Our Year 7 girls’ basketball team is celebrating after winning all their games in a recent tournament and qualifying for the next round representing Corby district.

The team faced opposition from six other local schools at the Partnership Festival basketball qualifier at Corby Technical School. Brooke Weston won every game and the final, against Corby Business Academy, was extremely tense as our girls finally won the match by just one basket.

Students from Years 10 to 13 interested in careers in medicine or science attended an Operating Theatre Live workshop where they donned a set of scrubs to dissect simulated body organs and tissues in an operating theatre setting.

The groups dissected pig brains, removed eyes, looked at the lungs’ structure and attempted a heart transplant. They also investigated the digestive system and calculated anesthetic dosages. The event is designed to give students as authentic an experience as possible. There was a strong focus on skills and careers providing students interested in medical careers with up-to-date information.

A team of Brooke Weston students visited the world famous site at CERN, toured some of the facilities and spoke to scientists who work there. The trip covered sites in both Switzerland and France as experiments at CERN run across both countries with the Large Hadron Collider spanning a 27km circumference across the border. Students also had free time to explore Geneva’s shops, museums and restaurants, as well as the headquarters of the International Red Cross.

As a fantastic end to the term, students from Year 10 ran their annual Christmas markets over two consecutive days where sweets and home made gifts were sold to raise money for charities.

Hundreds of students took part in this year's annual Christmas Showcase. The concerts featured acts including instrumentals, short plays, choral and classical arrangements and dances. Performers included Year 7 choirs, the Orchestra, Year 13 BTEC group, lower and upper school dance groups as well as Year 10 drama students.

Brooke Weston computer science teacher Ray Chambers has been named as one of four UK teachers to be included in the top 50 shortlist for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2017. Now in its third year, the US $1 million award is the largest prize of its kind.