Head's blog - December 2023

We have had another trailblazing term here at Blackheath High – with much hard work, dedication and of course, fun! 

Championing our STEM subjects, some of our students headed off on an inspired, design-led trip to Bologna getting under the bonnet of lots of very fast and very expensive cars at the Pugan, Ferrari and Lamborghini factories. In Maths, we have had a number of exciting competitions and trips including to the Oxford Maths Institute, the British Maths Olympiad, the UKMT Maths Challenge, a GoogleHQ GDST seminar and A-level Maths inspiration at the Cambridge Theatre. It is exciting to see our students feeling inspired by how Maths will shape the future - and the role girls will play in that future. Some of you may have even seen our school, and CodeKids, feature in the recent Smartphone episode of the BBC series ‘Secret Genius of Modern Life’!

We have had some brilliant English and Sports events at both Junior School and Senior Schools, including a powerful performance of Macbeth as part of the Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival and talks from inspirational sports people such as cricketer Lydia Greenway OBE. 

On the topic of impactful events, we were delighted to see so many of you at our new Girl emPowered Talk Series on ‘The Power of Girls – the benefit of girls-only education’, with the powerful insights from The Girls Futures Report shared by Dr Kevin Stannard from the GDST. We hope that you found this a valuable and enlightening talk. Save the date for the next talk in the series, taking place online on 14 March 2024.

In our own news of future leaders, following the sad, but somewhat inevitable news of our stellar Mrs Skevington retiring at the end of this academic year, we have now begun the process of finding our next Junior School leader to step into Mrs Skevington’s ‘Mighty Girl’ shoes. We will of course keep you updated on this process along the way. For Sarah it has been a big time of change, having also had to say goodbye to beloved ‘top dog’ Florence, who will be very fondly remembered by all at Blackheath High Junior School. So, for all of us, the Christmas break will provide quality time to relax and reflect on special times. 

I hope that we can all get a bit of escape from our busy lives this holiday and we will look forward to seeing everyone back and well rested for the new year; ready to wish Year 13 the very best of luck for their mock exams.  

With festive wishes,  

Natalie Argile  
Head