Arete Non-Sports Day Round-up

On Friday 30^th January, approximately 150 students from five different Arete schools went to Gordon’s School to participate in several different competitions and for an Astronomy Convention.

Chess

The competition consisted of four rounds of ten-minute games (twenty minutes per round in total). Alderwood School students were new to the Arete competition, and, although they do not currently run a Chess club at the school, their enthusiasm and progress throughout the morning made them the most improved team. All students demonstrated politeness, team spirit, and a clear willingness to learn, making it an enjoyable and positive event.

It was a pleasure to announce the scores at the award ceremony at the end of the event, with winners announced as Woking High School.

Baking Competition

Food Technology students took part in an exciting and friendly competition to make Viennese Swirls at Gordon’s School. The day was filled with fun, enthusiasm, and plenty of creativity as students demonstrated their baking skills, precision, and teamwork. There was a great atmosphere throughout, with everyone enjoying the challenge and learning from one another while striving to produce perfectly piped, delicious biscuits. Overall, it was a lively and memorable experience that celebrated skills involved in baking. Alderwood School were announced as the 2026 Arete Baking Champions. 

E-Sports Competition

Students entered the Arete E-sports gaming competition with determination. Throughout the entire event, they displayed many acts of great sportsmanship, tried their hardest and most importantly had a very memorable and enjoyable day. The final winner was from Robert May’s School.

Python Competition

The students were all excited to compete in the Python programming competition and keen to test their coding skills against other schools. At the start of the event, students were introduced to the competition format and given a set of programming tasks to complete.

Working as a team, they shared out the tasks so that everyone could contribute. With 45 minutes to complete as many challenges as possible, it made the competition fast-paced and intense. By working together effectively, the Woking High School students managed to complete enough tasks to win the competition and were announced the champions out of the five schools competing.

After the main event, all Python students participated in several quizzes and enjoyed some Turtle programming activities, which were both fun and educational. Overall, it was a great experience that helped the students improve their Python skills while working as part of a team.

Arete Business Challenge

The Arete Business Challenge, saw schools competing in a fast-paced and highly competitive enterprise event.

Teams of six were selected from each participating school, with students unaware of the specific challenge until the day. Tasked with developing an original product or service in one of three sectors: children’s toys, revision and study aids, or wearable technology, the competition required students to:

• Develop a unique and innovative product or service

• Create a company name, brand logo and memorable slogan

• Consider environmental and ethical strategies to ensure their idea was socially responsible

• Design a marketing strategy, including a billboard-style advertisement

• Present their concept to a professional judging panel

Throughout the day, students demonstrated exceptional teamwork and creativity. They researched market needs, brainstormed ideas, and refined their concepts into realistic and commercially viable products with innovative features. The level of collaboration, critical thinking and creativity on display was outstanding.

Each team delivered a confident and professional presentation, showcasing not only creativity but strong business acumen. Judges posed challenging and detailed questions, to which students responded with impressive clarity, quick thinking and thorough preparation.

All five participating teams produced well-planned and highly realistic proposals. Woking High School was named the overall winner for their innovative wearable technology concept designed for skiers worldwide — a forward-thinking idea that particularly impressed the judges for its originality, practicality and strong branding.

Congratulations to all students who took part in all events. It was a brilliant day which celebrated the ethos of the Arete Partnership - collaboration and innovation.