On 17th July, at the end of last term, Journalism Club at Kendrick hosted our second visit from Andrew Batt, an experienced journalist at the Wokingham Today newspaper. We were honoured to have him present our very first article-writing masterclass.
Over the holidays, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in the Financial Times-AverPoint summer reading challenge. The challenge works as follows: over several weeks, your news consumption is tracked by a browser extension called AverPoint, which gives you targets to meet each week in order to move up to the next level of the challenge – targets include the number of articles read, the number of different news sources consulted, and saving facts you deem noteworthy.
This year’s challenge also included a short essay competition on the theme of remilitarisation for participants who had reached the top level – I was in third place in this competition and in the challenge overall.
On Monday 22nd September, we celebrated an incredible 148 years of girls' education at Kendrick School. From its beginning in 1877 at Watlington House, in Watlington Street, until 1927, when it moved to this site, our school has been able to provide an education to girls and women and set them on a path in life. We celebrated our school and the education at Kendrick!
Over the summer, I had a fantastic opportunity to be part of the Cambridge Cancer Research Institute, where I witnessed the cutting edge of science in action as researchers explored new non-invasive treatments for life-threatening cancer diagnoses. As a sixth former at Kendrick School, I’ve always been encouraged to challenge myself academically, and this programme offered the perfect environment to explore the real-world impact of biomedical research.
In July 2025, I was selected by the UK-German Connection to go on a two-week-long trip to Nuremberg, Germany, which was where the post-WWII trials took place.
UK-German Connection is an organisation funded by the German and UK governments to foster a closer connection between the youth of these countries, offering intercultural opportunities, and facilitating connections between schools, youth groups and young people themselves in both countries.
During the summer of my fourth year of medical school, I had the opportunity to complete an 8-week research placement in Japan, at the University of Kyoto followed by a 2-week research placement at the University of Kyushu, both in their respective departments of Dermatology.
Despite having graduated from Kendrick School in 2021, I was fortunate to receive a travel grant of £500 from the Kendrick Trustees, which I was very grateful for.
Over 100 students of our new Year 7 intake attended a 2-day summer school at Kendrick during the summer holidays to give them an introduction and welcome to life at Kendrick before starting in September.
The students enjoyed taster sessions in computer coding and maths; and also took part in a solar system experiment and a flame test in science; and a positive role model task in the library. The second day saw students discovering their way around the school in an orienteering session, and also enjoying some Team Building Skills Games and a session entitled “What Makes Me Me?”