Newsletters

Spring Term - 17th January 2025

Welcome to our latest news update, including information about next steps in LaSWAP applications for Year 11 students, recent trips and visits in Art, Drama and History, and information about upcoming activities for students and families in Camden.

A warm welcome to new staff

We have been delighted to welcome some new staff this term to William Ellis, who these last two weeks have been getting to know new classes and establishing themselves in the school. As we often remind ourselves, our school is a tight-knit and familial community, and I'm sure that these staff have been warmly welcomed by students and colleagues equally.

Mr Stoner-Taubman has joined us in the Music Department, bringing previous experience from teaching and working in the music industry. He will be teaching Music and Music Technology.

Ms Kovalchuk and Ms McGhee join us as experienced and specialist teachers of Maths and Science, teaching classes in all key stages. 

You may hear from these teachers directly, meet them at an upcoming parents' evening or feel the need to contact them - please do so via tutors or by contacting the main office.

Year 11 parents' evening, LaSWAP online Open Evening and applications

Year 11 parents' evening takes place a week on Wednesday, 29th January. Students will receive important feedback on their mock examinations, and important guidance on how to best prepare for their GCSE exams, which start in 106 days' time.

Families can book appointments through the MCAS app. It is important that even if parents cannot attend, students come to speak to their teachers about their progress, and you can book appointments on their behalf.

Year 11 will be starting their application forms for LaSWAP next week in their tutorial sessions. This is an exciting time for students, who are engaged in deep reflection about their learning skills; their attainment in recent mock exams; and their ambitions and goals for their future lives. However, these reflections can cause stress and emotional challenges, especially when there is a mismatch between ambition and recent attainment, or when students do not quite know what they want to do in the future. Let’s face it, not many adults are entirely sure what they want to do in the future, so it’s understandable that a 16 year old should find it a tricky question!

It’s important that parents and students think through this next phase of education together, along with the hopes and dreams of the young person, and whether these fit with what the parents want for their son. There will be an opportunity to discuss these with members of the WES@LaSWAP transition team, when we hold guidance interviews on 1^st and 8^th February. In the meantime, please do sign up for the LaSWAP online Open Evening if you have questions about LaSWAP; talk to your son about his hopes; and look out for two emails from us! The first will be sent to your son, confirming his log in details to apply, and the second to you AND your son, inviting you for a guidance interview on 1^st or 8^th February.

They are taking part in a project called Cabinet of Curiosities led by renowned Artist Educator Alison Lam.

The students responded to the natural environment of Waterlow Park, creating natural imprints into clay & collecting twigs, flowers & leaves to be used as a natural paintbrush.

Alison will be running workshops with the students in school over the following weeks, using a range of materials. This exciting project has run for the past 3 years and it forms part of the students' GCSE coursework.

Year 7 Drama

Ms Hughes writes:

This term, Year 7s have been exploring a reimagining of the Odyssey, told from the perspective of Odysseus's son. We are thinking about how his son, Telemachus, might feel when his father leaves and goes on such a long and epic journey.

7F did some brilliant work in bringing the Trojan Horse to life this week - well done all of you!

Year 12 History Trip

Ms Wilson writes:

Year 12 History A Level students took part in an intellectually invigorating conference hosted by Channing on Wednesday, 15^th January. There were two particular highlights for most of our group. One was a lecture on the impact of colonialism on the development of environmental and conservation science, delivered by Professor Vinita Damodaran of the University of Sussex. There were so many aspects of this talk that we had never thought about in the context of history, it was completely fascinating, and there were many little nuggets of information and understanding that I hope will make it into our students’ essays and wow the examiners next year! The other highlight (as illustrated below) was a talk from Philippe Sands on the legal case for the Chagos Islands to be part of Mauritius, rather than the UK. It was a particularly auspicious day to be listening to this, as there had been various news reports during the day on the subject of the Chagos Islands and in particular, Professor Sands’ involvement in the legal and political case. This indeed formed a significant part of the discussion on the day. It was intriguing to hear how political decisions seemingly completely unconnected to the issue at hand, can have unintended consequences: and a valuable thing for us to learn when we are thinking about why changes happened in the past!

Mr Edwards and I were really impressed with the ways in which our students fully engaged with the content of the day, taking notes, listening attentively, and discussing issues raised afterwards: so much so that we are inspired to try and host a similar event at WES…. Watch this space!

Creative Health Camden Youth Hub 2025

Free courses for parents and carers 

Camden Children's Centres and Family Hubs have launched a brilliant range of free courses for parents, in partnership with the Solihull Approach and Triple P.

• The Solihull Approach
  The courses are open to parents, carers and grandparents living in the borough to support them from pregnancy to birth and beyond. They can choose to complete the courses either face-to-face, including at a Children's Centre and Family Hub near them, or online. Crèches available at most locations.
• Triple P
  Triple P (Positive Parenting Programme) discussion groups offer tips and suggestions for confidently handling everyday parenting challenges, from tantrums, fussy eating and developing good sleeping patterns. Parents can choose to complete these courses either face-to-face, at various locations across the borough, or online.

For more information and to sign up go to families.camden.gov.uk/groups-and-courses-for-parents or email familyhubs@camden.gov.uk.

SEND notices

Camden's January edition of their Special Parents' Forum Newsletter contains details of events coming up for parents and carers of children with additional needs. These include coffee mornings, workshops and walks.

For further details, the newsletter in full can be found here.

Yours faithfully,

Izzy Jones

Headteacher