Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that your young people have had a good week despite the changeable weather! Our Chinese visitors had a fantastic day in London yesterday and clocked up over 16,000 steps seeing the sights.
We continue to be busy with exams which the young people continue to take in their stride and are regularly coming out pleased with what they have been able to show off in terms of their knowledge and understanding.
I am looking forward to Successful Lives Day next week and seeing how our young people respond to a more cross-curricular approach to their learning.
As we move towards the end of term, a reminder that today is the closing date for signing up for the end of term Activity Day ( the last day of term 6, 18 July) for Year 7, 8 and 9. This is a wonderful opportunity for our young people to end the year on a real positive and celebrate all they have achieved this year.
A further reminder that we have our New Year 7 and 12 Induction on 11 July when other year groups are not expected in school.
Have a good weekend.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Work Experience
At Hardenhuish, work experience (WEX) is an important part of the school’s Careers Programme with students in Year 10 and Year 12 undertaking WEX during the last week of Term 6 in July. WEX is where the student carries out a particular job or range of tasks, under supervision, within a real working environment. As a school, we know that WEX makes a valuable contribution to students’ preparation for the world of work, careers education and planning for life after school. It enriches learning and allows pupils to gain an understanding of the skills and qualities that are required for a specific career, whilst developing their employability and transferrable skills. It is also likely to form an important part of their personal statement or CV.
Students source their own placements and find it very beneficial to their future careers to choose and have ownership of their placement. They are encouraged to start the process of arranging their placements as early in the academic year as possible to have the best chance of securing the right opportunity for them. The WEX process is launched with parents and students in Terms 1 and 2 and support and guidance is available from tutors and Naomi Silverton, the new Careers Lead at Hardenhuish School.
Naomi joins the Careers Team having already worked at Hardenhuish for the last 5 years. She has experience of working with young people but also has worked in industry too, a great combination for supporting our young people to explore their careers journey. Naomi says: “I am excited and delighted to be joining the Careers Team at Hardenhuish. Students are always welcome in the Careers Office for a friendly chat about their WEX placements, as well as any other aspects of their future choices.”
If students can’t find something suitable in person, virtual WEX that can be done from home is a good option. These are some links to companies that offer virtual WEX:
Work Experience – Speakers for Schools
Virtual Work Experience Search (springpod.com)
Student Center | Learn from Top Companies for Free – Forage (theforage.com)
Explore Work Experience – Youth Employment UK
Virtual Work Experience tool | Barclays LifeSkills
4Skills Work Experience – The Programme
Can you offer a Work Experience Placement to our young people?
Our students have an excellent reputation within the local business community and if you can offer a placement, we’d be delighted to discuss this opportunity with you. Please contact Naomi Silverton, Careers Lead at NGS@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk. Information regarding employers’ responsibilities and the required insurance needed to take on a WEX student can be found here: Young people at work – work experience – HSE
Non-uniform Day!
On Friday 20 June we are holding our final non-uniform day of the year to fundraise for our wonderful school charity The Rise Trust. We would be grateful if you could support this event by providing a voluntary donation of £1 payable either on Arbor or collected on the day. Please ensure that clothing is suitable for the school environment. We hope this event will raise valuable funds for The RISE Trust.
River Run – Wednesday 2 July – Would you like to come and race against your teachers?!
Hardenhuish are supporting the local River Run on Wednesday 2 July. There is a full 5k (13 years and over) race and a 2k fun run (4 – 15-year-olds). Nearly 20 teachers have already signed up; would you like to come and race against them?!! You can enter the event via Arbor and you can also donate sponsorship (please note that the deadline for this has been extended until Friday 20tJune). The hope is to raise some much-needed funds to refurbish our PE changing rooms. The start and finish of the event are in Monkton Park, near the Olympiad Leisure Centre. We would like to encourage any pupils running to wear their PE kit when so that this is a Hardenhuish community event.
Mrs Cobb
First Aid
Year 10 Health and Social Care pupils are currently undertaking a Qualsafe Level 2 Award in First Aid Essentials qualification. We have been thrilled to welcome Kathryn Clements from the British Red Cross who is helping to deliver the course. She is running sessions covering burns and bleeds, the recovery position and CPR as well as helping pupils to explore appropriate actions in response to common incidents and the injuries that could occur as a result of them. The pupils have also had the chance to learn more about the broad range of work the British Red Cross carry out – both here and abroad. Thank you for your time and expertise Kathryn, these are invaluable life skills for students and a great addition to their main health and social care studies.
Maths Roadshow
In their maths lessons on Thursday 6 June, all Year 7 pupils took part in the annual Hardenhuish Fun Maths Roadshow. The Roadshow is a collection of problem-solving activities, with a range of challenge and types of puzzles and problems. The session was a great success and we saw many young people enjoying a different aspect and style of mathematics. Pupils were very positive about the experience; below is a quote from one participant
“The Maths Roadshow last Thursday was really fun. We did puzzles, with some we had to make shapes and others we had to use logic. It felt very different from our normal maths lessons! Working on puzzles in a group was really fun and social. There was plenty of puzzles easy and hard to challenge your mind. My favourite puzzle involved putting shapes together to make the letter F. Everybody joined in and all in all it was a great experience.”
We look forward to running the Roadshow again next year!
The Maths Department