School News

Ukraine - Donations

A key focus for student fundraising and charitable efforts this year was to help those struggling in war-torn Ukraine. When the appeal was made for help, OG Daisy Elkington CG 2022 (then in U6) immediately asked the school community for help:

I was deeply horrified and upset about the way millions of families’ lives had suddenly been affected and felt compelled to do something to help.

Ukraine - Ambulance Fundraiser

A colleague of the school, Andrew Velosh, who works with our Registrar, also asked for help and St Swithun’s agreed to try and raise the money for an ambulance.

Amazingly, almost £10,000 was raised and Andrew’s not-for-profit organisation (Make a Difference UA) was able to equip the ambulance and send it out to the Ukraine.

St Swithun’s has also been able to offer bursary places to Ukrainian refugees and has a number of girls studying here whilst they cannot return to their homes and schools. ■ Collection boxes around school were filled within a week with winter clothes, sleeping bags, coats and toiletries for both adults and children. These were delivered to my home where I sorted them into packing boxes during my Covid isolation. After realising just how much had been donated, we decided to organise a direct shipment via a Polish friend as the charities were overwhelmed. We had to raise £700 very quickly to employ a driver to transport the donations and we achieved this via the generosity of family and friends. Eight boxes and 18 huge bags were collected and driven directly to Krakow in Poland and within 24 hours, the school donations were being distributed to over four million Ukrainian refugees who had fled to that area. Though a small contribution in comparison to the vast scale of the war efforts, the St Swithun’s donation was gratefully received in Poland. Thank you to everyone who donated both clothes and money towards our efforts! ■

Class of 2022

GCSE Results A-level Results

41% of results were at grade 9, 66% at grades 9/8/A* and 85% at grades 7/A and above, with students on average taking 9.7 GCSE qualifications each.

Headmistress, Jane Gandee said:

We are proud of the achievements of U5 and of the qualities they have shown in negotiating the challenges of the past two years. We are delighted that the attributes of hard work, perseverance and mutual support, both amongst their peers and from their teachers, have been rewarded in their GCSE successes. These key qualities and the appreciation of the importance of having fun are fundamental to a St Swithun’s education. ■ After an unprecedented two years of uncertainty and challenging conditions for learning, this year’s U6 have gone to university, having achieved excellent A-level results with 75% achieving A*/A grades.

They chose a particularly wide range of courses including Korean studies, criminology, robotics, radiography, mechanical engineering, marine biology, life sciences and fashion marketing in addition to perennial favourites such as medicine, veterinary medicine and psychology. University College London and Cambridge University are two of this year’s most popular destinations followed by Bath, Bristol, Durham and Edinburgh. ■

Pastoral Award

St Swithun’s was delighted to have been recognised as BEST school for pastoral care in The Week Independent Schools Guide Best of the Best Special (autumn/winter 2022).

You can find out more in this link: https:// theweek.co.uk/schoolsguide

Greenpower

Having qualified for the final during the latest heat in Castle Coombe, all three St Swithun’s Greenpower teams were able to go to Goodwood race track in Chichester to compete against 82 other cars in the Greenpower International Final again this year.

St Swithun’s girls entered two kit cars (cars built by them from Greenpower-designed kits) called Rubidium and Neon, and one scratch car (a car designed and built by the students) called Plutonium.

In races one and two, out of 45 kit cars, Rubi placed 15th and 27th and Neon placed 20th and 17th. The races were very close with Rubi’s and Neon’s best lap times at 6.09 and 6.07 minutes respectively.

Pluto had a best lap time of 5.31 minutes and came 32nd in race one and 27th in race two out of 40 other scratch-built cars. Despite slight hiccups during the day, the team drove very well with all cars driving over 55 miles each in total.

Old Girls, Gillian Lowden (Best) CG 1955 and her sister Jane Healey (Best) CG 1960 heard the event was on and went along with family members to support the girls. They all had a wonderful day and can be seen pictured left with the students.

All three teams are looking forward to the new season starting in the spring, especially the newest members, who will try driving for the first time.