We are extremely fortunate, in the centre of London, to have a great deal of outdoor space for sport: in addition to our playing fields at Vincent Square, there are several fives courts on our main site. We also have a wonderful Sports Centre that offers over 6,000m² of indoor space, housing a multi-use movement studio, a rowing training suite, fencing pistes, indoor cricket nets, a fully equipped gym, two climbing walls, a dojo and a table tennis area and courts for basketball, netball, five-a-side football, volleyball, hockey and badminton. In addition, there’s the School’s shooting gallery, and our Boat Club at Putney too.
Our pupils benefit from the involvement of professional coaches, several of whom have represented their countries in international matches and competitions, including the Olympic Games. This is an enormous asset to us, particularly when it comes to preparing our pupils to represent the school in local, national and international events. Competing has led our footballers to France, our cricketers to Barbados and our rowers across the globe, often to great success.
Recent sporting highlights
A major milestone for Westminster in 2025 was the signing of rookie professional cricket contracts by two pupils – a first for the School. One represented England U19s against Bangladesh U19s and played for Middlesex CCC in the T20 Vitality Blast and the Metro Bank One Day Cup. The other joined Northants CCC, featuring in the County Championship and the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Both have since secured contract extensions with their respective counties until 2027.
Westminster rowers excelled at the 2025 National Schools Regatta, winning gold and bronze in the J15 Fours and bronze in the J16 category. Internationally, two pupils helped England claim first place in both the Junior Fours and Junior Eights at the Home International Regatta. At the Coupe de Jeunesse (European Junior Championships) in Austria, two more pupils were part of the gold medal-winning GBR Coxless Fours crew. Notably, one Westminster rower won gold and two others secured silver in 2024 and 2022 as part of the Great Britain Eights Crew at the World Junior Championships.
In fencing, Westminster retained the U15 Foil title at the British Schools Team Championships in 2025, having first won it in 2024. At the 2025 Public Schools Fencing Championships, individual success included a Girls’ Senior Epee title and third-place finishes in the Boys’ Junior Foil and Boys’ Junior Epee. Westminster Judokas continue to achieve outstanding results nationally and internationally; at the 2025 HMC Independent Schools’ Tournament, pupils achieved three golds, two silvers, and two bronzes, while also retaining The Team Trophy. Additionally, in 2022, a Westminster fencer earned a collection of gold, silver, and bronze medals at the European Junior Championships, the British Senior Championships, and the Commonwealth Championships.
In addition to the health and wellbeing benefits of regular exercise and the enjoyment our pupils find in playing sport, we also know that our Station programme is giving pupils the opportunity to gain important life skills. Qualities such as time-management, determination, commitment and initiative can be developed through competing against other individuals and teams, in addition to learning how to be both gracious winners and good losers.
Mr James Kershen, Director of Sport
james.kershen@westminster.org.uk
