The Cedars and Laurels Schools is inviting Sixth-Form students to participate in a new series of extra-curricular seminars as part of their commitment to the cultivation of intellectual and moral virtue in students. The seminars will use materials from Eudaemonia, a core course under works by friends of the Thomas More Foundation, and by Roy Peachey in particular. 

Our new Eudaemonia seminars are exemplary of a ‘socratic’ approach, meaning the teacher directs a productive discussion of texts, events, or ideas among a small group of students primarily by asking those questions which will help students deepen their understanding of the world. A question-led approach stands in contrast to presenting students with a set of facts about the work in question. Instead, students must bring their intellectual and moral competence to bear on thought-provoking problems which are raised by the discussion. With the teacher’s guidance, students advance themselves towards a deeper and more personal connection with the ideas and values they discover. 

The socratic seminar is nothing new; it is a prominent model for humanities education in the universities and it has long been the staple of a ‘classical’ or ‘liberal’ education. It has the advantage of actively engaging the student in his or her full intellectual and moral potential. Traditionally, the distinction between intellectual and moral formation has not been stressed as it is today. The socratic seminar by contrast shows how even ordinary reasoning has moral dimensions, including an interest in the truth, humility, and patience, whilst a debate between two opposing viewpoints demands an ethic of mutual respect, attentiveness, and understanding, if it is to be productive. 

Teaching at the Cedars and Laurels Schools is highly influenced by classical education, particularly in its curriculum content and in the attention given to students’ intellectual and moral formation. We have, for example, recently begun a great books series, based on the socratic approach, to get our students reflecting on the wisdom in great literature. 

Eudaemonia is different, however. For a start, there is less of an emphasis on literature and more on ideas or experiences in the world. Literature is a great vehicle for raising questions about wisdom, but so are scientific papers, newspapers, charities, buildings, technologies, local environments and wildlife, board games — in sum, all of human experience is implicated in the pursuit of wisdom. A great books seminar primes us to think about virtue, but how able are we to discern virtues in the ordinary events of daily life? Great ideas are not great just because they are relegated to literature and philosophy, but because they are manifest in all human experience. Eudaemonia helps students realise and appreciate the wisdom and the opportunities for growth hidden in the ordinary. 

In addition, students will encounter thinkers from throughout history who would not ordinarily feature on a classical curriculum, but particularly medieval, contemporary, and non-Western sources which must be most often neglected. It puts these thinkers, who are often from very different backgrounds, into dialogue with one another. Finally, students are encouraged to reflect on wisdom in practice, with focus shifted to broader issues of ecology, anthropology, society, and technology. For those students with a classical formation, these seminars will be an excellent opportunity for application of their formation to unfamiliar contexts. For those without such a formation, they are nevertheless a great point of entry for learning to think critically and deeply. 

The Cedars and Laurels Schools will role these seminars out for their own students in January 2025 and want to make them available to students beyond their own once a month. This monthly series is expected to commence in late January (details below). For those students have studied at the Cedars previously, it is an opportunity for them to stay in contact with them and the work they do. They are encouraged to invite their friends, so that they can share in the quality formation that Cedars and Laurels provide.

Origins of Eudaemonia

The seminars are taken from a collection of resources developed by Roy Peachey, a former teacher at Cedars, and the author of several books on classical Christian education, including 50 Books for Life: A Concise Guide to Catholic Literature (2019) and Out of the Classroom and Into the World: How to Transform Catholic Education (2018). Mr Peachey originally developed similar resources for the Cedars and Laurels schools to enrich their existing courses. 

Mr Peachey is presently enhancing these resources in collaboration with a new and developing group of educators here in the UK, the Thomas More Foundation. The Foundation is working to correct the decline in quality intellectual formation in the UK.  Schools such as Cedars are increasingly rare in the quality of education they provide, which is distinctively classical in content and active in Catholic formation. Presently, the Foundation seeks to establish relations with those schools who share these values, so that it may have a solid basis upon which to begin reaching out to schools which are outside of this tradition and who are most in need of support. The Eudaemonia seminars are a critical stage in this process for the Foundation. 

The Foundation was commissioned by Fundación Parentes, who presently own the PACT schools. It has been directed in large part by the vision of Robert Teague, a former head of Cedars and now the head of St John Fishers school. The friends of the Foundation include, beyond many of the Cedars staff, academics and educators across the UK and Europe, all with a shared Catholic ethos. 

Programme and logistics

The seminars are held at The Cedars School, West Norwood, SE19 1RS on Saturdays monthly. The exact date is yet to be confirmed, but it is anticipated to be late January. The programme for each day comprises two morning sessions, each 60 minutes, with lunch finished by 1pm for those students who attend Kelston Club. All seminars require some preparatory reading which should not take longer than 30 minutes plus some questions for reflection. We ask that students bring their own lunch. There will be an opportunity between the seminars to pray the rosary together for those students who would like to. 

There is no obligation to attend all seminars, but we do encourage students to come to as many as possible.

To confirm your interest in participating, please email [contact forthcoming!]. A complete programme of seminar topics will be emailed a week before the first seminar, including the first preparatory reading materials.