NPL, Teddington are offering paid apprenticeships for young people aged 16 to 18. Over an 18 month period the apprentice will work alongside world leading scientists as a Laboratory and Science Technician and be responsible for designing and building scientific experiments, running tests, taking measurements and analysing results. The programme would suit a school leaver with an aptitude and passion for science.

Last Friday we formally said goodbye to our Year 11 pupils as they completed their formal schooling and began study leave leading up to their GCSE written examinations. As always, it was a really lovely and uplifting occasion and the pupils behaved impeccably. We shall be seeing many of the pupils back in school today when they start an extensive revision timetable leading up to each examination.

Pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 were invited to attend an after school ceramic workshop. The course lasted 5 weeks and 15 pupils from across the years attended. They were shown how to use several clay techniques and were encouraged to create an object (Or lots in some cases!) of their choosing.

A group of 26 Year 10 pupils taking part in the 3 Peaks challenge climbed Scafell Pike over the Bank Holiday weekend.  The mountain guides were very complimentary about the attitude of all 26 pupils and their determination to complete the climb in a quick a time as possible.  One of the guides was even overheard telling another “I’m glad I didn’t take your group, I wouldn’t have kept up with the pace!” Having climbed Snowdon in September and Scafell Pike this weekend, only Ben Nevis in...

Orleans Park Year 8 girls were invited to play in an U14 volleyball competition at Ashcombe. The tournament was arranged to provide the South East of England team with some match practice before heading to the National Regional championships at the end of May. Four teams took part: the South East of England, Wessex Volleyball Club, Dartford Volleyball Club and Orleans Park.

After visiting the inspirational Strawberry Hill Mr Beaumont and Mrs Francis decided to run a collaborative Art and History project for pupils that showed a particular passion in both or either of the subjects. We contacted Strawberry Hill and found them very supportive and keen to introduce our pupils to this wonderful building. It was decided we would invite 5 gifted and talented pupils in each year group to participate in the project. We wanted it to be pupil led and hoped they...

One of our Year 8 pupils, Ms M Bullen, has become the boroughs first Racketlon champion! Racketlon is a sport where each participant plays each of the four racket sports – table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis. Each game is played to 21 points, the points get added up and whoever scores the most points is the winner.  The Sports Development Team organised four weeks of training sessions in each of the sports at Teddington Sports Centre leading up to a Racketlon competition which w...

Sixth Form Open Evening: Tuesday 25th June Our first Sixth Form Open Evening will be taking place on Tuesday 25th June from 6:00pm until 8:30pm. The evening will be an opportunity for students currently in Year 10 to find out about the subjects and opportunities that will be available in our Sixth Form when it opens in September 2014. There will be formal presentations from Ms E.

The GCSE examinations are now underway and last week our Year 11 pupils had two days of GCSE Art practical examinations. I have to say that the standard of work was exemplary. There were some amazing final pieces, including animations and very original pieces using acrylics and watercolour.

Hello. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you as the newly appointed Head of Sixth Form at Orleans Park School. I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to work with students and parents in setting up and developing our Sixth Form over the coming months and years as we welcome our first cohort of students in September 2014.

On Wednesday 15th May our intrepid Year 10 Geographers will be venturing out and down to Lulworth Cove for the day. The key focus is to investigate any issues being created by tourism in the area and collect data for their first controlled assessment. Fingers crossed for a sunny day!

If you have had an individual career interview with our Careers Advisor, Mary Guthrie, please take a few minutes to complete the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CFBTyoungpeoplefeedback2012-13. Thank you

Four workshops are to be held in the maths department. This is a new initiative aimed at showing year 8 parents how their children are currently being taught some key topics. The sessions are from 3.15 to 5.15 and are led by a consultant. They will cover multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio and proportion over 24th April, 22nd May, 12th June and 26th June.

On Friday evening, 19th April a group of 52 pupils and 7 staff set out on the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award expedition. Pupils are required to walk 15 kilometres over the two day trial expedition, following a course they had previously planned using maps, compasses and bearings to navigate their way. The second assessed expedition takes place in June.

GCSE Drama pupils work with a professional director at The Orange Tree Theatre. On Saturday 20th April we took the GCSE Drama groups to The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond to work with a professional director and actor on a key scene in their final exam performance. The day was very successful and all pupils were very enthusiastic.

The school council organised a ‘Great OPS Bake Off’ for Comic Relief. This event was a huge success with over 90 competitors. The winner is yet to be announced but it will be soon during our whole school assembly.

During the two weeks 4th to 15th March we once again ran our 100 Club competition to encourage our pupils to think about their attendance and the impact it has on their learning and achievement. Every pupil who achieved 100% attendance during the 100 Club Fortnight were entered into a draw to win voucher prizes. The following pupils were winners and we congratulate them on their commitment to good attendance.

Bronze D of E trial expedition: We shall be leaving school at 5pm on Friday 19th April, returning on Sunday 21st April around 4pm. The address of the campsite is: East Horsley Camping and Caravanning Site Ockham Road North, East Horsley Surrey KT24 6PE The emergency contact number is Miss Mosley who can be contacted on 07817254210 during the weekend. URGENT- please can the medical forms be returned to school on Friday 19th April - AT THE LATEST.

Please could all pupils interested in entering ‘The Poetry Games’ poetry writing competition please see Miss Brown in E2 on Wednesday 17th April at 3pm. Flyers in your tutor pigeon holes tomorrow morning. http://youngwriters.co.uk/poetry-games-competition.php The Poetry Games is the exciting new poetry competition from Young Writers for 11-18 year-olds.

Keep your eyes peeled for Miss Williams' Iceland Blog this Easter! Follow the link HERE