Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you at the end of a warm week.
I start this letter, having had two days to reflect on the Year 11 Graduation Evening that took place on Wednesday evening. This is the first time we have run such an event, to mark the successful completion of students’ five-year journey with us here at Kelmscott. We felt that having a more formal event, and an opportunity to celebrate with students, their families and Kelmscott staff was really important.
It was a fantastic evening for all concerned, despite the hot weather. Our students, who only left us a few weeks ago arrived back at school dressed in their finery and looked incredible. Remarkably, they appeared at least two years older than when we last saw them, and were a real credit to their families. The sense of pride from all in attendance was palpable and rightly so, given what this year group have had to contend with these past five years, such as the pandemic.
We know The Class of 2024 will go on to great things, we can’t wait to hear all about them. We look forward to seeing Year 11 again on GCSE results day, Thursday 22nd August at 9am. Thanks to our Year 11 families for all of their support these past five years, we could not have done it without you. Thanks too, to the Kelmscott staff for always going above and beyond the call of duty to support our students to achieve their best. Finally, special thanks to the team in school responsible for organising the event, it all went very smoothly thanks to their attention to detail.
Our sports teams have been in action again this week, representing our school at various Borough competitions.
On Tuesday sixty one students from Kelmscott School, accompanied by the PE department, took part in the annual Borough Athletics Championship at Lee Valley. This year, Kelmscott fielded a record number of students who competed in various track and field events.
For the first time ever, Kelmscott had seven relay teams competing. The Year 8 boys’ relay team, consisting of Elsi Cuka (8S), Logan Nwosu (8K), Sercan Kucuk (8E), and Terrell-James McArthur-Channer (8L), won a silver medal. Many of our teams finished within the top eight schools in Waltham Forest. We are incredibly proud of all the students who participated in the Tuesday and Thursday events over the past eight weeks, culminating in the main event on Tuesday. Our athletes demonstrated great respect for the competition, the judges, and their peers, cheering each other on and showing excellent sportsmanship.
Here are some of our medal-winning performances:
Ada Yeow (7S): 2nd place in the 100m sprint
Ziyadah Shobande (7O): 2nd place in the discus
Elliot Franey (7O): 3rd place in the javelin
Mevsim Aktas (7C): 3rd place in long jump
Rafah Kara (8O): 3rd place in the 800m
Lorence Doclis-Capili (8E): 3rd place in the shot putt
Terrell-James McArthur-Channer (8L): 2nd place in the 100m sprint and 3rd place in the long jump
Maria Yordanova (10O): 3rd place in the long jump
Shahab Magala: 2nd place in the triple jump
Berkay Bekir (10K): 2nd place in 80m hurdles and 3rd place in the shot putt
Congratulations to all our athletes for their hard work, dedication, and outstanding performances.
Yesterday saw thirteen girls represent Kelmscott at Lammas in a second rounders tournament. The team, comprising of Year 8 and Year 7 students, competed in three games against other schools. Kelmscott demonstrated impressive skills and teamwork, winning two out of their three games.
Arwen Brown deserves a special mention for making several catches, eliminating many opponents. The team's exceptional performance earned them second place. Congratulations on your well-deserved silver medal.
Following the Money Wise Competition at Excel last week, congratulations goes to Tobia Lullo, Dumitru Anghel, Bryan Eno-Osagie, Halim Benarab, Anton Mastrangelo and Yan Lin Weng. As the first group of students to represent Kelmscott in this competition their engagement, enthusiasm and passion throughout was amazing. They found the whole experience inspiring and enjoyable - they are looking forward to competing next year. What fantastic ambassadors for Kelmscott.
You will have no doubt seen that Monday 1st July next week is an Inset Day. I hope students and families enjoy the long weekend. We will be busy in school receiving training on the new app Edulink, which launches in September as well as planning time for the new school year.
Thursday next week is, of course, polling day, or election day. To help our students understand and engage with the process we are conducting a mock election for the students on Thursday too. Students will hear from members of the Year Council who are representing the different major parties, with headlines from their manifestos, before marking an X on their voting card to cast their vote. We hope students will better understand this crucial day in the democratic process. We will share the results of the Kelmscott election in next Friday’s letter.
I would like to signpost two community events and opportunities now:
Mondays up until the 19th August, from 3-6pm, the Creative Youth Hub, a free youth space for those aged 13-25 and based at CRATE St James street will be offering activities including podcasting sessions, board games, Playstation gaming and VR, mentoring and support. For more details please see here
Walthamstow Fire Station Open Day will take place on Saturday 13th July from 11am. Always a fantastic day with the opportunity to meet firefighters, discuss their work, fire safety and of course, sit in a fire engine. For more details please see here
A polite reminder that students are only allowed to wear black socks. We have seen a recent increase in students wearing other colours, particularly the boys. At least five pairs of black socks are needed for each student in a given week of course, we thank you in advance for your support.
Thank you to those parents/carers who have reached out to express their concern about the temperature of some classrooms. We strive to ensure that classrooms are comfortable, fit for purpose and the optimum environment for teaching and learning. During this period of particularly high temperature we have hired portable air conditioning units for some areas in an effort to maintain the comfort of our students and staff.
Some clarity now around hot weather and the wearing of school uniform. When the weather gets warm, students are permitted to take their blazers off, they do not need to ask permission to do this. Blazers are to be held in students hands if they are outside of the classroom. Blazers should be seen, they should not be in bags. If temperatures are 30 degrees plus, families will be notified when the decision is made to permit students to wear their PE kits.
As we approach the end of term and our thoughts turn to the holiday period an important reminder for all families about attendance. If a student is ill before the end of term and into the summer holidays the absences will be marked as unauthorised unless medical evidence is provided. The unauthorised marks could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued, per child, per parent. If a student returns to school late after the summer holidays and no medical evidence is provided in support of that absence, the absences will be marked as unauthorised. The unauthorised marks could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued, per child, per parent. Clearly something we would like to avoid.
Finally, well done to the following students who topped the reward point charts for last week with a particular well done to Soma Acsady 7C, who topped the charts for the entire school – keep up the good work.
Year 7 Soma Acsady with 22 points
Year 8 Rebecca Sukai with 20 points
Year 9 Vlera Podvorica and Hammad Chaudhry both with 21 points
Year 10 Alexandra Cocos with 20 points
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher
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