Welcome to The Forest School

Another record breaking year for our fantastic GCSE students! The Forest School is proud to celebrate another set of excellent GCSE results this summer, with students achieving strongly across a wide range of subjects. The school is delighted to see its upward trend in results continue, reflecting the hard work of students, staff, and families. Our students have exceeded the grade 9 target, and records, this year with some exceptional performance in our STEM subjects. In Science well over half of the grades awarded were in the highest threshold, and 20% of our maths grades 8 or 9, maintaining our high standards in maths. After introducing a new Engineering qualification as part of our broad curriculum we are delighted to have seen over a third of the cohort achieving Distinction * or Distinction. Computer Science and PE maintain their records here, with excellent results across the grade thresholds. While nationally the pass rate has fallen, ours has improved significantly this year, giving students the best opportunities to take their next steps into 6th form, and beyond. We must give particularly special mention: to Tom with an outstanding set of results; 6 grade 9s and 9 grade 7 or above, Mokolaj with 9 grade 7s or above including 9s in History and Maths and 8s in separate sciences, Ryan with grade 9s in English Literature, PE, Geography and Business with 8 in English Language and 7s and 6s in Maths and Separate Sciences. It is not possible to mention all the success stories here, these are just a snapshot of what our Forest Families will be celebrating today, and our students living out our ‘Aspire to Become Elite’ ethos. Headteacher Shirley Austin said: "What a year; the girls have joined us in year 7, and excelled as we became Co-Educational to finish our community drive. The Year 10 boys won the Elite National Cup bringing it to 3 titles in this prestigious cup over the past 4 years, as we were runner ups in 2024. Today brings the year to a phenomenal finale as we are absolutely delighted with this year’s GCSE results. The Forest School continues on its upward trend, breaking its own records reflecting the hard work of our students, the dedication of our staff, and the unwavering support from our families. These results demonstrate the strength of our School community and the determination of all of our young people to succeed. We are incredibly proud of each and every one forest family." This year’s outcomes highlight success across the curriculum, with particular strengths in core subjects as well as in the creative and vocational areas. Our success with Catering this year has seen two students secure places in a prestigious London catering college to follow a highly specialist programme. The remainder of the cohort remain here to study Food Science A level at Forest 6th. While many students achieved top grades, others made significant progress that represents real personal achievement and paves the way securely for their next steps. This year our personal development curriculum has led to students achieving GCSE in Citizenship for the first time; a qualification that reflects their understanding of society, values and democracy. The Forest School has worked hard to provide a learning environment that nurtures ambition, builds resilience, and supports every student to reach their potential. Staff have gone above and beyond to ensure students felt confident and prepared for their examinations, despite the challenges faced by young people in recent years. The school is equally proud of the variety of destinations its students will now move on to, whether A-level study, college courses, apprenticeships, or training opportunities. The breadth of next steps reflects both the high standards achieved and the commitment of the school to preparing young people for bright and successful futures.

Forest's very own Kai Russell captaining St Lucia to lead them to a 1-0 win against Grenada at the U15's Concacaf National Championship in Curacao!

It's pretty fair to say that our intrepid explorers are having a great time so far in Mexico. They've trekked the jungle and dived with turtles, pretty amazing!

Thank you Lionesses for such inspiration! Forest Ladies - who will be our first Lioness? Aspire to Become Elite! Keep working! Well done England!

During their enrichment week activites, Year 9s lived the thrill at Mercedes‑Benz World! They had a fascinating guided tour through the long history of Mercedez Benz they battled it out over intense 10 lap matches on FastTrax, the indoor slot-car racing track and experienced a heart-pounding five lap race in the F1 Simulator Zone. Move aside George Russell! Overall, the visit was a high‑octane blend of history, technology and fun - exactly the kind of experience our Year 9s needed to inspire their passion for engineering, design and performance.

Students in Year 7 and 8 got to experience an exceptional tour and performance of the Globe Theatre along the Southbank, London during their enrichment week activities. After taking in the sights of our Capital, they were treated to a production of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' but the jury is still out on how well the performance would fair in comparison to the Annual Year 7 Shakespeare Festival 😉

Kicking off our enrichment/belonging week yesterday, Year 7s travelled to Hengisbury Head on the Dorset Jurassic coast. The weather, whilst a little windy, didn't detract from the students exploring and developing their learning and understanding of the processes that shape our coastline. I think they might have even caught a sneaky ice cream too!

Whilst we're talking celebrations, we have to mention our newly crowned House Champions 24/25 - BRAMSHILL, who have competed throughout their year groups during the school year in maths challenges, English spelling bees, not to mention the culmination of school sports at sports day last week. Truly well deserved - bring on the Bears!!!!!!🐻 #GoBears

From Forest to Southampton - go Thierry!⚽️👍

Celebration! The whole school came together this afternoon for an end of year assembly before we start our enrichment/belonging week next week. Go Forest! What a family 😍

This week we have had the pleasure of some lessons given by visiting teachers from China, who taught Mandarin, Citizenship in China, advancements in AI and even some Chinese music. Our students embraced the experience and challenged themselves in another language!

A few more beautiful pictures from Prom night, had to share!

Oh my, don't they scrub up well? We are super proud of these young men. You have been an amazing year group and we wish you all the luck in the world for your next steps - a great Prom!!!😍

It's Prom Night! The revising is over, the exams are done now it's time to party!!! 🎉 Wishing all our Y11 students (Forest & Holt) a really great evening 😃👍

Secrets are revealed to our Y9 students who have travelled to Bletchley Park today to find out more about the codebreakers who worked around the clock to break German codes during World War II. Wonder if they got to crack any codes themselves...

Today, Wednesday 18th June, is National Thank a Teacher Day - a special opportunity to recognise and celebrate the incredible people who work in our schools. At The Forest School, we are proud of the dedication, compassion, and professionalism shown every day by our staff — not just our teachers, but teaching assistants, senior leaders and lunchtime supervisors, governors, pastoral teams, office staff, site managers, and all those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to support your children’s education and wellbeing. We warmly invite you to share a message of thanks with any member of staff in any of our schools by visiting:

Ever wondered what the Y5 children get up to when they visit us for a Pioneer Day? Well this year in Business, students channeled their passion and creativity into designing their very own sneaker brands. Each student brought something unique to the table. This task wasn't about fashion; it was about identity, culture and confidence and our visitors certainly rose to the challenge with enthusiasm and flair!

Big congratulations to Y9 student Will Sharpe for taking Gold in the 80m Hurdles event at the Berkshire Athletics Championships this weekend - amazing result, well done! 👏👏🥇

Still deciding where to study this September? Our upcoming Induction Day is invite only, so if you’d like to join us and get a feel for life at The Forest Sixth Form, please make sure to email the contact below to book your place. #itsnottoolate#InductionDay#sixthform