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Upper School Choice - chess

TEDxKingAlfredSchool talks live on YouTube

1st March 19

The TEDxKingAlfredSchool event took place before half term and it was a sell-out. Thankfully, all the amazing talks are now available online via the TEDx YouTube channel.

The day was packed with stand-out moments but the KAS students who spoke all blew the room away with their confidence, bravery and the food for thought they all brought to the day.

Tara spoke about the positive effect calling her teachers by their first names has had on her educational experience:

 

Henry challenged himself and scored another winning blow in his battle against anxiety with his talk which left many in the audience vowing to ‘be more Henry’:

 

In her talk, Charlotte challenged they traditional thinking about gap-year volunteering and shared how she and her peers are determined to do things differently:

 

Georgina shared her belief in the transformational power of storytelling when she took to the red spot:

 

 New sixth former Alfie asked the audience to think differently about how they approach colleagues, classmates or anyone on the autistic spectrum: 

  

The final students to take the stage were Leo and Nicolas who helped shine a light on crypto-currency and how it may shape the future:

 

Our students all stepped up to the challenge of speaking in front of a live audience with no notes and they all did themselves more than proud.

Also taking their turn were some KAS staff members. History teacher and Head of Year Emma Sevitt had the unenviable task of going first. She had nothing to worry about, her personal take on the civil rights movement in America was packed with insight and passion:

 

Claire Murphy, PE teacher and Head of Year, took us on a journey through cancer treatment and beyond in an emotional and thought provoking talk:

 

Drama teacher Rob Messik took to the stage of the Theater he also manages to deliver a plea for more misrule with an explosive finale!

 

The room collectively held it’s breath during Head of Estates, Zah Rasul’s emotional prose poem on the power of pain to transform:

 

The KAS community wouldn’t be complete with out parents and we were blessed to have just a handful of our amazing parent body take to the stage. 

Phil Stuart’s talk will make you think differently about screen-time battles as he talks positively about the power of games:

 

Ian Hadden has been researching a simple and potentially powerful way to transform the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and he shared his early, exciting, results with the room:

   

Adam Walzer had us all dreaming of a better night’s sleep after he shared his tips for getting more shut-eye:

 

Jo Lucas deals with change in large, complex organisations and encouraged everyone to search for their sidekick, whatever they’re working on:

 

Taking us on a journey far from KAS to the remote island of Gometra, Roc Sandford extolled the virtues, and need, for us all to live more sustainably:

Psychotherapist, Cynthia Rousso, wants to help parents support their children to deal with life’s challenges and has some sage advice:

Fianlly, we were honoured to be joined by some guests from outside the school community.

Drs Fiona Starr and Mike Solomon both have personal experience of dealing with trauma as well as being clinical psychologists. They have some tips for dealing when things get tough:

 

Dr Marc Kahn wants organisations to think differently about how they hire and nurture staff: 

 

 We are hugely grateful to each and every speaker who took to the stage, and to the organising committee, led by Kara Conti, who helped our speakers refine and rehearse their talks.

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