Dear Parents
I had the privilege of hearing Victoria Humphries, Polar adventurer, speak last week. She was talking about the value of extra-curricular to stretch and challenge our thoughts and behaviours to help develop skills and resilience. Please encourage your young people to consider which of our wide range of extra-curricular opportunities or 50 things they might like to take part in after the October break to help build their resilience toolkits to face their future worlds.
On a similar note, I wish our Iceland adventurers safe travel and a wonderful trip over the next few days and look forward to hearing all about everything they have seen and experienced on their return.
The Hardenhuish Bake-Off this week was a huge success and has raised over £400. Thank you if you supported your young person to enter.
A reminder that jumpers are compulsory after the October break and a pre-loved uniform update. In the last year Hardenhuish School has saved our parents over £7300 on the cost of Branded uniform!
We are nearing 500 items washed and sold, and many more through our partnership with Chippenham Uniform Exchange where parents can save even more on the cost of uniform by buying sustainable pre-loved Trousers, Shorts, Skirts and Shirts.
But…… Our stocks are low and we need help from our Hardenhuish community by donating any unwanted uniform they have so that we can keep saving our parents money. If you are refreshing uniform over the break please have a look on Arbor in the School Shop for available items.
I wish you a restful October break and look forward to welcoming our young people back for Term 2 on Monday 30 October.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on….. Successful Lives Days
One of the opportunities we have to enrich our academic curriculum is through two Successful Lives days that take place in November and June each year. This is part of our mission for all of our pupils and students to become independent life-long learners, empowered with the knowledge and skills to thrive in a changing world. The five ‘Language for Life Themes’ below underpin each of these days and they are a chance for pupils to learn in an alternative way to the normal timetable and with different groups of young people. There are a range of days on offer from STEM Day to World War One Day, as well as career focus days with external speakers and educational visits. Look out for year group reports after the days in November and June.
Online Safety Update
At Hardenhuish School we are committed to online safety and ensuring young people know the risks that exist when using technology. Many pupils will have a smartphone and will potentially have access to a variety of apps for communication and entertainment. With so many different apps out there, it can sometimes be difficult trying to keep up with what young people are using on their devices. As we have now reached the end of the first term it felt like a good time to have a reminder about online safety.
WhatsApp, Snapchat and TikTok are three apps that many young people use, although there are positives to the use of these apps there are also risks. The ‘National Online Safety’ (NOS) have put together some informative guides on the purpose of these apps and the risks they pose. These guides have been linked below to help you gain a better understanding of the purpose of these apps and covers recommended age of use, what are the risks, and advise for parents/carers. We hope these guides will be helpful when making decisions about which apps your child should be using and allow for conversations at home about how to use them safely and responsibly.
NOS_Snapchat_Guide (hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk)
NOS_TikTok_Guide (hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk)
NOS_WhatsApp_Guide (hardenhuish.wilts.sch.uk)
NOS _ Supporting Children Guide (Hardenhuish.wilts.sch,uk)
Additionally, the link below from the ‘stay safe initiative‘ will take you to a guide that gives more great advice about online safety and how you can support your child to be safe whilst using technology.
Parents_Online_Safety_Advice_Sheet.pdf (thestaysafeinitiative.org.uk)
If pupils have any questions or concerns about online safety, please remind them they can speak to their ICT teacher, their tutor, the pastoral team, or any member of staff within the school community.
Tim Phillips
Curriculum leader for ICT & Computing – Online Safety Co-ordinator
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