Issuu

25th September 2026

HEADLINES

By James Saunders

The reality of being in cohort 11 and at the end of an educational journey that culminates in gcse’s hit this week. On Wednesday our C11 learners attended a careers fair. They had the opportunity to reflect on their next steps and talk directly with employers and training providers. Can you believe they have 100 days left until Easter - and after that we enter the exam season. My advice to these learners is to make every day count; from my experience, the next one hundred days will go by very quickly. However, reaching the end of C11 does not mean you have finished learning or that the journey is over. Every learner at Honywood will have an individual aspiration; rarely do those aspirations involve a dream of perpetually being a learner at school. Our learners dream of becoming pilots, surgeons, horse riders, athletes, performers, poets, writers and scientists. School is just one of the stepping stones that needs to be traversed to get closer to those dreams. And guess what? There are likely to be many more steps to come. Learning is not something that ends when you finish school. Whilst at the Careers Convention they explored a whole range of opportunities that are available to them post-gcse. Colleges offering A-Level, vocational and apprenticeship programmes were all present alongside local businesses offering training opportunities. I hope our C11s took a careful and considered approach to their next steps and are sufficiently challenging themselves to get there. The trip clearly had an impact as I have overhead many fruitful discussions about the options available. I also had a grilling from my class about the routes I have taken in my career. At the other end of the school we have been conducting tours for prospective learners and their parents. The feedback I have received has been

excellent and highlights the hard work that goes on at Honywood to provide a happy environment that creates happy children. I would like to thank the many volunteers who have supported us to guide each family around the school with such confidence and maturity. I have always viewed educational outcomes through a dual focus lens - personal development and academic achievement. These outcomes are like keys to the future; they complement each other and they unlock the next step. Qualifications open the door; it is excellence of character and the ability to communicate and develop relationships that keeps the door open. At Honywood we believe that true success can only come from the right balance of these outcomes. QUALITY OF EDUCATION Our capital enhancing curriculum continues to underpin our vision and is just as much about developing what we teach our learners as it is, how we teach them. Building character and achieving success continue to be a part of what we do. Our aim is for learners to leave us happy as well as successful. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of our five capitals (Moral, Social, Cultural, Knowledge and Professional) and highlight our curriculum principles.

HONYWOOD CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES Our capital enhancing curriculum should:

Foster a love for learning

Be challenging, rigorous and personalised

Offer breadth and depth of learning

Be knowledge rich and culturally enhancing

Recognise the importance of connecting with prior learning

Be rich in literacy, numeracy and oracy

Require learners to showcase their learning effectively

Be transparent and demonstrate progress

Allow learners to acquire and develop their knowledge, skills and attributes

10. Model success and aspire for excellence 11. Require learners to build and demonstrate a strong set of shared values 12. Enable learners to leave us resilient, confident and successful so they can embrace their future These curriculum principles can be mapped across our five capitals. It won’t surprise you to know that they are mostly concentrated in the development of knowledge capital. The thing that will make the most difference to success in this area is ensuring we have built a challenging and aspirational learning experience that progresses over the five years learners study with us. And the thing that ensures optimum execution of this curriculum content: great teaching and learning and great teachers. These are the things we continually develop. With that in mind I would like to welcome the new teachers who have started with us this year. Miss Goswell has joined the Maths team; Mr Rassell joins the History team; Ms Felstead joins the Science team and Ms Green joins the English team. We also welcome Mrs Hurst to the learner reception and Ms Staley to the LSA team They all bring a range of experience and expertise in their fields and have made a great start to supporting our learners. If you are unfamiliar with our five capitals here is a quick recap/summary of them: • Moral Capital: Day to day all learners and staff live through our core values and promote equity and well being.

• Social Capital: All learners leave Honywood fully prepared with the resilience, attributes and independence needed to embrace, and positively contribute to, society. • Cultural Capital: Authentic learning is embedded in all aspects of the curriculum. Learners develop a rich vocabulary and contextual awareness through a culturally enriching curriculum. • Knowledge Capital: Deep knowledge acquisition underpins all learning. Evidencebased evaluation and analysis of learning by teachers enables personalised learning design and drives continual improvement in the classroom through the sharing of best practice. • Professional Capital: Leadership across the school is both learning and teacher centred and drives continual improvement through collaboration and the sharing of best practice. I wish you all a lovely weekend. James Saunders WHAT ARE CHILDREN LEARNING THIS TERM? CURRICULUM SUMMARIES It has been lovely to receive so many lovely comments from families about teaching and learning over these past few weeks. Parents have been really impressed with how our high expectations and in class support create a climate that enables children to feel safe and happy. We aim to create a climate that is fully inclusive and allows everyone to access learning free from disruption. Our small classes and positive behaviour contribute to this climate. Feedback from new and existing families has also supported this. It is nice to hear that learners are embracing the many extra curricular opportunities we offer. Keep an eye out for our lunchtime club programme. When we start each academic year, one of the top questions parents ask is “what are the learners learning?” and “how do we make them aware of what children are learning at school”. In response to this feedback we have developed a curriculum section on our website under the Learning Tab. You can access the page here: https:// www.honywoodschool.com/curriculum Within this page we have provided links to an

overview of what is being learnt in every subject in each cohort. The pages look like this:

development of the learners in quantity and nature • be set regularly and consistently across all subjects. • Individual feedback will not be given, however teachers will utilise praise and sanctions to motivate learners in completing their Independent Study to the highest standard.

Each subject provides you with an overview of this term’s topics, the key concepts and assessment points, as well as what forms of feedback and guidance they will receive and the key vocabulary they will be learning. If you would like to know a bit more about what learners are learning this term then please use the links below or browse the curriculum area of the website. We hope that this will enable families to engage in conversations about the learning taking place in school and improve their awareness of what is being taught. Cohort 7 - Autumn Term Curriculum Cohort 8 - Autumn Term Curriculum Cohort 9 - Autumn Term Curriculum Cohort 10 - Autumn Term Curriculum

Communication of Independent Study All Independent Study should be communicated to learners via Google Classroom and, where appropriate, feedback will be given using Google Classroom. Not all Independent Study will require the use of Google Classroom, however there is an expectation that this is consistently used to communicate it. Independent Study should always be labelled as ‘Independent Study’ with a due date and time set. Parents are able to receive a weekly summary of all work set in Google Classroom. This summary should provide a short digest of work set in Google Classroom - we label it Independent study so that it is easy to differentiate between classwork. How much Independent Study should be set per day. Learners will be set up to 4 pieces of Independent Study per day totalling the times indicated in the table below. It is recognised that some homework

Cohort 11 - Autumn Term Curriculum INDEPENDENT STUDY “Independent Study is not an optional extra, but an essential part of a good education”.-1999 White Paper, Excellence in Schools I would like to take the opportunity this week to update you on Independent Study (IS) so that expectations and requirements are clear. The aims of Independent study, or homework, are as follows: Independent Study will: • be purposeful and relevant to the curriculum. • be differentiated to meet the needs of all learners, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and more able students. • be appropriate for the age and stage of

may be set to be completed over the course of a week or several lessons. Therefore it could be possible to receive less than 4 pieces of IS in one day. There will be times when larger pieces of Independent Study could be distributed over a number of days. Responsibilities: The role of the Learner • Use Google Classroom to check what Independent Study they have been set. • Complete all Independent Study tasks to the best of their ability. • Submit Independent Study on time, via Google Classroom (a picture of the completed work

needs to be attached to each submission). • Seek clarification from their teachers if they do not understand a task. • If learners fail to complete their IS as a minimum the consequence will be 2 strikes on their conduct card, repeated failure to complete or the single failure to complete larger IS tasks is likely to result in a more significant consequence e.g lunchtime or after school detentions. Responsibilities: The role of the Class Teacher The class teacher controls the direction of Independent Study and the nature of tasks undertaken which will broadly fit into one of the following three categories – Consolidation; Application; Preparation. The teacher will: • Set clear, purposeful, and differentiated Independent Study tasks at least once a week, that meet the time requirements relative to the cohort as outlined above. • Ensure Independent Study is clearly explained, with time expected to be spent on the Independent Study noted on the assignment, and uploaded onto Google Classroom with an appropriate due date attached. Google Classroom is also managed well and all resources and IS are clearly organised to support learners in their learning. • Provide appropriate resources and support for Independent Study completion. • Check Independent Study has been completed by every student and strike their card twice for not having done so. • Praise learners who have completed their IS to an exemplary standard. • Communicate with parents/guardians if there are persistent issues with Independent Study completion. • Integrate Independent Study into their lesson planning. Parents/Carers Parents/Carers are encouraged to: • Provide a suitable environment for Independent Study completion (e.g., a quiet space, necessary resources).

• Encourage and support their completing Independent Study.

child

• Check their child’s Google Classroom for Independent Study tasks. • Support their child in communicating with the class teacher if they are experiencing any difficulties with Independent Study. In addition, parents/carers may of course wish to communicate directly with the school if wider home circumstances are impacting. If you are not set up to receive a weekly summary of work set in Google Classroom please contact the school so that we may set this up for you.

Cohort 7 TREE Summer Challenge During the summer, and prior to joining Honywood, we challenged our cohort 7 to complete the TREE Summer Challenge. We asked them to look for examples of our core values in their own life, their family, their community and the wider world. They had three options: Option 1: TREE Journal (Writing) Option 2: TREE Poster (Drawing and Design) Option 3: TREE Adventure Scrapbook (Creative Choice) The standard of work produced was outstanding and it was great to see so many learners embrace this challenge. Here is an example of some of the work.

Oliver Puida (8SPl) I started basketball in 2021 for Braintree Blue Devils. I was selected for the Essex county team in 24/25 season and 25/26 season. Also in the 25/26 season I was selected in the Basketball England Aspire program for talented athletes and represented the East region. In this season 26/27 I was selected to play for Essex Rebels team and in September 2026 I will take part the international youth tournament in Poland. Tournaments and leagues played: Inter county tournament (1st) Inter region tournament, National league International youth tournament Central venue league Well done Oliver!

Dates for the Diary Mon 21 Sept - Fri 9 Oct

C6 Tours

Mon 21 Sept - Fri 2 Oct

C7 Geography and History Walks

Wed 30 Sept

Drama Trip to Blood Brothers at Civic Theatre (PM)

Thurs 1 Oct

Open Evening - 5.30pm - Early finish for learners at 1pm

Wed 7 Oct

C7 Road Safety Performance

Wed 14 and Thurs 15 Oct

C11 Mock GCSE PE Practicals

Thurs 15 Oct

C7 Halloween Disco - 6pm - 7.30pm

Fri 16 Oct

End of term

Mon 2 Nov

All learners return to school