The Cluster Football Tournament marks the end of the school year and is always a nail-biting, action-packed event. This year was no exception with excellent skills on display and some wonderful sportsmanship, with many pupils receiving special awards for their contributions.

Congratulations to Christ Church Streatham boys and Holy Trinity girls for taking the winning trophies and special thanks to the St Matthews Project for refereeing and helping to organise the day.

A special end of summer term Windmill Cluster event to commemorate Windrush was organised in summer term. The day was hosted at Trinity Academy for visiting cluster primary schools with a selection of Caribbean themed secondary school taster activities provided by Trinity staff, alongside a Windrush exhibition compiled by Pegasus Opera Company. This was followed by a workshop and exciting schools’ performance given by Pegasus of a specially commissioned new work: Windrush Opera, representing the real-life stories and experiences of elders from the Lambeth community who came to the UK from the Caribbean to help rebuild post-war Britain.

The Cluster Poetry Festival goes from strength to strength and each year the standard of writing and performance improves. This year’s theme was ‘My Untold Story’ and pupils from seven cluster primary schools took part in the programme of inter-school heats, culminating in a final event held at Trinity Academy, hosted by performance poet Adisa, with a judging panel made up of staff and students from Trinity. The judges were blown away by the talent, with first place awarded to Leena from Richard Atkins Primary, who also won the competition last year. We wish Leena well in her move to secondary school and look forward to hearing more of her wonderful writing in the future!

Thank you to all the pupils who participated in the Cluster Poetry Festival and who made it such an exceptional and memorable event this year.

The annual Cluster Spelling Bee was as usual a very closely fought event with a Yr 3/4 and a Yr 5/6 competition. Hosted at St Jude’s Primary, there was an excellent level of spelling demonstrated by all seven of the participating schools, who submitted teams of pupils for each year group competition. Congratulations to Christ Church Streatham Primary winners of the Yr 3/4 trophy and Sudbourne Primary who won the Yr 5/6 trophy.

Well done to all our brilliant spellers who took part in the tournament this year!

Pupil Wellbeing Ambassadors from Windmill Cluster schools have worked closely throughout the year with Wellbeing Ambassadors from our partner clusters, Brixton Learning Collaborative and Oval Learning. 19 schools are now involved in this programme and the Ambassadors have gone from strength to strength, meeting regularly and sharing ideas about how to support better mental health and wellbeing across the community.

This year pupils took part in drama, songwriting and creative workshops in school and all the Ambassadors came together for an end of year conference hosted at Evelyn Grace Academy where they worked with mindfulness coaches, song writers from Pegasus Opera and dance tutors from Corali Dance Company.

Pupil Wellbeing Ambassador feedback:

‘I’ve learnt to use my voice to stand up to things I don’t like’

‘It’s exciting and fun to meet new people’

‘Being creative and kind can make a difference’

Talented writers from Windmill Cluster primary schools came together for a day of creative writing led by spoken word artist and author Steven Camden, aka Polar Bear. Using drama and storytelling techniques, children were inspired to create many fantastic stories during the session and left with endless ideas for further creations

There have been excellent maths and science opportunities across the cluster this year. In February we had a visit from the Science Dome, an immersive inflatable planetarium, hosted at Richard Atkins for visiting groups of schools from across the partnership . Pupils were able to experience exciting topics ranging from Under the Sea, Space Exploration and Earth, Space and Beyond encouraging their curiosity and imagination.

Yr 5 able mathematicians from cluster primary schools have participated in maths and science masterclasses throughout the year led by tutors from King’s Maths School and hosted at Trinity Academy. Pupils have been introduced to fascinating new areas of mathematics and science, and have had the chance to conduct investigations in the science labs at Trinity.

Cluster staff have continued to work closely together during 24-25, with regular forum meetings for Heads & SLT, colleagues from Early Years, primary and secondary to share good practice and learn from one another. Cluster SENDCos met regularly throughout the year along with SENDCos from our partner clusters, Brixton Learning Collaborative and Oval Learning, extending the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the Lambeth community.

The annual Cluster INSET day in January 2025 was hosted at Trinity Academy and focused on SEND. Keynote speaker Dr Kulvarn Atwal provided an informative and upbeat start to the day – attendee quote:

‘Very relatable and felt like current practice.  Lots of good reminders on why we do the things that we do and easy ways we can improve our practice‘

Staff participated in a range of workshop activity: Inclusive Classrooms, Understanding Autism, Strategies to support EAL & SEND Learning, Neurodiversity, Drama tools for great communication and techniques from art therapy. Overwhelmingly positive feedback was received from staff about the day who welcomed the opportunity to learn from expert practitioners, alongside the chance to share experience and insights with other colleagues. Attendee quote: ‘I look forward to these Cluster INSET, as they are always informative and well planned. The topics and relevant information empowers us as educators, ensuring we give the best learning opportunities to the children in our care.‘

The annual Cluster Football Tournament took place in July with seven cluster primary schools submitting teams of boys and girls for a closely fought competition. Brilliant skills on display and awards given for some of the many outstanding performances and excellent sportsmanship throughout the day. Congratulations to Orchard Primary girls and St Luke’s boys for taking the winning trophies!

A special thanks to the St Matthews Project for refereeing and helping to organise the day

The Cluster Poetry Festival is always a highlight event and this year’s competition was no exception. Poems written and performed on a theme of ‘Hear My Voice’ were of an exceptionally high standard and the finale event featured 14 superb performances. The judging panel of staff and students from Trinity Academy were hugely impressed with the quality of the presentations.

Performance poet Adisa, the festival host, said: A fabulous event – the poetry was so rich and mature – where do we go from here?

Congratulations to the winning poets – and to all the 2024 festival participants – who did such an amazing job this year!

Pupil Wellbeing Ambassadors from Windmill Cluster, Brixton Learning Collaborative and Oval Learning schools met regularly online throughout the year, sharing ideas for activities to support good mental health in schools. They submitted wonderful designs for a special badge – since provided to all the Ambassadors across all schools – and they came together for a summer term conference with a range of workshop activity. The conference day, hosted at the Boury Academy, included dance, art and drama sessions and a spoken word workshop led by Lambeth’s own poet laureate, Abstract Benna. A group poem ‘My Voice Matters’ was written as an inspirational reminder of the important work Pupil Wellbeing Ambassadors are doing. We are really proud of you all!

We are very grateful for a grant from the Changing Lives Fund that has supported the work of the Wellbeing Ambassadors this year

During spring and summer terms, schools from Windmill Cluster, Brixton Learning Collaborative and Oval Learning participated in a shared cluster music programme, This Little Light, culminating in exciting performances in June. The musical extravaganza was hosted at Holy Trinity Church in Tulse Hill with approx 400 pupils from 17 primary and secondary schools performing over two days. The programme established two mass choirs: Pegasus Opera choir and Lifted Up soul & gospel choir, a percussion section made up of primary and secondary school players and a wonderful opportunity for student instrumentals to play alongside the brilliant Brixton Chamber Orchestra.

Parent quote: Thank you for this fantastic opportunity for my daughter. It was a dream come true for her
Headteacher quote: What an achievement and testament to the talents of all our partners, staff and young people!