Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending
John Hanson Community School
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
The ‘five’ days of Christmas
Dear Parents/Carers
As we move towards the last FIVE days of the Autumn Term I wanted to use this week’s ‘HEAD’ Lines to remind everyone reading this blog of the importance of every school day – including those in the last week of term. If we combine the last weeks of each term together this is 15% of the whole school year!
The perception may be that we ‘slow down’ a little in these last weeks of term or that all the students do is ‘fun stuff’. This could not be further from the truth.
We are acutely aware that every lesson of every day when students are in school is equally important. The year on year evidence in relation to student outcomes shows us this.
Those students who attend better (including in the last weeks of a term) achieve vastly superior academic outcomes irrespective of their academic ability.
In the last week of this term, students in year 11 will be receiving feedback from the recent Pre-Public Exams. This will tell them what they know and what they don’t know. This will then allow them to focus their revision on the areas of learning where they are less strong. Missing this vital time in school results in students not having this information and having to revise everything they have been taught in equal measure. This is not a smart way of working!
In other year groups, students will be taking end of topic/unit/term assessments and/or receiving feedback from assessments recently taken. Either way, and similar to year 11 students, missing the assessments and the feedback will put your child at a real disadvantage.
You will be aware, if you have ever heard me speak, that I am an advocate of 3 things. The 3 key reasons why young people should go to school. That is to receive a high standard of education, to make memories and friends. The latter two of these have a significant impact on the wellbeing of young people - none of this can happen if your child is not in school.
I look forward to spending the last week of term in school with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
SingUp for Christmas 2023
Christmas Showcase Thursday 14th December
6pm School Hall
On Thursday December 14th 6pm we will be holding our Christmas Showcase – Sing Up for Christmas.
The showcase takes place in the school hall at 6pm and we hope you will come along and join in with this fun Christmas show. We would love to have many students taking part, and a huge audience so that we can really raise the roof and have a fun evening. Funds raised from collection will go towards our school show GREASE!
Tickets that have been reserved
need to be collected from Mr Adams asap
The showcase will also feature solos, dances, and extracts from our school show Grease which goes on stage in January ’24.
See you there on 14th December at 6pm
International Children’s Parliament
Year 7 student William Hotchkiss was invited to attend the first International Children’s Parliament which took place on Wednesday 29th November. William was one of approximately 80 children in attendance from around the globe including attendees from the UK and other countries such as Ghana. The conference was centred on the subject of environmental matters including climate change, poverty, fast fashion following the goals of COP23. A huge well done to William who was invited to speak about world hunger, and did so confidently.
On Monday, the wonderful students in the Bereavement Group gathered for a special Christmas baking session with Miss Norris to make Gingerbread Houses. Mr Lucas very kindly made templates for the houses and the group set to work over the afternoon to create some fantastic pieces decorated with every sweet you could wish for! Some rescuing was needed for some of the houses which just didn’t want to stand up! So thank goodness we had the wonderful Miss Norris on hand to help the group through every stage of the baking process. We welcomed Mr Stevens and Mr Allott to judge the competition who kindly awarded first and second place to the worthy winners! There were some really lovely chats between the students who all understand what each other is going through in the lead up to Christmas and how difficult this time of year can be. We are so incredibly proud of all of the students and how well they all worked together.
CHRISTMAS LUNCH 12th DECEMBER - SOLD OUT
Year 9-11 DT based trip to London
This past weekend we took year 9-11 to London on a DT based trip. On the Saturday the group explored the landmarks via river cruise, tasted food at Southbank market and watched back to the future (well half a show before being emergency evacuated).
We had a huge buffet breakfast on Sunday before exploring the design museum and then heading to Camden markets to view the graffiti walls, architecture and taste more foods.
We had a very exciting weekend with some brilliant students who behaved beautifully. We look forward to taking another group of students in December 2024. I will be advertising this out in the New Year.
Below is the latest haul from the lost property box.
If your child has lost a blazer, jumper, trousers, coat, pe kits, trainers or shoes please encourage them to come and have a look through the lost property box.
Please remember to name all the school clothes so we can return the items back to your child.
Any property not claimed with be recycled either to the 2nd hand shop or into the clothe bin at the end of this term.
I just wanted to reach out to see if you had given much thought to introducing the young people at John Hanson Community School to Kooth: a free, anonymous service that offers one-to-one text-based counselling for young people.
Safeguarding is always our absolute top priority. Which is why all of the content and every single comment on our platform is fully moderated by trained professionals before being published. In addition, no-one on Kooth can send private messages to anyone else on Kooth - and every conversation that happens through forums is moderated to ensure safety.
All of the therapeutic content we create and all articles submitted by children and young people is also age-gated so that only the most relevant and appropriate content is available to each individual.
Kooth has a team of professional practitioners available to offer 1:1 text-chat support. We’re open 7 days a week until 10pm and are accredited by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy.
We also offer assemblies, in which we can come to your school and explore the topic of mental health with your students, discussing the importance of wellbeing, and signposting the support that is available to them.
I’m sure you’re very busy, so here’s a quick run-down of what teachers and young people think of Kooth:
96% of the young people who use Kooth would recommend us to a friend.
96% of young people told us it was “really important” they could access Kooth after school.
81% of the professionals (teachers, GPs, and mental health professionals) we consulted in recent research told us they’d be “very concerned” if Kooth was no longer available to young people.
Over one million young people have already found support on Kooth – and we’d like the students of John Hanson Community School to join them.
We’re here to help you support your students' mental wellbeing inside and outside of school:
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the LRC as we prepare for the biggest Book Giveaway of the year. The event will run at break, lunch and after school until 3:30pm on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th. Students are invited to come and get books to enjoy in the holidays or to give as a gift to family and friends. Staff will be on hand to wrap these if desired. There is no monetary or book donation required to take books, but Mrs Bailey will be glad to receive any book donations in a good condition that can be used for LRC stock or future giveaways.
Students are reminded that the deadline for entering the Young Writer’s 100-word mini-saga competition “The Glitch” is Wednesday 13th December. Full information can be found on the Young Writers Website and Mrs Bailey is in the LRC between 8:10am and 4pm Monday to Friday to provide more information, guidance and inspiration. You can complete an official entry form, write it on paper or simply email Mrs Bailey by the deadline – just make sure you stick to 100 words! This is a great creative challenge and the chance to be published in a real book, win £50 and a trophy and possibly win book prizes for the school. The best of the John Hanson entries will receive a book prize from the LRC.
The Andover Charities is an organisation which has been in existence in Andover in one form or another since the 1400s, and are able to assist families who live in Andover (north of the A303), including Picket Piece, Picket Twenty, and Augusta Park.
They offer up to £100 Asda or Tesco vouchers per household per year for people in need whether they are on benefits or not. Due to the high rise in the cost of living the charity has found that more and more families are on need of their services.
There are no restrictions on the form as anyone can apply who live in Andover.
Forms will be collated by Mrs Bush and then forwarded onto the Charity. The Charity will decide who will receive the voucher and will deliver the vouchers to the school to be distributed to the families via the student.
Please bear in mind that if you have already received one of these vouchers from another source such as TVBC, Family Support Worker, Citizen Advice then you will not be able to apply this year.
Tuesday Jan 30th 2024 Wednesday 31st January 2024 Thursday 1st February 2024
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:
Human Rights Day 10th December
Words you might not know:
Human Rights are the basic freedoms and protections that belong to every single one of us regardless of nationality, religion or belief. The Declaration of Human Rights was written by the United Nations in 1948 and sets out the rights all humans should have.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at John Hanson.
Please find attached the latest DEI newsletter on Men’s Mental Health. The DEI team will be producing one of these every term for you and your parents to read through – if you have any ideas for content please see Mrs Curtis, Mrs Ferris or Mrs Grinstead. Click here to download the newsletter
College Open Events.
Please do check the individual websites for any changes to the schedule before setting off to visit them
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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