Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
Persistence, Energy and Curiosity I am sure you would agree that the above 3 words are attributes that we would like young people (your children/our students) to develop and/or work with as they travel along their educational journey.
I wanted to use this weeks ‘HEAD’Lines to talk about each of them.
Persistence:
There are times in our lives where our ultimate success is only brought about by not giving up when the going gets tough and continuing to work at something day in, day out. If you ever get the chance to read the book ‘Bounce’ by Matthew Syed, he talks amongst other things about the 10,000 hour rule, in that to get to the heights of elite performance at anything it takes at least 10,000 hours of dedicated practice.
Why am I mentioning this?
It come off the back of a conversation I had with my Head of Science following his analysis of the summer examination results that were exceptional and the 3rd best in Hampshire. The analysis showed that for students who were persistently absent (attendance below 85%) not one of them reached their target grade.
If students don’t work at their attendance and are therefore not at school they do not give themselves the chance of reaching the heights of elite academic performance.
I cannot stress enough the importance of good attendance as shown by the Science outcomes in 2017.
Energy:
If your children are anything like mine, they come home exhausted at the end of the week as working hard at school takes a lot of energy. However, this section of my ‘HEAD’Lines comes with a plea in regard to where this energy comes from. Within the school we are finding an increasing prevalence of energy drinks – many of them in large 500ml cans. Students have generally brought these on the way to school. The contents of these drinks do nothing for the development of either body or mind in our young people and I will be speaking to our local shop keepers about their sale to John Hanson students. Please can I ask you to speak to your children about not bringing them in to school?
Curiosity:
If you are anything like me, you will work better when you are interested and eager to learn more about something new. This could not be truer today when all of our year 7 students had the opportunity, as part of the History curriculum, to experience elements of medieval life. See the image below – I’m the one with the shield!
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens Headteacher
Domus Lunaris are Living History enthusiasts who portray the Household of the Gabriellis, a family of Italian Mercenaries who travelled Europe as ‘Swords for Hire’ during the latter half of the 1400’s.
They visited school to talk about the day to day life of a Medieval soldier and his family, discussing everything from food to weaponary, medicine and personal hygiene.
This is their third visit to John Hanson, where students are given a small taste of the life of a Medieval mercenary on campaign. Girls found out why we wear ‘handbags’ on our shoulders, boys learnt about the duties of an archer’s mate and all students had the chance to hold an authentic medieval sword!
Our headteacher - Mr Stevens joined in too!
Fire and Rescue Service Personal Development Programme
Five John Hanson students recently attended a Fire and Rescue Service Personal Development Programme.
The first part of this course has been some intensive work on the following areas:
Fire Safety
First Aid
Road Safety
Breathing Apparatus
Our students have worked hard and had to face their challenges with determination, resilience and positivity. We are very proud of all their efforts, and we look forward to hearing all the stories they will have to tell. This week the crew came back into school to demonstrate some of their new skills.
John Hanson School Careers Fair
Almost 500 Year 11 students from schools across Andover met at the annual John Hanson careers fair recently.
The visiting main speaker, Alan Bullock, complimented John Hanson on such an outstanding event which clearly demonstrated how much care is taken with regards to the young people and their next steps. He further praised John Hanson saying: “I visit careers fairs all over the world and this was one of the best organised ones”.
Lynn Richards, John Hanson’s independent careers advisor, ensured that Year 11 were able to have conversations with a whole variety of higher and further education establishments as well as several apprenticeship providers. She said: “We were proud to welcome over forty local businesses into John Hanson for the full day and we thank them for their time and efforts. We would also like to thank David Gleave of Test Valley Borough Council, who has been fully supportive of this event.”
For our aspiring public sector workers John Hanson invited the Royal Navy, the Army, Hampshire Fire Service and the police; all these sectors provided fantastic information for their year 11s about future steps and opportunities.
For John Hanson students this was a small part of a bigger PSHE careers day in which they explored the interpersonal and written skills that are required for applications and interviews.
In their CV writing skill session, Kim from Ocado aimed to enlighten students on the art of effective CV writing; model examples were interrogated and common misconceptions addressed. Students were provided with helpful steps and key areas to include when the time comes for them to sell themselves on paper.
They also had a highly motivational session which engaged the students on how to make a brilliant first impression at an interview. Advice varied from not eating garlic just before, to having a question prepared for the interviewer to demonstrate their commitment.
The whole day was a huge success and we thank all the outside agencies who supported us.
Cyber Safety
Week 8- Cyber Ambassador Scheme
During this week in assemblies Mrs Woodley and Mrs Bailey ran sessions on Cyber Safety. They looked at relevant issues that young people have to deal with.
Sexting
Disclosing of too much personal information online
Cyberbullying & the consequences
Attached are links to some quite powerful videos that were shown in assemblies:
Weekly Cyber Safety Clinic – Students can drop in and speak to a member of staff or a member of the Cyber Ambassador Team.
Creating a Cyber Ambassador Question box in reception
Run workshops in tutor periods or during PHSE Days.
We hope the above information is useful.
John Hanson Community School Computing Faculty
Come and join in with the Performing Arts - Music and Drama
Music and Drama
All performers are welcome to join in – those who sing, act, dance, learn instruments at school, and those who have lessons outside of school are all invited to take part. It is an important part of their performing arts education to take part and perform together.
Our first performance in public will be at the Christmas Concert on 14th December 2017 7pm in the school hall
School Band Mondays 3-4pm
Music Tech Club - Tuesdays 3-4pm
School Choir Wednesdays 3-4pm
Drama Club Thursdays 3-4pm
9th November
Parents' Evening
1600-1845
Main Hall
16th November 2017
Presentation Evening
1900-2030
Main Hall
14th December 2017
Christmas Concert
1900-2000
Main Hall
22nd December 2017 to 3rd January 2018
Christmas Break
9th February 2018
School closed for Staff Training
All Day
12th to 16th February 2018
Half Term
30th March to 13th April 2018
Easter Break
7th May 2018
School closed – Public Holiday
All Day
28th May to 1st June 2018
Half Term
3rd July 2018
Yr 6 Induction Day
Yr 6 Transition Fair
All Day
1615-1845
Whole School
6th July 2018
School closed for Staff Training
All Day
10th and 11th July 2018
Yr 5 Taster Days
20th July 2018
End of Term
3rd September 2018
School closed for Staff Training
All Day
4th September 2018
1st Day of attendance for all students
Sing Up for Christmas - Thursday 14th December 7pm
A date for your diary - we will be encouraging as many students as possible to take part - particularly Year 7 and 8. Letters to follow next half-term. A fun evening for all - to kick off the celebrations.
