Dear Parents and Carers
As you will be aware we have recently hosted a group of young people and their teachers from China and we have been asked to host a further group of Year 7 age young people in June. We have explained the programme to young people in Years 7 and 8 in their assemblies this week who will be helping them in school and if you are interested in hosting and providing a homestay opportunity for them whilst they are with us, please see below for further details.
A massive thank you to Hardenhuish Education Trust (and many of you for your generous donations!) who have supported us in inviting the “I can, I am” bus into school to work with our Year 8s over the last few days. It is wonderful that donations to the Trust can be used in such a positive way to support our young people and enhance their experiences in school.
Please can I ask you to be considerate to local residents, other road users and the safety of our young people when you are dropping them off or picking them up from school at any of our entrances and exits by parking safely and not causing obstruction .
Have a good weekend.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on Revision
In order to support our students in achieving their potential, one of the key skills we practice in school is that of revision. Revision in its simplest form is reviewing or revisiting previous work with the aim of embedding this knowledge.
All of our students receive advice and guidance in how to revise through the Successful Lives Program, which is delivered in tutor time. This ranges from the Year 7 students learning about study skills, to Year 11 students looking into more specific techniques, such as flash cards, retrieval practice and looking at some websites.
One of the key things we want our students to understand is that it is important to balance the type of revision that they are undertaking.
Students can think of breaking revision into three parts:
• Looking over the content
• Practicing the skills
• Checking if they have understood correctly.
When the time comes for students to start their revision, it can potentially be a stressful time. If your young person is finding the pressure of exams stressful, there is useful advice for parents on how to support their child on the NHS website: Help your child beat exam stress – NHS (www.nhs.uk). There is also a lot of support available in school, through the Tutor, the Pastoral Manager, Learning Manager, Subject Teacher or SEN Department.
Year 11 students can also refer to their Revision Routes booklets, which serve as a useful guide to revision skills as well as information regarding the timing of different subjects’ revision sessions in school so students can plan their weeks around when they can get extra support.
Year 13 trip to CERN By Grace Dowdeswell
From the 22nd of January until the 23rd of January, the Year 13 physics students went away to Geneva, Switzerland. This is an annual trip run by the physics department each year, and a wonderful opportunity for A-Level physicists to see how course content can be used in a real-world context by visiting The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (more well-known as CERN).
We met early in the morning on Wednesday the 22nd at Bristol airport, and everyone was in good spirits. Our flight departed at 10.30 GMT, and we landed safely at 13.30 local time, which meant that we had just enough time to make it to the Red Cross Museum to view both their permanent and temporary exhibitions.
The museum itself, although at some points harrowing, was captivating, and provided a different perspective on the tremendous amount of work that the Red Cross put in to help families and communities worldwide.
After the visit to the museum, we made our way to the hostel to drop off our belongings before dinner, and after dinner, we walked out into Geneva as a group. We were incredibly lucky to have the trip happen at the same time as Geneva’s festival of light. We had an hour and a half to explore, and many of us admired the show that had been put on. Various displays illuminated the city; finding all of them was a fun and satisfying way to spend the evening.
The next morning after breakfast, we checked out of the hostel and took the tram to CERN. When we arrived, we went straight to the science museum, which was an interactive and immersive experience about how particle accelerators work, the nature of subatomic particles, and even life at CERN. We also attended a talk about materials and superconductivity, and it was awesome to see the course content in action!
After some time in the gift shop, we had lunch in The Big Bang Café at CERN and then walked to the airport to get on our flight home. It’s safe to say that when we got back to Bristol, we were exhausted from the walking, the travelling and the business of the 2 days we had spent away, but we were also inspired. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and one that we won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Grace’s note: Big thanks to Mrs Murphy for organising and Mrs Murphy and Mr Winter for putting up with us all for 2 days.
Girls in Maths – Thursday 30 January – Bath University
I attended the “Girls in Maths” event at the University of Bath, organised by the Advanced Maths Support Programme. I went with fourteen other girls from Hardenhuish and at the event we were joined by Year 8 and 9 girls from other schools. The day consisted of practical workshops and a Q&A session with students from the university.
The first workshop was “Chasing Storms” with Dr Emily Walsh from UWE. She talked about how to predict storms and how intense they would be using maths. I never really thought maths could come in handy when predicting weather, but I was fascinated to learn how maths could be applied in this way! In my opinion, this session was really useful because we were able to work in teams to forecast storms using the formula we had been shown and then putting a weather warning up to show our final answer.
We then had a Q&A session where we were able to ask four post and undergraduate students from Bath University about a range of topics predominantly about maths, although one girl was curious about what kind of cheese the University students liked!
After a brief break for lunch, we went to our second workshop during which we constructed our own creative data graphs. The start of this session was focused on Florence Nightingale, who as well as being a famous World War 1 nurse was also an English statistician. We looked at another woman who made interesting data graphs before being invited to make our own data graphs with data we had been provided. We made our graphs colourful and creative with each adding our own unique style.
After the second workshop, we had a talk from mathematicians Alison Kiddle about hexagons and why they were the best shape! We were shown a step-by-step guide on how to make a paper hexagon by Alison. After making the hexagons, Alison said to find two other people and tile the hexagons together. When we did, we found out that hexagons are able to tessellate, meaning they can be tiled together repeatedly! We were shown a real-world example in beehives and how honeycomb is comprised of a pattern of hexagons.
My friends from Hardenhuish and I really enjoyed the day, especially the hexagons session! We found the experience very entertaining, and I don’t think any of us knew that maths could be connected with so many other expected things like art, design, the natural world, and the built environment. I really enjoyed the day, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering attending a future “Girls in Maths” event!
Year 8 Pupil
Hardenhuish Brilliance at Youth Speaks Competition
On Saturday 1st February, two teams of students travelled to Taunton School for the District Final of Youth Speaks – a public speaking and debate competition. This prestigious competition is run by local rotary clubs, with students from across the local area taking part in this round.
Our Intermediate team – Izzy Westlake, Ted Lovell and James Powlson – dazzled, opening the event with characteristic enthusiasm, humour and joy. Their topic – whether school should be less stressful – was met with lots of applause from the assembled audience, with the claim that ‘stress was equivalent to broccoli; you don’t enjoy it but apparently you will be grateful you ate it in the future’ receiving particular enthusiasm.
Our Senior team – Amelie Taylor-Fall, Isabella Dixon and Amelia Buss – were outstanding in their round. Their speeches were well written, delivered clearly and confidently, and engaged the audience fully. You could have heard a pin drop as they spoke. Their topic – whether humans are the most dangerous animals in the world – was rigorously researched, with such facts as ‘1 in 20 men believe they could beat a bear in a fight’!
Though neither team progressed to the next round of the competition, they represented the school on this prestigious stage beautifully. Despite the grandeur of the setting and the formality of the event, they were not thrown off, with all six students presenting themselves confidently. They have made Hardenhuish proud.
Student Voice
This week, students took part in a focus group with Mrs Wood, Mrs Mullings-Grey, and Mr Langley to discuss the Manor Catering summer menu. Students shared their thoughts on the food and drink that they are currently enjoying in school and ideas for the upcoming summer menu. This student voice will be used to shape the exciting new summer menu!
Health and Social Care
Year 10 Health and Social Care students enjoyed a great, fully packed day out on Friday to learn about a variety of roles and settings in the field of health and social care, degree courses for practitioners and some of the amazing work Health and Social Care providers carry out to make positive difference to people’s lives. They spent time at The Glenside Mental Health Hospital Museum, taking part in a handling workshop, facilitated by Stella Man, to learn about care for people experiencing mental ill health issues through history right up to the current day. While there, they were able to learn about a range of supportive interventions, including the use of straight jackets, modern medicine, as well as a range of meaningful occupations to promote wellbeing. They spent time at The Glenside campus in UWE, Bristol and were given a tour by 2nd year Student Nurse Gladys, who shared information about university life. They were able to try out some of the training facilities, as well as learning more about the nursing programmes at UWE, through a workshop given by one of the Lecturers and Course Co-Ordinators, Denise. They then spent the afternoon at Fairfield Trust Farm in Trowbridge, enjoying feeding some of the animals and meeting the CEO Vicky Dunnicliffe, who talked about the broad range of opportunities and person centered care they offer young people and adults to live without barriers.
Thank you so much to all of our wonderful hosts. This was so inspiring for the students; they had such a fabulous day, and it also helped them to link theory to practice perfectly!
Cyber first ‘hackathon’ event – Monday 3rd February
On Monday around 62 Year 8 and 9 pupils took part in a problem solving and logical thinking competition. Headed by ‘cyber first’, seven different organisations and companies came into school to run a variety of challenges with pupils, testing both their quick thinking and team working skills. The challenges ranged from code breaking, to programming a robot to complete a circuit. Each team was awarded points for their efforts, with a winning team being crowned at the end of the event. It was great to see so many young people working together, solving problems whilst also learning more about the need for cyber security in our society. All the Year 8 and 9s who took part were amazing, and I am grateful for the time spent by both the cyber first team, and the external organisations allow an event like this to take place.
Tim Phillips – Curriculum leader for ICT & Computer Science
Green Team
Green Team have been busy maintaining the allotment this term. We have transferred some of our trees into the sheep field and found new homes for the others via members of staff. Our next steps are to repair some of the raised beds and begin planting seeds in the greenhouse.
As we start to prepare the allotment again, we are in desperate need of some tools and supplies. If you feel you have anything you may be able to donate, we would be so grateful. In particular, we are looking for spades, rakes, brushes, watering cans, water butts and any seeds we could plant, for example carrots, seed potatoes and radishes to name a few. We’re also hoping to establish a wildflower area; if you have any wildflower seeds (without poppies) we’d love to have them.
Thank you to those of you who completed the school travel questionnaire which went out earlier this week.
Games & Puzzle Boxes
We have recently been donated some money from the Hardenhuish Educational Trust to replenish our game and puzzle boxes in the maths department. These boxes are used by pupils in our weekly KS3 maths club on a Monday lunchtime, as well as in class as an end of term activity and are a great resource.
If you have any spare games such as Dominoes, playing cards, Uno or Dobble that you no longer use and would like to donate we would be very grateful.
Thank you, Mrs Cobb
PUPIL ABSENCE HOTLINE:
01249 650693 (option 1) / 01249 767390
Email Address: absence@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk
Notifying the School of Absence or Lateness
Parents are encouraged to inform the school as early as possible of a pupil’s absence/lateness either by telephoning and leaving a message on the Pupil Absence Hotline 01249 767390 which is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week OR by completing an absence request form: Pupil Absence Requests – Hardenhuish School OR by e-mailing the Attendance Officer at absence@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk . If no contact is made by a parent, the Attendance Officer will make contact via text or telephone. If there is still no contact via, or in response to, these methods, the absence will be considered as unauthorised.During periods of prolonged absence parents are asked to keep the Attendance Officer informed regularly.
Term time holidays
As a result of Government recommendations, we cannot authorise any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. An electronic request form is available from the website.
Pupil Absence Requests – Hardenhuish School
Could you host an international student?
After two successful visits, Hardenhuish School are joining with St John’s School in Marlborough to take part in hosting a group of up to 30 Chinese pupils in June for 4 weeks. This exciting venture is being run in coordination with two schools in China who have visited the UK on a number of occasions, with pupils speaking impeccable English and who were extremely friendly and well-behaved, many forging lasting friendships with their host families.
As the children are early secondary school age, we are ideally looking for families with children in Key Stage 3 who would be able to offer hospitality from 1 – 28 June 2025. We would also be happy to hear from families with older children. You do not have to have a spare bedroom, just a spare bed and enough space to fit the student in comfortably during this time.
Our visitors will be shared equally between families from Hardenhuish and St John’s, and will have four weeks in a school, following our curriculum and improving their ability to understand and speak English. They will also follow a programme of weekly visits to places of historic and cultural interest.
Families will be recompensed towards costs of housing and feeding their Chinese pupil.
Please this form to register your interest by Monday 24 February; we will then be in touch directly with further details about what is involved when hosting a student and next steps.