Leighton Park picks up award

A SHINFIELD ROAD school has been recognised in one of the most sought-after awards in education.

Leighton Park was shortlisted in the Independent Senior School of the Year category in the 2023 TES (Times Education Supplement) School Awards.

The school’s submission focused on its values-led approach, citing its use of technology to support students, opportunities to work with the community to help others and pioneering curriculum to help educate ‘ethical changemakers’ through critical thinking and leadership skills.

Headteacher Mr Matthew Judd said: “It is very pleasing to receive validation from one of the sector’s top awards. We believe a school must be judged by the full range and depth of the achievements of its students, and at Leighton Park we seek to develop young people who understand, cherish, and make a difference to the world which they will inherit.

“I’m lucky to witness our extraordinary learning environment every day, to see the meaningful connections between students and staff and all-round approach to learning and self-guided growth. It is an honour to receive this distinguished accolade and I congratulate the whole Leighton Park community on this tremendous achievement.”

The TES Award winners will be announced on Friday, June 23, at a gala ceremony at London Grosvenor Park Hotel.

The Independent Schools Inspectorate awarded Leighton Park ‘excellent’ in all areas in January 2022. It also picked up the Independent Schools Association Award for Excellence in pupil personal development.

Royal Berks Fire and Rescue has

By JAKE CLOTHIER jclothier@rdg.today

SOUTH Hill Park Arts Centre is set to host a new exhibition promoting water safety.

Bodies of Water sees Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) collaborating with the centre and with young people to create an art project which encourages the understanding of water as a force of nature.

Staff from the centre commissioned artist Hermione Thomson to work with textiles students at King’s Academy, Binfield, in a series of workshops to create a piece which was composed using cyanotypes.

This is a camera-free image recording process more than two centuries old, and the blue tint from which the process gets its name was used to evoke the reference of water.

Creative media students at Bracknell and Wokingham College were also invited to document the creation of the artwork as part of a work experience programme.

The exhibition opened last week in South Hill Park’s Arts centre, Bracknell

Dave Crease, Group Manager, RBFRS, said: “We approached staff at South Hill Park as we wanted their expertise in how we could better engage with young people around the issue of water safety.

“As a fire and rescue service we have been called to a number of tragic incidents on

SEMINAR: Textile artist Hermione Thomson working with Year 10 textiles students at King’s Academy, Binfield.

Royal Berkshire Fire and rescue Service and South Hill Park

Berkshire’s waterways, and we were keen to explore the use of art to illustrate the dangers of swimming in unsupervised bodies of water.”

Becky Jones, Learning, participation and community engagement co-ordinator at South Hill Park Arts Centre, commented: “It has been such a highlight for South Hill Park to design and produce this project, culminating in a truly poignant, engaging arts exhibition.