Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; A Friday update for you as always.
We formally said goodbye to Year 11 this week, even though there are a small number of exams still left to sit next week. Year 11s signed each other’s shirts and enjoyed the leavers’ assembly that had been planned by the students themselves, with the support of their year team. As is always the case, it was a bittersweet goodbye, joy that their exams are nearly complete and that they have some freedom to look forward to this summer, but (most!) students sad that their secondary experience has come to an end.
I will look back at this year group with a tremendous sense of pride. Given their Year 7, and subsequent years, were affected so much by the pandemic, they have demonstrated Kelmscott STORM attributes with aplomb, to develop into the fine young men and women that we celebrated with on Wednesday. We now look forward to marking their graduation, and celebrating with you, their families and carers, on Wednesday 26th June.
If Year 11 families have any items of uniform that are in good condition we would welcome any donations. If you can help here, please drop clean clothes to reception.
Forty four of our Year 10 Geographers took part in a GCSE bio-geography investigation in Epping Forest as part of their course. Students worked in small groups to investigate the factors that impact vegetation. They also went to Connaught Waters to look at how the area, essential for flood prevention in East London, is managed. Mrs Parvez, our former Headteacher joined us on one of the days helping out with the investigation; how lovely it was for our Geographers to spend this time with her. She was very impressed with the students.
Congratulations to ‘Blue Ink’ who took part in the Waltham Forest Battle of the Bands at Leyton Sixth Form college this week. I am delighted to share that the band delivered an outstanding and confident performance. The judges were especially complimentary about the old-school punk sound, the strong technical performance and the driving lead guitar. Their rendition of "Teacher's Pet" from the musical "School of Rock" resonated with everyone. I would like to thank the band, Syd Howlin on lead guitar, Olive Crawford on rhythm guitar, Anton Mastrangelo on vocals, Joe Rigby on bass and Phineas Turner-Stoddart on drums and Mr Taylor for his musical direction.
Our athletes were in action again as the athletics season nears its conclusion, and we head towards the finals on 25th June. Berkay Bekir 10K completed his final throw in the shot and his final jump of the hurdles - he came 2nd in hurdles and 3rd in shot. Congratulations to Year 8, 9 and 10 boys who have all qualified for the relay on finals day.
As promised, here are the results from the boys competition from last week; Terrell-James McArthur-Channer 8L had a phenomenal performance in the 100m finishing first in 11.91 seconds. Elliot Solberg 7O came 2nd in the javelin and Burt Williams 7O came 3rd in the long jump, both now progress to represent us at the finals on the 25th June.
Some Year 7, 8 and 9 students from The Bridge headed out to the Essex countryside to take part in some bush craft activities on Wednesday. This involved making and cooking on a fire, making mini pizza wraps and creating beautiful elder wood bracelets. Students worked hard, developing key skills including communication, listening and maintaining focus as they concentrated on the tasks in hand. Without exception, behaviour was impeccable and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Later this afternoon at 4.30pm our school will be open as part of the E17 Art Trail. This is the culmination of a project some of our Year 9 classicists have been working on, with Clio’s Company and the E17 Art Trail 2024. Our Classicists have embarked on a fascinating endeavour to envision the origins of the first Roman community settled in Walthamstow. Set in 82 AD, twenty years after Boudicca's uprising, the story has been brought to life using theatre masks to convey the emotions and complex feelings of the characters, highlighting their ongoing struggles for safety and stability.
The atrium of the school has been colourfully decorated to showcase the product of our students' amazing talents and creative pieces, based on historical evidence and their imaginations. The gallery also includes impressive GCSE Art pieces with Classical allusions, which fittingly highlight similar themes and ideas of passion, love, and war. Our students are eager to showcase their remarkable work to the community, along with a live performance on this very special evening.
Football for Health are offering free sessions for young people (11-17) experiencing emotional and wellbeing issues. Football is the main activity, but the project also provides support to access leisure interests. The project is open to all abilities and to all genders. Prior experience or an ability to play football is not required. For more information please see here.
Finally, for those celebrating Eid on Sunday or Monday, depending on the moon sighting, I hope you have a fantastic time celebrating with your nearest and dearest – Eid Mubarak.
Finally, well done to the following students who topped the reward point charts for last week with a special mention for Alexandra Gutoiu 8C with 37 points and Eric Henig Griffin who has topped the Year 11 reward points for the fourth time during their final week.
Year 7 Sumaiya Banday with 30 points
Year 8 Alexandra Gutoiu with 37 points
Year 9 Kristian Kostov with 28 points
Year 10 Esmond Poku Junior with 13 points
Year 11 Eric Henig Griffin for the fourth week running, with 7 points.
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher