Dear Parents
I am delighted to announce that we are the first school in Wiltshire to be awarded the Young Carers Bronze award through The Children’s Society. This is fantastic recognition of the support that we are providing our Young Carers and I know work is already underway for the Silver Award. Thank you and well done to all those involved in making this happen. Please see the article below for more details.
It has been lovely to visit lessons this week and see how well our wonderful young people are settling back in to their learning. Thank you for your support in making the beginning of this term and academic year so positive.
I am looking forward to Open Week next week and welcoming prospective parents and young people for the Year 7 in September 2024.
Good luck to Team Hardenhuish who are running the Chippenham Half Marathon on Sunday, raising funds for our school charity Cots for Tots and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Have a good weekend.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
Focus On… Attendance
Hardenhuish School is committed to the continuous raising of achievement for all pupils. Regular attendance is critical if our young people are to be successful and benefit from the opportunities presented to them. One of our fundamental principles is to support all pupils to succeed and good attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience. We actively promote 100% attendance for all our pupils and recently received interesting data from last year (see below), which we wanted to share with you, outlining the clear link between attendance and achievement.
| Attendance % | Average GCSE Grade | Value Added Score |
| Above 95% | 5.5 | +0.6 |
| 90-95% | 4.6 | +0.1 |
| 80-90% | 3.9 | -0.5 |
| 50-80% | 3.6 | -0.7 |
| 0-50% | 2.7 | -0.7 |
Not only does it show that the higher levels of attendance result in a higher grade, it also shows that pupils make more progress than expected if they are in our lessons. You can also see from the table that the top attenders gained more than half a grade higher than expected in each subject. We will continue to work hard to sustain high levels of attendance as it really does have such an impact on success.
Team Hardenhuish run the Chippenham Half Marathon!
This Sunday a team of staff from Hardenhuish are running the Chippenham Half Marathon. We are raising money for two charities, Cots for Tots and Teenage Cancer Trust, and funds raised will be split 50/50 between both charities.
Cots for Tots was our school charity of the year for 2022-23, raising vital funds for the neonatal unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
We are also fundraising for Teenage Cancer Trust as we currently have a student in our sixth form who has recently been diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (bone cancer). The Teenage Cancer Trust are supporting the young person and their family through this difficult journey and the money raised will mean a lot to all those involved at this challenging time.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Donate online: Team Hardenhuish run the Chippenham Half Marathon
The First School in Wiltshire!
Hardenhuish School is thrilled to be recognised for the work we are doing with Young Carers by receiving the Bronze Award from The Carers Trust and The Children’s Society. Hardenhuish is the first school in Wiltshire to achieve this award. As part of our continuing dedication to support, we are now working towards our Silver Award.
To achieve our Bronze Award Hardenhuish School has demonstrated that it supports young carers in many ways, including homework clubs and drop-in sessions with a member of staff who is responsible for this vulnerable group of pupils. Vital information about how to identify young carers is made available to all school staff, and noticeboards and the school webpage let students and their families know where to go for help.
We were congratulated in the report for “our great work which is going on to support our Young Carers”.
Our Drop-in sessions are on Tuesday lunchtimes in C9. All pupils are welcome. Pupils may bring their lunch and a friend to enjoy art activities, can chat, chill, share thoughts or do homework.
We also have a dedicated email address for anyone wishing to get in touch directly: youngcarers@hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk
Hardenhuish School is hugely supportive of the excellent work of our young carers. On top of all their school work they help family members at home . Young carers are responsible for emotional, practical or physical care for a parent, sibling or other family member who has a physical disability, mental health issue or substance misuse issue.
As part of our ongoing programme to raise awareness in the wider school community we have several events coming up. We are running an Arts Day in October and celebrating National Young Carers Day in March.
Hardenhuish cross-country season 2023-2024 has begun
Year 7 cross-country competition
Congratulations to all the runners who took part in the cross-country race on Thursday after school. This was an opportunity for the runners to experience the full Hardenhuish course including the legendary Hardenhuish hill.
The students started in the Gym with a pre-race briefing where they were shown the map of the course and given tips on running technique before being taken through a warm-up by the pace runners.
The race was very fast, and everyone did incredibly well on what is known as one of the most challenging courses in the area, which is one of the reasons it is used for the Wiltshire Championships every year in January.
A fantastic start to the year 7 cross-country season. If you were unable to take part in the race and you are interested in taking part in cross-country, please see Mrs Place in the PE Office. A big thank you to all the senior students who helped set up, marshal, and run as pace runners.
Top 3 runners
Girls
1st Eleanor M – 5.50
2nd Jasmine G – 6.16
3rd Amelia L – 6.30
Boys
1st Will T – 7.17
2nd Isaac W – 7.20
3rd Reuben G – 7.30
Well done to everyone involved.
Year 8-13 Hardenhuish Cross-country Competition
The first Hardenhuish race of the season for students in Years 8-13 will be on Wednesday 27th September 3-4.15pm.
This will be an opportunity for all students to race for a spot in the Hardenhuish Cross-country Squad. The English Schools Cross-country Cup is on Thursday 4th October.
The Hardenhuish race is open to all students in years 8-13, looking forward to seeing some new faces as well as the old compete for a space in this season’s squad.
Any questions please see Mrs Place in the PE Office.