HEADLINES
By James SaundersIt has been a fantastic week here at Honywood. We began the week by welcoming C8 and C9 back from remote learning as C10 and C11 began their stint online. The atmosphere in school has been really positive and visitors have commented on the calm and purposeful climate for learning.
We have approached our C6 tours slightly differently than in the past. Previously we have used C11 lead learners to support the leadership team to show families around the school. However, in light of our remote learning rota we thought it might be nice to offer C7 their first leadership opportunity. I am pleased to say they have risen to the challenge and have been fantastic ambassadors for team Honywood.
Each day, the member of the leadership team taking a tour has been accompanied by a wonderful C7 learner who has supported them in showing prospective learners and their parents around the school. I had to keep reminding myself that they have only completed a few weeks. They all exuded confidence and maturity and were role models of excellence.
Whilst school may be going through a few changes at the moment, the momentum and appetite to see what Honywood is about has not faded. I would like to thank families who have already visited or are scheduled to visit over the coming weeks. Next Thursday it will be Open Evening. Open Evenings never show what a school is really like - our tours do that in the most authentic way possible. However, what an Open Evening does provide is something that is more difficult to do on a tour - an opportunity to talk to our wonderful teachers about their subjects.
Please don’t forget that we close early on Thursday next week and that Friday is a non-pupil day. Buses have been informed of the modified timings.
The timings for the school day on Thursday are as
follows (3 x 75 minute sessions): 8:45am
SPACE VILLAGE UPDATE
We have seen much progress with Space Village this week. Starting Monday the site was rapidly prepared to begin construction. I began Wednesday speaking to the BBC Essex who spent the morning with us. The day began with four big trucks delivering the materials of the modular buildings. By the end of the day the floorplan for the first building was in place. I would like to congratulate Olivia Wheeler and Victoria Hristova on their excellent interview with the breakfast time presenter. Olivia and Victoria are two of the many learners who entered my competition to design a logo for our Space Village. The closing date for entries is today. We will be displaying all entries at our Open Evening and will be asking attendees to vote on their favourite.
I have also begun my series of Moonshot thinking assemblies this week. These assemblies have involved showing learners the inspiration for Space Villagethe Moonshot and striving to make the impossible possible. I began by referencing the recent conclusion
of the Nasa Osiris-Rex mission. I shared a timeline that began in 2016. I shared the incredible timeline of the mission; 7 years in the making.
IMPROVING ATTENDANCE
I also talked through the last three weeks and the lessons we can all learn from being determined to do something. I also shared with them that the worst thing someone can ever tell me is “no, you won’t be able to do that”. All that does is make me more determined to prove them wrong.
The construction of Space Village will continue over the weekend. When I next speak to you, the first building will be almost complete. I am expecting to see the complete outer shell when I arrive on Monday morning. We still remain on target to make the impossible possible - building a school in 6 weeks.
For now have a lovely weekend
James SaundersIt may not have gone unnoticed that over the course of the academic year learners and families are hearing more frequently from the school about attendance. Naturally, as poor attendance can be the result of underlying mental and physical health conditions we have had emotive responses from families over some strategies in a bid to raise whole school attendance. Historically, Honywood attendance has left a lot to be desired and has always been some way off of the national average, with the impact of COVID having a big toll in recent years. It is understandable therefore with the declining rates of attendance that at the beginning of the 2022-23 year action was needed to battle the downward trend.
THANKS
To: This week’s fantastic C7 Tour guides - Josh Miliken, Lexi Jones, Angel Higgs, Phoebe Fairbairn, Micah Melvin, Summer Morgan Brooks. Annelise Code, Primrose Mosley, Tiggs Ellis, Afiyah Malik. Eric Gboyega Adeoye, Lavinia Ciobanu
To: Olivia Wheeler and Victoria Hristova for taking part in the BBC Essex interview on Wednesday.
To: Maisie Williams for supporting Mrs Buckley on Reception this week.
Last year, you would have received a number of letters from Mr Caygill and Mrs Hickford serving as gentle reminders of your child’s attendance and the school’s expectations. Secondly, parents are receiving fines for unauthorised absences, typically deployed when children are being taken out of the school for holidays. Finally, and perhaps most commonly discussed among the children is the requirement for the Cohort 11’s to achieve a minimum expected attendance threshold of 90% to receive an invitation to prom. The latter being a big bone of contention among the children, with several asking “is attendance that Important?”
If we for a moment take attainment and attendance out of the equation, attendance benefits are still very significant in child development. Good attendance plays an important role in achieving social and professional capital. Attributing to social development, as learners foster friendships, teamwork and the development of social skills needed for collaboration, community and empathy. Additionally, good attendance teaches lifelong skills of discipline, responsibility and perseverance which I think we can all agree are important in maintaining a happy and successful life beyond secondary school. If that was not enough the findings between attendance and attainment alone are significant enough to warrant attendance as a whole school priority.
From the table above the correlation between attendance and Honywood school learners is clear. Most simply put the more your child attends school the better outcomes they will achieve. Our learners that left us in 2022 demonstrated that if they attended more than 99% of the school year they achieved 0.8 (almost 1 grade) above their expected GCSE grade across every subject. That means if that learner is expected on average 5’s in each GCSE subject area, just by showing up everyday we can expect that grade to rise to a 6. The pattern was once again demonstrated with last year’s C11. Unsurprisingly, the adverse effect is happening with learners with poor attendance. Just missing one day a fortnight (1 out of 10, 90% attendance) will reduce learners’ expected grades by 0.2 of a grade in last year’s cohort 11 and over half a grade in our current year 11.
GCSE outcomes are the key to unlocking children’s future and with the knowledge of the profound impact attendance has on attainment then it is clear more needed to be done to raise attendance across all year groups.
Incentives and Disincentives
Good attendance needs to be recognised at a whole school level and a series of benefits and privileges need to be accessible to those learners that are able to achieve excellent attendance. Last week we ran our first ever rewards trip to Thorpe Park and there are more incentives to come. With progressive awards for consistently high attendance, in school privileges for learners with attendance ‘streaks’ or continuous attendance, as well as the opportunity to win family meals out for learners who have improved their attendance by 10%. In addition to this C11 learners with a termly attendance of 100% will be entered into a raffle to win driving lessons.
In addition, C11 have just been informed that their invite to Prom will require an attendance of above 95% and which as you can see below had a significant impact in raising attendance in last year C11.
We understand that for some learners, due to ongoing medical reasons, our expectations of their attendance needs to be bespoke to them but still aspirational. So they have the same systems of rewards and privileges accessible to them. Should you feel this may apply to your child then I encourage you to request a meeting to discuss further.
Expect to see more communication from the school surrounding attendance. Particularly via attendance phone calls offering support in raising attendance. We need to develop a commitment from parents, learners and staff to work collaboratively to improve attendance with the knowledge that is in the best interest for the young people in their own personal and academic development.
Should you wish to discuss attendance further or you feel that your child would benefit from support in raising their attendance then please contact myself, or your child’s Cohort Leader. I have attached the One Page Attendance Summary below which outlines the attendance protocols and reward systems.
Kind Regards
Danny Scott
