The Duchess of Cambridge continued her work with the early years on Wednesday, taking part in a neuroscience lesson with Year 8 students at Nower Hill High School.
Kate, who earlier this year launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, joined pupils who were learning about neuroscience and the importance of early childhood development. The lessons are part of a pilot research programme from Oxford called Secondary Education around Early Neurodevelopment (SEEN).
Kate sat with students working on their lessons to see the connection between neuroscience and early childhood development, including studying slides of brain scans that showed childhood brain development.
Afterwards, she told the students: “Really well done. I completely found it interesting. It’s a real passion of mine. Learning about babies’ brains, about how our adult brains develop and how our early childhood influences the adults we become.”
The Duchess continued, “Keep thinking about it, keep talking about it with your friends. Well done, I’m super impressed. Thank you for having me today.”
In a statement posted on their website, Headteacher Louise Voden said: “We are honoured and absolutely delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness to Nower Hill High School. We are particularly proud of our diverse, inclusive community, and our reputation of positivity in supporting academic research, particularly when it is in the interests of children and young people.
“We have a fantastic Science Faculty who have embraced the challenge of SEEN’s research; I am thrilled that our participation in this important initiative will contribute to developing the curriculum, and extending the complex subject of brain development in early years to more schools across the country.”
In an exclusive interview with People, Dr Elizabeth Rapa, who is the Senior Post Doctoral Researcher with the SEEN Project, said about Kate, “She completely understood how we need to give more gravitas to this and that everyone needs to understand and make that connection between your brain development and your future long-term health. She repeated that a few times back to me.”
