Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending
John Hanson Community School
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
When the going gets tough
Dear Parents/Carers
As we reach the mid-point of the academic year and the days are still dark in the mornings and evenings, it can be challenging for all of us to stay motivated and focused.
However, now is the time where resilience is more important than ever.
Year 11 students are a couple of weeks away from their last formalised opportunity, through their pre-public exams, to judge ‘where they are at’. To find out what they know and what they don’t know, what is embedded in their long-term memory and what is superficial. Now is the time to be motivated, focused and show resilience. If they can take a leaf out of the book of the cast of our school production of Grease this week they won’t go too far wrong.
Year 10 students are a third of the way through their GCSE courses already. This is the time where their hard work and focus will allow them to put down the foundations of future success.
Year 9 students are just about to choose their options for what they want to study in years 10 and 11. It is important that they continue to work hard across all their subjects to put themselves in the best position possible and have the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to tackle their key stage 4 courses.
Year 8 students are unbelievably a third of the way through their secondary educational journey. The majority have had a really positive journey so far and are working hard, even when they may find elements of their studies difficult.
Year 7 are half way through their first year of secondary education. I have been so impressed with the way the majority have settled in to secondary school life. Their hard work, excellent attendance and focus really shows.
Thank you for your support in helping us develop hard working, focused and resilient young people.
Enjoy the weekend with your children.
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
Grease
Show success over three nights
Since its electric Broadway and West End debut in the early 1970’s, GREASE has remained one of the world’s most popular and enduring musicals. Funny, frank and featuring the hit songs “Greased Lightnin’,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” and “Summer Nights,” GREASE follows the journey of Danny and Sandy, alongside the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, as they navigate high school to the unforgettable rock n’ roll soundtrack that defined generations.
Congratulations to all the students and staff involved in this epic production. Accompanied by a live band they acted, they sung and they danced to a full house each evening. The cast were also supported by a back stage crew, and also with sound and lighting crew. Fantastic costumes and props including an amazing grease car were also created by our staff. Thank you one and all.
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 next Book Giveaway is scheduled for February 7th at break, lunch and after school in the LRC. These events continue to grow in popularity so donations of books in a good condition are always gratefully received. Please bring any donations to the LRC or place in the box in Reception.
We have been saddened to learn recently of the passing of former student and dedicated school history expert Mr Gerald “Greg” Gregory. He was 89 years old. Since leaving the school in 1950, he never severed ties with John Hanson – acting as Treasurer and later Chairman of the Old Hansonian’s Committee. He was founder and later President of the Old Hansonian’s Cricket Club and meticulously maintained the Cricket Club records during its 28-year history. During his retirement, Mr Gregory continued his passion for historical preservation through the writing of his book “Aspects of Andover Grammar School 1571 – 1974” (A copy of which is available in Andover Town Library.)
Throughout his life, Mr Gregory regularly attended school events, especially Presentation Evenings, where he would gladly share his extensive knowledge and nuggets of John Hanson trivia. At one such event, Mr Stevens was delighted to discover his claim to fame, learning from Mr Gregory that since the school began in 1569 Mr Stevens is the first person ever to have been a Deputy Headteacher promoted into the position of Headteacher.
The school would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Mr Gregory, but also our heartfelt thanks for the generous donation of Mr Gregory’s extensive school records collection. We are extremely grateful for the wealth of historical artefacts that we have received relating to our school and its history. We are still deciding how to showcase them so that everyone can delve into the history of our school. There are photos and documents dating back hundreds of years, and we are sure they will be treasured by the students of our school for generations to come.
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:
LGBT+ History Month. World Interfaith Harmony week 1st - 7th, 3rd Time to talk day
Words you might not know:
Lesbian: A woman who has romantic and/or sexual orientation toward women. Some nonbinary individuals also identify with this term. Gay: Individuals whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex. Bisexual: An individual who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of another gender. Transgender: People whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Many transgender people will transition to align their gender expression with their gender identity; however, a person does not have to transition to be transgender. Sexual Orientation: A persons' emotional, sexual, and/or relational attraction to others. For some, this attraction is to people of the opposite sex/gender (heterosexual), the same sex/gender (gay/lesbian), or both sexes/genders (bisexual) or to people in general independent of their sex/gender (pansexual or omnisexual). The term can also refer to low or non-existent attraction to any sex/gender (asexual).
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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