6th June 2025
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
TRANSITIONS Happy Friday! Well done on making it to the end of a busy first week back. We are full steam ahead toward the end of term but there is still much to achieve. It is vitally important that learners maintain high standards and positive engagement in their lessons. I know that concentration can be difficult when temperatures rise, but collectively I know that we can work together to maintain our purposeful and productive atmosphere around school. In a week and a half C11 will have completed a gruelling exam season and will then be heading off to the C11 Prom. Prior to the C11 prom we have our intake days for current C6 learners. Currently we are set to have over 180 learners attending Honywood in September. We know that relationships and the individual learner are important units of currency here at Honywood and in the context of our intake they couldn’t be any more important. Our cohort will be coming from almost 40 different primary schools. Only a handful of them have more than two children and make up 60% of the cohort. Therefore, the other 40% is made up of over 30 schools. There are many children that are the only child coming from their school. With so many children in this position it is vital that we support them in their transition to feel a sense of belonging as quickly as possible. There are two main factors that contribute to a successful transition: 1. being academically and behaviorally involved in the school 2. feeling a sense of belonging in the school Our intake days and the start of the autumn term are designed to achieve these aims.
With C11 on the way out, C10 are now the leaders of the school. The week kicked off for them with Mock Interviews with a range of external employers. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the employers who all commented on how wonderful our learners are. I also spoke to a few learners after their interview. They had great feedback about the process and found it really helpful to them. I am sure this experience will help them as they enter adulthood and need to start attending interviews. Having completed their recent mock exams, we look forward to our C10 parents evening on Wednesday 18th June. This is a crucial time for parents to understand the specific actions that our learners need to take to enable them to be successful. Previous parents evenings have been well attended and have produced a real sense of energy in the hall as our teachers engage with families and learners. Teachers love talking to parents about how learners are doing and how best to support them. I look forward to seeing C10 families in a few weeks time. Have a lovely weekend.
James Saunders
PRIDE MONTH It’s Pride Month, which marks the celebration of and focus on LGBTQ+ communities. It is also an important time to shed light on the difficult everyday situations which many young people who are exploring their sexuality or who identify as LGBTQ+ find themselves in. In 2021, Childline reported a 29% increase in the number of young people speaking about ‘coming out’ compared to the previous year.