John Hanson Community School

John Hanson Weekly Contact: 27 May 2016

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This is the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.

The Countdown Starts Now! – Year 10 Exams

Dear Parents

By the time you read this article our current year 11 students will be well over half way through their final GCSE examinations. Before we know it students currently in year 10 will be doing the same.

As I explained to year 10 students in assembly this week it would be incredibly foolish to attempt your driving test without firstly taking some lessons and also learning the theory element – GCSE examinations are no different.

Therefore, we spend a considerable amount of time (starting now) preparing students for the examination challenges that they face in year 11.

Alongside the skills, knowledge and understanding required to achieve the highest possible grades, students also need to get to grips with the whole examinations process from what equipment they need to how to conduct themselves in an exam setting.

To this end year 10 students will sit a range of end of year examinations in the fortnight beginning 20^th June 2016. All these examinations will be sat under full examination conditions and as much as possible in the same venues as they will sit the ‘real thing’ in May/June 2017.

These examinations will give both students and staff alike the opportunity to see the extent to which students are progressing towards their target grades as well as giving students a real taste of examination practice and conditions.

Please see below a full timetable of these examinations. In the week beginning 6^th June students will also receive a personal examination timetable outlining all their exams, the dates, times, venues and which seat they are expected to sit in:

Russell Stevens
Deputy Headteacher

House 2 House
Charity Walk

Last year, as a school team we participated in ‘House 2 House’; a sponsored walk from Naomi House (for Jack's Place) in Sutton Scotney to Tedworth House (Help for Heroes) in Tidworth. There are 3 routes: 20 miles, 10 miles and 4 miles. Those who choose the 20 miles start at Sutton Scotney and walk the complete route. The 10 mile option starts at the White Hart Hotel , Andover and the 4 miles starts at Kimpton finishing at Tidworth.

The 2016 walk is being held on Saturday 10th September. This year we'd like to go bigger with a team of staff, students and parents all joining in!

Registration costs just £5 (which includes lunch and is payable through the website when you register) and you can then fill up a sponsorship form and either donate it directly yourself, or send it into us and we'll submit one donation from JHCS.

Everyone is welcome to join us; the more the merrier!

Please take a look at their website and register online: www.house2house.org.uk

If you could let us know by emailing anna.hall@jhanson.hants.sch.uk that you've registered, then we'll keep a tally of who from John Hanson is joining us.

PSHE at John Hanson

According to the Times Education Supplement earlier this year, a bill that would make Personal, Social, Health and Economic education compulsory across school in England will have a second reading in the House of Commons shortly.

This year at John Hanson, we have worked with several outside agencies to cover Future Careers, Sex Education, Drugs Awareness, Road Safety, as well as many more vital issues to keep our young people safe, happy and prepared for life after school.

Next year, we’ve made the decision not to teach these topics as part of the timetabled week, instead opting for five off-timetable days where the year group will explore key issues with the support of their teachers and experts in the fields we’re covering.

The first day is in October with Year 7 thinking about kindness and tolerance, as well as study skills and how to get organised. Years 8&10 each have a Well-being day with the School Nurse Service, CAMHs, Andover Mind, Alcoholics Anonymous and the Crisis Centres CRUSH project, all supporting us, to name but a few and Year 9 will have a finance day lead by Santander.

Year 11 will explore their future careers with the return of our ever successful Careers Fair and Alan Bullock an independent careers advisor. They will also get the opportunity to write CVs, personal statements and covering letters in preparation for college and apprenticeships applications as well as for part-time employment. Excitingly, we will be joined at our fair by over 40 businesses, colleges and apprenticeship providers as well as all of the other Andover Secondary Schools: Winton, Test Valley, Harrow Way, Mark Way, Rookwood and the AEC who are all going to peruse the fair and listen to Alan’s inspirational talk too.

If you work for a local company who you think could support our PSHE days in any way next year, please do contact us: anna.hall@jhanson.hants.sch.uk. We want these days to be as informative, interactive and fun as we can make them, so any support is welcomed.

Swarm

A swarm of bees took up residence in the courtyard this week. The queen found a sunny branch and the rest followed her. We had to take precautions to keep everyone away.

The following morning, the bees were still there and a local bee keeper was called in to remove them. They will soon be producing honey in one of his hives.

The Big Write is coming soon and we still need your help!

Donations of prizes such as: tickets to local attractions or gift tokens, would be much appreciated. If you’d like to join our judging panel, then please contact either Anna Hall or Beth Hookey on the following emails:

Anna.hall@jhanson.hants.sch.uk

Beth.hookey@jhanson.hants.sch.uk

The 2015-16 Rugby Season

It has been a busy and successful year for the schools rugby teams with 22 fixtures and 14 tournaments played. The stand out results came in the Andover schools tournament where the teams were victorious in 6 of the 8 that they attended and also at the year 7 and year 8 Hampshire festivals.

Year 7

The team showed early promise with victories over the Clere and Wellington, however they suffered consecutive defeats at the hands of Kings and Westgate in their first two league games of the season. They then went from strength to strength winning their remaining 4 league games to finish 3^rd. In the opening Andover schools competition they suffered defeats to Harrow Way and Test Valley and finished 3^rd. This spurred the boys on and they then went unbeaten in the remaining 3 Andover competitions claiming the title at all 3. This was followed up with a dominant display at the Andover schools 7s winning all their games. The Hampshire Schools festival provided an excellent end to the season. 6 wins from 6 throughout the day led to a final match showdown with Kings which they unfortunately lost, meaning they finished 2^nd out of 19 schools on the day.

Year 8

It has been a fantastic season for the year 8’s who have continued to build on the potential that they showed last year. After friendly victories against Test Valley 69-5 and Stonehenge 24-5 the team began their league campaign. This was followed up by a strong performance at the first Hampshire festival where the boys went unbeaten winning 6 and drawing 3 games. Led by Jack Harvey the team claimed big victories against Mountbatten 25-0, Romsey 29-5 and were given a walkover by the Gregg School. They then slipped to defeat against the tough opposition of Kings 32-0 and Westgate 25-10. Dominant performances from Lloyd Wakeham, Freddie Horner and Ruben Hunt at the Romsey 10’s and Andover 7’s saw them take both titles winning all their games at both tournaments. Their season culminated in an outstanding performance at the Hampshire schools festival where the boys got revenge for their league defeat with victory against Westgate on their way to finishing 3^rd out of 20 schools.

Year 9

It was a mixed season for the year 9 team. Strong performances from the likes of Cameron Stacey, Cameron Plain and Myles Wakeham helped them to victories over Wellington and Mountbatten. They then suffered defeats to Westgate and Henry Beaufort before being given a walkover in their final league game of the season against Swanmore. They finished the season on a high with a dominant performance at the Andover 7’s winning all their games to claim the title.

Year 10/11

After showing early promise with victories in friendlies over the Clere 24-14 and Wellington 43-7 the boys struggled to transfer this form into the county competitions. They lost 33-12 to Petersfield in the County plate meaning they dropped into the County bowl. Unfortunately they came up just short in a 29-26 defeat to Springfield.

Thank you to all the boys who have represented the schools rugby teams this season and to the parents for their continued support.

Patrick Holmes

PE Faculty

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John Hanson Community School · Floral Way · Andover, Hampshire SP10 3PB · United Kingdom