Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
A lot to talk about
Dear parents/carers
As we speed towards the end of another academic year there is a lot going on John Hanson that I wanted to share with you this week.
Staffing
A huge part of any successful school is the staff in it. I am very proud of my staff and the amazing work that they do with your children. I am also very pleased to announce that we are fully staffed for September 2017.
Sporting Success
Anyone who knows me or who has heard me speak will know that I passionately believe that there is far more to school than learning in the classroom and gaining excellent examination results. As a school we play a huge part in young peoples lives and as such have a responsibility to give them as many experiences as possible.
At John Hanson students are spoilt for choice when it comes to sporting experiences and it is not until I sat down and considered the sporting year that is just coming to an end that I realised how vast this sporting experience is.
During this year John Hanson Students have:
Had the opportunity to go to international fixtures in Rugby/Football/Cricket
Visit Bath/Chichester Universities
Go away on coaching weekends for football/netball/GCSE P.E. practical development
Take part in 200+ competitive fixtures against other schools
Won 42 local/area and county competitions – too many to mention individually by name!
But it is not just about the here and know. This week we shared our sporting success with the talent of the future when we hosted 54 able sports students from our local primary schools. The talent on show was impressive and all the students had a really enjoyable day.
Independence week
I wrote to you in my weekly ‘HEAD’Lines blog on 16th June regarding a forthcoming week where students would spend large chunks of their time in lessons working independently and thus, in the vast majority of cases, in silence. ‘Independence Week’ will be happening next week. All students have been informed about this in assembly and it has been explained to them why we are doing it. I will write further before the end of the academic year to let you know how it went.
And finally……
First Aid
When your son/daughter is at school and is not feeling their best or has had a minor scrap/bang/accident we have fully trained first aid staff to deal with it. What we don’t have is a doctor who students can go to first thing in the morning if something has happened at home the night before. Please can I ask that if this is the case you must seek the advice of your local GP/Walk in centre or A&E before sending them in to school.
Have a great weekend
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
Snapchat advice
It has come to our attention that Snapchat released an update last week which will impact on all users. The update now includes a map which plots all users of Snapchat, and it can be zoomed in with the locations of users clearly identified. These users don’t even need to be your friends for them to see your last location. People have access to see everyone.
In order to remove yourself from this feature you should go to your settings and enable “Ghost Mode”. You will also need to change your Avatar to “Ghost Mode”. To access the map you need to “pinch the screen” and this will give you the option to set yourself to private, not public.
It is our advice that all users of Snapchat do this as soon as possible to maintain online security
Our PSHE Day took place on Tuesday
- here are some reports about the activities on the day
Year 7
During our fifth PSHE day, two Year 7 tutor groups spent their community and volunteering time helping with indoor and outdoor projects in Key stage 1 and 2. Members of 7Das and 7VNo were separated into teams and challenged to put their developing independence, communication and resilience skills to the test. Year 7 were utterly outstanding during this day.
The outdoor team worked tirelessly to transform the vegetable garden. It was rather over grown and the weeds had waged war on the potatoes and young trees. The outdoor team managed to rid the ground of weeds, tidy up the path ways and rejuvenate the soil with compost. The difference between the start and the finish was remarkable and testament to their hard work. At no point in the day did the team complain, at no point did we hear anything but positive collaboration. Our fabulous team also helped clear weeds from paving stones and completed an extensive litter pick throughout the school grounds.
Whilst the outdoor team grappled with their jobs, the indoor team were working hard to support the learning of students in the classroom. Our classroom crew were equally amazing. They demonstrated great empathy, patience, care and consideration. The indoor team were also challenged to offer a presentation regarding ‘Change’. All students in KS1 and 2 are about to embark on transitions – from one classroom/year group/teacher to another. Therefore, Year 7 discussed the personal development that is required for change, for transitions. The standard of student to student interaction was excellent and the questions from the Balskbury students were fantastic. The indoor team were simply exceptional in their answering of questions and the sharing of experiences.
I could not be any prouder of year 7. They were incredible ambassadors for their school, community and families. The staff and students at Balksbury were so impressed that they have asked that we repeat this day next year and that a tradition between our schools can be grown; this is due to the Year 7 students: their hard work and their outstanding attitude. Mrs Jones - Head of Year 7
Pupils in Year 7 worked on citizenship and volunteering, they were joined by volunteers from Lloyds Banking Group to complete a ‘Community Clean Up’ of our school grounds and the footpaths local to our school that many of our pupils use on a daily basis. Ben Sutton in Year 7 said, “We had a fun day and even better than that-we got to help our school community and protect our environment!” whilst Jaida-Mai Pledge added, “It was shocking to see the damage caused by litter in our school community, but it was nice to have the time to be able to make a difference and improve our local environment.”
We are very grateful for our supporters from Lloyds Banking Group for their time and effort in helping us to create a safe and clean environment for our pupils. Zak West, from Lloyds Banking Group, was particularly impressed with the enthusiasm and rigour that the pupils showed in the community clean up and said: “The pupils were so polite and hard-working; it was a pleasure to support the good work here today”.
Year 8 – The Future
This PSHE day was to help Year 8 look in to the future and think about where they would be like to go once leaving school. The day consisted of 5 sessions based around this subject.
The first session with Mr Allott looked at Apprenticeships. What are they? Why is it beneficial to do one and what skills/characteristics are required to secure a place? Students found this both interesting and informative. The idea of being paid whilst studying was particularly something that caught their eye! The main task for the session was to write a memo stating why they would be good candidates for an apprenticeship, linking their reasons to what employers are looking for.
Session 2 was run by Jonathan Walsh; the owner of local business GoMedia. He discussed the benefits of working for yourself. Students then participated in the ‘elevator pitch’. They had to pick a business and come up with a 30 second pitch to sell that business to a millionaire you meet in an elevator. A great concept!
Mr Taylors session was entitled ‘Careers of the future’. Students thought about skills needed for future careers and then linked them to what they do in and outside of school. They identified that lots of skills that are required for the working world are in our ethos and are taught and practised in school. Students also discussed careers that are maybe no longer available in this country and tried to look into the future to identify others which may not be available in their working lifetime.
The fourth session of the day was led by Phil Rose from an Aldermaston based company called AWE. Phil talked to the students about the science and engineering industry and the careers within it. He also discussed the evolution of technology and the impact is has had/is having on the world.
The final session was run by the schools Careers Advisor; Lynn Richards. Lynn directed the students to a website where they sat a Sparten test. By answering several picture questions, it then created a careers cloud for the student based on their answers. For some students this was spot on but for others, not so much. Students were then able to explore that career and find out a little more about it which they enjoyed immensely.
A packed day with lots of information for them to think about!
Mrs Bailey, Year 8 tutor
Thank you . . . .
We would also like to thank Andover College, Peter Symonds College, and Queen Mary's College for their input to the day with Year 10 students. Also to our guests Geoff McBride, Mike West, Katie Westbrook, Kiree Hotchkin, School Nursing service, Jonathan Walsh, Lynn Richards and Will Kelly. We also had 14 employers visiting school to interview each of our Year 10 students to give them the experience of a formal interview.
We have welcomed lots of Year 5 students this week!
On Tuesday we had our first Talented Sports Day. Schools from across the town sent their most talented sports stars for a day of challenge and competition with our PE staff and our own talented athletes. The day was a great success with prizes given to overall champions, and winners in individual events. As well as testing their fitness and skills, students also enjoyed a rounders competition, a badminton tournament and football golf! Thanks to all those year 5's who took part- we're already excited about seeing next year's sporting talent!
On Thursday we welcomed Anton year 5's for a taster day. With these children making the leap to 'big' school in a year's time, we believe giving them a 'real' experience is paramount. Our visitors had lessons in science, music, art, maths and PE and were a fabulous bunch! Thanks for making our day so enjoyable Anton, our staff were blown away by your enthusiasm and hard work.
No event is possible without the support of our own students- once again they came up trumps! They are a committed, enthusiastic student body who work hard on days like these to make our visitors feel comfortable and welcome. Well done!!
Next week we welcome our new year 7 year group on Tuesday for transition day, and Balksbury year 5 students for a taster day on Thursday. We look forward to seeing them all!
Please support our Cancer Research UKShine Night Walk team, who are walking a marathon on the 23rd September raising money for Children’s Cancer, by using the link below to make a donation:
The school has recently been awarded the Level 1 Royal Horticultural Society School Gardening Award for setting up plans to begin a gardening club. This will be a fantastic teaching resource, as well an area for students to escape and learn about how to grow and care for their own produce. The club is designed to give students the opportunity to have a deeper look into horticulture outside of the normal science curriculum. During the last week of term we are aiming the get the area cleared and dug out ready for growing at the start of the next academic year.
Attached to the allotment for the gardening club there will also be a reflection garden. The school is aware of the stresses facing students, and the mental health and well-being of all in our community is extremely important to us. This space will be an area where students and staff will be able to take time to gather their thoughts if the pressures and stresses of school life are getting on top of them.
In order to make a real success of the project we have had many donations from local companies including Wyevale garden centre, Salisbury, who have donated a huge amount of equipment including a water butt, a couple of spades and forks, seeds, compost and a bench, and Wilton garden centre who have donated a class set of gardening gloves. If you have any spare gardening equipment you no longer need we ask that you donate them to the school for the gardening project. This equipment could be from spades, forks and watering cans to old seeds and plants such as strawberries.
If your child is interested in being a part of the club they can come and have a chat with Miss Wakeford at breaks or lunches. We hope to keep everyone up to date with the garden’s progress over the next year and many years to come!
Jenny Wakeford Science Faculty
Year 8 Paris Trip
Another highly successful trip passed last weekend when 71 students and 8 staff visited Paris in the blistering heat.
After the long journey down we spent a pleasant evening visiting and Visit Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur Church, with a dinner of steak and chips, plus snails 'at 'Chez Eugene' before moving on to the hotel.
The following day, bright and early, we were off to Disney. This year for the first time we managed to visit both parks, and also witness the celebrations for their 25th anniversary with a brand new parade. Highlights had to be the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith ride, alongside old favourites like Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones rides. Once again the sun shone and we returned exhausted by the end of the day.
On the penultimate day we went into the centre of Paris, which contrary to our arrival on the first day, the roads were almost deserted. We climbed the Eifel Tower, rode the river on the Bateaux Mouches, and witnessed some brilliant athletics and daring gymnastics on the river side, before moving out to the tip of Normandy to visit Monet’s beautiful house and water garden. On returning to eat at the Flunch restaurant we were greeted with a mini music festival and the students danced through the streets.
Finally, we departed for home, stopping at a Nazi V2 construction site where students learned about early rocket science and the attempts to bomb London during the last war.
A prompt and thankfully quick whisk through customs and we were back in England and on to Andover, making good time. I know many of the students were exhausted by the amount of sleep on the coach, but they will have memories of this for years to come. I personally would like to thank all the staff and students for making this such a great trip.
Paul Brown Trip Leader
Recently, one of our Year 10 students Abi Woolaston took part in a 50 km race. Out of 1487 people who took part (not all running the full 50km) Abi came 27th!
She was the 2nd female to complete the 50km in 5 hours and 55mins, and she came first in the Under 18 category. On top of this fantastic achievement she managed to raise £350 for charity.
Congratulations Abi. Mrs Vant
Also . . . .
On Wednesday our Y7 and Y8 students represented John Hanson at the Andover and District Schools Athletics Championships at Charlton. Although we do not have full official results through yet we know that Year 7’s came 1st overall, and our depleted Year 8 team (due to a number of our athletes out on another trip) came a commendable 3rd overall.
Another great sporting achievement. Full report to follow next week.
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Year 6 Transition Fair 4.15 to 6.45 pm 4th July
Year 10 Andover College taster day 5th July
KS1 Gym Festival 5th and 6th July
Celebration Evening 5.30 pm 6th July
Staff Training Day school closed 7th July
Primary Country Dancing 7th July school field
SPORTS RESULTS
Feeling hungry? More delights from our fantastic students
