Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending John Hanson Community School.
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
‘We only teach it 1st, once!’
Dear parents/carers
At the beginning of each academic year we invite the parents/carers of our new year 7 cohort in to school to explain some more of the details of how the school works/operates and how they can support their children as they transition through their first year of secondary education. We cover home/school communication, the school planner, home learning and assessment. However, one of the most important messages we give to parents is ‘we only teach it 1st, once’. This is very much the focus of our message about the importance of attendance.
If a student misses a day of school once a term (6 days a year) they will have 97% attendance. However, there is potential for them to have missed the teaching of a new piece of knowledge, content, a new concept or the 1st lesson of a new topic on 30 separate occasions – that’s 6 days with 5 lessons per day.
I hope you would agree, that when put in to this context, missing a day of school ‘every now and then’ is likely to do have a significant impact on learning.
You might be thinking that if it’s only occasional absence then catching up will be easy. If that were the case, then students with high attendance and without sporadic short periods of absence would not be performing better at school. The fact is that they do!
Please support your child and their learning by making sure they attend school. Unless they have a diagnosed medical condition that we are aware of that impacts on their attendance or they are so ill that they cannot get out of bed, they should be in school.
I don’t want any John Hanson students missing out on those lessons when ‘we only teach it 1st, once’.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
PSHE day 1: 30th September
Our first PSHE day of the year is next Friday. The students will be covering the following topics:
Year 7: workshops on CPR and defibrillator training, Healthy Lifestyles and Friendship. As well as a session with an external speaker on Organisational and study skills, and a Reading based session with their tutors on the book we gave them in the summer term ‘Dare to Be’.
Year 8: a tutor session on Black History, followed by a carousel of workshops covering: Growing up, Anti-bullying, Peer Pressure, Bereavement, Team Building and Immigration. Please note, year 8 will need a pair of trainers, and waterproof coat if the forecast is for rain, for the Growing up session as it includes a short walk around the site with our well-being dog Milo.
Year 9: a tutor session on the Cost of Living, followed by a carousel of workshops on Choices in pregnancy, Sexual Consent, Teenage Pregnancy, Contraception, Belief and misconceptions, and the cost of a baby.
Year 10: a carousel of workshops including Sexuality, Cultural Health, Racism, work experience and Contraception, as well as some sessions with external speakers: AA to talk about alcoholism and Stand Against Violence to cover the consequences of violence.
Year 11: a tutor session on Post-18 student finance, followed by a carousel of careers activities including: CV writing, Technologies in the workplace, a talk with entrepreneur Mei Pan from Yobu, and a look around our careers fair where there will be around 30 stall holders.
If you have any concerns about any of these, please contact your child’s Head of Year in the first instance.
Mrs Hall and Mrs Woodley
Interviews, Careers and calling all Alumni
Mock interviews: every year 11 student will take part in a mock interview process on Tuesday 29th November. If you are able to support this as one of our interviewers for either a morning, afternoon or all day, please get in contact with Janice.cook@jhanson.hants.sch.uk
Careers: if you are a post-16, post-18, traineeship or apprenticeship provider and would like access to our students for an assembly, workshop or PSHE day session, then please contact Janice.cook@jhanson.hants.sch.uk. We are always happy to welcome any local or national businesses in to support our extensive careers programme too so please do get in contact.
Calling all Alumni: if you have previously attended John Hanson and have not yet been in touch to tell us about your interesting careers journey, then please do on Janice.cook@jhanson.hants.sch.uk
Do you have a little one at home in nappies?
Hampshire County Council are pleased to launch a new scheme providing Hampshire residents with 15% off reusable nappies. It is estimated that each child will go through as many as 4,000 nappies by age two and a half. That’s 920 kilograms per child – as heavy as two grand pianos! As a result, disposable nappies make up around 6% of the average rubbish bin in Hampshire homes. By switching to reusables, you can make a big impact and reduce how much waste you throw away.
Hampshire County Council recognises that the initial cost of reusables can be a barrier for some families, which is why we have partnered with six retailers, providing ample choice of products to suit your needs at a discounted price.
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.
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.
John Hanson Computing Department
Performing Arts
Music Rehearsals:
No BAND on Monday due to school meetings
Wednesday 28th September - School Choir - open to anyone who likes to sing. 3 - 4 pm in PA1.
Instrumental Lessons
If your son/daughter would like to learn to play a musical instrument please contact Mike Adams - Head of Music and Drama for details. Email - mike.adams@jhanson.hants.sch.uk
Teachers from Hampshire Music Service visit the school and we can offer lessons in Piano, Woodwind, Brass, Guitar, and Percussion (Drumming).
We have added a page on the website of video How To Guides