Brilliance Breakfasts

Brilliance Breakfasts are weekly presentations given by students to their peers on a topic of their choice outside of the curriculum, whilst attendees enjoy a freshly baked croissant and juice!

The presentations spark academic curiosity and stretch learning beyond the curriculum. They allow students to develop leadership, debating and presentation skills. Sixth form students present most talks, using it as an opportunity to develop their intellectual interests and enhance their academic profiles for university applications. Year 10 and 11 lead the Junior Brilliance Breakfasts for Year 9 students and Millfield Prep School pupils. Brilliance Breakfasts are very popular, with attendance at full capacity every week (70 students) and student presenters are booked months in advance.

Students gain valuable skills in public speaking, research and critical thinking, whilst also gaining insight into advanced topics that they have may not have encountered previously. It is also a platform that showcases the range of interests within the student body.

Brilliance Breakfast topics have included:

  • AI and Biotech: How is AI developing Biotech?
  • Why do we dream?
  • Why many Britons disengage from Politics?
  • What did we get wrong about Psychopaths?
  • The neuroplasticity of Bilingualism: How learning languages can reshape the brain.
  • What is the Psychology behind performance anxiety?
  • Sickle Cell Anaemia: genetics and possible cures.
  • What is the impact of classical culture impacted on French culture?
  • The Poetry of Sylvia Plath and The Chronology of English Literature
  • Is Liberalism in decline?
  • What is globalisation?
  • What are black holes and how can you get out of one?

Supported by

Jancis Weal
Brilliance Breakfast Lead
Second in charge of Academic Culture
BSc Bristol, PGCE Oxon

Jancis Weal graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in Veterinary Pathogenesis and then went on to do her PGCE at the University of Oxford. She joined Millfield as a Biology Teacher in 2008 and has held a number of academic and pastoral roles as well as introducing Brilliance Breakfasts during which students present an indepth review of a topic of their choice to their peers.

Millfield Head of Academic Culture Bea Priest

Beatrice Priest
Brilliance Breakfast Support
Head of Academic Culture
MPhil, PhD Cantab

Beatrice Priest holds a PhD in Medieval Italian Literature from the University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall. She completed her MPhil in European Literature and Culture, and BA in Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Spanish) at the University of Cambridge, Emmanuel College. She has lived and worked in Italy, as well as spending her Year Abroad in France at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and teaching Italian at the University of Notre Dame, USA, during her PhD. Before coming to Millfield, she worked as teacher in charge of French, Head of Italian and Head of Languages at schools in Brighton, Exeter and in Essex.

From a listener's perspective we gain insight on niche topics which we may not have even heard of if it wasn’t for the Brilliance Breakfasts. It advertises the range of interests in the student body and highlights the brilliance of Millfield students- as it says in the name.

Lower SIxth student, Araba