The role of the Master of the Scholars, held by John Plowright, is to monitor the progress of all academic award holders in the School, to keep staff informed of the latest research about the development of children's minds, and to work with Heads of Department to develop the extension opportunities offered to gifted and talented students.
Most of the scope for stretching the brightest pupils occurs in the course of classroom teaching but there are a number of societies which also tend to this need. Thus every department has a society which meets several times in the course of the school year, although these are open to all interested parties whether or not they study the subject concerned.
These societies can take the form of arranging for outside speakers, sometimes of considerable eminence, to address all those in the school interested in their field of expertise. Alternatively members of the department present papers or encourage students themselves to take a role in leading proceedings and stimulating debate. Several societies have arranged cross-curricular or interdisciplinary talks straddling conventional subject boundaries, such as the Biology and English departments combining to examine what is meant in their respective fields by Love, whilst the History and Modern Languages departments combined to place the short stories of Maupassant in the context of the Franco-Prussian War.
The Debating Society not only provides instruction in the skills of public speaking for those wishing to participate directly but also provides a forum in which any interested member of the School can listen to debates of a high quality and ask questions prior to voting on the merits of the cases they have heard presented. Sixth-Form members of the Society visit the House of Commons each year, in order to observe the verbal cut and thrust of Prime Minister’s Question Time.
There are two societies whose core membership is comprised of academic award holders, although each year they receive an infusion of fresh blood from those who have otherwise impressed the Common Room. These societies are the Temple Society, for the Lower School, and the Ramsey Society for the Sixth Form.
The former is chaired by John Plowright, whilst the Headmaster presides over the latter. Both are designed to stimulate discussion by focusing upon issues where opinions differ sharply and there are no easy answers. One purpose of the Temple and Ramsey societies (named after distinguished Head Masters of Repton who both went on to become Archbishops of Canterbury) is to provide students with an experience akin to that to which they will be subjected if summoned to be interviewed at Oxbridge.
The various departments arrange extra classes for Sixth Formers - such as EcoPlus - for those preparing for the Advanced Extension Award (AEA) in their subject and/or applying to Oxbridge, or those merely interested in deepening and broadening their understanding of one of their A Level subjects.
The Sixth Form as a whole are encouraged to broaden their horizons beyond their examination subjects by means of a Civics programme in the Lower Sixth (embracing skills such as critical thinking and art and music appreciation) and by a series of lectures by distinguished outside speakers in the Upper Sixth such as Professor Hugh Brogan on de Tocqueville.