Issue 630 - 25th May 2018
Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations Page 6
C8 German Play Page 4
French Exchange Page 7
www.honywoodschool.com | Tel : 01376 561231
Headlines By James Saunders
As we prepare to move into the last half term of the summer and the academic year I would like to thank you all for your support over the last six weeks. I have been made to feel valued and welcome in the community and have enjoyed the many opportunities to talk with so many of our parents, learners, primary school colleagues and the community. Your feedback has been valuable and has helped to shape the direction of the school and the changes that we will be implementing next year. As you will be aware, I have also been busy working with the school to produce our development plan and priorities for next year and beyond. I shall be sharing a detailed plan with you after half term and plan to align this with a summary of the feedback I collected so you can see how your ideas have helped to form our development plan. I would however, like to take this opportunity to talk to you about one particular area that will succumb to some change: our dress code. The dress code was one of the most popular topics within the feedback I received across all areas of our community: parents, staff, learners and the wider public. Each group had a range of opinions and views. When I arrived at Honywood I made it clear that I did not want to put all my energy into changing our uniform. However, what I found was something that was at odds with what you all wanted and was not congruent with the message we were putting out. I found that the dress code was not applied with any consistency which resulted in inequity across the school and was at the heart of a great deal of frustration. I found there to be no issues with our dress code; the issue lie in its implementation and its consistency of application. A key value that stemmed from your feedback was equity. For me it is key to creating a balanced and fair school community. We have all been put in situations where the pressure from peers or even the media begins to encroach on the decisions we make. Our dress code has started to do this. Learners have told me about feeling pressured into buying expensive trainers or a certain cut of denim to fit in with certain groups. Parents have told me the same. I believe that we have a choice. We either have a dress code or we don’t, and if we do have one let’s ensure we use it. Therefore I would like to give you advance notice that we will be ensuring that the published dress code is the one we shall be following and implementing from September 2018. The period from now until then will very much be a transition to get learners and parents ready for the change. I am letting you know this now so that when you begin to replace items you are clear about our requirements come September. So what are you changing you may ask? The are several elements of clothing that learners currently wear that do not fall under our dress code and, from what I can establish, never have. We will be making it clear what our expectations are in our published code. I have asked for this to be revised to clear up any ambiguity. For example, trousers should be black, smart, not denim, chinos or leggings; shoes should be black, not trainers.
Very clear and very binary - we will be able to quickly assess if a learners trousers meet this requirement or not. This should cut down on unnecessary debate and argument so that teachers can focus on the learning. We will be introducing a simple staged and consistent response for those learners that are unable to adopt the dress code. I have included a copy of the dress code at the end of the gazette. I still maintain that uniform, or dress code, is not an area I wish to occupy my energy with. However, my role is not just about me or my opinion. I have taken the effort to canvas the views of a great many groups; it would be wrong of me to not find a solution to address their concerns. I have already spoken to many parents and have received their full support. I have spoken with our Lead Learners who fully understood the need to address this. I hope that you too are able to support us in this minor change to bring our standards and expectations back to where they belong. I am looking forward to continuing to work with you after half term. Year 9 Exam week During Week 38; Monday 2nd July to Friday 6th of July, we are going to hold an examination week for Cohort 9 learners. Our rationale for this is to give these learners an experience of sitting assessments in a formal setting for the first time at Honywood to develop their confidence of being part of this formal process. Additionally, outcomes of these assessments can be analysed and inform future planning for teachers focussed on individuals and their needs to make progress over the next two years. Thanks To Layla Al-Riyami 7RPh and Sarah Evans 7RPh who raised £160 for Water Aid by organising a charity bake To James Bass 10NPo, Oliver Banks 10NPo, Archie Ellis 10MRa, Chloe Gilfillan 10NPo, Louis Harris 10NPo, Oz Harvey 10MGr, Alfie Holland 10HBr, Archie Lack 10NPo, Adam Romano-Critchley 10KHo, Lara Stevens 10 MRa, Patrick Sweeney 10KHo, Maili-Rose Walker 10MRa and Poppy Worboys 10KHo for their excellent behaviour and conduct on their visit to Braintree College. They did us proud, gave a great account of themselves, and represented Honywood in the best possible way. To Jairo Fureraj Perez 8AIs, Aleksander Galecki 8KAr, Matt Gomes 8KGu, Ethan Harding 8KGu, Emma Hornsby 8PBl, Lily Hutson 8EPe, Alex Jennings 8KGu, Hannah Lawrence 8APr, Ruby Megraw 8DCa and Sophie Myhill 9PBl for conducting tours this week.
Parents’ Time Members of the Leadership Team will be available to see parents without appointment: Monday 9.00am—9.45am Tuesday 7.15am—8.00am Wednesday 3.00pm—3.45pm Thursday 5.00pm—6.00pm Friday 7.15am—8.00am
Our Lead Learners met with the Senior Leadership team for their monthly update on their progress with projects and developments.
German Play On Friday 18th May during Learning Session 1, the whole of Cohort 8 saw a German theatre performance entitled ‘Hausarrest’. The play was performed by Malin Uschkureit and Sahin Sezgin; two German native speakers from Onatti Productions. Learners were captivated by the fun and relateable plot and the two actors did a fantastic job of bringing the various characters they played to life. Indeed, some of our Cohort 8 learners even got involved by joining the actors on stage and playing small supporting roles. Although the entire performance was in German, the language had been simplified to help with learners’ understanding and the script contained lots of the vocabulary which had already been taught in learning sessions for German this year. All in all, the performance was an excellent opportunity for learners to enjoy some German culture and for them to experience the German language in an authentic scenario. Miss S Armstrong Here are some quotes from our Cohort 8 learners: “It was good because it gave me an idea of what German fluency sounds like.” Tom 8HGi “ I thought it was really interesting and a fun story line! It wasn’t too hard to understand and it really helped with my German! I would recommend it!” Eloise 8HGi “I really enjoyed the German Play! It was very funny at times and I like how they brought people up on stage.” Ellen 8CRs “I enjoyed the German Play!” Joe 8KGu “I thought the Play was really funny!” Jonathan 8HGi “Personally, I thought it was quite interesting to watch and it was good that the actress was able to change costumes and characters so quickly!” George 8APr “Hilarious play, perfectly detailing the difficult life of many teenagers and the problems they themselves get tangled up into”- 5 stars Hugh 8APr
Engineering Taster Day On Monday 21st May, 13, C10 learners took advantage of a fantastic opportunity to visit Braintree College for an Engineering taster day. During the day, they experienced a wide range of activities from within the Science/Technology/Engineering/Maths sectors, such as structural engineering, building concept design and an employer 'marketplace'. Alongside this, industry leaders were on hand to discuss apprenticeships, courses and career pathways. Staff were hugely impressed with the intriguing line of questioning taken by some of our learners, in particular Patrick Sweeney made a really positive impression. As a group, I was proud of our youngsters who gave a great account of themselves and represented Honywood in the best possible way! Mr Ramsey
C10 Rounders Tournament On Wednesday 23rd May the C10 girls rounders team attended a tournament at HRS. Charlie Shorthall, Emily Reeve, Rhiannon Ellis, Faye Tate, Esme Scott, Maryann Cooke, Esme Convery, Kenzy Sherif, Brandii Whymark and Lilly Brewer as captain played 4 great games. The team won 2 ½ to 2 against Ramsey, they won 8 ½ to 6 ½ against Joyce Franklin Academy Newport. Sadly the girls lost 4 ½ to 5 ½ against Alec hunter in their final pool game meaning they went into the 3rd/4th place play off. In the 3rd/4th playoff the girls lost 5 ½ to 7 ½ Hedingham. Overall the girls did very well. The batter of the tournament is Brandii hitting a full rounder nearly every time. There was excellent fielding from all the girls and exceptional catches from Brandii and Faye, who were deep fielders; Kenzy who was on second base; Maryann who played back stop and Lilly who was bowler for the team. Congratulations girls for coming 4th overall out of the 8 teams. Mrs F Jones
C9 District Rounders Tournament Team: Lauren Bishop, Hannah Byrne, Sadie Cornish, Eleanor Deal, Kate Edwards, Lara English, Alice Forster, Poppy Lord, Mackenzie Perks, Alice Rissen, Oliva Rowley, Izzy Sigourney and Megan Stoney On Tuesday 22nd May 13 strong team of C9 learners competed in the District Rounders Tournament held at HRS. There were two pools and we played against Joyce Franklin first. We started off fielding and made some errors giving away a few rounders meaning we had 5 rounders to beat. The girls batted very well and they managed to match their score and the game ended 5 -5. The next opponents were the hosts HRS who were a very well drilled team. They scored 6 rounders so we had a big score to try to beat which unfortunately was too big a target. The final score against HRS was 2 and a half to 6 rounders. These results qualified us to play off for 5th and 6th place against Alec Hunter. The girls played brilliantly in this game and showed excellent team work and encouragement for each other. They batted strongly scoring 6 and a half and our good fielding kept their score low to only 2 and a half. It was good to finish with a win! Thank you to all the team who represented the school in this competition. Mrs Borella
Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations Wednesday night we held two performances of ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’. This was performed by a cast of 24 KS3 Learners, in the Drama Studio, with the audience sat in the round. The learners had spent many hours rehearsing and perfecting the performance, building their collaboration, confidence skills and many others in order to provide the excellent entertainment the two sell-out audiences were fortunate enough to witness. Congratulations to everyone who took part, you all showed off your skills superbly and you worked so hard towards the show, making many teachers and parents proud. Thank you to all that came to watch performances, we hope you enjoyed it and we look forward to seeing you at our next drama performance which is a Cohort 10 production of ‘Find Me’ which will be performed on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th June. Tickets will be on sale after half-term. The Expressive Arts Team.
The 2018 French Exchange Experience Last week, we had the absolute pleasure of taking 17 cohort 9 learners to Paris, la capitale de France! Our journey started early on Sunday morning as we embarked on the Eurostar to Paris and a few hours later the C9 learners were able to meet their French Exchange partners and families. Some of them even got to spend the day in Disneyland with their exchange partners! On Monday, we braced ourselves against the rain and explored the history of Notre Dame on a guided tour, as well as the legend of Quasimodo, when we climbed up the towers of the cathedral for an amazing view and treated ourselves to ‘La fête du pain’ upon our descent. The learners enjoyed their lunch on a bateau-mouche cruise from where they could see many Parisian landmarks, including la Tour Eiffel which was our next stop. After precisely 674 stairs to the second floor and then by lift, learners and staff members faced their fears and made it all the way to the top of la Tour Eiffel Tower to be rewarded with a bird’s eye view of the city! The following day, our learners followed their partners into lessons and experienced a few lessons in the French partner school, St Michel de Picpus, where some of them had the opportunity to be teaching assistants in English lessons. We then headed to the Arc de Triomphe, from where once again, we could enjoy a great view of Champs-Élysées, and later on went shopping down one of the world’s most famous avenues. Although Wednesday morning we experienced a change of plans, due to strike oh là là ! – the learners visited le Jardin de Luxembourg and even got a workout in a park on the way there! After lunch, the learners treated themselves to the artist life in Montmartre, some even had their caricatures done, and enjoyed a bit of reflection and quiet time in La basilique de Sacré Coeur. On our last day, we were delighted by the beauty and grandeur of Château de Versailles and its impressive gardens and domains. The learners had a wonderful time exploring the gardens, had lunch by the lakes and admired the Kings’ and Queens’ summer houses. In the evening, they had a farewell party organised by their exchange partners, parents and teachers and at this point it was clear that good friendships had been forged. On Friday morning we said goodbye and started our journey back home, our learners now looking forward to welcome their partners to Coggeshall in June. Both Mr Bilby and I are extremely proud of how our learners truly immersed themselves in the French culture, being great ambassadors for our school and how they made the best out of their time there! Merci à tous, Ms A Isac and Mr P Bilby
JOB DESCRIPTION EXAM INVIGILATOR
Exam Invigilator Immediate start
Casual £8.77 per hour (includes holiday allowance)
Honywood School is looking to recruit additional Exam Invigilators to join our established team, assisting with both internal and external examinations throughout the academic year. Duties involve setting up the examination room, distributing and collecting exam papers, supervising learners during examinations, ensuring that there is full compliance with exam conditions and following instructions from the Exams Officer. At the discretion of the Headteacher, such other activities to be undertaken as may from time to time be agreed, consistent with the nature of the job described above Successful candidates will possess excellent communication skills, be able to work in a methodical and organised manner and be able to work on their own and as part of a team. Previous experience would be an advantage but it is not essential as full training will be provided. Applicants must be available to work at agreed times between the hours of 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, on an ‘on demand’ basis during examination periods, but especially during October to November and April to July. To ensure your DBS certificate remains valid you will be required to work at least once every three months outside of the mock and exam seasons. Honywood School is committed to safeguarding children and safer recruitment processes are always robustly followed. The successful candidate’s appointment will be subject to safer recruitment checks and satisfactory completion of an enhanced DBS check. For an information pack, or to organise a pre-application visit, contact Mrs S. Pattison (recruitment@honywoodschool.com), Honywood Community Science School, Westfield Drive Coggeshall, Essex, CO6 1PZ (Telephone: 01376 564708).
PURPOSE:
To provide efficient and effective support to the examination process.
Reporting to:
Examinations Officer
Liaises with:
Staff and children
MAIN DUTIES: To conduct examinations in accordance with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), awarding body and Honywood School instructions. To play a key role in upholding the integrity of the examination process. Before exams
To report to and be briefed by the Exams Officer prior to each exam session To keep exam papers and materials secure before, during and after exams To ensure exam rooms are set out according to the instructions To admit candidates into exam rooms To identify, seat and instruct candidates in the conduct of their exams To distribute the correct exam papers and materials to candidates To deal with candidate queries
During exams
To supervise candidates at all times and be vigilant throughout exams To keep disruption in exam rooms to a minimum To deal with emergencies or irregularities effectively To record/report any disruption or irregularities To complete attendance registers To deal with candidate queries
After exams
To collect exam scripts To dismiss candidates from the exam room To check candidates’ names on scripts match the details on the attendance register To securely return all exam scripts and exam materials to the Exams Officer
Other
Closing Date for completed applications: 22nd June 2018
Learners in Cohort 10 will be completing their mock exams for speaking in French, German and Spanish after the half term holiday. German exams will take place during the week beginning Monday 4th June and French and Spanish exams will take place during the week beginning Monday 18th June. Every learner in Cohort 10 will be emailed their date and time slot and their Learning Group Leaders will also been provided with the information. It is essential that learners arrive punctually to their exams and pay particular attention to the dates and times; as with real GCSE exams there are no mop up sessions. Speaking contributes 25% to the overall GCSE grade and therefore it is vital that learners revise and prepare effectively in order to build their own confidence. In Cohort 10 MFL classes learners have been preparing answers to key questions in French, Spanish and German and have also practised techniques for the three different elements of the exam; Role Play, Photo Card and General Conversation. As a team, we are dedicated to help learners build their confidence with speaking a foreign language as much as possible! We would encourage all youngsters to attend after school support sessions (Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays) and to book MLCs with an MFL teacher. We wish all of our youngsters in Cohort 10 lots of luck and success in their mock speaking exams!
To attend training, refresher or review sessions as required To undertake, where required and where able, other duties requested by the Exams Officer, for example supervision of clash candidates between exam sessions Facilitating access arrangements for candidates, e.g. as a reader, scribe etc (full training will be provided) Exams related administrative tasks
Dress Code Dress Code
We have high expectations of our learners in respect to dress code. We expect them to dress smartly and take pride in the way they present themselves. Our dress code centres around respect for oneself, other people and the world around you. It is for this reason that we will not accept learners who do not make an effort to dress smartly, having your top button undone, your tie unfastened and your shirt untucked, shows a lack of respect for the serious learning ethos in which we believe at Honywood and will, therefore be consistently challenged here. Within this framework of respect, our expectations for our dress code are as follows: Girls Skirt - Black, knee length. Sold via Anglia School and Sports Wear. Short skirts or skirts made of a clingy jersey fabric are NOT ACCEPTABLE. Or Trousers - Smart and black. Denim, chinos and leggings are NOT ACCEPTABLE. Shirt - White / pale blue with top button for wearing with a tie. Tie - Sold via Anglia School and Sports Wear. Shoes - Smart black leather/leather upper, flat/low heeled shoes suitable for school. Shoes with sports or logo branding are unacceptable, this includes trainers/canvas type footwear. Jumper - With school motif, Royal Blue for Cohorts 7 and 8 and Black for Cohorts 9, 10 and 11 (sold via Anglia School and Sports Wear).
Boys Trousers - Smart and black. Denim, chinos and leggings are NOT ACCEPTABLE. Shirt - White/Pale blue with top button for wearing with a tie. Tie - Sold via Anglia School and Sports Wear. Shoes - Smart black leather/leather upper, flat/low heeled shoes suitable for school. Shoes with sports or logo branding are unacceptable, this includes trainers/canvas type footwear. Jumper - With school motif, Royal Blue for Cohorts 7 and 8 and Black for Cohorts 9, 10 and 11 (sold via Anglia School and Sports Wear). Bag - Suitable for carrying a range of text and exercise books and an iPad Where learners choose to wear jewellery, this should be minimised. We accept that some learners will choose to have their ears pierced, however, the issue of body piercing, whether this be in the ear or elsewhere, raises a number of potential health concerns. We will not, therefore, accept any learner attending with piercings other than those in their ears. Where ears are pierced, once again for safety reasons, small stud earrings must be worn. If learners or parents/carers are unsure as to the suitability of clothing/footwear please contact the learner’s Learning Group Leader in the first instance who will be happy to advise on the suitability of the clothing/footwear. We do not want parents/carers to be in a difficult position, having purchased clothing/footwear which does not meet the expectations of our dress code. On the rare occasion that a learner may not be able to adhere to the dress code due to unforeseen circumstances, parents/carers need to send them in with a note and/or email their Learning Group Leader. We would expect that this would be rectified as soon as possible and within the time frame of one week, allowing families adequate time to resolve the particular issue. https://parent.honywoodschool.com/information/about-the-school/dress-code/ www.yourschoolwear.co.uk/honywood-school-148-c.asp
My Learning Choices Enterprise & Solutions MLCs this week are available to C7 learners that would like help developing their ‘Guide to being a successful Entrepreneur’ magazine. Sessions will also be available for C8s that would like to develop their understanding of multinationals and social enterprises, in order to enhance the depth of their Season 10 investigations. Business Studies MLCs this week will be focused on how communication within a business becomes more difficult as it begins to grow and how businesses aim to overcome this issue by adapting its hierarchical structure. Sessions will also be available for C10s who would like to develop their understanding across the ‘Business in the Real World’ and/or ‘Influences on a Business’ topics, as they build towards an all topics assessment in week 36. MFL Cohort 7, with your Skills Week assessments for Reading and Writing approaching after half term, take this opportunity to book an MLC with your languages teacher today! English How is your learning progressing in English so far this year? Take some time to review your learning: What have your most recent learning points been? What is it that you can do to improve? What’s holding you back from achieving your learning point? Are you getting the same errors highlighted in your work again and again? Don’t hesitate to book an MLC session today to ensure you move forward with your English learning
Important Dates 12th June - Intake Day 1 14th June - Intake Day 2 14th June - Intake Evening 7pm 22nd June - Sport’s Day 25th June- 29th June C7 Danbury C8 Ambitions for the Future C9 Aspiration Week C10 Portsmouth/Work Experience 29th June - C11 Prom
Congratulations Congratulations to Layla Al-Riyami and Sarah Evans 7RPh who held a bake sale last weekend at St Peters church. They raised a fantastic £160 for Water Aid. When asked what had inspired them to do this they said “we love baking cakes so we thought we would put that to good use and raise money for such a brilliant charity!” Well done girls!
Trainee Advert Vacancy for an entry level Trainee Estimator/Quantity Surveyor at Knight Group, London Road, Kelvedon, Essex, CO5 9BU Contact Charlotte Perry (Human Resources and Marketing Assistant) Tel: 01376 574451 Email: Charlotte.Perry@knightgroup.co.uk www.knightgroup.co.uk
Well Done to our Cohort 8 Duty Receptionists Emily De Silva Maleek Godward Sienna Gray Alex Larner Hugh Morris
Family Learning Team
email FLT@honywoodschool.com If your youngster is absent please email attendance@honywoodschool.com