Friday 15th November 2024

WEEKLY LETTER FROM MS KATTIRTZI, HEADTEACHER

On Monday morning, 11/11/24, we had a whole school assembly to mark Remembrance Day.    At the assembly I was accompanied by Joshika, Senior Contingent Cadet and Sudiksha, Deputy Senior Cadet responsible for the training and leadership development of 300+ Cadets. We spoke to the students about Remembrance Day and the work of the British Legion who support serving and former service men and women of the British Armed Forces. We also talked about conflicts and how they arise, including the conflicts that we are seeing and hearing about every day in Middle East and Ukraine. The students also spoke and explained the symbols of Remembrance, the red poppy, but also other poppies that can be are worn - purple, black and white poppies. They highlighted women who had significant and prominent positions during World War Two. The assembly was complemented by the display in the Vestibule which we encouraged people to look at to deepen their understanding of this national occasion. It can be difficult for young people to understand and appreciate the issues that relate to war and the personal, social, economic, and political consequences of conflict. At the end of the assembly, I spent a few moments reflecting on how in our own everyday actions and behaviours we should try to be kind, peaceful, tolerant and understanding and how we must always endeavour to resolve conflicts that we have in our lives. I suggested to them that at Kendrick there are a few things we can do as a community to promote and uphold peace in our lives:

• We can remember those who have died in war
• we can reflect and consider that war is an argument/disagreement on a major scale that has not been resolved.
• We can look at what unresolved conflicts and arguments we have with each other and how we can try to resolve these peacefully and amicably.
• We can be the person that tries to keep the peace in disagreements and tries to find common ground.
• We can ‘call out’ people when they are being mean or unkind to others.
• We can recognise and appreciate the warmth and kindness of others and be welcoming to people who join our community.
• We can support the charities and organisations that work in countries where war exists.
• We can try to live our lives in peace

In a week that is also Anti Bullying Week, these messages are even more relevant and I urge parents to have conversations with their children and talk about what can peace and harmony feel and be like so that we can all endeavour and work towards this ideal. 

The assembly was accompanied by music played by Year 13 students Ananya and Jodie. At 11.00am we paused for a two-minute silence following the playing of The Last Post by Year 12 student, Connie.

We welcomed parents and students in Year 11 last night to the Sixth Form Open event and parents and students from other schools wishing to consider Kendrick for their sixth form studies. The format allowed us to speak separately to the two cohorts for them to better understand the process of entry into Kendrick and our expectations. For Kendrick students, they all have a guaranteed place at Kendrick; for students from other schools, they need to go through an application process. Our Year 11, have now started the process of thinking of their future plans: A Levels and subject choices, as well as, where they would like to study. Obviously, we would like all our students to continue to study at Kendrick, which most of them do, but this is a time for everyone to pause and think about their options. Last night, Mrs Hearn, members of the Kendrick Student Leadership Team and I, strongly made the case for studying at Kendrick for all the obvious reasons such us continuity in studies, familiar environment, established relationships and excellent pastoral support and careers, particularly UCAS guidance.  The Open Day for Year 11 was preceded by a Post 16 Conference, organised by Mrs McManus, Careers Coordinator at Kendrick and Learning to Work, our Careers Information and Guidance providers. At this event on Tuesday, students heard from our own Mrs White, who started the day giving the keynote speech about her journey from the Kendrick sixth form to university and eventually into Teaching. The students were absorbed by Mrs White’s story and asked pertinent and sensible questions. Year 11 have also had one-to-one careers interviews, talks by employees and information about degree apprenticeship, plus details about the Kendrick Sixth Form in the prospectus. There is more to come with our bi-annual Careers Fair, Design Your Future, in March 2025. Lots of information to help them think and plan their post 16 journey.

More wonderful news and articles about activities students have done or been involved in can be found here:

National Poetry Competition on the theme of Counting

Biology Spelling Bee Competition

Biology Week October 2024

Please read these articles showcasing the talents and creativity of our students, in particular, the poetry that has been written.  Also, a reminder of the production next week and the lovely poster for Into the Woods Poster with performances on 20^th 21^st 22^nd November. Tickets are selling fast.

To finish, I would like to return to the Remembrance Assembly on Monday. At the end of the assembly and by means of reflection, I asked Sudiksha and Joshika to read a well-known prayer that was also part of the Remembrance Service at Reading School I attended on Sunday and our Kendrick Pledge.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and pleasant weekend.

Ms Christine Kattirtzi
Headteacher 

For the Weekly Update in full please click here