By Mrs Yeomans (English Teacher and EPQ Coordinator)

This week marked the culmination of months of hard work in the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) journey for our Upper Sixth students as they presented their findings and reflected on their research. The topics covered were diverse and encompassed a wide range of subjects, from Family Vlogging: Entertainment or Exploitation? The Ethical Implications of Children in Online Content to questioning to what extent has the presence of a plutocracy affected public and environmental health in the US? 

Throughout the taught course, students have received valuable online learning content from FutureLearn. They've also benefited from sessions on referencing and research techniques provided by Mrs Tyrell-Johnson in the Learning Resources Centre. Because the qualification is self-directed, it really gives students the opportunity to be independent learners and follow their research passions.

We are always impressed by the diversity of research completed. The EPQ is an excellent chance to challenge and extend students through a self-directed approach.  Some will find their projects invaluable at university interviews or on personal statements and some are passion projects to indulge interests that go beyond the curriculum.

Projects are now complete and being marked but as ever at BGS, we never stand still and the cycle continues with our Lower Sixth cohort.  I look forward to hearing about their ideas in the coming months.

Sophie Wilshin (Upper Sixth) reflected on her EPQ project Which Austen novel: Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice or Emma, has more historically accurate film adaptations from 1995-2022?

“My EPQ was about Jane Austen screen adaptations and I analysed the historical accuracy judging which novel had the most accurate adaptations. I take History A Level and we don’t study the Regency period, so I found that this project gave me the ability to do a piece of research on a topic I had little knowledge on before. A highlight of the project for me was when I had an interview with an American expert on English country dancing.

“I found videos she made on YouTube and got in contact to ask her about her academic experience in relation to English country dancing, which then resulted in her answering some of my questions on the subject. An element I found challenging in the project was trying to judge how much detail to go into when researching. I found there was a lot of information to access about the Regency period, and I often wanted to research further into different elements which would have been unmanageable when writing the piece. Overall, I recommend the EPQ to younger students and I am happy that I completed it.”