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Message from the Headteacher, Mr Richards
This week we have had a visit from Challenge Partners from Wednesday to Friday to carry out a Quality Assurance Review as mentioned last week. We look forward to sharing their feedback with you in due course. Year 9s also visited the Science museum this week, the year 12 Brilliant club scholars held their latest meeting in school.
Next week we are shining a light on creative careers in the Arts including holding community arts workshops and a poetry workshop. We will also be commemorating Holocaust memorial day; a very fitting time to learn from the mistakes of the past. We will be taking part in the UK Intermediate maths challenge, there will be the year 9 options evening on Thursday from 5 – 6.30pm and year 12s are going on a trip to GSK.
Some key date reminders: Year 13 parents’ evening 5/2/26; the school Drama production 12/2/26 in the evening (details about tickets on their way) and it’s the deadline for year 9 options 13/2/26 which is the last day before February half term.
Year 9 GCSE Options Evening
We invite all Year 9 parents and carers to attend the GCSE Options Evening on Thursday, 29 January 2026, from 5 pm to 6:30 pm.
This is an important opportunity to support your child as they make their GCSE choices for Year 10 & 11. We strongly encourage you to book time off work where possible to attend this evening with your child. For more information, please refer to the Option Evening letter .
Please ensure that reply slips are completed and returned to your child’s tutor as soon as possible.
Architecture School Club
Pupils recently took part in our Architecture Club, a programme funded by the Alan Baxter Foundation and delivered in partnership with Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, led by practitioner Tatiana Machado. As part of the programme, students visited Pitzhanger Manor for a guided tour, where they learned about Sir John Soane and explored key architectural ideas such as materials, texture, shape, structure, scale, colour, and light. The experience provided a valuable opportunity to develop creativity and a deeper understanding of the built environment.
Year 9 Textiles
Inspired by Grayson Perry, students explored how art can reflect identity and everyday life. Using collage techniques, they designed their own vases inspired by their hometown of Southall, combining images and symbols that represent local life and personal experiences. The finished pieces are vibrant, expressive, and uniquely personal.
Science Museum Trip
A group of year 9 students went on an exciting trip to the Science Museum to take part in a gallery exploration challenge. For a lot of the students, this was their first visit to such a renowned and iconic museum, making it an unforgettable day.
The visit kicked off in an engaging, interactive and hands-on technician’s gallery visit. In this gallery students had the opportunity to design models. It was fascinating to watch students meticulously mixing different chemicals to produce a specific medicine using the software. While this was going on, other students were busy designing wind turbines blades for sustainable energy and programming recycling robots.
Students explored the flight gallery and had the experience of coming face to face with the photographs of the pioneer pilots from minority backgrounds highlighting DEI. They had insights into how these legends contributed to the British Navy during the world wars. A few of them included Mohinder Sigh Pujji, one of the first Indian Sikh Second world war fighter pilots in the RAF, Besse Coleman, the first African American and Native American to hold an international pilot’s licence and Amelia Earheart who was the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and, through her tireless efforts, she promoted equal rights and commercial air travel.
This article cannot end without talking about the exploration of the medicine gallery where students learned about how much improvement has happened. All in all, students explored 6 galleries including the Space and Making modern world gallery where they had insights into the evolution of jets and rockets engines and other machines that were used by pioneers in these fields.
This visit was a fantastic blend of learning, creativity, and inspiration, leaving students motivated to think critically about the world around them and their role in its future.
Parking after school
Since we have joined the Ealing school streets strategy, visitors are not able to drive into Boyd Avenue or Villiers Road between 2:30pm and 3:30pm. We have had complaints from nearby streets and Avenue Road in particular where driveways are being blocked by people collecting students at the end of the day. Please be mindful when parking in neighbouring streets and move if requested.
Is my child well enough to go to school?
If your child is feeling unwell and you’re not sure whether to send them in, please read this NHS guidance which will support you in making a decision: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Penalty notice for Unauthorised Attendance
Parent/carers are reminded that if they take their children out of school for 5 days or more (which do not have to be consecutive) in a 10-week period, they will be liable for a penalty notice from Ealing. Currently the amount payable for the 1st penalty notice is £160 per parent/carer per child which reduces to £80 if paid within 21 days.
If a further 5 days of absence without a reasonable explanation occurs, then a 2nd penalty notice of £160 per parent/carer per child will be issued, with no reduction. If the penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, Ealing will consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Further absences after this stage could also result in prosecution.
Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per child, so a family of two parents and two children will receive 4 penalty notices. Please check our term dates on our website to help you avoid taking your child out of school during term time.
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