Overview
- Year 10 pupils received a one-hour lesson in January on the basics of technical preparation and communications for combat drones, according to documents cited by The Times.
- The instruction forms part of OBZR, a militarised course introduced across Russian schools in 2024/25 that includes fortifications engineering, battlefield first aid, and protection against radiological, biological and chemical threats.
- A curriculum plan signed in September by headmaster Alexander Pogorelov says students aged 15 to 17 should learn the methods of combat use of unmanned autonomous vehicles and the history of robotic systems.
- The Notting Hill school teaches children of diplomats and suspected intelligence officers alongside some pupils with British citizenship, with about 60 full-time students and roughly 40 in evening classes.
- As a branch of the embassy, the school is exempt from Department for Education and Ofsted oversight, and prior reporting details Kalashnikov assembly drills, simulated grenade practice, fundraising for Russia’s war, and a state textbook by Vladimir Medinsky portraying Ukraine as a Western puppet.