Our first History Café of the new academic year was delivered by none other than Head of History at King’s Ely Senior, Mr Currie.
Mr Currie’s talk was entitled: ‘Was King John really that bad?’, and the very short answer was yes.
Mr Currie expertly dissected King John of England’s various failings in politics, diplomacy, and warmongering. Students were shocked to learn just how few redeeming features there were to his reign, stumbling from one catastrophe to another across losing lands in France, unsuccessful military campaigning, and the alienation of the class of barons in England. Through the use of both Disney’s Robin Hood and more academic resources, Mr Currie highlighted just how poorly King John compares with some of his more illustrious relatives.
History Café was launched in 2014. It sees Teachers and sometimes Sixth Form students presenting fascinating History-related talks throughout the year. The discussions are open to pupils in Years 9 to 13, who have a passion for History and a thirst for knowledge. This week, Mr Fisher will be discussing the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
At King’s, we believe that learning is all about educating young people for life. That is why we invest so much time and energy into what goes on beyond the classroom, through our thriving co-curricular and extra-curricular programmes, from Nursery through to Sixth Form.
Every day, before school, at breaktime, during lunchtime, and after school, groups of students can be found exploring and developing their passions. This may be for sport, music, drama or outward bound activities; it may be for chess, DT, art, debating, computer programming, literature, philosophy, or hip-hop – these are just a handful of the clubs and societies in operation here at King’s.