As part of our Careers Month, thirty-one Year 12 students attended the Careers Fair at SJL School. Our students had the opportunity to meet with a wide range of employers, including Rothamsted Research, Cisco, Leonardo, Easyjet and the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation. Students were encouraged to investigate the different routes into each industry, as well as general information about the companies represented. Some students also spoke with the James Marshall Foundation who can offer support for students who may need financial help in accessing industry specific courses.

The students who attended found the event very useful and we are very grateful to SJL for inviting and hosting us at this very well organised event.

World Book Day is one of the highlights of the year for the Library team, and this year was no exception! Our book swap box was very popular, and hopefully every student has received their World Book Day token, to spend on a book of their choice.

The staff went to great efforts to dress up as their favourite book characters, which was quite a surprise for the students when they arrived. With many of the staff team dressing up as Hogwarts’ teachers, the students could almost believe they really were being taught by none other than Professor Dumbledore himself! But, more frighteningly, everyone in school needed to keep an eye out for the dementor that was seen stalking the corridors! 

As part of our World Book Day celebrations we were delighted to have been visited by the author Steve Nallon, who did various workshops and sessions with the students over the course of the day. His latest book, The Time They Saved Tomorrow, is the second in the Swidgers series, and is well reviewed, with one reviewer commenting “This book will appeal to readers both young and old, with action and adventure at its heart.” Definitely worth a look! 

And as if that wasn’t enough excitement, we’ve also been supporting students to explore texts around the themes of Science, for British Science Week, and also Women’s rights and Women’s history, for International Women’s Day. It’s been a very busy fortnight! 

Just before half term KWS GCSE History students from Year 11 went to Munich in southern Germany. This was a trip to help extend their knowledge of the rise of Nazi Germany in the city where Hitler first came to prominence. The weather was cold for much of the trip but the students were well prepared and made the most of their opportunities to see the beautiful city, faithfully reconstructed after it was bombed during the Second World War.

After an eventful first couple of hours, we went out for a walking tour of the old town, and saw lots of the main sites, and went to where Hitler’s attempted revolution, the Munich Putsch, was stopped in a shootout with the local police in November 1923. The second day we took a coach to the nearby city of Nuremberg and saw the rally grounds where Hitler paraded the strength of his new country after he took power. As if to mirror this, we spent the afternoon at the Nuremberg Trials courtroom, and saw where the evil perpetrators of Nazi Germany faced justice. 

The following day started with the most moving part of the trip, to see the Dachau Memorial Site, at the former concentration camp there. This was a fascinating experience, but also a troubling one, and like all concentration camps there is an atmosphere that is difficult to describe, but everyone could feel it. We spent the afternoon back in Munich and gave the students some free time to take in the old town themselves.

On the final day we explored the 1972 Olympic Park and used this to discuss the 1936 Berlin Olympics which Hitler used as a propaganda exercise top show the power of Nazi Germany and the Aryan. We quickly visited the global HQ of BMW before heading into the Old Town again and visiting the centre of the Nazi government in Munich, where Hitler’s assassinations in the Night of the Long Knives was planned and launched. This was also the site of the notorious book burnings by the Nazis to destroy the culture and knowledge of those that did not fit their worldview, like Jewish people and other political ideologies. 

From here we went back to the hotel and collected our belongings and made our way to the airport. The staff on the trip, and of KWS in general were very proud of the students and their conduct on a very powerful trip. We hope it will stay in their memories forever. There is nothing better than visiting the sites of great historical events to make them real to the students who may have to write about them in their exams.

Over the Spring term we have held our first student council meetings of the academic year. They have been highly successful and have given our student body the opportunity to voice their ideas and opinions on a range of areas. The focus has been on teaching and learning, facilities and the extra curricular offering including period 7 and ideas for the house system. The ideas from the meetings have been communicated by the head students to the SLT who are now working proactively to put them into practice. A big thank you to all of our student council representatives and to our four head students who chaired the meetings. 

We look forwards to the next round of meetings taking place in the first half of the summer term. 

Year 7 student council

Year 8 Student council

Year 11 Student Council

Dear parents and carers,

With great excitement, I am able to announce that KWS are hosting an interfaith community Ramadan iftar (dinner) at school on Thursday 13th March at 5.30pm. Last year we held a smaller event hosting a number of students alongside over a dozen community groups including local churches and charities. This year we are able to extend this to the wider school community with a number of tickets available at £5 each which covers the cost of a 3 course meal and access to activities including a quiz, crafts and henna art (temporary tattoos). Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims and with ‘charity’ being an integral component of the Islamic faith, the event is a charitable opportunity as per last year to gather a collection for St Albans Food Bank who support our local families in times of hardship. Currently their most needed items include UHT milk, pasta, cereal, tinned tomatoes and toilet roll.

Last year’s dinner proved to be a heart-warming experience which left all attendees feeling connected and uplifted as a community.

With Muslims fasting during the daylight hours each day of the four week period of Ramadan, on the evening of our Ramadan dinner we are offering a unique opportunity to experience, in a real-time manner, eating together at sunset – the time of breaking a fast (although of course not everybody will be fasting). We encourage your family to attend our community-focused event and meet other families in an informal setting with lots of amazing food and a real buzz in the air as the attached video will demonstrate. If your child would like to attend without an adult, please ensure suitable arrangements are made for them to get home safely as we are planning on finishing the evening around 8pm.

Tickets can be purchased via this link and will be distributed on a ‘first come first served basis’ with the final purchase date being Wednesday 5th March;

https://www.create-herts.co.uk/event/promoting-togetherness-community-iftar-18/register

On this link there will be a food menu choice for the evening and further logistical information.

I am very much looking forward to hosting you and am available to answer any questions you may have,

Annie Khaliq