Former Brooke Weston teacher Tamsin Winter spoke to students about her first novel ‘Being Miss Nobody’ which deals with anxiety and mental health issues. Tamsin, who trained as a teacher at Brooke Weston and taught English here until leaving in 2005 always wanted to write and now she is doing author visits and working on her second novel.

Brooke Weston’s restaurant manager, Christine Gray, is retiring after 25 years in the role, having worked with thousands of our students over the years.

Christine started working at Brooke Weston as a general assistant in the restaurant and has seen a lot of changes in the school. ‘When I first began working here 25 years ago there were only 350 students, since then the restaurant has been extended, the library has been built and we have had a brand new extention for performing arts.

‘Brooke Weston has been really good to me during my time here. I left school when I was 15 and since working here I have completed my Level 3 NVQ management course and learnt how to use a computer, which terrified me at first! My role here is slightly different to other catering managers within the trust I do all the finance myself, which includes bacs runs, ensuring suppliers get paid, and reconciling the students lunch money. I used to do it all in books but now it’s done on the computer. I have a fabulous team of 18 who have all worked with me a long time, some of them 15-20 years and I will miss them all so much.

Former student Sub Lieutenant Emma Turner returned to Brooke Weston to give a presentation about life in the Navy and advise students interested in a career in the Armed Forces.

Emma, who left Brooke Weston in 2015, talked about her experiences so far within the Royal Navy and the opportunities that are available within the the military. She said ‘I only decided to apply for the Navy at the last minute as I realised university wasn’t for me. The opportunities I could gain from joining the Navy were just too good to miss. I already have a degree in Management and Leadership after only one year and have also qualified as a ski instructor which the Navy paid me to do during my two-week annual Adventure Training. To join the Navy you need to be a logical thinker, a team player and a natural leader, someone that can take charge when things are going wrong. People in sports teams are often really good examples as they have been used to working as a team so think logically and tactically. I was always into sport when I was at Brooke Weston, which I think, stood me in good stead.

After a gruelling selection process and a punishing one-year training programme, former Brooke Weston student Emma Turner has been awarded The Queen’s Commission in the Royal Navy and will shortly be undertaking her final assessments to test her suitability for flying training.

Five former students, who are all now studying at Cambridge, spoke to our current Sixth Formers about university life and the transition to graduate study.

Computer science teacher Ray Chambers is being interviewed by national media about the imminent release of an educational version of Minecraft. The game, which allows users to construct virtual structures, is already popular with students, but the new release is specifically aimed at school use. Mr Chambers has been approached by The Sunday Times and TV show Good Morning Britain to talk about how the software can be used to enhance lessons.

The telephone interview with the Sunday Times should appear in this weekend’s paper and Mr Chambers is due to be live on ITV some time between 06:30 and 08:30 on Tuesday morning.