Our Year 12 and 13 students attended an inspiring workshop led by Action Breaks Silence Team, exploring how education can help prevent violence against women and girls. They learnt about the charity’s work in primary schools, teaching children about personal safety, respect and healthy relationships. The session highlighted the importance of raising awareness from an early age while empowering young people to become confident advocates for positive change. Our students will embark on a series of workshops to train on delivering assemblies in primary schools to bring awareness of violence against women. [ZB 12D]

I enjoyed the workshop, and found it quite insightful, hearing about how the organisation makes a difference in educating young people regarding violence against women, and the reality of what many women face all over the world. I liked hearing about how the organisation visits primary schools, delivering a range of workshops, such as self-defence, and I feel it would really impact people's perception of the seriousness of these issues. By educating people from an early age, I feel, we can create a future where there is more awareness, and understanding towards women, helping to make a difference in the future. [IK 12F]

Action Breaks Silence is a charity based on educating and empowering young people to become more aware and challenge violence against women and girls. It works on a scheme of programmes that range from giving in-person workshops to Year 5 students, to defence classes for Year 6 students and above. It's a great opportunity to help young people recognise abuse, violence and discrimination against such a vulnerable group of people. [AO 12F]

The Action Breaks Silence workshop demonstrated the organisation's enthusiasm in raising awareness of violence against women. The idea of sending young students, that are trained and helped by the organisation, to primary schools and teaching them about the day-to-day violence that occurs around the world is not only helpful for primary school students but also the students themselves. They build confidence skills, speaking in front of an audience, as well as communication skills through their ability to teach the children about the organisation's principles. Overall, the workshop helps spread awareness of something that is silenced around the world.

For Post 18 Transition Day / UCAS Day, I was part of a group that had a lecture given by Peter Rowley from period 1 to 2. We were taught how to write a personal statement that was unique to ourselves and some common mistakes with SPAG, structure, and content that previous year 13 students have made in their personal statements. I also learned how to structure the personal statement using the new three question structure, which I found particularly useful, as it is now easier to split academic and extracurricular achievements and interests into sections. In the lecture we also learned about how lots of extracurricular and super curricular activities could link to a personal statement, like the EPQ, work experience and readings. 

As we all had different aspirations for subjects to study at university, including Architecture, Medicine, Engineering, and Economics, Peter met with each of us individually during period 3 and 4. This was to discuss any existing activities we had undertaken to add to the personal statements and what else we could do to strengthen our applications. Since I expressed an interest in studying Architecture, Peter recommended some books that I could read to improve my understanding of Architecture history and theory, and places I could visit to see how Architecture has changed over time. This was very useful in knowing how to differentiate myself from other applicants whilst simultaneously learning more about the subject I wish to study post A-Levels. Overall, UCAS day was informative and provided me with lots of new knowledge about perfecting the personal statement and UCAS application. [KT 13E]

Attending Post 18 Transition Day was a hugely valuable experience in preparing me for my next steps after Sixth Form. An admissions expert from Brunel University delivered an insightful talk on personal statements, giving us expert advice on how to structure our writing and portray our strengths in a way that stands out to admissions officers. We were also able to receive a talk from Uptree, which was especially helpful for those who are considering apprenticeships, as it opened our eyes to the wide range of opportunities available outside the traditional university route, and how to make ourselves competitive applicants for them. An enlightening session on student finance from a representative working at Westminster University, which clarified details that many students find confusing and intimidating.

In addition, he gave a valuable presentation on interviews, teaching us how to present ourselves confidently and professionally. One of the most useful parts of the day, however, was the dedicated time we were given to work on our personal statements, with individuals who work in admissions from universities offering one-to-one advice. Being able to receive direct feedback from those who actually assessed the applications gave me increased confidence for my own statement and vital critiques that I was blind to, making the UCAS day an experience I will undoubtedly benefit from throughout my application. [SD 13A]

Our Geography trip to Hengistbury Head was a great chance to experience the coast ourselves. After spending two and a half hours travelling, we finally arrived at Hengistbury Head. Although the journey was pretty long, the location was easily accessible, giving us plenty of time to investigate when we arrived.

The purpose of our trip was to answer our question: 'To what extent does beach width vary?' For this we had to investigate beach width alongside longshore drift whilst exploring the different coastal managements.

For the beach width, we measured the width at 50 meter intervals, collecting data which we compared later. For investigating longshore drift, we used an orange. We threw it into the sea and timed it for one minute to see how far it travelled. This gave us a practical way of seeing how sediment is transported along the coastline. As we were walking along the coastline, we explored the different types of soft engineering, including beach nourishment, which is adding extra sand/pebbles to the coastline when the natural sand has been eroded by the waves. We also looked at different types of hard engineering, including groynes and gabions. Groynes help trap sediment from longshore drift while gabions were cages filled with rocks, protecting the coast from erosion. 

Overall, the trip was an enjoyable and useful experience, giving us the opportunity to collect our own primary data and see the coastal management up close. [ZS Y10]

On induction day, we first had an assembly about all the things the teachers expect us to do in different scenarios and the school values. After that, we had a tour of the whole school so we would know where to go for a break and lunch or lessons. We went back to our classroom where we sat and introduced ourselves. Then we did some CAT tests to see how good our knowledge was on patterns we ended the day with receiving our planners and writing our timetables into our planners. The day and activities helped us to feel prepared for Monday and onwards to make a good start in Year 7. 

Alissa -  Year 7

On the first day, we met our tutors and learned how to use the canteen at lunchtime. After lunch, my tutor showed us our classrooms and took us on a tour of the school. Back in class, he explained how to find our lessons in the three main buildings; Sutton, Osterley and Hogarth. We learned that G means ground floor, F means first floor and S means second floor. I now feel more confident about finding my classes.

Shrihas - Year 7

This summer, through STEMPOINT, I completed a two-week research placement at the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, supervised by Dr Ann-Kathrin Reuschl. I got to experience what biomedical research is actually like, work alongside researchers and take part in laboratory work, including micropipetting, centrifugation and tissue-culture work.

For me, one of the biggest things I enjoyed was my A-level Biology studies suddenly feeling real. Things I had learned in lessons about immunity, cells, proteins and genetics were no longer just diagrams in a textbook or questions on an exam paper. I could actually see how these ideas were being used to investigate SARS-CoV-2 and the immune response. Going to seminars, hearing scientists discuss their work and being able to experience how researchers ask questions also made me more curious and showed me how much there is still to learn.

Even the long commute each day became part of the experience and taught me independence, commitment and time management. Overall, the placement changed the way I look at Biology. It made me realise that learning is not only about finding the right answer. Sometimes the most interesting part is becoming curious enough to ask another question.

Muhammad Ali Babar [Year 13]

Congratulations to all of our Year 13 students for another year of fantastic results!

We are so proud of the hard work and commitment of our students, staff and families that has resulted in some of the strongest results in the country for progress at A-Level.  

It was wonderful to see so many delighted students that had secured their places at top universities and impressive apprenticeships. 

Special mentions go to Navvya Makwana and Simranjeet Kaur that achieved A*A*A*

"I'm so grateful to have achieved the results I hoped for and I'm so excited to be starting Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School! The past two years have been filled with hard work, but it has definitely been worth it. I genuinely couldn't have done it without the constant support and encouragement from my teachers, family and everyone who believed in me along the way. I am so thankful to everyone who has helped me get to this point, and I honestly can't wait to start this next chapter and see where it takes me." Neda Noorzai

"I am very pleased with my results, and it would not have been possible without the motivation, help and guidance of my teachers, so I want to give thanks to them. At the same time, the hard work had to come from me, and it took hundreds of hours of revision to achieve these grades. I'm excited, but also a bit nervous for the next stage of my life, where I will be studying Biomedical Science at Brunel University." Asfand Hussain

"I’m incredibly grateful to all my teachers for the support and encouragement they have given me throughout my journey at Heston. Their guidance has helped me so much in achieving these grades, and I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’m now excited to begin the next chapter at the University of Nottingham, where I’ll be studying Law, and I’m looking forward to the new experiences and opportunities ahead." Thameera Ladva