15th May 2026
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
LEARNING AND PROGRESS Learning and progress. Two words that are often at the heart of any conversation about school and education. They are often topics of discussion during our parent tours of the school. I have been asked many times about learning and progress. What’s learning like at Honywood? Are children making progress? It can be very hard to see learning and progress in a short space of time which makes it tricky to point people to lucid examples that illustrate my answers. Learning is not always visible in neat little chunks; it is not always tangible. What is visible is the calm and purposeful learning environment and the behaviour for learning that our learners demonstrate and model so well. It is in a climate such as this that learning and progress are able to thrive. But is it possible to see learning and progress? Is it possible to measure it? I would like to focus on sport. As a sports fan I love following the progress of my teams and players. As a Tottenham fan that is not much fun currently. Recently we have highlighted many sporting accomplishments of our learners in the community. Here’s what we have heard about in the last week: C7 Max, Jax, James, Seb, Finley and Ozzy from C7 recently won the Colchester & District youth football league A division, representing Coggeshall Town U12’s Jenson in C7 and his team secured a double
this season - winning the Division 4 Cup in April, followed by the Division 4 League title in May. C8 Zac, Eddie and Heath in C8 won the U13’s Colchester League Open Cup last Saturday, representing Tiptree Jobserve U13 reds. They are hoping for a double with another cup final tomorrow. C9 Annie in C9 has been recognised in the Essex Player Development Programme Awards, receiving the Coach’s Player Award for her outstanding Netball ability as one of only 10 girls in the county playing in this programme. C10 Henry in C10 completed the Colchester 10km run on Sunday in a time of 48 mins 23 secs! We love hearing about the accomplishments of our learners.
sporting
Sport is an area where progress and learning can be quite visible. I have watched quite a few school team games where the process of coaching has really supported them. We all make mistakes. It is a vital part of the learning process. Sport is no different. It’s fair to say that even when we win, a few mistakes are often made. However, it is through the coaching of our teachers that improvements and gains are made. What I witness when watching our school teams is tangible visible learning. They learn about each other; about the opposition; about where