Hip hop artist, poet and author, Karl Nova brought his unique style to Gordon’s students today as part of World Book Week. As well as providing an inspirational and engaging talk about his early life in London and Nigeria, Karl spoke about his journey into creative writing through rap music and word slam poetry. Thank you Karl Nova!
Gordon’s students struck gold on the greens of one of Europe’s top golf courses in the Daily Mail World Junior Championships.
The team of boys, playing the Villa Padierna Alferini Golf Course in Marbella were competing against 250 golfers from 36 countries in the tournament, in one of the largest and most prestigious junior golf tournaments to be played on European soil.
Jonnie Summerfield a Gordon’s golf scholar with a handicap of 0.8, was crowned U18 Daily Mail World Junior Champion!
After a practice round and three days of competition on the 54 hole WAGR event, Jonnie shot rounds of 75, 72 and 76 (+3, Even and +4) to finish +7 par, four shots clear of the runner up.
A golfer since the age of ten, Jonnie was modest about his win and said of his opponents: “They were really good players but did not play well because it was a really tight course. If your shot was just off target you weren’t going to score high”.
Successes in Marbella were also recorded by other Gordon’s students. Ben Lovell finished fifth with rounds of 76, 76 and 80; Fraser Brammall came 22nd and Barnaby Gough 25th in the 16-18 category.
Zach Mathews in the 14-15 years old category finished 11th, after a practice round which included five birdies and an eagle!
One hundred and fifty one students from six schools taking part in the Gordon's MUN (Model United Nations) Conference this weekend, representing nine different committees. Students will thrash out weighty topics such as the rise of political extremism; protection of human rights in war-torn areas; emergency healthcare in Israel/Palestine as well as in a special committee on the question of combatting the martian invasion! Guest of Honour is Surrey Heath’s newly-elected MP Al Pinkerton who will speak on his own experiences in international relations as an MP and as an Associate Professor in Geopolitics at the Royal Holloway University of London. Also speaking is Major Ali Bexton, who has extensive experience in Ukraine and is able to provide a unique and focused perspective on global affairs.
For all the action as it happens, follow Gordon’s MUN on Instagram - @gordonsmodelunitednations.
A once in a lifetime opportunity for Gordon’s pianists, four of whom took part in a Masterclass with Charles Owen, a leading British classical pianist at Steinway Hall, home of Steinway and Sons in Marylebone.
The students, who played a range of music from Chopin to Gershwin, were also able to take part in a question and answer session with Mr Owen, who is Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Guest Professor at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Steinway & Sons’ UK Ambassador. During their visit they toured Steinway Hall. Afterwards Mr Owen said: "The staff and pupils from Gordon's School couldn’t have been more friendly or receptive. It was a pleasure to work with their four pianists and watch the improvement they all made".
The events were part of Gordon’s School’s intention to form a partnership with Steinway & Sons and become a Steinway School. Click here for further information.
Congratulations to netball scholar Emily Brownleader, selected for Northern Ireland’s U21 National Academy for 2025. In announcing their 20-strong squad, Netball Northern Ireland said the players had demonstrated ‘exceptional skill, commitment and determination’ to earn their place in the high-performance pathway as they work towards the World Youth Cup in Gibraltar this September.
Easter and Summer Holiday Camps return to Gordon's offering Easter and Summer Holiday Camps return to Gordon's offering sport (football, netball, rugby) and performing arts to children aged between 9 and 16 years old. For further information and to book, click here.
Through to the national finals of the Springboard Future Chef competition, Matilda Spink whose sea bass tortellini with rocket pesto and her deconstructed lemon meringue pie catapulted her to the top spot in the regional final today in Brighton. Matilda will now take on the best of the rest of the UK in March at Westminster Catering College.
Senior Prefects from Gordon’s and Blenheim High joining forces for the second of two days of their ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) Level 3 Award. The students must complete the two units of problem solving and decision making and developing yourself and others for the industry -recognised leadership and management award.
Fourteen diverse careers represented for the Year 10 Careers Speed Networking event in which they had just four minutes in which to guess the profession of the person sitting in front of them! Alongside a general practitioner and physiotherapist were a range of professions including an environmental health officer, head of health economics and global benefits and wellbeing director. A further four minutes with each visitor allowed students the chance for more quizzing. Thank you to all our parent volunteers for giving up their time for this popular careers event.
Next week sees National Apprenticeship Week at Gordon's with a host of events and opportunities for students including speakers as well as the Careers Fair. Please click here for the full line up.
For Ned Hewson his 18th birthday means just one thing – he will then be able to run in marathons!
The A Level student has already signed up to the Brighton Marathon, which takes place soon after his milestone birthday. So, between now and April 6th he’s grasping any opportunity to train, venturing out on 5km, 10km and now 15km runs. No mean feat when he has also been performing his duties as Head Boy, House Captain, Deputy Head of House; as well as learning lines and rehearsing for one of the lead roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and studying for his A Levels in PE, economics and drama!
Ned’s determination to run the marathon is to raise money and awareness for the mental health charity MIND. He says: “I have chosen this mental health charity 'Mind' due to the difficulties I have been exposed to throughout my life. Just like everyone in the world, I have had my share of ups and downs but I believe that the ups are often spoken about more than the downs; when actually both are just as important in making someone the person they are today. I have decided to embark on this journey to prove to myself and all of you that we are capable of overcoming any challenge we face and that sometimes you need to have moments of pain to experience the times of glory and greatness."
"I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me with my struggles with mental health and everyone who will be supporting Mind through my journey for this marathon.”
As well as setting himself the target of raising £2,025, Ned is also hoping to finish the marathon in under four hours!
Ned can be sponsored using this link.
Lessons in history and maths as Year 12 A Level students visited Bletchley Park, the centre of allied code breaking during the Second World War. The maths students learned about the history of the code breakers such as the founder of modern computing Alan Turing, and how they cracked the Enigma, which played a crucial part in ending the war against Germany.
.jpg)
