15 January 2025
Mrs Katharine Payne, Head of Kritikos
Last week, students on our Kritikos programme worked in teams to come up with a concept for a product or service which would make life better, simpler, safer or more fun. With only 10 minutes to do this, as well as to develop a 60-second ‘elevator pitch’ to communicate their idea clearly and persuasively, the girls had to work at pace.
The winning concept and pitch was for Dress to Impress – a product that would resolve fashion emergencies. Other highly innovative ideas included The Room of Requirement - using AI technology to provide anything from the ultimate teenage bedroom to housing for the homeless; The Great Glass Elevator - combining a museum and hotel experience in a single whizzing adventure; and The Quick Cook Machine – to solve dinner dilemmas with speed and efficiency. Several teams conceived services to aid those affected by the fires in the USA, from fire safety kits to emergency-equipped bicycles and intergovernmental disaster relief efforts.
The students tackled the challenge with imagination and energy, working really well in teams to produce a wonderfully diverse range of concepts and strong elevator pitches.
A key strand of academic stretch at Woldingham, our Kritikos programme offers provision to those students who demonstrate both high academic ability and high engagement with learning. Intellectual discernment, or what the Greeks called κρῐτῐκός ('kritikos'), is the ability to judge and evaluate rather than simply regurgitate information; those with this quality demonstrate a flexibility of thought that allows for appropriation of information and the ability to approach familiar problems with unique insight.
Kritikos students meet every Friday lunchtime to tackle a variety of exciting challenges and brain games, designed to inspire creativity and critical thinking, and promote teamwork.