Academic Competitions

We encourage a healthy competitive spirit here at Blackheath High School, through our own House competitions, collaborating and competing with other schools within the GDST, and taking part in a number of local and national competitions. All of these give the students opportunities to explore their skills in specialist areas, stretch and challenge themselves, and test out their intellect and creativity.  

The whole school takes part in the UK Mathematics Trust Challenge, from the Junior School all the way up to those taking Maths for A-level. Junior School pupils additionally compete in the SUMDOG Greenwich Maths Challenge, and the Maths in Motion national challenge. English is another subject where we display our competitive nature, with both Junior School and Senior School students entering an array of poetry, debate, and essay-writing competitions, provided - amongst others - by Oxford, Cambridge, and Lancaster universities.  

We have had recent success in a wide range of competitive fields; Year 8 Spanish were the London Region winners for the Anthea Bell Young Translators competition, and for the last two years running we have come out victorious at the Chrystall Prize – a debating competition – with Sixth Formers Grace and Jude.  

The biggest opportunity that arises from academic competitions is that our students meet and network with other schools, judges, professors, and top-of-field professionals in their key areas of interest. Our debate team will be attending Morden College and debating for (and with!) the residents there, and setting up a healthy rivalry with contemporaries at local school John Roan. These connections and relationships, along with the teamwork, confidence, and ingenuity that academic competitions inspire, are sure to benefit our students later in life – both during university applications and interviews, and in the wider world of work.