Activities Week

Pupils have been immersing themselves in enriching experiences beyond the classroom.

Each year, with exams underway for several year groups, our other Senior School pupils enjoy a week off timetable to expand their horizons and enrich their learning.

This year, Year 7 took part in a self-defence workshop, ventured to Hampstead Heath to clear weeds, and embarked on an independent learning project – an opportunity to take the initiative and think creatively about their work. Collaborating in small groups, they imaginatively tackled the theme of Alive?, exploring topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, comas, immortality, de-extinction and ideas about the afterlife over the course of three days, before showcasing their findings to parents and judges. Congratulations to our winning team – Calissa, Sofia, Sophia and Sophia – for their project on cordyceps, a fungus that reproduces by occupying ants brains and controlling their actions.

In Year 8, pupils took part in our Think Global, Act Local project, collaborating with students from the Umubano Academy in Rwanda. Together, they explored sustainability challenges and developed entrepreneurial ideas aimed at designing out waste, incorporating what they learned about systems thinking, marketing and storytelling. Well done to our winning team – Eva, Gaby, Ipek, Kiki, Marsha, Maya, Sienna and Sylvia – who delivered a compelling pitch for their edible, biodegradable energy gel pouches to reduce plastic waste.

Year 9 welcomed LSE Generate, the entrepreneurial hub of the London School of Economics. Pupils had the opportunity to build their entrepreneurial skills, engage with startup founders, and gain insights from angel investors – an inspiring and hands-on introduction to the world of innovation. Staff from LSE Generate were hugely impressed by the girls’ ability to engage so rapidly with sophisticated concepts and to run with new ideas with such keen intellectual energy.

Despite the drizzle, students also enjoyed visits to the Tower of London, London Zoo, Epping Forest and Hampton Court Palace, while Year 8 and 9 honed their outdoor skills in preparation for the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. Back at school, Lower Sixth students explored new horizons through various Futures Week activities, as they prepare for the next stage of their educational journeys.