As part of their Identity in the Media Scheme of Work, our Year 7s were set a challenge to come up with a unique product and a convincing sales pitch to be in with the chance to go on a trip to GBC. Let’s watch this Behind the Scenes video to see what the most persuasive product-makers in their classes created at the GBC Studios. 

The English Department launched its first Letter Writing Project earlier this year and it has been a great success! Our Year 7 students have been busy this year writing letters to the Year 6 students at Bishop and St Bernard’s to ease their transition into secondary school. All students both sent and received 2 letters each, and they all had a great time writing to their ‘pen friends’ and decorating their envelopes. Here’s a video of their experience…

On to our next video put together by Mr Segovia. His year 8 Art students have all been working on a digital mural project inspired by different subject areas. Students have been hard at work coming up with ideas in teams and developing their ideas into digital final outcomes. Hopefully some of these might become actual school murals one day. Let’s have a look at what they came up with.

And now over to the Year 7/8 Form Tutor Pupil of the Month Awards. These students have been awarded the Pupil of Month Award for their consistent demonstration of good pupils skills. So well done to all!

The yr7s and their form tutors have been working on an interactive pastoral project involving music, dance, art and gymnastics. They have worked together as a form class to produce a fun and vibrant music video that tells a story of how we should all provide support for one another. They wanted to embrace the idea of family and demonstrate that by helping one another, we are essentially superheroes, BUT superheroes with no capes! A special thanks goes to all the teachers and students involved in making the video, Ms Bonfante and Ms Gonzalez for leading the gymnastic squad, Ms Bishop for leading her dancers, Mr Reyes for his brilliant video editing skills, Mr Soussi for some special footage and Mrs Mena for leading the project! Enjoy the Yr 7 Music Video called ‘Stand by Your Side.’ 

The Well-being Warriors wanted to do something for the world and so therefore entered the Nautilus Competition ‘The Tide is Changing’ by submitting a song. They actually got the ‘Runner’s Up’ title so well done for that! So the Well-being Warriors wanted to tell the story of Gibraltar’s coasts and how it is important to protect our oceans. Members of the club, wrote the song and had a exhilarating time creating the music video. A special thanks to the Music department for loaning out the instruments and finding the backing track, Ms Lia for her fantastic video editing skills, Ms Belilo for loaning us the hats and Mrs Mena for leading the project. Enjoy ‘Water of Love, Ever so Clear’ by the Well-being Warriors! 

Westside took part in the two day Gibraltar Beach Volleyball Corporate Tournament. 

The competition was tough with St Bernard's and Westside meeting in the final. Westside came in second to St Bernard's. 

The Library held a sponsored reading challenge, named 'The 100'. Students and staff members from both Bayside and Westside schools were given the task of choosing at least one book from a list compiled by the school librarians, and given 100 days in which to complete this. 

The challenge was launched on World Book Day, and ended on Friday 14th June. All money raised was presented to The EV Foundation, coming to a total of £600.63. 

Photo L-R: Mrs Pecino (School Librarian), Mr Edmunds (Bayside Deputy Headteacher), Nicole Jones (EV Foundation), Mrs Ballantine (School Librarian), Mrs Mercieca (Westside Senior Teacher). Mr Falzun (School Librarian).

The Horticultural Society continues with its Green Gibraltar Campaign, and last night, announced the winners for its Plant Life photography competition. 

The Society says the idea is for the photos to provoke thoughts and spark meaningful dialogues on how crucial it is to protect the planet. 

We had several winners from Westside at the prize giving for the year’s Spring Short Story Competition. The English Department are extremely proud of them for their creative efforts. 

Best Story in Spanish Language: 

Runner-up: Erin Costa with ‘Unagi’ 

Highly Commended: Serina Manasco with ‘Cruzando Fronteras’ 

School Years 11 to 13: 

Winner: Eva De Vincenzi with ‘Your Old Friend, Lucifer’ – Westside Comprehensive School 

School Years 6 to 7: 

Winner: Isla Snape with ‘The Story of A Year’ – Westside Comprehensive School 

Full list of winners here: https://www.culture.gi/news/short-story-competition-winners/

Our Year 7s take part in a local history project producing replica artefacts like cannons used during the Great Siege. These artefacts were made from card board and students working in groups had to use their creative skills to make a project of their own choosing.

Our Year 8s, take part in the evacuation project which focuses on the evacuation which took place during World War 2. Students compete for a top cash prize kindly donated by the friends of Gibraltar. They use their artistic, creative or writing skills to produce a project. 

This task is a cross curricular activity as the Drama Department is also involved and a Year Assembly is organised to present the prizes.

Well done to the Well-being Warriors for coming 'Runners Up' in this year's Nautilus Competition - The Tide is Changing.

The Well-being Warriors wanted to tell a story about Gibraltar’s coasts and how it is important to protect our oceans. Members of the club wrote the song and had an exhilarating time creating the music video.

We are so proud of their achievements. We are sure you will remember this project forever.

By Jaythan Corbacho, Reece Ibrahim, Erin Costa, Sam Bramall and Aaron Gines. Supported by Mrs Lia and Mrs Mena.

Well done to our students on their awards at this year’s Nautilus Project ‘Tides are Changing’ competition. 

This initiative was a collaboration between Westside’s Science & English departments, where students learnt about Gibraltar’s coastlines in science lessons and then wrote about them in English lessons.

We are proud to announce that we managed to win four awards!  

 Year Group Award 1st place: E-book created by Year 8 students collaboratively between English and Science

 +Year Group Award Highly Commended: Song, ‘Water of Love, Ever so Clear’ Wellbeing Warriors Club

 +Individual Award 2nd place: Poem, Talia the Turtle’ by Sophie, Carys, Hannah and Sienna 

 + Individual Award Highly Commended: Song, ‘Ocean Life’ by Arianne, Julia and Louise. 

We are so proud of our learners and teachers for their hard work on this initiative. The creativity displayed in our e-book is fantastic! 

Check it out here: https://read.bookcreator.com/hvP99qGI6beWrWmbZ6nYST1ZxU43/YANKvnmRQXmf4sy6Q5O6cA 

Just to say a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to World Environment Week and who have worked so hard behind the scenes to showcase the amazing student work on display today for our guests. Our students are extremely privileged to have such amazing and inspirational teachers. 

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr J Garcia, Minister for the Environment & Education Dr J Cortes, Director of Education Ms K Scott, Education Adviser Ms J Linares and all the guests were extremely impressed with the environmental work that goes on throughout the year at Westside. They were truly inspired and wanted this to be conveyed to you.

Our Year 8s have been working on creative pieces for the Nautilus Project’s ‘Tides are Changing’ World Oceans Day Competition. This was an initiative led by the Science Department who got the English Department on board to produce a fantastic joint submission for the competition’s Year Group Award… Prizegiving will be on 7th June - watch this space! 

In Science lessons, students learnt about Gibraltar’s coastlines and how our marine life is getting affected. In English lessons, students worked on poems, stories, descriptions, posters and songs to fit the theme. 

Just over £800 was raised by staff and students at Westside School on Friday 17th May as part of Ms Makey’s #GetLippy campaign in aid of The Eve Appeal and Gynaecological Cancer Awareness. Thank you to all who contributed in raising awareness and donating to the cause!

Our Year 8s were invited to the John Mackintosh Hall on Thursday to watch an extremely entertaining production of Shakespeare’s Henry V. As you can see, lots of fun was had by students and teachers alike and we cannot wait for next year’s trip! 🎭

Young Darts player Nico Bado has steadily progressed through the ranks claiming wins both at junior and senior level. Nico claimed all junior ranking events in 2023 and represented Gibraltar on the international stage including the JDC World Championships held on the Rock.

text: YGTV

She gave a heartwarming talk to a group of Westside & Bayside students about her experience and writing. Her words sparked brilliant discussions about our identity and language of Llanito. She also gave us wonderful ideas for projects in the future. Watch this space! 

Jensen was recently selected to be part of the Andalucia u14’s rugby team, and this weekend represented Andalucia in the Spanish Champions 1st division competition, held this year in Seville.

Andalucia came third, narrowly beaten by Cataluña, with Madrid coming in 1st. Jensen representing Andalucia was a huge achievement not only for Jensen, but also Gibraltar rugby.  

Last December the RE Department partnered up with Fr. Charlie Azzopardi in order to help send a message of hope to the less fortunate in Gibraltar.  As in the past 25 years the church has delivered 400 food hampers to those in need. The students of years 10 & 11 at Westside wrote 400 Christmas cards with a personalized message of hope to be included with these hampers. This was part of our initiative to bring the school community closer to the wider Gibraltar community. 

12 young people from our school, Year 7-13, took part this year in the Rock Retreat and Accord Literary Young Writers’ Competition. All students submitted a piece of writing. Angelika Bosco, Year 12, was one of eight recipients of a trophy award; these recipients have been chosen from all submissions from all students, across all participating countries. Our Head Student and Year 12, Eva De Vincenzi and one of our Year 8 pupils, Anali Ressa Moreno, were also in receipt of a certificate of congratulations and recognition for their writing. 

A successful collaboration between Westside, Bayside, the Gibraltar College, the Youth Service and CIPD. Future Pathways provided our learners with insights from professionals in many different sectors who gave of their time in order to deliver advice, their experiences and potential pathways for our Year 12s. 

Teachers wearing hats for Hat day!

Year 7 and 8 form tutors have been nominating a 'Student of the Month' since the start of the academic year.

These are our September, October, November & December awards.

Year 7s have been working on Identity in the Media. They were asked to design an advert for a product.

The best adverts from each class were rewarded with a trip to GBC and a chance to film their advert in a real studio!!

Students and staff bought hot dogs & hot chocolate. All the proceeds went to the Nazareth House Soup Kitchen.

It is truly humbling to see the amazing calibre of work that goes on each year and the impact it has on our learners and the wider community. 

First place: Student Support LSAs Second place: LSF LSAs Third place: Ms Bosano Events Committee Award: Ms Alecio Eldridge

Congratulations to all the year 7 students who received their Google Docs proficiency certificates.

Sienna Sene collecting her first place prize for the architectural drawing competition at Gamma's main office. Well done!  

A total of £916 was raised by Staff and Students during this year’s by baking and selling cakes.

We offered a fake moustaches for a donation. Students and staff were then encouraged to wear them throughout the day, in order to raise awareness for the cause. We managed to raise £516.54 & €6.15. 

Christmas Tie Day in memory of Mr Stephen Grant, a much loved staff member at Westside School.