WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
The last week of the summer term saw the boys off timetable for our final Deep Learning Day (DLD) of the year “More in Common”, with the message hope not hate, co-ordinated by Mr Pratt and Ms Conway. Groups were put into houses, giving a mixture of ages to work together, rather than form groups.
An image from New Zealand earlier this year after an attack on a mosque.
During DLD boys in Year 7 concluded the Oracy project they have been working on over the school year with Mr Singleton and Ms Neve. The project was filmed and will be edited into a Camden’s Oracy Hub film which will be shared with other schools and our parents later in the year.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
AWARDS EVENING
The annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday was the final external event of the school year. It was great to celebrate the achievements of our students and share their delight in winning awards.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
GRAND OPENING OF THE WILLIAM ELLIS PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE
Founder’s Day this year saw a gathering of guests, familes, staff and local press to see the official opening of the new William Ellis Performing Arts Centre. The ribbon was cut by Ms Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council and governor at the school along with Fiona Millar our Chair of Governors.
There was a tour of the new music and drama rooms with boys performing dance and music for the visitors. WESPA provided refreshments throughout the event and followed up with a Summer Social.
Thank you to WESPA and Mr Forbat, Head of Music and Mr Pratt, Head of Drama for rehearsing the boys to put on an excellent show and to WESPA for their support. The WESPA summer raffle was drawn at the end of the evening by Mr White. There were some lovely prizes donated and quite a lot of money raised.
The new building demonstrates the school’s commitment to the arts which has been sadly lost at many schools. WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
LaSWAP Drama Production – Blood Wedding, RADA 8th & 9th July Sarah O’Keefe from La Sainte Union School was instrumental in organising a whole LaSWAP consortium play at RADA this month.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
As well as the actors, students were involved in all aspects of the production - from stage management (costume changes, setting stage and props) to designing costumes and sets and posters, programmes and tickets and producing.
Sam White said:
“What a fantastic production! Colleagues if you can, I really recommend going to see the LaSWAP production of Blood Wedding at the RADA studios. (Goodge Street, 2 minutes).
A sharp, energetic and impassioned performance. Very relevant to today - an urbanised rural tragedy with humour.
Excellent, polished performances from all the across the consortium. Cast includes Pablo and Adam
Congratulations to cast and crew. WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Get to it - you won’t regret it!”
LaSWAP Volunteering Trip to UGANDA For the 10th year running, Mr Mangham took a group of students to Uganda, accompanied this year by Ms Kreizman, to continue volunteering with the charity, The Great Generation, in the rural area of Jinga a few hours away from Kampala by road. As usual the school community helped raise money for goats to be bought during the visit to be given personally to the locals so that they can have a supply of fresh milk and also breed the goats to provide an income to pay for school fees. Schools are not free in Uganda and families not only have to pay for their children to go to school but also for a school uniform. This takes a large proportion of their income. The volunteers help with different projects such as building/stocking libraries, making playgrounds, painting classrooms and teaching.
Students receive a warm welcome WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
. Mr Mangham and students hard at work and of course a goat! The Year 12 activities were supposed to be rounded off with a LaSWAP 5 a side football competition at ABS. Teams were to include both boys and girls – encouraged by the success of the Lionesses but alas it had to be postponed. Let’s hope the momentum can be kept up for for a competition next term. LaSWAP Sports and Training Programme
Lee Davis, the NVQ Officer of London Borough of Camden, based at Talacre where many of our LaSWAP students are based, sent the following message along with a long list of awards and statistics: “A special thank you to the team, LaSWAP and partners for their contribution in helping these young people make the best possible start to their careers within the sports, play and educational industries. Here are some extra stats since September 2005: Over 5000 voluntary hours, engaged 267 young people aged 16-19 years of age, 84 females have engaged with the programme, within the last 8 years 38 students enrolled have had either Education Health Care plans or have required access arrangements due to Special education needs, 489 Edexcel NVQ qualifications gained, 349 sports accredited qualifications gained, 472 NGB awards at L1 or above, 180 new jobs for students ………Our ‘Fiona Brown Award’ who so sadly passed away a couple of years’ ago will be jointly awarded to Blake J and Stanley S. WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 Our ‘most improved award’ is awarded to Bradley H, fantastic performance from this young man!” Ellis Alumni
Every term we receive unexpected visits or telephone calls from ex-students – “Old Elysians” and it is great to hear their stories of their time at William Ellis. Sometimes a query comes up about our school history. We do have an archive but it is not always easy to find a reference to someone in one of the many old newsletters/programmes we have. Recently we had a contact from a BBC radio producer who was interested in finding out about an Old Elysian for a documentary he was working on.
“I am currently making a documentary about the life of a man named Arthur James "Jimmy" Jewell. He was a top-level football referee in the 1930s, taking charge of the 1938 FA Cup final as well as a game at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but unusually later became a football manager with Norwich City, and then the BBC's first regular television football commentator after the Second World War. He also served in the air force in both world wars.
The reason I am writing to you is that I believe he attended your school as a boy - I have found this newspaper profile from 1938 which suggests as much:”
One of our Old Elysians, and compiler of our archive, Christopher Willey, kindly found some information about “Jimmy” and his war service on HMS Victory. We are most grateful to Chris, who now lives in Devon, but continues to be called on by the school for help in such matters. It was great to find out about another Old Elysian who had gone on to live a very interesting life. For more recent ex-students, we continue to work with the Future First alumni network and we display their posters around the school showing ex-students and details of their current employment. Hugh Teesdale, a more recent leaver, got in touch from New Zealand where he is taking a gap year playing cricket.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 Sustainers/Climate Change
In response to many of the students, staff and our local authority concerns about sustainability and climate change, Ms Conran, Ms Cockcroft, Mr Pomeyie, Mrs Seeburn and Mr White have met together and will work with a group of students (Sustainers) to make a plan to help make the school more environmentally friendly in future. Additionally, Mr Pomeyie has been encouraging staff to take a small action to change their behaviour. He wrote to staff: “A small TV left on standby uses 1 watt an hour, so it uses 1kWh for every 1000 hours it is on. Currently 1kWh from one of the big 6-energy company costs 14 pence. It would be great if we all get into the habit of SWITCHING SCREENS OFF FROM STANDBY at the plug. A simple flick of the switch can make a small difference to school’s bills and the environment. Globally, lots of small differences can make a big difference!”
There has been an all staff briefing, meetings of the Sustainers group with Camden and the leader of Camden Council and some ideas about a way forward have been agreed. The new term will see the school no longer providing plastic cups in the canteen and a greater emphasis on recycling. Further details will be shared next term as the plan progresses.
The Mill
There was another successful working weekend at the Mill in June to get it ready for Year 7 camp with the tents set up and the stream cleaned out amongst the many jobs tackled.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 The Mill has just received planning permission to build an open barn which will provide useful shelter for groups at the Mill when it is raining. Some parents have asked about coming along to working weekends with children and the logistics of this is being investigated. The next working weekend will be in October and details will be shared nearer the time.
Careers and Networking
Mr Parry, Ms Lane and Mr Wharton have provided many opportunities throughout the term for boys to consider their career choices and meet with professionals from many fields. In April we had an Insurance careers and apprenticeships showcase carousel for students in Year 10 with an introduction about working in insurance and the City of London. May saw a presentation from British Airways which linked with the MFL department.
Building Works at the School
The new windows are being fitted as this newsletter is being prepared. This lovely picture of the wild lawn at the front of the school at the beginning of term will be a reminder of what they used to look like!
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
And this is what the school looked like when it was rebuilt in the 1930s!
Over the summer lots more will be happening on site with major work at the rear of the school with some demolition and other remodelling to increase new large modern language classrooms. There will be some remodelling of the maths classrooms too. We are extremely grateful for the funding of this work through Camden’s Community Investment Programme especially in this time of scarce resources.
MFL DEPARTMENT NEWS
The department has run a very full range of trips this year. Coming up for 2019/20 ther will be trips to Boulogne, Paris and skiing in the Alps. Please look out for letters about these trips or look on the letters page under “News” on the school website.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 PERFORMING ARTS NEWS
In addition to some stunning dance performances at the grand opening of the Music and Performing Arts Centre in June, Year 7s took part in rehearsals and auditions for the Shakespeare Festival coming up in the next academic year.
Performance at Opening of Performing Arts Centre Boys across the age groups took place in dance workshops and a performance at the Place, Sadlers Wells.
Trips to the theatre were also a highlight with visits to Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse and Dido at The Unicorn Theatre, SE1.
MUSIC DEPARTMENT NEWS
The term has continued to be a busy time for the school’s various instrumental groups with performances in school, on the heath bandstand with local primary schools, at Highgate School and at school events including the Year 11 Achievement Evening, the official opening of the new Music and Drama Centre and End of Year Awards. WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
The department took delivery of a very large double base in May, kindly gifted the the school by Astrid Edelman McCabe, the sister of one of our ex-students. We will put it to good use. Earlier in the year we were also donated an amazing 19th century cello by a friend of one of our governors. Congratulations go to boys who took music theory tests towards the end of the year: Well done to Rudy and Jacob for passing grade 5 and Benjamin*, Aidan, Jack, Neo*, Felix*, Conor, William*, Harry and Daniel* who passed grade 1. The * = Distinction, so extra congratulations!
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
The Science Department has continued to build strong ties with the Crick Institute at Kings Cross. Ms Hugo took Year 12 students there for a workshop on DNA extraction: WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Other trips to the Francis Crick included the “Cracking Crick” show for our Year 8 students. The school has hosted scientists from the institute in school and they have helped our technicians set up some interesting science experiments.
SP0RTS & ACTIVITIES
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 Unfortunately our planned sports days for KS3 and KS4 on Hampstead Heath had to be called off due to very poor weather. Luckily the PE Department then planned for a slightly different Sports programme for KS3 on the last week of term which involved a variety of events, some in the playground, some in the gym and some on the heath and the weather had greatly improved by then. The new event turned out to be possibly better that the usual sports day with a lot more of the boys taking part in table tennis, football and softball and participating in good spirits. There was no time in the diary for the Year 10s to have their own Sports Day but they were able to fit in a lunchtime Tug of War inbetween final exams.
Results of Tug of Wars for Years 7-9:
POSITION HOUSE Y9 Tug o’ War POINTS
ST 1 20 Lauderdale
2ND 16 Willow
3RD 12 Keats
4TH 8 Burgh
5TH 4 Fenton
POSITION HOUSE Y8 Tug o’ War POINTS
ST 1 20 Burgh
2ND 16 Willow
3RD 12 Keats
4TH 0 – no Lauderdale show
5TH 0 – no Fenton show
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
POSITION HOUSE Y7 Tug o’ War POINTS
ST 1 20 Fenton
2ND 16 Burgh
3RD 12 Keats
4TH 8 Willow
5TH 4 Lauderdale
The boys enjoyed a variety of sports throughout the term and it was great to be able to be able to introduce cricket to some of the year 7s with 2 teams playing on the heath pitch behind the school in June.
ART DEPARTMENT NEWS
After a successful link with the Hampstead Heath Affordable Art Fair in May, the Art & Craft Department followed up with their End of Year Show. Lots of parents came along for a Private View WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 to see the very high standard of work produced by students for their GCSE, A Level Graphics and Cambridge Technicals exams.
Winning artworks on display at the Affordable Art Fair. Winners were Adam 7L, Jonah 10B, Aaqib 11B.
The Art Technician, Mr Schueller Elmes, has just finished a project with Year 7s to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the moon landing. The boys produced some great model making:
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 Ms Oskaya led a project with Highgate Library called the “Four Seasons Art Project”. A small group of boys worked on artworks with an artist to represent a season – Autumn. The artwork was then displayed in the library at a special event to celebrate the project.
School Council News
There were two non-uniform days to support charities close to the students’ hearts.
At half term the school collected £276.15 to donate to the charity CALM whose aim is male suicide prevention.
And raised £292.54 on the final day of term to be donated to Client Earth, a non-profit environmental law organisation,
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club run every morning from 8am in the canteen. All boys are more than welcome to join Alex, student mentor, aided by Freddie in Year 7, for toast or cereals to set them up for the day.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 The Cashless School
Most parents are now set up on ParentPay for school meals, but a reminder that we cannot take cash for school trips either. If you need to pay towards a trip your son is attending, a tab will be set up on the system for you to pay towards the trip. If you have any queries, please contact the trip organiser.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
This year our Year 9s took part in Duke of Edinburgh award activites for their bronze award at the Year 9 camp, Year 10 have been on a practice hike for the silver award at the Foxhole campsite and their qualifying hike at Steeple Leaze farm. Mr Meharg has led a gold Duke of Edinburgh award practise expedition to the Peak District and the qualifying expedition in the Yorkshire Dales during the last week of term. Year 7 News
The main event of the summer term for Year 7s was Year 7 camp. The weather was kind and Ms Damms, who hadn’t visited the camp for 9 years, reported back after a stay: “it was really good. It had changed quite a bit – for the better. The 7s were mostly being lovely.”
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Year 8 News
Whilst Year 7 and 10 were out of school, Year 8 managed to fit in a trip to Kenwood House with Mr Pratt. They were able to walk over the heath, have a picnic, play and visit the house. A number of the boys also spent two days working with Mr Parry and Ms White and Fitzrovia Youth in Action for mentoring training. They will put this training in action with our new students. There was also a session for all boys in Year 8 to work with 20+ volunteers for a Careers carousel – a great opportunity to start thinking early on about their futures once they have left education. Year 8 boys on camp:
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Year 9 News
Year 9s had a quieter term after choosing their Options for KS4 and trying on their black blazers but managed a slightly “tougher” camp at the Mill which included a Duke of Edingburgh overnight hike:
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Year 10 News
In June a number of the Year 10s and 12s visited the Guildhall for the annual Livery Companies careers showcase, sponsored by the Livery Companies and the City of London Corporation. The Liveries cover a vast number of professions. The event created for the students an atmosphere where they could talk to people from the trades and professions in an informal atmosphere giving a wonderful opportunity to broaden their employment horizons and raise their aspirations. There was also an opportunity to talk to apprentices. We have made a Livery connection with Indemnity Marine, part of the Aviva group. Our founder, William Ellis, was an important entity in the history of Marine insurance breaking a triopoly in the 1890s and we look forward to continuing the connection. Students rounded off Year 10 by carrying out two weeks’ work experience at a diverse range of work places from NW11 toi EC1. Staff managed to visit most of the boys in their work places. They were extremely proud of how most of the boys rose to the challenge of the workplace and seem to mature overnight. “Mentoring Works” Programme This Year 10 programme links students from William Ellis School to mentors from The Guardian. These business volunteers mentor students in order to help them reach their individual goals on a fortnightly basis in their offices in Kings Cross. The students were invited to the Islington Assembly Hall in July to celebrate the completion of the programme along with all the other students, mentors and business partners involved in the programme – 400+. The boys could network as well as enjoy some refreshments. Congratulations to the boys who successfully completed the programme. WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Winners of Youth Insight Challenge part of the Mentoring Works Programme
Year 11 News
After a hardworking Easter holiday with lots of revision classes, the Year 11s conducted themselves very well during the GCSE exam season and we look forward to welcoming them back into school in August when they receive their results on Thursday, 22nd August. There will be an opportunity to enrol at LaSWAP that day. We do hope that as many boys as possible decide to continue their education at LaSWAP. We were pleased that 53 boys attended the LaSWAP taster day in June. The Year 11 Achievement Evening rounded off the boys’ career at WES and it was great to see so many boys return after exams to receive their certificates cheered on by their proud parents. Each year a boy from Year 11 is awarded the Citizenship Award in memory of Prof Conor Gearty’s late wife Diana. Prof Gearty, is the Vice-Chair of Governors and Professor of Human rights Law at the London School of Economics. He has been presenting the prize since 2003. We were extremely pleased that three previous winners – Daniel, Jamal and Yedidiah were able to come along for a re-union on the evening and then join Conor in talking about the award.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Mr White reminded the boys in his farewell speech to the Year 11: “You have reached a key milestone in your life and this event is to celebrate the past you have had at William Ellis School and to enjoy the present before you move to the next stage in your future”. He quoted Wordsworth: “Life is divided into three terms. That which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present. And from the present to live better in the future”. It was great the the Year 11 “Band with no name” came together for a final performance on the evening.
Governors
At the start of term a small party of governors came in to speak to boys across the age groups to talk to students about their experiences in English lessons. The report they produced was shared at the Full Governing Body meeting in July.
A reminder that details of all our governors are included on the school website as well as copies of the signed minutes of the full governing body meetings. The two Parent Governors are Sophie Jenkins and Stuarty Taylor.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
WESPA (William Ellis Parents’ Association)
WESPA have been a spectacularly solid support to the school this year at a great number of after school events as well as outstanding fundraisers. Their work is truly appreciated and enriches the boys’ experience at William Ellis. A particular success was the Arts & Crafts Fair held in the school playground to compliment the Hampstead Heath Affordable Art Fair.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 WESPA has fundraised the following amounts for the school this year (including match funding from the Trustees): £10,000 to the Music Department £7,000 to the Art Department (for a kiln) £2,000 to Food Technology once up and running £2,500 additionally raised for the library and books Trustees
The school, being voluntary aided, is supported by Trustees known as the William Ellis and Birkbeck Trust. The Trustees agreed to match fund monies raised by WESPA and it is greatly appreciated that they have agreed to provide £9,500 to the school.
Staff News
Staffing for Autumn Term 2019 We are sorry to say “goodbye” to some colleagues at the end of the Summer term: Mrs Rahilla Janjua Chughtai, Subject Leader - Biology, is retiring after 34 years’ service to the school. Mr Richard Martin, Brass Teacher, is retiring from the school after many years’ service. He will continue to work for Camden. Mr Philip Saker, Physics Teacher, at the end of his 1 year contract. He will be working abroad. Ms Lucia Problemi, Business and Economics Teacher, at the end of her temporary contact. She will be moving on to City Academy. Mr Ashish Patel, TLA, who has been accepted as a trainee maths teacher at Langdon Park School. We are pleased to welcome the following teacher staff:
Name Role
Flora Wilson Director of Sixth / Teacher of History and RE
Zora Laattoe Head of Science
Gemma Armstrong Teacher of Physics
Aida Saldana Hernandez Teacher of Business Studies & Economics
Hannah Philp Teacher of English
Michel Kamal Snaije Teacher of History
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019 New Life at WES
In addition to the chick hatching project, we had a duck raising two sets of ducklings in the Year 7 quad. She is now safely with them on the ponds at Hampstead Heath.
Thank you to Miss Cooper and Ms Ward who agreed to oversee the Chick Hatching project again this year.
Eggs arrived from Bowland Farm in Yorkshire in an incubator and all but one hatched.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
A small group of boys in years 7 and 8 were responsible for their upkeep – feeding, watering and clearning them out and keeping them safe from the heavy hands of some of their peers.
The boys named the female chicks – Cheeky, Hips, Munchkin, Golden, Olive, Albert Eggstein and the males - Lenard and Delaney.
After two weeks’ they returned to the farm. Next year we are hoping to keep the females for a new chicken run a the Mill.
Message for Parents from School Office
If your son needs to leave the school for a medical appointment during the school day, please make sure that you either telephone the school beforehand or write a note in his planner. It is best though if appointments can be made out of school hours. Unfortunately we are not able to leave the reception as there are no lulls during the school day to find boys to give them messages. Additionally it is very difficult to contact/interrupt teachers when they are busy teaching a class. Boys must always come to reception before they leave to receive a pass to leave the school site. Many thanks for your support in this, and over the last year.
WILLIAM ELLIS SCHOOL
NEWS July 2019
Very best wishes for a restful Summer break from all at WES.