Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
Taking all views in to account
Dear parents/carers
Last term I wrote about my concerns regarding the use of mobile phones by students during the school day and asked for your opinions. Can I thank all of you who took the time to respond.
The message that came through from your responses was varied. While the majority felt that introducing a ban on mobile phone use by students during the school day was a good idea, there were views that were both polar opposite to this and those who gave very well researched and valid educational reasons why this should not happen.
I wanted to write further on this issue today in order to explain what I will be doing next.
While you would expect me to have my own view on this subject and now that I have yours, I will be asking the groups of people who any change will affect the most – students and my staff.
Via the School Council and a staff voice activity I will be putting the same question to these 2 groups as I did to parents.
Once I have the views of all the stakeholders I will be in the position to make an informed decision.
I will keep you informed as to the outcome and any changes to school practices and procedures in regard to mobile phone use by students.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
LRC news
The LRC has had a massive overhaul this term to make room for all our new and exciting reads!
We’ve also made a donation today to Cancer Research UKof any withdrawn fiction books.
.
PSHE day 4
This Wednesday, the timetable stopped for the fourth of our PSHE days. Each year group had a carefully planned programme of activities covering an array of areas from Sex and Relationship education through to Careers.
Year 7
Year 7 all spent time on their Edge projects during the day. The PixL Edge programme is designed to support the soft skills of Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication; we call this the LORIC. Mrs Jones said: “It has been a pleasure to learn about Year 7’s efforts and achievements. We have had a variety of activities taking place: cooking for friends, creating quizzes, organising and leading clubs – to name just a few. Year 7 pupils should now be taking the initiative and developing their independence - please can I encourage you to find out about their projects and ask them to show you the Edge website. I look forward sharing more news with you as the term progresses - we would like to congratulate Year 7 for beginning their edge work and we look forward to celebrating their future successes.”
Some views from the students: Nathan Felix:For my first LORIC project I have cooked a traditional meal with my family. I took a traditional meal from New Year and made it for them in February! I cooked a beef stir fry with a tomato sauce. Both my Dad and my sister said that it was delicious. Through this Edge project I learnt how to cook carefully and healthily. I like the Edge as it helps teach us to become the best we can be because it teaches us about resilience and leadership.
Ashlee Clarke:My first LORIC project was to cook a meal for my friend’s family. We cooked a pasta dish. They all enjoyed it and ate it up – I did too! This edge project has boosted my cooking skills, and my confidence in using the equipment in a family kitchen. The Edge projects helps us to think about do things we haven’t done before. I think my leadership skills have improved already.
Riley Davies:My first Edge project was to work with a few others and create a quiz - we were delivering this to our tutor group. Our quiz was on general knowledge including historical, sporting and geographical questions. Our quiz went really well. The first time we learnt how to deal with the crowd the second time was much better and we felt more control; - our presenter skills really improved. The Edge has taught me how to present myself in front of others. I had to learn how to be good in front of our audience. The Edge is making me push myself out of my limits.
Michael Buckett:My first project has been to create a club with some friends. I have been one of the leaders of this. In doing this club I have learnt about compromising in groups and listening to others. Edge is helping me to improve my effort into school.
A a superb start to your Edge work!
The rest of the day saw the Year 7s exploring what makes Andover great and coming up with ideas to make it even better. The main activity of the day was to think about the role of democracy society through a series of sessions that taught the students about national and local politics, as well as how a vote works. Tutor groups went about this is different ways, some writing eloquent letters to their local councillors, whilst others pitched themselves against other groups in a debate-off! Some really super ideas were shared – well done Year 7!
Year 8
Year 8 began their journey discovering future careers paths using technology via the Careers Pilot software. They were able to identify different professions, project future earning and locate training providers to enable them to progress towards their desired vocation. Students had great fun identifying how much they could potentially earn, and the huge range of jobs, many that they had never heard of or considered, that they could train for locally.
We also learned about careers of the future, looking at aspirational speaker Will Smith, considered modern innovators and social media icons, and discovering what type of profession we would be suited to, many of which are unique to the 21st Century!
The session on apprenticeships was on explaining the new initiatives of modern apprenticeships. Students were asked about what they knew and then shown a video which highlighted examples of young adults currently following apprenticeships. An activity using cards with information on key aspects of apprenticeships was undertaken and then a fact video on the advantages and disadvantages of following an apprenticeship. Logging on to the “ find an apprenticeship” website and searching for those currently available within a 20 miles radius of Andover was also an interesting activity as we found 260 were available and we explored some of those.
In the Gender Stereotyping session Year 8 started by listing the jobs that they would like to do in the future, we then discussed the ‘monster’ in that job title. For example; why are there jobs with the word ‘man’ in it if can be done by a woman? We then discussed some examples of when either girls or boys had been put off a job or training because of it being only for boys or girls. We talked about where that ‘monster’ can come from; parents, friends, teachers or yourself. We saw a clip showing that some things are ingrained into society, like expecting to see a woman when visiting a nurse or midwife.
Year 8 were especially lucky to be visited by some inspirational members of our local community to tell them about their interesting and varied career paths. This insightful opportunity gave our pupils the chance to learn more about careers in a variety of sectors from business and finance, health and science and even sport and entertainment, as well as the chance to learn of the different routes into these professions. We hope that these sessions will have inspired our pupils to consider the vast wealth and array of opportunities that open up to them as they continue to grow and develop both academically and personally.
We would like to extend our thanks to the following for volunteering their time to share their stories with our pupils:
Charlotte Ashman-Scott – Midwife at Salisbury Hospital
Jason Holmes – Sports Development Manager
Dharm Mistry – Financial Advisor
Kerry Mutter – Head of Events and Hires for Picture House Cinemas LTD
Caroline Price – Lead Clinical Scientist for Cytogenics at Salisbury Hospital
Anna Prideaux – Lawyer and Freelance Photographer
Our Spring Concert took place on Thursday evening. It featured the school band, choir and solo items performed by students in KS3 and KS4. The concert took place in the Drama Studio in the Performing Arts block and was attended by nearly seventy parents, students and friends of the school.
With 30 students performing we heard a wide variety of music including some famous songs from musicals.
The school choir will be performing again soon at the Hampshire Music Festival being staged at John Hanson on 20th March.
Our concert design was created by Ben Sutton in Year 8, who also performed in the concert.
Performing Arts in 2018 - Music and Drama
Our rehearsals will continue as detailed below:
School Band Mondays 3-4pm
Music Tech Club - Tuesdays 3-4pm
School Choir Wednesdays 3-4pm
Drama Club Thursdays 3-4pm
20th March
30th March to 13th April 2018
Hampshire Music Festival
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
Dates for forthcoming Parents' Evenings
Thursday 19th April Parents' Evening 4 (Year 8 focus)
Thursday 17th May Parents' Evening 5 (Year 7 focus)
Balksbury Junior School 1 scoop the honours at the Lions in the Community John Hanson Primary Football Festival after a close final against local rivals St John the Baptist.
Despite the sunny yet slightly arctic and very windy conditions eight very excited teams of year 3 and 4 footballers, boys and girls alike, descended upon the John Hanson Community School for the annual Lions in the Community sponsored John Hanson Cluster Primary Football Festival. Teams from Balksbury Junior, Abbotts Ann, Clatford, Amport, Shipton Bellinger and St John the Baptist primary schools all took part in the tournament which was organised by John Hanson.
Lions in the Community’s Cathy Devereux was on hand to oversee the officiation of the matches, which were superbly refereed by several of the John Hanson year 10 GCSE students, whilst a very efficient and well organised team of year 7 Young Leaders took responsibility for setting up the pitches, managing the teams and leading the pre match warm ups.
After the initial round of pool matches and a much needed break for lunch, the teams took to the field for the play off matches and resultant placing games.
The tournament was very closely contested with some excellent football skills on display with the final being an extremely hard fought battle between Balksbury Juniors 1 and St John the Baptist Primary School .
Mr Stevens was on hand for the awards ceremony and after a great match which showcased some superb skills as well as plenty of determination from each and every player, Balksbury Junior 1 clinched a hard fought victory to be crowned tournament winners.
Amport Primary School were awarded the Fair Play trophy , in recognition of the effort, enthusiasm, teamwork and sportsmanship they had shown in every game throughout the day.
Tournament organisers Helen Vant and Cathy Devereux were delighted with the success of the tournament which seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed by all taking part. They would like to express their thanks to all the staff, parents and young leaders whose help and support as ever was invaluable.
Mrs Vant
The year 7 netball squad travelled over to Romsey on Wednesday this week to play in the Level 3 Netball Qualifying Competition.
After a lovely afternoon of netball, the B team ended the tournament in 5th place ahead of all of the other B teams.
The A team ended an extremely close tournament being the only team not to have lost any games at all. However because of some draws, 3 teams drew for first place with the same number of points. John Hanson A team finally ended up in second place due to ‘Goals for’.
Congratulations to both teams who were a real credit to John Hanson both with their playing ability and their sportsmanship.
