36 of our Year 10 students participated in the UK Biology Challenge in May, joining over 42,000 students from around the world in this year's competition. The challenge consisted of two rigorous online papers designed to assess the students' core biology knowledge, as well as their ability to apply critical thinking to complex scientific scenarios.

To put their achievements into perspective, the global benchmarks for medals this year were highly competitive:

• Gold medal: Awarded to the top 5%

• Silver medal: Awarded to the next 10%

• Bronze medal: Awarded to the next 15%

Our Year 8 to 10 students who competed in the 14th Dictée de l’AFLE proudly received their certificates. Well done to all of them for their dedication and fantastic efforts in learning the French language! 

This year, West Island School was proud to host the ESF Chinese Debate Competition. Our WIS Chinese Debate Team competed with immense confidence and skill, advancing to the semifinals and placing 4th overall—an exceptional, record-breaking result for the school.

Through over five months of dedicated preparation, supported by ESF debate coaching, our students worked hard to leverage their unique strengths within their allocated roles. They sharpened their logical and critical thinking, improved their public speaking, and developed the confidence to express their ideas clearly and persuasively. 

Congratulations to our debate team members who have demonstrated outstanding teamwork, supporting one another through every rigorous round. 

• Year 8: Justin

• Year 9: Lilian, Olivia

• Year 10: Anthea, Chris 

A special shout-out to Lilian, Olivia and Anthea for achieving the Best Debater Award. Well done to our event volunteers, Haen (Year 10), Austin and Jayden (Year 12). 

Well done to our students who have successfully enrolled in the Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme with PolyU. The programme has officially started and will run until August. We wish our WIS junior researchers the very best on their personalised learning adventure. 

On Wednesday, our PTA Coffee Morning brought together a dynamic group of parents for an insightful presentation by the Science Faculty. Our parents' active partnership in our students' personalised learning is invaluable. By encouraging critical thinking and nurturing inquisitive minds both at school and at home, we are working together to prepare our students for their future steps. 

Sport is the heartbeat of the West Island School community. Our sports programme is inclusive, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to represent the school in competitive sports and participate in year-round training. Every year, we proudly support almost 20 sports and around 85 teams. This year, more than half of our student population brought their passion to our sports programme. 

We look forward to seeing even more students getting involved and representing our school with pride. If you are representing the school next year, please find the details here and order your kit before Friday, 26 June. 

Year 10 student Pearl was awarded 2nd Runner-Up following her outstanding performance at the China National Fencing Championships.

Our High Performance Student Athlete (HPSA) programme provides personalised support for aspiring athletes to ensure they maintain a healthy balance between academic excellence and sporting success. Please find out more here.