Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
When is 2 metre’s 1 metre?
Dear parents/carers
I cannot remember a time in my life when the whole nation has become obsessed with measuring the distance between one point and another and/or between people.
As you would expect, as part of our reopening strategy we have put in place extensive measures to support 2 metre distancing. We are now, from the 4th July, moving, as a country to a system where the guidance is changing to 1m+ with a request to keep 2 metre’s apart where possible. However, this change has not been made with children in mind I don’t think.
What we have found is that students understand the 2 metre distancing, but keeping to it is a whole other ball game. As such, we will be keeping the 2 metre distancing in place as I think this then gives us a fighting chance of students keeping a metre apart!
There has also been a recent update to the secondary school guidance we have received from the Department for Education. This has asked schools to consider what capacity they have to bring students and their parents in to school for a face-to-face meeting. The aim being to consider the learning that has gone on during this period where the school has been closed to the majority of children. As such, we will be contacting some families over the coming days to hopefully arrange a time to meet.
We are also working hard to develop what I have termed ‘Recovery Learning’ – I don’t like the use of the term “catch up”. My staff are developing a curriculum for the coming year that will look at the level of student comprehension when they return – not just what they have done, but the knowledge, skills and understanding that they have retained. The aim is then to make sure that subsequent learning is based on secure prior understanding rather than any misunderstanding or misconception that has developed during this period of remote learning.
I strongly believe in student resilience. While students will all have gaps in their learning, we should not just assume that they have all not coped with this different way of learning. It will be our job to identify any gaps and develop teaching to support and redevelop understanding.
Until that point, can I again thank you for all the support you are giving to your children during these challenging times.
The Difference We Hope To Make. 500 Words celebrated its 10th anniversary during its 2020 Final on Friday 12th June. Hot on its heels, the new competition issues a brief intended to encourage important conversations at home, at school and across the nation, on the themes and issues emerging from the Black Lives Matter movements around the world.
An odd combination I know, but an opportunity for us to cover two very important things at once over the summer term.
We would like to invite your child, to visit us in school for a very short time period, perhaps 5 minutes max, between 2-3pm, on one of the days on the timetable below.
This will be an opportunity for any of them who borrowed a book from the school Learning Resource Centre (LRC) before lockdown began, to return it to us. We are really keen to get our LRC all sort and re-stocked ready for the autumn term so its super important that we get all of the borrowed books back.
Equally for the girls, they will get a chance to collect any period products they would like to stock up on to last them until September as we still have lots left over from the Governments recent new initiative.
We will set up a table in the courtyard outside TVB under the covered area in case of rain. This will be manned by Mrs JVN and Mrs Coward. There will be hand sanitiser available for them to use before they collect the period products, and boxes for them to place the books in that they’ve borrowed. We will of course insist of social distancing – asking that students remain 2 metres apart at all times.
In order to keep the numbers down of those who are on site at one time, we ask that students only come in on the days listed below as per their tutor group (they should not be coming in with friends to do this):
Week beginning:
Monday 2-3pm
Tuesday 2-3pm
Wednesday 2-3pm
29th June
7HVA, 7PPO, 7ADU, 7JSO
8JTA, 8AJA, 8MLA
9LNA, 9DLO, 9JTY
6th July
7DGA, 7SWO, 7RJO, 7NSO
8MCH, 8TBR, 8CBR, 8MUN
9PGA, 9RNI, 9MGR
13th July
7HVA, 7PPO, 7ADU, 7JSO
8JTA, 8AJA, 8MLA
9LNA, 9DLO, 9JTY
20th July
7DGA, 7SWO, 7RJO, 7NSO
8MCH, 8TBR, 8CBR, 8MUN
9PGA, 9RNI, 9MGR
Students in Year 10 can return their books, and collect Period Products when in school from 15th June.
GREAT NEWS
You can sign up to the Hampshire E-Library even if you don’t have a library card! Use your address and the library will give you a temporary ‘borrower number’ and you can read any books from the collection. The website with instructions for how to sign up is below and then download either the RB Digital app or the BorrowBox app to read books on-it’s so easy!
We hope you take the opportunity to go on lots of literary adventures from your own home! Keep your teachers updated with any new books you have read: we can't wait to hear about them!
Word of the Week: in attempt to really challenge students vocabulary use, and to share some positivity, the Literacy team will be introducing Word of the Week during term 6. This will develop further in September. Please challenge your child to use this week’s word as much as possible at home in conversations and in their work!
Enjoy!
Mrs Hall, Mrs Woodley and Miss Underwood J
Bereavement support: in these uncertain and challenging times, we know that it is inevitable that there will be students who have suffered a bereavement of family members or family friends. Please do get in contact with your child’s Head of Year so that we can be aware on their return of any support we may need to offer them.
During regular term time, we do also run a Bereavement Support Group for our students who have lost a parent or sibling. Mrs Wilson is the main contact for this group: Karen.wilson@jhanson.hants.sch.uk.
In the meantime, some websites that may be useful to you, are listed below:
Please encourage your son/daughter to use their SCHOOL EMAIL for work rather than their own private email. This is important for safeguarding and also some of our messages for students are being sent to school email addresses.
We will be posting updated information on the school website and via ParentMail.
Please see the below useful links.
Think you know – Activity Packs relating to online safety Who’s watching yours? – 17% increase in children livestreaming since lockdown (Advice to help parents/carers minimise risk to children online) Mental health – How to look after your family’s mental health when stuck indoors Houseparty – Everything you need to know.
Music Tuition
Let’s celebrate and embrace the different backgrounds, heritage, language and traditions of all the children living in our community!
This week’s cultural focus is Hungary.
Known as the “Land of Magyars,” Magyarország a pagan Finno-Ugric tribe originally from the Ural Mountains that during the migration era, had settled in the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century, founding a state that would later be known by all of us as Hungary!
With very best wishes Mrs Ferreira EAL co-ordinator
Due to the current situation this section is not being updated for the time being.