Dates for the diary
Headlines
Saturday 24th November - Duke of Edinburgh local walk Sunday 25th November - Spirit of Honywood Feel Good Fayre W/c 26th November - C11 Mocks continue Wednesday 28th November—C10 Drama Evening Thursday 29th November— C10 Drama Evening (2) Follow up individual photos Technology Christmas Fayre Thursday 13th December— Christmas Concert Friday 14th December— Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children Fund Monday 17th December—Christmas lunch for C7 & 8 Tuesday 18th December—Christmas lunch for C9, 10 & 11 Wednesday 19th December— End of term, early closure Friday 4th January 2019—Staff only day—no learners in school Monday 7th January—First day of Spring Term
By James Saunders 23rd November 2018
The next steps for lead learners applications are: Leadership skills are really important at Honywood. We believe that acquiring the characteristics and attributes of leadership will help our learners achieve economic success and well-being for themselves and society. We call that building Professional Capital. At Honywood we develop Professional Capital by providing curriculum opportunities to collaborate within teams, and entrusting our learners with responsibility for leading our school. Yesterday, on the back of Mr Rawling’s Lead Learner launch assembly to cohort 10’s, I had the privilege of supporting him to deliver the learner leadership experience day; a excellent example of a curriculum opportunity that develops professional capital. I started the day off with a small group of eight, consisting of some amazing learners: Fraser, Hannah, Zoe, Isaac, Faris, Harry, Evie and Freya. I had not met them before and promised them that by the end of the day I would have memorised all of their names. These learners were among about fifty C10’s that had put themselves forward as future Lead Learners. Yesterday was the beginning of what looks like an incredibly robust and tough process. The day began with an activity based on self awareness. Learners identified a set of characteristics which best described them. Each characteristic was connected to a different type of dog such as Hound, Coachdog, Retriever, Mastiff and Pointer. A pretty straight forward exercise that involved looking at what your dominant doggy was. But what impressed me was how self aware these learners were. The conversations that were ignited by this activity and the perceptive observations they made of themselves and each other was awesome. The day then continued with a series of workshops. I spoke with more learners about leadership, creating a vision and change management. They came up with their own model for introducing change. The groups then spent the day formulating ideas that they could introduce to provide further leadership opportunities for all cohorts. I learnt a lot from the yesterday.
Application window opened WKB 26th November. Deadline for applications to be submitted Friday 7th December. Interviews offered out to Learners Friday 14th December. Interviews to take place Tuesday 8th January. Decision made End of Tuesday 8th January. Successful candidates off TT Wednesday 9th January.
With only six Lead Learner and six Deputy Lead Learners posts available, competition will be fierce. Mr Rawlings spoke about the resilience building concept of failure and the inevitability that some of those in the room will ultimately be disappointed that they do not get selected. For those that don’t make it there is an opportunity to reflect, learn and grow. There will also be further opportunities for unsuccessful candidates to apply for Ambassador roles, the structure of which was part of the focus for our learners yesterday in the leadership training. I hope that the day will provide use material to enhance the applications of our learners. Inclement weather It is that time of year when the weather starts to take a turn and we are faced with the possibility of school closure. I would like to assure you that school closure is not something that we would ever take lightly and will only happen when it is not safe to open the site. Please can I ask families to refresh themselves with our inclement weather arrangements on our website: https://www.honywoodschool.com/information/ inclement-weather-procedure/? fbclid=IwAR36wOqne4UXd2Gw5oj7Mh92JTvpmYJvROXNW_rDUf9Iqbsy1qova8A Ajg Thanks To: Maryann Cooke, Rhiannon Ellis, Connie Sarti and Lily Vickers for leading workshops during the learner leadership experience day.
As we move into the winter weather conditions, we are asking families to refresh their memories on the Inclement Weather procedure that we operate at Honywood. On any day where the weather may be of concern, we will update our website, groupcall families and post on social media platforms with either: School Open, School Closed or Inclement Weather Procedure. If the school is closed, we will initiate an elearning day with work being provided for learners online. In the case of the Inclement weather Procedure being invoked, we operate a shortened day in school. For more information, please follow the link tot he school website: https://www.honywoodschool.com/…/inclement-weatherprocedu…/ Thankyou to our Cohort 8 Duty Receptionists Harri Arkle Lucy Banks Jess Barker Nia Jeffrey
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Don’t forget, that from the 1st November to 31st December, you can submit your token in Tescos to the Honywood Bike Shelter fundraising. When you make a purchase in one of the four Braintree stores, you will be given a token to chose your fundraising cause!
Information for families: The published Parent Forum with James Saunders has been postponed to the 16th January at 6:30pm and not on the 28th November as previously published.
Parents’ Time
Members of the Leadership Team will be available to see parents without appointment: Monday 7:15am—8:00am Wednesday
3.00pm—3.45pm
Friday
7.15am—8.00am
Tours for current and prospective parents are available on Wednesdays , 9:15am—10:15am.