Our Helena Academic Programme (HAP) offers students a wealth of academic enrichment opportunities beyond the curriculum, enabling them to delve deeper into subjects and broaden their knowledge of their chosen area of interest. As part of HAP, students in Middle School and Sixth Form can work towards the Helena Award. They complete core modules and electives, and can earn awards at pass, merit and distinction levels. In Middle School, the core modules focus on attending academic clubs and societies; in Sixth Form, students attend and lead them. Electives are chosen by the students themselves, who can either select from the available options or design something that reflects their own interests.
As part of her Helena Award, Maddie wrote essays on elephants’ trunks and on the factors that drove the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger. Her love of insects led to a day’s work experience at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and here are her reflections on the day:
“During the summer, I spent a day shadowing someone in the entomology department at the Oxford Natural History Museum. I had met them during a session they had run for a youth forum I am part of at the museum and decided to reach out to them to spend more time investigating the collections. I spent the start of the day exploring the museums specimens of various venomous insects as I had previously expressed an interest in this area. I am especially curious about how venom influences the behaviour and physiology of insects. It was amazing to have the freedom to look at so many different insects in the collections out of the public eye. Additionally, I learned about a lot of insects that I hadn’t yet encountered in my research.
Following this, I then learned how to re-pin insects correctly and organise unidentified collections that had been donated to the museum over the years. As a part of this, I had the chance to view two specific types of bees under the microscope and use a field guide to identify their sex and species. I was told that this was a common task when working with collections and I really enjoyed it especially as correctly identifying the insect was really satisfying. Because I had the opportunity to investigate and correctly determine these bees, I was then able to have my name printed on the pins to mark my contribution! Thinking about this now still makes me so excited and I hope to go back to the museum soon when I have the time.”
