Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
‘GOOD’ News for
John Hanson Community School
Dear parents/carers
It is with the upmost pride and pleasure I can report that following our recent Ofsted inspection the school has been rated GOOD across every category.
The full report and a more extensive covering letter will be sent home to all parents via Parent Mail later today. However, I wanted to be able to share with you some of the key headlines of an Ofsted report that all of us within the school are immensely proud.
Ofsted has recognised that as Head of the school, I am unwavering in my determination to provide a learning environment for your children where they can thrive and excel. However, I do not and cannot do this alone. Alongside me every day are the most dedicated and hard working group of people I have ever had the privilege to work with.
As a consequence, John Hanson has officially been recognised as a school where:
New approaches to improve teaching and assessment in both key stages have rapidly raised standards for current pupils.
The curriculum and new learning approaches to raising standards for the most able are now a strength of the school and bearing fruit.
Staff have an accurate understanding of the needs of your children, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs.
Teachers use assessment effectively to quickly address misconceptions and ensure your children receive useful guidance regularly. As a result, in both key stages, they respond diligently and improve their work in depth.
I have always believed, and repeatedly conveyed, that school must be more than just about academic outcomes. As such, I am pleased that Ofsted recognised the immense efforts and hard work that goes into making sure the educational journey of pupils at John Hanson in enriching, stimulating and helps motivate them to excel in everything they do.
Can I conclude by thanking you – parents and carers. The school could not strive to provide the quality of education that it does without the continued support you give – thank you.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
We will remember them . . . .
Two minutes silence - following a performance of 'The Last Post' - played by Erin in Year 11
PSHE day: Tuesday 13th November
Plans are already underway for our second PSHE day of the year. Details of each year groups sessions are below.
Year 7: Health & Safety day covering puberty, smoking, friendship and kindness, CPR and radicalization.
Year 8: a day of being a team of entrepreneurs with their The Apprentice task day designing and creating a children’s story book in the style of Lord Sugar’s popular televsion show.
Year 9: Finance and the future with sessions delivered by My Bank, the SUN group and Careers Pilot as well as Basingstoke ITEC and our own careers advisor Mrs Richards.
Year 10: their second Well-being day of the year covering contraception and STIs - including condom demos - HIV and Aids, Bereavement and Suicide, and a Self-harm workshop with Stacey Miller.
Year 11: will continue to think about their future by completing the CVs they started on PSHE day one, and begin to delve into their own well-being with sessions on Consent, Gender, HIV and STIs, internet dating and condom demos.
Year 11 will also take part in a mock interview day so that they feel better prepared for their upcoming college interviews. This is not something they should worry about at all. It is simply an opportunity for them to participate in an interview, running through what makes them unique and giving them the confidence they’ll need later in the year for their college interviews. We will also offer some prep work through tutor time next week on this.
Year 10 and Year 11 English Literature students studying ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ experienced first-hand the power of theatre albeit in the comfort of the school hall.
The Fred Theatre company provided a riveting adaptation of the GCSE text that engendered much lively and fruitful debate in the follow-up English lessons.
All year 11 students will be invited to attend a similar event, when a touring company will join us for the third year to present ‘Macbeth’ in January. Information regarding this has been sent on Parentmail this week.
Green meets Grey at Stannah
Ten of our budding engineer Year 10 students spent the day at Stannah on Wednesday for their 150th anniversary event!
Celebrating Tomorrows Engineering Week the event was a huge success.
Year 10 student Katie, said of the event:
We arrived at Stannah expecting a heavy Maths/Science based day but we couldn’t have been more wrong! The whole idea of ‘Green meets Grey’ was to have experienced Stannah workers mentor each group for the day, encouraging students like ourselves to pursue a career in STE(A)M: science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
By the end of the day, each team had created adaptations to a stairlift, increasing mobility for a chosen ‘persona’ (for example, Micheal J Fox who lives with Parkinson’s Disease). Every design was pitched in front of judges and a winner was chosen. An extra bonus, Domino’s pizza was provided for lunch!
Cyber Safety - Week 7 - Anti-Bullying Week
12th - 16th of November - All different All Equal
Next week is Anti-Bullying week. Over the last few years Cyberbullying has become a huge issue for schools throughout the country. Students are educated about Cyberbullying, the effects it has on people, the consequences of being cyber bullied and also who they can contact if they are being/or know someone that is being cyberbullied.
What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is any form of bullying that is carried out through the use of electronic media devices, such as computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or gaming consoles.
There is a strong link between face-to-face bullying and Cyberbullying (80%) and as a school this is something we do not tolerate.
Cyberbullying has become such a huge issue over the years that Prince William has spoken out about the need to stop, speak, support. Online users are asked to stop and think before joining in negative activity, to speak to an adult, a charity or report any abuse if they are concerned, and offer support to the person being targeted. Prince William has suggested that large internet giants get involved with this campaign. As a school we try our hardest to tackle cyberbullying and to educate students. However, the majority of this type of bullying happens outside of school life. In order for us to tackle the huge issue that is cyberbullying we need to parents to be actively involved also.
We hope the above information is useful.
John Hanson Community School Computing Faculty
Date for your diary:
Thursday 20th December 7pm
Please join us for our festive concert
'Sing Up for Christmas'
- we would like to invite all Year 7 students, families and friends to join students and parents from other year groups too. An evening of fun Christmas Music, lights and decorations to get you in the mood for a fantastic Christmas.
Music Tuition at John Hanson CommunitySchool
Calling all musicians who play an instrument - School band continues on Monday 12th November 3-4pm in PA1 Bring your instrument and join in.
Students are requested to visit the music department at the start of the day to check their lesson times. Singing lessons - we are still waiting to hear from Hampshire Music Service when these will take place.
Rehearsals have now started for our production of the musical 'Matilda' based on the story by Roald Dahl. Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin.
Wednesdays - Choir for Matilda - soloists and chorus from 3 - 4 pm PA1
Thursdays - Drama reahearsals - cast from 3 to 4.30 pm
All students are invited to attend if they wish to sing in the show - we are especially keen to involve our new Year 7 students - so please encourage your son/daughter to come along.
No audition - just come along and join in!
The show will be on stage for two nights
May 15th and 16th 2019
Look out for our new app . . . .
Report for Primary Hockey Tournament:
Yesterday 9 Primary School teams from around Andover came to John Hanson to compete in the annual Primary Hockey Tournament. The pupils ranged from Year 4 to Year 6. The Tournament was supported by John Hanson Young Leaders who did a fantastic job of organising and supporting their teams.
Balksbury A team were finally crowned winners after a fierce round robin competition with 4 teams in contention for the trophy. Longparish A team were runners up. A huge thank you to Mark Taylor from Andover Hockey Club who came to support the event by umpiring, and to our very own Miss Coomer, Mr Payne and Mr Wilson who also umpired.
