Finishing touches being made to the new Science laboratory, which will allow students to undertake more practical work in Biology, Chemistry and Physics and reflects the growing popularity of this STEM subject as well as the changes to the GCSE and A Level specifications. The science laboratory is the school’s seventh and has been made possible thanks to a £44,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation which supports and promotes excellence in education.

Building and renovation works being carried out this Summer also include enlarging and relocating the Fitness Suite to the Sports Hub; the former Fitness Suite on the Parade Square becoming a second art studio; the refurbishment of the Simmons Memorial Library; addition of a new Science classroom next to Sudan and work to Sandringham and Balmoral Houses as part of the first phase of a five year £1 million refurbishment to senior Residential Boarding Houses.

Believed to be the first English juvenile pipe band to take part in the Scottish Pipe Band Championships for a very long time, if not ever, pipers from Gordon’s, together with Senior Pipe Major Iona Scotson competed against 110 other bands in the prestigious competition. Mrs Scotson said afterwards: “A short, yet sweet trip; and whilst not getting placed, new experiences were had and memories were made to treasure. There are things to work on, but the only way is up. Hugely proud of these guys. Nobody can fault their continuous enthusiasm, resilience and commitment but more importantly their team ethos and that above all else, is what is most important”.

Gordon's Pipes and Drums are this year celebrating their 80th Anniversary of being on the Surrey Heath site of the school and have been involved in around 40 public performances, ranging from playing alongside the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and the 10 Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment Pipes and Drums to taking part in the Armed Forces Day Military Convoy and the Menin Gate Service of Remembrance. Next week they are off to Glasgow again for Piping Live and the World Pipe Band Championships!

Gordonians have helped England get off to a flying start at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Eboni Usoro-Brown and her team defending their netball title, beat Trinidad and Tobago 74-22 in their opening game. Meanwhile Ellie Boatman (pictured above) scored a stunning four tries in the first half of England’s 57-0 win against Sri Lanka in the Women’s Rugby 7s. Ellie, a former Kensington House student excelled in sport during her time here, playing for the netball team, captaining the hockey team and riding in the equestrian team. Olympic gold medallist Hannah Russell OBE, competing in her first Commonwealth Games, finished in the silver medal position in the Women's 50m Freestyle S13 final.

We wish them all the best of luck in the Games. 

For more information on their time at Gordon's and for other Gordonian achievers, please click here.

The smile says it all. A cup win at the Staines Amateur Regatta in the Junior 16 sculls for James Gibson. The plucky rower who has been unable to compete until now - or even train since May - due to an injury at the start of the year, more than made up for it in Staines today! Fellow rowers were equally delighted at his success in his first race as while he was unable to compete, he has cheered them on from riverbanks as they represented the school’s boat club. Congratulations James!

An honour for our PIpes and Drums to play at last night’s Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial in Ypres. The ceremony, held every evening at 8pm since 2nd July 1928, is in remembrance of the soldiers of the former British Empire and its allies, who died in the Ypres Salient during the First World War.

Sixth Form students Isaac Johnson (left) and Daniel Drakeford (right) have spurned the lure of beaches, nightclubs and festivals as a celebration of the end of their A Levels in favour of  the challenge of the Via Francigena, a 1,900km pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome via the Alps! The two have chosen to raise money for the whole-school charity the Camelthorn Foundation which is raising money to build a girls' boarding house in Zimbabwe, to be named Gordon's House.  For the full story, please click here. For further information on Gordon's House, please click here. To donate, please visit their Justgiving page here.