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22 August 2023
Our unique location in the heart of central London, steeped in nearly 145 years of history and tradition, offers many incredible opportunities to enhance and enrich our educational offering, and we are delighted to have consequently been shortlisted for London Independent School of the Year 2023.
Year 8 students enjoy weekly trips around London, including to Westminster Abbey, the Wallace Collection, and the Bank of England. Our close proximity to Regent’s Park, often described as the school’s ‘back garden’, means students enjoy the beautiful park every day during our lunchtime ‘walk in the park’. At our annual Sponsored Walk, pupils walk laps around the park in fancy dress to raise money for charity – over £16,000 this year!
Regent’s Park is where many sporting activities take place, including the recent netball and badminton masterclasses with Camilla Buchanan, Netball super league title winner, and Gail Emms, Olympic silver-medallist badminton player. Pupils also enjoy the use of Finsbury Park Athletics Track for Sports Day and Paddington Recreation Ground for football coaching with Chelsea F.C. coaches.
Local partnerships with 34 state school partners strengthen the collective student experience. Year 9 pupils recently collaborated with St Marylebone School (SMS) and RIBA on an exciting architecture project, where they were challenged to redesign SMS, developing problem-solving skills and creative solutions while forging new friendships. Our partnership also includes weekly outreach teaching in Year 8 -A Level Latin and A Level Physics.
Our central location means partner schools can enjoy many of our enrichment initiatives. For example, we’ve welcomed an amazing line up of speakers including Baroness Lady Hale, Gina Martin, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Dr Hannah Dawson and Amanda Pritchard, CEO of NHS England, to our Hale Lecture Series, launched in September 2022. In collaboration with our partners, pupils lead conversations and Q&A with our guest speakers; a far more personal, warm and actively engaging approach than the traditional format of an extended lecture.
Our annual Classics Symposium, attended by students from all over London and the South East, includes inspiring talks delivered by Cambridge University Professors Robin Osborne and Carrie Vout— about life, art and culture in the ancient world. Moreover, our relationship with St Marylebone Parish Church enables us to host concerts there, including a spectacular recent joint Choral Concert with Harrow School.
Being so close to some of the most selective universities in the world allows our annual Higher Education Evening to boast impressive tutors from LSE and Imperial College. Most recently, we welcomed three Data Scientists from JP Morgan who delivered a workshop on AI, leading to a thought-provoking ethical discussion. Pupils also partake in many national competitions hosted in London; for example five Year 8 pupils recently ventured to Farringdon for the finals of PA Consulting’s Raspberry Pi STEM competition and won an innovation award for their invention: a ‘Room Environment Monitoring Infobot’!
We are also committed to celebrating the diversity and inclusivity of our school and local communities. For example, our Eid celebrations in Spring Term 2023 included Muslim and Arab students coming together to share their cultural heritage with the rest of the school. We have regular assembly food exchanges where students learn more about each other’s cultures and traditions and our EDIB Ambassador promotes a culture of inclusivity and belonging by offering a voice to all students and raising awareness of important issues. We recently hosted an anti-racism guidance event for prep schools, in collaboration with ACEN, Highgate School and Wimbledon High Junior School.
Thank you to every member of our busy, happy and vibrant school community who has contributed to us being shortlisted for this prestigious award. We look forward to the finalists being announced in 5th September.
For more information, please visit fhs-nw1.org.uk or facebook.com/FHSRegentsPark or Twitter and Instagram @FHSRegentsPark
