Happy Easter

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week.

The French Exchange

The Year 7 and 8 pupils returned from their week in Rouen. The 41 children immersed themselves in French life and language, staying with the families of the children who they had also hosted in London last month. This is such a tremendous opportunity for the children and I would like to thank all the staff involved for accompanying them for the past week. Many thanks to Miss Ali, Miss Bragan-Turner, Mr Ince, Mr McNulty and, last but not least, to Mrs McRill for organising and leading such a successful and popular trip.

On the subject of French teachers it was also lovely to welcome Mrs Allen back to Belmont this week as she returns from maternity leave following the birth of her son, Tristan.

Final Assembly Farewells

Sadly in final assembly today we said goodbye to a handful of children who all received a round of applause from the whole school. We wish all pupils who are moving onto pastures new the very best for the future. We also said goodbye to Mrs Newsome as Head of Computing. Mrs Newsome has made a real impact on the children in a short space of time and we wish her well for the future.

Next term we have Mr Andrew Perrin teaching Computing to the children and involved in post exam STEM activities. Mr Perrin has taught previously at Mill Hill, Oak Lodge School, East Barnet School and in a previous life was a telecommunications engineer in the Royal Signals; he is also the husband of our Director of Music! Mrs Gritz will oversee the Computing curriculum for next term and we will be recruiting a permanent replacement for Mrs Newsome in September.

We also invited Mr Kevin Dobson along to our final assembly. Kevin is going to be moving onto the The Hall as Head of the Junior School. He has been an amazing Deputy Head at Grimsdell and I have really enjoyed working with him over the years. He is kind, professional and really cares about the children; he will be a cracking Head! Kevin has also given a huge amount to Belmont and was instrumental in setting up Forest School. He received an Old Belmontian tie from me and a standing ovation from all the children.

Congratulations to all the children who gained awards in final assembly and to the Jutes for winning a very closely-fought battle for the House Commend Cup.

Holiday Work

Miss Harrison has produced a really useful note to guide parents about our expectations regarding preparation for summer term tests. There is an expectation that Year 8 pupils will make a start on the revision process in readiness for their Common Entrance exams. For other year groups (with one minor exception for Year 5) there is no expectation that the children should be revising over the holidays. Please see Miss Harrison’s email for further details.

Holiday work of a different nature will be ongoing at Belmont. When the children return they will have a new storage area to keep their kit bags. We have more meetings planned over the holidays in relation to the resolution of the gym problem and I hope to be in a position soon to announce the rescheduled date for a presentation on the future of sport at Belmont.

Headmaster’s Commends