St Swithun’s School, Winchester

Lib Dem Winchester Parliamentary Candidate Danny Chambers Visits St Swithun’s School

Lib Dem Winchester parliamentary candidate Danny Chambers Visits St Swithun’s School Last Wednesday, St Swithun’s School welcomed Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Winchester, Danny Chambers, for an insightful visit aimed at fostering student engagement in politics. During the visit, Mr Chambers had the opportunity to meet with Head Jane Gandee, Director of Outreach and Partnerships

Flick Drummond MP Visits St Swithun’s School

Flick Drummond MP Visits St Swithun’s School St Swithun’s thoroughly enjoyed welcoming Flick Drummond MP to the school earlier this week. The Meon Valley MP and Conservative candidate for Winchester enjoyed an insightful visit that bridged the gap between education and politics. Mrs Drummond’s visit included touring the senior school with director of partnerships, Simon

ST SWITHUN’S SCHOOL CELEBRATES IMPRESSIVE GCSE RESULTS

St Swithun’s School is thrilled to announce the excellent achievements of its students in the 2023 GCSE examinations. With a long-standing commitment to intellectual curiosity and personal development, the school community is delighted to celebrate the accomplishments of its students in this year’s results. 32% of results were at grade 9, the highest ever in

St Swithun’s students headed to universities after impressive A Level Results

St Swithun’s School is delighted to announce another year of strong A-Level results, showcasing the academic accomplishments of its students. With a dedication to nurturing bright minds and fostering a supportive learning environment, the school is proud to celebrate the achievements of its A-Level students in the 2023 examinations.   86% of A levels were graded

St Swithun’s hosts a day of Olympic sport for local schools

St Swithun’s school in Winchester recently hosted a day of Olympic sports for pupils from local primary schools. The initiative was part of both the St Swithun’s partnership programme and its Path-to-Paris 2024 scheme to give young people the opportunity to experience all of the sports which feature in the Olympics before the 2024 Paris

St Swithun’s Positive Education programme shortlisted for TES School Award 2022

St Swithun’s, Winchester, has been shortlisted for the TES Pupil Mental Health Initiative of the Year award 2022. The school has developed and implemented an outstanding bespoke wellbeing curriculum called Positive Education based on the principle of positive psychology. The Positive Education programme is about “feeling good, doing good and functioning well” deputy head pastoral

St Swithun’s launches new grassroots to pro academy tennis programme

St Swithun’s in Winchester has teamed up with Delgado Tennis to help develop the next generation of elite tennis stars. Children of all ages and abilities will have access to top level coaches as part of a tiered development programme. From this summer, St Swithun’s prep school pupils will be able to join after-school, weekend

St Swithun’s Sixth Form Students Celebrate Oxbridge Offers

Upper sixth formers at St Swithun’s in Winchester are celebrating receiving offers to study at Oxford or Cambridge universities following their successful applications last autumn. 10% of the year group are now hoping to take up their places on a range of courses including medicine, natural sciences, human sciences, land economy, philosophy, archaeology and anthropology

St Swithun’s school musician gains composing scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music

18-year-old St Swithun’s student Pernille Faye has gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. She will study Classical Composition under the tutorage of an established composer and undertake theory and aural lessons to improve her musicianship and support her composing. Pernille was selected for a scholarship following a rigorous process comprising a series

St Swithun’s students succeed in international languages competition

  Students from St Swithun’s school, Winchester, have been celebrating their recent success in the Education Perfect Languages Championships 2021. Following a week of intense competition, St Swithun’s was awarded first place for UK schools and ranked an impressive 58th worldwide. Individually, 12 year old student Cheryl Chu and 15 year old student Erin Thorne-Henderson

St Swithun’s linguist ranked seventh worldwide

A student at St Swithun’s school in Winchester, has finished seventh in the world at the annual Education Perfect Northern Championships. Chloe Johnson’s remarkable score of 15,501 points also earned her a prestigious elite award. Overall, St Swithun’s came a very impressive second out of all schools in England who entered the competition, and fifteenth

St Swithun’s recognised as world class in recent awards

St Swithun’s School, Winchester has been recognised as one of the very best schools in the world and has been accredited as a High Performance Learning World Class School. The award recognises schools at the forefront of educational thinking with exceptional outcomes for students. St Swithun’s now joins an elite global community of schools from

St Swithun’s hosts virtual running fundraising challenge

Students and their families, former students and staff from St Swithun’s school recently took part in the annual St Swithun’s Way Challenge, raising £18,000 for its Bramston Bursary Foundation fund for girls in, or on the brink of care. The 295 participants covered a total of 1,795 miles wherever they were around the world, including

St Swithun’s students celebrate UCAS success

Upper Sixth students at St Swithun’s, Winchester are celebrating their success in gaining places at university in a year of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty around A-level studies. The 2020 leavers are going on to study a broad range of courses which include sustainable development, architecture and anthropology, biochemistry, computer science, neuroscience, modern and medieval languages,

St Swithun’s pupil wins young composers’ award

A Sixth Form student at St Swithun’s School has won a coveted music award for the second successive year. Pernille Faye won a place on the Martin Read Foundation’s 2020 Young Composers’ Scheme, giving the 17-year-old access to composer mentoring and workshops. The award also includes a commission to create a four-minute piece for solo

St Swithun’s netballer earns England call-up

A pupil at St Swithun’s School has been selected to join the England squad for the upcoming U17 Netball Europe Championships. Sophie Kelly, from Winchester, earned her place following an impressive trial with the England netball academy. Playing the position of goal attack, the 15 year old was part of the St Swithun’s netball team

St Swithun’s partnership programme shortlisted for TES award

St Swithun’s School has been shortlisted for a prestigious TES Independent School Award in the Independent-State School Partnership category. The school has been recognised for developing a significant and sustainable primary schools enrichment programme and for delivering a range of activities that positively impacts the lives of over 500 local primary school pupils every year

St Swithun’s hosts regional cross country competition

St Swithun’s School welcomed almost 700 runners from 35 different schools to the Hampshire Schools Athletic Association Inter School Cross Country Championships. The course took the runners through the school grounds and they were surrounded by the South Downs National Park in challenging weather conditions. Each school provided a team of runners whose collective finishing

Increase in top GCSE grades for St Swithun’s pupils

Girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester are celebrating excellent examination results, with 30.0% of entries achieving the top grade 9 and 60.2% graded 9/8/A*. Both grades are increases from 2018 and are excellent compared to the national averages of 4.5% and 11.2% respectively. 80.8% of all results were graded 7/A and above, compared to 20.8%

A-level success for multi-faceted St Swithun’s girls

Upper Sixth girls at St Swithun’s once again earned successful A-level results this year. 86% of A-levels were graded A* to B against a national backdrop of a decline in top grades to the lowest level since 2007. 44% of girls achieved AAA or higher and 59% AAB or better. 100% of A-level results were

St Swithun’s students enjoy national mathematics success

Three students from St Swithun’s have been celebrating their recent successes in national mathematics competitions. The girls completed Olympiad-style examination papers set for the best young mathematicians in the country. 16 year old Michelle Ng sat the Mathematical Olympiad for girls. Despite competing against mathematicians up to three years older than her, Michelle was placed

Olympic champion visits St Swithun’s Prep School

St Swithun’s Prep School recently welcomed British athlete Mark Lewis-Francis, MBE for a recent visit. Mark is perhaps best known for his role anchoring the Great Britain and Northern Ireland 4 x 100 metres relay team to a famous gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. During his visit to the school, Mark

St Swithun’s student elected as Member of Youth Parliament

A student at St Swithun’s has been elected as the Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) for the West Hampshire Constituency. In her role as an MYP, Ishal Mahmud will work with Members of Parliament and service providers in order to champion youth issues and to present the views of constituents. She will meet regularly with

St Swithun’s welcomes historic yacht crew

Crew members from the legendary yacht Maiden visited St Swithun’s at the start of their two-year world tour promoting equality in education. Maiden made history in 1990 with the first all-female crew to sail in the Whitbread round the world yacht race. Original crew member Jo Gooding visited St Swithun’s together with new skipper Nikki

St Swithun’s lacrosse players selected for home nations training squads

Six students from St Swithun’s School have been called up to train with home nations training squads in the run up to the FIL U19 World Lacrosse Championships in Canada next summer. Between them, the girls will join the Scotland, Wales and Ireland sessions, taking them one step closer to selection for their national squads.

St Swithun’s duo support premature birth charity

Two pupils from St Swithun’s Prep School have raised £1,500 for the premature birth charity Borne. Lois Macdonald and Freya Austin raised money for the research charity through a sponsored triathlon involving a mile long swim, a 5km cycle ride and a 5km run. Lois, whose family has been deeply affected by premature birth, and

Top grade at GCSE is seven times the national average for St Swithun’s students

Girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester are celebrating excellent examination results with 29.5% of entries achieving the top grade 9 in the new I/GCSE courses, compared to the national average of 4.3%. Half of the students achieved five or more A*/9 grades in a year where they took a mixture of the new courses graded

A* grades rise for the second straight year at St Swithun’s School

U6 girls at St Swithun’s again earned successful A-level results, harvesting a strong yield of the top A* grades. Half of the year group achieved at least one A*, with a quarter of the girls earning two or more A* grades, both of which were increases on previous years. The percentage of grades at A*and

St Swithun’s student selected for GB eventing team

A 17 year old pupil from St Swithun’s School has been selected for Great Britain’s Junior European Championship eventing squad. Georgia Bartlett was selected following success at the Nunney International event last weekend. A second place finish in the final Junior Trial was enough to secure Georgia’s selection into the strong squad of five. She

St Swithun’s athletes make Great Britain squads

Two students from St Swithun’s School have qualified to represent Great Britain in pentathlon events this summer. Isabelle Law, 12, has been selected to represent Great Britain in the biathle at the European Championships this summer and Theya Dare Bryan, 10, will compete in the forthcoming Madeira International Biathle. Isabelle was selected following her performance

St Swithun’s students support homelessness charity

Students from St Swithun’s School recently joined together with other local schools to raise money and awareness for the homelessness charity Trinity Winchester. Pupils created shelters out of cardboard boxes which were then used during the charity’s ‘Big Sleep Out Shelter Build’. They also took part in recycling activities and engaged in discussions about homelessness and

St Swithun’s student completes Alpine challenge

A St Swithun’s School sixth form student recently took part in the AJ Bell Alpine Challenge. Phoebe Sugden participated in the endurance event in an effort to raise money for the youth charity Snow-Camp, which supports and empowers inner-city young people by using snowsports to provide life-skills sessions, qualifications and vocational training. Her team raised

St Swithun’s School student awarded Oxford scholarship

A St Swithun’s School student has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to study at Trinity College, Oxford. Hongzhou Luan became eligible for the Jardine Scholarship when she applied to the college to read engineering science. She was selected following interviews in London and Hong Kong and spoke about her aspirations, inspirations and thoughts on current

Life: a game of two halves – a talk by Michael Portillo at St Swithun’s School

It took Michael Portillo little more than ten years to gain a seat in the House of Commons and then rise in power and esteem to a point where he was a potential leader of his party and possible future Prime Minister. A track record like that might suggest a privileged friend of the rich and

St Swithun’s School pupil wins National Under 18 Championships at the British Horse Trials and is selected for GB team

Georgia Bartlett, 16-year-old pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester has become the National Under 18 Champion at the British Horse Trials 2017 which took place at Frickley Park in Yorkshire in the summer. Competing with her horse, Spano de Nazca, Georgia, who is a sixth form student at St Swithun’s, was contesting the CCIJ*, a

St Swithun’s School biathletes work with Olympian Kate French

St Swithun’s junior school recently welcomed Olympian Kate French to help its biathlon team prepare for the National Schools Finals at Crystal Palace. Kate competed in Rio in the modern pentathlon and only recently secured a silver at the World Cup in Los Angeles. At the track, Kate worked with the girls on dynamic warmup,

St Swithun’s School hosts MESTival (maths, engineering, science and technology Festival)

Pupils and staff at St Swithun’s School, Winchester hosted MESTival, a unique festival organised by staff at the school, on Wednesday 6 July which attracted over 1000 students and teachers from primary and secondary schools across Hampshire. MESTival is the first festival of its kind to provide young people with a thought-provoking and inspiring insight

St Swithun’s School Celebrates National Boarding Week

Pupils at St Swithun’s School, Winchester, have been enjoying the extra benefits of boarding this week as they take part in activities organised by the school to celebrate National Boarding Week. On Saturday, having pitched their tents on the school fields with glorious views over the Hampshire countryside, over 50 girls congregated to enjoy a

St Swithun’s Junior School swimming gala success

St Swithun’s Junior School swimmers had an extremely successful morning at the Winchester Primary Schools’ Swimming Gala, on Friday 10 June.  The Year 6 girls won both their events and the Year 4 girls secured a second and fourth place in their race. 24 schools took part in the girls’ relay races, with 30 girls

St Swithun’s School pupils awarded diamond and gold awards as part of the DofE 60th anniversary celebrations

Two pupils from St Swithun’s School, Winchester attended a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 16 May to receive their gold Duke of Edinburgh award certificates. The girls joined more than 1000 young people at the event as part of this year’s 60th anniversary celebration of the DofE organisation. 60 celebrities assisted Prince Philip with handing

St Swithun’s School pupil wins National Under 16 Girls’ Epée at the British Youth Fencing Championships

Jacqueline Oien, 14-year-old pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester has become the National Under 16 Girls’ Epée champion at the British Youth Fencing Championships 2016 which took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield on 1 May. The event consisted of a seeding round followed by a number of knockout rounds. Jacqueline, competing

St Swithun’s School focusses on the EU referendum with Professor Mike Mannin

St Swithun’s School, Winchester welcomed Professor Mike Mannin from the University of Portsmouth for an evening talk on The Future of Europe last week.  Professor Mannin is the Jean Monnet Professor in EU integration at the university. Describing himself as a sceptical Europhile, Mr Mannin delivered an informative and balanced talk and allowed all arguments

St Swithun’s Junior School celebrates Science Day

All pupils at St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester experienced a whole-school science day on Wednesday 27 April to celebrate Great Britain’s astronaut Tim Peake’s inclusion on the International Space Station. The theme was Space and a wide variety of activities were enjoyed. Presenters from the nearby Winchester Science Centre led two workshops. The pre-prep children

St Swithun’s School pupil achieves top ten place in World Sport Stacking competition

18-year-old pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester, Leonora Tomlinson, achieved a top ten position in her category at the 2016 World Sport Stacking Championships in Speichersdorf, Germany in April. The two day competition consisted of a first day preliminary round followed by finals on day two. Over 250 stackers competed in different age categories and

St Swithun’s School pupils gain lacrosse junior caps for Scotland

Two pupils from St Swithun’s School, Winchester have gained their first junior international caps playing lacrosse for Scotland. Amelia and Jemima Brown, aged 14 and 12 respectively and from Winchester, played for Scotland at the lacrosse Home Internationals tournament at Surrey Sports Park on 15-17 April. Amelia played for the Junior Scotland A team and

St Swithun’s Junior School netball tournament hat trick

St Swithun’s Junior School Year 4 netball team have just completed a hat-trick of three tournament victories for the season. Following wins at Alton Convent and Portsmouth Grammar School tournaments earlier in the year, the Year 4 A team played in the Salisbury Cathedral High Five netball tournament last week and progressed through the initial

St Swithun’s Junior School Visited by GB gymnast Kelly Simm

This week, as part of the visiting sportswomen programme, St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester welcomed GB gymnast Kelly Simm to talk with the girls in Years 3 and 4. Kelly talked briefly about her career before dazzling the children with a video of herself in action. She then answered questions before taking some of the

St Swithun’s Junior School to grow seeds from space!

Children at St Swithun’s Junior School are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space. In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to

St Swithun’s School success at major lacrosse tournaments

Lacrosse teams at St Swithun’s School, Winchester achieved success at two major tournaments last weekend. The Hampshire school hosted the South West Rally on Saturday and welcomed 12 other schools and a total of 25 teams to compete in the prestigious competition. In the 2nd team tournament, St Swithun’s dominated the early stages, winning all

St Swithun’s School hosts Year 10 Girls’ School Association leadership conference

St Swithun’s School, Winchester was delighted to welcome 220 Year 10 girls from 16 girls’ schools in the South East to a Girls’ School Association leadership conference on 30 September. The girls were welcomed by headmistress Jane Gandee before a talk by international executive coach Joanna Kane, co-author of ‘The Suited Hippy And The Stress

St Swithun’s Junior School Opens its Doors

Staff at St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester were delighted to welcome pupils to the brand new school building which opened its doors for the first time this week. The new school replaces the existing school buildings and, among many other things, enables the Junior School to have smaller class sizes. The development includes specialist teaching

St Swithun’s Pupils Achieve Strength in Breadth at GCSE

An impressive number of girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester were awarded the top grade in an equally impressive range of subjects at GCSE this year. 83% of girls achieved an A* in further maths, with 71% achieving the top grade in Spanish, 70% in German, 69% in Latin, 67% in religious studies and music,

St Swithun’s celebrates increase in A* grades at A level in contrast to national results

Girls at St Swithun’s School are once again celebrating successful A level results against a national back-drop of decreasing numbers of top A level grades.  27.4% of candidates were awarded an A* grade (up on 2014 and against a national average of 8.2%) and 68.9% of entries awarded grades of A* or A (compared to

St Swithun’s cricket team undefeated in Hampshire Schools Girls’ League

The U13 cricket team from St Swithun’s School, Winchester have remained undefeated in this season’s Hampshire Schools Girls’ League (Winchester Area). Cricket has been reintroduced at St Swithun’s in recent years and this was the girls’ first season playing league cricket. With victories against Perins (St Swithun’s 110-5, Perins 89 -7); Testbourne (St Swithun’s 66-8,

St Swithun’s Junior School pupil wins design in Wessex Haven competition

St Swithun’s Junior School pupil Amelia Winward, aged 7 from Preston Candover, won a recent competition in aid of the Wessex Haven Breast Cancer Support Centre at Titchfield. Amelia’s eye-catching ladybird design was the winning teapot design for the charity’s Million Pound Tea Party Campaign to raise money for the Haven’s new Breast Cancer Support

St Swithun’s School Pupil Sets National High Jump Record at Prep Championships

Tallulah Jeffes, 13-year-old pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester equalled the national high jump record at the National Prep Schools Championships at Alexandra Stadium, Birmingham on 24th June. Tallulah, from Winchester, won the IAPS national competition and gained her record with a jump of 1.56 metres. She also won the competition trophy for the outstanding

St Swithun’s Junior School hosts visit from modern pentathlete

St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester had a visit from Olympic hopeful Zoe Davison who, at 16 years old, is part of UK Sport’s World Class Programme for Modern Pentathlon. The disciplines for the pentathlon are swimming, running, fencing, riding and the combined shoot and run section. Zoe loves all the disciplines but riding is her

St Swithun’s School pupil will compete for GBR at sailing world championships

St Swithun’s School pupil and keen sailor Olivia Bracey-Davis from Winchester is due to represent Great Britain in July. 11-year-old Olivia will be competing at the week-long RS Tera World Championships in Aquavitesse, Holland. The RS Tera is the class of boat which Olivia competes in. Olivia, a member at Hayling Island Sailing Club, who

St Swithun’s School’s Key Handover Ceremony for the New Junior School

Pim Grimes, headmistress of St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester received the keys to the impressive new junior school at a key handover ceremony in front of pupils, staff, parents, governors and contractors. The new school, built on the existing Alresford Road campus, will open this September. Having officially opened the new school’s doors for the

St Swithun’s School welcome Jasvinder Sanghera CBE

St Swithun’s School Winchester welcomed Jasvinder Sanghera CBE to talk to the school about her charity Karma Nirvana. A survivor of a forced marriage, Jasvinder founded Karma Nirvana, a leading national charity hosting the only national dedicated helpline supporting victims of honour crimes and forced marriages. She is also the author of two best-selling books

St Swithun’s Junior School Celebrate Healthy Eating

Idris Caldora, chef from the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in London, visited St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester this week. Mr Caldora was teaching Year 4 about the importance of healthy balanced diets. He brought with him a selection of foods which the children enjoyed smelling, touching and of course tasting. They made distinctions between

St Swithun’s School pupil wins third place at triathlon national event

Eleven year old pupil Elisabeth Law from St Swithun’s School, Winchester came third with her team at a national triathlon event. Elisabeth, who lives in Basingstoke, competed with team-mates in The British Modern Triathlon Championships, hosted by Pentathlon GB, Solihull on the 25th-26th April. Elisabeth competed for her local club Wessex Wyvern where she is

St Swithun’s Junior Song Academy finalists

Five girls from St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester have reached the final in a national songwriting competition. Sofia Goodale and Annabel Yeatman, both aged 10 from Winchester, and Lucy Benton, aged 11 from Ropley, originally composed their song, Disco Crazy for the school’s own Fame Academy competition. They were joined by singers Ira Khosla, aged

St Swithun’s Junior School’s Cross-Fit Challenge

St Swithun’s Junior School has recently become involved in an international junior version of the CrossFit Challenge. The junior challenge has been developed and initiated by eight like-minded schools from Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the USA. St Swithun’s Junior School is currently the only school representing the UK, through the current Year 5. Every week

St Swithun’s juniors compete at the Independent Schools Ski Racing Indoor Championships

A team from St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester competed at the Independent Schools Association Indoor Ski Championships at Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead on 20 April. The inaugural ISA event brought together 50 schools and 250 children and the St Swithun’s Junior School team competed well against boys and girls with ages ranging from eight to

St Swithun’s School pupil 3rd in WSSA UK Sport Stacking Championships

17 year old St Swithun’s School pupil Leonora Tomlinson from Winchester has become the third fastest female speed-stacker in the UK.   Leonora competed in February at the UK Sport Stacking National Championships in Stevenage. Competitors race against the clock to see who can complete cup stacking routines in the fastest time. Leonora competed against

St Swithun’s School hosts Ahoy! music concert with combined local choirs

The performing arts hall at St Swithun’s School, Winchester was the venue for a choral concert featuring combined local choirs and music by composer Alexander L’Estrange on Sunday. Featuring the massed voices of choirs from St Swithun’s senior and junior school, Orpheus (the St Swithun’s staff and parents’ choir), the Hampshire County Youth Choir and

St Swithun’s School pupil wins national Public Schools’ Fencing Championships 2015

Jacqueline Oien, from London, a 13 year-old weekly boarding pupil from St Swithun’s School, Winchester came first in the U14 girls Mount-Haes Épée class of the Public Schools’ Fencing Championships at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre this week. Jacqueline competed for St Swithun’s against approximately 50 other girls and completed 10 fights in two rounds

St Swithun’s School Welcomes John Humphrys

An audience of over 300 filled the performing arts centre at St Swithun’s School, Winchester last week for a talk by BBC presenter and author John Humphrys about his life’s work, politics, the BBC and his current nightmares. Mr Humphrys presents Radio 4’s Today programme and TV’s Mastermind, having anchored most news programmes on TV

St Swithun’s School pupil wins regional ARTiculation heat

Emily Feibusch, a pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester won the regional heat of ARTiculation 2015. ARTiculation is an initiative designed by Roche Court Educational Trust, Salisbury to stimulate students’ interest and understanding of art while developing individual thinking, observation, research, language and presentation skills. The ARTiculation Prize public speaking competition invites sixth form students

St Swithun’s School National School Girls’ polo champions

Three teams from St Swithun’s School, Winchester took part in the National Schools Girls’ Polo Tournament at Longdole Polo Club, Gloucestershire on 1 March. Each team played three matches each.   The novice team, St Swithun’s C team came first in their class. The team was Harri Waldron, aged 14 from Winchester, Charlotte Ambrose aged

St Swithun’s School hosts Institute of Economic Affairs conference

St Swithun’s School hosted an Institute of Economic Affairs A level Economics Conference on 3 March. 22 of the school’s sixth-form economists were joined for the day by South Downs College and Sherfield School, Hampshire. Grant Tucker, education outreach officer of the IEA, chaired the conference. The IEA is a UK free-market think-tank, founded in 1955

St Swithun’s Pupils enjoy football workshop with Arsenal ladies players

Pupils at St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester were thrilled to meet two of England’s top lady professional football players last week. England Ladies team member and Arsenal Ladies player Kelly Smith and Arsenal Ladies development officer and coach Ciara Allen joined the school for a morning assembly before putting players from Years 3 & 4

St Swithun’s School pupils Hampshire show-jumping champions

St Swithun’s School, Winchester entered four teams and several individuals into the Cortaflex County Challenge Show Jumping Qualifying competition at Sparsholt on Friday 20th February. Nine girls competed on ten horses across four different jumping heights. One St Swithun’s team gained 3rd place in the 80cm class and were the highest placed team from Hampshire.

St Swithun’s School explores the innovative use of digital resources for learning enhancement

St Swithun’s School Winchester has been participating in a study exploring 3D digital resources as learning tools in history and art.  Alumna and PhD researcher Jane Mycock (D2001) visited the school in 2014 to involve Year 9 volunteers in a classroom activity involving exploring one of three “3D digital libraries”. In a 3D digital library,

St Swithun’s School pupil wins Hampshire Poetry by Heart competition

On Wednesday 4th February 17 year old St Swithun’s School pupil Annie Bolton from Winchester won the Hampshire Poetry by Heart competition which took place at the Guildhall, Winchester. Annie was representing St Swithun’s against eight other competitors from other schools in Hampshire. Each pupil is challenged to memorise and recite two poems – one

St Swithun’s School teacher publishes second book

English teacher Mr Sam Lenton from St Swithun’s School, Winchester has just published his second book. The fictional thriller called A Right to Know, deals with a widower’s determination to uncover the truth about his wife’s supposed accidental death and is loosely based on the recent phone hacking scandal. Mr Lenton began writing the novel

St Swithun’s School U12A team through to national netball competition semi-finals

The U12A netball team from St Swithun’s School, Winchester recently played in the quarter-finals of the National Schools Magazine Cup and beat Beaconsfield High School to reach the semi-finals. Despite losing one of their key players to injury early in the game, the team worked very hard and were drawing 2-2 at the end of

St Swithun’s tennis players nominated for Winchester District Sports Award 2014

A tennis team from St Swithun’s School, Winchester has been invited to attend the Winchester District Sports Awards 2014 dinner on 12 February, where it has been nominated for the Junior Team of the Year award. In the senior Aegon tennis league last summer the St Swithun’s senior team achieved a place at the National

St Swithun’s football players chosen to represent South East England team

Three girls from St Swithun’s School, Winchester have been selected for the South East England football team 2015. Chrissie Gregson aged 15, Roseanna Stratton and Lucy Jonas, both 16, attended a regional trial and squad training day at Hampton School, Middlesex.  They entered the U18 trial, along with eight other St Swithun’s players. The girls

St Swithun’s lesson from England lacrosse goalkeeper

St Swithun’s lacrosse goalkeepers benefitted from some first-class coaching by the England U19 goalkeeper coach Mike Molster in early January. Mike Molster is a lacrosse goalkeeping expert from the USA who is an Assistant Coach at Towson University in Maryland and has worked with numerous goalkeepers throughout his career.  He is now the England U19

St Swithun’s pupil joins GB Eventing Team

St Swithun’s School, Winchester pupil 15 year-old Coco Vulliamy Taylor and her pony Fusilier have recently been selected for the GB under 16 A-list Eventing Team.  The A-list consists of ten riders who are invited to take part in a training squad for a final selection of six riders who go with the 2015 GB

St Swithun’s Junior School pupils and staff attend topping out ceremony

Pupils and staff of St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester took part in a topping out ceremony for their new school building today as work continues to progress on this impressive new facility at the school’s campus on Alresford Road. Pupils and staff congregated to witness headmistress Pim Grimes fix the final piece on the highest

St Swithun’s Hosts UKMT Winchester Mathematical Circle

St Swithun’s School, Winchester hosted an exciting enrichment event in mid-October for able Year 10 mathematicians from schools across the South of England. Over the last two years, UKMT Mathematical Circles have been held around the country to inspire and enthuse bright Year 10 students to see mathematics as a subject that is far more

St Swithun’s School’s Lacrosse Success

Triple success for St Swithun’s School lacrosse teams St Swithun’s School, Winchester recently hosted the South West Rally lacrosse tournament and enjoyed significant success during the day, with the school’s 1st and 2nd team winning their respective competitions. Over 30 teams from schools across Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire took part in this prestigious tournament

St Swithun’s School’s Junior Ski Champions

St Swithun’s Junior School ski teams win at the British Independent Schools Ski Racing Championships St Swithun’s Junior School U10 and U12 ski teams won 1st and 2nd place in their groups respectively at the recent British Independent Schools Ski Racing Championships at Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre on 29th September. Boys and girls from nearly

St Swithun’s School’s Lacrosse Win

St Swithun’s 1st lacrosse team win Berkhamsted 8-a-side tournament   The St Swithun’s School, Winchester 1st lacrosse team competed in and won the annual Berkhamsted 8-a-side tournament in September. Morning play started off in a fast paced style with tough competition.  A draw against St Alban’s High School in the first match of the day was

St Swithun’s Music Teacher Plays At Last Night of the Proms

Ms Natasha Wright, head of instrumental music studies at St Swithun’s School Winchester, played viola as part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday 13 September.   Natasha, who was a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra for eight years prior to

St Swithun’s parent cycles to raise money for sister school

Mr David Kininmonth from Salisbury, father of St Swithun’s pupils Sophie and Iona, has just completed a cycle ride from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’ Groats, Scotland, raising £3,000 for St Swithun’s sister school, St Katherine’s in Uganda. Mr Kininmonth cycled an average of 110 miles day over 8 days carrying his own

St Swithun’s School’s GCSE Results

Girls at St Swithun’s excel in core subjects at GCSE Girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester achieved excellent results in core subjects at GCSE, with 73% of girls achieving an A* in English literature, 89% in German, 79% in French and 75% in Spanish.  Over 50% of biology, maths, technology and drama entries were also

St Swithun’s School’s A Level Results

Mathematicians lead the way with record breaking A level results at St Swithun’s School   Over a third (37%) of girls in Year 13 at St Swithun’s School, Winchester took A level mathematics this year, with a record breaking 92% of entries being graded A* or A. Not to be outdone, physics, Latin, Greek, music

St Swithun’s Hosts Inaugural Literary Festival

St Swithun’s celebrates success of inaugural Literary Festival On Wednesday 9th July 2014, St Swithun’s School, Winchester hosted its inaugural Literary Festival, an event which welcomed 45 authors and performers who led 58 workshops and performances across the day; 1000 visitors attended – students from St Swithun’s, and from schools across Hampshire, as well as

St Swithun’s Student Awarded Biology Prize

St Swithun’s student awarded prize at national biology awards ceremony An awards ceremony was held in London to celebrate the achievements of students for their impressive results in the 2014 Biology Challenge. The competition, run by the Society of Biology, consists of online multiple choice questions which test pupils’ knowledge of biology and stimulate their

St Swithun’s Young Mathematicians

Earlier this term girls from St Swithun’s School, Winchester, Years 7 & 8 took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Junior Maths Challenge. They achieved eight gold, 21 silver and 13 bronze certificates between them. Approximately 250,000 pupils from across the UK sat the challenge with roughly the top 6% receiving gold, the next

St Swithun’s Greenpower Team Win Bronze

Last weekend St Swithun’s School, Winchester Greenpower team competed in the Greenpower heats at the Goodwood motor racing circuit. The Greenpower Education Trust’s objective is to advance education in sustainable engineering and technology for young people. Electric car racing events challenge students to design, build and race cars under guidance of teachers and mentors. Modifications

St Swithun’s Deputy Head to Represent England at the Netball World Championships

St Swithun’s Junior School deputy head teacher Roger Marshall travelled to South Africa on 19th May to represent England at the Indoor Netball World Championships in Johannesburg. Indoor netball welcomes men playing in ‘men only’ or ‘mixed’ teams and Roger has gained a place in the England mixed team through trials earlier in the year.

St Swithun’s Junior School pupil wins gold at National Diving Skills final

After being crowned South East Regional Skills Diving Champion St Swithun’s Junior School pupil Evie Johnson, age 11, from Winchester, travelled to Sheffield with 24 divers from Southampton Diving Academy, who all qualified to compete at the National Skills Diving finals.  Evie, who swims for Winchester City Penguins Club, competed in the age 11 category

St Swithun’s Meet Sir Ben Ainslie!

St Swithun’s Junior School sailors met sailing superstar Sir Ben Ainslie when the four-times Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup winner signalled the start of operations at Southampton docks new 500 metre long new quay (SCT5) on Monday 31st March, with the loading of a golden container onto one of the world’s biggest ships, the

St Swithun’s Junior School celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth

St Swithun’s Junior School celebrated the forthcoming 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth last week with three performances to packed houses of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Years 3 and 4. St Swithun’s pupils have been putting on an annual production of a Shakespeare play for the last 12 years under the guidance of music and

St Swithun’s Begin Work on New Junior School

Work has begun to completely re-build St Swithun’s Junior School on the existing campus on Alresford Road in Winchester. The new school will replace the existing school buildings and will enable the junior school to increase its pupil numbers in response to an increased demand for places whilst also allowing smaller class sizes. The development

St Swithun’s Perform Play by Old Girl for NT Connections festival

St Swithun’s, Winchester, drama department took part in the National Theatre Connections festival of new writing for young people, culminating in the performances of their chosen play at school last weekend. The girls chose and performed a play called ‘The Wardrobe’ written especially for the festival by Old Girl Sam Holcroft (2001) which they were

St Swithun’s Begin Work on New Junior School

Work has begun to completely re-build St Swithun’s Junior School on the existing campus on Alresford Road in Winchester. The new school will replace the existing school buildings and will enable the junior school to increase its pupil numbers in response to an increased demand for places whilst also allowing smaller class sizes. The development

St Swithun’s Choir Sing Responses Composed for them by Alexander L’Estrange

Last week the choir of St Swithun’s School, Winchester performed a newly commissioned set of Preces and Responses by renowned choral composer Alexander L’Estrange at Evensong in Winchester Cathedral. Director of music at the all-girls school, Mrs YiRu Hall, commissioned the work from the composer which was sung  by 70 girls between the ages of

St Swithun’s Head of School Joins Rodolfus Choir

18 year old Charlotte Mitchell from Winchester, St Swithun’s head of school and a music scholar, was recently invited to join the prestigious Rodolfus Choir. The choir is one of the leading young choirs in the United Kingdom with a reputation for their commitment to the very highest level of musicality. Comprising some of the

St Swithun’s Lacrosse Player Placed on Hampshire Talented Athlete Scheme

 Seventeen year old St Swithun’s school pupil Emily Sambrook Smith from Winchester has gained a place on the Hampshire Talented Athlete Scheme (HTAS) for 2014. Emily represents St Swithun’s at lacrosse and also gained a place last summer in the England lacrosse squad. She represented England on a lacrosse tour to Canada in August. The

St Swithun’s Inspired by West End Star Danielle Hope

  West End musical star Danielle Hope gave an inspirational workshop to 40 St Swithun’s pupils at the Winchester school last week. The event was organised by the St Swithun’s drama department with the help of sixth form drama officers Robyn Webb from Alton and Steph Pett from Chippenham.    Ms Hope’s professional debut was

St Swithun’s Girls Encouraged to strive for Success by CEO of TalkTalk

Pupils at St Swithun’s School, Winchester welcomed Dido Harding, chief executive of TalkTalk plc and ranked as one of the most powerful women in the UK by Radio 4’s Women’s Hour Power List, to the school last week. Her talk, entitled Striving for Success, explored the main factors to which she attributes her success in

St Swithun’s U15 Lacrosse Girls Become South West Regional Champions

14 St Swithun’s girls played in the joint Hampshire and Oxfordshire U15 county lacrosse team at the annual South West Regional Tournament at Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire on Saturday 9th November. Although the team consists of girls from schools across Hampshire and Oxfordshire this year it was dominated by St Swithun’s pupils.   The U15A

St Swithun’s Host Vanessa Redgrave

Multi-award winning actress and political activist Vanessa Redgrave CBE joined BBC journalist Jenny Cuffe in conversation about her life at St Swithun’s School, Winchester on Sunday. The evening was organised by SWVG (Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group) in conjunction with the Theatre Royal Winchester. SWVG provide help and support to refugees in the Southampton area.

St Swithun’s Get Planning Permission for New Junior School

Plans to completely re-build St Swithun’s Junior School have recently been approved by the planning authorities with work due to begin later this year. The new school will replace the existing school buildings and will enable the junior school to increase its pupil numbers in response to an increased demand for places whilst also allowing

St Swithun’s School Pupils, Parents and Staff Cover 6,000 miles and Raise Over £20,000 for Charity

Over 450 pupils, parents, staff, family and friends of St Swithun’s School, Winchester successfully completed their Legging it for Lira challenge which took place on Sunday 22 September. They walked, ran, rowed, swam, cycled and rode on horseback to cover a distance of 6,000 miles in 12 hours raising £20,000 for St Katherine’s School in

St Swithun’s Achieve 32% A* Grades at A Level!

Pupils at St Swithun’s, Winchester have achieved record breaking A level results this year with over 80% of exam entries graded A* or A (compared to a national average of 26%) and 32% of entries awarded an A* grade (against a national average of 7.4%). In contrast to lower results across the UK, these figures

St Swithun’s Girl Invited to Maths Summer School at Oxford University

St Swithun’s pupil India Mackay in Year 11 performed so well in this year’s Intermediate Maths Challenge and follow-on round for high scoring students, that she has earned an invitation to a United Kingdom Maths Trust Summer School. India will spend a week over the summer break at Balliol College, Oxford, along with around 40

St Swithun’s Pupil Wins Second Place at Regional Gymnastics Competition

St Swithun’s pupil Isabella White, aged 12 from Alton, won second place in the British Gymnastics Southern Region Floor and Vault Competition organised by Southampton Gym Club at Redbridge School, Southampton on Sunday 30th June. Isabella and fellow St Swithun’s gymnast Jasmine Stringer, also 12 and from Colden Common, both competed in the floor and

St Swithun’s Ski into 1st Place at Southern Schools Open 2013 Ski Races

St Swithun’s entered three teams of four into the recent Southern Schools Open 2013 ski races at Southampton Alpine Centre on Sunday 30th June. Congratulations to the A team who won the team award in their age group. A trophy and medals were awarded to Emma Harrison, aged 15 and Natalie Harrison, aged 14, both

St Swithuns experiencing the intensity of opera

Clarissa Hard L6 writes: On Friday 7 June a group of pupils and teachers experienced Poulenc’s fairly angst-ridden but thought-provoking opera Les Carmélites (1956) in the sweeping location of the baronial Grange Park, where opera-goers enjoy a summer picnic in between the drama. Emotional respite was certainly needed in the intense opera; Les Carmélites sheds

St Swithun’s Year 7 pupils welcome BBC presenter Julian Richards to their cultures and civilisations week

The week before half term saw St Swithun’s Year 7s immersed in a variety of activities and lessons all based around different cultures and ancient civilisations. The girls enjoyed a talk and workshops with archaeologist and BBC Meet the Ancestors presenter Julian Richards. Workshops included trying to deduce the functionality of artefacts from which only

Head of Mathematics at St Swithun’s invited to mathematics festival in Russia

Stephen Power, head of mathematics at St Swithun’s, Winchester, was invited as one of two representatives from the UK to participate in a festival to celebrate 20 years of the Mathematical Kangaroo competition. Mathematical Kangaroo is an international mathematical competition involving more than 40 countries across the world. The festival took place between 15th- 18th

Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee leads debate at St Swithun’s

On Tuesday 31st April, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee came to St Swithun’s to give a talk entitled Dogma and Disarray. After joining some of the sixth form politics students for dinner, over which they discussed issues such as Margaret Thatcher, feminism and the Leveson Inquiry, Polly spoke in the performing arts auditorium about her experience

St Swithun’s – Top Communicator

Last term, four U5 girls took part in the UK Linguistics Olympiad. UKLO is a national competition for secondary school students in which they have to solve linguistic data problems. The problems are based on languages of which students have no known previous knowledge such as Apinaye which is spoken by fewer than 800 people

St Swithuns National Enterprise challenge

On April 2nd, 116 girls in U4 and L5 took part in The National Enterprise Challenge, an inter-school entrepreneurial competition backed by Lord Sugar. The girls were competing for a place to represent St Swithun’s in the national final in London later this year. Working in teams of six, the U4 girls had to come

St Swithun’s pupil selected for England Lacrosse in Canada this summer

St Swithun’s sports scholar Emily Sambrook Smith, aged 16 from Winchester, has been selected to play in the A team for England Lacrosse’s U19 tour to Canada in July 2013. The tour coincides with the 2013 Lacrosse World Cup in Oshawa, Ontario. Emily’s selection followed England U19 trials in Gloucestershire earlier in the year. Emily

St Swithun’s pupil is UK junior archery champion

Year 10 St Swithun’s pupil Olivia Williams from Brockenhurst has been confirmed as the current UK Junior Ladies Barebow Metric Clout 90m record holder. Shooting at the Waterside Archers Clout competition held on the 3rd March 2013 at Exbury, Olivia scored 223 points to overhaul the previous record by 4 points. Olivia, who has been

St Swithun’s School Team of talent

St Swithun’s sports scholar and GB dressage rider Jessica Gale L6 has been selected for the second year running for the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme. Annually TASS supports approximately 550 up and coming young athletes who are in full time education. This recognition of Jessica’s success in the equestrian world will help her with funding

St Swithun’s Maths Inspiration

St Swithun’s hosted a “Maths Inspiration” event on the 20th March. The performing arts centre Harvey Hall was packed to the rafters with students from schools and colleges from a wide area, as well as over 100 girls from U5 to U6, to hear talks by three highly entertaining speakers. The ‘Stand-up mathematician’ Matt Parker,

St Swithun’s pupil wins Hampshire Poetry By Heart competition

Jodie Russell, aged 15 from Winchester, is the Hampshire Poetry By Heart champion after winning the county competition which took place at the Discovery Centre in Winchester on 20th March. Jodie had previously been selected to represent St Swithun’s following a competition at the school where she beat eight other contestants to gain a place

St Swithun’s School – Netherfield ball celebrates 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice

On Sunday 3rd March, St Swithun’s hosted a Regency style Netherfield Ball for 115 U5 pupils from St Swithun’s and Winchester College to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The inspiration behind this event came from the girls’ enthusiasm for the novel during their English Literature IGCSE classes.

St Swithun’s Juniors welcome Arctic explorer Oli Milroy as part of their polar environments project

As part of their humanities topics this term, Year 4 at St Swithun’s Junior School has been studying polar environments and famous explorers and were delighted to welcome Arctic explorer Oli Milroy to the school. Oli works for an organisation called Education through Expeditions (ETE) and at only 19 years old was the youngest member

St Swithun’s School win gold and bronze at British Schoolgirls’ Ski

Two ski teams from St Swithun’s School, Winchester competed in the annual British Schoolgirls’ Races in Flaine, France, at the end of January. 52 teams took part from schools across the UK and competitors included top skiers from the GB and Irish national teams. Coco Vulliamy Taylor, age 13, from Alton, won a gold medal

St Swithun’s enjoy talk from wildlife film director and producer Alastair Fothergill

Renowned wildlife film director and producer Alastair Fothergill delivered an inspiring talk to pupils at St Swithun’s school last week as part of the school’s academic enrichment programme. Alastair has produced some of the most memorable BBC wildlife programmes presented by Sir David Attenborough, including ‘Life in the Freezer’, ‘The Blue Planet’, ‘Planet Earth’ and

St Swithun’s enjoy talk from Bristol University lecturer Dr Brad Evans

As part of the school’s lecture programme, Dr Brad Evans, a senior lecturer from Bristol University, presented a talk entitled ‘Thinking Globally’ at St Swithun’s School, Winchester. Dr Evans has a vast portfolio to his name, including being the founder and director of the Histories of Violence project. (http://historiesofviolence.com). With tales from his travels and

St Swithun’s Gap Year Opportunities on show

St Swithun’s School, Winchester will be hosting a Gap Fair on Thursday 28th February. Over 30 companies and organisations who offer a variety of Gap year experiences including language travel, conservation, technology, arts and drama and many others will be on hand to offer advice to students considering a Gap year. The evening is open

St Swithun’s U14s win regional lacrosse tournament

Last weekend St Swithun’s hosted the U15 and U14 Southwest lacrosse tournament incorporating 31 teams from across the region. The U14A team, wanting to go one better and beat their 2nd place in last year’s tournament, had an outstanding day and were deservedly crowned U14 champions. With comfortable wins in the morning over Sherborne, St

St Swithun’s – Gold again for Coco as ski team enjoy success at the British Schoolgirls’ Ski Races

Two ski teams from St Swithun’s School, Winchester competed in the annual British Schoolgirls’ Races in Flaine, France, at the end of January. 52 teams took part from schools across the UK and competitors included top skiers from the GB and Irish national teams. Coco Vulliamy Taylor, age 13, from Alton, won a gold medal

St Swithun’s School ex pupil Emma was welcomed back for her Exhibition ‘Ignorance is Bliss’

Artist and Old Girl Emma Venning was invited back to St Swithun’s to hold a private view to launch her exhibition Ignorance is Bliss which is in the school’s gallery this month. On leaving St Swithun’s in 2010 Emma attended The Arts University at Bournemouth where she gained a Distinction in a Foundation Diploma in

St Swithun’s enjoy ‘Walking home from Mongolia’ talk from adventurer and cameraman Leon McCarron

Adventurer and cameraman Leon McCarron delivered a talk to pupils at St Swithun’s school last week as part of the school’s academic enrichment programme. Leon is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and specialises in self-supported expeditions. He spoke about his latest and most challenging adventure, during which he trekked 3000 miles across China

St Swithun’s Chamber Choir reaches final of Barnado’s National Choir competition

St Swithun’s Chamber Choir has been selected as a finalist in the Barnardo’s National Choir Competition,  one of only 6 senior schools in the country. The final takes place on March 4 at the Barbican, London. The prize for the two winning choirs will be an invitation to sing at the the Barnardo’s Young Supporters’ Concert

St Swithun’s School Fashion Show

St Swithun’s to welcome comedian and author Tony Hawks

Well-known comedian and author Tony Hawks is performing at St Swithun's School, Winchester on Sunday 3 February at 7.00pm. Tony is a TV and radio comedian and bestselling author. He is a Radio 4 regular on programmes which include Just a Minute, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue and The Unbelievable Truth. He has twice

St Swithun’s pupils organise Battle of the Bands to raise money for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance

  Two St Swithun’s pupils, Flora Gossage and Bella Lloyd Webber, produced and directed an inaugural Battle of the  Bands evening in the school’s performing arts centre at the end of term.  The evening raised £1200 for local charity the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. The highly competitive event drew musicians from Peter

St Swithun’s production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Guests thronged the foyer at St Swithun’s School Harvey Hall performing arts centre for the school’s opening performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday 28th November. The St Swithun’s cast were joined for this production by a number of boys from Winchester College, Perins in Alresford and Kings’, Winchester. All participants delivered their lines,

St Swithun’s Sophia Harper joins RYA National squad

Sailing enthusiast and St Swithun’s pupil Sophia Harper, age 14, has achieved a coveted place in the RYA Topper National Intermediate Squad. A maximum of 24 places are available in this boat class, awarded at the discretion of the selection committee for helms who have demonstrated the most potential to win medals for RYA Team

St Swithun’s Juniors take part in West End dance workshop

West End in Schools, a Theatre in Education company that specialises in bringing top musical theatre actors into primary schools, presented dance workshops for pupils at St Swithun’s Junior School on Tuesday 6th November. Led by choreographer and West End star Charlotte Bull, the individual year group workshops, called Bringing Books to Life, encouraged all

St Swithun’s hosts Girls’ School Association conference

Over 200 girls from schools across the south of England attended a leadership conference at St Swithun’s School, Winchester. The event, organised by the Girls’ School Association, examined the skills and characteristics that constitute leadership, in particular hearing how 20 prominent female leaders have made their way in the world. Girls were also asked to

St Swithun’s Juniors at the South Regional Schools’ Biathlon Championships

Following their success in the Hampshire biathlon last week 16 St Swithun’s Junior girls competed in the South regional schools’ biathlon on Sunday 7th October. They all ran 500 metres and swam 50 metres against girls from Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire. St Swithun’s achieved some excellent results against over 50 competitors in each event.

St Swithun’s Students enjoy lecture from Oliver Waghorn

St Swithun’s School, Winchester welcomed former Special Advisor to the Ministry of Defence Mr Oliver Waghorn to the school last week. Mr Waghorn met girls studying politics before addressing an audience in the school’s performing arts centre.  His talk, entitled ‘Life as a special advisor’, gave pupils an insight into this role and the challenges

Pupils at St Swithun’s School organise a Fashion Show for the Ellen MacArthur Trust

Over 200 guests attended a fashion show organised and hosted by girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester on Sunday evening. The event was held at the school’s performing arts centre and was staged to raise money for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, based in Cowes, which enables young people recovering from cancer to rebuild their

Peace Day at St Swithun’s

21 September 2012 was Peace Day throughout the world, an integral part of the Peace One Day project launched by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley in 1999 with UN backing. The aims of Peace Day for are for individuals to become part of wide-scale community action, as well providing a window of opportunity for aid organisations

Record results at GCSE for the second year running at St Swithun’s School, Winchester

1 in 8 pupils achieve 10 A*s at GCSE Following on from a successful set of A level results last week, pupils at St Swithun’s School, Winchester have now achieved the school’s best ever set of GCSE results. 90.5% of examinations taken by girls at St Swithun’s were awarded an A* or A grade. This

St Swithun’s Juniors at the IAPS National Prep School Athletics Championships

4 girls from St Swithun’s Junior School Year 6 travelled with teachers Mr Marshall and Mrs Garside to the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham to compete in the IAPS National Prep School Athletics Championships on the 2nd July. The team of Alla Garside from Winchester, Em Hardman from Droxford, Harriet Smailes and Matilda Meynell (both from

St Swithun’s School girls attend Global Student Forum conference

13 lower sixth St Swithun’s students attended the GSF (Global Student Forum) conference in Westminster on 26th June. They were joined at the conference by 700 pupils from 60 schools both nationally and internationally. The focus for this year is ‘Hungry For Justice’, covering issues of world hunger. The girls had the opportunity to listen

St Swithun’s swimmers at Winchester & District Primary Schools Swimming Gala Success

7 girls from St Swithun’s Junior School competed recently in the Winchester and District Primary Schools’ Swimming Gala. The gala was organised by the Winchester City Penguins Swimming Club and held at the River Park Leisure Centre. With forty girls competing in the Year 4 freestyle race, St Swithun’s swimmers Evie Johnson, Madeleine Alexander and

St Swithun’s Junior success at West Surrey Athletics

St Swithun’s Junior athletes competed in the West Surrey Athletics competition last week and came away with flying colours. 17 schools were competing from the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey and included up to 200 girls from Year 4 up to Year 8. Alla Garside from Winchester gained 1st place in the U12 800m

St Swithun’s Junior Olympic week

Last week St Swithun’s Juniors enjoyed a packed week of Olympic activities and events. Steph Twell, young Olympic runner and 2010 Commonwealth Games medallist joined the Juniors for an assembly and training workshops. After talking with the children about the highs and lows of her athletic career thus far, Steph led three workshops where the

St Swithun’s raise money for Hampshire and IOW air ambulance service

A girl’s school is probably one of the best places to start looking if you want to amass a collection of bras and shoes. This is exactly what the Hampshire and IOW air ambulance service requires in order to raise money for their invaluable service. As one of the St Swithun’s chosen charities for this

St Swithun’s school success at national lacrosse championships

St. Swithun’s 1st and 2nd lacrosse teams played at the National Schools Lacrosse Championships at Hartlington Sports Ground near Heathrow last weekend. The 1st team had big wins against Glenalmond, Walthamstow Hall, Haberdasher’s Monmouth and Westonbirt schools during Friday’s pool play placing them in division 1 for Saturday. After dominating their section with wins over

St Swithun’s students join mock trial at local law firm

3 St Swithun’s sixth form law and languages students recently participated in a mock trial in Southampton organised by local solicitors Blake Lapthorn, Chandlers Ford and Solent Education Business Partnership. Aysel Akhundova, Clare Symons and Cynthia Yung all played the roles of court interpreters and were joined by students from Itchen College, Ringwood Sixth Form,

St Swithun’s raise money for Hampshire and IOW air ambulance service

A girl’s school is probably one of the best places to start looking if you want to amass a collection of bras and shoes. This is exactly what the Hampshire and IOW air ambulance service requires in order to raise money for their invaluable service. As one of the St Swithun’s chosen charities for this

St Swithun’s raise money for Shooting Star Chase children’s hospice

St Swithun’s girls listened in assembly to Melanie Hill from Shooting Star Chase children’s hospice as she outlined the important work carried out at the charity’s two hospices and how donations are used for vital services and equipment. Melanie also received a cheque for just under £2500 for the charity which had been raised by

St Swithun’s hosts Team Maths Challenge

St Swithun's, Winchester hosted the regional final of the United Kingdom Maths Trust's Team Maths Challenge on Friday 30th March – a competition involving over 1,500 schools nationally. In all, 21 teams of four came from across the South to take part in a variety of mathematical tasks over the course of a very full

St Swithun’s win U14 West Rally lacrosse

St Swithun’s Winchester recently hosted the annual West Rally lacrosse tournament for the U14, U13 and U12 teams. In total there were 36 teams competing from 12 schools – that makes 600 lacrosse players in action on the day! The U14s competed against Heathfield, Westonbirt and Rendcombe in the morning and did not allow the

Olympians visit St Swithun’s Junior School for Sport Relief

Olympians Larry Achike and Todd Bennett visited St Swithun’s Junior School to take part in a day to raise awareness and money for Sport Relief. Larry, a triple jumper hoping to qualify for his third Olympics (he competed at Sydney and Beijing) and with a personal best of 17.30m, took an assembly for the entire

St Swithun’s sixth form co-host forum to highlight maternal mortality

Having been inspired to raise awareness of the high rates of maternal mortality in developing countries following their attendance at the Global Student Forum last year, sixth form girls at St Swithun’s School, Winchester held a successful community leaders’ forum at the school earlier in the academic year and last weekend they jointly organised a

St Swithun’s pupil gains 1st place for GB at international dressage competition

St Swithun’s pupil Jessica Gale, age 16 from Hambledon, has just returned from two weeks at Vidauban on the Côte D’Azur, France, where she has been representing Great Britain for the first time at an international dressage competition. Jessica rides two competition horses, Umbro S and Rebellski. Umbro S was taken to compete in the

Lawrie McMenemy, MBE and President of Special Olympics Great Britain visits St Swithun’s school

Lawrie McMenemy, MBE gave an inspirational talk to pupils, parents, staff and friends of the school in his role as President of Special Olympics Great Britain in the Winchester school’s performing arts centre. Special Olympics Great Britain is the country’s largest provider of year-round sports training and competition programmes for children and adults with learning

St Swithun’s pupil wins skiing gold in Flaine

12-year-old St Swithun’s pupil Coco Vulliamy Taylor won a gold medal at the 2012 British Schoolgirls Ski Races in Flaine last week. Coco finished 1st in the giant slalom, 2nd in slalom and 1st in the combined giant slalom and slalom, winning the overall gold medal in her category and the Club des Sports Cup.

St Swithun’s pupil Abbie Baker’s Berlin trip

Berlin was the location for a recent international training camp for St Swithun’s pupil and top diver 12 year old Abbie Baker from Winchester. The camp involved a very busy week’s training schedule involving 5 hours of training per day followed by an international competition at the end of the week. Abbie won gold on

St Swithuns School Biathlon Champions

8 girls from St Swithun’s Junior School, Years 5 and 6 recently competed in the South Regional Schools’ Biathlon Championships at Aldershot Garrison. Many congratulations to Alla Garside, from Winchester, who won the Year 6 girls’ event to become Hampshire and regional champion. In the team event Alla, Emily Coulson, Harriet Smailes and Natasha Smailes

St Swithun’s Girls at London Irish RFC

8 of the St Swithun’s Junior TAG Rugby team travelled on Saturday 12th November to London Irish rugby ground at the Madejski stadium in Reading in order to become the Guard of Honour for the day. On arrival the girls were whisked to the upper levels of the stadium where they met and chatted to

Debating success for St Swithun’s

St Swithun’s sixth form pupils Pippa Naegeli from Upton Grey and Clare Symons from Sandhurst have successfully made it through to the regional round of the ESU (English-Speaking Union) Mace debating competition, the oldest national debating competition. The girls competed in the competition at Bedales School on 23rd November where they were successful to reach