Dear Parents and Carers
The GCSE Awards Celebration last night was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the successes of our young people from the summer and their time with us in lower school. It was lovely to catch up with young people who have moved on to new locations and also to share the successes of our young people with many of you as parents. Thank you for your continued support and for joining us to celebrate.
We are looking forward to the Christmas Fayre on 12 December and would be grateful of any offers of help for the event, Raffle Prizes (please contact events@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk ) and purchase your Raffle tickets via Arbor – there are already lots of wonderful prizes that have been donated!
We would also like to bring your attention to a fundraising boost on easyfundraising at the moment. easyfundraising turns your everyday online shopping into FREE donations to The Friends of Hardenhuish when you use them to shop with over 8,000 retailers such as eBay, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, ASOS and Booking.com.
Retailers then make a small donation to say ‘thank you’ and easyfundraising gives those free funds to the cause.
If you haven’t registered, Please register using this link and just click sign up –
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/support-a-good-cause/step-1/?char=174657&invite=pqg94b&referral-campaign=c2s&utm_campaign=web-referral
At the moment, once you’ve raised your first £5, easyfundraising will double it!
A reminder that pupils are not in school next Friday 28 November as we have a TD day and a further reminder that we finish at 12.30pm on the last day of term 2 for the Christmas Break (19 December).
Have a good weekend and I hope those going to the Rugby on Sunday enjoy the game.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on… UK Parliament Week
Next week we will be taking part in UK Parliament Week to raise awareness about what Parliament is, what it does, and how to get involved.
During the week, pupils will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities to develop their knowledge of UK Parliament, politics, and democracy. In tutor time, pupils will take part in the Great UK Parliament Week Quiz, complete a political jargon wordsearch, discover the House of Lords, and take a 360˚ tour of Parliament. Pupils will also attend and play an active role in an assembly about the history of democracy in the UK led by the year 13 Student Leadership Team.
At lunchtimes, pupils are very welcome to attend any of the events on offer where they can watch a debate, play some politically-themed games, meet the Chippenham Mayor Kathryn MacDermid and MP Sarah Gibson. We hope it will be a fun and informative week for all.
UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge
This week, more than 500 pupils from Years 7–13 took part in the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge, organised by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in partnership with Oxford University. During their ICT and Computer Science lessons, pupils were given a series of timed problem-solving activities designed to test their logic, resilience, and computational thinking skills.
A huge well done to everyone who took part, we are incredibly proud of the determination shown across all year groups. We look forward to finding out which pupils will be invited to compete in the second round of the competition in March.
If you would like to learn more about the UK Bebras or have a go at some of the challenges yourself, more information can be found on the competition website here.
Tim Phillips – Curriculum Leader for ICT & Computer Science
Food Donations
Over the next three weeks, School Parliament will be collecting food product donations for St Peter’s Church FoodBox. The FoodBox project collects donated food alongside surplus food from local stores, and distributes this to those in need throughout the Chippenham area.
We would be very grateful to receive on their behalf any cereals, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, long Life Milk, coffee, tea, biscuits, jam, marmalade, peanut butter, flour, and tinned Items including puddings, vegetables, tuna, corned beef, beans and sausages mix, and hot dogs.
Please can pupils leave any donations at the donation point in the Sixth Form Foyer or in the Business Office in A8 by 11 December. Thank you in advance for your kind donations.
Could You Host an International Student?
After three successful visits, Hardenhuish have agreed to join with Malmesbury School to take part in hosting a group of up to 30 Chinese pupils in June for 3 weeks. This exciting venture is being run in coordination with schools Suzhou, China, and have visited the UK on a number of occasions, with pupils speaking impeccable English and 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 the approximately 1 – 21 June 2026 (dependent on flights). 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 Malmesbury School, and will have three weeks in a school, following our curriculum and improving their ability to understand and speak English. They will then depart your home to visit places of historic and cultural interest for their final week in the UK before returning home.
Families will be recompensed towards costs of housing and feeding their Chinese pupil.
Please this form to register your interest by Monday 1 December. We will then be in touch directly with further details about what’s involved when hosting a student and next steps.
Our Community – Hardenhuish School