Psychology, the study of mind and behaviour, is a subject proved to be popular among young people, but it is not a subject which students often get to know unless they have picked it as one of their GCSE/A-level options, despite how it is arguably one of the most relevant subjects to all humans, considering it literally studies the human mind. The psychology society of Newstead Wood School aims to build a community of students who are interested in psychology, explore any relevant topics people may want to know more about, and most importantly, lead students into the fascinating world of psychology.
This year, three year 12 A-level psychology students took upon the responsibility of organising the psychology society for Newstead Wood School. Sophie Richards, the president of the society, when asked what motivated her to take up the role, has said, “I just want to share my love for psychology with the whole school, and I just love it when there are a lot of people coming in because they like psychology.”
She and her fellow members have worked to build a comfortable and intellectually stimulating environment for all the students who joined in their weekly sessions. Each week there will be a different topic of discussion, the topics which have been covered so far include serial killers, love, dark psychology. For half an hour during lunchtime on Wednesday every week, we delve into a topic by creating interactive activities like quizzes and riddles to engage all students.
Last week, educational psychologist Ifoma Bennett was invited as a guest speaker to talk about her career and what it means to be an educational psychologist, and it was very delightful to see a room full of students from different year groups expressing interest in a career in educational psychology and being proactive in asking questions, their contributions had significantly enhanced the session. Following this enriching experience, we look forward to more guest speakers coming on in future sessions.
Most students who joined in the psychology society are mainly from the lower school, and to know more about their thoughts on it, I have asked Yasmin Pookkayil, a year 8 student who has been notably enthusiastic during the weekly sessions, what made her want to stay in the psychology society, to which she replied “I really enjoyed enjoyed learning about the psychology about serial killers [topic of the first session], psychology was never something I thought I’d be interested in, but once I came to this society, I realised how fun and interesting it is!” And this is exactly what we aim to achieve with our sessions, to share with others the appeal of psychology.
