Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you, following the first week of the summer term.
We received some brilliant news to kick-start the week, our Eco-committee, led brilliantly by Ms Hill, were successful in a ten thousand pound bid that they had submitted. The money is to be spent on converting a grey area in to a green one. I will update you on their plans there in due course, but a huge well done to all involved.
As you will be aware at Kelmscott, this year, we have been focusing on increasing the awareness of climate issues and sustainability across the school. On Thursday 25 April, we will be holding our first ever Sustainability Day and we are really excited about the events that are going to take place. Throughout this week, our student Climate Ambassadors have been delivering assemblies to discuss key issues related to sustainability. On the day itself we will have two guest speakers delivering talks to help to learn more about climate change and sustainability. The first will be Luke Cordingley speaking about his time working in the polar regions on conservation and biodiversity. The second will be by author and journalist Jack Shenker who will speak about his time reporting on the international climate negotiations in Dubai and Egypt. We will also be holding a non uniform day, £2 to participate as usual. The dress code for Sustainability Day non-uniform is bright colours, floral print or themes relating to wildlife and sustainability. Money raised will be going directly towards student projects where we will be creating a sustainable garden. There will be quizzes in form time, with prizes for the winning tutor group, and also an art competition. International Earth Day is on 22 April 2024, so our Sustainability Day is coinciding with this important event. If you want to know more about International Earth Day you can read more here: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/
A group of Year 11 and 10 students went to UCL this week for a seminar on Persian Kings delivered by UCL’s Professor Ceccarelli. The students managed very well during the lecture and were able to recap key elements of Persian customs, culture and more importantly their treatment of conquered people. After lunch, the students had a chat with Professor Sim (professor of History at UCL) who spoke to the students about university applications and potential career paths with a history degree. The students engaged very well and asked many great questions. I was delighted to receive an email from the professor leading the seminar who was really impressed with the group commenting, “they were a fantastic cohort who asked great questions and stuck with some pretty demanding UG-level material - a real credit to the school and to their teachers.” UCL are keen to continue our partnership with them, which is very pleasing.
Kelmscott is signed up to the E17 Art Trail this June. Today, in collaboration with Clio’s Company, a group of Year 9 Classicists worked on their project, Ultima Britannia, focussing on a Roman story, set in 82 AD, twenty years after Boudicca's uprising, where four main protagonists from various backgrounds describe their role in Roman Londinium. The workshop focussed on the lives of these individual characters where students were asked to bring to life through still frames. The group has decided to set the story in the present day, considering how current affairs might align with the issues and concerns that these characters may have experienced under Roman rule. Our Kelmscott students look forward to presenting their project at the E17 Art Trail, as well as an evening at Kelmscott where friends and family will be invited to view the incredible work that our students have put in to the project. Watch this space.
Another opportunity to come out of the organisers of the Art Trail, that might be of interest to some of our students is ‘Some Kind Of Hack Space’, a creative and digital group held monthly on Saturdays for young people 14 years of age and up. It is targeted at neurodivergent youngsters; more information can be found here.
A reminder to our Year 10 families that Progress Evening is coming up on Thursday 2nd May. This is a revised date so I want to make sure that all families have this in their diaries, such is the importance of those meetings with subject teachers.
The Local Authority’s Bee Zee Bodies group has another course starting soon that I thought might be of interest to families. A twelve-week healthy lifestyle course begins at Walthamstow School for Girls, on the 2nd May. More information can be found here.
I would like to signpost the following careers opportunities. If any students are interested in finding out more about professional services, there is an insight event on the 24th April. More information and how to apply can be found here.
Apprenticeships are exciting opportunities that are open to young people who wish to take learning from their favourite subjects into the world of work. Next week the London ASK Programme is running a series of one hour webinars that explore the different apprenticeship opportunities and routes. They have assembled an ensemble of apprentices and professional contributors, who will link their roles and other opportunities in their organisation to curriculum subjects, including English/Humanities, Maths, Science, Digital and ICT, and Art/Creative subjects. The sessions run from 4 - 5pm and are designed for students and parents.
22nd April – English & Humanities; Key speakers from Barclays and Jacksons Civil Engineering. To register, please see here.
23rd April – Maths; Key speakers from Defence Equipment & Support, Tideway East and Wates. To register, please see here.
24th April – Science; Key speakers from National Grid and Balfour Beatty. To register, please see here.
25th April – Digital & ICT; Key speakers from Redbridge Council, Atkins Realis and CTRL-S. To register, please see here.
26th April – Creative & Arts; Key speakers from Scott Brownrigg Architects & more!To register, please see here.
You will shortly be receiving a link via MyEd to vote for the election of Parent Governor. There are two candidates for one Parent Governor vacancy. Please read the information about both candidates before making your choice and please select only one candidate. Voting closes at Noon on Friday 26th April 2024.
I noticed that the social media company Meta lowered the minimum age for WhatsApp users from 16 to 13 in the UK this week. The change was announced in February but came into force on Wednesday of this week. As an educator, I do have concerns about this. I would urge families to ensure they are monitoring such activity carefully, as WhatsApp can be harmful for young people e.g. provide a platform for bullying to take place.
Finally, congratulations to the following students who topped the charts in the last week before the Easter holidays for their year group, with a special mention for Alexandra Gutoiu 8C and Ana Calicu 8K with 50 points they topped the charts for the entire school – keep up the good work.
Year 7 Riley Clapperton 7C with 46 points
Year 8 Alexandra Gutoiu 8C and Ana Calicu 8K with 50 points
Year 9 Seema Anjum Suhail 9S with 30 points
Year 10 Alexander Wild with 34 points
Year 11 Kai Molloy 11C with 23 points
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher