A year packed with achievement
Thu, Jul 9th, 2026
New Head Ben Pennington is ready for the challenge of shaping the next chapter in Worth’s story after a year packed with achievement in all areas of school life.
At a time when independent schools are facing challenges, Worth can look back on the 2025-26 academic year with a lot of pride at the many accomplishments of our students in the areas of academia, academic enrichment beyond the classroom, drama, music and sport.
During one of his visits to Worth in the last six months from Kenya, where he is currently working at a school, Mr Pennington spoke about academic excellence being “one of our highest priorities”. Ahead of starting in September, he will have been pleased to see three Worth students reaching the national final of The Economics Olympiad in June, putting them within the top 50 young economists in the country.
During the 2025-26 academic year, Worth also hosted its first ever Model United Nations conference where our students impressed in how they ran committees, spoke and debated to a high level. We also introduced a Worth University Challenge competition as part of the co-curricular programme which proved highly successful, along with the inaugural Academic Scholars’ Society essay prize competition.
There were notable achievements by students taking part in the University of Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, the UK Chemistry Olympiad, the UK Biology Challenge and the UK Bebras Challenge, which is a computer science competition. There was also plenty of success in external debating and Model United Nations competitions, and Worth hosted its first student-led economics conference.
Among the many enriching trips was a Drama trip to New York for the first time. A competitive sailing team was introduced which competed at two schools’ events and it was a record-breaking year for charitable fundraising by Houses, raising £15,500 between them.
On the sporting front there were notable hockey successes with the senior girls reaching the National Plate semi-finals for the first time, the senior boys getting through to the National Plate quarter-finals for the first time, the U15A girls going the furthest they have ever been in the ISHE Plate and our U13 girls winning our own tournament.
Our 2nd XV rugby boys went through their season unbeaten, our U18 rugby boys topped their group at the National Rugby Sevens, the senior golf team reached the national finals of the Swifts Foursome Competition, putting them within the top 16 schools in the country, and our 1st XI cricketers won the Langdale Division Two Cup as well as finishing runners-up at the Emeriti Schools Festival, which they took part in for the first time. Worth was also named in the list of top 100 cricket schools for the eighth year in a row.
On an individual level, one of our 1st XI cricketers was picked for Scotland U19, another student became Sussex fencing champion and an equestrian rider qualified for the NSEA National Championships national finals. Plus, of course, recent leaver Tate Williams made his England U20 debut and this week helped the team reach the semi-finals of the Rugby Junior World Championship which is currently taking place in Georgia.
This extensive list of achievements will give Mr Pennington an excellent platform to build upon and we are tremendously looking forward to what lies ahead for the School.
Want to find out more about an education at Worth? Then come along to our Open Day on September 12 September.
