Contact: Mr A Brown
The I.D.E.A.S. course was originally designed to offer some genuine extension for the most able in Year 12. I.D.E.A.S. is an acronym for Intellectual Development: Extending Able Students. It is offered in addition to the mainstream timetable of AS levels, which in practice means that not everyone can attend all four sessions if they clash with examination subjects; the latter must take precedence.
There is no published syllabus as such because I.D.E.A.S. is constantly evolving and often responding to the current issues in the media, new books that have been published and so on. However, there are some perennial areas that tend to be core topics and include some of the following: postmodernity; quantum physics; relativity; key ideas in philosophy; aspects of psychology; history of art & music; key works in literature; chaos theory; political systems; speed reading; differentiation in education; model making and meta-disciplines; bridge; Desert Island Discs; intelligence and other psychometric testing; Montaigne’s Essays; Homer’s Odyssey.
This is just a fraction of what has been explored in previous years!
Entry Requirements:
Typically 5 or more grades at levels 7, 8 & 9
Where can I.D.E.A.S. take me?
- There is a practical outcome, which is predicated on the demands of some of the very best universities. To learn, at the very least, something of the range of material beyond the narrow confines of A-level and to know how to deal with novel ideas is a vital skill that interviewers are looking for in the best candidates.
Assessment
There is no formal assessment in I.D.E.A.S. Instead, the benefit to the individual will be genuine personal intellectual development in areas that are not usually covered by the confines of A level.