iGazette - November 2020

School

iGazette Honywood School

Issue #18 2nd December 2020

FEATURES

Lead Learner Update What have our Lead Learners been up to?

Honywood Ambassadors Our new ambassadors have been appointed.

Brilliant Club All the latest from the Brilliant Club.

04

Ambassadors

08

Alternative Tie Day

10

The Mural

12

Brilliant Club

13

Family Learning Team

15

CONTENTS

Lead Learner Update

Attributes Environment Leadership

Lead Learners

& Senior House Captains Update Progression Wellbeing

HAWKING

Attributes During our time as Lead Learners for Attributes, we have worked on making the school a more enjoyable place to learn that reflects our ethos.

As a result of being obstructed by COVID-19, we have been unable to achieve the goals we outlined when we were first appointed. However, that has not stopped us from trying to make a difference. During lockdown we responded to future learners and their families’ emails about learning at Honywood through the pen pal project. During the summer, we spent time renovating the front of the school and recorded virtual tour videos which enabled parents to gain a flavour of our school. Prior to Jude Battersby the summer holidays, we launched a campaign Lead Learner Attributes against the construction of an incinerator in the locality and used our young voices to discuss what we would like to see in a new police commissioner. Recently, have held an alternative tie day to raise money for a fellow learner with a sick family member, and we have just kickstarted the reverse advent calendar for Braintree food bank (remember to bring in items!) Though we have had to face unprecedented circumstances, and this was not exactly how we would have liked our time as lead learners to unfold, we have ensured Daisy Donnelly we do not waste this time, and look forward to doing more before we Deputy Lead Learner leave Honywood. For example, as the attributes team, we hope to have Attributes the opportunity to decorate the corridors with our 6 capitals to infuse the school’s values into the physical learning environment.

Environment During our time as Lead Learners for Environment, we have participated in several projects which aim to improve our school environment and our community. For example; our involvement in the Parish Against INcinerator campaign allowed us to spread awareness on the environmental impacts of waste and its disposal methods. Our aim is to design a feature/ mural which embodies the environment of our school and the community we have created.

Lily Blute Lead Learner Environment Even due to the circumstances, applying to be a Lead Learner has been one of the best decisions. Not only do I get to work with my friends in team, I also have the privilege of helping teachers too. I am very much grateful to be part of this amazing team!

Gabrielle Assuman Deputy Lead Learner Environment

Leadership So far this year, as the Lead Learners for Leadership we have managed to continue with the process of finding our new Honywood Ambassador’s, following the launch assembly in January. Working closely with the rest of the Lead Learners, we have managed to launch the Pen Pal Project to help families with the transition from Primary School to Honywood as well as launch many new charitable events such as a reverse advent calendar for the local food bank. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we have been unable to set up a club we original planned to launch, which we planned to try and help develop leadership skills in the younger learners to prepare them for leadership roles as they enter cohort 9 and 10. However, we hope we can pass this idea on to future lead learners with hopes they will be able to launch this opportunity. We have been thrilled to be able to offer all these opportunities to the rest of the school whilst also helping our community, and can’t wait to continue our work through to Easter, including preparing to enroll the new Lead Learners.

Charlie Mullenger Deputy Lead Learner Leadership

Hannah Pyatt Lead Learner Leadership

Progression Maisie and I, despite Coronavirus, have tried to fulfil our roles as Lead Learners for Progression. We managed to retain communication with the primary school student and parents via email. This allowed us to answer any questions they may have and get to know the new characters joining the school. We also completed a ‘Transition Video’ with our other Lead Learners so the up-coming learners had a visual of what to expect at the school.

Maisie Harris Deputy Lead Learner Progression

Sienna Gray Lead Learner Progression

Wellbeing We are Hannah and Katie the Lead Learners for wellbeing. Since becoming Lead Learners, we have been striving to make a difference at the school. Unfortunately due to Covid we have not yet been able to run some of the clubs that we have were planning to start along with the leadership lead learners. Despite this, we aimed to Katie Speed help make the transition from year 6 to year 7 as smooth Deputy Lead Learner as possible along with the other lead learners by filming Wellbeing a virtual tour and replying to queries and emails from parents and students who would be joining the school. We also enjoyed helping to improve our school during lockdown by coming into school and doing some gardening and painting. In the next few months we aim to get back on track with some of our Hannah Read Lead Learner Wellbeing previous plans made before lockdown.

House Captains

Emily Pyatt Senior House Captain

Our names are Emily and Issie and we are the Senior House Captains. Unfortunately due to lockdown and COVID-19, we haven’t been able to run the house competitions we wanted to, however, with the other lead learners we have had the opportunity to still make an impact. This includes the pen pal project for the year sevens and helping paint areas of the school. We have just appointed the new House Captains and are excited to hopefully launch some socially distanced competitions before our time as Senior House Captains ends.

Issie Brewer Deputy Senior House Captain

For the first time, we have been able to assemble our House Captains and Senior House Captains, along with the House Cup! The House Cup was won last year by Attenborough House.

Unfortunately with the “bubbles” in place, House Captains have not been able to meet with their Learning Group Captains, but in the New Year, they will be introducing creative ways to have competitions in Learning Groups and bubbles to earn House points.

Congratulations to our newly appointed House Captains: Hannah Day (Nightingale), Jordan Kelly (Hawking), Cameron Poulter (Parks) and Max Thomson (Attenborough)! Pictured with Emily Pyatt, Senior House Captain and Issi Brewer Deputy Senior House Captain.

So finally we have been able to appoint our new Ambassadors! Thank you to C11 for their patience. This process started just before lockdown and on the 10th and 11th November we were able to meet in small groups, socially distanced in the main hall to award them their ties. It is such a shame we haven't been able to hold the normal presentation assembly to celebrate their success, but well done to everyone who applied and was successful in their application. We managed to grab a few informal photos to celebrate their appointments (masks temporarily removed for the pictures!)

Alternative Tie Day Honywood held a fundraising Alternative Tie Day on 12th November and we couldn't be more proud of our school community. Many learners wore a fun tie for the day, but many more chose to donate towards our fundraiser and fundraise on their own time towards this cause.

All money raised was donated to the family of a learner whose Mum is seeking treatment in the USA for a rare form of Thoracic Sarcoma. Thank you to everyone who took part.

B

raintree Area Foodbank have been providing food, for those in crisis, since April 2012 Their mission is to see that no one should go hungry. With centres in Braintree, Halstead and Witham, the need for the Foodbank is increasing with a 20% rise in families using the service from March to September. We are sure you will agree that these numbers are unacceptable.

During these unprecedented times, there are many reasons why someone may have gone in to

food poverty. We want to make sure that no one in our local community has to go hungry, but we need your help to make this happen. Honywood is supporting the Braintree Area foodbank by asking staff and learners to donate food and nonfood items by way of a Reverse Advent Calendar.

Each Learning Group has a box whereby learners can earn House Points when they donate items.

We thank our families and the local community for supporting our learners in helping provide emergency food and support to those in need.

We were very excited to welcome Heidi Sharp to Honywood on Saturday 7th November. Heidi is an artist who painted a mural at the entrance to our English corridor. The message “Be Kind to your Mind� demonstrates how we often focus solely on our physical health but looking after our mental health is also vital to our sense of wellbeing.

Thankyou to Miss McPhail for organising this exciting project and for giving her time over the weekend to work with the artist.

The Brilliant Club, alongside everything else this year, has been slightly different. Sadly, we haven’t been able to visit a university for the launch trip, but excitingly we’ve had two placements occurring simultaneously.

Both groups, in true ‘new normal’ fashion, have experienced their tutorials virtually. Our KS3 learners are working with Adam, from Essex University, exploring his subject of expertise: Literary Criticism. Separately, our KS4 learners are working with Solange, also from Essex University, on her area of expertise: Architecture and Feminism. It has been great to see the newfound confidence in each of the learners experiencing this opportunity, as well as how excited they are with regards to their topic. I look forward to seeing the work they produce and continuing to hear their feedback on the placement…

Miss Harrington - Brilliant Club Leader

Rosa Swain:

The Brilliant Club has been set up to give younger people a taste of what university life is like, and to help them decide whether or not they want to go to university in the future. At the end of the term, you will be expected to write an assignment which will be graded using university criteria and you will receive a grade in the style of a university degree. In our first tutorial, we met our tutor, Adam, and were told the subject we would be focusing on, which is literary criticism fairy tales. During each session, my peers and I work through a section of the booklet (which we were given in our first meeting) together, which helps complete this assignment.

o f u s

I would definitely recommend entering. It has made a huge difference with my school work as I have developed my knowledge, writing skills, concentration, and my social skills.

Erin Smith:

Over the past couple of weeks, every Tuesday, me -and five other people from my year group- have been meeting with our tutor, Solange, virtually. We have been learning about architecture, interior design and how they both relate to feminism. Although, the level of work is above what Year 9 work usually is, it has related to the novel we read last in English: ‘Of Mice and Men’. I am currently finding the information on feminism and patriarchy (and how it has been disguised in today’s and the past’s society) particularly interesting!

I am enjoying Brilliant club so much and I hope to complete the course and leave with a greater understanding of university and university work.

Sam Repman:

When you work with a tutor during the Brilliant Club tutorials, there is no reason to worry. The tutors are reasonable and understand the situation you may be in; tutors are aware that you are interested in attending a higher degree of education so they dedicate their time to ensuring you’re secure for the future. If you so happen to fall back on any work or find it complicated, there is no need to feel worried as you can ask them questions and they will help you. It is challenging work, however this is what university work is like and the Brilliant Club is preparing you for that. So don’t worry - just try your best! I recommend the Brilliant Club to all proud and confident individuals. It’s not easy learning the ropes straight away but you’ll find out where you belong soon and perhaps improve your grades along the way! I hope I’ve inspired you enough to consider applying next year.

Our Congratulations to Sam Repman C9 who as been awarded the November Jack Petchey award. Sam has made a significant contribution to our school community by volunteering to litter pick and supported the development of our Inclusivity Board, raising awareness of BLM, LGBTQ+ supported by Mr Tolhurst. Thank you Sam for all your hard work!

Congratulations to Honey Gott in C9 who passed her grading on the 1st November in Korean Karate. Honey has been doing martial arts for 10 years and on Sunday she achieved her brown belt white stripe. Honey is now 1 belt away from her black belt! Well done!

Well done to Logan Pitt 9HGo and Zack Burton 9ATr both of whom play for Stanway Rovers U14 in the Essex Junior Alliance League. One of the coaches thought it would be a good idea to keep the boys active and focused during lockdown so set them a challenge to get involved in Movember, by each running 60k during the month of November (instead of growing a moustache!). The aim was for each boy to try to raise ÂŁ25 but the team collectively have raised over ÂŁ4000. Which is amazing! They all smashed the challenge.

During the last lockdown, they were also set a challenge to do a cumulative virtual run to Wembley Stadium, a target which they surpassed and I believe ended up running the distance from Colchester to Bournemouth!

Parent Resources We take every opportunity to educate our learners about how to keep themselves safe online. It is something we can never ease up on because there are always new apps etc and, until they fully understand the dangers, forbidden fruit is appealing to young people. It is this understanding that is vital, we cannot just tell them not to do something and expect them to always comply.

You will have seen regular guides on specific apps and games in the iGazette over the past year. These will continue but there are now more extensive packages available online for families. These are age specific and are intended to promote conversation.

Hopefully the shared experience will be reassuring to adults.

CEOP (Child Expoitation and Online Protection Command) is available for reporting concerns but are also an excellent source of information and free materials. You are also welcome to contact the Family Learning Team who can help with issues around social media, excessive gaming and general online safety. Hopefully you will find clicking the link below interesting and useful in helping your child stay safe.

Craig Robertson Family Learning Team

The PS5 sold out within hours of its release last week. It’s been hotly anticipated throughout the year. But what makes it different? How can parents set it up safely? And what should they consider? Find out with this guide.

Mrs C Buick

Family Learning Team

What three words would you use to describe your job role?

Challenging, rewarding, fun What do you like most about your job?

Spending time with learners, getting to know them, supporting them and watching them grow and mature into confident and independent young adults.

What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before?

Ordinarily I am quite an organised and driven person, and it would not be unusual for me to have started making plans about next year already. However after all the events of 2020, I have no plans. Nothing at all. I just hope that next year is a more positive experience for everyone.

If you had to teach a class one thing, what would you teach them?

I would like to teach the importance of self acceptance, and to appreciate that we are all uniquely beautiful. It is okay to be different. If you compare or judge yourself against your friends, the beauty of “you“ is missed. I like this simple analogy: Daffodils are beautiful bright yellow flowers. They are small and delicate, with tender petals and leaves which flower early in the year. They offer colour and brightness in the garden during spring while all around continues to be dark and grey. Sunflowers are equally beautiful deep yellow flowers. They bloom in the autumn with large and heavy flower heads.

They are towering and imposing with thick stems and leaves. We do not compare their size or stature. We do not criticise their differences, or complain that they bloom too early or late in the year. We appreciate and enjoy them just as they are.

If you could only travel to one other country, which country would you choose?

That’s difficult, because there are so many to choose from which are interesting and beautiful for different reasons. If I had to make one choice, I think I would say Australia

What was the first concert you attended?

Summer of 1984 Radio one Concert at Wembley, it featured a number of artists who were current at the time, with Elton John as the headline act.

Why did you decide to do the work you are doing now?

When I left school, I was not really sure what I wanted to do. I fell into a job as a recruitment agent, which I really enjoyed at the time. After I had my children, I had no desire to return to an office and started to volunteer at the local primary school listening to students read and practise their spellings. I really enjoyed working with young children, building a relationship with them and watching them grow. I really enjoyed the business of working in a school, no two days are the same no two conversations are the same. Very quickly I understood that school was a place that I really wanted to work.

Name Your Favourite Children’s Story I have really enjoyed reading the Jaqueline Wilson books with my daughter when she was much younger. They tapped into many of the difficult issues that young children may have experienced and enabled these subjects to be aired. I liked that the stories allow the reader time to draw comparisons with the characters to process things that are going on in their own lives. So many times, we would be reading and I would be overcome with emotion or we would chat about what was going on for the characters. The stories are always very positive and inspiring for readers, especially young girls.

What is the one thing, you can’t live without?

Music!

I have always been a great fan of music, my favourite era being the 80s although I enjoy lots of different styles and genres. Live music is the best.

Music is so important. It triggers emotions and memories and can evoke a mood so easily, it has made me get up and sing and dance wildly and reduced me to tears.

I love the way that a piece of music can unite people and bring feelings of love and acceptance in a way that words just cannot. I am so inspired by psychological studies that show how dementia patients can “re-awake” and return to their former self while listening to a particular piece of music. That is really amazing and so powerful. I sing in a community choir and really see the benefits that music brings to people. I could not live with music!

If you could go on one reality show, what would it be?

Without doubt, Race Across the World. I love seeing the contestants find their way across different continents and experiencing the different cultures. It has made me curious about parts of the world I have never considered before. A friend of mine did make an application for both of us to do this, but sadly we were not chosen (I didn’t think we would, there were thousands of applicants). It would be an amazing experience to push yourself to the limit and to be far away from everything that feels comfortable and safe. However, I am not sure how I would feel having my darkest moments, tantrums, tears and mistakes all showed on primetime TV. I have made a pact with myself that when we are able to travel more freely I do some kind of road or rail trip in a similar way with no internet to pre book hotels and transport. Fingers crossed this is permitted in 2021.

If You Had Your Own Talk Show, Who Would Your First Three Guests Be? John Lennon, I have always admired his creativity and perception and would love to spend some time to discuss some of his work and philosophies.

The Queen. I would be interested to know how she has felt about living the life she has had with so many restrictions and expectations. I would be interested to know how she has managed some of the difficulties she has faced, knowing that she will be scrutinised and publicly observed with every move she makes.

Donald Trump. I would like to see for myself what makes this man tick.

What city would you most like to live in?

Again a difficult one there are many lovely cities, but I think it would be London. There is so much history and diversity in London that you can never tire of the sights and sounds. I enjoy walking through the bustling streets during rush hour and also the quiet deserted streets on Sunday mornings. I love to watch people going about their business and how pedestrians and traffic manage to negotiate with each other in the busy streets. I love the way the prestigious old buildings stand shoulder to shoulder with the new modern buildings and the areas of calm that are found in the parks and gardens. They say if you tire of London, you tire of life.

4th January 2021 and 5th January 2021 are Non Learner Days (staff only)

Train to Teach: 14th December 4.00pm - 6.00pm - via Zoom

Our virtual Train to Teach Essex event will provide you with a wealth of information on how to get into teaching and how to apply for training through one of our ITT providers in: Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock and Uttlesford.

This event is hosted by The Saffron Teaching School Hub and Chafford Hundred Teaching School Hub: • Hear from newly qualified teachers and find out what a day in the life of a teacher is really like • Listen to headteachers in our region leading on teacher recruitment • Get advice from our expert teacher training providers on the different routes available to you and how to submit your application, including specific advice on your personal statement • We hope this event will inspire you to pursue a rewarding career in teaching Following this event, you will receive further information on how to access one-to-one support from each of our providers in this region to plan your next steps into teaching.

If you are interested in attending this event please email: TSHub@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk

Why not get creative?

Upcycle an old jumper into a Christmas jumper

CHRISTMAS QUIZ Send answers in an email to cbaker1@honywoodschool.com

Q1

Which country started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree?

Q2

In Home Alone, where are the McCallisters going on holiday when they leave Kevin behind?

Q3

What is traditionally hidden inside a Christmas pudding?

Q4

What decoration do elves traditionally have on their shoes?

Q5

What animated 2004 film is about a train that carries kids to the North Pole on Christmas Eve?

Q6

In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” what was Mr. Scrooge’s first name?

Q7

Which character declares “Merry Christmas, one and all!” in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?

Q8

What is the best-selling Christmas song of all time?

Q9

What’s the name of the giant snow monster that guards Elsa’s palace in Frozen?

Q10 Which Royal first delivered the Royal Christmas Message?

Q11

What beverage company has been using Santa Claus in its advertising since

Q12

By what name is St Stephen’s Day better known in the UK?

1931?

ARE YOU

PROFESSIONALS SURVEY https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/youth-service/4568a5f8/ PARENTS SURVEY https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/youth-service/9e09fed7/ YOUNG PERSON AGED 10-11 SURVEY https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/youth-service/b5076be6/ YOUNG PERSON AGED 12-19 SURVEY https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/youth-service/49538b34/