Dear Parents/Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your families well; a Friday update for you as always.
It was lovely to see so many of you in school on Thursday for Tutor Parent Day. I hope families found it as helpful as we did. Our partnership is such an integral one, as we try to maximise the success of each of our students during their time with us. I particularly enjoy students proudly pointing various things out to their parents, as they walk through the school to their appointment.
Our Year 11s were invited to a Study Skills Session last Thursday to support them in preparation for their exams. The focus of the session was wellbeing, managing time effectively, effective revision and exam skills. I hope it was of use to them this week when tackling their mock exams. Year 11 have behaved impeccably this week.
This week on Wednesday we welcomed Greenwich University to facilitate a Mental Health and Wellbeing Drop Down Day for Year 9. The students took part in a number of sessions, including Therapeutic Photography, Cognitive Psychology and Creative Response, which were very well received. Year 9 must be commended for their engagement.
Also this week we saw the next instalment of our gardening workshops. The focus was understanding the role of water in our ecosystem and how it supports plants to grow. Students also identified different issues facing our garden, from the foxes digging holes and disturbing the plants, to the algae growing on the soil. Many of our winter salad plants are almost ready to be harvested; we look forward to trying them in the next couple of weeks. The gardening club is open to all students; if your child would like to join, please encourage them to attend the Climate Ambassadors club on Mondays at 1pm, in K213.
Today, thirty of our Year 10 students participated in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, which is a programme managed and delivered by the Speakers Trust, the UK’s leading public speaking organisation. Their aim is to amplify young people’s voices by building confidence, developing skills and creating platforms for them to share their stories and ideas, to empower not only themselves but each other. This champions effective, positive communication which students can use in education, employability and social change. Each student spoke about a topic of their choice, focusing on delivering a message with a positive impact regardless of the subject. We look forward to hearing some of the speeches in an upcoming assembly.
Sports now and lots of fixtures and tournaments to look forward to over the coming weeks, with Year 9 basketball starting along with the Year 7 and 8 girls football. The Year 9 boys basketball team have their first game next Tuesday against Leytonstone. The team are extremely excited for the season ahead, we wish all our teams luck. A reminder to all aspiring athletes and those who would like to try a new sport, it is never too late to get involved with any of our after school clubs offering a variety of sporting opportunities.
A quick update on our impending new app, Edulink; after overcoming a few technical difficulties, we are pleased to report that we will be sending out login details towards the end of November. You will receive more information on this in the coming weeks. Additionally, we are aware of an issue with MyEd at the moment, with reward and behaviour points not updating in the app - at the time of writing we have just received notice from MyEd technical support that this issue should now be resolved. Please do let us know if you experience any further problems with this.
Some events to signpost now. Firstly, an opportunity to find out more about careers in law with a focus on commercial law, with Slaughter and May, who will be hosting an online event taking place on Wednesday 13th November 5pm – 6:30pm. For more information and to register your interest please see here. Secondly Waltham Forest are running some mental health webinars, for details and to register your interest please see here.
Worryingly, there have been a spate of thefts on Markhouse Road these past few weeks. A group of four youths on mopeds have been snatching mobile phones from members of the public. Whilst none of our students have been affected so far, please speak to your child about this, students can avoid making themselves a target by keeping their phones out of sight. This is not always their first instinct though, having been separated from their phone for the duration of the school day! Let’s hope the police can apprehend the perpetrators as soon as possible.
Finally, well done to the following students who topped the reward point charts for this week, with a particular well done for Jude Cambridge Brown in 9K, who amassed the most rewards points of any student last week with twenty-seven – keep up the good work.
Year 7, Arthur Ashton in 7S with 24 points
Year 8, Filip Ionescu in 8S with 19 points
Year 9, Jude Cambridge Brown in 9K with 27 points
Year 10, Thyron Sydney in 10M with 15 points
Year 11, Muhammad Ahmed in 11E with 17 points
With every good wish,
Mr Sam Jones
Headteacher
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