Academic Enrichment

Millfield host annual history conference
Dead beat films visit Millfield to host a workshop
Millfield host artist Lisa Price for a student workshop
Millfield host weekly Brilliance Breakfasts led by Sixth Form students
Millfield teams from the Senior Debating Finals with Tessa Munt in the Johnson Hall in Street, Somerset
Millfield Sixth Form pupils listen to an Academic Enrichment event

Year 9-11

For Years 9-11, there is a vibrant range of enrichment activities offered by each department. Students also receive more bespoke support towards achieving their Curiosity Log Award which is run by Jancis Weal who oversees academic mentoring for these Year Groups. Our younger students benefit from essay competitions, Olympiads, and clubs that are tailored to their age group but also challenge the way in which they think and see the world around them. We actively encourage our students to act as mentors who avidly engage in our enrichment opportunities. Some of our most exciting activities are PiShop where students present on advanced areas of mathematics, weekly subject specific Brilliance Breakfasts, Science Club, Millfield Writers, the Enterprise competition, Computer Programming Club, the Physics Challenge and Debating Society.

Sixth Form

In Sixth Form, students may choose to undertake the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). This qualification enables students to gain a range of independent research and organizational skills. The EPQ requires around 120 hours of independent work and students can either produce an artifact or a written research report.

Our Sixth Form enrichment programme contains similar opportunities as our younger students however, older students are offered the opportunity to play a leading role in enrichment. For example, our senior students will host our visiting speakers for dinner and run the evening lectures. Our Brilliance Breakfast presentations are delivered by Sixth Form students, with the aim of giving them the chance to share what they enjoy about a subject beyond the curriculum and enhance their presentation skills. We are proud to offer a number of subject symposiums and conferences to further enhance their academic knowledge based on the qualifications they have chosen to study.

Chess
Chess is thriving at Millfield. It is available to all students, we run separate classes to cater for beginners and recreational players all the way up to those of international standard. Millfield is the premier chess venue in the West of England, and as such Millfield students are able to play a whole host of tournaments and competitions onsite, as well as competing nationally and internationally. Current and former students have represented their countries at World and European Championships. We have regular online internal and external tournaments at a variety of levels, one of which is inter-house chess which has previously had over 100 participants of both boys and girls. Old Millfieldian Max French played the world's number one, Magnus Carlsen in an exhibition match in 2021.

Students can apply for a Chess Scholarship at Millfield. Find out more here.

Enrichment and trips
We support our students in a large number of external competitions, including Olympiads in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Linguistics and Informatics, the Intermediate and Senior Mathematics Challenges, the Millfield Maths Challenge, the Naval Engineering Challenge, the English Speaking Union Public Speaking competition, European Youth Parliament, Model United Nations, Bank of England Target 2.0, the Omnibus Translation Competition, and essay prizes offered by Oxford and Cambridge colleges. We also run a rich programme of trips to performances, exhibitions, lectures and debates.

Oxbridge applications

Preparation for Oxbridge applications is a process that really begins the moment a student arrives at Millfield. Every aspect of our curriculum is designed to stretch and challenge all students in order to prepare them for applications to some of the most competitive universities in the World.  An array of extra-curricular activities, seminars, external speakers and clubs allow each student to extend their academic interests outside of the curriculum, and a mentoring programme is in place to support our most able students to channel their efforts appropriately right from the beginning. Students are encouraged to and regularly participate in academic competitions including Olympiads and University Essay Competitions, activities which help to build the type of academic CV sought after by competitive universities.

The Old Millfieldian Society gives us access to a network of former students who are currently affiliated with or studying at Oxford and Cambridge, meaning that current students are connected with a wealth of prior experience and expertise. Many students use the network to facilitate appropriate work and research experience to support their applications. For students in Year 11, a day trip to Oxford provides the opportunity to experience colleges and departments first hand and to meet current undergraduate students and tutors. Lower Sixth students are invited to spend a night in Cambridge, enjoying a lunch and dinner in different colleges and meeting a range of OMs who are current Cambridge students or alumni.