HEADLINES
By James SaundersThe leadership team and I have been looking ahead to September to identify our priorities for the forthcoming year. Key to our priorities will be further embedding our core values of Trust, Respect, Equity and Excellence. I have had cause to refer to these values several times in my discussions with families this week. Trust is the one thing that keeps us together as a community. We have always worked hard to be as transparent as possible when it comes to how we run the school and we do this to gain trust.
Our values and our systems at the school are designed to ensure the very best for the children and young people we serve. It doesn’t end there though. In a constantly evolving landscape it is important that you continue to place your trust in what we are doing and the decisions we take. In school we trust that our learners will do the right thing; that they will cooperate with the rules that we implement for their wider educational benefit. We trust that you will all support us in the effective running of the school, even though you may not agree with every single decision. This takes me onto our next value: respect.
Our value of respect has three simple strandsrespect yourself, others and the world around you. Our behaviour policy centres around maintaining these strands. It is us taking civil responsibility for our community. It is all too easy to think only through the lens of self, but this is not enough. If we are to really live through this value we need to think of others and appreciate that there are often consequences to the decisions we make. I am trusting families to have conversations about the importance of this and of respecting the rules that we have in place at school. I am trusting that learners respect each other, not just themselves. Just focusing on your own needs is not respect, it only leads to selfishness.
Our third value, equity, also comes up from time to time in my dealings with learners and families. The illustration below highlights the difference
between equity and equality - something so often misunderstood.
Equity really goes hand in hand with respect . Respecting ourselves is the first step but if we only do that it is all too easy to fall into being selfish. If we are to respect others we need to respect differences; we need to respect that to achieve equality of outcome it will be at the expense of equality of opportunity. Things are not always the same for everyone. It is a classic argument for someone looking to justify bending the rules - what about that person or that situation. In these situations my advice is always to focus on running your own journey at your own pace, not that of other people. If you are focusing on others then who is focusing on you? Respecting others and respecting differences will allow us to achieve equity. We want to achieve excellence for everyone but it won’t always result in an identical path for them all. I have been pleased to see tolerance in place across the school this term from our learners.
It requires a delicate balancing act to achieve these values. Sometimes parents will challenge them as a result of decisions that have affected their children. We welcome such feedback but sometimes conclusions are made about the impact of our decisions on the culture of the school without obtaining the full facts. I have had a couple of meetings with parents who have questioned some of our systems and invited them to walk around the school with me to see learning
in action. They were pleasantly surprised that what they saw was not in line with what they thought was happening day to day. Far from being oppressive, or has been previously stated to me - ‘jail like’, they saw learners learning, calmness, engagement with teachers and a pleasant atmosphere conducive to supporting wellbeing. I am always proud to show people around the school. Most weeks I have a few appointments with prospective families or children looking to move schools. The overwhelming feedback is extremely positive. Families are appreciating the calm and purposeful atmosphere that exists across the school. They comment on how polite and welcoming our learners are. They are witnessing first hand the impact of our values and our systems and the inclusive teaching environment they produce.
It would be a logistical nightmare to invite everyone in to do such a tour. However, should you ever have any concerns I would be more than happy to personally take the time to show you around the school any time to see the impact of our decisions on the culture and climate of the school. This takes me onto our fourth value - Excellence. Our approach to Trust, Respect and Equity is designed to support learners to achieve excellence and provide them with a framework to enable them to aspire beyond any ceiling or limit. When all of our values are working together we achieve our aim of creating a space for happy and successful learners to thrive and grow. Like you, we want the best for your children and the most effective route to achieving that is through a partnership of mutual trust and respect.
Looking ahead, we have two more weeks until our residentials.
Have a nice weekend
PRIDE FETE
James SaundersHappy Pride! In order to involve a great deal of learner voices into inclusion around the school and our bid to acquire the Rainbow Flag Award, we will be running the inaugural Honywood Pride Fete on Tuesday 18th July. This will run from the start of lunch, through to 2:30pm, leaving the rest of the remainder of the school day for clean up!
Learning groups will be creating stalls to help raise funds for The OutHouse charity in Colchester. To learn about this amazing charity, click here.
The canteen will be offering an outside grab and go service. There will also be ice cream vans, a ‘chill out’ area and music. We are also hoping to have an
OutHouse stall and invite a couple of members from the charity into school.
THANK A TEACHER
National Thank a Teacher Day is back on Wednesday 21st June.
There is just one week to go until the annual celebration of all schools across the UK. It is a great opportunity to say thank you!
Why not send a hard-working teacher a free personalised e-card to say thank you, featuring an illustration by much loved author and artist Charlie Mackesy.
Headteachers are able to schedule a batch of free e-cards now to thank all of their colleagues on the day. Click here if you’d like to find out more.
FINAL - END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS SUMMER 2023
Friday 21st July is the last day of this school year, the arrangements for the day are as follows:
(2x 75 mins sessions plus LS5)
8.45 - 8.55 AM Reg
8.55 - 10.10 LS1
10.10 - 10.25 Break
10.25 - 11.40 LS2
11.40 - 12.50 LGL Time / LS5
Assemblies (JSa and CL’s)
C7 - 11.45
C8 - 12.00
C9 - 12.15
C10 - 12.30
12.50 - Dismiss
District cup final: Honywood 1-0 Notley High
On Monday, Cohort 10 took on Notley High in the North West Essex District Schools Cup Final. They arrived at Ramsey school with high expectations and nerves for a great final in store. The match started at lightning pace, Honywood applied instant pressure with careful patience - and this patience paid off with an incredible team goal beginning from inside the Honywood half and making its way up to Sammy Taylor on the edge of the box who played a great through ball to Khaled Sherif, dispatching brilliantly into the bottom right corner. This great passage of play encouraged them to dominate the rest of the first half, taking them into half time with a precious 1-0 lead. The second half begun with a fast pace once again, with Notley attempting to trouble the Honywood goal in order to get back into the game. However the defensive unit stood firm being led by a handful of excellent Rhys Rowley saves - the pick of bunch coming from a powerful header travelling into the top left corner met by a strong hand from Rhys. This great defending continued with the whole team putting in a great shift and doing their part to keep them in the lead, and after a nervy last ten minutes, the final whistle finally blew. This crowned Cohort 10 the champions of the district!
Man of the match was deservedly earned by Rhys Rowley due to a great performance.
Report written by Theo McQuillan
Are you a parent/carer or family member of a child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)?
Do you have questions about accessing support in your area or questions about SEND support available in Essex?
Would you like to link up with other parents in your area? If you do, please come along and see us at the Roadshow. You can meet groups and services such as:
• Essex Family Forum
• SENDIASS
• Representatives from the Education Teams
• SEND Navigation Leads
• Local Support Groups
The roadshow is a drop-in event with no need to book. There are four locations to choose from across Essex:
Tuesday 4 July, 9am to 12.30pm – West Essex - Saffron Walden Town Hall
Thursday 6 July, 9am to 12.30pm – Mid Essex - Maldon Town Hall
Tuesday 11 July, 9am to 12.30pm – South Essex - Nevendon Centre, Wickford
Tuesday 18 July, 9am to 12.30pm – North East Essex - The Princes Theatre, Clacton
For more information on who will be there please follow the link. https://send.essex.gov.uk/i-think-my-child-needs-help/send-local-offer-roadshows
At each roadshow there will be a session with a Peer Educator (parent/carer with lived experience of Autism) from 10-11 titled ‘An Introduction to Autism’. If you would be interested in attending one of these sessions please email peersupporthub@essex.gov.uk .
We also hope to have Peer Educators available at the roadshows to answer questions and share experiences and signpost to resources.
