Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Thursday update for you, as we break for the Easter holidays.
On Wednesday five Classicists competed against twelve schools for the award of a gold laurel trophy. Upon arrival, students hurried to choose their team name - 'Corinth' was the desired choice. A detailed timetable was provided to briefly outline the competition structure. This year, there was an exciting addition to the Latin Spelling Bee event - guest lectures for students. Author Emily Hauser spoke about her new book, Ancient Love Stories, which brings tales of passion, jealousy, hope and longing from the last three thousand years. Caroline K Mackenzie, a lawyer and Classics Tutor shared her top tips for learning vocabulary in Latin. The competition consisted of three rounds, with three different spelling tasks in each round. After the second round, the highest-performing students from each school qualified for the students' Spelling Bee Awards: Ruxandra 7S made the team extremely proud by coming 8th in the finals and was awarded a certificate and a copy of Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes. Although we did not win the laurel trophy for the highest-performing school, we came 6th in the scoreboard - a very impressive performance especially as it was the Classics Department's first time participating in such an event. This event really did serve as a catalyst for students to experience the importance of Classics, further motivate their ambitions, and, most importantly be rewarded for their efforts on this special occasion. Kudos to all their efforts and hard work: Moosa Abuzar 7L, Tobia Lullo 7M, Ana Calciu 8K, Riley Clapperton 7C, Ruxandra Handiuc 7S.
Sportswise, a group of Year 10s and one Year 8 took part in what proved to be, for us, a very successful volleyball tournament on Wednesday. Kelmscott sent two teams that brought home silver and bronze medals. We congratulate the teams consisting of Leo Festante 8S, Anthony Ungureanu 10K, Berkay Bekir 10K, Abdu-Rehman Al-Islami 10K, Victor Ukwandu 10K, Troy Foley 10M, Sufyan Hadj-Cherif 10L, Devon Miller 10E, Ayaan Khan 10K, Karina Palkowska 10S, Shahab Magala 10S, Abdul Malek Touari 10C and Danyal Ives 10C on this phenomenal success, we are extremely proud of their achievement.
More congratulations now to the winners of the World Book Day Competitions. There were lots of amazing entries for both the creative writing and book cover competitions. Our winners for 2024 are Samuel Burnside, Karima Haidary, Bakary Touray Sossokou, Samusy Touray Sossokou, Olive Crawford, Soma Acsady, Layla Mehdi, Imani Lake de Kestelier, Salahuddin Khan, Simrah Hussain, Dylan Ware and Asliddin Omarov.
I was delighted to receive my personal copy of the Easter extravaganza ‘Kooky Kelmscott’ comic, produced by the Comic Book Club. It is apparent as you flick through the pages that our incredibly creative students have found the perfect way to showcase their talents. My congratulations to Eissa Akhtar, Idries Akhtar, Elsie Tulloch, Riley Clapperton, Harris Cotton, Olive Crawford, Chloe Bird and Leo Webb. I have pleasure in including a pdf of their comic for your enjoyment here. ‘At comic club, we always enjoy the process of writing, drawing and creating our own comics. Even when it seemed as if we might not make the deadline, we relied on the STORM characteristics….. We feel very proud of our comic, we put a lot of effort into it and we hope you enjoy it!’ Idries Akthar 7T.
On Monday 15th April, from 5pm - 6pm there is an opportunity for some virtual Easter work experience with BT. This virtual insight event will allow those taking part to dive into the world of technology at an incredibly large technology company, learn about the variety of careers within this industry, take part in interactive workshop sessions, and connect with some fantastic senior leaders at BT Group. For those interested an application form can be found here.
As Kelmscott’s first ever sustainability day fast approaches on 25th April, Ikram Abdullahi 10L has asked me to share that the Art Department and the Climate Ambassadors have collaborated to create a fun competition to promote and celebrate being more sustainable, incorporating elements of nature and art. Students will have the opportunity to make their own upcycled spring-themed planters. Students are asked to bring recycled cans or other equipment they may wish to use. Students wishing to take part are invited to the Art classrooms every Wednesday lunchtime, week commencing 29th April.
We received a number of very reasonable requests from students last year, via our student voice channels, about the possibility of including tailored shorts, as an option on our uniform list during the warmer months. We have discussed this and agree it is a good idea. As a result, students are permitted to wear knee-length, tailored shorts after the Easter break. A tailored short should essentially be in the same material and style as the smart school trousers that students wear. For your convenience, I have included a link to an example of the style here, please note other suppliers are available. Sports shorts and such like are not permitted.
I hope you have a fantastic holiday. We look forward to seeing students back when we return on Monday 15th April at the usual time, which will be a Week A.
Congratulations to Musa Samin in 7K who topped the reward point charts for the school last week, with an impressive fifty-four – very impressive indeed. Well done too, to the students below who topped the charts for their year group:
Year 7 Musa Samim with 54 points
Year 8 Robert Basilio Jr with 34 points
Year 9 Rachel Ojumu with 20 points
Year 10 Charlie Tardelli-Thompson with 22 points
Year 11 Sanad Taher with 16 points
Finally, congratulations too, to the following students who have topped the reward point charts for the year so far, with a special mention to Mabel Harris in 7S who has the most in the entire school with two hundred and thirty-two reward points – keep up the outstanding work.
Year 7 Mabel Harris with 231 points
Year 8 Alexandra Gutoiu with 174 points
Year 9 Lin Weng Yan with 155 points
Year 10 Zahra Turkmani with 137 points
Year 11 Eric Henig Griffin with 157 points
I hope those celebrating Easter, this first weekend, or Eid in the second week, have a wonderful time.
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher