November 2025

Published 3rd November 2025

In October we were incredibly lucky to have a visit from one of Great Britain Beauty Queens Miss Anya Hudson. Anya is the current Miss Universe Beauty 2025; she came to visit the school to present to our students from years 9-12 about the Body confidence and her journey from an anxious body conscious teenager to a bus driving beauty Queen.

Anya spoke to students about the mental health issues including her issues with her body image and self confidence and her struggle with mental health throughout her teenage years. She also spoke about the grief caused by the recent loss of her dad to Motor Neurone Disease (NMD) which has spurred her on to live life to its fullness. This includes recently becoming involved in the pageant world of run ways and beauty queens. Through her journey in the pageant world, she had had the opportunity to do lots of charity work including raising awareness and funds for NMD as well as supporting local charities.

As a woman who works in an often-male dominated industry as a bus driver she like to promote women achieving their goals and is proud to be Bucking the trend as a curvy size 14 model in the beauty queen world.

Anya has most recently competed for Great Britain in the Miss Beauty universe internationals in Peru, and managed to win 2 new sashes – Miss Smile (for the best smile) and Top Model for charity work, kindness and camaraderie throughout the competition.  Bishop Luffa wishes her congratulations on her achievements.

Shona Charge, Head of Story House

Published 3rd November 2025

Year 12 students have started work on their Pallant House residency, visiting the gallery’s fantastic exhibition ‘Seeing Each Other’ which focuses on artists portraying other artists.  They have been sketching and engaging with works which they will respond to later in their project.  We can’t wait to see the work they produce.

Laurelly Thorpe, Team Leader of Art

Published 5th November 2025

Isla-Rose Evans (7Story) had the incredible opportunity to represent her club Chichester Gymnastics Academy at Gymnastique Magique, a Disney - themed international gymnastics competition. This spectacular event combined gymnastics, dance, and performance in a truly magical Disney setting. Participants showcased routines inspired by Disney music and films, with vibrant costumes and creative choreography that brought the magic to life.

As part of the event, gymnasts also had the chance to take part in a Magical Pre-Parade through Disneyland Paris - a once-in-a-lifetime experience performing alongside dancers and gymnasts from around the world - a truly unforgettable experience!

“I’m so grateful that I got to go to Disneyland and do gymnastics there — it was the biggest performance I’ve ever done! It was an amazing opportunity to represent Chichester Gymnastics Academy and to perform in front of so many people. I had so much fun, and all the rides and everything in the park were incredible. It was such a magical experience that I’ll never forget!” – Isla-Rose Evans

Published 5th November 2025

What a way to start the half term! Year 10 art students had a fantastic time on their trip to London visiting Picasso Theatre at Tate Modern and Cecil Beaton at The National Portrait gallery. They studied artworks in detail, sketching and making notes to gather inspiration for their identity project. 

We were very lucky to meet the artist Ben Wilson, also known as ‘Chewing Gum Man’ who was painting artworks on millennium bridge and spoke to us about what he does. 

https://benwilsonchewinggumman.com/

It was wonderful to see students engaging with artworks without technology and playing card games on the coach. Well done on a successful trip Year 10. We can’t wait to see the work you produce! 

Laurelly Thorpe, Team Leader - Art

Published 6th November 2025

Firstly - thank you to everyone who kindly contributed to our 2025 Shoebox Project.  On Saturday 1st November, the boxes went on the first step of their journey - to a warehouse in Bournemouth where the shipment is being consolidated ready for transportation to the recipient countries.  Here are a few photos just showing the van load, unload and a couple of snaps of the warehouse. This warehouse will be virtually full of Rotary Shoeboxes by now and the shipment process by truck to our recipient countries will begin this week. Thank you all once again.

James Vann, Head of Ridgeway House

Published 11th November 2025

In what has become an annual moment of solemn commemoration, the whole School came together on the 11th November for a formal service of remembrance, this time on the Humanities Playground.  As well as readings by Mr Hindman and our School Captains, Scarlette Guilfoyle and Rupert Reddington, there were also prayers from Father Phill, and the Kohima Epitaph from Mr Bonney (both ex-forces).  We observed the two minutes silence at 11am, which was marked by the Last Post and Reveille, superbly played by Year 12 student Izzy Deans. A guard of honour made up of students who serve in uniformed organisations then accompanied the wreath laying party, as wreathes were laid by Mr Bonney and School Captains.

Mr Hindman closed the service by blowing a whistle used in the trenches of the First World War.  Behaviour was excellent, as Bishop Luffa continued to work hard to ensure that the suffering of war, and the sacrifices made for our freedoms, are not forgotten.

My thanks must go to all of those involved in ensuring that the service ran so smoothly.

Justin Barnett, Head of Humanities

Published 11th November 2025

Our A-Level Computer Science students visited London for an action-packed day exploring cutting-edge technology and research with Computer Science in Action. They attended inspiring talks from industry leaders and academics, including Sue Black OBE on AI, Caleb Oniwinde on cloud computing, and Dr Tishtrya Mehta on natural language processing. The students also participated in interactive sessions that allowed them to apply computer science concepts in real-world scenarios. The day left them motivated, excited, and talking enthusiastically about the possibilities for their future in technology.

Helen Williams, Team Leader of Computer Science

Published 20th November 2025

Over four days, all of Year 8 were able to visit the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth as part of their History studies.  Year 8 investigate the Tudors, so a visit to see the remains of Henry VIII’s flagship, especially when it is on our doorstep, is too good an opportunity to miss.  As well as seeing the ship itself, students were able to see some of the many artefacts lifted from the Solent as part of the recovery process.  They were fascinated, for example, by some of the gory surgical equipment, and the remains of the ship’s dog.  This gave them an insight into life onboard a Tudor warship, and therefore the life of some ordinary people, whom history has often tended to overlook.  They also found out about why the ship sank, and how it was raised (which myself and some of the older teachers were able to recall from the early 1980s!), which included a ‘4d’ film with associated glasses!

As well as a tour of the museum, students also undertook a workshop, including on the horrors of Tudor medicine (which also relates well to part of our current GCSE course).  The students were well behaved, and days like this emphasise that there are many different ways that we can learn about the past, including the history of our local area.

My thanks must go to the numerous staff who accompanied the visit, and hence made it possible, and to students for their level of interest and enthusiasm.

Justin Barnett, Head of Humanities

Published 21st November 2025

Earlier this month a group of students from our thriving debate club took part in the first round of the prestigious ESU Mace debate competition.  Our team competing on the day were Joel Blamire (13Wilson), Ella Blamire (10Ridgeway), and Ben Webster (13Sherborne) who were up against local rivals St Philip Howard. 

Each heat features up to three debates. Motions and positions are provided in advance to give teams a chance to prepare and research their argument. The position and order for the teams and others in the heats are randomly assigned to ensure fairness. The order can be adjusted by the competition lead on the night if necessary, and in fact on this occasion this did happen, and our team suddenly found themselves going first.  Our team put up a very strong opposition argument to the motion “This house would ban short-haul domestic flights where transport alternatives exist” and received brilliant feedback from the judges. 

The team were excited to find out that they had done enough to progress to the second round which should be held in January. We will receive a new motion to debate for or against and we will have a new trio to take part with the support of the rest of the team. We have put ourselves forward to host which would be a fantastic opportunity for the whole school to celebrate our dedicated debate team.

Katie Pegram, Second in Charge of English - KS3 Lead

Published 24th November 2025

On Sunday 23rd November, Mr Buck and Mr Gibbons took 14 lucky students to watch England's last game of the 2025 Quilter Nations Series against a highly ranked Argentinian team at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. Students enjoyed reliable travel, a trip to the stadium shop, tasty food and an enrolling game. The game finished on a knife’s edge with Argentina failing to capitalise with an attacking lineout 5m from England’s line, resulting in England’s victory 27-23.

A huge thank you to Mr Buck and Mr Gibbons for leading the trip. 

Tom Blewitt, Teacher of PE

Published 26th November 2025

On the 22nd November our Sixth Form team, comprising Millie Anas (12Wison), Becca Challis (12Wilson), Amaya Misson-Williams (12Wilson), Isla Donaldson (13Andrewes), Jeasmine Idris (13Andrewes), Thomas Lowe (13Andrewes), Olivia Cogger (13Sherborne), Poppy-May Pallett (13Sherborne), Joel Blamire (13Wilson), Sarayu Katikaneni (12Andrewes), Amelia Gheraty-Bellingham (12Burrows), Isaac Siddle (12King), Matthew Murphy (12Burrows), Ben Parsons-Cork (12Otter) and Oscar Goldsmith (12Burrows) went to the Southampton Crown Court to participate in the Bar Mock Competition and competed with six other schools.

We had two cases – one that involved drugs possession with intent to supply and the other, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. The barristers and witnesses were electric in their delivery, while the usher and clerk acted with both authority and conviction. The whole team were well prepared and did an excellent job in each role they had--it was a joy to witness! We were not placed in this round but are very much looking forward to next year--well done everybody!

An update - in January we received the scores for the Bar Mock Trial and one of three teams, Tom Lowe (13Andrewes) and Jeasmine Idris (13Andrewes) scored 97 out of a possible 100.  A result made even more special as in the team's estimation, that judge was the most respectable judge in terms of professionalism and feedback.  Both aspire to be barristers and this is certainly confirmation for them that they will thrive in a court setting.

Fiona Langstone, Teacher of Law