News

Seventeen pupils from Taunton School travelled to the London Aquatics Centre to represent the South West in the English Schools’ Swimming Association National Relay competition. Six relay teams had qualified for National Finals following the Regional Finals in October. The Taunton School Junior Girls’ team took part in the Medley Relay competing against several schools including local rivals Millfield School and Kelly College. After a strong qualification, the team excelled in the final to be crowned English Schools National U13...

School Readers were overjoyed with the amount we raised, saying: “Thanks to Maidwell Hall 2,166 children will get reading support for a whole year, and as a result each of them will have much greater chances in life”. Robert Lankester, Headmaster of Maidwell Hall said “This fantastic total of money is down to the excellent fundraising efforts of our staff, parents and pupils who worked together over the course of the year. It is no small feat, including a sponsored...

A captive audience at Godolphin welcomed impressive line-up of authors for Literary Festival .. She did not disappoint, and her witty, exuberant delivery revealed the humanity and quirkiness of her subject. The audience was a mix of all ages and a testament to Lucy Worsley's talent at making history accessible; many of the questions came from the young who had clearly listened to every word and still wanted to know more.  Lucy had a message of encouragement for one who asked about...

Academic study in schools has increasingly been reduced to utility – knowledge and training in skills for personal success and material prosperity. At Downside we consciously resist this utilitarian approach and the intention of Tessera is to celebrate intellectual exploration and discovery for their own sake. The implication of the title (a tessera is a mosaic tile) is that each piece of work stands as a separate entity, but makes a vital and unique contribution to the overall picture. It...

Alice Edwards, who is in Year 11 at King’s Ely Senior, won the top prize in this year’s ‘Pauline’s Swamp Photography Competition’ with her striking and meaningful image, ‘Grass from the Ground’. Antonio Longo, Head of Photography at King’s Ely Senior, said: “Alice has created a fantastic photograph which captures the essence of her rural surroundings. She should be very proud of her achievement. Alice has chosen ‘Street Photography’ as her GCSE Photography Sustained Project for her coursework, which she...

Linda collected the award at the Eastbourne and District Community Awards 2019 on behalf of the 15,000 or so pupils that the ESP represents, and the many education leaders that dedicate themselves to ensuring the award-winning partnership blossoms. Founded in 2014, the ESP is now made up of 13 schools (Bexhill Academy, the Causeway School, the Cavendish School, the Eastbourne Academy, Eastbourne College, East Sussex College, Gildredge House, Hailsham Community College, Ratton School, Seaford Head School, St Catherine’s College, St...

The event was attended by HRH the Earl of Wessex and guest speaker, Annabel Croft who spoke wonderfully to the groups about her life and how hard she had worked to get to where she is today. The speech was then followed by presentations which took place in the Picture Gallery. This was also a great opportunity for Head of Outdoor Pursuits Mrs Linnell who was the marshal for the group, to catch up with the OD’s and congratulate them...

The “Staff Charity Fitness Challenge”, which involved cycling on a static gym bike in the front of school, commenced as the sun rose on Friday morning, finishing some 392km and 12 hours later. The aim was to cycle to “France” non-stop, with staff members pedalling as far as they could in their 30 minute time slots, only stopping to hand over to the next team member. An additional bike was set up for any extra staff or students who wanted...

Hundreds of people gathered inside Ely Cathedral for the school’s Beginning of Year Service, which saw the incoming Heads of School being robed in their prefects’ gowns. The new Heads of School then robed the Deputy Heads of School, after which all then assisted in robing the other Prefects. Charlotte has been a student at King’s Ely since joining King’s Ely Acremont Nursery in 2005. She is studying Biology, Chemistry and Maths for her A Levels and is heavily involved...

‘The Bramston Bursary Foundation was established in the name of Anna Bramston who founded St Swithun’s in 1884 with the vision to provide talented and hard-working girls, irrespective of background, with the opportunity to reach their full potential through education. The Foundation aims to provide two full life-changing transformational bursaries every year to girls in care, or on the brink of care but living at home, whom our partner charity and local authority experts believe would thrive emotionally and academically...