The countdown to 2021 has begun, with less than a month to go until Westbourne marks its 125th anniversary, we are delighted to have seen further recognition of our community’s incredible and continued success, in the Sunday Times last weekend.
“Westbourne is one of the most consistently high-achieving independent schools in Britain”
The Sunday Times Nov 29th 2020
Meanwhile, a windswept, all-action Westbourne week has seen students across the school, splash upon shores, take evocative trips back in time, sample Sixth Form life and in IB2, secure yet more top university offers and Oxbridge interviews.
Online, we’ve seen our first fully virtual parents evening, run virtual admissions events throughout Central Europe and Thailand, seen IB1 boarders posting their first Westbourne Life blogs and alongside all of this, hosted our inaugural Parents Zoom Workshop lifting the lid on Early Years reading skills.
With just two more busy weeks of term to go, a heartfelt thank you goes out to our entire community for your support and commitment to helping keep Westbourne covid safe, ensuring that nothing gets in the way of Westbourne students having every opportunity to excel.
Another bumper week of Russell Group university offers and Oxbridge opportunities.
With Head Girl, Safia receiving 5 out of 5 offers to read Law from her top choice universities. Head Boy, Yaroslav receiving an offer from his 1st choice, King’s College London, to read Electrical Engineering and Isaac receiving an interview opportunity from St. Peter’s College Oxford to read Modern Languages.
Our Oxbridge hopefuls have a tailored interview preparation workshop this weekend and we wish them all the very best of luck.
Stepping up to Sixth Form is a huge move for any student and, as with our transition process between Year’s 6 and 7, preparation is often at the heart of its success. So, this week, it was the chance for our PreIB and Year 11 students to experience a hands-on day in the life of an IB Diploma student.
Led by Ms Phillips, IB Coordinator, our specialist subject teachers showcased the breadth of opportunity on offer at Sixth Form. Sample science lessons saw students collaboratively design a rollercoaster, using their skills in maths and physics.
Humanities subjects saw students try their hand at The Trading Game, combining history, geography, psychology, economics and business, students used their knowledge and wits to out-manoeuvre each other.
Language acquisition is a core part of the IB Diploma and Mrs Jessop was quick to highlight how much fun that can be, armed with tubs of playdough! A reflective course, students also spent time considering the merits and pitfalls of verbal and non-verbal communication when making yourself understood in a foreign language.
Uniquely at Westbourne, as our new Sydney IB College opens in January, our Class of 2023, as the future IB1 will be known, will have the opportunity to visit and study alongside their Australian IB counterparts as part of the course.
A truly unique, global Sixth Form experience.
It’s not every day you get swept back in time, however Year’s 3, 4 & 5 experienced exactly that this week with a fact filled, fun visit from Mr Egypt, an Egyptologist with over four decades of research experience.
As well as having the opportunity to don Anthony and Cleopatra togs, pupils were captivated by the wealth of artifacts they had the opportunity to hold, including a Pharaoh’s ring. With a rich tapestry of stories from the ancient world, the visit provided an invaluable opportunity to bring history to life.
Science this week saw some of our Prep students explore carbon dioxide, its discovery and widespread use. Topped off with a comparative investigation to find out the weight of carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks.
After weighing each drink, Year 4 had a lot of fun shaking the bottles to make the drinks flat, then reweighing them to discover the weight difference.
There are some new editors in town!
Just one of the many club options at Westbourne Prep is the Prep School newspaper. Congratulations go out to Catrin and Ciara our new editors, we very much look forward to your first edition.
Another exciting Forest and Beach School adventure! This week it was Year 2’s turn to head off to Barry Island.
The learning started back in the classroom, learning all about the type of animals you might hope to find in a rock pool. A quick change of footwear and donning of wellington boots and it was off to the seashore for some hands-on exploration.
Another fabulous FAB School session!
We’re well and truly in the Christmas spirit in nursery. We’ve made decorations, decorated our tree and enjoyed some lovely dancing to Christmas music!
We’ve seen great work and amazing qualities across the Prep School this week and it is a huge challenge to choose just one star! Congratulations all on your achievement this week.
Early Years: ⭐ Zoe for kindess to her friends and lovely manners!
Year 1 ⭐ Libby – For excellent work understanding how to tell the time.
Year 2: ⭐ Sophia for her amazing hard work in all areas of English.
Year 3: ⭐ Lydia for her super effort and concentration during maths this week. What a star!
Year 4: ⭐ Ciara for her excellent work on telling the time to the nearest minute and converting between analogue and digital. Well done, Ciara!
Year 5:⭐ Jakub for his enthusiasm during the visit from Mr EGYPT. Great effort, Jakub!