Welcome
THE KENDRICK PLEDGE
We, the students, staff and friends of Kendrick School, pledge to uphold the values of friendship, kindness and respect. We promise to stand against prejudice, ignorance and injustice in all its forms, promoting the values of equality, tolerance and justice for all.
Welcome from Ms Christine Kattirtzi, Headteacher
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Kendrick School website and to our school
Kendrick School is an 11-18 selective girls’ school with academy status. It has a local and national reputation for being an outstanding school and has an impressive record of achievement as a centre of excellence for girls’ education.
Kendrick is a forward-looking school and grasps the opportunities that present themselves. A love of learning is at the heart of Kendrick with a strong emphasis on high quality teaching. The curriculum is organised to meet the needs of all students and is reviewed regularly. All staff are hardworking and dedicated; students are bright, enthusiastic and curious.
As well as a broad and balanced curriculum at all key stages, students at Kendrick enjoy a rich and varied extracurricular education. The House System provides opportunities for healthy competition with numerous annual house events, which are key activities in the school year. Kendrick Student Leaders work energetically and collaboratively with staff to support this vital community element of the school. In addition, we have a School Council, which discusses and drives change for students.
As part of Kendrick’s Widening Horizons strategic initiative, we actively pursue partnerships with schools and businesses in our local area and beyond. These associations benefit the students of Kendrick, as well as, students in neighbouring schools. We share our good practice and offer opportunities to work with primary and secondary schools in the Reading area. Currently, Kendrick is a hub school in the Science Leadership Partnership and provides support and expertise to other schools in the teaching of science.
Kendrick is going through an expansion process, which started in September 2020 when an additional 32 students joined us in Year 7. This will continue for the next two years until September 2024 when the school will have four forms of 32 students in Years 7-11. In the expanded cohort, priority is given to pupil premium students and students in the Reading area, this is called Priority Area 1 in our admissions process. Our Widening Horizons initiative commits us to achieving greater participation and access for students from Reading primary schools. To support this work, we run a weekly homework club for Year 5 students during Term 2 to Term 6. This provides support for pupil premium children, and their families who wish to apply to Kendrick School.
It has been a difficult couple of years in education, however, our school community remains strong and resilient. We have embraced some of the new working practices and changes that emerged during the global pandemic but continue to prioritise the safeguarding, health and wellbeing of all our students and staff.
As the Headteacher of Kendrick, my resolve and vision is to lead, inspire and make a difference to the lives of girls and young women. I believe passionately in girls’ education and know that Kendrick School affords its students the very best education there is.
Ms Christine Kattirtzi
Headteacher
September 2022
Letter from Mr Keith Miller, Chair of the Governing Body
I am pleased to write to you all as the 2022-2023 academic year gets underway. The governing body welcomes everyone to Kendrick whether as new or continuing students.
This is my first letter of welcome having been elected as chair and I would like to thank Jan Nowecki for her huge contribution in the role over recent years which will be hard to follow. While I have been a governor for quite a number of years, as have a few others, we also have several relatively new governors both from the parent body and other volunteers who bring relevant skills and experience to our work. As governors we are responsible for working with Ms Kattirtzi and the Senior Leadership Team to agree the strategic direction of Kendrick, and we are committed to delivering wherever possible. Collectively we bring a range of skills and experience from finance, education, legal and IT business sectors to assist senior leadership and management. We meet regularly as three committees: Learning & Teaching, Resources and Performance Review and as a Full Governing Body three times a year. We all feel very privileged to be involved in such a wonderful school and encourage any of you to become involved when we advertise vacancies from time to time.
It was gratifying to see a return to normality before the summer with students sitting public exams for the first time after a two-year hiatus, all the more so given the excellent results that were achieved – a testament to the hard work put in by both students and staff.
As ever we are confident that this year will continue to see some interesting events and achievements from the students whether these be scientific, sporting, musical or from the range of charitable work our students always get involved with. We have such talented students who are ably supported by both you and our dedicated staff. The Student Leadership team also has some exciting plans for the year, and we encourage everyone to get involved. In addition, Kendrick Parents’ Society also provides much needed financial support for the added extras that benefit all our students, so please get involved and support their activities and requests for support.
As Chairman of the Governing Body I am always happy to hear from any of you, and please feel free to contact Jackie Gray, Clerk to the Governing Body, if you would like to get in touch.
On behalf of the governing body I wish you all well and am sure everyone will enjoy another successful year both academically and in terms of extracurricular activity. The governors always enjoy hearing how students are faring, and we look forward to those updates in the coming academic year.
With best wishes
Keith Miller
Chairman of Governors
September 2022
