As we approach the end of another academic year at Little Ilford School, I want to reflect on the incredible journey we have shared. This year has been marked by remarkable achievements, resilience, and growth. I am immensely proud of our students, staff, and parents/carers for their unwavering dedication and support.
Academic Excellence
Our students have demonstrated outstanding academic performance throughout the year. Their commitment to learning, coupled with our talented staff›s exceptional guidance and teaching, has resulted in notable accomplishments across all subjects and year groups. It is a joy to witness their progress and eagerness to learn. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the staff who have gone the extra mile by providing additional revision, intervention, and masterclasses for our students.
Attendance Matters
While our school attendance stands at 92.6%, surpassing the national average of 91%, we recognise room for improvement. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, our attendance rate was 97%, and statistics before COVID showed that students with attendance below 93% had a 60% chance of success at GCSE. This highlights the critical importance of regular attendance. We encourage everyone to strive for 100% attendance and support our efforts to improve in this area.
Community Engagement
The strength of our school community lies in the active involvement of parents, students, and staff. Your participation in school events, Parent-Teacher meetings, Friends of Little Ilford School (FLIS) meetings, and other initiatives have significantly created a positive and inclusive environment. Your support and collaboration have been instrumental in our student›s success, and I am deeply grateful for your trust in us.
Investing in the Future
In our commitment to providing the best possible resources for our students, we have made significant investments in our infrastructure. Last September, we celebrated the opening of C Block, and during this summer holiday, we will be upgrading all our school servers to enhance our IT resources. We will continue to invest in our school site to ensure it remains an optimal learning environment for our students.
New Academic Year
The new school year will commence for current students on Wednesday, September 4th 2024:
Year 8, 9, 10, and 11 students should arrive via the Browning Road gate. Gates open at 7:45, with breakfast club available. The school gates will close promptly at 8:20.
Our new Year 7 students will receive a separate letter detailing their schedule for their first day on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024. They will use the Rectory Road entrance for the first two weeks.
In closing, I express my deepest gratitude to our students for their hard work, our staff for their unwavering dedication, and our parents and carers for their continued support. Together, we have achieved great things, and I am confident we will continue positively impacting our students› lives.
Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable summer break.
Warm regards,
Andrew Finn Headteacher
Little Ilford School
OUR GENERATION; OUR VOTE.
We organised a mock election to take place in our school so that young people have an opportunity to voice their concerns and have their opinions heard.
Students were given manifestos of each political party and were able to vote for their chosen party. Sky New, BBC and London Live broadcasted the results.
Little Ilford School was the only school in London that was filmed for the mock election. Prominent social media influencer Shabaz, took part in the event and spoke to students in our school regarding their political understanding. Education was the topic that was most important to young students followed by health and cost of living.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our students. They made our school very proud!
THE LOST FOREST
Some Y9s and Y10s had the opportunity to visit Ricoh, a global corporate firm.
They were able to learn about the working world, ask questions and also participate in some activities.
It was a great experience for them to be able to be in a professional working environment.
The Indigo Moon theatre came to LIS to entertain year 8. The show used traditional Indonesian Puppets and Shadow Puppetry to explore modern deforestation. The show was educational and entertaining. The show was followed by a workshop exploring the causes and solutions for deforestation, as well as a chance to question the characters.
The theatre group were thrilled by Year 8s participation.
RICOH VISIT
CITY HALL VISIT
Students from Year 7 to 9 who attend the rowing club had the opportunity to take part in rowing sessions on the water at Royal Docks. This was a fantastic opportunity to try a sport which is inaccessible to most. They all did very well at picking up a complex sport, trying a mix of boats including singles, quads and the water tank.
Year 10 students visited City Hall where they had an insight of the different roles within the GLA. Students were interested in learning about the Mayor of London's role and how his budgeting is split up to accommodate to London's needs. Students were very excited to go in to the Chambers where the mayor meetings take place and even got to meet some borough leads. We ended the trip by making new policies for London and pitching it to one another.
ROWING
SESSIONS
ROYAL DOCKS
GARDENING AT LIS
Year 10 Citizenship students visited the Westminster Parliament on Monday and did a fantastic job to represent our school. They took part in a tour of the palace and were able to ask and answer questions (making their teacher proud! ) and successfully took part in a debate workshop where they demonstrated citizenship skills. The students really enjoyed the trip to Parliament.
At the end of the Spring Term, a group of our Resource Provision students and some of our mainstream students helped one of our school Governors to plant a large number of seeds across the fencing of our school.
Our hope is that they will grow into beautiful hedges over the years and for our students to feel like they have left something behind in their school when they leave.
WESTMINSTER PARLIAMENT VISIT
REFUGEE WEEK
Refugee Week was two weeks filled with educational and fun events. This included; decorating classroom doors to represent a country where Refugees have had to leave. Students also had a chance to enter a competition where they could write, draw or create what 'home' means to them.
We ran extracurricular activities like Art, Drama, Girls Club and two Football Tournaments. The feedback from students was great.
PURPLE CLASS
ART & DESIGN
WALK AND BIKE TO SCHOOL WEEK
Article by Healthy School Leaders
On a sun-drenched Friday evening, Little Ilford School was a huge bunch of energy. Students and staff alike eagerly participated in a day dedicated to promote physical fitness, and Healthy competition. Throughout the week, we planned to organise several games for pupils and teachers. Therefore, our healthy school leaders were determined to make this day as fun as possible for everyone who attends.
Participation in PE not only enhances physical fitness, but also provides an opportunity to boost their overall mental well-being. They learn to follow rules, respect authority, and take responsibility for their actions, collaborate with others, communicate effectively, and work towards common goals which are essential in life. PE teaches important values such as sportsmanship, fairness, and respect for oneself and others. Students learn to win graciously, accept defeat gracefully, and uphold ethical standards.
The class began with a kick start by playing a competitive game of capture the flag! The whole audience of 10-5 people joined and were split into two equal teams. Amidst the chaos and competition, there were also plenty of laughs and cheers, as daring rescues, narrow escapes, and unexpected twists kept everyone on their toes!
One of the best things about Friday was we got our new rider to finally learn how to ride a bike!!! It was the most exciting part as for weeks one of our best pupils from year 10 spent her time trying to teach her cycling and when she finally did, we were all so happy. It made us realise that working together can lead to success. Through patience, encouragement, and support, we built a foundation that allowed the new rider to push past their comfort zone and earn the freedom of riding a bike. Teaching someone how to ride a bike wasn›t just about mastering a skill—it was a bonding experience that forged a deeper connection.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT MUSIC
The students who took part:
Sofi
Kiara
Sumaiya
Xin Chen
Bridge
Joella
Ami
Stacey
Adeeba
Paula
Lainley
Sanela
Summer
Kayla
Jack
Vishv
Rattan
Nahid
Adrian
Urban Development (https://www. udmusic.org/) delivered a 5 week writing/production project with 19 Year 9 and 10 pupils who have shown an aptitude for music and a desire to develop their skills in music creation, performance and production. The Record Label Project(RLP) supported these pupils to devise, perform, produce and mix/master a song over five weeks working in groups of 5 alongside an industry producer and songwriter.
At the end of the project pupils created a mixed and mastered track to take away with them. The resultswere fantastic and the tracks are linked here for you to listen to. I am hopeful that there will also be other opportunities which come out of this project, and I will keep you all posted. For those pupils who wish to develop their skills and pursue further opportunities in popular music creation and performance, this was a fantastic opportunity to kick start their understanding of what it takes to forge a career in the music industry.
EAST LONDON THEATRE SCHOOL
Little Ilford School has recently partnered with East London Theatre School. Many of our students are now attending school on Saturdays, which has been a huge success.
On Tuesday 16th July, their senior group performed their production of the play ‹Extremism› by Anders Lustgarten in school to our GCSE year 10 and 9 drama students.
Students from LIS were performing
in this production which is a political play which deals with issues of racism, Islamophobia, bullying and abuse.
The group performed this to showcase their work as well as to provide students at LIS with inspiration as to what they also could achieve through rehearsal and commitment.
Many thanks to the cast and directors for providing our students with this performance. Thanks to our friends Darnell Shakespeare and Jan SharkeyDodds.
If you're interested in joining their youth theatre group, please speak to Ms Probett or Ms Clarke.
THE YOUNG ARTIST SUMMER SHOW 2024
As part of the MA Art and Design Education Program at the University College London, Year 9 students were invited to participate in research into sound art learning in a secondary school setting.
The body of work presented shows students aged 13 to 14 moving freely around the classroom. Discovering unnoticed or unfamiliar sounds of art materials hidden within the classroom. Their experience with the medium through listening, drawing, recording and playback observed in a workshop session. Influenced by sound artists, Bill Fontana and Cornelius Cardew; workshop demonstrates how students experience of listening, drawing and playback unfolded.
Year 9 students over a series of lessons worked independently to develop and create a design based on the favelas in Brazil. Cardboard, paper and paint were used as materials to form a collaborative and imaginative piece.
The Art department entered Year 9 into the ‘Young Artists’ summer show 2024 at the Royal Academy of Arts. We are very proud to say that their ‘Collective Village Sculpture’ was accepted into the online exhibition out of 21,500 submissions.
SOUND ART
ART MATTERS EXHIBITION 2024
ART MATTERS invited primary and secondary schools in the borough to participate in a textile making project called ‹Our Stories’.
Six students from Year 9 joined an artist-led workshop in school where they explored different textiles techniques. The students made a collective piece where they wove different fabrics onto a frame with warp threads.
This piece represents the ‘Fabric of Society’ and that together we make a whole. They tried to symbolise this through the different fabrics they chose. The individual pieces represent individual stories of where the students are from, their interests, hopes and beliefs. It included representations of flags, of architecture, abstract forms, religion and different fruits like the watermelon.
These pieces were inspired by the Unravel exhibition at the Barbican which explores how artists have embraced textiles to critique or push up against regimes of power. The pieces were guided by a student artist from UEL during a workshop where she showed students different material techniques and applications.
ART EXHBITION
On the 12th June the doors opened on our outstanding Art & Design Exhibition 2024.
With a plethora of creative flare showcased from year 7 through to year 11 GCSE students.
Staff, students and their families joined us at the show to celebrate the incredible achievements of our talented young artists.
