Headlines By James Saunders 2nd October 2020
"You can find poetry in your everyday life, your
memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart." - Carol Ann Duffy Yesterday was national poetry day. Over the course of the week Mr Tolhurst has made poetry the theme of his daily inspirational quotes. I have picked out two of my favourites to start and finish today’s headlines. We are starting to get into the swing of the term now. It has been a joy to see learners getting back into their old routines. Staff too have now settled really well and have adapted their teaching to our new way of delivery within the covid restrictions. This week the leadership team have been working with the maths team and it has been a delightful experience. We have been into lots of lessons and have had a great look at how learners are approaching their mathematics learning from C7 to C11. What struck me was the improved positive and purposeful climate that exists within maths lessons. We did something similar this time last year and the growth within the team has been great excellent progress. Not every school is blessed to have a fully staffed maths team and that in those that have you will rarely find them all to be qualified to teach maths. I am pleased to say that is not the case at Honywood. It is probably one of the reasons that one strength of what we saw this week was the subject knowledge of our teachers. This is really important and vital for a teacher to be able to go off topic and follow the threads that curious learners can often pick at in a lesson. I would like to thank Mr Powell and his team as well as all our maths learners for opening up their lessons this week. It is at this time of year our C11s start thinking about their next step. This usually involves some sort of college application. I often find myself supporting them with their applications, personal statements and references. This week I had the privilege to work with two of our C11s - a boy and a girl. Both of them were a genuine delight to talk to.
Reading their accomplishments inside and outside of school was impressive but what struck me most was that a personal statement is so much more that a simple set of grades. It is about demonstrating character, values and a positive demeanour. The trick to any successful application is getting the balance of all these components right. One of those applications I received was for Eton college. It was a real pleasure writing a reference to the college. However, it was clear that they are looking for more than just stellar academic credentials. They too are looking for that extra stuff; the stuff that defines who we are: character. Learning reviews This is a gentle reminder that we will be conducting our learning reviews on Tuesday 5th January. The office is currently busy putting together the schedule of appointments and will be writing to you shortly with an appointment slot. For those of you new to Honywood, the learning review is our alternative to the traditional parents evening. Rather than provide you with the opportunity to rush around grabbing a couple of minutes with each classroom teacher we get the learning group leader to do that for you so that they have a holistic overview of each learners progress. The meeting takes place with the learning group leader and will be led by the learner so that they take ownership of the process and the targets generated. I would like to thank families in advance for supporting us with the learning reviews. This year the majority of our learning reviews will be taking place online. We will be sharing details of how this will work nearer the time but in the meantime please save the date. I wish you all a safe and happy weekend. I will end with another poem: "A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone's knowledge" - Dylan Thomas
Dates for the diary
We will be charging 50p to provide a mask for a learner as of Monday, the cost of which will be deducted from their cashless catering account.
We are now receiving nominations for the October Jack Petchey award. If you know of a learner that deserves to be nominated for this award, please email Mrs Frogley cfrogley@honywoodschool.com with the learners name and reason why you believe they should receive the award. If you would like more information on the criteria, visit the Jack Petchey website: https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/ opportunities/grant-programmes/achievement-awards/
To report an absence : Call: 01376 - 561 231 - option 1 Email: attendance@honywoodschool.com
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Friday 2nd October
Non learner day, staff only in school
Monday 5th October
Year 6 tours week 1
Tuesday 6th October
6pm Headteacher talk to year 6 families 7:30pm Headteacher talk to year 6 families—booking essential
Thursday 8th October
6pm Headteacher talk to year 6 families 7:30pm Headteacher talk to year 6 families—booking essential
Monday 12th October
C11 mocks commence Year 6 tours week 1
Monday 19th October
C11 mocks week 2
Monday 26th October
Half term
Monday 2nd November
Return to school C11 mocks week 3
Monday 9th November
C11 mock practicals
Friday 13th November
Non learner day, staff only in school
ParentPay is our preferred method of payment and allows Parents to top up dinner cards, make payments for trips and gives access to payment history. If you require an activation letter please contact Miss Giles in the school office. If you don’t have access to the internet or need to pay for items in cash we can issue you with a ParentPay barcode letter which can be used in at any PayPoint outlet , this includes most Co op’s, McColl’s or Esso Garages or any store displaying the Yellow Paypoint logo such as Spar at Witham, Marks Tey Post Office and Stores, Sainsburys Local Halstead and One Stop Kelvedon.
Parents’ Time Members of the Leadership Team will be available to see parents without appointment: Monday
7:15am—8:00am
Wednesday
3.00pm—3.45pm
Friday
7.15am—8.00am
Tours for current and prospective parents are available on Wednesdays , 9:15am—10:15am.