West London Free School
@westlondonfree.bsky.social
Providing a rigorous, knowledge-based education for all.
Always frenetic but always fun, pupils and teachers scrambled to match our literary pairings in our annual @WorldBookDayUK competition. Heads of Y7 and 8, otherwise known as Katniss Everdeen and Percy Jackson, claimed their prizes for fastest match and best “in‑character” selfie.
A group of Year 9 pupils took part in a speed mentoring session at the Guildhall, as part of the London Careers Festival. Pupils met a number of employers and had the chance to speak to them in small groups about their career and experiences.
From “grocery badgers” & re‑wilded bison in Kent to “talking toilets” and conversations with our pets, Dr Cathy Rogers took Y7 on a fascinating tour of life in 2070, inspired by her brilliantly optimistic book Future Vision: Stories of Our Brilliant Tomorrow, for #ScienceWeek.
Year 10 and 11 students had an amazing time on the KS4 MFL trip to Paris! They took in Eiffel Tower views, cruised the Seine, explored the Champs-Élysées, the Louvre, Fontainebleau and Melun Market, with fun evening activities including a quiz, crêpe making and a disco.
A big congratulations to Arwa (8A) who is our first pupil ever to complete bronze, silver and gold in the Valerie John Reading Prize! Generously supported by our brilliant PTA!
The newly reformed Chamber Choir performed carols at Painters’ Hall for the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers. The Master, David Hitchcock OBE, praised the West London Free School’s music specialism and the pupils’ musicianship and professionalism.
WLFS took on the annual #GCHQChristmasChallenge. Our 2025 GCHQ code-breaking champions are: Alice, Salma (Year 13), Rosie, Sophia, Kaitlynn (Year 12), Alexa (Year 10), Tahlia (Year 9), Isabella (Year 8) and Kilian (Year 7)! Thank you WLFS Foundation for funding our prizes!
Yr8/9 Art Scholars visited The Riverside Studios to see the Alumni Art Exhibition. The club had painted the cardboard letters in the Riverside Window with impressive vigour and strong colours. Pupils discussed displaying work in an exhibition, selling work and picked favourites.
Joint Headteachers Mr McLaughlin and Mr Peal delighted to see West London Free School winning Sunday Times Comprehensive School of the Year in today’s Parent Power supplement. A big well done to the pupils, families, staff and friends of the school who have made this possible.
We are thrilled to announce that West London Free School has been chosen as State Comprehensive School of the Year by The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026! Read the article here: https://www.thetimes.com/best-schools-league-table/secondary/article/best-schools-london-2026-2pxstdcqd
Year 10 attended their first Life-Drawing session with Art Tech Mr Hamper-Potts this week. These results for a first attempt are highly impressive! Observational skills are so important for developing a confident approach to any type of drawing. Well done to those who attended.
Many congratulations to Maia (9A) for completing the silver category in the Valerie John Reading Prize. Maia read 6 classic and award-winning, contemporary novels and is now aiming for gold to be the first pupil in the history of the prize to complete bronze, silver and gold.
The Orchestra and Wind Band enjoyed a retreat in the South Downs last week, rehearsing for upcoming concerts and making the most of the beautiful weather with a long walk, followed by a fun Games Night! A huge thanks to Mr Thorne and staff for making it a memorable experience.
Congratulations to Lukas, Azaria, Muhammad, Gianmarco, Evangelos, and Elizabeth. Their work was selected from over 500 entries across 25 London schools and has been published in the Wimbledon Book Fest Young Writers’ Competition 2025 anthology.
We are celebrating some amazing news at WLFS. Last week, the DfE released the initial national data for the 2025 GCSE results. Of all 3,000+ comprehensive secondary schools in England, WLFS ranks 4th best in the country for pupils’ Attainment 8 score!
Yr11 GCSE Photography students were invited to use Latymer Upper’s darkroom to create analogue prints from digital images using microfilm and chemicals. Inspired by Renaissance drapery and Caravaggio, they also made hand silhouettes- an eye-opening digital vs analogue experience!
Our Public Speaking Competition winners at South Hampstead High School's Autumn Competition. Despite some excellent speeches, our students didn’t quite make it to the final round – but they conducted themselves with grace and good-will, and really impressed the judges! Bravo!
Year 7 book clubbers Neal, Leon and Kelechi engrossed in Postcards from Valhalla by Danny Wallace, the book they have chosen to read from this year’s Trinity Schools Book Award shortlist 📖 https://www.trinityschoolsaward.com/
Many congratulations to Evangelos (Year 8) for reading ten classic and award-winning, contemporary books to achieve the gold category in the Valerie John Reading Prize, generously funded by @wlfs_pta 📚
From Issac Asimov’s iRobot to Alice with a Why by Anna James, Mrs Eastwood was thrilled to collect 6 new books for our library thanks to parents who have donated their points to the school via the Free Books For Schools scheme at @everybody_reads book shop!
Ms Lonsdale has started this year’s Paired Reading programme during Form Time session in the Library. Year 7/8 pupils have been paired up with Year 12 volunteer buddies, who are kindly mentoring these pupils to improve their reading fluency, vocabulary, and enjoyment of books!
GCSE results at the WLFS have taken another stride forwards, with WLFS pupils receiving the best set of GCSE results ever for the school. #WLFSresults For more information about our results, visit:https://www.wlfs.org/About/2025-GCSE-Results
Our GCSE results will place us amongst the top state comprehensive schools in the country for attainment, and above a large number of selective schools. This is an enormous achievement for our pupils, and a testament to the exemplary efforts of our staff. #WLFSresults
Some highlights from Year 7's trip to the Butser Ancient Farm! Everyone had a great time learning about ancient cultures and trying their hand at mosaic making and spinning wool.
