27th May 2022
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
GOODBYE C11 As I stood in front of our C11 learners on their last official school day I had one simple message: legacy. I began by taking a nostalgic look back over the last five years and discussed the importance of the journey, not the destination, in shaping character. It is the journey that each and every learner goes through at Honywood that defines them and shapes their future self. Of course, we are well aware of the importance of exams and becoming qualified but when one gets to the end of that five year journey so much of who they will become will stem from the relationships and experiences of the journey, not the destination that we call the exam season. In my nostalgia I shared my love for the 80’s video game Frogger. I find that Frogger is a great metaphor for life - school is merely one of its many levels. I am proud of how each and every one of our learners have played their own unique game of Frogger over the last five years. They have all endured a journey full of obstacles, full of barriers, full of choices, full of good and bad stuff and full of challenge. And it is in this journey that they have developed into the well rounded people they have become.
the strong relationships that exist today. Many learners spoke about the little details - the things that made a difference. A smile in the morning, support when they were down, help with their studies, patience, tolerance and humour. But legacy, and those little details, are like footprints in the sand. When the water washes them away and the details begin to fade we have only memory to rely on. It is these memories, these impressions we leave on others, that mark out our legacy. When others remember us they may not recall the details but they will never forget how we made them feel. I think I saw that yesterday. Learners have left a legacy behind them; they will always be a part of Honywood. And the legacy of our teachers? This will live on through our learners in their post-Honywood journey. It has been a pleasure getting to know this cohort of learners; I wish them the very best and hope that they go on to live happy and successful lives. I am very proud of them all. Have a wonderful half term break. James Saunders
TIK TOK We have been recently been made aware of Their journey has been one of relationships, of a worrying use of Tik Tok by our learners. In interactions and of shared experiences. It was looking into some matters we have discovered a such a pleasure to witness the impact that these surprisingly large number of learners who have things have had on both the learners and their TikTok accounts that are not set to private. learning groups leaders. As each learning group took it in turn to pay tribute to their learning group Our focus on Tik Tok came to light when it was leader they reflected back on how the experiences reported that fake accounts purporting to be and interactions that they all shared had created Honywood were set up. Accounts like these are
not new and many schools have faced similar action and will be reporting the accounts. Please problems. see our monthly safeguarding newsletter for further links and information on Tik Tok. TikTok allows users to share short videos from a wide range of genres, like dance and comedy. The original purpose of TikTok was to allow young people to create videos of themselves lipsynching popular songs and share them across the community for entertainment. However, there has recently been a surge in incidents across the country of learners using the platform to target learners and teachers and to tarnish their reputation. Tik Tok online abuse can take various forms: • Some teachers have reported the creation of fake accounts in their name • These fake accounts have been used to post derogatory comments about other staff members, learners and schools. Worcestershire alone has had five different schools reporting similar incidents with one headteacher prepared to go to the police to report the fake accounts • Secret video recordings with disparaging content have been uploaded • Malicious and false rumours have been posted When a child posts defamatory remarks, or humiliating remarks, on TikTok, it can be seen by up to two million people across the world. That has a really big impact when there is crucially no right to reply. Today we gave an assembly to all learners on the importance of our core values of trust and respect. We explained the difference between bullying online and harassment and the seriousness of such behaviour online. We feel that no member of staff or child should ever appear online without their express permission. All of our staff and learners are entitled to come to school free from online bullying or harassment. Should it come to light that learners are using this platform to abuse each other or teachers we will take appropriate
On Tuesday Mrs Brinkley took 8 learners to Gridserve, the first wholly electric car charging service station in The UK. We were invited by Braintree Cultural Partnership to celebrate the art work the learners had submitted on the theme of Climate Change. Cllr Wendy Schmitt presented certificates of excellence to the learners. The learners did a great job of presenting their art work and the learning we have done about Climate Change since COP26. Then we had a surprisingly interesting tour of the facility and how car charging works by Declan, the manager. It was a really enjoyable visit and Mrs Brinkley was incredibly proud of the art work and how well our learners presented and engaged with the whole event.
On the evening of Monday 23rd May, Mrs Houghton's C10 dancers performed at the Civic Theatre. It was a lovely event and we couldn't be more proud of what they did. The performance was really lovely and the promotor has sent us a copy of the video which is on the Honywood facebook page if you have time to watch! or follow the link below. https://fb.watch/ddTD5LWB6j/
A huge congratulations to Jonathan Hardington who was part of the United in Diversity event hosted by the Multi-Schools Council. Jonathan is an ambassador for the MSC and has been active throughout this year in various initiatives to raise awareness for SEND. On Tuesday Jonathan spoke in front of 300 people about his experiences at primary and secondary school. Jonathan represented the school impeccably throughout the day. A huge congratulations and well done for an excellent job.
NEW LEARNER LEADERSHIP AT HONYWOOD! Two weeks ago, we launched the recruitment process for the new Learner Leadership Team to C10 in an assembly. This year, there were fewer roles available to our learners as we streamlined the leadership team. We are delighted to announce our new Lead Learners and Senior prefects:
Lead Learner for Culture - Finlay Newton 10Cho Senior Prefect for Culture - Dylan Probert 10FJo Lead learner for Development - Theo Wilson 10CGa Senior Prefect for Development - Anish Mistry 10HGo Lead Learner for Wellbeing - Amy Barnes-Grimes 10CHo Senior Prefect for Wellbeing - Eloise Duffy 10FJo Lead Learner for Leadership - George Stark 10KCo Senior Prefect for Leadership - Harriet Mead 10CHo Congratulations to the learners who were successful in their application to be a prefect. The new team of lead learners and prefects will be attending a leadership workshop after half term and will commence their duties thereafter. Jamie Agombar - 10CGa Sumeyye Almas - 10CTi Rivyn Barnes - 10CGa Maxwell Bennett - 10DBr/LBo Alicia Clayton - 10CTi Finn Cobbold - 10DBr/LBo Niamh Cunnane - 10CGa Clara Donnelly - 10NPo/VSp Georgia French - 10FJo Kai Inglesis - 10NPo/VSp Eddie Lockwood - 10DBr/LBo Fern Mascot - 10FJo Luca McCracken - 10CHo Phoebe Meyer-Hek - 10CGa Jo Neary -10DBr/LBo Rory Nicola - 10HGo Katie Norris - 10KCo Gloria Nyc - 10FJo Finley Petts - 10FJo Maisie Petts - 10CHo Sam Repman -10CTi Jasmine Rigby - 10CGa Maya Scott - 10KCo Erin Smith - 10NPo/VSp Caitlin Summers - 10CGa Nadia Twardosz - 10CHo Jessica Wheeler - 10DBr/LBo Olivia Wilson - 10KCo
Dates for the Diary 30th May - 3rd June
May Half Term
Monday 6th June
Queen Jubilee Events week commences
Wednesday 8th June
Non Uniform Day (red, white & blue theme)
Thursday 9th June
Honywood Jubilee Bake Off
Wednesday 15th June
C9 Residential Info Eve for parents
Thursday 16th June
C7 & C8 Residential Info Eve for parents
24th June
C11 Prom
24th and 25th June
D of E Expedition
27th June - 8 July
C10 Work Experience
30th June - 1st July
Intake Days
4th July - 8th July
Enrichment Residential Week
House Points as of 27th May 2022
3500
3154
3212
3000
2500
2285 2106
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Attenborough
Hawking
Nightingale
Parks