13th February 2026
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
HAPPY FRIDAY AND HAPPY HALF TERM A big thank you to everyone in the Honywood community for this half term. Today, as we wave off our Ski Trip, I would like to extend my thanks to the staff who make such an experience possible. They freely give up their week, away from their own families, and for that I am very thankful. Please do keep an eye on our dedicated Ski Trip Facebook and Instagram pages for updates - the updates come thick and fast. As a parent who had a child on the trip last year I really valued the daily updates. Please be patient if you don’t see your child in the updates, it takes a while to get round all the groups. POWER OF READING I recently met with Callum Rider (C11), one of our lead learners. He has been working on a project to raise the profile of reading. One of his ideas was to invite learners to write reviews of their favourite books. Each review brings achievement points with it. Callum has also designed and built a website dedicated to reading. The website can be used to submit book reviews. The website also contains recommended reads across all cohorts with a link to BorrowBox. All our learners have access to borrowbox BorrowBox is your free ticket to thousands of eBooks and eAudiobooks using your local library card! It’s the fastest way to get your hands on our recommendations. Reading offers many benefits to us. Key benefits include: strengthening the brain (improving memory, focus, and analytical skills); expanding knowledge and vocabulary; reducing stress; building empathy and social skills; and boosting imagination and creativity. All of this contributes to better cognitive function, communication, and mental well-being.
Here are the details of those five key benefits: • Strengthens the Brain & Improves Cognitive Skills: Reading is a mental workout, forging new neural pathways and strengthening existing ones, which boosts memory, concentration, and analytical thinking. • Expands Knowledge & Vocabulary: Books expose you to new words and complex ideas, making you a better communicator and more informed about the world • Reduces Stress: Getting lost in a story can lower heart rate and ease muscle tension, offering a healthy escape from daily worries. • Develops Empathy & Social Skills: Experiencing diverse narratives and perspectives helps you understand others’ feelings and experiences, fostering empathy. • Boosts Imagination & Creativity: Reading fiction, in particular, sparks creativity as your brain visualises characters, settings, and plots. A big thank you to Sadie Ward-Green who is our first published book reviewer - see below. Have a lovely half term.
James Saunders
This Week’s Book Review “The novel has an atmosphere as ominous and dark as an approaching storm...” “I thought Once Upon a Fever was a breathtaking and extraordinary fantasy story; it left me in awe with its magical plot, characters and attributes.