Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
Kicking goals and winning gold medals
Dear parents and carers
What do Jonny Wilkinson and Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill have in common? One was part of the England Rugby team who won the world cup in 2003, while the other is a multi-gold winning heptathlete. Two very different sports with one very similar and strong connection – DEDICATION.
There is no getting away from the fact that if you want to perform at your very best you have got to work at it.
The accuracy of Jonny Wilkinson’s goal kicking in front of 85,000 people and the quality of Jessica Ennis-Hill’s performances across multiple athletic disciplines did not come by accident. They were not born with the ability to do what they do and they didn’t just do it once and suddenly become great!
What they did is practice over and over again. With this practice, and the dedication needed to keep practising, they got better and better.
I hope you can see the similarities between this sporting analogy and your child’s success in all things they do at school.
If your child is in year 7, starting their educational journey through secondary school, or year 11 in their last half term before their final exams, the message is the same.
To kick the goals and win the medals dedication and persistence is the key. Not doing something (revision/homework/100% focus in lessons) once and thinking you’ve cracked it, but doing it day in and day out.
Sometimes we know this is going to be hard, but the ultimate rewards are more than worth it.
Can I publically thank you all for your ongoing support for the school and of your children. Kicking goals and winning gold medals cannot happen without you playing your part.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
Calling all the midwives!
Ex-student Emma Taylor visited us on Monday to talk to a group of students from years 9, 10 and 11 about her experiences post John Hanson.
Emma went straight to Peter Symonds college after leaving us; one of the courses she did was Health and Social care, which really helped her to secure a place at Surrey Uni. She applied to four universities altogether, but chose Surrey for its hospital-like facilities.
She talked our hopeful midwives through her first year at Uni and how it is heavy on biology, so it’s a good idea to take that course in college, to help you. In fact, for her chosen career science is more important than English and maths.
She also explained how it is really important to do lots of voluntary work experience, whilst in college. i.e ante natal classes, working in birthing wards, hospitals, breast feeding classes. Basically anything that is going to show that you are interested in the field and want to help.
Emma did her work experience in an old people’s home, a nursery and at Winchester hospital.
Her biggest tip: You have to be willing to work an awful lot throughout your studies that you do not get paid for. However, you will receive lots of experience and job satisfaction.
Another fabulously informative careers drop in; thank you Emma.
Mrs JVN.
The Big Write!
It’s that time of year again, when we are beginning to plan our annual Big Write competition! This year’s title is ‘Tolerance’.
If you, or someone you know, has a love of reading, and would like to be one of our guest judges, then please do get in touch.
Equally, if you could donate a book token then please do let us know. This year we will be giving out new books to all of our winners, and the platinum prize winners will receive an E-reader. There will also be cake sales in the spring term to raise money for this event.
Thursday 7th March is World Book Day and the English department invites all students to join them, and other staff around the school, in dressing up as their favourite Harry Potter characters. If there are any Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin students amongst you, then please don your robes, scarf or tie. Or maybe you’d prefer to be one of the teachers; perhaps Snape, Mad Eye or McGonagall, then please come dressed as them for the day. Students who aren’t in costume, should be in full school uniform for the day. Year 7 will be off timetable for the afternoon exploring Harry Potter themed reading extracts and there will be competitions in the LRC throughout the week.
Tutor groups in Years 7-10 are busily planning their Literary door decorations too – as a competition to create the best magical door is underway. The prize: the chance to go on a trip to visit Harry Potter World in the summer term!
We will be celebrating World Book Day in school next week. There will be a Harry Potter themed afternoon for Year 7’s in the English Faculty and competitions with prizes at break time in the LRC. There are also World Book Day book tokens for free books which can be used until 31st March on the LRC desk. Please come and help yourself
Calling Ex-students . . . . .
Next week is National Careers and Apprenticeship week and we’d like to hear from ex-students about where they are now and what they’re doing. If you have an exciting or interesting career that you’d be happy to share with our students then please get in contact with Mrs Hall (anna.hall@jhanson.hants.sch.uk) with the following details:
the year you left us
what job you now do
what college, university or apprenticeship you completed
This could be to come in for a lunch time careers drop in, or to be part of our growing alumni. So, If you’d be willing to send us a photo of you at work and a quote to motivate our students to work hard to achieve their dreams, we’d really appreciate that too.
Anna Hall
New titles just arrived in the LRC
Online Communication Channels
Please visit our website to find the most up to date guides for social media apps and platforms. Click on the links to find out more information about each app and useful tips to help keep children safe.
Rehearsals are well underway for our production of the musical 'Matilda' based on the story by Roald Dahl. Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin. It is important that all members of the cast and choir attend reherasals each week as required.
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
School holidays are always a time for reflection. It would be so easy to reflect on things in school that we are measured on, for example examination results. Although this is undoubtedly important it equates to a very small percentage of our school community in PE. The cohort of students over the last 4 years have gained some amazing examination results and have attained the best results the department has ever had, but what has always remained constant over this time is our students’ amazing achievements on the sports field.
What I’ve stopped doing over the last few years is being surprised at our students’ sporting achievements within our district and further afield. This isn’t an arrogance, but a respect for the students’ ability and commitment to our school. The start of this calendar year has been a brilliant snapshot of the students’ continued success.
After winning the Year 9, 10 and Year 11 netball leagues before Christmas, where we currently hold all Andover schools’ titles. The Year 7 and 8’s have continued where the upper school had finished to make us unbeaten in any games all season!
Our Year 11 rugby team made it three County Plate wins in three years, with a tense win over Mountbatten in the dying minutes of the game. The boys made it to the final after some impressive displays over two private schools in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
In badminton all four of our teams represented Andover after winning the district tournaments before Christmas. The play-off against Romsey was a tough lesson with all four teams losing. I’m quite clear when our teams lose that the loss is only a bad loss, if we don’t learn from it. A quote comes to mind when thinking of this and it’s from John Calipari who is a basketball coach in the US. “A successful person never loses… they either win or learn”
In football our teams have continued to win on a district level, but two key moments have stood out. Our talented Year 9 team came up against Henry Cort in the quarter finals of the County Cup. The team had been waiting for this fixture for a while after their comprehensive 13-1 victory in the last round in November. The fixture was delayed due to Henry Cort’s involvement in the National Cup where they had made it to the last 16, which is an amazing achievement. The boys had put in an amazing performance to win the game 3-1, but anyone who watched the game would agree that we should have won by more.
Our Year 8 girls team have matched the boys’ achievement by making it to the County semi-final after a convincing 4-0 victory over Wyvern. The team have been on fine form, winning 3 out of the 4 Andover schools tournaments this year as well as representing Andover in the Southern Counties 5-a-side tournament.
The best achievement came from our Year 7 5-a-side team. Having won the Andover schools’ tournament the team went through to the Southern Counties competition, which has been notoriously tough, with schools from Oxford, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Channel Islands competing. Our current Year 9 came so close two years ago losing 3-2 in the final, but our Year 7’s went one further by winning it! They now join 7 other schools in the National finals on Monday 4th March in Birmingham. Good luck boys!
In a time where many schools have suffered cuts in PE due to the increasing pressure schools have on them to achieve academic success, our students continue to strive. It’s so easy with all this success to have a blinkered approach to our offer, but I’m fully aware we have things we could improve on. I believe we have the right team in PE and talented students to continue to provide many great sporting achievements for years to come.
Mike Green
Head of PE
Community News
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