Headlines By James Saunders 18th December 2020
“As a parent, I want to say, to you and every single member of staff at Honywood, a massive, heartfelt, humble 'thank you'. Thank you We finally made it to the end of the term. And what a term it has been. I would like to finish by thanking our learners, staff, families and community for their support. I am going to keep things short this week and will end on a couple of heart warming highlights. You will recall that at half term we all rallied around to support Free School Meals. I was touched by the generosity and care that exists within our community as you all rallied around in support. I did not think that this was something we should keep doing as it is not the sole responsibility of schools to prop up this part of the system in this way. However, we thought that over the Christmas holiday we should look to extend our reach out into our community so that a greater number of families can be impacted by the warmth that emanates from Honywood. This led to our Reverse Advent Calendar to support the Braintree Foodbank. I read yesterday that for the first time in history Unicef is providing food aid to British children. It shouldn’t be that way. We should live in a world where all children are able to grow up with access to food. We shouldn’t have to intervene. Food banks should not even be a thing. But they are. And they are needed now more than ever. Yesterday I had the privilege of helping our Lead Learners to load both school minibuses full of the donations we have collected. I was blown away by the sheer volume of food that we were able to take to the foodbank and I thank you all for your kindness and compassion at a time of great difficulty for so many families. It is easy for us to get caught up in the day to day at the moment. We can be forgiven for not taking the time to pause and look back on what we have achieved. September seems like so long ago. However, I received an email from a parent that did indeed give me cause to pause, look back and reflect on what we have accomplished this term. I would like to share the words with you as this parent has indeed captured the many things that we can all be rightly proud of over the last term.
Throughout this confusing, unpredictable and often painful year, school has been a constant for our family. Our boys started the pandemic in Y10, and have transitioned seamlessly to Y11 while it's still raging. They've completed two full sets of mocks, which have been marked and the results acted on. They have just been given annual reports full of fine detail about their attainment and progress, and precisely what they need to do to gain the top grades that school determinedly expects of them at the end of this year. They also got PE reports that nearly made me cry, so kind, personal and inspirational were they (they are not taking PE for GCSE). *And* they've been encouraged to reach out to those having a worse time than themselves; apply for their next stage of education; consider career choices; make sensible choices in their daily lives; go for House points; and develop their independence and responsibility. Meanwhile, their parents have been reassured and communicated with throughout, with messages showing unfailing compassion, consistency and leadership. We've been trusted to do what's right for our family - and shown that what's right for our family is to trust our children's wellbeing to you. It's been a strange year. It's been a challenging year (for you and your staff, I know, as well as for the community). But for our sons, it's still been a good year. And that's a phenomenal achievement from any school.
Please pass on my thanks to everyone at Honywood. And however you are spending it, please do have a restful and nourishing festive break.” Best wishes I wish you all a safe and happy holiday. Thanks to: Maxine-Emily Harvey and Freya Britten for their work on finishing off our ‘be kind to your mind’ mural. Lead learners who helped load and deliver our Food Bank donations: Gabby Assuman, Charlie Mullenger, Emily Pyatt, Hannah Pyatt and Hannah Read.