With just a little left of the autumn term, we have much to look back on in terms of achievements across our schools.
Earlier this term, King Edward VI Camp Hill Schools for Boys and Girls hosted a nationally important youth sustainability event designed for students to engage and learn more about climate awareness. The School Climate Assembly had speakers such as Chris Packham and Hamza Yassin among many others, with an estimated attendance of around 3,000 young people. Students had the opportunity to interact with national and local figures involved in the debate around how to tackle climate change and global warning. Thanks are due to the staff at the Camp Hill Schools for their organisation and hosting, as well as the sponsor of the event, Gregory Naysmyth. This event complements the work that the Foundation is beginning to undertake to develop our environmental sustainability, such as the installation of LED lighting and solar panels across our buildings.
In terms of other activities, we have developed a new partnership with Atom Learning to support children from families with lower incomes to familiarise themselves with the grammar school entrance test, building on and developing our efforts in this regard. Accessibility is fundamental to the Foundation’s mission and, along with working with more comprehensive schools and the Assisted Places at our independent schools, our grammar school admissions are the third pillar of how we try to encourage more children from a wider range of backgrounds to benefit from the education we offer.
In terms of comprehensive schools, we are very much looking forward to welcoming King’s Norton Boys’ School into the Academy Trust and Foundation in 2024. King Edward VI King’s Norton School for Boys, as it will be known, will be our sixth comprehensive school and, with its strong academic and extra-curricular provision, will bring much to our organisation. The Headteacher, Dave Clayton, has already begun to attend the Foundation Education Group, and we look forward to working with the whole school community soon.
Visiting our schools over recent weeks, it has been impressive to see the extent of charitable activity undertaken by both students and staff, whether fundraising for humanitarian relief in Israel and Gaza, or visibly supporting the Movember movement for men’s health.
In order to share information and news more easily with others, we were delighted to launch our new Foundation website recently: https://kingedwardvifoundation.co.uk/. Ably developed by the Foundation’s Communications Manager, Amy Hannah, the new website is an excellent and engaging new gateway to a range of information and we hope you will find it useful too.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your efforts this term and wish you a well-deserved break over the Christmas period.
