WEEKLY LETTER FROM MS KATTIRTZI, HEADTEACHER

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we had our Open Days for prospective parents and Year 5 students for entry to our school in September 2025. Over 800 children and their families visited us over eight sessions and the comments we have received so far show that people appreciated and enjoyed their visit. The visitors were guided round the school by students in Years 9 and 10 who confidently accompanied our guests and talked about their life at Kendrick. The tours were followed by talks given by me, the Kendrick Student Leaders and Year 7 Wellbeing Ambassadors. I started my talk by welcoming everyone to Kendrick and then suggested to them why they might be here. I said it is probably because Kendrick has a local and national reputation of being a great school, has fantastic exam results, is a girls’ school and is considered an outstanding school, as judged by Ofsted in November 2022.  Then I said there is a lot more to us than that and outlined below are some of the reasons, I believe, Kendrick is an outstanding school which I would like to share with you today:

1. Learning – we are focused on learning and love learning. Students are curious, they ask questions, they are focused and ambitious. Staff are expert in their field, hardworking, love what they do, work well with the students and together we have a common purpose.
2. Relationships – there are very good and supportive relationships between us built on the values outlined in the Kendrick Pledge of kindness, respect, fairness, tolerance and understanding.
3. Safeguarding and wellbeing – our commitment and priority to keep students safe and well so that they can grow and thrive.
4. The Kendrick Community which embraces all the above and is an inclusive, diverse, fun and vibrant community with numerous clubs and activities that go on every day.

In addition to what I said, the students gave their view of Kendrick as a place where they are happy to be part of and which provides them with opportunities for academic, as well as personal growth. I ended by reinforcing the importance of girls’ education and that if some of those students do not get into Kendrick, they must never give up on their ambitions and dreams to have a good education, as only then will they have the opportunities and choices for the future that will help them have a better and more secure life, because education matters to us all. 

Today we welcome our trustees to school for our annual Trustee Strategy Day when we will examine strategic themes about the school and its future. This year we shall be focusing on elements of the Kendrick School Development Plan, in particular the future and the opportunities and challenges there may be. There is an election that is not too far off and the change in political direction this may bring will need to be examined and understood including, how it will impact Kendrick. We will again discuss the reviews we have had across the curriculum and departments and celebrate the great practice and achievements of our staff and students. We will review our SEND provision and the developments we have made in this area and plans for the future. Finally, we will review our most recent strategic ambition, the expansion of the school which reaches its last stage this September and the corresponding Widening Horizons initiative which has run alongside the expansion and has seen greater social mobility and participation that our outreach work has achieved regarding students attending Kendrick. There will be opportunity for discussion and challenge as we work with our trustees to take our school to the next stage of its development.  The trustees enjoyed having lunch with the students in the dining room in Horizons.

While this week has been full of longer term thinking and planning, there is much to look forward to next week. In the upcoming weeks, Miss Hyde will be delivering a set of online webinars focused on students and their usage of social media. These webinars are to inform and educate parents on current trends and topics for students who use social media, covering the advantages and disadvantages of apps that students can have access to and showcasing ways to help monitor and demonstrate healthy relationships between students and their mobile phones. As the usage of social media and mobile phones become more accessible, it is important to try and stay up to date on what our students have access to and keeping alert to ensure we are continually supporting them through the ever-changing internet. For KS3, this will be presented on the 1/5/24 from 5:30-6:30PM using the following link: https://meet.google.com/ctv-vjju-nbz and for KS4+ on 8^th May 2024 (link will be sent closer to the time). 

Next week our Spring Concert will be taking place on Tuesday 30^th April which will feature some of our larger-scale ensembles and some chamber groups. It will also showcase some of our Year 13 students as soloists accompanied by our senior ensembles and promises to be a great concert you shouldn’t miss!

Finally, I would like to end with a tremendous success story for our students who competed on Saturday at Milton Keynes in the English National Schools Badminton Championships. Key Stage 3 students Meghan, Mudra, Nikita and Emily and Key Stage 4 students Avani, Roma, Simone and Druva were the national winners of the championships! Congratulations and well done to them and to the PE Department, Ms Watkins, Mrs Hearn, Mrs Lace and Miss Woods for their contributions and efforts in their success. A glimpse of the competition in its last few minutes and the winning point for KS4 is here.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Ms Christine Kattirtzi
Headteacher 

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