Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you as we approach the
end of the school year.
On Monday students enjoyed a Cultural Day; an opportunity to wear clothes inspired by their
culture or heritage. Nearly two thirds of our students took us up on this offer which was
fantastic to see. Some of the outfits were really outstanding, students looked fabulous and were
very proud to have the opportunity to showcase their culture and heritage. This was an idea
that came from students, which makes it even more pleasing. I feel sure this is an event that is
here to stay, hopefully we can develop it yet further next year.
Also on Monday, a performance by our drama club of 'Who's Myth Is It Anyway' was performed
to a packed out activity studio. This project was generously funded by The Markhouse drama
club and The Cyril Malyon Memorial fund. Our actors devised project was influenced by a mask
workshop from the Trestle theatre company and was a total triumph. Congratulations to all
those involved.
Our Year 7s participating in The Scholars Programme graduated this week by attending a
ceremony at King’s College London on Tuesday. It was great to celebrate the students' hard
work and commitment, a deserved reward for their excellent contributions in university-style
tutorials over the last few months. All students excelled when given the opportunity to
demonstrate their knowledge in their final assignment, a 1500 word essay on Literary Theory.
Huge congratulations to all involved - an inspirational way to finish their first year at Kelmscott!
We were delighted to welcome into school, on Tuesday, the Onatti theatre company who
performed French and Spanish plays - entirely by native French and Spanish speaking actors.
The plays are designed to allow students to follow the story, sustain their enjoyment and above
all boost their language skills and confidence. Everyone looked to be thoroughly enjoying the
performances.
Current Year 10 students, and students from Year 9 who have opted to study ancient history,
enjoyed a trip to the British Museum on Wednesday. An awesome building with some incredible
exhibits. Our historians immersed themselves in a fraction of the two million years of history,
across six continents that this incredible museum has to offer.
Adventure Island trips and activity days in school on Thursday and Friday were well received by
our students whose spirits were definitely not dampened by the rain. Activities this year
included making clay pinch pots and African Art design, origami and ‘task master’ style activities.
There were some board game players and designers at work, science games and some fabulous
team building activities including parachute making and paper tower building.
Sports days, with tutor group pitted against tutor group, were a great mix of enjoyable fun
competitions, with something on offer to stretch, challenge and include us all. Sadly our Years
7 and 8 sports day today was curtailed slightly due to the rain - unsurprisingly, not before the
competitive relays had been run - always a highlight of our sporting calendar.
We welcomed over two hundred Year 6 students for Transition Day on Wednesday. Speaking to
students at the end of the day, it was apparent that they really enjoyed their first taste of
Kelmscott and their first lessons. It was lovely to feel the air of excitement at the parent event
that evening too, as we all look optimistically to the future.
There is an employment and skills event run by the local authority on the 27th July, that may be
of interest to families. More details of the event can be found here.
As I mentioned in my update last week, many of our families are finding themselves in housing
crisis. I read with interest the recently published report from an independent affordable housing
commission, which was set up by the council to look at what more could be done to improve housing supply in Waltham Forest. With recommendations including prioritising additional support for the most vulnerable residents and ensuring better protection for tenants, Waltham Forest council are putting together a plan that will be published later this year to act on those recommendations.
If you have housing concerns or need housing advice the community hub has an advice line
07591 013930 open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10am-12pm. Or for information
on family hubs or to access the online directory please click on the link.
Year 9 and 10 students will have some work to do over the summer holidays; Year 9 to prepare
them for their GCSE courses that begin in September, Year 10 to consolidate work done this year
and prepare for their final year of GCSE. Whilst it is very important that they rest and
recuperate over the summer, research also shows that it is a good idea to maintain some study
over the holiday period.
Work will be shared with students via Google Classroom; any support from families to ensure
this work is completed would be much appreciated. The first lesson back for current Year 9 and
10 students will centre around the summer work, so it is vital it is completed to a high standard
please.
Well done to Iman Fatima 9M who topped the rewards points charts last week with 26 – a
strong finish to the year.
A reminder that the last day for students next week is Wednesday, we will finish at 3.10pm.
I will write next week with some final messages before we break up for the summer.
Yours sincerely
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher
Comments