Headteacher's Weekly Update 30 - Friday 8th May 2026

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope this letter finds you and your family well; a Friday update for you as always.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all students and families for their continued efforts in supporting excellent school attendance. I recognise that there will occasionally be exceptional circumstances which may lead to absence from school, and in these situations we greatly value the communication and support shown by families. It is only by working together that we are able to achieve the very best outcomes for our students, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Attendance for the week of 27th April – 1st May 2026 was 92%.  

Attendance by Year group:

• Year 7 94.27%

• Year 8 94.14%

• Year 9 90.84%

• Year 10 92.15%

• Year 11 87.87%

  
  

Firstly, I would like to wish our Year 11 students the very best of luck as GCSE examinations now begin in earnest. This is an important and demanding period for them and I know they will make both themselves and the school community proud. Thank you also to families for the encouragement and support you continue to provide at home during this time.

We are also very excited to share that the launch of the Duke of Edinburgh Award for our current Year 9 students is now imminent. This is a tremendously proud moment for the school and a fantastic opportunity for our young people to develop resilience, independence and leadership skills beyond the classroom.  More information will follow in the coming weeks both in this letter and through assemblies with students.

Over the coming weeks we will also be conducting a student survey regarding mobile phones and social media use.  During form time, students will complete a short questionnaire in an ICT suite to help us better understand who currently has access to smartphones, who may use more basic “brick” phones, and which social media applications are most commonly used by our students.  As families will know, we continue to give very careful consideration to our approach regarding mobile phones and smartphones in school.  This remains a significant topic of national discussion and political debate and we want to ensure that any decisions we make are thoughtful, informed and in the best interests of our young people.

It is wonderful to be able to share some feedback following our recent Black History Month charity non-uniform day.  We were especially delighted to receive a testimonial from Emiola Lanlehin, Director and Lead Educator at doops.  The funds raised were used to support a London event for children in care, helping to cover DBS checks for volunteer stylists as well as providing hair product boxes for attendees. 

“I just wanted to take a moment to thank you so sincerely for everything you did for our girls.  They had the most incredible day and haven’t stopped talking about it since we left.  The warmth, kindness, and care you and all your colleagues showed to every child was so evident, and it made such a difference.  Experiences like this mean so much, especially for children in care, and what you created will have a lasting impact on our girls.” - Eminola

Thank you once again for your generosity and support of charitable causes.  Our students and families consistently demonstrate tremendous compassion and community spirit.

Our Year 8 students enjoyed an inspiring visit to the Sustainability Careers Expo at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week. The day began with talks from representatives from Mace Group and Teesside University, who encouraged students to think about what inspires them and how this can shape future career pathways.  Students then had the opportunity to speak with a wide range of universities and organisations, including Transport for London, University College London and University of Essex, before taking part in a podcast workshop led by the BBC, where they created and presented their own podcasts.  The trip provided students with a valuable opportunity to reflect on their futures, with many leaving feeling inspired and motivated about possible career paths ahead.

We are pleased to share the results from this year’s United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) competition.  Our Year 8 Set 1 students performed exceptionally well, achieving 3 Gold certificates, 8 Silver certificates, 5 Bronze certificates and 4 Participation awards.  A special congratulations goes to Isaac Dowler (8C) and Wilfred Whitmee (8K), who have qualified to represent Kelmscott in the next round of the competition in June.  An excellent achievement by all involved. 

A reminder to students to submit entries for the Kelmscott Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is proving to be a huge success, with lots of students already sharing some truly stunning photographs.  The level of enthusiasm and creativity has been fantastic to see, and we are expecting a very large number of entries.  The competition has generated so much interest that we may even explore the possibility of a standalone exhibition to showcase students’ work.  We encourage all budding photographers to get involved and submit their entries.   The closing date for submissions is Friday 15th May via Google Classroom (code: hsypldvr). For further information, students should see Ms Hill in K213.

As we approach the end of the academic year our year group trips are fast approaching. As I have mentioned previously these are always a real highlight of the school calendar and we strongly encourage all students to take part and make lasting memories with their peers.  If cost may be a barrier, please contact  Ms Andrews, we will do our best to support where we can. 

End of year trip details are as follows:

• Year 7:  Adventure Island, Southend-on-Sea, Thursday 9th July 2026

• Year 8:  Nuclear Races, Brentwood, Thursday 9th July 2026 

• Year 9: Nuclear Races, Brentwood, Wednesday 8th July 2026

• Year 10:  Activity day - Wise up - On site, Wednesday 8th July 2026

  
  

We are also pleased to share an opportunity linked to the Leyton Creative Youth Hub, with further opportunities becoming available for students to engage with creative projects and enrichment activities locally.  For more information please see here.

Kelmscott School Community Hub partnership with the Waltham Forest Adult Learning Service (WFALS) are offering Learning Opportunities to our community:

Waltham Forest Adult Learning Service (WFALS) are offering free workshops and learning opportunities for parents and carers to help build confidence, develop new skills and support children’s learning at home and school.  Working in partnership with Kelmscott, WFALS would value your views on the types of workshops, activities and courses you would like to see offered in the future.  Please take a few minutes to complete the short survey and help shape future learning opportunities for our community.

It has been another exciting and successful week for sport at Kelmscott, with two more fantastic evenings at the Borough Athletics events for our Year 9 and 10 students.   A special mention goes to the Year 10 boys for another outstanding relay performance, alongside excellent individual performances from Hannah Arthur in Shot Put, Terrell-James McArthur-Dallas in Long Jump, Sercan Kucuk in the 200m and Metecan Cetgin in Shot Put.   The commitment, effort and determination shown by all students has been fantastic to see and we are hopeful that this hard work will be rewarded with medals on finals day.

At the time of writing, the results of the recent local elections in Waltham Forest were not yet available. Elections took place across all 22 wards in the borough, with a total of 60 councillors elected. For those interested in following the results, updates will be published on the Waltham Forest Council website 

Finally, I wanted to make families aware that we will shortly begin a review of our school uniform.  New legislation coming into effect from September 2026 will require schools to have no more than three branded uniform items, including PE kit.  This presents a good opportunity for us to review our current offer carefully.  I have long wanted to bring our PE kit more in line with Kelmscott colours, predominantly blue rather than the current red and we will keep families informed as plans develop. Importantly, there will of course be a sensible transition period during which existing uniform can continue to be worn alongside any new items.  Please do not worry if you have recently purchased uniform for your child; we are all very aware how quickly young people grow.

Congratulations to our reward points winners for the week 27th April - 1st May 2026:

• Year 7, Yigit Aktas in 7E with 39 points

• Year 8, Bintu Nimaga Ceesay in 8O with 30 points

• Year 9, Filip Ionescu 9S and Muhammad Azan in 9K, both with 12 points

• Year 10, Erva Aktas in 10S with 36 points

• Year 11, Aleka Williams in 11L with 15 points

  
  

A special well done to Yigit Aktas in 7E, who with an impressive 39 points was the overall top reward points winner across the school last week.

With every good wish,

Mr Sam Jones 

Headteacher