Given just eight minutes in which to work out the profession of the parent at their table, Year 10 students attending today's Careers Speed Dating are facing a difficult challenge! Among the team of talented parents who have volunteered is a university lecturer; finance director; psychologist, airline captain, orthopaedic surgeon, pharmacist, actuary and search dog handler! Thank you to our parents for an unforgettable insight into such a varied number of careers.

Among the many coaches, physiotherapists, managers and players that make up each team competing in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, is Gordon’s School Head of Rugby Chris Davies.

This week he flies to Dubai for the second tournament in the series, where he will be the assistant coach for the Men’s Spanish 7s side. The country, currently in 12^th place, just one behind Great Britain, takes on Ireland in their first game of this leg, on Friday 2^nd December.

This is the first time Mr Davies, a former skills coach for the Fiji Men’s 7s team, has worked with the Spanish team.  Even though there will be a language barrier (he admits to not knowing a word in Spanish!), he is relishing the opportunity and has even been picking up Spanish tips from a current player, Sixth Form student Rodriguez who is part of the Senior squad at the school.

“It will be difficult because we share a pool with Ireland, as well as France and Uganda”, said Mr Davies, adding:  “I will be assisting Pablo Feijoo and helping ensure that the team remains in the top ten of the world series, qualifies for the Olympics and inspires the next generation of Spanish rugby players”.

The Welsh-born coach who played his junior representative rugby in West Wales before joining the military, has enjoyed stints at London Wasps, the Abu Dhabi Harlequins and the Hong Kong Rugby Union. At Gordon’s, he heads up the school’s RFU ACE partnership with Harlequins and in the Summer, saw two of the original five students starting the programme, progress to the Harlequins senior squad.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to the 7s series and the challenges that it will present. I am thankful to Gordon’s for allowing me this opportunity. When I return, I am hoping to be full of ideas to put into practice in readiness for the school’s extensive 7s programme and of course our 7s tour to Portugal next year.”

Congratulations to our newly-appointed Senior Student Leadership Team of Head Girl Libby Lomas, Head Boy Sam Moreau, Deputy Head Girl Eleanor Scarlett, Deputy Head Boy Alex Perry, School Sergeant Major Sophie Bodell and Colour Sergeant Jack Goate. The six of them will begin their duties in January and were appointed after submitting a CV and letter of application as well as attending interviews. For more information on their roles and responsibilities, please click here.

E-safety expert Karl Hopwood will be visiting Gordon’s tomorrow to speak to students. His talk in the evening (6pm in the Rec) on how to keep children safe online, is open to all in the wider community as well as Gordon's parents. Tickets are free and available here. Internet safety tips for parents are available here on the school website.

For her snowman, complete with red scarf and hat, Darcey was chosen as the 2022 winner for this year’s PTI Christmas card competition. The competition attracted entries from all over the country and Darcey’s winning design will be sent to supporters of the PTI this year. Also confirmed today were the results of the Winter Arts competition with Pia’s village scene voted the winner, followed by Emily’s trees and Morgan’s robin.