open evening 2026

Our annual Open Evening for Year 5 pupils, parents and carers took place last night, and it was fantastic to welcome so many visitors to a showcase of all that we have to offer as a school.

There was the opportunity to attend presentations from our Head, Mr Kennedy-Fowler, and Assistant Head Mrs Rogers.

Our Head Boy Chris (pictured below), Head Girl Maisie and Year 7 students Hadassah and Ronan also spoke brilliantly about their UGS journey and life and their love of and appreciation for the academic, extracurricular and enrichment opportunities and the school community.

Our visitors also enjoyed guided tours from our Year 9, 10 and 12 students, and there was the opportunity to see our school and passion for our taught subjects in action, including English:

The "Philosotree" in Religious Studies:

A chance to see explorations into: "Are typical household items acidic or alkaline?" in our Science department:

The chance to have a go at puzzles and games with our students in the Maths department:

To see what was on the menu in Food and Nutrition:

Visit our Modern Foreign Languages department to try out our favourite MFL websites:

Make your own globe with students in Geography:

Visit the Music Studio to see our GCSE Music students present their compositions and see our facilities:

Visit our Design Technology department to see the "Lego Stem" challenge, including flying vehicles and robotic hands:

Explore our sports provision, the Fitness Suite, and see some volleyball played out with our champion teams on our Front Field:

As well as the opportunity to try coding using Minecraft and BBC Microbit in one of our I.T. suites and to see sample performances in our Theatre from our Year 10 Drama group, Year 7 & 8 Drama Club, and LAMDA presentations, and to see our Debating teams in action in our Auditorium!

It was amazing to receive so much wonderful feedback from our guests about UGS, our students and our staff, and we were truly delighted to have been able to showcase our provision and school community, and the pride that our students consistently demonstrate in our school and core values.

Welcome back to some very special alumni!

It was also really lovely yesterday evening to welcome back two of our former students who left UGS in the summer of 1976 and who held the respective positions of Head Girl and Head of House: Ann Murphy (previously Taylor) and Anne Lawson (previously Millighan).

It was fantastic to hear their memories and to share not only how our school has evolved, but also how our long-standing core values and traditions continue to be proudly upheld by our students.

Our alumni remain, always and forever, a part of our school community and, 50 years on, we were as delighted to welcome Ann and Anne back as they were to return to UGS!