At the beginning of this academic year, we decided to promote the ‘thunk’ to all students and staff in order to get us all thinking until our brains hurt. So - what’s a ‘thunk’? A thunk is a philosophical question which usually has no immediate or obvious ‘right’ answer, but has an uncanny way of making us think deeply about things that either matter a lot, or, conversely, don’t really matter at all; a way of making us argue elegantly or violently with our friends; a way of building up persuasive skills that could be useful in a career as a lawyer, or equally, for wheedling extra pocket-money from one’s parents.

A ‘thunk’ question is sent out on an email to students and staff, directing them to a Sharepoint survey, where they have the opportunity to record their answer. A dedicated team of A Level Critical Thinking students and myself read all of the entries and determine the best answer in three age categories (Years 7 to 9; Years 10 and 11; Years 12 and 13). We are always impressed by the ingenuity of the answers sent in.

Mrs Pomeroy