Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending
John Hanson Community School
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
Good Attendance = Good Outcomes
Dear Parents/Carers
Attendance by students at school continues to be in the national news. Quite rightly the Government and the Department for Education are really concerned about the pattern of poor attendance across the country. While attendance by students to our school is above national average, 1 in 5 John Hanson students is persistently absent. This means they are missing the equivalent of 1 day of school per fortnight.
While for a small number there will be legitimate health related reasons, there are currently far too many students who are not seeing the importance of being at school on a regular basis.
We do not have to look outside John Hanson to see the impact that attendance has on student’s academic progress and indeed the development of their social skills.
The majority of students who are persistently absent (attendance below 90%) underachieve academically. They are most likely to achieve at least 1 grade lower per subject than their peers who attend well. They also miss out on all the really important social and socialisation aspects of school, they take less advantage of after school clubs and school trips and some find it much harder to make friends.
For Year 11 Students
When it comes to post-16 education the impact becomes even greater. On average the difference between 85% and 95% attendance is 2 grades in every subject being studied. For most students this would be the difference between getting on the higher education course they want or securing their desired career path.
Unless your child has a high temperature or has a medically confirmed illness/injury that prevents them attending school they should be here.
Enjoy the weekend with your children.
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
Performing Arts
Grease
Show Dates in 2024
Tuesday Jan 30th 2024 Wednesday 31st January 2024 Thursday 1st February 2024
Tickets are available now!!
Exact cash please - morning break PA block
PSHE day 3: Friday 19th January
For our next PSHE day of the year,
Year 7 will cover Parents in Prison in their tutor session and follow a carousel of activities including: Refugees & Human Rights, British Values, Unsafe situations, Mental Health: your emotions and a careers focus too. They also have a session with an external speaker from Stand Against Violence on County Lines and Grooming.
Year 8 will cover a carousel of sessions on: Understanding a Planet, Climate Change, The Plastic Problem, Local Nature Reserves, Recycling and Grow your Own.
Year 9 will have an assembly with Andover and Sparsholt College, followed by a carousel of sessions on: The Options Process for GCSE, Life after John Hanson, Choices, Employment, Life Skills and an external speaker from SUN will deliver on getting career ready.
Year 10 will cover Parents in Prison in tutor time followed by a carousel of sessions on: Knife crime, Healthy relationships, Mental Health Awareness, Gender based violence, Honour based violence and a session with Stacey Miller on understanding the effects of self-harm and mental health conditions on family and friends.
Year 11 will cover Knife Crime in tutor time followed by a carousel of sessions on: Coercive Control, Online relationships, Driving Safety, Having a Child and Condom demos.
If you have any questions or concerns about this PSHE day please do contact your child’s Head of Year in the first instance.
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:
The ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Series is a funny favourite of our Year 7 and 8’s so it was a ‘no-brainer’ for us to buy a copy of the latest book in the series. We’ve also bought the sixth adventure in Rick O’Riordan’s Percy Jackson series ‘The Chalice of the Gods’ and book five in the Murder Most Unlikely series ‘Mistletoe and Murder.’ At the suggestion of one of our most avid readers in Year 11 we have also bought a copy of the very popular romance novel ‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ by Ali Novak. It’s a joy to see the wonderful variety of reading tastes we have amongst the student population.
The LRC Suggestions and Requests online form is still on the desktop of all our students. Students are of course very welcome to use the actual Suggestions Box in the LRC if they would prefer to, or simply come and speak to Mrs Bailey our LRC Manager. Seeing the delight in a student’s face when they’re loaned a much sought-after book is Mrs Bailey’s favourite part of the job, so keep those ideas coming!
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:
11th International Thank You Day
Words you might not know:
Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Thankful: pleased and relieved, expressing gratitude and relief.
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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