On Wednesday 31 May, Concordia proudly hosted a special world-class “thinking day” for highly able South Australian students in Years 10, 11 and 12. We have partnered with Academy Learning for ten years as part of our commitment to high-quality academic enrichment and extension opportunities. We had schools join us on the day from as far away as Gawler.

The day was facilitated by Julie Arliss - a well-known international educator of gifted students. Dr Christopher O'Neill, a fellow of the University of Oxford and a polymathic thinker, also gave an entertaining talk on the science of happiness. It was an incredible opportunity for our students to engage in a day of rich, lecture-style learning from scholars representing two incredible institutions, Oxford and Cambridge University. These two universities have educated 44 British Prime Ministers, 187 Nobel Laureates and Prize winners, dozens of international heads of state and 359 Olympic Medallists. Students were interested to learn some old scholars include Charles Darwin, David Attenborough, Isaac Newton, William Wordsworth, Albert Einstein, Indira Gandhi and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Across the day, students were certainly stretched as they explored the relationship between empiricism and the mind, modern epistemology and the concept of fallible foundationalism! We look forward to hosting our next event, a conference for interested students in Years 7- 9 to be held on Tuesday 8 August.

Emma Rieger
Enrichment and Extended Learning