Heloise, Year 10, storms to Wandsworth Finals

In January, 60 Year 10 pupils had the opportunity to take part in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge. From this, we chose the top six pupils to go through to the semi-final held in the Sixth Form Assembly. Heloise and Macaulay were chosen to go through to the Wandsworth Final with their speeches entitled Lost in Translation and The F word.  Both pupils were absolutely amazing on the night; their speeches were engaging and inspiring and as a school we are very proud of them. Heloise came first and will now take part in the regional final 2021-2022. Click here to watch her perform.

Double Debate at Putney High School

On Thursday 10th March the Debate Club visited Putney High School for a friendly double debate. First motion - ‘This House regrets the advent of 24-hour television and video-streaming’. Second motion - ‘This House would make criminals serve their sentences in the army, rather than in prison’. In both cases, the motion was announced by the Speaker, then competing pairs had 15 minutes preparation time (with no access to outside sources to help develop their ideas). In the first debate, Saint Cecilia's students formed two pairs to take on two Putney High School pairs; in the second debate, each pair was comprised of one student from each school.

Participating students: Amanda, Charlotte, Dejuan, Dominic, Eva, Hannah, Isaac and Max.

Phoebe at Royal Academy of Dance opening

A huge congratulations to Phoebe in Year 11 who was selected to take part in the grand opening of The Royal Academy of Dance’s new building in Battersea on 10th March. The event was attended by the Duchess of Cornwall along with many of the world’s top dancers. What an achievement!  Well done Phoebe!

Victor's Winning Design

Back in December we ran a competition in the Art Department for a pupil or student to design a black and white line drawing for the programme for the Carol Service.  The winner of the competition would then be commissioned to design a line drawing for both the Spring and Summer concerts. Victor in Year 12, who is studying Art A Level, was our talented winner and he has designed this beautiful and detailed drawing which will be displayed on the front of the Spring Concert programme. Well done Victor.

A Place to call Home

We are excited to tell you about a recent art installation project Year 7 have been involved with, culminating in a live Art exhibition in the Southside Centre. It’s been a long time in the making!

A Place to Call Home is an initiative led by Wandsworth Children’s Services to promote collaboration and community in Wandsworth involving 51 schools in the borough. The aim of A Place to Call Home was to unify and foster links between independent and state schools and to nurture conversation and future collaboration for pupils, teachers and school leaders. The exhibition in Southside will be available to visit from 4th - 25th March from 9:30am-5pm in Unit 61 (between Paperchase and Deichmann). The experience has been an extremely positive one for participating Year 7 pupils and Sixth Form Art students. Do pop along to visit

The Wonders of Window Wanderland

Our final lit up Window Wanderland installation - what a beautiful work of art! Our design was inspired by the stained glass windows in Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. After a tough two years, this was a great way for the community to come together and transform the local streets into a magical outdoor gallery for all to see.

Chess Tournament Winners

A huge well done to all those who participated in our first whole school chess tournament. It was a fantastic day of great chess playing with a full turnout of 64 competitors. The comradery and support all the competitors showed each other was a pleasure to see throughout the day, as well as the support of the whole school. Well done everyone!

Here’s what Michael (Year 7) wrote about the chess tournament: ‘On Thursday 3rd February 64 students went to battle and competed in the ultimate chess tournament (held by Mrs Davis). Throughout the day, students played what might be the toughest challenge yet. From Year 7 to Sixth Form, people won and people lost in many long games and some surprisingly short games. As people fought, surprise and relief came to students from our wonderful, talented school. By the afternoon, the tournament was down to the final four: two good friends in Year 11 (Victor and Sacha), a Sixth Former (Matthew) and Year 7 (Ermuun) . The battle could have been won by anyone. After a tough match, one fatal mistake saw Matthew out of the competition and Ermuun into the final, who was overjoyed. Shortly after, Sacha managed to beat his long-term competitor Victor who was excited to see if his friend could make it all the way. After school, students and teachers gathered in the chapel to see the final match between Sacha (Year 11) and Ermuun (Year 7). After a gruelling 20 minutes, Sacha managed to eliminate most of Ermuun’s pieces, win back his queen and trap Ermuun’s king with his castle, delivering the final blow with his queen. Everyone really enjoyed the day and we hope it happens again.’

Wimbledon Ball Girls and Boys success

As a school local to the AELTC, we were able to enter eight pupils this year into the selection process to be trained to be ball boys and girls at this Summer’s Wimbledon Tennis championships. We are thrilled to announce that all eight were successful and now progress to the next stages of training at the AELTC. An amazing achievement!