Dear Parents and Carers
It has been lovely to see our site used so brilliantly this week for various events including the Pride Picnic on Monday and the Year Group runs for Sports Day during lunchtimes this week. Our young people have also been involved in supporting the Chippenham Games for the new Year 7 and winning the Area Athletics competition at Bath University which is a great achievement!
Successful Lives Day yesterday was a wonderful opportunity for our young people to engage in some cross-curricular and careers learning. Year 7 had Classics Day, Year 8 had Cluedo Day where they try to solve my murder(!), Year 9 had a Life Skills Day. Years 10 and 12 visited local Universities in Bath and Cardiff to explore what opportunities might be available to them in the future.
Our Chinese visitors spent the day in Bath and had a lovely time. It has been great to see their English skills improve and to see them involve themselves in Hardenhuish life with many running the Tutor Group Lunch run to earn points for Sports Day!
The planning for our Hardenhuish50 events has started this week. We are planning the celebrations to take place over the 19/20 September and will share further details in the near future. We are planning events for both our current pupils and the wider community and we would be very grateful in the first instance of any photographs, old uniform or artefacts that you think might be of interest for us to display as part of our celebratory events. Equally if you have any specific memories that you would like to share if you were a pupil here yourself, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us via Hardenhuish50@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk .
There can’t be many schools in the country where young people celebrate their last GCSE exam by driving their tractor to school! A lovely way to mark the end of the exams and I would like to thank our exams team, and all involved in helping the whole season to run so smoothly. It was lovely to overhear a TA and invigilator yesterday comparing notes on how amazing the young people have been and what a credit they have been to themselves.
I have been contacted by a number of members of the public who are concerned for the safety of our young people as they walk/cycle to and from school. Please could you support us in reminding your young people that they should be walking and cycling safely (staying on roads and pavements as appropriate).I would be grateful if you could also support me in reminding them that when in uniform and outside of school, they represent our community and should be polite and courteous when speaking to members of the public.
We have relaxed uniform this week to accommodate the heat with young people being able to remove their ties and untuck their shirts. We have encouraged them to continue wearing the rest of their uniform to our usual high expectations and will be returning to normal on Monday as the heat next week does not seem so extreme.
I am looking forward to the Summer Concert next week and the Proms for our Year 11 and 13.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
Focus on SEN…
At Hardenhuish, we know that every child is unique—and so are the ways they learn. Whether your child has a diagnosed Special Educational Need (SEN) or just needs a bit of extra help from time to time, our dedicated team is here to support them or to signpost to the right person.
This time of year is always a mix of emotions. We’re incredibly proud of our Year 11s as they take on their final GCSE exams—many of us are wondering where the last five years have gone! It’s a time of reflection and celebration as they prepare to take their next big step.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the journey, we’re thrilled to be welcoming our new Year 7s who’ve started visiting us ahead of September. Their enthusiasm and curiosity remind us just how exciting the start of secondary school can be—for students and parents alike!
If you’re looking for more information about the support available for your child, a great place to start is our school website. Our SEN Information Report and SEN Policy are full of helpful details about how we ensure every learner has the chance to thrive.
Together, we’re proud to support every pupil to grow in confidence, independence, and success.
Arbor Student App: Google play Apple Store
You may be aware that students at Hardenhuish are now able to access their timetable (including clubs and trips), ACE points, and behaviour points through the Arbor Student App. This is optional to use should our students like to use it.
We will continue to use Satchel One for all our homework tasks.
To login for the first time students will need to click “First time logging in?”. They then need to check their school email for a prompt to create a new password to be able to login to the App. Once in they can enable logging in with their finger print or Face ID.
Student Portal: https://hardenhuish.uk.arbor.sc
Students can also login to the “Student Portal” available using this link https://hardenhuish.uk.arbor.sc . This is a web version of the student app which has two main additional functions.
Timetables and Exam timetables: Only available in the Portal students can download a pdf of their full week’s timetable, and an exam timetable approaching any external or full mock exams. Exam Results: Only relevant to those taking external exams. Additionally, only available in the Portal students can see external exam results. This may not be available on results day but should be visible in the days following the results day. We haven’t been able to test how reliably these results appear for students, so we recommend coming into school for results wherever possible.
Year 8-9 Carnegie Award Shadowing Group
For the last 3 months a fantastic group of Year 8 and 9 pupils have been shadowing the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Book Awards. They’ve been reading the 8 books on the shortlist and meeting weekly in the Resources Centre with Mrs Lucas to discuss and debate the books and their themes.
On Thursday 19th June the Award’s winner was announced, so the Shadowing Group spent that day bringing together their ideas and opinions about the books and deciding which book they thought deserved to win. They then watched the live stream of the awards ceremony over lunch, where it was announced that ‘Glasgow Boys’ by Margaret McDonald was this year’s winner, with ‘King of Nothing’ by Nathanael Lessore winning the Shadowers’ Choice vote.
Mrs Lucas, who coordinated this year’s Shadowing Group, said, “It has been such a pleasure to spend the last few weeks working with this amazing group of pupils, hearing their (often very opinionated!) thoughts about the 8 wonderful books on this year’s shortlist. I have been inspired by the pupils’ enthusiasm and engagement in the whole process, and I highly recommend all of the books on the 2025 shortlist to anyone looking for their next great read.”
A special mention must go to Hardenhuish’s very own Mr Palmer, whose book ‘Play’ was a worthy shortlister. We’re all extremely proud of him!
Chippenham Games 2025
The annual Chippenham Games took place this week (Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 June). This is an event for all of the 15 primary schools within the Chippenham Sports Partnership and is a fantastic opportunity for Year 6 pupils to try a range of activities, including archery, touch ball, golf and laser shooting! Over 450 local primary pupils attended the games over the 2 days, and it was a good opportunity for them to try new sports as well as meet others who are attending their chosen secondary school.
For the event to run 21 of our Sports Leaders attended from Year 10. As part of their role, they were either Team managers or helping to run stations. We were incredibly impressed with the maturity, enthusiasm and confidence they demonstrated throughout the event. They were superb role models for the upcoming year 6’s and we truly could not run the event without them. I would like to say a massive thank you and well done to all the Sports Leaders – I am so proud of them all!
Feedback from a teacher at one of our primary schools:
“Your Sports Leaders are amazing and nothing ever seems to be too much trouble. They are great young role models and fantastic for our children, so they can aim to be there one day. They adapted to everything that we asked for and were kind and considerate when the Year 6s asked for something. What mature individuals they were. You should be so proud of them, I know you are anyway, but it was lovely to see how some of our ex-pupils had matured and were confident to chat to us despite not having seen them for so many years.”
Sports Day Ice Creams!
Friday 27 June is Sports Day and School Parliament will be selling ice cream tubs and drinks on the field during the afternoon activities. Pupils can purchase ice cream tubs for £1.50 and drinks £1.30; please could parents ensure pupils bring in cash if they wish to buy these items as they will not be able to use their smart card. We hope this will raise valuable funds to support our school gym changing room refurbishments.
River Run – Wednesday 2 July – Would you like to come and race against your teachers?!
The deadline for signing up on Arbor is today!
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. 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
BBC Make a Difference Awards
We are proud to announce that Year 9 pupil Blake has been selected as a finalist for the Young Hero Award in this year’s BBC Make a Difference Awards.
Blake was nominated in recognition of his outstanding commitment to volunteering in youth football.
Each week, he dedicates approximately eight hours to coaching at local football development centres and matches and during school holidays, he goes even further—volunteering over 20 hours to support football holiday camps, helping to engage and inspire younger players.
Blake is one of 5 other young people in the UK to be nominated. Best of luck in September when the finalist is selected.
Pride Picnic
On Monday lunchtime we hosted a wonderful Pride Picnic on the Flagpole Field bringing together pupils and teachers to celebrate diversity and inclusion. Organised by Miss Fennell and supported by the Student Leadership Team, the event was a fun-filled picnic featuring music, board games, stickers, outdoor games, flags, and plenty of snacks!
Vacancies – Hardenhuish School