Happy Christmas Jumper Day!
Today marks a busy day in our school calendar with Christmas Jumper Day, a Taste of Christmas for KS3 at lunchtime, the Reindeer Run and the Christmas Fayre this evening. All of these events give our young people the opportunity to get involved with some pre-christmas fun but also develop their broader skills in business, event planning and cultural learning. Thank you to all those staff and young people organising and participating in these events today. Thank you for continued generosity in supporting these events and helping us to raise funds for the Friends of Hardenhuish as well as the Rise Trust, our School Parliament chosen charity.
Next week, I am looking forward to our annual Carol Concert at St Pauls on Thursday evening at 7pm which marks the beginning of Christmas for me. We then have numerous Christmas activities on Friday morning ahead of us finishing for the Christmas break at 12.30pm.
There will be some timetable changes in the new year due to staffing changes. Please reassure young people that they will receive a new timetable on 6 January if their timetable is impacted by these.
I hope that you and your young people enjoy the activities today and have a good last week of term.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus On.. Friends of Hardenhuish
The Friends of Hardenhuish is a group of parents, staff and other members of our local community who try to organise a number of events across the year to raise money for resources that improve life at Hardenhuish. These events have traditionally ranged from Christmas Fayres, to Quiz Nights and Summer Events. In past years, the Friends have raised thousands of pounds which are put back into the School but we also hope that the group is a good way for parents to get more involved in the life of the school and find out more about what we do.
The Friends meet as regularly as parents want (sometimes in person and sometimes virtually), but parents and staff can get involved at any time by helping to run a particular event or selling tickets. To be a friend of Hardenhuish you do not have to be a parent, just interested in the success of the School and its pupils.
Another way parents can support the Friends is through EasyFundraising. This is a way to raise hundreds of pounds without having to spend any additional money yourself. Easyfundraising is a free service that allows good causes such as schools to raise money when their supporters shop online with over 2,700 retailers, including Amazon, John Lewis, Next and Argos. So, when, for example, you sign up to a new utility company, buy your weekly online shop or order what you need from Amazon you can raise additional money for the school at no extra cost to yourself if you enter the relevant webpage via the EasyFundraising site. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/JKWXGB/
This year’s first fundraising event is the Christmas Fayre on 13 December (4pm to 6pm in Peter Thompson Hall) and the Christmas Raffle where you could win a Dyson Hairdryer thanks to the James Dyson Foundation. Tickets are still on sale at the Fayre this evening so, if you didn’t get a chance to buy them on Arbor, please head down to the Fayre!
Updates will be sent regularly about future events through the Hardenhuish Headlines but, in the meantime, if you are interested in joining the Friends, please contact Mr Woollin, Deputy Headteacher, for further information.
Last chance for Climbing Club in 2024-2025
The term 3-4 climbing club expression of interest form is now live but will close on Monday at 9am. Due to external exams in terms 5-6 this will be the last chance this year for these longer sessions. Please find the link below. If you would like your young person to be involved in both term 3 and 4 please put that in the comment section.
Climbing Club Expression of Interest Form
Christmas Buskers
Thank you to our wonderful musicians who got the shoppers at Morrison’s into the Christmas spirit on Saturday 7th December playing a selection of Christmas carols and classic songs. They performed for an hour in the freezing foyer with Storm Darragh blasting through the open doors. They raised a fantastic £157.25 for the Hardenhuish Educational Trust. Well done and thank you.
Ready Steady Cook – Royal Navy Visit – Tuesday 10th December 2024
A group of Year 9 students had the opportunity to work with the Royal Navy, on an interactive, Ready Steady Cook workshop. The class was divided into teams, and each team received a box of ingredients to create a main dish and a dessert within 90 minutes. The activity aimed to promote initiative, teamwork, communication, and time management skills. The teams went on to produce amazing Burgers & Chips and Fresh fruit pavlovas.
I was thrilled with the outcomes and both instructors from the Royal Navy commented that many dishes were restaurant standard!!
Well done to all who took part, they were a credit to the school and all learned some great skills. The session concluded with them enjoying the fruits of their labour.
Several students were singled out for outstanding teamwork, best burger, best chips, best meringue and best presentation.
Hygiene Product Donations
This week, Hayden our Wiltshire Youth Councillor and Member of Youth Parliament, and James and Erin from our Student Leadership Team were proud to present donations of hygiene products to Cameron Draisey from Wiltshire Youth Council. These donations will be given to Re:Fresh, a local schools-based charity that provides toiletry and sanitary items to young people in need. Thank you very much for all of your kind donations to the campaign.
Panto Season!
Back in July Year 8 pupil Elsie Southam auditioned to be part of the Junior Ensemble for Cinderella at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon. She’s now in full swing of her many performances, singing dancing and acting, whilst making new friends and fantastic memories. The show runs until 5th January.
Vacancies – Hardenhuish School