Good afternoon,

I hope that you and your family are well. We have reached the most important part of our school year as our Year 11 students have begun their GCSE exams. Over the past few weeks students have been involved in art exams and the languages speaking exams, and this week began written exams in the hall. We were delighted to have 100% attendance to today’s biology exam – with the majority of students exceptionally positive after leaving the exam and feeling confident that they have done a great job! We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 students and the maturity they continue to show.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Well done to our excellent Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Award students for their brilliant engagement with their practice expedition last weekend. Fortunately, the weather improved just in time to stop the weekend being a wash-out – although some of the students reported experiencing a chilly night in their tents!

Sextortion Safeguarding Update

We are sharing a letter regarding ‘sextortion’ following recent communications sent to all UK schools by the National Crime Agency along with this week’s newsletter. All students are being educated about this issue in school, however, please take the time to read the letter carefully and discuss the key points with your child.

Warm Weather: Uniform & Hydration

As we are now enjoying warm spring weather and approaching the summer months, please be reminded of our expectations around school uniform. All students may choose to wear professional-length black school shorts or school skirts to school as an alternative to school trousers. These are the only items of uniform permitted for students to wear along with their polo shirts and Westfield jumpers. To be clear, cycling shorts, sports shorts and all other shorts that are not school shorts may not be worn. As always, we will direct students arriving to school in non-uniform items to change into spares provided at our Ready Gate.

In addition, please ensure your child is in possession of a re-fillable water bottle to bring to school with them. Every corridor in school has a water fountain that students can access before school, at break and lunch, and at the end of the school day. In the recent warm weather a number of students have complained of headaches and feeling ill as a consequence of not drinking enough water during the school day.

Rewards Trips

Congratulations to those students who have attended our fantastic rewards trips in recent weeks. All students understand the need to earn stamps and show an exceptional Attitude to Learning to secure their place on our rewards trips. Well done to all those who earned a place and remember, all students can still earn a place on future trips.

Year 7 Parents’ Evening

We look forward to welcoming the families of our brilliant Year 7 students into school next week for the Year 7 parents’ evening. As ever, families will have the opportunity to look at their child’s work in books and to meet their subject teachers to discuss the progress they have made this academic year. We look forward to seeing lots of parents/carers on Thursday evening.

With many thanks for your excellent ongoing support,

Joe Birkbeck

Head of Westfield School