Headteacher's Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope all our families enjoyed a restful holiday and were able to make the most of the recent sunnier weather. As we begin the summer term, students may now wear their summer uniform of polo shirts, with the option of wearing school jumpers and blazers on cooler mornings. To further support learning during warmer weather, over the last two years we have invested in air conditioning in more than twenty classrooms as part of our ongoing commitment to student comfort and wellbeing.

This is a crucial time for our Year 11 and Year 13 students as exam revision begins in earnest. Our Tuesday revision sessions for Year 11, running over the next three weeks, have already proved extremely popular. I would like to thank the staff who are giving their time to lead these voluntary sessions; their commitment and dedication to our students is greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and sharing in our pride at all that our students and staff achieved last term.

Warm regards,

Victoria Schaefer

Headteacher

The Year 10 students began their PPEs (mock exams) this week, and we are confident they will approach them with maturity and determination. We send our very best wishes to all students sitting exams this summer – we know how hard they’ve worked and are behind them every step of the way.

Our Year 13 students are progressing to an excellent range of destinations, reflecting their ambition and hard work throughout Sixth Form.

As a Sixth Form, we are proud to champion all futures, supporting students in pathways including university, apprenticeships, employment, and gap years, so that every individual can follow the route that is right for them.

Students have secured places at a variety of universities shown in the image below. Most importantly, each student has chosen a pathway that is the right fit for them. Supported by our Sixth Form and pastoral teams, they now move forward with confidence as they prepare for their final A Level examinations. We are extremely proud of all they have achieved and wish them every success for the future.

We introduced our new Rewards Shop which launched last half term as part of our continued focus on recognising the many achievements of our students. Students are awarded achievement points for demonstrating our school SPIRIT values as well as excellent effort and positive contributions to the school community.

Students' points can now be exchanged in our online Rewards Shop for a range of prizes such as queue-jump canteen passes, stationery sets, chocolate and sweet packs, as well as larger rewards such as Bluetooth speakers, Kindles, AirPods and Amazon vouchers, for those students who want to save up their points! We are also pleased to offer educational rewards including revision guides, reading books and study resources to support students’ academic success.

It has already been fantastic to see students engaging with the shop. Mark in Year 7 recently exchanged his points for an Amazon voucher and Lily in Year 7 chose a 'skip the queue' pass for her and her friends at lunchtime.

We look forward to celebrating many more student successes and continuing to promote a culture where positive effort and achievement are recognised and rewarded.

Boccia County Competition

To kick off the spring term selected Target Team students took part in the County finals of the Essex Boccia competition. We had a Team A and Team B and both teams performed outstandingly but our B team managed to bring home the bronze medals. Player of the day was Sophia Chelariu in Year 7 who managed to hit her ball closest to the target at a vital stage in the game! Well done team!

West Hatch Target Team Ambassadors were invited by Panathlon Challenge to assist with a Panathlon ten pin bowling event for Essex primary school children. Our students showed impeccable social skills, they encouraged students to cheer each other on and helped to keep the scores throughout the sessions and hand out the medals.

Congratulations to a group of our Target Team students who were chosen to represent the school at a bowling competition in Basildon. What an amazing event to attend and we are grateful to the Panathlon Challenge for inviting us for the second time this year.

We had some brilliant personal achievements with two students reaching over a 100 score. As teams they worked to support each other and erupted with noise when anyone got a half a strike! Amazingly their perseverance led them to bring home the Gold medals!! The winning team are looking forward to playing in the finals later in the year.

Our last external event of the spring term took place on Friday 20th March at King Harold School in Waltham Abbey. Our students were able to try a variety of different sports that they don’t often have the opportunity to play at school. They were invited to try out some boxing movements with a GB Olympic Boxer, who guided the students though an upper cut, a jab and a cross.

Sitting volleyball was a big hit and is fully accessible to all. Students can use their upper body to make sure the ball is kept in the air as it is passed over the net whilst staying in a sitting position only. The feedback from our students about this sport has been so positive that we are looking to purchase some mini nets and inflatable balls!

Well done to all the students this term who have learnt new skills and have been driven full of West Hatch Team Spirit to be the best that they can be.

We ended the last week of term with our Cultural Week, which provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the rich diversity of our school community. Students took part in themed activities, enjoyed international dishes in the canteen, and embraced Cultural Market Day and Cultural Dress Day, both of which were a great success. Some pictures of the cuisine and dress are below.

We held our fabulous Love Lounge Event in February which many of you were able to attend. However, if you couldn't make the event and would like to view the performances for the two evenings then please click on the links below.

https://youtu.be/2TS8xQWVW_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MVKCZFRxs0

Two West Hatch teams competed in the Thames Gateway and East London regional heats of the National Reading Champions quiz. It celebrates keen, young readers and champions the important role of teachers and school librarians in promoting reading for pleasure.

The quiz consisted of 75 questions from 8 different categories, all from the wonderful world of literature. 24 teams battled it out for a place in the finals. It was a challenging but exciting event for our students, an opportunity to use their wider reading knowledge in competition against other schools.

Mrs Sheikh, school librarian, said “As part of our World Book Day celebrations we entered this competition. The students were so excited to be taking part in a national competition, and it was great to see how both teams worked together. Sadly, we didn’t make the finals, but both teams should be extremely proud of their achievements.”

Team A: Sephara, Emily, Daniel and Saiya

Team B: Abigail, Chenaya, Poppy and Adriana

During the spring term our Year 11s were lucky enough to have their English Literature text of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde brought to life on the stage with a performance from an external company. Pictures are below.

Easter 2026 saw West Hatch go on tour for their ski trip. 89 students got up early on Saturday 28th March to meet at the school ready to set off to Stansted. The Airport didn’t know what had hit them when a sea of green hoodies swept the departures area!

The trip was to Salzberg to a resort called Wagrain. The conditions were exceptional with around 20cm of snow falling on the first two days, allowing students to experience powder skiing at the very start of their learning journey. Over half of the group had never skied before and a significant proportion of them made incredible progress over the week with a few of the students even making it down black runs by the end of the week.

The others were resolute in their determination to conquer the fear that skiing can bring. We are incredibly proud of the group for both of these aspects. Staff on the trip have been keen to express their gratitude to the students for their attitude and the energy they brought to the trip – it was rewarding to see the relationships grow between staff and student across the week! I’m sure the students will echo this gratitude towards the teachers who helped them through the week. The next trip location is yet to be decided but watch this space....

A reminder that nut products of any kind are not permitted in school at any time. This includes whole nuts, nut‑based snacks, and any items containing nuts. We have a duty of care to protect students and staff with nut allergies, and your support is essential in helping us maintain a safe environment for everyone. Please ensure that Nutella or other nut‑based spreads are not included in packed lunches, as they contain a high percentage of hazelnuts.

Please see the attached information regarding parent virtual training sessions Redbridge are running. They have a range of sessions including:

Spotlight on Dyscalculia on Monday 11th May

Year 6 to 7 School Transition Event on Monday 18th May

Spotlight on SEMH on Monday 8th June

Understanding Puberty from a SEND lens on Monday 22nd June

The Mental Health Support Team are also running a parents and carers webinar on Wednesday 29th April on how to promote your child's emotional health and wellbeing. See leaflet below.

Events

Tuesday 5th May 2026 - Yr.8 Open Classroom - 3-4.30pm

Thursday 14th May 2026 - Year 12 Parents Evening (online by appointment)

Thursday 4th June 2026 - Year 10 Parents Evening (online by appointment)

School Closures

Monday 4th May - Bank Holiday

Monday 1st June -School Inset Day

May Half Term

Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May 2026 - students return on Tuesday 2nd June 2026

As we look ahead to the remainder of the term, we do so with real optimism and a continued focus on our core purpose: encouraging every student to be the best that they can be.

Across the coming weeks, through key milestones such as options choices, assessments, parents’ evenings, open classroom and enrichment opportunities, including the Year 10 trip to Barcelona, we will continue to place this motto at the heart of what we do.

Alongside this, we remain committed to nurturing strong values through the WH SPIRIT and developing the character, confidence and resilience our students need to succeed both in school and beyond. Thank you for being part of this vision.