are an important part of Forest’s integrated curriculum offering, exemplifying key areas including breadth of learning, a knowledge-rich curriculum, and encouraging a diverse mind-set, whilst allowing for innovation in how the School and our pupils learn. This in turn feeds into metacognition – equipping our pupils with dispositions and the characteristics of what it means to be a great learner – taking responsibility for their learning, knowing where they are going, and most importantly, how to get there.