We have had two cafés to date and both have been popular - I hope it is not just the attraction of the free refreshments but the stimulating topics and excellent speakers!
At the first café we had a lively debate on the topic of 'Religion vs Science' - both students and staff took part with discussion ranging from the ideas of miracles and how the universe began. We are grateful to the Rev. Paul Kennedy for kickstarting this discussion and fielding the awkward questions. The second café was on 'Lies, media and science'. This was led by Sam Smith, a journalist on the BBC programme 'Inside out'. She gave an inspiring talk about the job of a journalist, how to be successful in choosing journalism as a career as well as giving us an inside perspective to some of the stories she has covered. Students were interested in knowing why the media exaggerate stories, whether the licence fee is fair and the best choices to make at school to become a journalist.
Personally I am really proud of the intelligent and thoughtful questions that the students have asked and the fact that the audience ranges from students in Year Seven to Year Eleven.
We plan to hold two more cafes before the end of term. On June 14th we will ask 'Is music noise?', with Trevor Plant from the Institute of Physics and 'Did life in Earth begin on Earth?' with Jenny Shipway from INTECH. Stay tuned!
Many thanks to Paula Kennedy for this report.
