Community Connect – July 2026

Dear Parents and Carers

It is hard to believe we are at the end of another year.  This year has really been a great one, and you can see some of the highlights below.

As ever, your children are a credit to you all – they bring a smile to our faces every day!

Thank you for your support and have a wonderful Summer break.

Mia Pye
Headteacher

Trips

A round up of the wonderful trips Year groups have been on in the past term.

Goodbye Year 13 - You will be missed!

Another academic year draws to an end, and we bid farewell to our departing Year 13 students. We have had many special groups come through this Post 16 Centre but the ‘Class of 2026’ will certainly be fondly remembered as a vintage year. Their dedication and commitment to study was matched by a kindness and generosity of spirit. They will be missed. It is big shoes for our current Year 12s to fill, but I am confident that they will! 

We wish all of our Year 13 and 11 students the best of luck for their forthcoming examination results on 13th and 20th August, respectively. And for many, we know this is not the final goodbye – we look forward to welcoming many of our Year 11 students back to Post 16 in September 2026. All Year 11 students with an offer from GHS, must enrol in person on August 20th and attend the first enrolment day on Tuesday 2nd September. Until then, enjoy your richly-deserved summers! 

Sports News

As we approach the end of the sporting year, we reflect on the many opportunities, accomplishments and successes enjoyed by our teams this year.  All of this was celebrated at our annual Sports Awards ceremony on Thursday 2^nd July, where every student who has represented the school this year was invited to acknowledge each other’s achievements.  290 invite letters went out, which is an incredible number of students who have played competitive sport for the school and testament to the hard work of our staff and students.

Continuing with the sporting theme, we enjoyed the annual festival of sport for all that is Sports Day 2026.  Hosted at Perivale Athletics Track on Friday 17^th July, years 7, 8 and 9 engaged in a range of inclusive sporting challenges in the morning before the track and field action begins to determine the overall winners for each year group.

QPR Mentoring Scheme

A group of 15 students in Year 7 recently completed a six-week mentoring project at QPR which focussed upon the following:

• Relationship building
• Team building, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Emotional regulation and coping strategies.
• Belonging, confidence, & navigating school life.
• Celebration and reflection.

The sessions were based at either GHS or QPR football ground. The students represented GHS very well and demonstrated courage and compassion throughout the scheme. A quote from the group leader at QPR reads: 

“The students and the school for the past 6 weeks. It really has been great, and super fulfilling. The students and the staff have been a pleasure to work with, and I look forward to future collaboration.” 

Every student received a certificate from QPR and were able to take part in a stadium tour during their final session.  Please see some pictures from the six week project below.

 

Greenpower - D&T

Greenpower is a nationwide engineering challenge where teams of young people design, build and race their own electric cars. It’s run by the Greenpower Education Trust (click on link for more info), a charity that uses the excitement of motorsport to get students aged 9–25 genuinely fired up about STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths. More than 700 teams and over 10,000 students take part each year, racing at famous circuits like Goodwood and Silverstone. 

At Greenford, we’re part of that challenge. Our Greenpower club meets every Monday and Tuesday, 3–4pm. This year we’ve:

• Stripped down our old electric race car
• Rebuilt it from the chassis up
• Have moved onto testing and tuning phase. Sadly, due to exams, we didn’t have the chance to compete in a race, so will carry on in the next academic year.

Students don’t just “join a club” – they join a race team. We currently have:

• A Chassis Team – focusing on structure, strength and safety.
• A Body Team – designing and making the aerodynamic shell and overall look of the car.
• A Marketing Team – creating our team brand, social media, sponsorship pitches and race-day presence.
• An Engineering Team – working on systems, electrics, gearing, and performance within Greenpower’s rules.

Through this, students experience real-world engineering: problem-solving, teamwork, deadlines, testing, failure, redesign and finally racing an electric car they’ve built themselves. The end goal? To get our Greenford car on the starting grid, representing the school in a field of electric race cars from across the country – and to show that our students can engineer something incredible.

Raspberry Pi Competition

Huge congratulations to our Post 16 students for getting through to the finals of the Raspberry Pi Competition.

With over 150 applicants, and we were proud to be selected as one of only 16 finalists. The standard of the competition was exceptionally high and very impressive, with entries including innovations such as a drink-tampering detection system and a smart bin full-detection and route-planning system.

Although we did not win the overall competition this year, our project attracted significant interest from industry professionals who came over to see the device in action. They were particularly impressed by the innovation behind the product and the fact that, despite its sophistication, it was quite simple and intuitive to use.

In the end, we were honoured to receive a finalist trophy. Although we were unable to take home the overall award as we did last year, it was still a fantastic achievement and a valuable experience for our students.

Library Update

All parents of Year 7 and 8 students who have recently taken a Star Reading Test should now have had their child's reading age emailed to them. We would like to thank parents for supporting us during the school year by encouraging your child to read and returning their library books on time.

A reminder that pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their library loans, and they can do this by logging into our library catalogue. From here, they can check which books they have on loan, see when they are due back, and can reserve books. If you have been sent an overdue book email, please ask your child to return their book to the library as soon as possible.

E-book library

As well as having a well stocked school library, we also have a great eBook library, called Wheelers. The eBook library link can be found here. All pupils will have been emailed their usernames and passwords, but if in doubt, they can email ghslib@greenford.ealing.sch.uk to check. Please do encourage your son or daughter to borrow books from the library before the end of term, and to keep reading over the holidays.

Whole School Reading at GHS

Greenford High School is a reading school, and we’ve been getting involved in all aspects of reading for pleasure in creative ways:  

In May, as a reward for great engagement with our Form Time Reading Project,  Ms Williams and Mr Clare took eleven Year 10 students to the Hunterian museum, housed in the Royal College of Surgeons, which inspired the book ‘Sawbones’ by Catherine Johnson, which we’ve been reading together each week. Everyone was really engrossed in the exhibits and we could have stayed much longer. Some students said the visit had helped their understanding of the novel. Our students were a real credit to us. Well done Year 10!

In June, three keen Year 12 students took part in the first ever Schools’ Laureate book prize organised by Oxford University. We were so proud of Sophia, Rose-Marie and Adara for getting involved and committing to reading 4 novels in 8 weeks!  We were honoured to meet Historian Marina Warner and chair of judges, Shami Chakrabarti, who commended all the students on the panel for the high quality of their discussion and ability to express opposing points of view respectfully. We look forward to participating again in the future. 

We are proud of our Form Time Reading Project, which ensures that all students in Years 7-10 read the same book together over two terms, which means all students experience being read aloud to, and are introduced to books and new ideas that they may not otherwise discover.   This year we successfully introduced a new Form Time Reading Project to Year 12 students, and this will continue into next year. At the end of each project, we hold a ‘Greenford Read’ discussion group for selected students from across the year group: Year 8 students met in May to discuss Marcus Rashford’s ‘You Are A Champion’ and Year 7 students met in June to talk about ‘Notting Hill Carnival: A West Side Story’ by Candice Carty Williams.   Most students said that one of the things they really appreciated about ‘Greenford Read’ was being able to share their ideas in a mixed group.  The discussions were of a very high standard and students demonstrated their impressive oracy skills. 

2026 in the National Year of Reading. One of the best ways for students to maintain their learning over the summer break is to keep reading for pleasure. Do visit the local library with your children over the summer and help them to keep reading.

Careers at GHS - Preparing Students for Bright Futures

This year has been another fantastic year for Careers Education at Greenford High School, with students benefiting from an ever-growing range of experiences designed to inspire ambition, raise aspirations and prepare them for life beyond school.

One of the highlights of the year was our Year 10 Work Experience Programme, where approximately 300 students completed placements across a wide range of industries. From healthcare and engineering to finance, education, technology and the creative industries, students gained invaluable first-hand experience of the workplace, developing essential employability skills such as communication, teamwork, resilience and professionalism. Feedback from both employers and students was overwhelmingly positive, with many students describing the experience as a defining moment in helping them shape their future ambitions. Well done to Ms Rogantini, Year 10 form tutors and the Year 10 team for all their hard work on this and, of course, the brilliant Year 10 students!

We were also delighted that 30 Year 10 students took part in an exclusive insight event with BlackRock, one of the world's leading investment management companies. Students explored careers within the financial sector, developed their understanding of global business and received advice from industry professionals on the skills and qualities employers value most.

In addition, a group of Year 10 students attended a networking event organised by Future First, where they met successful professionals from a range of industries, including former students. These conversations helped students build confidence, broaden their horizons and understand the many different routes available after school.

Throughout the year, students across all year groups have continued to benefit from careers fairs, employer workshops, college and university visits, apprenticeship information sessions, mock interviews and personalised careers guidance. These experiences ensure that every student is equipped to make informed decisions about their future education and career pathways.

Careers learning has also become increasingly embedded across the curriculum, with subjects making explicit links between classroom learning and future careers. This helps students recognise the relevance of their studies and develop the knowledge and skills needed for the world of work.

We are particularly proud of the support provided to our Year 11 students. Through personalised guidance interviews, destination planning and targeted advice, every student has been supported in securing an ambitious next step. Our strong destination outcomes reflect the hard work of students, staff and families working together. Well done to Ms Rodway for leading these meetings!

Behind the scenes, we have continued to strengthen our careers provision through improved use of Compass+, rigorous quality assurance and closer collaboration with employers, higher education institutions and training providers. These developments ensure that our careers programme continues to grow and meets the needs of every student.

A huge thank you goes to our parents and carers for their continued encouragement and support. Conversations at home about careers, aspirations and future opportunities play a vital role in helping young people make confident decisions about their next steps.

As we look ahead to the next academic year, we are excited to build on this success by expanding our employer partnerships, creating even more meaningful workplace experiences and ensuring every Greenford High School student leaves us with the knowledge, skills and confidence to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Together, we are helping every student to Aspire, Achieve and Succeed.