Headlines By James Saunders 23rd October 2020
Half term is here, well done for making the journey this far As we enter half term I would like to thank our whole community for their support over the last eight weeks. We have all endured a lot of change over this time but have done so with little fuss or fan fair. Everyone has got on with the business of school. It has been encouraging to hear such warm feedback from families who have visited us over the last three weeks. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Families have commented on how calm everything is and how purposeful our classes are. Whilst it might all seem normal we are still very conscious that we are deep into a pandemic and things may get worse before they get better. I am pleased that we have not had to respond to any positive cases yet. I am aware that this is almost inevitable but I like to think that as a community we are all doing our best to remain safe and to keep our community safe. We are rapidly becoming one of the few schools to not have a positive case yet. As long as we remain cautious both in and out of school there is no reason we can’t continue this way. We truly are in it together now and all our actions contribute to the greater system and help us to keep our school running smoothly. I thank you for the way you have all conducted yourself and the empathetic approach that you have used when communicating with the school. The staff at Honywood are grateful. I have tried not to be too overly political over the last 6 months (although I am sure my frustrations have spilt out), however, this week 322 MPs voted against providing Free School Meals to families over the half term break. On this count I side firmly with Marcus Rashford. Therefore we will be providing free school meals to our learners on the FSM register over the half term period. We will not get any funding for this, however, it is the right thing to do given the bleak economic situation that so many families are facing. Yesterday we created a Go Fund Me page and have asked our community if they would like to support us.
What I was not prepared for was the positivity that came our way. I sat in my office with a tear in my eye, when after less than one hour of sending this out to our community we had already received £900 in donations. By bedtime we hit £2000. This will mean that we can fund all our FSM families over the half term break - vouchers will be emailed out to families. What yesterday highlighted to me is that there is still kindness, empathy and compassion in the world. At a time where things are difficult, people have not lost sight of what is important. We get caught up in the controversy and histrionics that the media presents and can be forgiven for thinking that they accurately portray how everyone is feeling. It is clear to me that in our Honywood community our values go beyond the school walls. Take heart to this positivity as we enter the half term break. It is a joy to serve this community.
I wish you all a restful half term break. James Saunders Brilliant Club Launch We had the launch of our newest cohort of Brilliant Club learners this week. A group of C9 and C10 learners met their PhD tutor, Solange. They have had their first university style seminar on the topic of architecture, interior design and feminism. Learners will meet with Solange for a weekly seminar over the next half term. The programme will culminate in all learners submitting a piece of academic writing that will be assessed at university level. We have had a significant number of learners complete this programme now; it is clearly having a positive impact on their approach to their own study and independence as a learner. What are you reading? What are you reading currently? Fact or fiction? I am just finishing 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos and will then be onto Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. It’s clear I am firmly in the non-fiction camp. Contd...