Dear Parents and Carers,
I am delighted to be forwarding to you the newsletter for January. I think it really captures our mission at Central Foundation to provide an exceptional academic education for all of our students; whilst at the same time providing them with many enriching additional opportunities that develop their passions and support their personal development.
The music department had a very busy January with visits from a number of major musical institutions, such as students from both Guildhall and Trinty Laban music conservatoires. The highlight, however, was the day the students spent with members of the Simón Bolívar orchestra, the national orchestra of Venezuela. This orchestra arose from a social project started 50 years ago in Venezuela to make musical instrument and music lessons available to all of the young people in the country regardless of wealth. The programme provided the inspiration for the MiSST programme that funds our students all receiving an instrument and music lessons. It was, therefore, very moving to see this connection in action as all 180 of our Year 7 students played alongside the Simón Bolívar Orchestra members. We are also now delighted to be hosting the community programmes of the London Symphony Orchestra whilst their home at St Luke’s Church is renovated.
Our drama and music department are collaborating on the end-of-year production of Oliver! The workshops for the production have started, but it is not too late to join the 40 or so students currently attending. Being part of such a production provides a wonderful life experience for the students, and I would strongly encourage students to put themselves forward to be part of the cast.
In sports, we were delighted with the performance of our athletics team in the Simmonds Cup, which featured the top London area schools in athletics, both state and private. Our team finished a very credible 4th out of 18 teams. We have been developing our athletic teams over the last couple of years under the guidance of Mr Allen, who is a current England international distance runner. There is, of course, exceptional athletic talent in the school and it is good to see it being developed. We want all of our students to have the opportunity to represent the school at sports if they so wish, and it was to this end that we sent seven Year 7 teams to play City of London Boys’ School. Of course it is everything the students gain from taking part that matters the most, but it was nonetheless good to come away with six wins!
Last week our languages department celebrated the Chinese New Year with a variety of activities. After the very successful trip to China last year, we have now confirmed that our Year 9 Mandarin students will be spending two weeks in China this summer. Finally, the best attended co-curricular event of the month, the Maths Challenge, saw 120 students take part in this national competition.
So many opportunities for all of our students. I have added a section to this newsletter on attendance – at Central Foundation we know that excellent attendance results in an excellent education. Please do all you can to support the students to achieve 98% or above attendance. As well as attending school, I would strongly encourage, once again, all students to engage in one or more of our over 70 co-curricular activities. It is such an important aspect of a Central Foundation education – and we want every single one of our students to benefit from it.
Best wishes,
Mr Brownhill
Headteacher