The Luffield Group was formed with a view to promote co-operation between the secondary and preparatory schools of the small towns and villages lying between Bicester, Northampton and Milton Keynes on cross-curricular matters and events where mixing students from different schools is valuable. (Luffield is a deserted village on the Bucks/Northants border.)

Member schools are Akeley Wood, Kingsbrook, Stowe, Beachborough, Magdalen College School, Thornton College, Buckingham School, Royal Latin School and Winchester House.

We joined the Group in 2003 and children from Years 7 & 8 have taken part in a number of exciting events to date. Each term one of the participating schools hosts an event, such as a Public Speaking workshop with Tim Boswell MP and an inspirational Jazz Workshop day. There have also been Maths and Science days.

The highlight of the year is the Luffield Festival which takes place at the end of June. This is a themed 3-day event where children from the nine different schools work together in workshops, having chosen one of several different disciplines: Dance, drama, music - instrumental/choral, art, creative writing or website designing.

For the first two days everyone works at putting a performance together for the evening of the third day. The performances take place at Stowe School and parents and friends come along en masse to support. This year's African extravaganza was really exciting - full of energy and vibrancy by all who took part. Now read the poem below.......