Our debate club recently hosted an engaging Teacher vs Student debate on the motion: “This house would allow all mobile phones to be used in school for research.” This was a relevant topic as the use of mobile phones in schools is a current news story! Both teams delivered thoughtful arguments, lively rebuttals, and demonstrated excellent public speaking skills. Overall, the winners were the teachers!

The British Science Week marble run activity took place on Wednesday after school. It was a real fun activity and pupils immersed themselves fully in a competitive manner. Sami and Labibul were the winners but the others did incredibly well. Well done to all the students who took part - Sara, Hanna, Sami, Labibul, Gabrieele, Illarion and Arthur

Dr Lara Akinnawonu (class of 2017) joined a group of our Year 9 Lymington Fields students today via Teams students to share her experiences of working in medicine. During the session, she gave students an insight into a “day in the life of a doctor”, explaining that the role is varied, fast-paced, and filled with constant learning. She also spoke about the key skills that make a good doctor, highlighting the importance of strong communication, empathy, and a commitment to continually developing knowledge and understanding. Thank you to Dr Lara for taking the time to inspire our students and give them a valuable glimpse into a career in healthcare.

Yesterday, the Year 8 boys competed in the annual Essex 7s tournament hosted by New Hall School.  Robert Clack faced three tough fixtures in the main Cup competition, beating Brentwood and Westcliff, drawing against King John, and narrowly losing to Campion. This performance saw the Year 8s progress to the Cup semi-final against a strong Woodlands side. Robert Clack delivered an outstanding performance, securing a 20–10 victory. The boys then advanced to the final against a strong Campion team. It was a highly competitive game throughout, with the score 5–5 at half-time and 10–10 at full-time. A golden try was needed to decide the winner. Unfortunately, Campion scored first, meaning they were crowned overall champions, with Robert Clack finishing as worthy runners-up. Well done to the boys on a well-earned achievement. Compared to last year, when they did not win a single group game, this represents excellent progress. Outstanding work!

We were proud to welcome back former student Jack Cooper to speak with our Year 9 cohort about his journey into the construction industry via Teams. After leaving Sixth Form in 2025, Jack secured a degree apprenticeship with The Hill Group, where he now works as a Technical Coordinator. He shared valuable insight into the apprenticeship route, highlighting how subject choices, extracurricular involvement, and developing transferable skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication and resilience helped prepare him for the workplace. Students were particularly interested in hearing about his day-to-day role — from reviewing plans and liaising with teams to solving on-site challenges — as well as how he balances university study alongside hands-on industry experience as part of his degree apprenticeship. Jack also spoke about the impact of our partnerships with organisations such as Construction Youth Trust, which provide mentoring and support for students pursuing careers in construction. His journey is a fantastic example of the diverse and rewarding pathways available after school. We are incredibly grateful to Jack for returning to inspire the next generation — and we look forward to seeing many more students follow in his footsteps.

This half term, the Robert Clack Senior Debate Squad had the opportunity to visit the local primary school, Grafton, to participate in a Q&A session and deliver a showcase debate. The motion considered whether primary or secondary school provides a better environment for children’s development. The teams were mixed, allowing the older students to mentor the younger pupils.  Well done to all Grafton and Robert Clack students who took part. We look forward to visiting again in the future.

On Thursday 13 th February we held the final presentations of our Sixth Form Entrepreneur Academy — Dragon’s Den style — and our students absolutely delivered. The brief: Create a product or service for 16–21 year olds that could be used by college or university students. It could be an invention or an innovation, tailored to a specific audience, with full cost research and a clear business case. The results? Innovative ideas. Professional presentations. Exceptional teamwork. 🏆 Winners: Imperium – an inventive mobile banking app designed specifically for the student market. A genuinely original concept, clearly aligned to the needs of their target audience. 🥈 Runners-up: Magniglasses – a smart glasses concept with a more affordable, accessible design. A brilliant example of innovation with commercial awareness. Every team impressed our judges with: • The quality of their ideas • Confident, professional pitching • Strong market research and costings • Clear marketing strategies It was fantastic to see many teams applying insights from our guest speakers — and even incorporating Out of Home advertising into their marketing plans following their visit to Bauer Media Group . A huge thank you to our volunteers and judges who generously gave up their time to support and challenge our students. The future of entrepreneurship is in very safe hands.

It’s always fantastic to see our students thinking ambitiously about their futures. Recently, Year 12 student MP shared her aspiration to become a Social Worker and asked whether Mrs Monk could connect her with a former student working in the field. Mrs Monk immediately reached out to Nanah Kamara who was more than happy to help. Nanah left Robert Clack in 2019 and, after completing her undergraduate degree, is now a fully qualified Social Worker. A meeting was set up via Teams on Wednesday 11th February, and MP came exceptionally well prepared — asking thoughtful, probing questions about relevant work experience, degree structure, and the training involved in qualifying as a Social Worker. A huge thank you to Nanah for giving up her time to support the next generation and for being such a positive role model for our students. Moments like this truly show the power of our alumni network.

On January the 28th, 340 of our most able Mathematicians took part in the UKMT Intermediate challenge. The challenge is a national competition where our students get to compete with the best Mathematicians in the country. The challenge has students utilise their mathematical reasoning and fluency in using the basic mathematical techniques learned from school to solve unique and interesting questions and challenges on the paper. The problems on the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge promote critical thinking skills, often making pupils apply their knowledge in unfamiliar ways in order to solve a problem. Our results have just come in and we had 82 Bronze awards, 36 Silver awards and an amazing 9 Gold awards. To put this into context, only 11% of entrants achieve the Gold awards nationally. A special mention to Abisman Rajakumar for achieving the highest in the school and David Karpovych for the highest in Year 9. They, along with 5 others, will have the opportunity to go into the follow-on Kangaroo round for the elite Mathematicians in the country.  Mr Rahman, Ms Hibbit & Ms Tahir