16th May 2022 — With eight students awarded Gold, 11 Silver and 20 Bronze, the results are the best in the school’s history of entering the competition.

Four of the children will now go on to compete in the challenge’s next phase, named the Junior Kangaroo, and one will represent the school in the prestigious Junior Olympiad, which is open only to the highest-scoring participants nationwide.

“I was extremely impressed with the enthusiasm from all of the students who took part. Their approach to the challenging mathematical problems and drive to succeed was second to none,” commented Herman Padam, head of faculty for mathematics, St George’s School Windsor Castle. “I was overjoyed with the outcome.”

Designed to encourage mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques, the UKMT Junior Mathematics Challenge takes the form of a 60-minute multiple choice challenge. With calculators not permitted, students are required to rely solely on their mental arithmetic and skills of deduction.

“Perseverance and creative thinking are two of the attributes we really focus on instilling within our students in order to ensure they leave school real-world ready,” added Padam. “Both of these were evident in abundance!”

29th April 2022 — Beginning with a champagne and canapé reception, attendees at the event, comprising over 100 parents and members of the local community, then took their seats for a stirring rendition of Fauré’s Requiem.

Led by the school’s director of music, James Wilkinson, the 40-minute piece of work was performed by the St George’s School Chamber Choir, accompanied by an ensemble of professional musicians. Four of the senior choristers of St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle, all Year 8 students at the school, joined the stage for the spine-tingling Pie Jesu.

“It was an exceptional and highly poignant performance, perfect for the occasion,” commented William Goldsmith, head of St George’s School Windsor Castle. “As a school with the values of kindness, honesty and courage, we felt rightly compelled to use some of the breadth of talent that exists across the school to support the plight of the people of Ukraine in a positive and meaningful way.”

The money raised, including more than £3,000 generated through advance ticket sales and donations on the night, which was then generously matched by a parent to take the total to over £6,000, will be given to the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal to help provide food, water, shelter, healthcare and protection for families fleeing conflict in the country.

“We are extremely grateful for all of the generous donations from those who attended, the musicians and performers for donating their time and the support from the school’s parent body and wider community to enable the event to go ahead,” added Goldsmith.

Windsor Parish Church, Brill Media, Run Print Run and Luxe Flowers were among those to support the event.

25th April 2022 — This follows the decision, announced by the Dean of Canons of Windsor in January 2022, that girls and boys would sing alongside each other in St George’s Chapel Choir. Full information of that decision can be found here.

The two girls, both aged nine, will now live in the school’s boarding house during the week and participate fully in the choristers’ programme of daily rehearsals and in time, regular services, alongside their normal schooling and co-curricular activities.

“We are tremendously proud of our long-standing tradition of educating and housing the choristers of St George’s Chapel,” commented William Goldsmith, Head at St George’s School Windsor Castle. “To be able to offer this opportunity to everybody at the school, regardless of gender, is very much aligned to our philosophy of valuing all students and recognising that each child has his or her own unique contribution to make to the life of our community and to global society as a whole.”

Founded in 1348, the Choir of St George’s Chapel sings regularly in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal family. In 2018, this included singing at royal weddings in the Chapel for both The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and for HRH Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank.

Formed of up to 23 choristers, normally appointed following an audition process between the ages of 7 and 9, the choir receives musical tuition from the Chapel Director of Music, the Assistant Director of Music and the Organ Scholar, as well as regular singing lessons with renowned teacher, Anita Morrison. Within school, they also take additional music theory lessons and learn to play at least two instruments. Choristers typically remain in the choir until the end of Year 8, when they leave St George’s School Windsor Castle for senior school.

“While only accounting for a small number of the children here at St George’s, the choristers fulfil a vital role in the daily life of the school and the Chapel,” added Goldsmith. “It’s one of the many aspects that makes the school truly unique, alongside becoming the first standalone UK prep school to follow the innovative International Baccalaureate and Pre-Senior Baccalaureate teaching methodologies, in a drive to ensure our students are truly real-world ready.”

Further information about St George’s School Windsor Castle and its role in the Choir of St George’s Chapel can be found at www.stgwindsor.org, or by attending the school’s upcoming open event on Saturday 21 May. Interested families are invited to register for the event via the website or by calling 01753 865553.

31st March 2022 — A pupil at St George’s School Windsor Castle, Xanthippe designed her robot as part of an online DT lesson that took place during the covid lock-down, and then worked to develop it into an idea for a real product. The novel – or patentable – part of the invention is that it melts the collected snow in order to get rid of it.

“It was a snow day and we were doing home-school,” Xanthippe explained. “We were told to design a robot to do with snow, so I designed the RoboSno™, which moves using tracks and helps to clear snow or leaves from gardens. It can do machine learning, so it can tell what it is collecting and where it’s going, and it has a boot to kick balls out the way.”

William Goldsmith, Headmaster at Xanthippe’s school, St George’s School Windsor Castle, is a passionate advocate of encouraging students to ask the right questions, define problems and propose solutions, and was particularly pleased to learn about her invention. “Nurturing an inquiring mind and creative problem-solving skills are core to our approach as a school, so it is absolutely fantastic to see Xanthippe demonstrating these characteristics and pursuing her idea,” he commented. Last year, St George’s became the first standalone UK prep school to embrace the globally acclaimed International Baccalaureate (IB) ‘Primary Years Programme’ as its curriculum framework. He added, “Our students have really taken the IB ethos to heart and Xanthippe’s successful patent is a great example of just what can be achieved.”

The patent itself was drawn up by Philip Barnes, Xanthippe’s father and owner of Barnes IP – a Windsor and London-based intellectual property firm. The company focuses mainly on patenting in software and electronics, with expertise in AI, robotics, cybersecurity and space technologies, so the RoboSno™ robot fitted in with this perfectly. “All our research shows that she’s most likely to be the youngest female holder of a granted patent in the UK, so we’re extremely proud of her achievement,” said Philip. “As an employer and a parent, I’m keen to encourage both girls and boys to consider STEM careers, following a science or engineering degree, since it may lead to them becoming a patent attorney in the future. We hope Xanthippe continues producing great ideas!”

If your child is interested in a career in IP, you can find out more at Barnes IP’s ‘World IP Day’ event in Windsor on 26th April. For more information and to register, please visit www.barnesip.co.uk/careers.

20th September 2021 — We are incredibly excited that we have been accepted as a Round Square Candidate School and look forward to being part of this vibrant international network. We can’t wait to collaborate with different schools around the globe and give our students and staff a chance to work with, embrace and respect different cultures and backgrounds. This is the start of a really exciting and inspirational journey for us.

We are implementing the Round Square IDEALS in every area of school life. Our students’ spirit of adventure is boosted by outdoor education opportunities and residential adventure trips for all year groups. Our own award scheme, the St George’s Award, brings into focus environmentalism and service to others, with students inspired to be active both in their communities and within the school itself.

Leadership and democracy are embedded and reinforced in our house system and through the Student Council which meets on a regular basis. Students are encouraged to undertake leadership positions throughout the school community.

14th May 2021 — St George’s School Windsor Castle is the first standalone UK preparatory school set to become an IB World School, offering the Primary Years Programme.

IB World Schools share a common philosophy – a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education.

As part of a unique learner journey for the girls and boys aged 3-13, the Primary Years Programme will be adopted as a high quality and progressive framework for Kindergarten to Year 6.

Pupils will then move to a dedicated Years 7 and 8 centre for their Senior Prep Years, where the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate is studied as an assessment model for a range of leading senior schools.

Head William Goldsmith said: "Our learner journey has been designed to reflect the style of learning that our girls and boys should have to flourish in the 21st century.

"We need to reshape the long-established system whereby pupils are assessed for answering the right questions."

He continued: "To thrive in the world now, young people need to develop the right knowledge and skills and crucially ask the right questions.

"Our new 3-13 pathway, which involves our candidacy to become an IB World School, nurtures children to develop curiosity, inquiry, focus on global thinking and develop international mindedness."