As part of the Send My Friend to School campaign, MP Gagan Mohindra visited Croxley Danes recently to listen to a select group of students including our Send My Friend Ambassadors, Emma and Jess, deliver an inspiring presentation of the Campaign’s Young Person’s policy report through art and poetry. With children’s rights to education being obstructed on an unprecedented scale globally due to emergencies such as conflict and natural disasters, the Send My Friend campaign fights to protect every child’s right to education at all times, everywhere. 

We are very proud of our students who spoke eloquently and with passion for the cause, with the hope of raising awareness so the government will act. A big thank you to our guest, Mr Mohindra for providing the opportunity for their voices to be heard; an empowering day all round.

We would like to thank all our students who helped present the school so well at Open Evening last Tuesday. Our staff did a fantastic job of setting each department up to look its best. The way in which our students complemented the activities through their polite and enthusiastic interactions with our visitors was fantastic. 

We would particularly like to thank Chandni, Ire and Samuel in Year 8 who spoke thoughtfully and enthusiastically about their transition to Onslow St Audrey’s and about their Year 7 experience to visitors. Naomi, our student president, talked about the unique power of the pyramid: it has a strong base, holds its shape and provides immense support. She likened this to the triangle of strength between students, staff and parents at OSA, a moving metaphor. Our Year 8 choir performance was second to none and it was great to see such confidence in our young performers.

We are thrilled to share some exciting developments taking place at Ascot Road Primary School. Our mission at Ascot Road is to provide our children with beautiful, inspiring spaces that ignite their passion for learning. Over the past few weeks, we have been diligently working on transforming our learning environments to align with our commitment to excellence and to inspire our children. We have also revitalised our community spaces, making them more inviting and conducive to collaboration and community engagement. Take a look at our recently transformed entrance, where community engagement events will be taking place this year. 

Our classrooms have also been revamped to encourage children to collaborate with one another and to use the learning environment as a scaffold for language development and recalling prior learning. I am confident that these changes will enable us to apply the value of excellence at Ascot Road Primary School.

We were delighted to start the new academic year with the school’s annual Prize Giving Evening, welcoming Lucy Bailey, the founder of Bounce Forward, as the guest of honour. 

As well as recognising the academic and extra-curricular achievements and significant contributions of students across the school, (particularly the large number of senior students whose participation in school life over seven years was celebrated), it was fantastic to acknowledge the remarkable work of the Chancellor’s staff team, who worked tirelessly last year to provide such a rich and diverse educational experience. 

As well as wishing the school leavers well, Lucy Bailey shared a few uplifting words of inspiration, encouraging the audience to be mindful of their personal mental health and wellbeing - her tips were to mentor others, practise kindness and look out for/help others including their family and friends. 

Prize Giving was a superb way to start the new academic year, celebrating the extensive achievements of 2022-2023.

On 15th September we celebrated many individual successes at our annual Speech Day and were delighted to be joined by Mr Tony Smith, CBE, an Old Dane. He spoke about his experiences as a student at St Clement Danes and how the values of ‘Success, Character and Dignity’ remained with him and gave him strength during his distinguished career at the UK Home Office.

The occasion gave us the chance to reflect on the fantastic results achieved by our students. At GCSE students achieved across their best 8 subjects nearly a whole grade better in each of their subjects than their peers nationally with the same starting point in Year 7, with two students; Scarlett Prunty and Alex McDougall achieving 9s in all of their subjects. At A Level, 70% of all grades were A*-B enabling many of our students to realise their first choice University or Apprenticeship destination.