I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you, as always, as we head towards the half term holiday.
Another busy week in school, dominated by the GCSE examination series, for our hardworking Year 11s. They continue to impress with their attitude and approach to the exams. You rarely see a Year 11 student without a flashcard or other revision aid. They have less than three school weeks now until their exams end and their time at Kelmscott comes to a close. It is, of course, important that they keep up the hard work, particularly over the half term holiday, to ensure their chances of success are maximised.
It was lovely to see so many families in school yesterday for our Year 8 Parents’ Evening. I hope you found the event enjoyable and informative. Please reach out if there is anything else we can support you with relating to your child’s education.
Some advance warning, sticking with the theme of exams, for Year 7 and 8 families; exams for those year groups, that will take place in the classroom, begin on the 20th June. I hope they too will prepare well for this important assessment point, as we look to gauge how they are progressing, and where we might need to put in additional support, for individuals or groups of students.
Pleasingly, I haven’t had to write about any Covid related issues for quite some time. Related to that topic though, we would like to phase out the wearing of masks in school. We have a very small number of students still wearing masks, our main reason for phasing them out is to ensure that students can communicate as effectively as possible in the classroom. I am aware that there may be exceptions that may need to be made for individual students. If you would like us to consider making an exception for your child, please get in contact, in writing, with your child’s form-tutor to explain the reasons for your child. We may need to return to mask wearing in the future, of course, e.g. if a new variant appears; as in the past, we will have no hesitation in doing this. Many thanks for your support with this matter, we hope to phase things out by the middle of June, all things being well. Accompanying this letter is a flyer supplied by the Local Authority, with information on where you can still get a Covid vaccination for those wanting one.
Some advance warning that Celebration Evening is taking place on Thursday 16th June. It has not been possible for this evening to take place these past three years, so we are really pleased to see it return. Students are nominated for attainment and progress awards in each of their subjects; those families will be invited to attend the event on the 16th where the winning students will be notified of their awards. There are also some special awards, such as the Headteacher award, which I am looking forward to presenting. We very much look forward to seeing many of you there, exact timings will be shared in due course, but it is likely to be sometime between 5pm and 7pm – please save the date.
I met with our Eco-committee this week to discuss another initiative that they would like to lead on; No Mow May. This is a national campaign to encourage communities not to mow their lawns, until the end of May, in order to boost the flowers and nectar available to pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies and moths. This was a meeting that we tried to have much earlier in the half term, as May is nearly at its end. With the meeting in mind though, we have been able to keep an area of grass uncut to support this campaign. I really welcome students approaching me with such worthwhile initiatives, it is really heartening and inspiring to see.
A small number of students arrived at school earlier this week on electric scooters. Can I please remind families that these are illegal and are therefore not allowed to be brought on to school premises. Many thanks for your support here too.
An end-of-year trip to ZAPspace Trampoline Park is currently being planned for years 9 and 10. Payment and sign up will be simultaneous through the Payment section of the app, places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. A message will be sent in the first week after half term with further information and the date and time the trip will go live in the app. Please note you will need to have MyEd downloaded and be connected to your cashless account to access this trip. Please do get in touch if you are experiencing any difficulties with the app or connecting to your cashless account.
Finally, congratulations to Umar Akhtar in 9L, who topped the rewards points charts with thirty-one last week, the highest total we have had for a number of months – well done.
I wish you all a restful but fun half term holiday, we look forward to welcoming students back, refreshed and ready to go, on Monday 6th June, at the normal time.
Yours sincerely
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher