Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you as always, as we finish the penultimate week of the term.
On Wednesday, following an invitation from community group Salaam Peace, I took part in a fast in support and solidarity with our Muslim community. This is the fourth consecutive time that I have taken part in this, and has become something I look forward to doing. As always, it provokes some really interesting conversations with students and staff about my experience and theirs. I love hearing about the rituals and traditions that families honour during this time, especially around iftar, when the fast is broken with a festive meal.
This year, with all that is going on in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, the process also reminded me how lucky I am to be well fed. I felt very blessed and fortunate as a result of the fast, and my evening meal tasted particularly good that evening.
We received some good news about two of our Year 10 students this week. Ikram Abdullahi and Habiba Ali have both been successful in their application to the Universify Project. This is an amazing opportunity for these students and huge congratulations on this achievement. The Universify Project is an organisation that supports students in their academic and personal journey towards higher education. The students will visit Oxford University and take part in a summer residential and thereafter will receive one-to-one mentoring from students studying at Oxford. They will be mentored throughout the remainder of Year 10 and Year 11, and will attend an additional residential at Oxford University at Easter in Year 11, prior to beginning the public GCSE exams. We look forward to hearing about their journey on the project.
Continuing their UCL project this week our Year 10 Art students were fortunate to have an Art facilitator, from The Slade School of Art (UCL), to teach them how to make Intaglio prints with oils based ink and acrylic printing plates, they have been further enhanced with other techniques using the ink. This followed the day spent at the Slade visiting the artist studios, the art gallery, and making a collaborative copperplate etching. The work as usual from our students taking GCSE is of an exceptional standard, demonstrating drawing and mark making skills with the scribes. This beautiful work will form a part of students' GCSE coursework.
I would like to sign post some careers opportunities for over the Easter holidays now, that might be of interest to students:
Wednesday, 3rd of April from 9am - 3:30pm, a virtual work experience day with Spectris, Malvern Panalytical, HBK and Servomex. Spectris are a FTSE company and own all the other science and engineering-based companies mentioned above. Each of the companies Spectris owns specialises in very specific areas of science and engineering, and during this work experience day students will get the opportunity to take part in workshops, and network with each of their companies. To sign up please register using the following registration link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VCP9NZS
Thursday 4th April 2024 from 10am - 4pm, a virtual work experience day with KPMG is a fantastic opportunity for students to pick up some incredible experience at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms. During the day, students will have the opportunity to learn key employability skills, such as how to communicate your message and build your personal brand. Students will also have the chance to meet KPMG colleagues to hear about their career journeys and complete a business pitch challenge. To sign up please register using the following registration link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3T68P5M
There is also an art workshop on Saturday the 23rd March, at the William Morris Gallery titled, Art without Heroes; this also ties in with a celebration of William Morris’ 190th birthday, more information can be found here.
Continuing with the art theme, if you and your children are seeking something exciting to do for a few hours in the Easter holidays, London's Royal Academy have the most fantastic multi-media exhibition which is free for young people under 16. Entangled Pasts 1768-now - Art Colonialism and Change is deemed as the RA's 'most radical show yet' it features art spanning 250 years to explore connections between art associated with the Royal Academy and Britain's Colonial histories. Sculpture, painting, installations, and poetry - there will be something for anyone appreciating the Arts or History.
Next Wednesday is non-uniform day for students, the cost, as always is £2 per student. On Thursday, there will be an additional non-uniform day for students who have exceptional behaviour and attendance records. The additional day is always enjoyed by the students who qualify but can inadvertently upset others who miss out, often narrowly. We hope students who miss out will be incentivised to do all they can to qualify next half term; we know there are many outstanding students who might miss out from time to time. We believe though, that on balance, the pros outweigh the cons of this reward.
For your interest, I have included below some examples of other support that is available during the Easter Holidays:
The Holiday and Activity Food Programme run free activities and provides free meals throughout the school holidays for 5-16-year-olds who are in receipt of benefits-related Free School Meals.
For our families that are seeking information, advice or guidance on the cost of living, support with food or other issues they may be experiencing please see here. There is also a really useful directory of support and community services available here. The cost of Living website with information on topic such as money, food and employment can be accessed here.
For families wishing to access Community Living Rooms that are run in the borough please contact the Community Living Room direct to find out more about what your local space may have on offer including different social and creative activities and food.
An important note for families, if you think you may be eligible to apply for benefits-related free school meals do not delay in making a claim. You can find out more information about eligibility and how to claim Free School meals here.
We break up for the Easter holidays next Thursday 28th March at 12.40pm. We return on Monday 15th April at the usual time, which will be a Week A.
Finally, congratulations to Mabel Harris and Ruxandra Handiuc in 7S who topped the reward point charts for the school last week, with a very impressive forty-eight – keep up the good work. Well done too, to the students below who topped the charts for their year group.
Year 7 Mabel Harris and Ruxandra Handiuc with 48 points
Year 8 Love Ogudipe with 46 points
Year 9 Leah Higgins with 43 points
Year 10 Ikram Abdullahi with 36 points
Year 11 Isabella Ryan with 14 points
With every good wish, yours ever,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher