TCES Group Latest News & Events

LGBT History Month competition winners

We have seen some truly inspirational sessions and activities in every school, exploring some very tough issues and strong opinions about LGBT rights and equality. It has been wonderful to see our pupils engaging so well in these activities.

We received some excellent submissions to our display competition this year and after much deliberation, the judges have reached their decision and awarded the winning schools, as follows:

1st place = Essex Fresh Start, Witham   EFS Witham

2nd place = Essex Fresh Start, Clacton  EFS Clacton

3rd place = East London Independent School  ELIS

These 3 entries followed the brief so well, resulting in some beautiful school displays that all pupils had input into. The messages on the work that pupils have produced in every school completely match our community ethos of respect for all, as well as real true inclusion for everyone. The winners will receive the above amounts of money to spend on additional resources, such as books for library/DEAR, PHSE resources or new games for lunch time clubs.

Huge congratulations to everyone for embracing LGBT history month so well this year. We hope that pupils and staff have enjoyed exploring these issues together and that some real learning has come out of it.

Catherine Bullen Foundation Spring Newsletter

Have a read of Catherine Bullen Foundation’s latest Spring Newsletter by clicking on the link below. Mentioned are Essex Fresh Start School in Witham, who raised £89.00 during a recent fund raising day in aid of the Foundation.

Spring Newsletter 2018

Student Council members visit local charity, Acton Homeless Concern

22 February saw two members of North West London Independent School’s Student Council Adam (Vice President) and Diaz (Charity/Community Ambassador) visit Acton Homeless Concern.

Acton Homeless Concern is a charity providing advice and support for the homeless and other disadvantaged groups. They run two drop-in centres at the Damien Centre and Emmaus House in Acton. For more information, please visit www.actonhomelessconcern.org

The pupils met with centre manager Ian Breen and were given a tour of the shelter. Ian explained that the shelter can receive up to 220 people a day for lunch, which is catered for by a full-time chef. The shelter has around 5-6 volunteer workers each day. Food, water, clothing, toiletries etc. are all provided by local charities, fundraisers and the local community.

The picture below represents the store room that holds the donated food. Said Ian, “If we didn’t get any more supplies, by Easter this would all be gone. We rely solely on the donations of others.” Ian went on to explain that 2,000 people are counted on Ealing’s streets; however this does not take into consideration ‘sofa surfers’, squatters and people hiding away. The number from this accumulates to around 8,000 homeless people in Ealing alone.

After the tour the pupils sat down with Ian and asked questions. Diaz enquired, “Is it ok to bring dog food and do people bring dogs?” Ian explained that he would love to receive dog food and that people do regularly bring dogs.
Adam asked, “Would you accept military based meals for the people coming here?” Ian expressed that all food if in date is welcome and is hugely appreciated.

Both Adam and Diaz reflected on how sad it is, especially in cold weather, for people to live on the streets. North West London Independent School will build upon the positive relationship forged with the charity and visit again with other Student Council members and plan ahead for their Bags for the Homeless project. More details on this to follow.

21 February 2018

21 February: Stratford Marsh school update. Building contractors  Glorcroft and architects GA Architects have created a new state-of-the-art school building for East London Independent School’s Stratford Marsh site. If you watch the fly-through video on this page you’ll see how our photographs, below, reflect our architect’s interpretation of how the school will look on completion in spring this year.

The recently constructed slatted timber ceilings are built to aid acoustic control, and with the addition of overhead lighting and freshly painted walls, Stratford Marsh is several steps closing to realising its full potential as a cutting edge school at the heart of the TCES Group.

[Show slideshow]

Clacton pupils enter BBC Radio 2 500 Words short story competition

Four KS3 Essex Fresh Start Clacton pupils have been entered into the BBC Radio 2 500 Words short story competition. Championed by Chris Evans, entrants can write their own story on any subject in 500 words or less. The winning story will be read live on air by a superstar celebrity. Good luck to our four entrants!

Essex Fresh Start pupils have poems published in Rhymecraft

Two Essex Fresh Start pupils have had their poems published in ‘Rhymecraft,’ a book of poems written exclusively by primary-aged school children. You can read ten-year-old Caleb and 11-year-old George’s poems below. We think you’ll agree they’ve both made a fantastic effort – well done boys!

Caleb’s poem, ‘Animals having A Tea Party’ and ‘The Sea’ by George.

East London Independent School pupil performs motivational verse to acclaim

East London Independent School pupil Maison wrote and performed the below rap song, Kite, in front of fellow pupils and staff during a recent Group Process assembly at school. This is an incredible achievement for any pupil, and especially so for Maison. He performed with incredible confidence, with pupils giving him a standing ovation and not a dry eye among the applauding staff.

Kite, by Maison

I wanna be free, like a kite in flight, I wanna live easy, take the breeze across the many seas I might! Travel the world, see the sights and stop to gaze upon the stars at night.
That’s the life… that I wish to lead verses complex thoughts that I need to heed to aim my frame to succeed in this game of mine. Life on the line, no stop signs on the road to rhyme while I’m in my prime with a path to pave, a soul to save, I’ll keep on digging til’ I’m in my grave.
At least that’s the plan, the follow through is what’ll make’th man, thus here I am… caught in between, like an extra in my own scene, my star role, no roll-call, do I climb the wall or freefall? Because either way will have price to pay, too easy to be led astray by emotions unable to cast away and then its overcast today, trapped in my mind like a castaway.
Wait… let me speak for a minute, my kind of pain, have ya’ll ever been in it? Feeling the need to prepare every conversation, possible combination, in case of potential complications or to never be proud of your quirks, ashamed of your work… and even now I’ve re-wrote this, erased this, replaced this, paused, watching the bar too cautious to place this. That is until I think of the faces, all the fears that you’ve conquered despite all the tears that you’ve tasted its motivating, liberating… I’m tired of running but in too much of a rush to be waiting because…
I wanna be free, like a kite in flight, I wanna live easy, take the breeze across the many seas I might! Travel the world, see the sights and stop to gaze upon the stars at night.
I just wish to do as I do, through thick and thin, the way I see it… to simply persist is a win.