The Pipes and Drums, led by Drum Major Ben Shorter, began the first school parade of the year. Plenty to celebrate in this whole-school event including England, Scotland and Northern Ireland netball selections for Jasmine, Lily and Emily; a place in the British Shooting U21 development squad for James; the Drama Department shortlisted for the National Music and Drama Education Awards and successes in Model United Nations and for the Pipes and Drums at the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships. Alice, was presented with the ISHC Plate from Headmaster Andrew Moss on behalf of the 1st XI hockey team. Congratulations all! 
 

Wearing yellow to raise awareness of Seb’s Foundation, a charity which provides scholarships, rugby training programmes and workshops to young people who wouldn’t usually be able to access them. Seb’s Foundation is one of the charities chosen by students in Year 9 for First Give. The programme is designed to ignite social conscience in young people who choose their charities based on social issues in their communities, research them and then plan and deliver social action activities such as raising funds, awareness and volunteering.  Other charities chosen by students are the York Road Project, Charlie’s Promise, Art Against Knives and The Hope Hub. In April students will present to First Give in the hope that they will be awarded the £1,000 cheque for their chosen charity.

The younger brother of Stephen Lawrence, the British teenager killed in a racially motivated attack, gave an inspirational talk to Years 7, 8 and 9 students to bring World Book Week at Gordon’s to a close. The Honourable Stuart Lawrence, author of ‘Silence is not an Option: You can Impact the World for Change’ spoke about his childhood, family, his book and sayings that have influenced his life, in particular ‘life is ten per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it’.

In the style of an Easter egg hunt, over 2000 words were hidden around the school today for students to find! They could also ‘earn’ word tickets during their lessons, to put together and make a story as part of World Book Week at Gordon’s. And this afternoon KS3 had the chance to talk about their favourite books when they produced fortune tellers with clues about them. The activities form part of the school’s Go All In programme supporting the National Year of Reading 2026.

A poignant moment for all the Year 9 students, particularly Jamie, during the year group history trip to the Belgium battlefields on Friday. As well as remembering the 155 Gordonians killed in the First World War, Jamie found his Great-Grandfather’s name on the Commonwealth Memorial at the Tyne Cot Cemetery. His Great-Grandfather Rifleman Walter Charles Tobutt died on 19th September 1917 and Jamie was able to lay a wreath in his memory and in memory of the Gordonians killed in action.

Congratulations to Jesse, Seejan, Dasha and Elliot on their Oxbridge offers – three from the University of Cambridge (to read geography, chemical engineering and mathematics) and one from the University of Oxford (reading law). A delighted Head of Sixth Form Will Jones said: “This is an outstanding achievement, testament to the hard work, commitment and passion shown for the subjects by all four students and we wish them every success with their A Level examinations this summer”.