Good afternoon,

I hope that you and your family are well. We all lead very busy lives and as such I’m sure that most of you don’t regularly check our school website unless you are looking for specific information. If, however, you have had the opportunity to visit our curriculum pages you will be aware that we have a real commitment to ensure that the opportunities we create for our students in and out of the classroom support them with both their academic and personal development. Much has happened in the past week that evidences this commitment:

WELL DONE, YEAR 11

We are very proud of our excellent Year 11 students who have worked tremendously hard in their exams this week. Despite this being my fifth year working at Westfield, this is only the third exam period I’ve experienced in the school, and despite the disruption caused by the pandemic our students seem so much more confident and better prepared than ever before. After Tuesday’s English exam the students appeared to have taken some potential ‘curve balls’ in their stride; after yesterday’s history paper all the students were positive and confident that they’d responded well to the questions posed to them about the history of medicine; and following today’s maths paper many students appeared confident that their revision had paid off. We have no doubts that this positivity will continue into next week and beyond, and would encourage all our Year 11s to keep revising, to attend Period 6 revision sessions in school, and to take advantage of the opportunity to attend the English revision sessions planned for June half-term.

FOOTBALL TRIP TO NORWICH

There was much excitement this morning as our Year 8 and 9 girls and boys football teams set off on the long journey to Norwich, where they will have the opportunity to experience the training facilities of a Premier League football team. After a busy day of training and playing on Saturday, the teams will enjoy a Premier League fixture at Carrow Road between Norwich and Tottenham on Sunday. Enjoy the experience everyone!

LGBTQ+ SUPPORT GROUP

On Thursday of this week myself and Chris James, the CEO of Chorus Education Trust, were treated to an excellent presentation from Westfield’s student-led LGBTQ+ Support Group. The group have worked tirelessly this academic year to raise the profile of LGBTQ+ rights and issues amongst our school community, and in doing so have done much to create an environment in school where all young people feel welcome and safe, regardless of their identity. This group should be very proud of the excellent and thoughtful work that they have led and will continue to lead.

SPORTS LEADERS

Thank you and well done to our fantastic Sports Leaders who this week led an orienteering event for local primary school children here at Westfield. There was a real buzz about the place on Thursday afternoon as our site was invaded by excited children, and as ever our Sports Leaders proved to be excellent role models.

With many thanks for your continued excellent support,

Joe Birkbeck

Head of Westfield School