Celebrating in very different ways, our Sixth Form students put on their annual talent show on Tuesday night, while our Year 7 and 8 students attended their disco last night. While the talent show always has a winner (Zuzanna on the piano, playing an original piece), I was also delighted that we had winners at the disco. The best dancers were Jack and Fred, and the best dressed were Advita and Herschell. Congratulations to all!

These two events demonstrated how time at school should be about great academic achievement, and also creating memories and social experiences. As we close for the Christmas holidays, both of those activities are reflected in this letter. More detail is also available in the newsletters that our Heads of Year have shared with you (see below). So here, for the last time in 2025, is a reflection on the previous week of school.

Gold awards for computer science

No fewer than 28 students in Years 7 and 8 have achieved the prestigious Gold Award in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge. This activity involved a series of interactive and age-related tasks to stretch our pupils' logical reasoning and problem-solving skills.

The following students achieved ‘gold status’, meaning their achievement was in the top 10% of all pupils who took part. Congratulations to all of these students in Year 7: Georgi; Frankie; Rudra; Sunjay; Akshara; Abbas; Kai; Jamie; Audrey; Gemma; Frankie; Asitya; Elijah; Tomisin and Myon. In Year 8, the students were: Hazel; Toby; Haiden; Harley; Ethan; Aisha; Artin; Benjamin; Denys; Rikish and Arianah. 

Delivering shoeboxes of gifts

The second layer of the generous gifts from families of non-perishable foods and toiletries is then to take them around to the various locations. This week a number of our students have been going to locations like Crossways Nursing Home, Jesmund Care Home, The Royal Marsden Hospital – Children's Ward, and Sutton Night Watch to drop off donations.

This is a brilliant opportunity for our pupils to do things they might not experience, like playing bingo in a local care home as two of our Year 7 students did. We will continue these activities through the year, whether in autumn for Harvest Festival or spring for Easter. They are important to show our students how we think of others in donating, and also important that they put our students into new situations and see what a difference their giving can make.

Newsletters for each year group

Lots more information on this and other activities can be read in our termly colour newsletter. The first section is written by your child’s Head of Year, so click on this link here to catch up on the whole term. These can also be located on our website under News & Events.

Year 11 parents' evening, Thursday 8th January

A reminder that our first parents’ evening is in the first week of term. Reminders have already gone out to families, so please sign up for an update on your child’s progress. This will also include information about the mock exams sat in November.

Chess Club

During our weekly chess club, some students have been playing a fortnightly unofficial online Inter School Battle organised by the English Chess Federation.  Last Friday they did really well, finishing fifth overall out of 29 teams. 

Stars of the term

Congratulations to our stars of the term who have demonstrated something special in their attitude to their peers, the community or their learning. Well done to each and every one.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11	6th Form
Elijah E	TBC	Eloise	TBC	Iker	Dahamsha / Faith M

Support while school is closed

At Greenshaw, we work closely with a variety of agencies including the London Borough of Sutton, volunteer groups and the NHS. Should any families need support when we are closed, our school website has many signposts to support agencies in the section ‘Care & Support’ as needed.   

We welcome our students back to Week 1 lessons on Monday 5th January at the normal time, with gates opening from 8:20am.  

I hope all Greenshaw families find some time to rest over the Christmas break, and spend time with family and friends. On behalf of the whole staff body I wish you all the very best for Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Mr N House, Headteacher