On Saturday 26th April, we were delighted to host the fourth session of our BUDS Programme (Building Understanding, Developing Skills), welcoming over 50 gifted and talented Year 5 pupils from 11 local primary schools across Ealing.

Pupils from Ark Priory Primary Academy, Christ the Saviour CoE Primary School, Fielding Primary School, Hobbayne Primary School, Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Montpelier Primary School, North Ealing Primary School, Selborne Primary School, St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School, Stanhope Primary School, and West Acton Primary School joined us for another action-packed Saturday of creativity, challenge, and confidence-building.

The BUDS programme is designed to enrich learning beyond the classroom through a mix of Creative Thinking, Public Speaking/Drama, and STEM workshops. These sessions help pupils build vital soft skills such as creative problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and self-expression.

STEM: Rockets and Real-World Engineering

In STEM, pupils explored the fascinating science behind rockets. Working in groups, they designed, built, and tested their own rockets, learning how small variables can make a big difference!

Public Speaking and Drama: Bringing Poetry to Life

In the drama and public speaking session, pupils continued working on their performances of The Listeners by Walter De La Mare. They used vocal techniques they’ve been developing over previous sessions, created still images to represent key moments, and built soundscapes to evoke the poem’s eerie atmosphere. Feedback and reflection helped them refine and strengthen their performances.

Creative Thinking: Stories That Connect

In Creative Thinking, students explored the idea that in the best stories, characters must solve their internal conflicts before they can change the world around them. Through discussion and storytelling exercises, they began to see how deeply connected emotions, actions, and consequences can be in powerful narratives.

A huge thank you to our wonderful staff — Ms Archer, Ms Absoud, Mr Rosolen, and Mr Coxhill –  and to our fantastic Sixth Form helpers Jasmine, Georgia, Rahel, and Mariia for their energy and support throughout the day.