Canford Blog

Please enjoy reading the latest issue of The Blue Bubble student newspaper. This fantastic publication is written by our talented pupils and staff.

Lower Sixth pupil Leo is currently campaigning as a candidate in the current Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Youth Parliament elections. Here's Leo's policies he is campaigning for during his election campaign to achieve change, and the speech he gave to Canford Sixth Form pupils on 14th February. 

Leo said:

It was wonderful to see so many politically engaged young people taking an interest in the issues faced by #ourgeneration and the policies that #ipromise to implement to #aimforchange."

Throughout the United States many states, cities and schools have this year chosen to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday in October, rather than perpetuate the decades-old Columbus Day tradition.  Sixth Form Hispanist Catherine Wray examines why in this nationally published piece.

Fifth Former Sophia Whelan was awarded a two week immersive stay at Cambridge University for this essay submission

As GCSE and A Level results loom for our Fifth and Sixth Form pupils, a mixture of emotions will inevitably arise.   

The New College of the Humanities, founded by the eminent Professor AC Grayling, aims ‘to foster the talents and capacities of individual minds, empowering them ‘to see things steadily and see them whole’, and to think with acuity and intelligence’. Each year the College runs essay competitions in a series of different categories and in 2021 two Canfordians were selected as finalists from over 6,000 entries from Sixth Formers across the globe. Jake McMillan’s submission for the Law category, entitled “When, if ever, should one be criminally liable for infecting another person with a disease?” discussed the very current complex area of law surrounding criminal liability for infecting a person with a disease and the difficulty of proving causation. 

The New College of the Humanities, founded by the eminent Professor AC Grayling, aims ‘to foster the talents and capacities of individual minds, empowering them ‘to see things steadily and see them whole’, and to think with acuity and intelligence’.  Each year the College runs essay competitions in a series of different categories and in 2021 two Canfordians were selected as finalists from over 6,000 entries from Sixth Formers across the globe. Harry Young’s essay for the Politics category entitled “Is democracy experiencing a setback worldwide?” drew praise from the judges with a finalist award. The latest Democracy Index recorded by the Economist Intelligence Unit was the lowest global democracy score of 5.44/10 since the index began in 2006 and in his submission Harry explained why democracy is experiencing this setback from two fronts: the spread of authoritarianism and the failure of established democracies to lead by example and counter this threat.

Harry received medals and certificates for his effort and NCH hopes to run an in-person event in London in the Autumn to give the finalists the chance to meet the judging panel.

Harry has already won a Highly Commended award from Minds Underground in May for his essay “Is austerity ever necessary?” and has submitted a second Economics essay this time for the prestigious John Locke Institute Global Essay Competition, which encourages “young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style.”  Harry’s essay, entitled “Should we abolish the minimum wage?”  discussed the impact of abolishing the NMW, analysed within the context of three closely-linked macroeconomic objectives crucial to labour market regulation: reducing unemployment; alleviating poverty and exploitation of workers; and reducing income inequality.  He will hear the outcome of his entry in the coming weeks.

In this article Melissa Clinton, Canford's Joint Head of Wellbeing, discusses the launch of Canford's new Sleep Programme along with some top tips for better sleep health in teenagers.