On Sunday 18th May one of our partner football clubs – Harpenden Rovers Youth FC – organised a sponsored Hill Climb with around 180 of their players running up (and down) the infamous KWS Hill as many times as possible in 20 minutes. Their objective – to raise money to install a solar and wind-powered AED (defib) cabinet on the football pitches in time for the next football season and school term starting in September.

The Club feels the AED located on the wall of the Sports Hall is too far away should there be a sudden cardiac arrest on the top pitches – for every minute that someone is in cardiac arrest without defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 10% – and offered to provide a solution that doesn’t require a mains electricity supply to keep the AED above minimum operating temperature.

Should anyone wish to contribute to this potentially life-saving initiative by Harpenden Rovers Youth FC you can do so by clicking on the below link.

https://pay.sumup.com/b2c/QDJAK291

This year, Rayden Solicitors were very excited to bring our Work Experience Competition across the four consortium schools in Harpenden – Katherine Warington School, Roundwood Park, Sir John Lawes School and St Georges.

This is the second year the competition has run, but the first year across the consortium schools.

Rayden Solicitors is an award-winning specialist family law firm with 10 offices, including an office in Harpenden High Street. Rayden Solicitors specialise in all aspects of family law and are experts in financial and issues concerning children.

In December, year 11 and 12 students were invited to submit written entries setting out how they would determine a family law scenario. We were delighted by the number of entries received and the calibre of those entries, which made choosing the 8 finalists very difficult! After very careful consideration, our eight finalists consisted of two students from each school.  Shakhram S and Charles F of Katherine Warington, Honrick C and Kira M of St George’s, Erin H and Laura L of St John Lawes and Lauren R and Priyanka D of Roundwood Park were chosen to participate in an all-day Mock Trial on 13 May 2025.

Katie Skinner (Senior Associate Chartered Legal Executive, Rayden Solicitors), Kendra Jeffries (Solicitor, Rayden Solicitors), John Chapman (Barrister, Pump Court Chambers), Victoria Ellis (Barrister, Pump Court Chambers),  Albert Gibbon (Barrister, Pump Court Chambers), Paige Gibbons (Solicitor, Rayden Solicitors) and Claire Johnson (Trainee Solicitor, Rayden Solicitors) attended with trial papers in hand ready to meet the students, and to prepare and deliver cross-examination and closing submissions on a case scenario, which was based on an application by one parent to be able to send their children to a privately funded school, which was opposed by the other parent, who wished for the children to attend a non-fee paying school.

We started the day by splitting up into two teams, one team for the applicant and one team for the respondent and then spent some time going through the case papers, getting top tips from the barristers on the skill of advocacy and agreeing a strategy for how we would conduct the case. We were all thoroughly impressed by how quickly all of the students got to grips with the nuances of the case and with the challenging techniques of cross examination. The students then had the opportunity to deliver cross-examination, the questioning of the other side’s witnesses – they really held their own against the curveballs thrown at them by the parties who were being questioned, played by Paige Gibbons and Claire Johnson. They did this in front of their ‘Judge’ for the day, John Chapman – Barrister of Pump Court Chambers. It was no doubt intimidating to have a go at this in a room full of legal professionals but the students did an amazing job – confidently delivering their questions and thinking on their feet. We then enjoyed lunch together before spending time preparing closing submissions in our teams – this a summary of your case for the Judge. The students then delivered these and all persuasively and robustly put forward their clients’ respective cases. The Judge then delivered her decision. It is safe to say our Judge was very impressed by the skill and care in which both cases were presented and, regardless of the outcome, all eight students should be incredibly proud of how they conducted themselves in the Mock Trial!

A very big congratulations to Shakhram, Charles, Honrick, Kira, Erin, Laura, Lauren and Priyanka for your fantastic work throughout the day. It was a pleasure meeting and working with you all. We wish all of you the very best in whatever you choose to do, and have no doubt you will have a successful future ahead!

Thank you to everyone from all four schools for working with us to make the competition such a success!

Thank you to the Herts Catering team for putting on a fantastic lunchtime spread to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. Students loved the range of themed cakes on offer.

All families are welcome to attend the community fun day being held on Saturday 10th May, at High Street Methodist Church in Harpenden.

Well done to everyone that has participated in a variety of sports for the school over the last term.

SWIMMING

Well done to Olly F in Year 11 for recently competing in four East of England regional swimming events. He claimed bronze in both the 400m and 800m freestyle, which is very impressive. Congratulations, Olly!

TRAMPOLINING

A number of students entered a major competition against teams from all over the UK. 

Results were:

Jude D’S:

Ranked 11th in the Novice category for his age group in the whole of the UK (Jude also competed a brand new move for the very first time at the competition)

Dylan W:

Ranked 10th in the Intermediate category for his age group in the whole of the UK (Dylan completed his first multi somersault routine)

Will E:

Ranked 9th in the Advanced category for his age group in the whole of the UK

Matthew P:

Ranked 13th in the Elite category for his age group in the whole of the UK

Riley W: 

Ranked 12th in the Elite category for his age group in the whole of the UK (Riley competed his double somersault for the first time)

Joshua P:

Due to injury Josh couldn’t compete sadly, but has worked so hard to get to this point.

Riley, Matthew & Josh are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS in the Team Event for the 3rd year running, winning GOLD in the Elite team event. 

WELL DONE TO ALL INVOLVED, we are very proud of you.

FOOTBALL

Our Year 7 boys football team gained a bronze medal in a county futsal tournament. This follows on from their fantastic win, and best performance of the season against Roundwood in the last game, where they defended for their lives. We don’t normally mention individuals but Ethan R, as a goalkeeper, was absolutely outstanding in both that game, the tournament and generally all season. 

Before the holiday our Year 9 boys team were crowned district cup champions for the second year in succession after a 3-0 win against Verulam in the final. After coming back from 2-0 down to beat Beaumont in the semi final, an early goal in the final settled the game down and the boys largely controlled the game from then on. It is too difficult to name individuals, as all squad members add huge value. What is particularly refreshing about this team, which makes them such a pleasure to coach,  is there are no egos – while they are all hugely demanding of each other, there is a great togetherness – in good moments and when things aren’t going well; a lesson for us all. Well done boys – it caps a great season including some fantastic moments in the national and county cup too. 

CRICKET

Noah S in Year 8 had an amazing experience in the Caribbean over Easter. He played in the St. Vincent T10 cricket tournament for the Grenadine Divers, with team mates like Obed McCoy and Romario Bibby. He also played for Windward Islands U16s and bowled 4 overs, taking 3 wickets for 11 runs.