Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending
John Hanson Community School
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
What you do now impacts your future
Dear Parents/Carers
I am using this week's 'HEAD' Lines to both share some important research with you, and also ask for your help in making sure your children get the very most out of their time at John Hanson.
This week the Department for Education have published some attendance data that shows very clearly that 50% of children who are absent during the first few weeks of a school year go on to become persistent absentees. This does not have to be significant absence, but includes those who, for example, may have been absent for a day in the first week of term and then another day in week 3 etc. There is a clear correlation between attitudes to the importance of attending school, academic outcomes (not just in year 11) and levels of absence.
I am sharing these statistics because national data and that of our school, shows that students who are persistently absent (below 90% attendance) are unlikely to gain the GCSE examination grades they are capable of.
This is where you come in. If your child is frequently absent (more than twice in a term) then they are unlikely to achieve to the best of their ability. Please make sure that your child is only ever absent when they are too unwell to attend. The best place for your child is in school, developing good learning routines and developing the social and emotional skills that will serve them well outside of the school environment.
If they get into a pattern of non-attendance for any reason it is very hard to break it.
Thank you as always for your support.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
PSHE day 1: 29th September
For their first PSHE day of the year, Year 7 have a full day of activities including a tutor session on marriage and a carousel of activities including: organisational skills, CPR, debating skills, Young Carers and building and maintaining friendships.
Year 8 will cover Black History in tutor time followed by a carousel of sessions on: immigration, vaccinations and immunisations, puberty, team building, keeping fit and healthy, as well as a one hour interactive assembly from Stand Against Violence. Amber’s story is an anti-bullying performance.
Year 9 have a day on teenage pregnancy covering: choices, sexual consent, the cost of living, contraception, beliefs and the cost of a baby.
Year 10 will start with a one hour assembly from Stand Against Violence. Lloyds Story is about violence awareness. They will then have a carousel of activities including a session with members of Alcoholics Anonymous, sexuality, cultural health, anti-racism and contraception.
Year 11 have a futures day starting with a tutor session on student finance, followed by a carousel of sessions including digital footprint, CV writing, technologies in the workplace, an introduction to Apprenticeships and Traineeships with Amazing Apprenticeships and a Money Explorer session with the Southern Universities Network.
If you have any questions or concerns about this PSHE day please do contact your child’s Head of Year in the first instance.
On 4th October, we will be hosting our annual Andover Area Careers fair at The Lights in Andover for all Year 11. Please look out for a ParentMail which will give you the details.
Memorial Garden
This week, our bereavement support group have spruced up the memorial garden ready for winter. Thanks to Mrs Cook and Mrs Lee for their kind donations, it is fully planted and looking beautiful!
New Reading Room
This week we are very pleased to present the new and exciting Reading Room. Located in the corner of the Learning Resource Centre, this room provides a quiet space for students to read at breaks and after school, away from any distractions and in comfort. The highlight of the room is undoubtably our beautiful “Poetree” – hand-painted by the very talented Mrs Ferris, where we will soon display the very best poetry from students of John Hanson School.
To get things started, we invite students to take part in the Young Writer’s “This is me!” poetry competition. Not only is it a great opportunity to get creative but it’s also a chance to be published in a real book, win £50 and a trophy and possibly win book prizes for the school. Before sending entries off we plan to take copies for our Poetree and the very best will receive a prize from the LRC. More information will be shared next week in Tutor time, but for the time being, this short video gives an introduction to the competition:
Thank you once again to those people that donated books to our “Sibling Shelf” appeal. As we now have such a wealth of lovely material we can’t take more contributions at this time – we were really delighted and overwhelmed by the response! The new shelf will be launched to the students very soon and we can’t wait for the students of John Hanson to borrow books that can be enjoyed at home with their younger siblings. We also have some fabulous new titles for 11-16 yrs that we couldn’t resist buying from the recent Book Fayre – as always students are encouraged to come and see Mrs Bailey in the LRC to borrow and explore these new books.
The LRC is open to students before school from 8:10am, at break/lunchtimes, and after-school until 4pm for quiet reading and home learning.
Tuesday Jan 30th 2024 Wednesday 31st January 2024 Thursday 1st February 2024
Rehearsals are up and running again. Details in PA block.
Year 7 students wishing to join the choir that will sing in the Christmas Show and in Grease - rehearsals are Wednesdays after school 3.05 to 4.00 pm
Music Groups after School
Due to show rehearsals this term this has changed slightly from our previous plan:
Currently we are meeting as follows:
Monday - Year 10 GCSE Music class Tuesday - Grease rehearsals with cast and chorus Wednesday - Grease rehearsals with cast and Chorus - SCHOOL CHOIR Thursday - Soloists for Grease
Performing Arts - Instrumental Lessons at school
If your son/daughter would like to learn to play a musical instrument please contact Mike Adams - Head of Performing Arts for details. Email - mike.adams@jhanson.hants.sch.uk
Teachers from Hampshire Music Service visit the school and we can offer lessons in Piano, Keyboard, Singing, Guitar, and Percussion (Drumming).
Advanced date for your diary - Christmas Showcase - Sing Up for Christmas will take place on Thursday 14th December at 6pm
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
At John Hanson Community School we are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all students and staff, and to providing a working environment free from discrimination, prejudice and harassment.
We encourage respect and consideration for others, and recognise and value the school as a safe place for learning. The staff at John Hanson recognise that inequalities exist in all levels of society and believe, that as educators, we have a crucial role to play in eliminating all forms of discrimination, in particular against anyone with any of the protected characteristic. We promote equality by dealing with bullying and incidents of discrimination immediately and by educating the young people in our care through assemblies, tutor time, PSHE day sessions and group work where appropriate.
This is part of our responsibility in preparing our students for life after school.
Important EDI events over the next week:
Second-hand September (all month)
Words you might not know:
Slow fashion: Slow fashion is about fashion that has a more positive impact on the planet and on garment workers. Sustainable fashion: Sustainable fashion is a term for items of clothing made taking the human and environmental impacts of production into account to support a more just supply chain. It can also include items that are sold second hand to extend their life. And items sold second hand to raise money for causes that promote sustainability. Ethical fashion: ‘Ethical fashion’ refers to fashion that is fair to people and planet. That is made by, and bought from, producers that factor in issues like fair working practices, equitable pay for garment workers, use of sustainable materials, and environmental responsibility in clothes making and buying. For some, ethical fashion also means fashion that is vegan.
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
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