Final Collect Summer 2026!

It was time to see the year off and celebrate the achievements and events that the summer term saw, in our Final Collect on Thursday 2^nd July!

Everyone gathered in our Main Hall, with the trophy decorated table in the middle of it all. This is always a wonderful way to celebrate another successful year with all our staff and students, where we see our quaker values truly reflected through the work and character of our students. Clara & Elissa (Year 10) started Final Collect with a duet of The Messenger by Linkin Park.

FPQ Awards: Jenny Powlesland, Assistant Head & Head of Teaching & Learning, began the awards with our Fryer Project Qualification, where our Fryer students research and present an answer to a question of their choosing. Some of the highlights this year were ‘Will we ever run out of dance moves?’, ‘Is the present the only time?’, and ‘What makes us judge a book by it’s cover?’. 8 students achieved full marks, and 17 achieved platinum.

STEAM: STEAMfest was the highlight of the term! Year 10 took part in the National Scientific Thinking Challenge, seeing 16,000 people enter over 255 schools nationally. Leighton Park saw 9 students get bronze, 11 get silver, and 7 get gold (which mean they were in the top 10% of the country). Alongside these were Royal Science of Chemistry Analysts Competition and the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. The former saw 400 schools receive a box of evidence to investigate, the latter was a chance to challenge students and provide them with excellent experience for those considering chemistry in future studies. The chemistry challenge saw Oliver (Lower Sixth) achieve Gold, putting him in the top 9% of over 15,000 participants across the country

Maths: 90 students took part in the Junior UK Mathematics Challenge 2026. Hugh (Year 8) achieved a merit and best in school at the Junior Mathematical Olympiad. And the Junior Kangaroo had 5 of our students achieve a variety of awards across the programme.

Dance: Let’s Dance was a highlight for the term, seeing a wonderful range of performances from across the year groups. The Values in Action Dance Award was received by Noah (Year 8) and Mara (Year 10). The National Association of Teachers of Dance (NATD) had 31 of our students take part. Leighton Park saw 23 distinctions and 8 merits achieved by our students in NATD, with one managing an amazing 98/100!

Film: Film students had secured first place for the second year in a row in the KS5 Film and Animation Film Competition, congratulations!

Drama: Nostalgic Movie Night raised £663 to donate to Great Ormond’s Street Children’s Hospital, as well as proceeds from our Quercus production of Peter Pan being donated as well. Our Summer Curtain Call was an excellent evening of drama showcases, really showing the breathed of creativity amongst our students.

Music: Music celebrated a lot of events over the term with highlights such as the European Day of Music in Schools, the upcoming music tour in Spain, performing at the Royal Berkshire memorial services, and a wonderful Music for a Summer’s Evening just last weekend.

Sport: We announced our exciting upcoming partnership with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust! Yezen (Year 10) sprinted 200m in 22 seconds, setting not only a new LP record by 0.3 seconds but also became a county champion! The ISA Inclusive Sports Festival was a huge success, with special thanks to the Year 10 and Lower Sixth students who helped take part and coach. Our U13 and U15 girls football teams were county league winners, with our U13 boys being cup runners up as well.

Progress: The Judd cup was awarded to Alex (Year 10), for his excellent progress in not only improving on his academics but also becoming more involved in the wellbeing and activities in School house.

The Matthew Pott Change Maker Award went to Ryan (Lower Sixth), for incredible awareness of the needs of others, volunteering across a range of events and charities across the school, and for his notable work on a construction project abroad as a translator.

House Awards: The Mark Simmons House Trophy celebrates those in their houses who went above and beyond in aiding their house. Bentsi-Enchill gold winner was Elliot (Lower Sixth); Cadbury saw Alex Wallace, Deputy Head of Academics, and Alice (Lower Sixth); Fox gold winner was Kit (Lower Sixth); and Tubman awarded four members the gold award and were the winners of the trophy overall!

House Sport Fryer Trophy – Tubman

Richard Coleman Shield, the culmination of sport all throughout the year - Tubman

House Quiz – Fox

Merits: This academic year saw 7 students achieve over 150 merits in the academic year, as well as marking 25,000 merits awarded overall since the system started! The Merit Cup went to Tubman as well!

The Dunston Award for community merits was awarded to Tubman, celebrating those who took part and helped their community in small meaningful ways.

The Sissons Cup for co-curricular merits was also awarded to Tubman, recognising their contributions to co-curricular activities. This saw on average 7.2 coco merits per student for the year.

The Castle Trophy celebrates academic merits awarded, and for the summer term this went to Fox and for the academic year as a whole went to Tubman.

Luke Walters, Head, wrapped up the collect with his end of term message, reflecting on his first year here at Leighton Park. He reflected on the question “How did you perform? And what have you learned?”, using a clip from Charlie Chaplin to help support the answering of those very questions. Closing collect was Alana (Lower Sixth) performing her original composition Revolution.

Then came the end where we bid farewell to the staff leaving us this year, as all the staff returning in September stood up and left, giving students a chance to say goodbye to those leaving.

See the photos here!

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