The Art department are continuing their work on the Vision and Voices project. During their third visit to the National Gallery, Year 7 vision and voices students focused on improving their public speaking skills. They learned about the significance of pace, volume, and body language in effective communication. By discussing artwork in the gallery, they practiced and enhanced their abilities to express themselves confidently. All students exhibited exemplary behaviour, reflecting positively on our school and demonstrating their growth as articulate communicators. Thank you to Miss O'Neill for organising this trip.

From character building, facing fears, netball tournaments and adventurous activities; this trip is certainly one to remember! On the 22 nd March, 35 students from years 8 to 10 travelled to Swindon for a Netball Weekend which consisted of, not only Netball Games, but Abseiling, Archery, Zip Wire, Giant Swing, Aeroball and many more! With this being some of the students’ first trip away from home, they behaved and presented themselves immaculately and done Robert Clack proud. The Netball games saw some victories and losses, but overall the sheer enjoyment and competitiveness shined through, which is what we loved to see. The year 10 teams worked incredibly hard going up against some tough schools; the year 9 team showed determination and was able to win 2/4 games; however, the year 8 team were the ones that dominated the courts. They won all of their pool games and conceded goals that other schools could not reach. They then went through to the semi-finals and won. They then got to the final where unfortunately, after much fight, sweat and a few tears, were defeated by 1 goal. Overall, the Robert Clack Year 8 girls came 2 nd at the PGL Netball Tour of 2024! I am incredibly proud to have had the opportunity to take these brilliant 35 students away, some on their first trip away from home too! I would like to mention a special thank you to Miss Shelley, Mr Vinda and Mrs Webster for giving up their time to look after these students; without them, this trip would not have gone ahead. Another special mention must go to Robert Clacks PTA team who helped fund this trip. The PTA get funding from the events that they put on and without this, there would be minimum support within the school community to put on these exciting trips. As such, I would like to take the time to mention that the PTA are holding indoor boot sales on the 22 nd June, 12 th October and 7 th December with a potential quiz night on the 28 th June. If you could come along to any PTA events please do so! Miss Robbins

On Friday 19 th April Ashmeet Virdi (class of 2023) came back to school to speak to Sixth Form students about her experience as a Finance Apprentice. Ashmeet presented to the students about the application process and the resilience she showed to get the apprenticeship she wanted after completing 60+ applications. She shared her top tips on the interview process and also details of how her apprenticeship works with the option of going on to a degree apprenticeship in the future.  Thank you to Ashmeet for taking the time to help our current students.

This term our year 9 students engaged in the JP Morgan Schools Challenge competed in the final event. At the final, our students impressed all of the industry professionals judging the competition. Many people at the event commented on the creativity, professionalism and respectfulness of our students. The J.P. Morgan Schools Challenge is a project that involves 16 of our wonderful year 9 students. In October, students are split into two teams and spend the next 6 months developing sustainability products and business models to eventually present alongside 22 other teams from schools across London. In the final, our Team 23 won the J.P. Morgan Schools Challenge for 2023. We are so proud of all of their hard work and their dedication to the challenge. We also had two students who won influencer awards which means that out of the192 students involved in the Challenge they were the two most involved pupils on the challenge platform. I am immensely proud of the hard work and determination of these groups of students.

One of our primary reception children, Zeyd took part in the Run 4 Life 5K run on Sunday. Bearing in mind Zeyd is 5 years old he placed 47 out of 107 runners and completed the run in 44 minutes. Run 4 Life supports local charities more information can be found here https://run4life.org.uk/list-of-charities/ Well done Zeyd!

This term, the Year 12 Sociology pupils had the opportunity to attend the annual London youth conference hosted by the Mulberry School.  Now in its 22nd year, this award-winning annual conference brings Sixth Form students together from a range of backgrounds to explore issues of common concern, including themes of equality and social justice, demonstrating that young people have the power to make a difference in their communities and on the world stage. This year the conference explored 'disrupting discrimination' and how the arts and storytelling are important tools for social change. Pupils were able to have informative discussions with their peers and create powerful pieces of artwork to exhibit their messages. Some pupils focused their creative pieces on the War in Palestine, whilst other students designed initiatives to tackle World Hunger. The topics were endless. The pupils found the conference enjoyable with one describing it as “eye opening” as they got to hear powerful speeches from refugees and charity workers. The pupils felt the conference could not have come at a better time with the celebrations of World Book Day and International Women’s Day!

Last week, groups of our Year 10 and 12 students visited Sandown Race Course for the Post-16 and Degree Apprenticehip Days respectively. The students took a lot away from the course, being able to talk to and meet propsective employers. The students were excellent role models for the school and came away motivated by the opportunities available to them. Our thanks to Mr Hamill for organising the trip.

Vision and Voice Project with Cambridge Oracy and The National Gallery

Joseph Adesanya (class of 2021) came back to School on Thursday 15 th February to speak to Y12 students in assembly about his year out working with The Bank of England. Joseph is studying for a degree in Finance at Loughborough University and has taken a year out to work in the banking industry with The Bank of England. He talked Y12 students through the role of the Bank of England and his personal route into working for them before explaining other possible careers within the Bank.  Thank you to Joseph for giving up your time!