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Christmas Lunch Page 4

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Issue 612 - 20th December 2017

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year www.honywoodschool.com | Tel : 01376 561231

Headlines

By Simon Mason

Looking Back and Looking Forward As we reach the end of another year, it seems an ideal time to pause and reflect on the progress we have made in 2017 as well as look toward next year and anticipate what it may hold for us all. We’ve been using a reflective framework throughout the last few years where we’ve asked staff and learners to use three questions to help them consolidate their learning as well as supporting them in generating ambition for the future. The questions are as follows: “Where was I?” “Where am I?” “Where could I be?”

From research we are increasingly clear that the process of review is one of the very best ways of ensuring that we secure the things we have learned permanently in our brains. By reflecting on where we started 2017, what we knew then, what we understood about the world and ourselves at that time and what we could do both practically and with the knowledge we had gained, we help to secure the learning in which we had engaged prior to the year beginning.

The process of thinking hard about where we are now, by asking ourselves what do we know that we didn’t know a year ago, what do we understand now that a year ago was a mystery to us and what can we now do that we couldn’t do at the end of 2016, helps us to chart our progress and builds confidence as we learn and develop.

Speculating about our future is the beginning of creating our future. If that speculation is based on an honest review of progress to date then we can begin to take concrete steps to achieve our future goals.

Seeing the real progress we have made in our lives, helps us all to realise what amazing learning machines we can be and helps us to realise that anything is within our grasp if we set our ambitions in the highest place and work dedicatedly toward them.

As we all take our break from school over the Christmas holiday period can I ask that we all engage in this process of reflection. There will be so many things that you recall you do now know, that you do now understand and that you can now do that I’m certain you’ll find yourself in a very positive state of mind once you’ve carried out that reflection. With that positive view point, as we reach the turn of the year, try not to make trite ‘resolutions’ for the year ahead, especially not those resolutions that are simply negative, dwelling on the things you’re not going to do next year. Set yourself ambitious goals. We have a thousand absolutely magnificent young people attending our school and there is nothing each of you cannot achieve if you put your minds to it!

The commitment I make to all of you is that we will do that same reflection about our whole school as you are doing about your personal learning and I commit to all of you that we will be doing everything in our power to make your learning even more central to our school as we continue to develop in 2018.

Inclement Weather Last week’s unpleasant weather produced an unwelcome challenge for us all as we looked to maintain an excellent standard of provision for our youngsters whilst also ensuring everyone was kept safe.

I’m sure there are a range of views in our community as to whether the decisions we took last week were

correct. Some will feel that we should have opened for every minute of the week, others will feel that we showed a rather too cavalier attitude by staying open all day on Monday and then using our inclement weather procedure on Tuesday. However, accepting that there will be different opinions about the decisions we took, I thought it both apposite and important to ensure that everyone is aware as to how decisions are taken in situations where the weather makes normal running problematic.

The process that we go through is as follows: 1. We look regularly at the met office website to try to anticipate the weather that is coming our way (a real problem on Monday last week as the forecast changed virtually every hour).

2. We ensure that regular discussion between members of the Leadership Team takes place so that we have considered a wide range of viewpoints and geographical locations before coming to our decision.

3. We carry out regular physical checks of the site to see how things are on the ground. These commenced before 5:15am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week, for example.

4. We hold conversations with the bus companies to ascertain their views and to see what can be secured in respect of varying the school day.

Ultimately whatever decisions one comes to can quickly look like bad decisions when events do not unfold as you have predicted. Any decision taken must look to secure the safety of learners and staff whilst bearing in mind that legally we have to offer 190 learning days to our youngsters every year and can only prevent this from happening in exceptional circumstances.

Hopefully the winter will now be benign and we will not need to concern ourselves with the weather. Can I thank everyone for their fortitude last week as we all looked to make the best of the situation.

Seasonal Wishes I would like to wish all learners, parents and carers a very pleasant Christmas break and a happy and prosperous New Year. The autumn term is a long one for learners, teachers and parents and I am sure that we are all ready for a well-earned rest. The new term commences on Wednesday January 3rd at the usual time of 8:45; we restart on Week B. Thanks To former learners Michael Buick, Sophie Knights, James Middleditch and Kahn-Pennington Partridge and current learners Emma Brooks (11CGa), Rebecca Cordeiro (11DBr), Jonathan French (11SAr), Codie Holland (11CGa), Holly Lord (11DBr), Tom McLean (11LSt), Hayleigh Olroyd-Seaman (11DBr) and Elizabeth ScottLaws (11CGa) for their ‘backstage’ support for our fantastic school production last week.

To a former learner Beth Piller and current learners Chloe Bridge 10NPo, Marcus Fox 11AMi and Nathan Welton 9JWi for their honesty and kindness this week.

Parents’ Time Members of the Leadership Team will be available to see parents without appointment in January 2018 Monday 9.00am—9.45am Tuesday 7.15am—8.00am Wednesday 3.00pm—3.45pm Thursday 5.00pm—6.00pm Friday 7.15am—8.00am

Christmas Lunch The Christmas party was in full swing in MH1 this week, where all Cohorts had the opportunity to enjoy a Christmas meal with their friends.

Cohorts 7 and 8 ate together on Monday, whilst Cohorts 9, 10 and 11 had their meal on Tuesday.

Learners were invited to wear their Christmas jumpers on the day of their meal and it was lovely to see the variety of colours and themes, all contributing to the Christmas spirit!

Learning Group Leaders and Teaching Staff joined the learners and there was altogether a wonderful Christmassy atmosphere in the hall, with crackers being pulled, hats being put on and Christmas songs being sung.

We would like to say a huge thank you to the Honywood Catering Team for providing a very tasty Christmas meal!

Subject Teams on Twitter

Follow our Subject Teams on Twitter to see Learning in Action

Congratulations Congratulations to Jack Raine and Harry Ratcliffe who have been selected to represent North West Essex in a Regional Cricket Tournament. Well done boys

New Menu Coming in 2018 Look on Our Notice Board Menu subject to change

My Learning Choices Enterprise & Solutions MLCs this week are available to Cohort 7 learners that would like to go over any work that they have done in the first lesson of Season 3 on ‘stakeholders’ in business, or for Cohort 8 learners wanting to go over any Season 8 work on ‘methods of advertising’ and ‘justifying business decisions’.

Business Studies MLCs this week will be focused on the ‘marketing’ unit, with emphasis on either ‘Case Study 1’ or revising for the end of unit assessment. How to structure 6 and 9 mark questions will be a particular focus when revising, as well as use of key words and terminology.

Learning resources and guidance will also be available for the Cohort 10s who would like to go over either ‘cash flow’, ‘sources of finance’ or ‘break-even’.

Important Dates 3rd Jan - 2018 Back to School Week B 5th Jan - Cohort 11 Mock Results Day 9th Jan - Ambassador Assembly Launch 18th Jan - Celebration of Learning Evening 22nd Jan - Deadline for Ambassador Applications 25th Jan - C7 MLA Evening for Families 29th Jan -2nd Feb Quintet Week

MFL

Start the new year off with positive steps towards your language learning and book an MLC in January with an MFL teacher today!

English Do you need support with addressing your recent learning points? Perhaps you are finding some punctuation tricky or you can’t quite get your head around how to use PEE to respond to texts. If so, don’t hesitate to book an MLC today.

The support we can provide you with will benefit your learning immensely.

Science Density Christmas Tree

Well Done to our Cohort 8 Duty Receptionists Fred Frost Evie Higgon Emma Hornsby Francesca Quin Sophie Myhill

We have a quantity of un-named items in Lost Property - including several winter coats.

Items can only be stored for one month. Please ensure that all items worn to school are clearly named.

Family Learning Team

email FLT@honywoodschool.com If your youngster is absent please email attendance@honywoodschool.com