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NEWS AT WES - 7th February 2025

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Spring Term - 7th February 2025

 

Welcome to our latest news update, including highlights from Art, Design and Technology, extracurricular music and a preview of half term activities in Camden.

Attendance Updates

Activities, trips and events in school are only enjoyed by students when they attend and come on time every day - if they are not here, they are not able to participate in clubs, trips and visits, and lessons. They miss out on great experiences, learning, and building a relationship with their friends. 

Congratulations to the 34 students who have 100% attendance and punctuality this year, and 200 with attendance at 96% or above. This means that they have missed 3 days or fewer at school. These students have been celebrated and recognised with bronze and silver attendance badges. Thank you for the support that you give them each day to maintain good routines in the morning and evening - that looks different in every family, but it is always important. 

It is important that children try to return to school as soon as they are feeling better after an illness, even if they are still recovering or taking medication. If they feel anxious about returning to school, these resources might help your conversations about how to overcome that.

School Anxiety and Refusal | Parent Guide to Support | YoungMinds

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On that note, flu cases are currently high in Camden, especially among children and young people. The flu vaccine is the best protection against the most severe forms of flu. For most children, the vaccine is a nasal spray and not an injection. It is quick and painless, and is available for free for children in Camden Saturday 15 February, 10.30am to 1.30pm, Harmood Children’s Centre & Family Hub, 1 Forge Place, NW1 8DQ. Appointments can be booked at www.schoolvaccination.uk/catch-up-camden.

Year 9 GCSE Options

Next half term, Year 9 students and families have our Year 9 Options Evening, on Thursday 6th March. Which subjects they might want to choose, and their suitability, might have been something that was discussed at Year 9 Parents' Evening in January. 

As an introduction to thinking about GCSE Options, there is a useful national guide at GCSE options 2025: What GCSE options are there? - BBC Bitesize 

More details about our curriculum offer can be found at William Ellis School - Learning and Curriculum

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Year 10 and 11 students at William Ellis study the following curriculum:

  • English Language, English Literature and Maths.
  • At least two GCSEs in Science, and some opt to study three separate sciences.
  • Almost all students (90%) study at least one Foreign Language - for this year group it will be French, German or they can choose to do both.
  • Three further options subjects.
  • Core PE and PSHE/tutorial lessons each week.

Details of individual subject curriculums are available on the page above, and more information will be shared with Year 9 families in the coming weeks.

Deep Learning Day, 7th February: Navigating Social Media

Today's Deep Learning Day focused on understanding social media and its potential impact on young people, and the impressions it can give about masculinity and how young men should aspire to behave. These sessions were planned in partnership with Middlesex University, and were co-designed and delivered by students in years 10 and 12. We were particularly proud to see the students delivering so strongly, and thankful for the support from the Middlesex team.

We know that safe social media use is an important issue for lots of families, so please talk to students about what they learned today. Some issues to consider when you are talking to them about social media might be:

1. Talk openly with children about social media, making sure they feel safe sharing their online experiences with you.

2. Set clear rules about when and how much they can use social media, using tools that help you keep them safe. In particular, when their screens should be turned off at night and where they should leave their phone before they go to bed.

3. Teach your children how to think carefully about what they see online and protect their personal information. What should they trust, and how they can work this out.

4. Show your kids good social media habits by using technology wisely yourself, and talk to them about how you keep this under control.

5. Use safety settings on devices and apps to help protect your children from potential online dangers.

6. Support your children emotionally when they face tough situations online, as you would if they experienced difficult situations face to face.

7. Help them understand the importance of asking permission, protecting their privacy, and knowing that everything they post online can be seen forever. This includes photos and videos of themselves and others, including friends and family members.

You can find detailed guides for the parental controls and privacy settings for many devices at Devices Archives - Internet Matters

Year 7 & 8 Artwork and Food Technology

Year 7's have recently been focusing on mark making and patterns in their art lessons, creating pieces based on the work of the artist Naum Gabo.

Fish in School Heroes seeks to give students a chance to prepare, cook, and eat fish, aiming to develop more positive attitudes towards eating fresh fish sourced in UK.
Year 8's have recently had the opportunity to work with mussels, and enjoyed preparing, cooking and eating them.

Extra Curricular Music Lessons

Learning a musical instrument and engaging in musical activities has been shown to help with memory, coordination, maths skills and social development, amongst other wellbeing benefits.

Extra curricular lessons with a specialist tutor are available in school to students wishing to learn a musical instrument. Tutors are provided by Camden's Music Service and visit school on a weekly basis to teach students at varying times (so that time is not missed from the same subject each week).

There are currently spaces on the violin, guitar, music tech, drums, woodwind and brass timetables for new students to start after half term. A waiting list for other instruments applies.

Lessons cost £160 per term for 30 minute lessons (payment plans may be used to spread the cost on request). Students who are eligible for Free School Meals can receive 30 minutes' tuition per week for £20 per term. 

To find out more about these lessons and to sign up, please see William Ellis School - Extra-Curricular Music .

Camden Mental Health Support Team's Parenting Group:

Camden's half-term sports and physical activities 

Half-term holiday sports and physical activities for children and young people take place across the borough from Monday 17 February to Friday 21 February 2025. Visit the website to find out more and book places.

 

Lego Robotics for secondary school age children 

Camden are looking for 11-14 year olds to join in with free Lego Robotics workshops at Camden Town Library for on Friday’s. These sessions run from 3.30-4.30pm during term time starting until 4th April 2025. Sign up (on Eventbrite) is essential as there are a limited number of spaces available at each stand-alone session. These sessions are for those who are interested in improving their STEM skills to create Lego models and use robotics programming in a fun setting.

Click here to find out more and sign up.

Yours faithfully,

Izzy Jones

Headteacher

This Week's WESPA Round-Up:

Dear families,

It was a pleasure to see so many WES parents, WES alumni and students (past, present and future) performing and supporting at the INTRA Open Mic and ‘The Jam Afterwards –‘ at The Camden Club at the end of last month. Fantastic performances from all - our sons and daughters are definitely blazing a trail. 

We had a very enjoyable and useful WESPA meeting in the same week. Lots of great ideas and topics discussed. Minutes have been circulated to all parents on the mailing list (see below).

Keeping up to date with news

Knowing what is going on is an essential part of school life. Whether you get your news from school, through WESPA or via pigeon post, we like the belt and braces approach. So if you’re not already in the loop, here’s what you can join:

Permanent WESPA Groups run by WESPA

  • WESPA Trustees: the WESPA Trustees group for Trustees only
  • WESPA Team: Chat and discussion on WESPA activities and events for WESPA leads, active members and volunteers between meetings
  • WESPA Music: the group for the WESPA music committee
  • WESPA Choir: as the name would suggest, for members of the choir!
  • WESPA Eco Group: A group dedicated to the environmental side of goings on at WES including uniform, outside spaces and local issues
  • WESPA STEAM Group: The newest of our groups focused on bringing all things science, tech, engineering and maths to the school
  • WESPA Event Groups: specific groups set up for the running of events e.g. Fun Run, Quiz and Year 11 Leavers’ Celebration

Year Groups run by parents

These are parent-run year groups outside WESPA and we would love to help link up as many parents and carers with their year group as possible. It’s a great way to share information and, amongst other things, copies of forms that may have got squashed at the bottom of your son’s bag. 

If you would like to be part of any of these groups, please email williamellispa@gmail.com with the name of your son and the year group you’d like to be linked to and we’ll send you a link to your group

Mailing List

Our weekly Round Ups go to all parents via school email. If you’d like to be added to the mailing list to receive additional information like minutes of meetings, WESPA research or advance news of exciting new initiatives, please add your name here.

Meetings and Events

And for those who prefer a face to face, there are regular meetings for all WESPA groups and events in and outside school. You can find out more here and via the groups above.

https://sites.google.com/view/williamellispa/calendar

Have a wonderful weekend.

Best wishes,

Al

Chair WESPA

Coming Up...

Year 9 Art Creative Youth Project Trip
All Day
10
February
Year 10 mock interviews
9:00am – 1:00pm
10
February
GCSE Certificate Collection Event
2:00pm – 4:00pm
12
February
Last day of half term
All Day
14
February
Non-Uniform Day - £1 donation to children's cancer charity to take part
All Day
14
February
Year 11 Art Catch-Up session
All Day
15
February
Year 10 STEM Careers Trip to Williams Formula 1 Centre
All Day
25
February
10XL 'Bridging the App' trip
All Day
25
February
Year 12 Parents' Evening (at ABS)
4:30pm – 7:00pm
27
February
Camden Dance Festival
All Day
28
February