Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you as always.
The country woke up to a new government today, let’s hope that, challenges notwithstanding, this brings a period of stability, peace, harmony and, in time, prosperity for our country. As you know we carried out a mock election in school. Students heard from student council reps who were representing the main political parties (not their own views necessarily), before striking an X on their ballot paper and placing their voting slip in the box. We had an impressive turn out across the school, and I can reveal that the result of our election was the Green Party were the winners, closely followed by the Labour Party.
You will have received notification via the MyEd app in relation to sports and activity days. Some details have changed so I would encourage you to read these updates carefully.
To summarise:
For Year 7 and 8 only; The Adventure Island Southend trip will be on Thursday 11th July and students should arrive to school at 8.15am. We anticipate the coaches will arrive back at school between 3:30-4pm. Students not attending the trip are expected to be in school at 8.40am in full school uniform with their equipment and they will remain in school all day completing activities. As normal they will be dismissed at 3.10pm.
Sports Day will take place on Friday 12th July at Kelmscott School. Anticipated finish time is 2:30pm at which time students will be dismissed.
The Year 9 and 10 Sports Day will take place at The Feel Good Centre, 170 Chingford Road, E17 5AA, on Thursday 11th July 2024. Students should arrive at The Feel Good Centre at 9.30am to register with their tutor.
Some news now about our school production. It is with regret that the ’The School of Rock’ has been postponed until the new academic year, this is due to technical issues with the sound and lighting that are beyond our control. We apologise for the disappointment caused to performers, staff and families. We are grateful to all those involved for your time and continued support and very much look forward to the debut of the ‘The School of Rock’ at Kelmscott soon.
We welcomed two hundred and forty Year 6s to Kelmscott for Transition Day on Wednesday this week, our newest cohort - it was nice to meet their families in the evening too. The students were a lovely group, who made an excellent first impression. There are lots of siblings from older or past year groups which is lovely to see. Looking at our current Year 7s, who seem so much older now, it is hard to believe they were in the same position just twelve months ago – how time flies.
As ever, our sports teams have been in action this week. Firstly, some representational honours for three Year 10 students; Umar Ahmed, Mohamed Asad and Ayan Shah, who represented the Waltham Forest cricket team against Redbridge in the Don Grey Cup. We are very proud of their selection to this team, well done all. The team have provided some feedback that I am delighted to be able to share with you;’
“It was quite a fun experience. We put up a good fight and worked quite well as a team but a few umpiring decisions and bad fielding cost us the game. It was a good opportunity for us to display our skills on a higher level and representing Waltham Forest… Regardless of the results we played superbly. Thank you to the Walthamstow cricket club and Kelmscott School for presenting this opportunity to us”.
It was disappointing for our Year 7 and 8 cricket team when their matches were rained off, with a similar story for the girl’s cricket and rounders teams. Hopefully more to share from our athletes next week.
The final creative writing workshop took place on Wednesday. Lots of creativity flowed around the room as students reflected on their four sessions and decided which pieces to edit for publishing. We eagerly anticipate reading the result of these immersive workshops.
Well done to our school's Climate Ambassadors, who completed their final instalment of our Climate Leadership training. This week, they visited the Hive in Epping Forest where they presented, to two other schools in the borough, what they had done over the last year to make our school sustainable. The presentation highlighted how passionate and driven our students are about raising awareness of climate change and encouraging people to take action. They have achieved so much this academic year, from organising our school's first sustainability day to fundraising for a new school garden.
We were thrilled to welcome some senior members of our community into school on Friday afternoon for a tea party. They were looked after ably by Kelmscott students, who chatted to them and served them tea and delicious cakes. Our guests enjoyed a performance from our choir, featuring songs from ‘The School of Rock’ and a quiz. As a community school, it is fantastic we can put on such events, our thanks to all those we hosted and supported this event. It was very nice indeed to meet them all, we look forward to seeing them next year.
Another opportunity now that might be of interest to your son or daughter. The Waltham Forest Police Cadets are recruiting; I would recommend it wholeheartedly as many previous Kelmscott students have benefitted from this - more information can be found here.
I would like to signpost the Waltham Forest Sexual Health Family Hubs now, if you would like advice in this area for a member of your family, more information can be found here.
Finally, some information about an exciting opportunity that may be of interest to some of our Year 11 leavers. In partnership with Soho House the Stephen Lawrence Legacy have launched a Work Experience Programme designed to empower underrepresented young people by opening doors to diverse career opportunities. For more information and to register your interest please see here
Finally, well done to the following students who topped the reward point charts for last week with a
particular well done to Hannah Arthur 8O, who topped the charts for the entire school with 72 points – keep up the good work.
➪ Year 7 Ada Yeow with 56 points
➪ Year 8 Hannah Arthur with 72 points
➪ Year 9 Tamzin Jenkins-Meade with 54 points
➪ Year 10 Zahra Tukmani with 26 points
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher