I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you as always.
It was lovely to welcome families into school yesterday, to discuss the progress your child has been
making so far this year, as well as their engagement with our co-curricular opportunities. I hope you
found the conversation fruitful and that relationships between home and school have developed yet
further. Working together in this way, is the best way for us to maximise your child’s potential in
exams, and more holistically.
Year 11 have completed their first set of exams this week in all of their subjects; their engagement
and approach has been exemplary and I look forward to hearing how they got on. We still have six months to go before the real exams begin, so all is to play for, for all of our students. Every day
really does count in terms of the work students do in the classroom and, crucially, out.
Year 10 Computing students enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Apple Store at Covent Garden this week, learning how to code, developing apps. They really enjoyed their experience. Do have a look at our Twitter feed for some pictures of the day, many thanks to Ms Riaz for organising the trip.
The Classics Department is excited to launch its first ever Classics competition. The competition
encourages students to come up with a creative response to Natalie Haynes' quotation:
"So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call
us monsters."
Students can choose one of the four formats to present their creative work: performance, art,
creative writing, or animation. If you would like your child to participate in this competition, please
ask them to see Ms Ahmet at the start of lunchtime on Wednesday 16th of November, in Room 103. We are really excited to see what students come up with this year.
Some early notice for you now about the Winter Holiday Activity and Food Programme organised by the local authority. Their activity programme runs from the 19th to the 23rd December with an
exciting range of activities for students to engage in. Please see the links accompanying this letter
for more information.
Our half termly attendance figures came in last week for the first half term. I was really pleased to
see that attendance for the school is 95%. This is back to pre-pandemic levels and is impressive for
a school with a thousand students. This is testament to the support we get from you, our families
and the resilience of our young people. Our teachers teach engaging and exciting lessons day in,
day out. Of course it is obvious that if students aren’t here, they cannot take advantage of these
lessons. Attendance to school is imperative. Well done all and keep up the good work.
Assemblies this week examined remembrance, why we wear poppies and remember those affected by conflict. We observed a two-minute silence today, close to 11 O’clock, which was carried out impeccably.
Finally, well done to Argita Taci in 10K who amassed the most rewards points last week with 24, keep up the good work.
Yours sincerely
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher