Ms Crawley organised the Theology and Philosophy Department’s annual Year 9 Philosophy Afternoon on 29th January 2026.  Two speakers from the Philosophy Foundation provided an afternoon of challenging philosophical enquiry around the use of AI.  Pupils engaged in a fun and vibrant afternoon full of discussion and debate as they grappled with questions around ‘human intelligence versus machine intelligence’.  Year 9 had the opportunity to enhance their communication skills and deepen their thinking and understanding of the world and of themselves through collaborative critical reflection: ‘know thyself’ (Socrates).  They mingled in a ‘philosophical cocktail party’ examining several statements such as ‘If an AI makes fewer mistakes than humans, we have a duty to use it’ and questions like ‘What should the self-driving car be programmed to do?’.

Ms Crawley, Head of Theology & Philosophy