Dear Parents and Carers
It has been a very busy week with the Year 11 Prom on Tuesday evening and Open Evening last night as well our Full Governing Board final meeting of the year and Sports Day!
The Year 11 Prom was a joyous evening (despite the rain!) and a lovely opportunity to celebrate with the young people their time at Hardenhuish. They were a delight to spend the evening with and appeared to have great fun – the dance floor was packed! Thank you to the Year 11 Team and teachers for everything they have done to support the young people.
Open Evening last night was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our site and facilities at their best. It was a lovely evening and hopefully enabled prospective young people and their parents to make an informed choice about their secondary school choice.
Our Full Governing Board met on Wednesday evening and have asked me to share their report from this year. Please see the summary below and links to the Full Report, Governor profiles and a feedback opportunity. Thank you to our Governors who give so generously of their time and expertise to support our school.
Sports Day today has started well and we have the track events this afternoon. This is the only occasion when we are able to have all of the school in one place at one time and I am looking forward to this opportunity to celebrate our athletes and be together as a whole community.
I am delighted to launch our Hardenhuish50 Celebration Raffle. Thanks to the generosity of some parents and local companies including John Williams Heating Services, we have some wonderful prizes. Tickets are available to purchase on Arbor (where you can also pay for non-uniform day and make a one-off donation!) and will also be available at our Celebration Open Morning on Saturday 11 July 10-1pm.
Prizes include two hampers, a magnum of prosecco, a £50 M&S Voucher, a £50 ONe4All Voucher, two wine trios and a haul of Hardenhuish branded goodies!
Have a restful weekend – a reminder that next Friday is new Year 7 and 12 Induction Day and no pupils are expected in school. As the weather next week is set to be very warm again we have made the decision to adapt our uniform. Young people can untuck their shirts and do not have to wear ties or could wear full PE kit. Please encourage them to bring refillable water bottles and take care when outside around the site to stay in the shade where possible.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Governing Body Report
This report to parents reflects the activities of the governing body in the academic year 2025-26. The aim is to provide parents and the wider community with better information about governors work in providing oversight, support and challenge to Hardenhuish School. It outlines how governors have performed their statutory roles and how they have had an impact in supporting the school.
Governor Report Summary:
- Governors have played a full and active role in the life of the school.
- Governors meet as a full board six times a year and all attend at least one committee.
- The governors continue to focus on managing the school budget in a climate of increasing costs and not enough government funding.
- The governing body remains stable with an appropriate number of governors with targeted recruitment to fill specific skills gaps when vacancies arise.
- Governors have been involved in the recruitment of teaching staff throughout the year and have appraised the headteacher.
- They have also attended a variety of events and held targeted visits with various departments and faculties within the school.
- Governors have completed a range of training to enable them to best support the school.
- Governors have monitored attendance closely in line with the national priority.
- Hardenhuish remains a very popular choice with families, and we remain oversubscribed for Year 7. There is a waiting list in many year groups.
If you have any feedback about the work of the Governors or things you would like to see included in the report next year, please contact:
ClerktoGovernors@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk.
Governing Body Report to Parents 2025-26
Hardenhuish School Governor Profiles
Focus On – Languages Week 6-9th July
Are you sérieux about languages? Do you appreciate just how fantástico they are? Or are you burying your head in the sable? Well, fear not linguanauts! Languages week is back and we have a literal litany of lexical lovelies for you to get involved in.
We all know that the Eiffel Tower is built from iron, but have you ever imagined what it would be like if it were made of spaghetti and marshmallows? Imagine no longer, as tower-building will be on offer during languages week.
In lessons we’ll be learning about all sorts of cultural oddities, from the French revolution to devils jumping over babies. It’s all going on. We’ll have Taskmaster, a selection of new languages to try out and maybe even some light baking.
A school-wide quiz will take place, with winning tutor groups receiving prizes and even your regular class registers may be taken in another language. Your language teachers will even be invading your assemblies.
It’s a week to celebrate that we’re all living on a planet with so much incredible diversity, where communication comes in different shapes and sizes. Learning about other cultures and the way they speak is one of the best ways to reduce our fear of the unknown and embrace the differences that make this world so fascinating and rich.
Regards
Mr Bruton
Biology Field Trip to North Devon
This week 27 year 12 Biology students went on our annual three-day residential trip to the beautiful North Devon coastline to study ecology and organism adaptations across a range of habitats as part of their A Level studies.
Setting off early on Monday, our first day was spent at Braunton Burrows, a UNESCO Designated Biosphere Reserve and area of outstanding natural beauty. This vast sand dune is home to over 450 species of rare plants and flowers. The students enjoyed lunch on the beach with a fresh coastal breeze (we were very thankful to enjoy cooler temperatures than last week!), before conducting a series of quadrat samples back across the sand dunes. Our focus for the day was on sampling methodology, but also on gaining a greater appreciation for the myriad of plant species on the sand dunes, and how they compete and succeed each other as the dunes evolve.
Our day ended with our arrival after a long but fulfilling day at The Ocean Backpackers Youth Hostel in Ilfracombe. Students had the opportunity to explore the town for a couple of hours in the evening, enjoying Damien Hirst’s sculpture ‘Verity’ and the views out over the North Devon Coast. A couple of students even took up fishing from the pier (unsuccessfully).
The second day started with some ‘lesson’ time at the youth hostel. Students were quickly able to spot their Fucus vesiculosis from their Fucus spiralis and could tell you about the differences between a purple top shell and a common periwinkle. We set out for the rocky shore at Abbotsham late morning, just down the coast from Westward Ho! The students had to put into practice everything they had learned over the previous days to conduct an ecological study of the seaweeds and molluscs living in this extreme environment. With the tide coming in we worked our way up the shore, working admirably in driving rain and wind- the worst conditions I have experienced on the rocky shore in a decade of running this trip. Students carefully identified and recorded the different species, and we are looking forward to reading your project reports over the next few weeks!
Our final day took in the contrasting adaptations found in freshwater habitats using a range of ecological sampling techniques. Students observed first-hand the savage world of a pond ecosystem, with predatory water boatmen and xenomorph-like dragonfly nymphs having to be kept separate from more docile juvenile newts. This was then contrasted with river dwelling mayfly nymphs and cased-caddis fly larvae, existing in a vastly different, but still challenging ecosystem. A particular highlight was the biomimicry on display in the moth trap, although some students did not find our six-legged specimens endearing. We would like to offer our thanks to Monkton Combe School for allowing us use of their facilities and being so accommodating during our visit to the site.
Students were exemplary during the trip, and we particularly appreciated the efforts to keep the youth hostel clean with so many in residence. Thank you for representing the school so well during the trip. We hope that this is an experience that you will look back on with fond memories for many years to come. A massive thank you to Dr Ford for her tireless organisation of the trip- it would not be able to run without your dedication and thoroughness, and I know the students appreciate the time and effort you put in to making this such a memorable part of the A Level course. Also, thanks to Mrs Palmer for your support and encouragement on the trip- I am sure the students appreciated your enthusiasm and knowledge of ecology.
Mr R Kelland
Lead Biology Teacher
School Calendar – Hardenhuish School