We closed last year’s Eco chapter with a flower show.
Four weeks ago, students were asked to sign up if they wanted to be a plant parent. Mrs Kaur bought three different types of flower plants including 
Marigold in orange and yellow, Dianthus in pink, Carnations and Begonias.
This was the first year we opened up the challenges and started the Intermediate Biology Olympiad, for Year 12 students and the Biology Challenge for students in Year 9 and 10. We are very happy with the number of students who completed the challenges, 29 year 12 students signed up for the Intermediate Olympiad, and we achieved 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 8 Bronze awards. For the Biology Challenge, 17 Year 9 and 10 students completed the exam, achieving 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze awards.
Just before the start of the summer holidays, Cara in Year 10 attended a karate master course with her karate school, TISKA in Spain where she successfully graded for her 2nd dan.
Cara shared that the master course was an excellent opportunity for her to train for longer hours, learn more advanced skills, and meet more senior members of the school. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is excited for he next steps.
On the 6th of July I visited Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge University to receive my Certificate of Commendation for the Fitzwilliam Economics Essay Competition. I also had the opportunity to discuss my work with Dr Anna Watson, the Director of Studies for Economics at Fitzwilliam College. This was hugely rewarding as she is a renowned economist with an inspiring life story and great enthusiasm for this subject.
I would like to thank Mr Wilson, our Head of Department for Economics, for his unwavering support. Without his detailed feedback and constructive criticism I would not have succeeded in this competition.
We are delighted with the A Level and GCSE results received this summer at Kendrick School. We are very pleased and proud of our students and would like to congratulate them on their incredible achievements and celebrate their success.
We have had a fantastic academic year in our Kendrick School Library – highlights being Book Sales (raising money for the Children’s Ward at the Royal Berkshire Hospital), Book Club, a Harry Potter celebration, competitions, quizzes, World Book Week – the list is too long!
This year we had an amazing number of students volunteering their time to help during break times and after school. Some do it as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and others just for their love of books. Whatever the reason, Mrs Williamson and Mrs Cavaciuti are extremely grateful to all of those who offer their assistance.
At the start of this term, auditions were held for students across the school to showcase their talent in a spin-off of the ever famous Got Talent franchise. This included seeing talents from Year 7 to 10 during lunchtime, which the School Council and Kendrick Student Leadership (KSL) teams helped organise. We saw a range of talent from singing, dancing, rapping, violin playing and magic tricks. We had four student judges and with a meticulously planned timetable and a lot of effort, auditions were underway. From Monday to Friday students from all year groups sat in the dance studio to watch this happen and support our community.
Over the weekend of 7th July, Lauren from Year 9 participated in the National Finals of the NATD (National Association of Teachers for Dancing) Ballroom and Latin Championships in the Winter Gardens at Blackpool.
In the Ballroom section, Lauren secured 1st place in her solo section of the Waltz. She also secured 2nd place in the couples Foxtrot and 3rd place for the Quickstep.
For the Latin dances, she was in 4th place for her Cha Chal solo and 1st place in couples for the Samba and 2nd place for the Rumba.
Inspiring inquisitive minds to think big, challenge facts, ask questions and come up with solutions, the Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition is open to young people in the UK aged 11 to 19 in state funded education. During the summer of 2022, Esha in Year 13 independently completed a STEM project for which she was awarded the Senior Science prize. She received a cash prize along with a trophy and certificate to mark this achievement.
In Esha's words, here is a brief description of her project:
The after school tournament was held at Hugh Faringdon on Thursday 22nd June 2023. The four schools that participated in the tournament were Hugh Faringdon, Denefield, Reading Boys and Kendrick School. Each school had about 12 players, so there were nearly 50 players in total.
Top scorers for Kendrick were Nidhi and Shriya from Year 7, Joanne and Nivi in Year 8, Abi from Year 9 and Kaya in Year 10.
On Wednesday 28th June, six students from Kendrick took part in an online all-girls interschool chess competition on Lichess, called ‘She Plays To Win’. The purpose of this tournament was to make players feel more comfortable in a competitive environment since it was played with timers and leader boards.
On Wednesday 14th June a group of seven Year 7 students travelled to Palmer Park to participate in the U13 Town Athletics Championships. It was a hot day and for most of the students, their first real experience of competing in the stadium against other schools.
There were seven schools involved from the local area meaning competition was high.