The Duchess of Sussex celebrates International Women’s Day at Robert Clack School!
“Oh my god, that’s Meghan! I’m actually going to meet Meghan!” This was one student’s reaction as the Duchess of Sussex surprised students at Robert Clack’s upper site on Friday 6th March ahead of International Women’s Day.
Excitement filled the air as Meghan got out of her car and was greeted by Ian Pittaway - Deputy Lieutenant for Barking and Dagenham and Co-chair of the Robert Clack Alumni Association. Many of the children were speechless, while others gasped as they set eyes on the Duchess who was stood before them. A few weeks earlier Ian had received an email asking if any local schools would like a visit from the Duchess. The theme of the event was International Women’s Day and, with Dagenham holding such an important place in the history of women’s rights following the Ford sewing machinists strike which was instrumental in passing the 1970 Equal Pay Act, Robert Clack were particularly keen to welcome such a special guest.
We were honoured to be selected and set about making plans for the day with the Duchess’s staff and security services. After being introduced to Head Teacher Russell Taylor and Senior Deputy Head Teacher Steve O’Brien, Meghan smiled broadly as she was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Year 7 students, Fiona A and Harvi S.
Meghan was then invited to the Information Centre where she was welcomed by Assistant Head Izzy Eames and her Year 9 students who were working on a project about female poets. The students had researched a variety of female poets, studied an unseen poem, and were busy creating their own poems using their research as inspiration. The Duchess was very interested in their work and offered encouraging words when students shared their poems with her and the group.
Meghan then met Assistant Head Emily Valentine and the Year 12 Debating Society. Robert Clack Debaters have rubbed shoulders with stars and politicians over the years - but never royalty! Miss Valentine shared her experiences of the day. She praised them for how articulate they were and that it was clear that the moral compasses they hold will enable them to become world leaders when they complete their education. A particular highlight of our time with the Duchess was when she was made an honourary member of the Debate Society and students Lily and Yesha presented her with her own debate jacket, she said that 'her husband would be very jealous'. It was an absolute honour for some of our Debate Society to meet such a warm, modern and personable member of the Royal Family. It was a day that we will never forget!”
“When Mr Taylor told me about the Royal Visit from the Duchess of Sussex there was no question about ensuring that our wonderful debaters got an opportunity to show off their skills, especially as the issues that the Duchess holds close to her heart are the same as those involved in the Debate Society. What struck me about the Duchess was that she was incredibly down to earth and keen to hear the views and aspirations of those taking part in the session. She remarked on the fact that they were able to discuss their future careers. One example was embarking on work in Gynaecology in the developing world, and how student Aeesha was able link science and debate effortlessly.
She recognised that our students have the ability to change the world using their voices and encouraged them to continue to have their voices heard. Debater, Aeesah A added, “The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is an inspirational person not just to young people from ethnic minorities and females, but to the general population. I believe she has this influence because she has already accomplished so many great achievements in her life whilst overcoming many difficulties thrown her way. To have her join our Debate Society has made all of us more proud of being part of the Robert Clack Debate Society. Meeting the Duchess of Sussex has given me personally more confidence and assurance that my ability to speak out can make positive changes and help improve the lives of people for the better. Her joining of our Debate Society has helped solidify the fact that young people can make a change in the world that we live in and that the steps that we are taking to do this are being noticed by many people from all around the world.”
The Duchess made her final stop of the visit at the assembly hall where she was keen to take part in the Year 11 assembly which was themed around International Women’s Day. She was introduced to former student Miss Hasika Bhudia, teacher of mathematics and Head of Year 11, along with another honoured guest - former student Geraldine Dear, a retired Ford Machinist, who took part in the Equal Pay Strike. Students Rhyanna W and Renee P-D kick started the assembly by speaking eloquently about the global impact the female Dagenham Ford workers made on women’s rights. The first strike in 1968 was a trigger in passing the Equal Pay Act 1970. Geraldine was one of the ’13 rebels’ who took part in a further strike in 1984, in protest against the system that graded women as unskilled workers. Geraldine and her machinist colleagues went on strike for six weeks before Ford eventually agreed to their terms and they returned to work on an equal footing to the male skilled workers.
Year 13 student Olivia C then made a heartfelt speech about her own experiences as a woman and reflected on where she thought life would take her. Olivia said, “This visit is certainly one I will remember, as the crucial celebration of women and female empowerment was recognised by a leading female figure in public British consciousness. As I am from a borough with issues surrounding gender equality and the empowerment of young people, I think that Meghan Markle recognising our area and our school as an important centre of change for gender in our society and the role and status of women is incredibly powerful.”
The ‘Citizen of The Week’ award was then presented to student Charlotte Fleisher by Meghan. A very excited Charlotte said, “It was amazing to see Meghan in school. I couldn’t believe it when she congratulated me for receiving my award and shook my hand. This memory will stay with me forever!” The Duchess then addressed the assembly, urging the boys in particular, to value and appreciate the women in their lives whilst setting an example to other men who may not see things in the same way. “You have mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and friends in your lives. Protect them, make sure they are feeling valued and safe. Let’s just rally together to make sure International Women’s Day is something that is not just for one day but frankly feels like every day of the year.”
She then went ‘off the cuff’ and asked for a male volunteer from the audience.Aker O was the lucky student to be chosen! Aker approached the stage to rapturous applause and cheers from his peers and, shaking Meghan’s hand, he said the words, “She really is beautiful innit!” which has become his tag line and gone viral on social media! Aker received a big hug from the giggling Duchess who was clearly amused by his reaction before speaking with confidence about his views on women’s rights. A very proud Miss Bhudia said “All in all, the speeches from our pupils filled us with nothing but pride on this special day. The voice from today’s women of Dagenham was held strong and we have every faith in them to keep the fight for equality alive through the generations to come. Well done to everyone who was involved and I am sure this will be a day nobody will forget!"
This was certainly a day that will be etched in the minds of all staff and students at Robert Clack for many years to come. The atmosphere around the school was electric. Here are a few quotes from some of the students: “I never expected to have such an honour of meeting a royal, but there I was at Robert Clack School meeting one of the most special and important people today” Fabio Petraru “We were all waiting at our tables and then we saw Meghan Markle through a window the teachers forgot to cover! I was honestly so excited because I was getting this once in a lifetime opportunity” Ula Lapinskaite “It was amazing. We were all screaming and crying in excitement. Seeing Meghan Markle inspired me to try harder and be the best me I can be” Popina Brennan
Head Teacher Russell Taylor reflected on the day saying, “The visit of The Duchess of Sussex was a truly great moment in the history of Robert Clack School. As I listened to the wonderful speeches given by Renee, Rhyanna, and Olivia during the assembly, I found myself feeling overcome with emotion. All I could think was: this is what Robert Clack School is about. This visit wasn’t about one individual; it was about us, all of us, working together as one for the benefit of all. I’m sure you have seen the media coverage of Meghan’s visit and I’m sure, like me, you cannot fail to have noticed the look of shock, exuberance, and unadulterated joy on our pupils’ faces. Meghan told our pupils - girls and boys - that they matter, that they have a voice and that they should use it. What a powerful message!
And the response on social media has been nothing short of extraordinary, with so many people from all over the world commenting on our “amazing” pupils. I feel exceptionally proud and privileged to be a part of our community; I hope they all do too.”
A huge thank you to everyone involved in the visit, especially our staff and wonderful students. Special mentions to our VIPs, Ian Pittaway, Geraldine Dear, the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham, Peter Chand and his wife Ginger, Chief Executive of LBBD, Chris Naylor, and Leader of the Council, Darren Rodwell. It was certainly a memorable day for us all!
We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of the students who took part in the Geographical Association's Geography Model Making Competition. The competition showcased an outstanding level of creativity, geographical knowledge, and dedication, and we are incredibly proud of all who participated. Whilst we eagerly await the results of our submissions to the Geographical Association, we are keen to take this opportunity to recognise and celebrate the hard work, commitment, and enthusiasm shown by these students. Their achievements are a testament to the passion for Geography that continues to thrive within our school community. A special congratulations goes to our winning students: Green Lane Winner: Michael A (Year 7) Michael said: "My model is a depiction of the threat of climate change on animal habitats, where melting glaciers in mountains can result in flooding of rivers and the destruction of animal habitats."
Students at the Gosfield and Green Lane sites have enjoyed taking part in our Year 7 & 8 Food Club, where they created a variety of delicious sweet and savoury dishes while developing their practical cooking skills. Throughout the sessions, they learnt a range of food preparation techniques, practised safe kitchen skills, and gained confidence in following recipes independently. The club provided a fantastic opportunity for students to be creative, work together, and explore new flavours and ingredients. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they proudly prepared and presented their dishes. Food Club has been a great way for students to develop valuable life skills while having fun and celebrating their achievements in the kitchen.
This summer, debaters from Years 9 and 10 across our three sites had the opportunity to attend the annual Global Classrooms Model United Nations (MUN) conference—a much-anticipated highlight in our debating calendar each year. The two-day event took place at Mulberry School, which hosts the largest MUN programme for state secondary and international schools in the UK. At these professional conferences, students take on the role of ambassadors in simulations of UN committees. This year's theme focused on Human Conflict and Women. The event promoted cooperation, leadership, public speaking, and global citizenship in a warm and supportive environment. We were proud to represent Jordan and Ethiopia this summer. Special mention goes to David, Sophie, and Zahra for bringing home awards. A huge well done to everyone who took part. Their professionalism, teamwork, and thoughtful engagement throughout the event—especially in the heat—were exemplary. As always, they represented our school with pride. We look forward to the Winter one
Year 3 have had a busy final term. They have been learning all about 3D shapes, specifically their properties, and even had the chance to build some using marshmallows and spaghetti. This required patience, teamwork, and a good understanding of vertices, edges, and faces. We celebrated bees on our school's 'Bee Day', consolidating our topic of plants, outlining bees' very important job as pollinators. On the Friday before Father's day, lots of Dads joined us for some class reading, taking small groups and reading a book of their choice. Thanks to all those who helped. In the spirit of the World Cup, football shirt day saw lots of different teams and nationalities on display. In year 3, that was also the day that we learnt about our skeletons and organs. We even drew around some of our classmates to show where our major bones and organs are. Sports day was a huge success, with the children enjoying a mixture of athletic activities before the all-important races. Thankfully, the weather held out for a great afternoon of healthy competition. Our class book this term has been Fantastic Mr Fox, which has been a particular favourite by many, and we have produced lots of excellent pieces of writing to support this. To celebrate all of our achievements this year, we took a trip to Hainault country park for a day of fun and relaxation. With a mixture of games, ice lollies and visiting the farm, farm was had by all, and it was a great way to finish off the year.
T his Summer 2 term has been filled with creativity, exploration, and memorable experiences for our Reception children. Throughout the term, the children have enjoyed taking part in a variety of exciting art and craft projects, developing their creativity and fine motor skills. They created colourful caterpillars, beautiful butterflies, and many other imaginative pieces inspired by our learning, all of which have brightened our classroom displays. One of the highlights of the term was our visit to Colchester Zoo. The children had a fantastic day exploring the zoo and observing a wide range of animals from around the world. They were fascinated by the different habitats, animal behaviours, and interesting facts they learned throughout the visit. It was wonderful to see their curiosity and enthusiasm as they discussed what they had seen and asked thoughtful questions. Throughout the term, the children have continued to make excellent progress across all areas of learning. We are incredibly proud of how much they have grown in confidence, independence, and resilience, and it has been a joy to watch them flourish during their Reception year. As the children prepare for their next exciting adventure into Year 1, we would like to thank all of our families for their continued support throughout the year. We wish every child the very best for the future and know they will continue to thrive in the next stage of their learning journey.
What a fantastic final term we’ve had in Year 4! It has been a wonderful way to end the school year, with so many exciting events and memorable experiences. I was incredibly proud of the children’s fantastic achievements in this year’s Multiplication Tables Check. The children have worked exceptionally hard throughout the year to develop their times table knowledge, and their dedication and perseverance have truly paid off. The results were outstanding, reflecting the effort the children have put into practising both at school and at home. One of the highlights of this term was our Year 3 and 4 Sports Day! The children showed great enthusiasm, determination, and excellent teamwork. We were so proud of the way they encouraged each other and gave every event their very best effort. This term, the children have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in cricket coaching sessions with Essex Cricket. They have learnt and developed a range of new skills including batting, bowling, fielding and teamwork, whilst growing in confidence and enjoying the game. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm and confidence grow throughout the sessions and we are incredibly grateful to Essex Cricket for providing such a fun and engaging experience. We also enjoyed out Dads’ Reading Afternoon. It was lovely to welcome some of our dads into the classroom to share some of the children’s favourite books with them. We also had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Gosfield Road site to the secondary school’s art exhibition which features the theme of ‘Under the Sea’. The children were very impressed by the creativity and imagination behind each piece. It was a fantastic experience and a great opportunity to celebrate art within our wider school community. To celebrate a successful year, we finished with a fantastic trip to the bowling alley. The children had a brilliant time enjoying some friendly competition, cheering each other on and celebrating all they have achieved throughout the year. As we come to the end of Year 4, I would like to thank you for your continued support throughout the year. It has been a pleasure teaching such a kind, hardworking and enthusiastic group of children. I would like to wish everyone a happy, safe and relaxing summer holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again in September!
On Friday 10th July students took part in the Amazon Think Big Programme, where they designed and built a LEGO robot and competed in a race against other teams. The challenge required students to think carefully about their robot's design to ensure it was both robust and fast enough to perform successfully. Throughout the programme, students developed a range of important skills, including: Problem-solving Creativity and innovation Collaboration Teamwork Communication Critical thinking The programme was delivered across three separate sessions for different year groups: KS2 – Year 4 KS3 – Years 7–9 KS4 – Year 10 The activities provided an engaging introduction to STEM learning, encouraging students to work together, test ideas, refine their designs, and develop confidence in engineering and technology-based challenges. We would like to extend our thanks to Alex and the team and also ex pupil Bradley Stokes (class of 2017). Bradley facilitated the sessions between the School and Amazon as he now works for them on their technical team.
This summer term, our fantastic Year 8 students visited London’s Natural History Museum as a well-deserved reward for their exceptional hard work in Religious Education (RE). Despite a blistering heatwave, our students did an amazing job. They showed incredible resilience, staying engaged, polite, and deeply curious all day. The museum’s exhibits brought several complex RE topics to life. In the biodiversity galleries, students connected displays to our debates on animal rights and environmental sustainability. Human biology exhibits sparked conversations around medical ethics, while the famous earthquake simulator linked directly to our study of "natural evil" and the philosophical problem of evil. Staff and members of the public actively commended the group for their exemplary behavior. Huge congratulations to Year 8—you represented our school brilliantly and earned every bit of this reward!
Our Debate Club took part in the annual summer Bingham Competition, hosted by South Hampstead High School. The event brought together pupils from all three of our school sites. Both Junior and Senior teams showcased their exceptional debating skills, securing victories in two rounds each. The motions covered topics including journalism and sports. The dedication and eloquence demonstrated by the students were truly commendable, reflecting their commitment to excellence in debate and representing our school with distinction. The day began bright and early at 7:00am and concluded at 7:00pm. A 12 hour day but the pupils persevered in the extreme heat! Pupils competed in multiple rounds and had the opportunity to watch a showcase debate in the finals. They also enjoyed a rooftop soft drink social with peers from other schools. Their behaviour, energy, and enthusiasm throughout such a long day were genuinely inspiring. Congratulations to all participants on their outstanding performance! We are so proud of each and every one of you.
It has been our pleasure and privilege to have been part of our pupils journey in Year One! We are so proud of their achievements and we have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow into budding readers, writers, mathematicians, artists, scientists, explorers, athletes and so much more! Every day the children have amazed us with their determination to learn and grow and we have all been thoroughly charmed by each and every one of their unique personalities. As always, this term has been really busy with lots of fun learning. We started off our ‘Wild World’ topic with an exciting visit to Sea Life Aquarium! The children were fascinated learning about all the magnificent creatures that live in the ocean and how we can protect their natural habitat. Children really applied their writing skills this term to write a fantastic report on sharks! In DT, we had lots of fun making windmills. In Maths, children have worked hard to consolidate learning how to count in 2s, 5s & 10s. They also had so much fun learning about money through practical activities. Thank you to those parents and carers who came in to support on Bee Day, the children had a great time taking part in our spelling bee challenge, as well as learning all about why bees are so important to the planet. It was amazing to see so many parents come to watch and cheer along in our school’s Sports Day. The children certainly enjoyed taking part, showing great sportsmanship and teach spirit! The children have worked really hard to develop their reading and writing skills in Year 1 and it would be great if you could regularly read and write with your children over the summer holidays, so these skills remain strong, going into year 2. Well done Year One!