News and events
Our latest news and events give you an insight into life at school.
Our latest news and events give you an insight into life at school.
Year 11 Weekly Newsletter | Please find the Year 11 Weekly Newsletter from the Year 11 Team here.
Sixth Form Newsletter | Please find the Sixth Form Weekly Newsletter from the Sixth Form Team here.
Fixtures for the Week | The following fixtures are taking place this week:
If you have any questions about the fixtures, please contact Mr Sheehan, Faculty Director for Sports (tsheehan@liftbexleyheath.org).
In it, to win it | There was plenty of excitement at Lift Bexleyheath this week as we launched our “In It to Win It” prize draw!
The idea is simple: be in school, be in the draw, and you could win! Throughout the day, four students were selected at random each period, giving students plenty of opportunities to hear their name called and walk away with a prize.
We were delighted to celebrate our first group of lucky winners:
Year 07: Derek, Aaron, Dolly and Lily
Year 08: William, Macy, Yosha and Cruz
Year 09: Aayana, Billy, Ellis and Yusuf
Year 10: Harry, Lila, Ranvir and Olyvia-Sade
A huge congratulations to all of our winners!
Celebrating World Religions | 12–13 September 2026 | Judaism | Rosh Hashanah | Rosh Hashanah marks the Jewish New Year and begins the Ten Days of Repentance, a period of reflection leading to Yom Kippur. It is a time for Jewish families to look back on the past year, celebrate new beginnings and consider how they can grow as individuals.
Families often attend synagogue services and share festive meals that include symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey, representing hopes for a sweet and happy year ahead.
This celebration reminds us of the importance of reflection, gratitude and setting positive goals for the year to come.
Year 06 Transitions | The new academic year has only just begun, but we are already excitedly preparing to welcome the students and families who will join our community in September 2027.
Our Open Evenings will take place next week:
Prospective students and their families are warmly invited to meet our staff and students, explore the school and discover what it means to achieve, belong and thrive at Lift Bexleyheath.
Families can register through our Year 06 Transition webpage, where they can also book a range of other Term 01 events:
At Lift Bexleyheath, transition is much more than a single evening. Our year long programme helps children and their families feel informed, supported and excited throughout the move to secondary school. From meeting teachers and experiencing lessons to workshops, SATs support and opportunities to become part of our community, we help every future student feel confident and ready for their next chapter.
One of our newest students shared:
“I’ve been waiting to start all year, and now I’m finally here! My favourite part was all the workshops I attended, meeting the teachers and the SATs support sessions. I love my new school!”
Please share this information with friends, relatives, neighbours and local primary school families who are beginning their secondary school journey. We would love to welcome them to Lift Bexleyheath!
Extra-Curricular Clubs | At Lift Bexleyheath, learning does not stop when students leave the classroom. Our exciting programme of clubs gives every student the opportunity to explore new interests, uncover hidden talents, build confidence, make new friends and develop skills that could last a lifetime.
Whether your child is already passionate about something or simply wants to try an activity for the first time, there is something for everyone!
KS3 students will choose their Autumn clubs next week, while KS4 students can sign up by attending the first session of their chosen club. Students may join as many clubs as they wish, so we encourage them to be adventurous, get involved and make the most of the opportunities available.
Please take a few minutes this weekend to explore the clubs on offer here with your child. Encourage them to choose something they already enjoy and perhaps something completely new too!
Lunchtime clubs begin next week, with all other clubs starting during the week commencing Monday, 21 September. Fixtures have started and dates of these are available at the top of this page.
We cannot wait to see our students discovering new passions, challenging themselves and bringing their energy and enthusiasm to everything our school community has to offer!
Year 07 & Year 08 Animal Encounter Experience | Our Year 7 and Year 8 students enjoyed an unforgettable adventure this week as Brambles Animal Encounters transformed our school into a wildlife wonderland for three action-packed days!
Students had the incredible opportunity to meet and safely handle six fascinating species: a Royal python, Corn snake, Leopard gecko, Horsfield tortoise, Madagascan hissing cockroaches and Mongolian gerbils.
The experience brought science vividly to life, enabling students to explore classification, adaptations, habitats and the impact that humans and animals have on the environment. However, the learning extended far beyond the science curriculum. Students encouraged one another, shared their experiences and bravely stepped outside their comfort zones, even when they felt a little nervous at first!
For many students, this was a rare opportunity to get remarkably close to animals they may never have encountered before. It was wonderful to see their curiosity, excitement and enthusiasm grow throughout the sessions.
A huge thank you to Brambles Animal Encounters for delivering such an engaging and educational experience, and to all the staff and students who helped make the three days such a roaring success!
One student said:
“My favourite animal was the gecko because I’d never seen one up close before. I learnt lots of new things about how animals adapt to their habitats.”
Another student reflected on how the experience helped them to become more confident:
“It was really fun. I didn’t think I would be brave enough to hold them, but I was!”
The Horsfield tortoise was another firm favourite:
“The tortoise was my favourite because I got to see how it moved and feel its shell. It was really different from what I expected.”
Other students shared their excitement about learning outside the classroom:
“Seeing the animals in real life helped me understand much more than looking at a picture in a textbook.”
“I was nervous about touching the snake at first first, but the handler explained how to hold it safely. I felt really proud of myself afterwards.”
“I found the Madagascan hissing cockroaches fascinating. I learnt that even very small animals have important adaptations that help them survive.”
“The session made me think more carefully about how we should look after animals and protect their natural habitats.”
It was wonderful to see the students’ curiosity, excitement and enthusiasm throughout the three days. The experience combined scientific learning with opportunities to develop courage, communication and respect for the natural world.
We are also delighted to offer free animal-handling sessions to local primary schools on:
Would your primary school love to join us for this exciting experience? If you think that this is something that children in a primary school you know would like to experience, please contact Ms Dello Buono, Assistant Principal (edellobuono@liftbexleyheath.org).
Homework | We understand that some students have experienced difficulties logging in and remember their passwords after the password reset. To ensure every student has the time and support needed to resolve these issues and become confident using the system, we are delaying the start of our homework programme until Friday, 18 September.
If your child has not yet been able to log in, it is important that they visit the IT Team during one of the following support sessions:
The IT Team will work with students to resolve any problems and ensure they can access the platform successfully before homework begins. Resetting forgotten passwords is the students responsibility to resolve. Homework will be issued on Friday, 18 September and should students not be able to complete this by Friday, 24 September with the reason of a forgotten password, they will still be issued a correction. They have an additional week to resolve the issue. Please take time to check that your child is able to login to the platform.
Reading | NGRT reading assessments will take place on Monday 21 September for students in Years 07–10.
The NGRT is a standardised assessment of reading comprehension and vocabulary. The results help us understand each student’s reading strengths and identify where additional support may be needed, allowing us to tailor teaching more effectively.
Families can help students prepare by:
Some students with SEND will receive additional support to complete the assessment, including small-group sessions beginning during the week commencing Monday 14 September.
In addition to this, students will complete GL assessments in core subject until 01 October. These will be in the hall for all students.
Careers Insight Talk | This week, students had the opportunity to take part in an engaging session focused on exploring future career pathways and the jobs of tomorrow. The presentation highlighted how connecting classroom learning with real-world career guidance can help to build students’ confidence, encourage greater engagement with their studies and support positive long-term outcomes.
The session explored a broad range of industries and career opportunities to help broaden students’ horizons, including:
Students are reminded to complete the careers questionnaire. Their responses will help them reflect on their interests, strengths and possible future career pathways.
Parents and carers are encouraged to continue these conversations at home by exploring entry requirements, skills and career options together. These conversations can help students make informed and confident decisions about their future.
If you are interested in sharing your professional journey and career experiences with our students, please contact Dr Lucas, Assistant Principal (flucas@liftbexleyheath.org).
Safeguarding | Online Safety and Group Chats | As students settle back into the new term, it's a good moment for us as a school and as families to talk together about something that plays a huge part in young people's daily lives: group chats.
Almost every student now belongs to multiple group chats across platforms like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, TikTok, and Messenger. These spaces can be a positive part of school life, helping students organise revision, stay connected with friends, and feel part of a community. But they also carry real safeguarding risks that we want parents to be aware of.
Unlike a classroom, a sports club, or even a family group at home, most online group chats have no adult present to moderate what is said or shared, and this absence of oversight is at the root of several risks. Conflicts that might blow over quickly in person can escalate into prolonged group arguments, exclusion, or pile-ons, often late at night when no adult is aware anything is happening. Harmful content can spread unchecked, too: screenshots, images, or messages can be shared, edited, and re-shared far beyond the original group, sometimes reaching people the student never intended to include. Without an adult in the room, peer pressure also intensifies, and some young people feel emboldened to say things, or feel pressured to join in, that they wouldn't in a supervised setting.
It can be difficult to know who is actually in a chat at any given time, since members can add others, links can be shared publicly, and groups can end up including students from other year groups, other schools, or people not personally known to your child at all. And because these chats exist outside school hours and outside the school's own systems, they largely happen out of sight of both school and home; staff can only act if something is reported to us, as we cannot monitor them directly. This is why we describe unmoderated group chats as an area of particular safeguarding concern: the very thing that makes them appealing to young people, a private, adult-free space, is also what makes them higher risk.
You don't need to be a technology expert to help keep your child safer. Perhaps the most valuable thing you can do is keep talking, not just checking; ask your child what chats they're part of and how they feel about them, rather than only checking their phone, since regular, calm conversation keeps the door open for them to come to you if something goes wrong. It also helps to know the basics of the platforms they use. You don't need to join every chat yourself, but understanding how reporting, blocking, and leaving a group works on each platform means you can act quickly if something goes wrong.
If something upsetting does appear in a chat, encourage your child to screenshot it before deleting it and show a trusted adult, since this preserves evidence and allows proper support to be put in place, and it's worth reminding them that anything shared in a chat can be captured and circulated well beyond the group, even in apps where messages are supposed to disappear. Setting clear expectations around phone use at night can also help, since many difficult group chat incidents happen late in the evening, and agreed times for devices to be put away can reduce both exposure and escalation. Finally, if a group chat incident involves other students at our school, even if it happened entirely outside school hours, please do let us know; we can offer support and, where appropriate, address it through our behaviour and safeguarding procedures.
Online group chats aren't going away, and for most students they're a normal, even positive, part of staying connected with friends. Our aim isn't to alarm parents, but to make sure everyone understands where the real risks lie, chiefly the absence of any adult oversight in these spaces, so that we can work together to support young people in using them safely and confidently.
If you have any concerns about your child's online experiences, or would like advice on parental controls or reporting tools for a specific platform, please don't hesitate to contact the school’s safeguarding team without delay: safeguarding@liftbexleyheath.org.
In an emergency, or if you believe a child may be at immediate risk, please contact the police directly. Thank you for your continued support in helping us keep our community safe.
Further support and guidance for parents is available at www.saferinternet.org.uk and www.nspcc.org.uk/online-safety.
Community Engagement | We are delighted to share some of the community events and activities taking place across Term 01 and Term 02. These events provide our pupils with opportunities to come together, support one another and make a positive contribution to our wider community.
Morning Masterclass | Fuel your morning and your mind! Our Morning Masterclasses return on Wednesday, 23 September at 08:00 in the Main Hall, open to all students wanting to stretch their thinking beyond the daily curriculum. To give your morning a boost, free breakfast bars will be provided at every session! We kick off the term by diving into the world of invasive species, kicking off a series designed to foster critical thinking, spark debate and build intellectual curiosity.
What's been happening in Food Prep & Nutrition this week? | This week, our Year 11 Food Preparation and Nutrition students have been preparing for the first part of their GCSE Non-Exam Assessment (NEA 1) by stepping into the role of sensory analysts.
NEA 1 is a food-science investigation in which students explore how ingredients behave and use evidence from practical testing to support their conclusions. Sensory analysis is an important part of this process because it provides a structured way to evaluate and compare food products.
During the lesson, students sampled a range of foods and assessed five key characteristics:
Students recorded their observations carefully before analysing and presenting their results. They then looked for patterns, preferences and differences between the samples, learning how to use data to form evidence-based conclusions.
This practical experience helped students strengthen a range of important GCSE skills, including accurate observation, data collection, analysis, evaluation and scientific reasoning. These are skills they will need to apply independently and successfully in their upcoming NEA 1 coursework.
It was fantastic to see students approaching the investigation with such curiosity, focus and enthusiasm, a brilliant start to Year 11!
What's been happening in Performing Arts this week? | This week, our Year 11 Performing Arts students reached an important milestone by selecting the scripts they will perform for Component 2 at the end of the Christmas term.
This year’s chosen texts include Frankenstein, DNA and Girls Like That. Each script presents different themes, characters and performance challenges, giving students the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity, acting ability and understanding of how meaning is communicated to an audience.
Over the next two months, students will work collaboratively to bring their selected extracts from page to stage. Their preparation will include:
As the performance date approaches, students will complete full rehearsals to ensure their work is polished, purposeful and technically secure. They will be expected to demonstrate not only their individual performance skills but also their ability to collaborate effectively as an ensemble.
Families can support students by encouraging them to learn their lines early, rehearse regularly at home and attend every lesson and scheduled rehearsal. Consistent attendance will be especially important because each performer’s contribution affects the progress of the whole group.
We look forward to seeing students’ interpretations develop over the coming weeks and watching their hard work come together in their final performances at the end of the Christmas term.
Canteen Menu for Next Week | Please find our canteen menu for next week. The hot deli items are sold at break time only.
Lift Bexleyheath
Woolwich Road
Bexleyheath
Kent
DA6 7DA
