Headteacher's Weekly Update 4 - Friday 25th September 2026

Dear Parents and Carers

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

We had a fantastic Open Evening this week and welcomed an enormous number of prospective students and their families through our doors.  It was a packed evening and visitors were extremely positive about the breadth and ambition of our offer.  What impressed them most, however, were our current students.  So many gave up their evening to support departments, speak to families and act as tour guides, and they were quite simply brilliant.  Articulate, warm, confident and proud of their school, they were wonderful advocates for Kelmscott and examples of exactly what we hope our school culture engenders.  My thanks to every student and member of staff who contributed to such a successful evening.

One of the messages I shared with prospective families was about the importance we place on what happens beyond the classroom.  I talked about “the child who joins a club, plays for the team, performs on the stage, goes on the trip or tries something they didn’t think they could do” and the confidence, friendships, experiences and sense of belonging that come from those opportunities. Our co-curricular programme for this term is now available on the school website, so please do take a good look through it with your child.  There is a huge amount on offer and I would love to see every Kelmscott student finding something that interests them and getting involved.

Whole-school attendance last week was 94%, another improvement on the previous week, although we still have some way to go to reach our target.  Our Year 7 students are leading the way with an excellent 98% attendance—an outstanding start to the year and a figure we hope all other year groups will aim for. 

We acknowledge that some Year 7 families may have experienced teething issues when signing in to Google Classroom and apologise for any inconvenience caused.  We hope these issues have now been resolved, however, if you continue to experience difficulties, please contact the school for support.  Please see our user guide on how to log in to Google Classroom from home. 

We have also heard this week from the Family Nutritionist working with BeeZee Families, who wanted to thank Kelmscott families for the referrals already made to their September programme. There are still spaces available.  Sessions began between 14th and 17th September, but families can still join up until 28th September – 1st October, depending on the particular session.  The programme provides practical support to families around nutrition, healthy eating and sustainable lifestyle changes.  Please see here for further information and referral details. 

Mr Madge has also written to families separately regarding our canteen and The Bridge, providing some useful clarification around meal deals, menus and the food available to students.  I would encourage families to have a read of this, particularly with students who regularly use the canteen, so that everyone is clear about the choices available and how our meal deals work.

A more serious note this week, following an incident outside the school gates on Thursday morning. A young child was struck by a cyclist close to the zebra crossing and, while thankfully able to get up, was understandably very shaken.  I was enormously proud of the Kelmscott students nearby who immediately stopped to help the child and parent, and checked that they were okay. Unfortunately, the cyclist did not stop.  The incident is an important reminder of just how busy the area immediately outside school can be at the beginning and end of the day.  I would ask everyone, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike, to slow down, remain vigilant and show particular care around crossings and cycle lanes.  I would also encourage parents to remind children that, even where they have right of way, they should always check carefully before crossing a road or cycle lane.

Next Tuesday we are also looking forward to celebrating the work of our Year 11 students who have taken part in the Smiling Girls Project.  The project has provided an opportunity for the girls involved to develop confidence, strengthen relationships and explore issues affecting young women, in a supportive environment.  The celebration will recognise their participation and achievements and begins at 5.00pm for the students and families involved.  We look forward to seeing you there.

With so much information available online, it is increasingly important that children learn how to distinguish between reliable content and misinformation.  Because children deserve a safe digital world, families may find these engaging ‘Find the Fake’ quizzes helpful in developing children’s media literacy at home.

Turning now to reward points, it is perhaps fitting that Year 11 continue to lead the way. Congratulations to this week’s Reward Points winners:

Year 7: Isla McDonagh (7S) – 18 points

Year 8: Flyn Steel (8C), Ivo Edwards (8K) and Jeremiah Adeliyi-Smoured (8K) – 26 points each

Year 9: Edie Cambridge Brown (9K) – 23 points

Year 10: Lucas Gaeddert (10O) – 20 points

Year 11: Lass Swara (11S) and Leonardo Festante (11S) – 32 points each

Well done to all of them and to the many students accumulating positive points through their effort, attitude and contribution to school life.

As always, thank you for your continued support.  I hope you and your families have a restful and enjoyable weekend.

Mr Sam Jones 

Headteacher