Summer Reading Challenge 2024
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New Year 7 students are invited to take part in our Summer Reading Challenge over the break. There are 7 challenges, with something for everyone and prizes to be won. Find out more about the challenges here.
Entries should be given to Ms Nunnery in the first week of Autumn term.
Growing Our Own
Ms Sinnott, Food & Nutrition teacher, writes:
Earlier this month Year 7’s experienced selling vegetables that were grown in the grounds of William Ellis school at Inverness Street market
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We mustn’t forget the hard work of Year 10’s who planted the vegetables to begin with.
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Harvesting that morning Year 7’s made their presence known and sold all the vegetables and impressed the Mayoress who purchased some of the produce and joined the photo line up.
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Year 7 Artwork
Ms Sinnott also writes:
Here is a medley of artwork by Year 7:
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Volcano Model Competition
Mr Pomeyie, Head of Geography, writes:
Much to the delight of the premises team, the volcanic activity in William Ellis has been subdued this year. However, everyone was suddenly on red alert as volcanologists observed some tectonic activity in the quad. Thankfully, it was a shield volcanic eruption, which produced slow flowing rather than explosive lava. This meant some Year 7s were able to safely enjoy the sites as tourists. Who needs to go to Hawaii?
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Year 7 Geography in the Field!
Mr Pomeyie also writes:
An important part of being a Geographer is about applying what you know in the field – no matter the weather. In the second half of the summer term, Year 7s have braved some of the excessive rain and have been applying what they have learnt this year in Geography in the local area.
Firstly, they had their first introduction into how to conduct a geographical investigation, following a hypothesis; data collection; data analysis; conclusion and evaluation. The focus of the investigation was Swains Lane, to find out about the type of shops there and to decide what type of new shops should be built there.
Next, Y7s conducted a land use survey building on what they had learnt about the urban land use model. Imagination was key as they linked features of the local Highgate area with those that you might find in the Central Business District, Inner City and Suburbs of London.
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The level of focus and curiosity displayed by the students highlighted that there many who will carry on using their geographical skills for years to come!
Year 8 Camp
Mr Court, Head of Outdoor Learning, writes:
The first two weeks in July saw Year 8 go to The Mill for their annual camp. Whilst there, the boys spent a day at Sayers Croft, participating in activities like High Ropes, Caving, Axe Throwing and Bouldering. The other full day was spent with the boys taking a member of staff for a walk. The boys were given maps and route cards and instructed to follow the route, making it to the end with their member of staff. We were lucky enough to be able to watch England play in the Euro's Semi-Final, which the boys all loved, in the outdoor theatre.
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Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
Mr Court also writes:
This term, our Year 10 and 11 students undertook their Bronze DofE qualifying expedition. The boys were out in the Surrey Hills, an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), where they completed a two-day, fully self-sufficient expedition. All of the boys passed this section and are well underway to completing their Bronze award.
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Well done to the Year 10s and 11s on this trip.
Year 9 Financial Literacy and Enterprise Challenge
Ms Mallick, Business & Economics teacher, writes:
Earlier this month Year 9 Economics students participated in a financial literacy workshop designed to improve their understanding of economic and financial concepts. The students considered how the economy has changed in recent years before participating in an investment simulation challenge. The overall challenge was won by Rowan, Niyaz, Thomas and Aymen.
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Meanwhile, Year 9 business students have been taking part in an end of term enterprise challenge. Groups have been creating business ideas and pitching them in order to try and win the prize fund that will allow them to put their ideas into practice. The students have shown creativity and teamwork, whilst also building on their oracy skills with presentations of their work at the end of each lesson.
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Camden Arts Biennial
Ms Kendall, Art teacher, writes:
Year 9 Art and Graphics GCSE students went on a trip to the Camden Schools Art Biennale in the Lethaby Gallery at Central St Martin's. The exhibition was a celebration of art from every school in Camden. It was an inspiring show & the students loved seeing work from all the different schools & Key Stages 2-5.
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Year 12 'Space To Learn' Day
Mr Fuller, Head of Physics, writes:
Year 12 students from William Ellis and La Sainte Union spent a day working with a trainer from the National Space Academy. The day consisted of a number of practical and theoretical workshops to help them more fully understand the physics underpinning certain aspects of space exploration. As part of the day they got to try on a real space suit, and to make and launch rockets.
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Astrophysics is one of the options in the A level course offered at LaSWAP, and the day was tailored to introduce some of this content to the students.
What a year in Modern Foreign Languages!
Ms Rodgers, Head of MFL, writes:
We've had a busy year in MFL and are looking forward to residential trips to both Germany and France in the next academic year, plus we'll be launching a new 'MFL reading club'!
The events we've been involved in this year were:
Sept '23- European Week of Languages & competitions
October '23- Year 12 trip to Spain
November '23 - GCHQ Challenge
December '23- Year 7 Spelling Bee Class competition
January '24- BFI trips
February '24 - exchange visit by German student
March '24 - regional final of the Spelling Bee
April '24 - European Language Challenge
May '24 - Live online GCHQ event - 'Where can languages take you?'
June '24- exchange visit by French student
July '24- Poetry translation competition
This week Year 12 German students also visited Tate Modern to see a German artist group mentioned in their Art & Architecture unit.
These events have all contributed to our school being awarded International School Foundation Status by The British Council earlier this year in recognition of our work to bring the world into the classroom.
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Sports Day 2024
Mr Levitt, Head of PE, writes:
After a two-year hiatus due to 40 degree heat and renovations of the Heath track, 2024 saw the return of Sports Day!
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All students in years 7-10 snaked their way to Hampstead Heath Athletics Track last Monday morning (15th July) to battle it out in the biggest inter-house event of the year. The noise from the crowd could be heard from Camden Market as the boys battled it out for pride, prestige and house points!
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All the competitors gave it their all and pushed each other to go faster and further than ever before. It was no surprise then, that in this Olympic year a total of 12 school records were broken!
Well done to all the students that took part in the events and accompanying activities, and a big thank to all the staff that helped make it happen.
WES International Evening 2024
Mrs Balabhadra, EAL co-ordinatoor, writes:
On 20th June, WES opened its doors for the second International Evening since the pandemic and although the date coincided with England’s first match in the European Football Cup, the sports hall was full of people. There were many stalls with country ambassadors – some represented by students and others by teachers – and all boasting interesting information, images and artefacts such as a Mandarin calligraphy workshop. Mini quizzes created by the ambassadors tested general knowledge and cultural awareness of places. Other stalls offered tasty bakes, some of which were made in-house (in the Food Tech room). As always, the communal food table was brimming with delicious traditional dishes from around the world. Guests were spoilt for choice with dishes from as far as St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica in the west, to the Philippines in the east.
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And what an array of performances we had! Poems were read or recited in Bengali and Ukrainian, and there were great music pieces performed by soloists, duets or bands. We watched incredible dances from the Philippines in awe and were treated to some wonderful Tabla music and singing by guest performers from the Bangladeshi community. The WESPA choir had prepared two new songs – singing marvellously in Macedonian. The evening was spiced up by the amazing prizes in the Grand and International Quiz Draws generously donated by local businesses, including a £100 hamper from the local restaurant, Rosella, vouchers from Bistro Laz, Gail’s Bakery, Roni’s, Theo’s Hair Salon and also newly reopened local pub, the Duke of St. Albans.
We had such a wonderful community atmosphere that nobody wanted the event to end!
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Zakhar in Year 7 writes:
‘It was my first time attending an international evening and my first impression about that event was “Quite a lot of people!”. I wasn’t worried about being part of this evening although I had to recite a poem off by memory in Ukrainian. I also arranged the table for Ukraine by myself; there were pictures of places in Ukraine, quizzes and interesting facts about the country.
The thing that I enjoyed the most was the WESPA quiz and prizes, doing the activities and tasting food from different places around the world. I was happy to bring my younger brother and my older brother with me so that I could share the happiness with them. I was surprised to see many students performing such as dancing, singing, playing instruments, reading poems and many other things.
I think that more people and their family members should join the international evening because it gives you more information about people from different countries that are part of William Ellis school.’
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Seba in 9F writes:
‘The International Evening was a great opportunity for allowing us to express our cultures and learn about the cultures of others. Lots of delicious food was shared and music was played. Many students, some who weren’t from William Ellis school, and lots of parents and teachers were there too. An amazing environment with a great vibe for a few hours really allowed us all to let loose a little nearing the end of school. It was an all-round extremely enjoyable event.’
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SYDRC Achievement Awards Ceremony 2024
Mrs Balabhadra also writes:
The Somali Youth Development Resource Centre (SYDRC) is a well-known and established youth-led organisation in North London which caters for the Somali community in many ways, from advocacy to youth activities and mentoring. Their primary focus is to positively engage young people, acknowledging their academic success through annual achievement awards as well as creating an inspiring environment for all young people to develop into responsible students and good citizens.
On Tuesday, 16th July, The Somali Youth Development Resource Centre (SYDRC) held their annual awards ceremony celebrating GCSE achievement of Somali students in Camden in the academic year 2022-2023. SYDRC has hosted this annual event for the past seventeen years. During this time, many Somali children have successfully entered university and embarked on inspiring careers.
These awards recognise students’ academic success at GCSE level, their commitment and efforts. Among the students receiving awards this year were Geele Mohamed in 12MGU, Ismail in 12LMA and Mohamed Amir Ali who formerly attended our school.
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Some of the speakers and guests giving out the awards included the Mayor of Camden, Samata Khatoon, former Camden council leader, Keith Moffit, the Councillor for Holborn and Covent Garden, Awale Olad (who is also an ex-WES pupil), and many more. They praised the hard work and perseverance of the young people, and the support their parents have given them.
The top three prizes, which included an iPhone, an iPad and MacBook Pro, were presented to Somali students who had achieved eight 9s in their GCSE subjects. There were also mentoring and community awards recognising determination in taking part in mentoring programs and substantial contribution to the Somali community.
Students, parents and guests were entertained by One Mic Diesel, a Somali comedian, and Nomadic Libaax, a Somali poet, whose poetry deeply resonated with the audience.
From the English Corridor...Magazine Issue no. 2
The English department have compiled a selection of students' work from the last two terms and hope that you will enjoy reading some of the stories, memories and poems students have committed to paper. This issue of the magazine is dedicated to the memory of Anne Turvey, a much admired teacher of English who later worked at the Institute of Education and guided some of our English teachers into the profession.
A taster selection of the pages can be seen here:
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The magazine in full can be downloaded here
SEND notice
Camden's SEND newsletter for July, with details of events over the Summer and into Autumn Term, can be found here.