Demonstrating the utmost commitment to Relationships Sex Education and promoting healthy relationships within their setting and wider community with the aim of preventing gender-based violence.

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the school, we decided to renovate the courtyard area outside the canteen which had become rather run-down so that students can have another pleasant place to sit at break and lunch and so that it looks as smart as the recently renovated canteen.

Students and staff have been involved throughout the process, starting with a competition to design a mural for the wall. The design brief was to create a mural design for the large wall that celebrated the work of Charles Darwin and had a tropical botanical garden vibe.

Students from several year groups entered the competition and the winning design was created by Leo Currier in 8HBu, who, as usual with all of his homework, put lots of thought and effort into producing a creative and thoughtful design. Well done Leo and thanks to the other students who sent in entries: Maggie McCarthy, Daine-Louise Iaonnou, Sam Young, Jack Rice, Edie Plinston and Charlotte Duncombe. Thanks also to Miss Doughty, Miss Stroud and Mrs Doig for their help with the planning, judging and organising of materials for the mural.

The next step in the renovation was to redecorate the whole area so we enlisted the help of some year 10 students who had some decorating experience - Presley Burns, Vinnie Edwards, Lucas Rutledge, Ruby Baker, Kendall Henry and Tyrell Fulton. They did a great job painting all the walls a pale grey colour to match the canteen. Thanks to Mrs Newall for helping to collect the paint and to Oliver Molsher for cleaning the roof of the canopy.

On the 2 enrichment days at the end of term, we started phase 2 of the project, which was the creation and painting of wooden planters to go in the corners of the courtyard. The was led by Mr Baker with support from Adam Iles, Oliver King, Billy Green, Liam Stacey, Sky Goksal, Blake Taylor and Brooke Taylor. Thanks to Mr Dunn for his assistance with collecting materials and helping to complete the final planter and to Mr Baker for his support throughout all the stages of the project. Thanks to Aston Fay-Abrehart for his help painting the planters.

At the same time as the planters were being created, Mr Chubb started the mural painting off with planning how to turn Leo’s idea into a mural we could execute and then supervising day 1 of painting. On the second day, Mrs Doig led the year 10 students in completing the painting and making it look beautiful - what talented artists our teachers are! Thanks to the year 10 (mostly) Art students who did the painting- Tillie Bansel, Neve Ladd-Talbot, Olivia James, Georgia Robinson, Matilda Hewitt, Mia Cazalet-Smith, Millie Walker and Sonny Roberts as well as Charlotte Molsher. They did an amazing job really showcasing their artistic skills and creating something to be proud of and thanks to Tillie for coming in on the last day of term to get the painting finished.

Throughout the project, Shay Royle, Peter Moseling, John Cowburn, Dean Lovatt and Roy Smith have been really helpful in providing equipment, moving furniture, collecting materials and generally being supportive. Thanks also to Mrs Stimson in finance and Mr Smith for helping to find the money for the project and his enthusiasm and encouragement thoughout all the stages.

The final stages were helped tremendously by the donation of soil through a link by ex-student and parent James Bamber who put me in touch with Dawn Wales at DWP Recycling, a local business (and another ex-pupil), who very generously donated soil to fill the planters. Caiden and Jake Thwaites in year 11 were incredibly helpful moving the tonne of soil from the back of the school into the planters and we were really grateful to Miss Edwards who kindly gave up part of her time off to jetwash the courtyard.

Thanks to Alfie Rapley, Nehemiah Mensah and Freddie Burns for helping to complete the final planter in time for Open Day.

It has been lovely to be able to complete this project commemorating 50 years of Charles Darwin School by involving so many different members of our community- students, teachers, support staff, parents and former pupils. Charles Darwin School is very much a community school and we are so grateful to all the people who helped to transform this space into somewhere that students are already enjoying during their social time and hopefully will do for many years to come.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this amazing project.

Ms Kelly, Assistant Headteacher

---

 

Open Morning - Saturday 30 September 2023

Parents of prospective students are invited to visit our high performing school to view and sample the exciting opportunities we have to offer. Pre booking for a tour only (9am) or Headteacher’s presentation followed by a tour (9am, 10am or 11am) is essential by lunchtime on  Thursday 28th September. Priority will be given to Year 6 children.

Presentations will start promptly at the advertised time so please leave sufficient time for parking. (There will be very limited on-site parking available).

OPEN WEEK : Tuesday 3 -  Friday 6 October  2023 - Times: 08.45 & 09.00 

Tours are held at 08.45 and 09.00. Parents are required to pre-book tours and presentations.

If you wish to attend one of our Open Week tours you can pre-book a tour at 8.45am or 9.00am. Open week tours offer the opportunity to see the school in operation and to observe teaching taking place. This will be followed by a short Q & A session with the Headteacher. Please leave time for parking (none available on site). Pre-booking essential by 12.00pm on Monday 2nd October. Priority will be given to Year 6 children.

Please email the relevant tour/presentation with your name, your child's name, their current year group, their current school and the number of places required.

Please click here to  see our recent Ofsted Report 

 

With a tradition of high academic achievement and dedication to nurturing young minds, Charles Darwin School once again demonstrated excellent results, showcasing the hard work and determination of its students.

It is a great privilege to be able to pay tribute to our pupils, individually and collectively. It has been widely publicised in the media that results nationally were returning to that similar to 2019 levels and we are pleased that our results have surpassed our 2019 level in many areas, this was the case in the important measure of proportion of grades at A*-C, of which we had 74%.

These achievements are particularly commendable considering the unique challenges faced over the past couple of years, with students having not sat public exams since primary school.

Whilst today marks many personal achievements we would like to mention a few students who have achieved exceptionally highly, often in some challenging circumstances:

Charlie Long AA Dist

Charlie DeJonge A*AB

Tobi Abiodun AAB

Ethan Fergusson AAB

Jodie Shilito AAB

Lily Steen AAB

Isabella Antepim Dist, AB

Finn Barden Dist, AB

Connor O Shea Dist* AC

Alex Devlin Dist, Dist, B

Nyah Tomlinson Allen Dist, Dist, B​

Melissa Hewitt Dist* BB

Chardney Prata Neto Dist* BB

Ben Burgess ABB

Holly Doyle ABB

We are proud to announce that the majority of our students have taken up university places, including many Russel Group Universities. Others are moving on to take up apprenticeships and employment.

Headteacher, Mr Aston Smith said, “These results are testament to the endeavour of our pupils, the dedication of our staff and the support of parents. The students have achieved these fantastic results, however it has been made possible through some truly excellent teaching and support from the staff here at Charles Darwin School and I would like to thank them all for this.” Mr Smith also went on to say that “the achievements of Charles Darwin students were not limited to just academics. This cohort was known for the significant number of students that were involved in extra-curricular activities, community service projects, charity work and demonstrated leadership skills that will undoubtedly contribute to their success in higher education or the workplace.”

Last Friday ten girls from Year 10 and myself we were fortunate enough to be invited for a tour around the F1 Media and communications building in Biggin Hill.

The tour also included talks from a number of women in the F1 sector including a Production Executive, Social Media Executive, IT Security Analyst and Mechanical Apprentice. The day was to celebrate International Women’s Day and to show young women the types of STEM based carers available to them.

During the day we were able to see the incredible media suite where camera footage and radio recordings are edited as well as seeing an F1 car and listen to a recorded message from F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali.

The highlight for me though was the F1 television studio and way in which all of our girls overcame any nervousness to sit in front of the cameras and answered some questions about the day. This took an enormous amount of courage and composure and they were all amazing.

A huge thank you to the whole team at F1 who made the day so special. Hopefully, the trip will be the start of a close partnership with the school which will lead to more of our students having the same opportunities that the girls had.

J. Simpson