Dear Parents and Carers
It is Hello Yellow Day today with lots of activities going on for young people to get involved in. Thank you to Mrs Creed and our Wellbeing Ambassadors for organising this. I hope this provides an opportunity for young people and staff to have discussions around their mental wellbeing.
Thank you for your patience and understanding with the Tutor Check-in outage last night. This was out of our control and has affected several other local schools as well. We will be in touch if the calendar allows us to find an alternative date for this to rearrange appointments.
A massive thank you to everyone who came in to school on Tuesday to support our mock interview day for Year 13. This is so helpful for the young people in setting them up for success with interviews and we are very grateful to everyone from our wider community who came in to support this. It was also lovely to get such positive feedback about our wonderful Year 13 and how well they conducted themselves. If you would be able to support similar activities in the future, please do contact us.
I am looking forward to our Sixth Form Open Evening next Thursday and talking to Year 11 about the wonderful facilities and study options available to them for their post-16 studies at Hardenhuish.
A reminder that we finish for the October break on Wednesday 21st October.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
Focus on… Trips and Visits
We continue to work hard to ensure that young people have as many opportunities for trips and visits to enhance their school experience as possible. We aim to launch trips and visits with as much notice as possible and to ensure that for the higher value trips, payment plans are provided to make them as affordable as possible to all pupils.
We continue to do our best to adapt to demand and have added extra places to trips where demand has significantly exceeded the originally available places. We may also however not run trips if there is not sufficient interest or voluntary contributions to make them viable.
We are grateful to staff across the school who plan, manage, administrate, and accompany these trips and visits and thank you for your support as parents for your support of these amazing enrichment opportunities for our young people.
Details of this years scheduled trips are available here for your reference.
Free Trial Lessons – Flute, Saxophone or Clarinet (all years)
Mr Tim Fosker, the woodwind teacher at Hardenhuish School, is looking to increase the number of musicians in the department. So, if you’re interested in having a trial lesson or have previously played and want to restart, then please get in touch with Miss Workman via admin@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk who will be able to pass your contact detail on to Mr Fosker. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
SEND Reform Plan approved by Department for Education
Please find a letter from Wiltshire Council regarding the SEND Reform Plan here.
In Perspective – A Sixth Form Academic Blog:
In our second edition of ‘in perspective’, Olivia Jackson explores ‘whether economic output can truly capture a nation’s prosperity and wellbeing’.
Thank you to Olivia for putting together this piece. We look forward to the next edition.
The Digital Download – A Focus On…..The Use of AI:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a popular tool that many people are using in work, education and leisure.
ChatGPT reportedly reached around 900 million weekly active users by early 2026, and according to Microsoft’s AI data, around 43.7% of the working-age population in the UK had used a generative AI product by mid-2026.
Many apps and platforms now embed AI within their services, offering AI chatbots, assistants and personalised suggestions. Streaming services use AI to recommend content, AI-generated stories and content appear in social media feeds, and search engines now compile information into AI-generated overviews.
According to Ofcom’s research:
- 79% of teenagers aged 13-17 have used a generative AI tool.
- 40% of children aged 7-12 have used a generative AI tool.
- The most commonly used AI tool among children was Snapchat My AI, used by 51% of 7-17-year-olds.
Although AI can offer many benefits, there are also some risks that could affect young people.
Did you know that most AI platforms (for example, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini) have a minimum age requirement of 13 years old? When using AI-based platforms, young people could be exposed to misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes and biased information. It is also important to remember that AI tools can make mistakes, so users should always check the accuracy of any information they receive rather than accepting it at face value.
The National Online Safety (NOS) team has published some useful information about the use of AI, particularly AI chatbots, and some of the potential risks that young people may encounter when using them.
It is clear that AI is not going anywhere and will continue to become more embedded within the platforms and services we use every day. Hopefully, this information will help you have conversations about AI with your young people and support them in learning how to use these technologies safely, respectfully and responsibly.
What Parent and Educators need to know about AI Virtual Friends Poster
