Headlines - 1 March 2024

1st March 2024

HEADLINES

By James Saunders

OUR CORE BELIEFS

We often find that when people first come into contact with our school, they quickly appreciate that it is different from others they have encountered. Phrases; ‘It feels family like’’ and ‘The teachers really know the children as individuals’ are commonly heard.

Our school is different and the reason why people sense that difference is because the deeply held beliefs that inform the design of our school are not as widely or deeply felt in other schools. We want all our youngsters to be both happy and successful.

The four things I feel everyone sending their youngsters to Honywood and everyone coming to work at the school needs to commit to are as follows:

TRUST - Learners, and those working with them, gain trust through building effective relationships, being reliable and demonstrating a strong set of shared values.

RESPECT - Learners, and those working with them, should respect themselves, other people and the world around them.

EQUITY - All learners experience, and those working with them, create and support curriculum enhancing opportunities. Support is available for all including those who need it most to ensure they can be successful both in school and in their future lives.

EXCELLENCE - Learners, and those working with them, can get better at everything through purposeful endeavour and striving to be the best.

It is therefore no surprise that TRUST, RESPECT, EQUITY and EXCELLENCE are our Core Values here at Honywood.

Sadly, some of what has occurred in the world of education has not been about focusing on the best

provision for individual youngsters; it has been about saving money and making things look like they are going well for the schools and colleges youngsters attend. After all, how is it that apparently schools are all getting better and youngsters are becoming more qualified as a result, and yet productivity in our economy is falling? Wouldn’t we expect the exact opposite to be occurring if schools really were improving and youngsters really were getting better qualified? In relation to our learners and the staff who work here, they deserve first class facilities within which to teach and learn daily. It is our aim to strive to provide them with these as we will set about doing so over the next few years.

Trying to get things right for every individual is certainly not easy, but that is what we believe our mission to be. If you are unclear as to how anything is working for your youngster, or have any concerns about the way in which we are providing for them, please make sure that you contact us so that we can look further into tailoring the provision we offer. We may not always agree on matters but we will ensure our core values are at the heart of decisions made in doing what we believe is the best for our learners.

Can I remind everyone that we offer a daily parents’ time when a member of the Leadership Team will be available to meet with no appointment necessary, should you have any issues or concerns.

Monday 8.30 - 9.30am

Tuesday 3.30 - 4.30pm

Wednesday 11.45 - 12.45pm

Thursday 4.30 - 5.30pm

Friday 7.30 - 8.30am

James Munro (Deputy Headteacher)

GUIDED CHOICES EVENING

On Wednesday 6th March at 6.00pm we will be holding our ‘Guided Choices’ evening for families of learners in Cohort 8. This evening is for parents/ carers only as the learners will have received this information during LS5s and an assembly. We have designed the event so that C8 parents and carers will hear from Mr Saunders and Mr Munro about the next three years and the curriculum. Then parents / carers will have the opportunity to hear up to six subject presentations from Subject Leaders about the courses they offer. This will help in supporting learners in making decisions about their future studies.

Should you have any queries about this event please contact Mrs Frogley: - cfrogley@honywoodschool. com

RAINBOW FLAG AWARD

We have recently received the wonderful news that we have achieved The Rainbow Flag Award. This is a national quality assurance framework for all schools and youth-centred organisations. The award focuses on positive LGBT+, (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, plus other related identities), inclusion and visibility.

The Rainbow Flag Award encourages a whole organisation approach to LGBT+ inclusion, as well as developing strategies to effectively challenge and combat LGBTphobic bullying.

Miss Musk and Mr Spellman deserve special praise for their efforts in leading on this. We will be once again holding our inclusion fete in the summer term.

Well done to Jay-Conner Gormley-Morris.

Jay-Conner went to Wales to compete in a boxing competition against a club called Pontyclun. Jay fought amazingly well and won his bout and also won bout of the night. Brilliant achievement!

Team:

George Golbourn (Capt)

Caleb Gilbert, Felix Skubich

Jack Baker

Jamie Bunch.

Score: Honywood 62 Hedingham 14

This was an excellent first game for the cohort 9 team as there were a number of absences from the squad. The team quickly got into their stride led by George Golbourn who kicked of the scoring with the first few baskets. Caleb Gilbert was given the responsibility of marking the opposition’s most effective player and he was able to do this throughout the game and was well supported by Jack Baker. The trio of George, Felix and Jamie caused the opposition lots of problems throughout the game. Every player scored baskets with George scoring most points and Jamie close behind. This was an excellent first performance and the team will look forward to the rematch. Well played!

Mr G Walters

ON THE SLOPES

Where

every day is a snow day!

Honywood

Ski 2024

After a 4 year COVID hiatus the Honywood Ski group returned to the beautiful Dachstein West Region of Salzburg for a non-stop fun filled week of Skiing and Apres-Ski activities.

Following a short 21 hour bus journey we arrived at the impeccable VitalHotel Gasou with 48 tired but excited learners and 7 members of staff. After settling in and collecting our skis for the week we got ourselves ready for a very enjoyable week on the slopes.

The Ski week went by at an extraordinary fast pace, with the learners getting four and half of skiing a day. The weather was a mixed bag ranging from sun, snow and even rain but the weather the skiing was enjoyable and the learners were ready to tackle the challenge slopes.

The Apres ski was just as much fun with the ski group enjoying a number activities such as bowling, games night, quiz night, watching a ski show RedBull Salzburg ice hockey game. All of which added to the ski experience.

Mr D Scott

As part of the Honywood Ski Team I’d like to thank all of the for being an absolute pleasure to spend the half-term Their respect and enthusiasm brought the praises coach drivers, ski instructors and hotel staff working with the Honywood Staff to make the trip an enjoyable and successful one.

for

half hours but no matter challenge of the

of different evening show and going to a experience.

the learners with. of working

C10 Enrichment

As part of our careers curriculum and Enrichment week this term, cohort 10 learners will be taking part in a mock interview process to help them prepare for the next stage of their journey into employment or further/ higher education. Interviews will take place on Tuesday 12th & Wednesday 14th March. Would you be able to spare sometime to be a guest interviewer? We are looking for any parent/carers who may have time to pop in to carry out the interviews. they are one to one, based in a room with a member of staff on hand. Each interview will last 15 minutes. If you are able to help, please drop Mr Ramsay an email mramsay@honywoodschool.com

Thankyou!

Dates for the Diary