Shooting Station at Westminster is particularly special, in that pupils have access to the School's own shooting range, which is located on the main campus at the top of College, one of the School's houses. Around 50 pupils take part each year, and it is a sport where boys and girls compete on an equal footing. The Station is run by enthusiastic Common Room staff including an expert coach. Our 25-yard range houses an armoury of smallbore target rifles, and pupils shoot in the prone position at a variety of target cards.
Station afternoons are split into four sessions to allow for focused coaching and no prior experience is necessary. Pupils generally start from novice level (rifle resting on training block) and progress to competition standard (with shooting jacket and sling) – indeed some find that they improve very quickly and can achieve high scores within just a few sessions.
There is a programme of fixtures in the Play and Lent Terms against schools and universities around London and the south-east, including annual matches against Oxford and Cambridge Universities. We compete in a range of postal competitions against other schools and clubs throughout the year.
There are trips to the National Shooting Centre at Bisley to shoot fullbore, and some pupils compete at Bisley in the summer. For younger pupils, there is a Lower School Activity that runs three times a week, and a Lower School Expedition to Bisley that runs at least once a year. The House competition takes place in the Lent Term.