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