William Ellis School Parent Portal - NEWS AT WES

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Autumn Term - 3rd October 2025

Welcome to our latest news update, including information about upcoming parents' information events, reminders about how to access MCAS, our school portal, and a taste of the Black History Month events happening across Camden.

P.S.H.E. Curriculum

This week all our year 7 to 11 students started the next unit of their tutorial and PSHE curriculum. PSHE is an important and compulsory part of the curriculum, and helps students to understand the world that they live in now and might in the future, and make decisions that will help them to lead happy, healthy and successful lives.

All year groups started their next unit about relationships, including the foundations of building good friendships and what is appropriate for their age group. If you would like to know more about our PSHE curriculum, please go to William Ellis School - PSHE

A huge 'Thank you' to students and their families who have recently represented our school at 'Meet the Parents' events at local Primary Schools. We are lucky to have such excellent ambassadors sharing their experiences of life as part of the William Ellis community.

Meet the Parents (MTP) is a pioneering education project funded by Camden council, which aims to give primary school parents ‘the inside story’ on their local secondary schools when they are thinking about where to send their children after Year 6. It is a chance for them to meet families from the local secondaries and get first-hand, up-to-date information on what they are like.

MTP runs events at primary schools in Camden and neighbouring boroughs. Events take place mainly during the autumn term, with a friendly panel of secondary school families speaking about their experiences and taking questions for around 45 minutes, with a chance to chat informally to primary school families afterwards. MTP also hold online events and offers free advice on the secondary application process.

To find out more about Meet The Parents, please see www.meettheparents.info .

If you and your son would be interested in participating in future events, please complete this short form so that we can put you in touch with MTP.

Upcoming parents' information events

Government appoints top civil servant to handle exams response - BBC News

Year 10 and 11: success at KS4 Monday 6th October, 5pm

Thank you to all the families who have already signed up for this event. The key themes of this session will be:- the Key Stage 4 curriculum and examinations especially core subjects- Key Stage 4 personal development, in particular work experience (Year 10) and managing exam stress and post-16 options (Year 11). If you've not yet signed up for the event, please do so using this form.

All year groups: personal development, mobile phones and outdoor education, Monday 13th October, 5pm

We will be hosting an Information Evening for parents and carers of all Year 7-11 students. The key theme of this session will be Personal Development, and we will be discussing our new mobile phone policy, responsible use of phones and social media and our Outdoor Learning programme. So far, this event has had very few sign-ups and we may consider a slightly different format if we have a small number of families - so if you do want to attend, please sign up here as soon as possible.

'My Child At School' Portal: accessing attendance and behaviour information

We hope that many parents and carers are familiar with My Child At School (MCAS) as a resource for engaging with your child's attendance, behaviour and assessment information. MCAS is also used for booking timeslots at Parents' Evenings later in the school year.

We are aware that some families who have not previously used the portal have experienced some difficulties with accessing MCAS for the first time.

To activate your account for your child:

1. Go to https://www.mychildatschool.com/

2. From the front screen select 'reset password'

3. You will be presented with a space to enter your email address (This must be the email you registered with the school - in most cases this will be the email address to which the newsletter notification email has come.)

4. You will receive an email with a link to follow to log in. This email will be from Bromcom and may go to your junk email.

5. Once you have successfully logged in you can then download the app using the link on the login page.

If your email has changed or is not registered, please contact Mr Khan, Data Manager - akhan@williamellis.camden.sch.uk - with your child’s name and date of birth.

A full Parents' Guide to MCAS and its functions can be found here.

KS3 Table Tennis Success

Congratulations to our KS3 table tennis team who won the 2025 Camden and Islington table tennis meet this week. Our team showed great resilience and respect to their opponents as they beat 8 other teams to the title. All 4 players went undefeated in all their singles and doubles games in the competition. Well done Luca, Atif, Yahya and Tom.

Table tennis club runs at lunchtime in the assembly hall (Tue - Fri) and Wednesday after school in the sports hall.

Year 10 German Translation Drama Workshop

On Thursday this week the MFL department hosted teachers from the Goethe Institute who ran a German drama/translation workshop with Year 10 German students.

The students read, translated & acted out a short scene from a play, and really impressed the visitors with their engagement and energy.

Feedback from some students regarding what they liked most about the workshop included:

translating the script into English
having the opportunity to create an improvised scene about a German topic
creating a scene from a play based on a story in German
a circle game where we had to say a German word when catching a ball
acting & performing
being able to enter the world of German drama

Students also said the workshop "was fun and a good opportunity to learn more German" and that "the well planned activities and the people leading it were friendly and helpful"

European Week of Languages

Ms Rodgers also writes:

From 22nd-26th September, we celebrated European Week of Languages with assemblies for all year groups, activities in tutor time and a quiz for KS3 students about language trivia.

Congratulations to the following for handing in their accurate quiz sheets fastest:

7W- Tyreece

8K - Mohammed A.

9K- Max

Many thanks to parents/carers who got involved with the Great Language Challenge sent home! Any of those complete activities are warmly welcomed!

Camden's Celebration of Black History Season

Camden are hosting an inspiring line-up of film screenings, thought-provoking talks, art exhibitions, walking tours and other events designed to educate, inspire and empower.

Shaped around the national theme ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride,' this Camden Black History Season will amplify the borough’s untold stories and shine a spotlight on the activists, leaders and communities whose strength and resilience continues to inspire us today.

Discover Camden’s three-month programme of powerful events at lovecamden.org/blackhistoryseason

Free webinar: Supporting Young People Through Depression and Mental Health Challenges

Parents and carers in Camden and Islington can join a free webinar on supporting children through depression and mental health challenges on Thursday, 16 October, from 6pm to 8pm.

This online event aims to help parents and carers to understand depression and mental health challenges in children and in young people.

What to expect from this webinar:

What is depression and mental health? Recognising the signs of depression in young people

How to support a child who is experiencing depression and mental health challenges
Where to get support beyond the family.

Sign-up here or, if you have any questions, please email vrureferrals@islington.gov.uk.

Who Cares? A Camden Conversation about Adult Social Care

Camden residents are invited to participate in Britain’s largest trial of digital democracy, launched here in Camden, called ‘Who Cares? A Camden Conversation about Adult Social Care’. This online, borough-wide conversation seeks to hear from all Camden residents aged 16 and over. Sharing your perspective only takes about 10 minutes, requires no prior knowledge, and offers a chance to win a £1,000 prize draw. It’s a quick but meaningful way to contribute to decisions affecting Camden’s future. You do not need experience of adult social care to take part. Join the conversation today.

Yours faithfully,

Izzy Jones

Headteacher

This Week's WESPA Round-Up:

Dear families,

It was a great pleasure to meet new Year 7s at band club this week - this will run every Monday lunch alongside the Y8s club and is open to all. If anybody is interested, please ask your son to speak to Head of Music Ms Wood - there are many other music clubs too!

Now that everything has settled into more of a routine, it’s a great time to think about WESPA and its purpose. The committee is made of parents and there is a regular group of volunteers - it’s all pretty egalitarian and we make decisions together. It would be great to hear from parents and carers new and old - do you have any ideas or priorities? What could WESPA do to improve your experience at school? How do you think we could help? Here is a very short feedback form. Please do take a few minutes to give your opinion - it would be really helpful to hear from you.

https://forms.gle/eswJ8Vh5jFjj3eo18

Have a great weekend,

Best wishes,

Chair WESPA