Dear Parents and Carers
Thank you for your support of the various activities last Friday. Christmas Jumper Day raised over £400 for the Rise Trust and our Christmas Fayre raised over £3300 for the Friends of Hardenhuish.
The Carol Concert last night was an absolutely lovely way to start our Christmas celebrations with some wonderful performances from our amazing musicians. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped us raise £505 for Doorway and to all of our music and peripatetic staff for their time and patience in supporting our young people. Thank you also to St Pauls who have supported us with this event despite not currently having a vicar!
Thank you for all of your support so far this year, I wish you a restful and peaceful Christmas and look forward to welcoming our community back on Monday 6 January 2025.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on Attendance
Attendance at Hardenhuish School continues to be a focus so that all pupils have the greatest chance to succeed, not only academically, but also enjoy a full school experience to set them up for lifelong success.
In accordance with the new statutory Department of Education Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) (publishing.service.gov.uk) document, we have updated the Attendance Policy, please see below.
Please take a few minutes to read the policy and also the summary of changes document that the Wiltshire Council have asked us to share with you, linked below:
We also want to take this opportunity to let you know that we are legally obligated to provide certain information about your child(ren) to both the local authority and the Department for Education (DfE); details about this can be found in our Parent & Pupil Privacy Notice. This year, an update to existing legislation (Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024) means that we will now be obligated to provide additional information to the DfE, on a daily basis. This information will be your child(ren)’s identifiers, age, ethnicity, gender, and daily school attendance information, along with whether or not your child(ren) are eligible for free school meals, have special educational needs, have an Education Health Care Plan, or is or have been a looked after child.
As this is a large amount of information to be provided on a daily basis, the DfE have provided a means by which the transfer can be sent automatically. This is by using a system called Wonde, which pulls the requested information from the school’s existing computer systems and sends it directly to the DfE. This system has been fully tested and meets information security expectations.
For information about what the DfE will do with this data, please see their Privacy Notice at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65115a04bf7c1a0011bb4640/Privacy_notice_for_schools_daily_attendance_collection.pdf
If you have any questions or concerns about the DfE’s use of your child(ren)’s personal data in this manner, we recommend you address these directly with the DfE, or to the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk). Please can you also let the school know by emailing admin@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk, although please note, that this wouldn’t prevent us from sharing the information with the DfE, as we are legally obligated to do so.
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
In assemblies over the last couple of weeks, pupils and students have explored how rumours – whether spread in school or on social media – can harm others and escalate quickly. They looked at how misinformation spreads and the potential consequences it can have. Pupils and students were introduced to the Pause. Check. Think. Strategy to help reduce the impact of rumours: pause before acting on or sharing information, check the source’s reliability, and think about the consequences of sharing it further.
Deliberately spreading rumours about others is an example of bullying. If pupils or young people are affected by this then we would always encourage them to seek help from parents, school staff or the various reporting channels such as the Stop Bullying form or the email address stopbullying@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk – so that we can help to deal with it. Together, we aim to build a kind and trustworthy school community.
Christmas Jumper Day
Last Friday was Christmas Jumper Day with many Christmassy events happening throughout the day. The Manor Catering team sold festive reindeer brownies at break and lunchtime. Mrs Fennell and the Y11 Food Preparation and Nutrition students and Languages Ambassadors held a Taste of Christmas event, giving students the opportunity try festive food from around the world whilst discovering more about each culture. Also, Mrs Barton and the Sports Leaders held a fabulous 12 Days of Christmas warm-up followed by a Reindeer Race Fun Run!
Thank you to all who took part. Overall, £530 was raised for The Rise Trust which will be added to the £1,116 already raised for the charity since September.
Visit to Cepen Lodge
Over the last 2 weeks the Year 10 Health and Social Care students have enjoyed a visit to Cepen Lodge Care Home, where they have taken part in a range of activities with the residents, learnt more about the varying needs of people with Dementia and the skills and qualities needed for work within the care sector. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students, and they absolutely loved their time chatting to the residents. Thank you to Siobhan and the rest of the team as well as the residents for such a wonderful opportunity.
The Great Hardenhuish Reading Challenge
Congratulations to all of the pupils who have taken part in and completed The Great Hardenhuish Reading Challenge! A prize draw selected ten pupils from Years 7,8, and 9 who had taken part, with each winning a £5 WHSmith voucher. The winning tutor groups were 7DXS, 8ACC, and 9SKH, with each receiving a tin of chocolates. A huge thank you to the Hardenhuish Educational Trust who kindly donated the prizes.
Following its success, the Challenge will reset next term with more prizes to be won! It is a completely fresh start, with a new booklet with different genres to choose from. KS3 Pupils can take part for the first time or take part again, by visiting the Library at the start of term 3 to get a Great Hardenhuish Reading Challenge booklet and chose their first book!
Josh Bailey, Year 13
The Stag Spectator!
A group of Year 12 students have started up a Journalism Club and have just released the first edition of the new student newsletter: The Stag Spectator. This has been distributed to all students via tutor groups, but you can also take a look at this first edition below:
Music Exam Result
Having worked incredibly hard for months, practicing daily alongside her A-levels and other commitments, and backed up by teacher Gary Pike and the school’s fabulous music department, Year 13 student Verity Hodges, recently passed her Grade 8 clarinet. This also means she’s got 18 extra UCAS points to add to her eventual total!
A Festive Christmas Lunch
Netball Season
The Year 7s had a fantastic netball season this year showing great development throughout and finishing off strongly at the Area Tournament. What has been so pleasing is to see so many girls at training every Tuesday and working hard to improve their skills. The girls have had fantastic wins over Malmesbury and KGA and a narrow loss against Sheldon (by 1 goal in the last second) during the season. Leading up to the tournament the girls were feeling positive and knew they could produce good results. The ‘Harden’ team played really well and began to show how well they linked up as a team and remained unbeaten all afternoon finishing in 2nd place due to goal difference. The team showed good development throughout the tournament and know what they need to work on going into their next netball season. What was positive from the ‘Huish’ Team is they played with a smile on their faces all afternoon, finishing in 4th place. I have really enjoyed being part of your season Year 7s and I cannot wait to work with you again next year!! Bring on the football for terms 3+4!
Planned Railway Engineering Work December 2024
What’s happening?
From Xmas Eve night until the early hours of Friday 24 January, Network Rail is replacing track and upgrading signals to the immediate south of Westbury station. Some minor station improvements are also being planned for this period, as well as repairs to the station roof following the recent storm.
What does it mean for train travel?
From 27 December until 23 January there will be no trains running between Westbury, Frome and Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill, Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham.
Train services are due to resume on Friday 24 January. Bus replacement services will be in operation during the closure of the railway.
Where can I find out more/get hold of maps, graphics and other resources?
There is a toolkit at the bottom of our dedicated webpage at www.networkrali.co.uk/westbury
Please check before you travel during this period: www.nationalrail.co.uk or www.GWR.com/upgrade
Full details of the impact can be found online at GWR.com/Wessex or by following this link:
https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering/wessex
The key things to note are that buses replace trains on all routes to and from Westbury during this period, a completely amended timetable will be in operation on all routes to and via Westbury and journeys will also take longer than normal. Our advice is always to check online journey planners before travelling.
Car parking at stations such as Westbury, Trowbridge and Salisbury will be reduced to accommodate bus movements, and in the case of Frome, access to the station forecourt will be controlled by traffic management and parking will be temporarily suspended in its entirety. Options are available in the town but will require a walk to the station. It will remain possible to pick-up and drop-off at Frome station but there may be some delays encountered as a result of the volume of rail replacement buses.
Best wishes
Peter Jones | Communications Manager
Network Rail | Temple Point | Redcliffe Way | Bristol | BS1 6NL
Our Community – Hardenhuish School