16th February 2024
HEADLINES
By Mr J Williams
COMMITTING TO THE PURSUIT OF SUCCESS At the end of yet another challenging, long, wet and cold half term, the opportunities to honestly and effectively reflect on one’s progress and areas for development are there, in plain sight, for a limited time only, ready and willing to be learned from. The process of committing wholeheartedly to being as successful as you possibly can is a daunting and challenging task and yet there are examples of so many of you who have had the courage, motivation and resilience to start and continue down that path throughout the course of this half term. Two very clear and obvious examples spring to the forefront of my mind when considering those that have committed to this process of success. The first is the Jack Petchey Awards which took place earlier this term and the other is the £10 Challenge. In these moments of reflection, it’s abundantly clear that the inspiration and support that we all need to be that little bit better, braver and more resilient surround us here at Honywood every day, and that all we really need to do is to commit ourselves fully to the process of becoming the most successful person we possibly can; not because we’ve been told to, or even because we know it’s the right thing to do, but because we have the moral courage to dare to. A bitesize quote that I think sums this up quite nicely can be seen below, from a professional also working to get the very best out of young people: “Here’s what you should know about being successful before you chase it. Success is not loyal to you, it doesn’t care about you. Success doesn’t care how sore you are and it doesn’t care how much sleep you get. Success doesn’t care how hard you work and sometimes a person who doesn’t outwork you still appears to be more successful than you, and this isn’t fair……you need to accept that sometimes
there is no justice when it comes to the pursuit of success. Success requires all of you and then more and it promises you nothing. It’s a mastermind of creating fear and doubt in your mind. It causes setback after setback so the question about success is …. are you willing to sprint when the distance is unknown? And why chase this thing called success …….. because the only thing that’s guaranteed in life is that if you don’t chase success, you definitely won’t achieve it!” Chris Jacoby - Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Football Coach THE £10 CHALLENGE 2023/24 Between October and February this year, learners from Cohorts 8, 9 and 10 were presented with the opportunity to volunteer to take part in the St Helena Hospice £10 Challenge. Twentyfour teams from across the three cohorts volunteered to take on the challenge, in which they were required to turn their team’s £10 investment into as much as they could in just 12 weeks, through their own entrepreneurial endeavour. All learners that took part in teams that raised money would secure a certificate of appreciation and the winning team would be awarded the ‘Entrepreneurs Trophy 2023/24’ with their names engraved on it for future generations to see. This was a county wide challenge, and one in which we have been taking part for a number of years, and in which learners from Honywood have always been one of, if not the top fundraiser out of all schools involved. Many of the other schools that take part in the challenge integrate it into their curriculum, making
it compulsory for learners to be involved, whilst Honywood learners were simply presented with the challenge along with a simple support structure for guidance and a developed understanding of why the cause was worthy of their efforts. Learners from Honywood raised an outstanding £1, 368.16 for the fantastic cause, which is the second highest total that we as a school have ever raised. The winning team, who managed to raise an impressive £402, were a team of Cohort 8 learners, consisting of Callum Bones, Archie Hopkins, Daniel Succamore , Ben Jones and Henry Parsons. Their approach to the challenge was to split their team into two separate groups in order to launch two concurrent entrepreneurial activities, which consisted of Callum, Daniel and Archie selling lollipops, and Henry and Ben completing sponsored sporting activities (Henry did a sponsored run and Ben did a sponsored bike ride). All of the teams that took part really threw themselves into the challenge, which saw a wide variety of different entrepreneurial activities taking place both in and outside of school. Some further examples include a team of C8 learners that made clay Christmas ornaments which could be hung on Christmas trees; a team that made and sold festive candles; a team which based their business activities around the production and sale of arts, crafts and baked goods; a team that decided to really diversify their Christmas production line by manufacturing and selling Christmas stockings, Advent calendars, bracelets and cards. Freya Hutchenson of Cohort 8, wrote the following about her team’s approach to the challenge: “The ten pound challenge was a very fun challenge. I found the £10 challenge enjoyable because I was able to help charity and improve my teamwork and business skills. I also enjoyed raising the money for charity as it’s nice to know that the money I have made is going to a good cause. Before we started we chose an amount of money we wanted to make. We decided to try and make £40 and we got over our target! For the ten pound challenge I sold clay bead bracelets for £3. I sold them to my friends and family. I made it with multiple colours (as many as you wanted) and with a letter charm. I received lots of orders. All the orders we had, we shared across the group so we all did the same amount of bracelets. This helped with how quickly we created them. We had a queue of people but for an extra £1 you could get to the top of the list.” Honourable mentions must also go to the team of C8 learners achieving 2nd place, raising £213.16, which consisted of Ava Smith, Chloe Dumbrell, Khloe Crisell, Ava Schwingen, Matilda Dann, Lucy Bennett, Poppy Edwards; and yet another team of c8 learners that achieved 3rd place, raising £190.18, which included
Sophie Collard, Emily Gwyther and Elvie Foster. Certificates and awards will have been presented to all those that took part by the end of the first week back after the February half term break. A big congratulations to the winning team, and a massive well done to all the other teams as well, as you have all once again highlighted that Honywood learners are amongst the most proactive, entrepreneurial, selfless and creative in the county. A fantastic effort and a thoroughly successful endeavour. Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable half term break as you quietly plot your next steps towards an even more successful half term when you return. Mr Williams Assistant Headteacher
GUIDED CHOICES FOR COHORT 8 INTO 9 During assembly this week we introduced the start of the Guided Choices process for our Cohort 8 learners. This is an opportunity for our learners to have some choice in their studies next academic year. Many schools ensure learners are directed down pathways based on academic ability and they have restricted choice as a result of this. We have a model based largely on free choice. Mr Munro will construct a timetable around the choices learners make. All learners will initially study 8 or 9 qualifications, with subsequent curriculum adaptations made where necessary on an individual basis as learners progress through the courses. In running a school, pragmatic resourcing decisions need to be made in terms of the finances and staffing that we have available to us. Every year certain courses will not be offered as we simply can’t justify running a subject if only a handful of learners select it. We need to justify learner to staff ratios so they are largely balanced across the school. It wouldn’t be fair for some learners in a cohort to be taught in a class of 40 plus and others in a really small group, for example. Our current average class size is 23.6.
The choices available this year have been selected based on staffing available and informed by a survey carried out across the cohort. We have adopted this approach to try to avoid disappointment at a later stage when courses are offered initially, however later don’t run due to the non viability of the course. In this case, learners are informed in the summer term that they need to choose again. We appreciate this may cause some initial disappointment, but feel that for the size of our school, we offer a very broad curriculum from which learners can select alternative choices across the liberal arts, creative arts and science and industry based subjects. Families will be invited into school on Wednesday 6th March to hear from Subject Leaders about what their subject entails and how they will be assessed, should learners wish to study it in preparation for sitting their examinations in 2027. We will also talk through the core curriculum which learners will study; English Language, English Literature, Maths, Science (Trilogy or Triple) PE (non GCSE assessed) and Philosophy, Religion and Citizenship (PRC). Families will have received details earlier this week of how to book into subject talks for our Guided Choices evening on 6th March. Please email Mrs Frogley cfrogley@honywoodschool.com should you have any queries about this process. As ever, your support in this process is greatly appreciated. We stress to all learners to choose a subject on the following criteria: • • • •
You ENJOY it. You are GOOD at it. NOT because your friend is going to choose it. You may not be in the same group as them anyway! NOT because of your favourite teacher. Although we largely aim to keep the same teacher with the same group as they move through the year, teachers can change every year as well as during the year.
TIMETABLE CHANGES POST HALF TERM Please be aware that learners across the school may have some timetable changes after the half term break due re- groupings and staffing changes. Miss Gamble, for example, is starting her maternity leave in Science so some changes have been necessary to cover her timetable. These will be ‘live’ from Monday 26th February. Mr Munro
A huge congratulations to Stanley Coton in C11 who competed last weekend in the Rayne Amateur Boxing competition held at the Bocking Arts Theatre. Stanley won his match by a unanimous judges vote. Stanley started boxing at Honywood with Darrell Church and now trains six days a week. Well done Stanley!
Dates for the Diary Mon 19 Feb - 23 Feb
Half term
Wed 28 Feb
C8 Mercury Theatre visit
Fri 1 March
C8 Creative Careers Day at Honywood
Tues 5 March
C9 Nuclear Races Day
Wed 6 March
Guided Choices Evening 6pm
Thurs 7 March
World Book Day - Dress as a book character
Wed 13 March
C10 MADE Revision and Workshops
Thurs 14 March
C10 Mock Interview Day