For years, students in Year 12 from Bexley Grammar have participated in the prestigious Young Enterprise competition. Young Enterprise is a charity that’s determined to give young people the opportunity to develop life skills such as teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving to give us the knowledge & confidence we will need to have a chance in the changing world of work.

Over the last few years, we’ve noticed how stress and anxiety are affecting an increasing number of people in our school. We’ve noticed how more and more students are suffering in silence. How many people struggle with these feelings but often hesitate to seek help due to societal stigma and the distorted perception that it would be a sign of weakness.

We wanted to create something that could offer comfort. That could be a starting point for those struggling to take control of their mental well-being. Something that could take the weight of anxiety off your shoulders. Something that would be the first step in the journey of mastering mental well-being, that would let you enjoy the fullest that life has to offer.

And that’s how we came up with Heavy Hugs.

We saw how weighted blankets were becoming increasingly popular in helping people with anxiety or ADHD sleep more easily and wondered if we could apply the same concept to teddy bears. Whether we could make a weighted teddy bear that would provide comfort in a more personal way.

But for heavy hugs,  it’s not simply a stuffed animal — it’s a warm friend that’s always there for you, no matter the time or situation. It’s a friend that will be there without you having to ask for it.

Research confirmed our idea through studies on the effects of deep pressure stimulation: the weight provides a calming effect, simulating a mother holding a child, activating the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. In situations of panic or high stress, pressure stimulation helps slow the heart rate, steady breathing, and ease symptoms of anxiety.

For parents, we can only aspire that our weighted Teddy Bear can be a tool for you to help comfort your children during the hard moments and offer a way for you to say that ‘Everything is going to be okay,’ even without words.

Even though our journey has only just begun, we have already learnt so much more than we expected. From brainstorming ideas to designing and testing prototypes, every step has been a learning experience.

We’re very grateful for the opportunity to learn and to make a difference and we’re determined to give it all we’ve got.

So, for us, this isn’t just about selling a product—it’s about creating a movement.

Anxiety and stress shouldn’t be obstacles to enjoying life, especially for children.

By supporting Heavy Hugs, you’re not just buying a teddy bear; you’re joining us in our mission to make a difference.

We invite you to take that step with us.

Share our message, tell a friend, or come visit us at Old Spitalfields Market on the 25th February from 9:15am - 3:30pm. If you’re interested in learning more about our bears or placing an order, contact us via our social media links below (website coming soon).  Together, we can help children — and adults — find a little more comfort in their lives. Let’s make this world a more huggable place, one bear at a time.

Keep up with us on:

TikTok

Instagram 

Young Enterprise Team, 2025

In January 2025, I, alongside several other students at BGS, took part in a sponsored sleep-out to raise money for the Greenwich Winter Shelter.  I organised this event for my scout unit.  Our aim is to raise £2500 for this local charity which gives vital support to those who need it most. 

Greenwich Homeless Project

Greenwich Homeless Project is a local charity which provides warmth, emergency accommodation and advocacy for people experiencing homelessness in Greenwich. The charity was founded in 2014 by a group of local churches who came together to offer their venues as places of refuge to an increasing number of homeless people in Greenwich.  

For 6 years, we operated the rotating winter night shelter model until the pandemic paused all operations.  We used this as an opportunity to renovate and refurbish a building, and relaunched from our new venue in January 2022.

Greenwich Homeless Project offers single room emergency accommodation for 13 people from October – March in our Winter Night Shelter.  We also run a year-round Day Centre for anyone who is homeless or at risk of homelessness.  Both projects are supported by our team of over 100 volunteers.

The Overnight Sponsored Sleep-out

We will hold the sleep-out on the 18th January where a large group of 14-18 year olds will sleep outside in and on cardboard boxes, at Severndroog Castle overnight. 

This is an amazing charity that always needs support. It also holds several other fundraising events, such as a sleep-out in tents and a carol concert.

It would be fantastic for local people to support this charity and us with fundraising for it.

We have just set up a go-fund me page: 

justgiving.com/page/sesusleepout2024

Many Thanks

Lucy Gowing, Year 12

 

Over the past couple of months, Year 8 have been involved in the First Give project and each form has chosen a charity to support. Below you can read about what 8ML and 8LC have been doing for their projects.

Mrs Paige, Senior Academic Mentor, Year 8

8ML

Wednesday 18th December saw the BGS EX Hide & Seek event hosted by Wellman 8ML. The event was a fundraiser for Bexley Foodbank, a charity which aids local people in crisis, offering three-day emergency food supplies. On that day, so many people were so eager to attend, excited about the opportunity and wanted to donate as they knew it was going to a good cause.

BGS EX Hide & Seek was a thrilling, fast-paced game of hide and seek, spanning across the vast school campus. Taking place for an hour after school, the game was competitive, exceeding 100 students participating from Years 7-9. The event was split into two 30-minute segments, commencing with 11 seekers from 8ML, whilst others were chosen to be hiders, and vice versa.

Alongside the main hide-and-seek event, a selection of seven students volunteered to showcase their proficient, high-level expertise in baking through a bake sale. During the bake sale, a variety of baked goods were sold, ranging from banana bread and brownies to cookies.

We are pleased to announce that with the efforts of all those who participated, we were able to raise a grand total of £158 for the Bexley Foodbank. The event not only provided a fun and engaging way for the community to come together, but also showcased the creativity and dedication of those involved in planning and executing the game. The funds raised will go towards supporting various charitable initiatives, having a positive impact on the lives of those in need. We are very grateful and appreciative of the many students who donated to the charity.

Joshua and Jake, Year 8

8LC

8LC’s social action for the First Give programme started in early December and all the money we raise from our events will go towards the amazing charity Bexley Snap, which supports disabled children and their carers.

So far, we have launched a raffle and a quiz night, and we are hoping to host two more events in early 2025. Thank you to all participants and well done to the winners of the raffle and quiz night! 

Our next event will be a movie night held on the 10th January, and the movie is voted for from the three choices on our poster. We hope to see as many people there as possible!

Thank you again to everyone who has already taken part in our events to support the worthwhile charity Bexley Snap.

Aysu, Year 8

Exam stress is something which we all have experience of, and although stress is good and prepares us (e.g, enhances our focus and motivates us). Too much of it can lead to cognitive problems, for example, impairing our memory. Which is something we need running during an exam!

Stress can impact how memories are formed, as well as reduce retrieval. 

It’s important to recognise symptoms of stress-impaired memory, as well as what is causing this stress in the first place!  Finding the root of the problem and coming to terms with it helps to create a more focused approach to dealing with it.

Symptoms to recognise include (but not limited to):

• Forgetfulness
• Frequent confusion
• Difficulty recalling studied material

So how can we tackle this problem?

There are many coping mechanisms which we can use to reduce stress.

One simple, yet effective way to improve memory, by reducing stress, is to create a relaxation system. Whether this is a series of breathing exercises or visualising your happy place, it is important you have these systems in place and ready to use at the first sign of stress.

Many researchers (Zandi et al, 2021) have found that practising mindfulness (e.g. meditation) can help improve your memory by minimising stress, and even helping with any issues of getting to sleep.

Sleep is also an important key factor to doing well in exams, sleeping after studying helps to consolidate your learning (reinforce new information and commit them to long term memory), as well as allowing your brain to be refreshed for the next day (Diekelmann et al, 2009).

Which means you won’t end up falling asleep during your exam!

For some more information, here are some helpful links:

• How Stress Works With and Against Your Memory
• Stressors: Coping Skills and Strategies

For anyone who may need some support, here are some useful organisations:

• Mind
• Young Minds
• Mental Health Foundation

Zandi- DOI: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_616_20

Diekelmann- doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2008.08.002.

Blaise Stokes, Year 12 Psychology Prefect

This term, a group of our outstanding Year 8 students took part in University College London’s Ocean Health Challenge 2024, a prestigious national engineering design competition for secondary school and college students aged 11-18. The challenge encourages participants to create, prototype, and pitch innovative solutions that help prevent plastic pollution from reaching our oceans, while also raising awareness of the severe impact plastic has on marine life. Working together, our students produced a range of creative, well-thought-out, and ambitious designs for products and services aimed at tackling this crucial environmental issue. Their dedication and hard work in contributing to this global cause are truly commendable! We are incredibly proud of their efforts and are excited to introduce the talented students who took part in this impactful challenge, along with the innovative designs they created. Click here to view the gallery and check out each group’s entry.

Miss Read, Geography Department

 

Year 7 Netball

This term, Year 7 students have shown incredible enthusiasm and dedication to netball at Bexley Grammar School. Weekly training sessions have been buzzing with energy, with an impressive number of students attending regularly to hone their skills and work as a team. Their hard work has paid off in matches, where they’ve displayed excellent gameplay, teamwork, and sportsmanship, achieving commendable results against local schools.

Special recognition goes to our Players of the Term who have stood out for their outstanding effort, commitment, and positive attitude throughout the season.

Players of the term

Well done to all involved – we can’t wait to see how you continue to develop next term! They finished this term with a Christmas tournament.

Fabulous friendly festive fun! The winners were the reindeers, closely followed by the puddings! A fantastic way to end the term. Thank you for your commitment. A massive thanks to the Year 9 leaders for assisting working on their DOFE every week.

Click on the link here to view the PE Winter Photo Gallery 2024.

Mrs Kemp, PE Department

Year 8 & 9 Netball

We regularly have 3 full courts of netballers training after school on a Wednesday.  This has been a superb commitment this term, girls!  Recent fixtures have seen convincing wins against St Catherine's. 

More to come in the new year.  Really well done and have a wonderful Christmas break ladies!

Year 10-13 Netball 

We have had huge numbers attending netball club on Wednesday nights from our Year 10 & 11 cohorts.

The teams have worked hard to develop their skills throughout the court and, individually, students have really improved.

Scores

St Matthew's
Year 10A 18-8 St Matthews A
Year 10B 6-6 St Matthews B

Chislehurst & Sidcup GS
Year 10 15-11 CSGS
Year 11 12-15 CSGS

Gravesend Grammar, Sixth Form
1st team 26-20 GGS
2nd team 13-4

Year 11 Tournament
A team - 1st place
B team - 7th place

Year 10 Tournament
2nd Place

Players of the term

Ayaka has been outstanding this term, showing real strength in the shooting circle and great versatility on court. Ayaka is highly dedicated and has a fantastic attitude.

Sophie has shown great leadership on the court for Year 10 this year. Her shooting and dominance on court has been evident in every game she has played!

A huge shout-out to Alice Black and Evie Matthews, who played in our first team against Gravesend Grammar in November. Both girls showed great experience on court and led the team to a very close win!

Well done all! 

Click on the link here to view the PE Winter Photo Gallery 2024.

Badminton

Year 9, 10, 11 Badminton Club sees a spread of year groups. Year 9, 10, 11 girls playing against Dartford Grammar with Key Stage 4 becoming victorious!

Thank you to all who have attended badminton this term that sees KS4 Badminton finish for this year. We welcome KS3 students to join us after Christmas, 7.45am in the Sports Hall, Year 8 every week A, Year 7 every week B.

Swimming

Our swimming teams have attended galas at Colfe’s school this term. Our senior team had a superb gala in November, with the girls finishing 3rd and the boys being crowned champions. The team finished 2nd overall. There were some fantastic performances, with BGS winning 15 of the 35 races.

Running Club

Every Friday, Week B at 7.45am
Around Bexley Grammar School, there are many parks and green areas. We are proud to have a running club, where anyone of any ability can run in Danson Park and enjoy the great scenery, landscape, and also some friendly faces from the school! We meet near the sports hall, then we all head off to Danson Park, where we go on our run. Please join the running club. It is a fun way to start your day and have a relaxing run.

Scott Morris, Year 7

Running club takes place every Friday, Week B in Danson Park, and is a fun way to start your day. We take a relaxed run around the park, admiring the scenery (and the baby ducklings if we’re lucky!). Everyone can come, you don’t need to be a brilliant runner!

Caitlin Mackintosh, Year 8

Girls' Football

We’ve been lucky to have Charlton Academy working alongside this group of students with more fixtures to look forward to in 2025.

Year 8 Football

The Year 8 squad have enjoyed their first season playing 11 a-side.  There have been some great goals scored alongside some impressive results, particularly the 9-0 win over Cleeve Park and the 6-3 victory against Harris Falconwood. 

The Captain has been rotated and many of the squad have stepped up and taken their turn at leading the side.  There is a great spirit within the team which will definitely prove a good foundation to build on.  I want to thank those players who are not always in the squad but have contributed so importantly this season. 

Representing BGS is something that you should all be very proud of!  Keep up the great work Year 8!

Rugby

Our rugby teams have enjoyed a busy term, and have produced some fantastic performances in their games.  The highlights for me are always the progress of new players. With a limited rugby pedigree, it’s always a real pleasure to see our players grow in confidence and understanding over the course of training and matches. There’s a lot to learn in rugby, and with our fixtures starting early, some players can feel a bit unprepared, but they quickly acclimatise and do really well.

With that in mind, our rising stars for rugby this term have been:

Year 7 - Pavel Jankulowski, Jason Rai

Year 8 - Kevin Taflaj, Aarush Upadhye, Jean-Andre Koidjo

Year 9 - Daniel Moss, Dev Prasadh

Year 10 - Alex Dimitrov, Joshua Chukwu-Ike

Performance highlights would include:

• The Year 7s won their first ever game, and clinging on for a win against Cleeve Park.
• Year 8s finally getting a win in the gloom at Bexleyheath Academy.
• The Year 9 squad beat both Langley Park and Wilmington GS with a small squad due to injuries.
• The Year 10s produced a fantastic performance to beat a very strong and experienced Buller’s Wood Boys' team.

Click on the link here to view the PE Winter Photo Gallery 2024.