Headlines by James Saunders - 30 September 2022

30th September 2022

HEADLINES

By James Saunders

FRESH EYES ON LEARNING Yesterday was one of those days where I got to spend all my time in the classroom. As part of my job I am afforded the privilege of being able to see our learners in action on a regular basis and watch them respond to the input of our great teachers.

Yesterday however was slightly different.

Normally I pop into lessons on my own as I am walking around school but yesterday I had a few visitors. One of the great things about working in a trust of schools is the ability to share ideas and collaborate with others and that was indeed what I did yesterday. We hosted our yearly trust review. This involves the headteacher and deputy from each of our partner schools, the head of our teaching school, the CEO of the trust and of course, our staff.

OPEN EVENING A reminder that it is our Open Evening next Thursday. We have already had much interest from families of current year 6 children in attending the evening and our daily tours are in full swing.

There seems to be a lot of momentum around our school currently as we are gaining in popularity.

Since September we have also had over 30 mid year admissions from learners who have wanted to change schools.

The day involved visiting lessons across the school, talking to staff and talking to children. The day was a real success and provided us with the opportunity to get some external fresh eyes to look at the improvements we have made - the last time they visited was a year ago. I will feed back to you with more details once we have compiled the report. In the meantime I would like to leave you with a quote from our CEO, Caroline Derbyshire.

Our Open Evening commences at 5:30pm, with the first talk at 6:00pm (fully booked). The second talk is at 6:45pm and our Open Evening finishes at 7:30pm.

‘A great day at Honywood School today.

The climate for learning and the conduct of students is really exceptional. And what do they say is the best thing about the school?

Their teachers! Great stuff.’

We ask that families pre-book a slot for the Headteacher talk, which is rapidly becoming full.

You can link to this here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/honywoodschool-open-evening-tickets-396435187317

We are looking forward to welcoming our prospective new learners. As always we are here for personalised tours should families want to gain an authentic look at the school in action. I can honestly say it has been an absolute pleasure to take families around this week. I have been very proud to show off our school community; it is so great to talk about what we stand for and then see our staff and learners demonstrating our values themselves.

I am looking forward to meeting more families next week.

EARLY FINISH NEXT THURSDAY Don’t forget that we have a half day on Thursday.

We will be finishing early to prepare the site for the Open evening. Buses will be picking up earlier. The timings of the school day will be as follows:

year we come together because voices, words and stories help to bridge understanding in our community.

Poetry starts conversations, it encourages love of language and, best of all, it’s open to absolutely everyone. Whether quietly or noisily in rewarding and enjoyable ways.

Why do we need National Poetry Day? • 66.5% of children and young people agreed that writing poetry made them feel better during lockdown. The National Literacy Trust (2020) • Poetry is an important vehicle to explore individual identity and the identity of others.

CLPE The Power of Poetry (2017) • More than half of children and young people surveyed (54%) told us they do not currently engage with poetry. The National Literacy Trust (2018)

NATIONAL POETRY DAY Following on from Mr Smith’s Headlines from last week regarding the year of reading I would like to continue with the theme of words: this week, in honour of National Poetry Day, it’s poetry.

• Poetry is the most common way for secondary students to encounter a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic author and single poems are the easiest texts to insert into the curriculum.

The Runnymede Trust and Penguin Random House Lit in Colour Report (2020) The campaign aims are • To showcase new voices and celebrate diversity

‘Finding a complicity with how you feel, expressed more elegantly than you could ever • To promote the vital role that poetry plays in express yourself, can be the most helpful way all our lives – poetry has the power to bring of making sense of your emotions and helping people and communities together you to process them.’

William Seighart • To foster love of language and the sharing of founder of National Poetry Day poetry This year, National Poetry Day is on Thursday 6 October 2022 and the theme is The Environment.

National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration that encourages everyone to make, experience and share poetry with family and friends. Each

National Poetry Day 2020 In Numbers • Over the past 18 months people have turned to poetry in huge numbers. Visitors to the National Poetry Day website increased by 40% from the previous year.

• 2.3 million people connected through Project #Haiflu, generating thousands of witty, moving haiku poems on the Coronavirus lockdown.

• 660,000 students benefited from our teaching resources.

• 44,000 Instagram users viewed livestreamed 24-hour Poetry Lock-In.

our

• 1,200 educators registered for Poetry Possibility, a series of teacher-training A lovely couple with workshops supporting the delivery of poetry no direct link to the school recently got in schools. in contact with us • Sales of poetry books rose by 33% in October. wanting to donate a guitar to their local • Find out more about National Poetry Day school. This lovely 2020’s reach, impact and effect on poetry gesture was to mark unfortunate book sales with our 25th anniversary leaflet, the passing of a family downloadable here. friend. They came into the school and donated the guitar to the department along with some beautiful words COMPETITION FOR C7 AND C8 Finlay, our Lead Learner for Culture has launched from one of Paddy's own songs. We cannot a new competition for C7 and C8 to coincide with thank the couple enough for thinking of us to next week’s national poetry day. Learners are receive this and we will ensure that musicians invited to write a poem about the environment. put the guitar to use for many years to come.

See our Facebook site and posters around school "We are writing to you because we'd for more details. like to donate a new acoustic guitar to your music department in memory of a friend who recently passed away.

THANKS 'Paddy', was a professional musician and Thanks to the following C11 learners for helping a kind, nature loving, free spirited lad. with tours this week.

We hope this donation might inspire another young person to play the guitar Sümeyye Almas, Rivyn Barnes, Maxwell Bennett, and enable Paddy's passion for music to Alicia Clayton, Niamh Cunnane, Clara Donnelly, live on."

Fern Mascot, Harriet Mead, Phoebe, Anishkumar Mistry, Joanne Neary, Finlay Newton, Gloria Nyc, Finley Petts, Maisie Petts, Dylan Probert, Jasmine Rigby, Caitlin Summers, Jessica Wheeler and Olivia Wilson

Dates for the Diary Thurs 6th October

Open Evening (early closure)

Mon 10th October

Non Learner Day (staff only)

Fri 14th October - Mon 17th October

Geography Residential

24th October - 28th October

Half Term