Headteacher's Newsletter

Dear families,

Welcome to the final half term of the academic year 2022/23. Time really has flown again this year and it's hard to believe our Year 11 and 13's are almost at the end of their exams; I hope that all the hard work the students have put in preparing for their exams has paid off and I very much look forward to seeing all our students in August at results days.

Far from calming down at the end of the year, this term is full to the brim with House activities, rewards trips, awards evenings, sports day, Pride week, work experience, not to mention our Year 7 Graduation Day. All students across the school will also be sitting their end of year assessments over the next few weeks to show the progress they have made over the course of this year. These exams are important not only in judging progress but also getting the students used to preparing for exams, ready for their future GCSE and A Levels.

In September we have another 249 students joining the school in Year 7 and this year we have had more appeals than ever from families who sadly did not get the place they had hoped for. Although it is always hard to listen to parents who want to send their children to our school and haven't been offered a place, hearing them speak so passionately about the school and our students made me proud of the community we have developed and the expectations we have of both academic and personal development. It is particularly heart warming to hear how these families talk about the students conduct outside of the school gates and you should be proud of your children and the reputation they have in the wider community.

As always this newsletter is a mix of important information and celebration; I hope you find it useful.

A quick reminder that our current Year 10 students will be required to wear a plain black v-neck jumper when they start in Year 11. They will no longer be permitted to wear a blazer.

Can I also remind parents to speak to their children about skirt length. I have seen a very small improvement this week since my letter, but not enough to change the decision to move to a new skirt. I will be changing the language in relation to skirts moving forwards, it will no long be 'to the knee' but will be expected to be 'on the knee' to avoid any misinterpretation of the school's expectations. This should not impact the students current skirts as they should already be that length. Please check and ensure your child's skirt meets this expectation ready for September.

Following on from the success of our Student Diversity and Equality Committee we would like to invite parents to be part of our commitment to improving equality and diversity across the school. We are therefore asking for parents who would be interested in being part of the Committee to help us make positive changes within our community, to click the attachment below for more details and to email into admin@westhatch.net.

The Association is made up of parents & carers who help raise funds for the school, for the benefit of the children. They are looking for new helpers & new ideas and it is a great way to meet other parents and teachers, and to help enhance and improve the community, and learning experience at the school. Whether you want to take a lead or just help out on a stall occasionally, they would love to hear from you. If you are interested, please get in touch at pfa@weshatch.net.

Once again I remind families to park and drive safely outside the front of school. Please refrain from dropping off at the Cedar Park entrance, and please do not perform three point turns in the middle of the road, which is dangerous and causes hold ups. If you have to drop off or collect your child from school then please park a little bit further away to ease the congestion at the front of school.

At West Hatch we are very fortunate to have a number of students who regularly volunteer to help in the school library. Eight of these students were selected to attend a Pupil Library Assistant Training Day at The Elmgreen School in South London.

Mrs Sheikh, our Library Manager who accompanied them to the event said that the morning consisted of essential training for students covering topics including data protection, health and safety, and customer service. They answered questions based on different scenarios and shared ideas with other schools. This was followed by presentations from each school highlighting the best thing about their school library. Both Hannah Javed (Yr.10) and Sanaa Chaudry (Yr.7) proudly stood in front of a packed hall and delivered their presentation. (picture below)

There was also a creative task where students had to design a poster for a book, the title was supplied on the day so there was no preparation. The team all worked extremely well together, from discussing ideas to submitting a completed design using oil pastels. They all got involved! The judges were clearly impressed with their creativity and awarded West Hatch first prize, a box full of new books!

The afternoon included a talk from author Sufiya Ahmed followed by a Q&A session. For many, this was their first experience of an author visit which they found inspiring. Our students left the event feeling motivated and full of confidence.

We had a bigger and better culture week this April, designed by our Diversity Team. It was fantastic to see so many students and staff get involved and celebrate everything that is special about their heritage and culture. Our Catering Team worked tirelessly this year to provide an 'around the world' menu over the course of the week which was very popular with the students and staff alike. Thank you to all those involved in making it such a special event and I look forward to our Pride Week later this half term.

A huge congratulations to our Year 9 Netball and KS3 Football Teams who are District Champions 2023. Those students involved are named below. Well done to you all, a great achievement and thank you for representing the school so brilliantly!

Netball Team

Josie Comerford

Ava O’Reilly

Amber Cooke

Lily Hayward

Ava Bristow

Jazz Molloy

Ellahe Safaei Keshtgar

Ambika Dayal

Abbie Seabrook

Amber Higgs-Smith

KS3 Football Teams

Millie Blain

Italia Wright

Simran Patel

Ava O’Reilly

Lexi Yeo

Jessica Hazell

Daisy Sherrin

Aaliyah Mansouri

Gracie Jenkins

Staff at the school are working hard to increase the number of opportunities for trips and visits for our students each year. Last half term a number of students visited the Imperial War Museum and then Berlin as part of the schools History course and for Geography they went to Walton on the Naze.

All trips take a huge amount of effort to organise and are only run because of the goodwill of our staff, often giving up huge chunks of their own time for the benefit of our students. Thank you to all those staff involved in organising and running trips and to our students who have behaved so impeccably on all of them; they really have been a credit to the school.

We have received a few messages from parents about their children being unable to get onto some of the trips this year. We are talking to other schools in order to come up with a solution on the best way students can access as many opportunities as possible, so please bear with us.

Congratulations to our Achievement Plus Students who all performed brilliantly in the Maths Challenge which is a national event for schools. Particular well done to Oscar Omotosho in Year 7 who scored 90 marks on the Junior Mathematical Challenge the highest in the school. This means he achieved a Gold Certificate and has been invited to take part in the Junior Kangaroo Challenge. Well done Oscar!

Thursday 11th May heralded our Year 13's final official day before they began study leave, and what a great day it was, filled with fun, fancy dress and reminiscing on the last two or seven years at the school. Our Year 13's were sent on their way by our Year 7 students who cheered them off in West Hatch tradition as they left the school ready to commence their formal exams and move on into the big wide world. A great day for us all, with a hint of sadness that these fine students will no longer be walking the West Hatch corridors at the end of this month.

Along with our Year 13's, our Year 11's had their final leavers day on Friday 12th May. A fantastic day celebrating five great years at the school. I particularly enjoyed watching our students read the letters they sent themselves in their first weeks of Year 7.

I hope both our Year 11 and 13 leavers event are days that will live long in the students' memories and ones that they will look back on fondly in the future.

Each term our students and staff nominate students for a Jack Petchey Award which is a nationally recognised award for students who either excel in something, show real resilience or go the extra mile for others. The school's nominees for this last term are below. Well done to all of these students, we are very proud of each and every one of you:

Tayyab Mubashar – Year 10

Gowri Nair – Year 7

Sarah Barzoi – Year 7

Rebecca Popescu – Year 10

Leah Cartwright – Year 13

Nathan Richards – Year 13

I would particularly like to note Leah and Nathan who are part of our Senior Ambassador Team and have done a huge amount for the students across the school; they are real role models for students at West Hatch.

Some of our Year 10s recently took part in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. Miss Huggins said 'they were an exceptional group, walking 6 hours each day along with an overnight camp, responsible for their own cooking, cleaning and route map planning. They were all fantastic throughout and the biggest congratulations to them.' Thank you also to Miss Huggins and the staff who supported our students in this activity.

Congratulations to our Target Team students who took part in the Panathlon 10 Pin Bowling Competition in Romford. A group of our Year 7 and 8 students brought home the 2nd place Silver Trophy, by competing against 15 other teams. What a great achievement!

I just wanted to take a moment to say how wonderful the Shrek performance was and how proud I was to see the level of performance our students put on throughout the three days. So much work goes into these shows and I know how much every audience appreciated their efforts, including the residents of the Lambwood Heights Care Home who had a private viewing during the school day. Thank you to all the staff who helped the show be such a success and to all those involved for their time, perseverance and dedication.

Parent & Student Events

26th June - Awards Evening (invite only)

5th July - Sports Awards Evening (invite only)

6th July - Summer Solstice Event at 6pm

8th July - Yr.7 Graduation from 11.15am

21st July - Last day before the summer break students dismissed at lunchtime.

Student Only Events

19th June - Yr.10 Sixth Form Taster Day

20th June - Yr.10 RS Drop Down Day

29th June - Yr.11 Prom at the Prince Regent at 7pm

6th July - Yr.10 Mock Interview Day

10th July - Yr.10 Work Experience begins

12th July -Yr.12 Mock Interview Day

17th July - Yr.12 Work Placement Week

20th July - Sports Day

Jessica was one of the West Hatch students who volunteered on Sunday 14th May at the Rotary Club Chigwell Fete.

She arrived at 10am and worked all day with the team from Haven House and they were all very complimentary about her. She really enjoyed finding out more about the charity and helping them on their stall. She wants to do more voluntary work for them as soon as she’s old enough!

She actually received a lovely message afterwards from the Volunteer Development Manager, who wrote "All the volunteers said how lovely you were and wanted to pass on their thanks for all your help." Great work Jessica for a great cause.

It has been such a pleasure to put together a newsletter full of such wonderful events and activities undertaken by our students, as well as being able to share so many successes. This is a wonderful school with dedicated students and staff and I personally want to thank all of our staff for helping make West Hatch such a great place to work and study.

In my Year 6 Open Evening Speech I talk about school being a partnership between home and school and these young people wouldn't be where they are, doing the things they are doing without the support of their parents; whether it be helping them to learn lines or driving them around, thank you for all your to support to them and the school.

I'll be writing again to round up the year on the last day of term but for now enjoy the improving weather and I look forward to seeing many of you at Awards Evening, Sports Awards Evening, Graduation Day or results days in the summer. Good luck to all those parents with students in Year 11 and 13, I know this wait is probably worse for you than them!

Daniel Leonard

Headteacher