On Monday 12 September we launched our Academic Enrichment programme. Dr Peter Lovatt was our first guest speaker and what a speaker he was! Below some of our pupils from Year 4 to 11 have written reviews.
Alex Flynn and Sadie Kennedy – Year 4
We thought Dr Peter Lovatt’s was really groovy and fun. As well as making us laugh, he helped us to understand different ways that we could improve our learning.
Lara Hindocha and Ruhi Sumaria, Year 5
We both found Dr Peter Lovatt’s fun and it energised us – we were excited to hear how dancing can help us to think.
Alexa Ucar and Eva Leung, Year 6
We really enjoyed Dr Peter Lovatt’s talk and it was really interesting to hear how dancing can help us concentrate and is linked to psychology.
Niti Iyer – Lower 5 (Year 10)
On Monday 12 September, I was lucky enough to attend a talk by Dr. Peter Lovatt on movement and it’s benefits as part of Habs’ new Academic Enrichment programme. Riddled with videos, jokes and funny anecdotes, his speech made us an intruiged, captivated audience. To add to what was already an amazing talk, Dr. Lovatt made it interactive by quite literally keeping us on our toes. We were taught a dance routine and performed it at the end, which was extremely enjoyable and was effective in proving his main message – the benefits of moving, especially after a long period of inactivity. Overall, Dr. Peter Lovatt’s talk included everything I enjoy in a speech – a passionate, witty speaker with a sense of humour and a fascinating, entertaining topic. I loved every minute of it.
Tia Odedra – Lower 5 (Year 10)
Dr Peter Lovatts’s talk was interesting, fun and lively. He told us about his research of the effect movement has on our brains and emotions, as well as his work with the Royal Ballet School and how dance has a positive impact on our mentality. We learnt about his Move-Assure Dance for Mental Wellbeing Programme and even got a chance to get up on our feet. We also got an insight into how Dr Lovatt’s work began, including his later return to education and change in career path – hearing his story was truly inspirational as it taught us that it is never too late to try something new. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and it was a great way to kick off our first academic enrichment session!
Zoya Mankhand – Upper 5 (Year 11)
His manner of presentation was hilarious and uplifting as he burst into unexpected, but clearly well rehearsed bouts of dance and interposed the flow of information with a highly entertaining short dance sequence tutorial. It proved how our memories and brains responded to this new choreography, and then, how they coped with a different order of movement. Though the science behind our cognitive response was fascinating, we all mostly enjoyed the short disco.
He proved everyone who said he couldn’t succeed just because of his less-than-perfect exam results wrong. Having two starkly starkly different careers and experience of being on the English board at Cambridge without an English A Level, he showed us that delineated school subjects aren’t everything. Most importantly though, he demonstrated that though his dyslexia was a barrier, it didn’t manage to stop him, which resonated in all of us, in our own ways.
