Dear Parents
We have welcomed the “I can, I am” bus this week and understand from the Year 8 that this has been a really positive experience, and Year 12 had Safe Drive, Stay Alive on Tuesday which I know is a challenging but powerful experience to help keep or young people safe on the road.
The Year 13 begin their mocks on Monday and I wish them well ahead of this final formal opportunity for them to identify their strengths and gaps to help them prepare for their final A Level exams in the summer.
I wish our Model United Nations group a good experience at the MUN Conference at Bristol Grammar on Sunday.
As your young people are likely to be coming home telling you about our new gym – Hardenhuish Fitness, I thought I would share the before and after photographs with you. Staff and young people are already feeling the benefits of this amazing space and we will be beginning a fundraising campaign in the near future to bring the changing rooms up to the same standard.
I hope that you enjoy reading about the many other extra-curricular experiences our young people have had over the last few weeks and please don’t forget to send us in news about things young people are participating in outside of school if they are happy to share their successes with us.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on… Governors
Hardenhuish Governors are an active group of volunteers who give generously of their time to oversee the work of the school. The Board of Trustees meets once each term and establishes an overall framework for the governance of the Academy and determines membership, terms of reference and procedures of Committees and other groups. It receives reports including policies from its Committees which include Community, Education, Resources and Strategy for ratification. It monitors the activities of the Committees through the minutes of their meetings. We are very grateful for the support of our Governors who play an active role in our work through visits in to school, attendance at events and provide both support and appropriate challenge to our work.
Focus on – Rewards and Sanctions
Rewards and sanctions play a crucial role in shaping behaviour and maintaining a positive and productive learning environment in schools. They serve as tools to reinforce positive behaviour and discourage negative behaviour, and help to establish expectations for behaviour in the school community.
Rewards and sanctions also contribute to the social and emotional development of young people. Positive reinforcement can enhance a student’s self-esteem and confidence, and can encourage positive values such as respect, honesty and cooperation. At the same time, appropriate sanctions help young people to understand the importance of accountability and responsibility.
At Hardenhuish we have a variety of different rewards for pupils and students. This may be a phone call or email home to congratulate a young person on their achievement or effort, or they may be awarded an ACE under one of the following categories:
Achievement
Citizenship
Effort
ACEs can be worth between 1 and 3 points, and pupils have a running total which shows their total number of ACE points achieved over the year. ACEs can be used to lead to other rewards such as entries into year group raffles or Governors Awards. In the Sixth Form, students can be given raffle tickets to go into prize draws.
When responding to negative behaviour incidents, there are different levels of sanctions including C1s, C2s and C3s. These may be issued for incidents in lessons such as missing homework or disruption, or for issues outside of lessons such as defiance of staff instructions. If pupils are issued with a C1 they may be given a break or lunchtime detention, while a C2 will lead to an after school detention for up to 1 hour. During these detentions school staff may hold a restorative conversation with the pupil, to discuss the circumstances around the incident, how the situation may be repaired and start the process of rebuilding the relationship if required.
Higher level incidents such as extreme defiance, bullying or physical incidents between pupils may lead to a day in Reset, where pupils are removed from lessons and social times for a fixed period of 1 day. During this time, pupils are provided with work from the lessons that they have missed. In some instances, the decision may be made to suspend a pupil, where they are not permitted on the school site for a set period of time. Work will be emailed home for the pupil to complete.
There is further information about the principles behind the rewards and sanctions at Hardenhuish and further details of rewards and sanctions in the Positive Behaviour Policy.
Wiltshire Public Health Vaping and Smoking Survey
Please read the letter attached regarding the Wiltshire Public Health vaping and smoking survey. If you would like to take part in the survey, please scan the QR code below.
Year 12 Parliament Trip
Earlier this term, our Year 12 Politics pupils had the opportunity to spend a day at Parliament. We began the day with a tour of Parliament, followed by a fantastic opportunity to spend some time talking to Lady Usher of the Black Rod, Sarah Clarke. This meeting was very much a rare opportunity. Sarah spoke to the pupils with refreshing honesty and optimism and shared some stories about her time as Black Rod and how she got into the role. The pupils then had an opportunity to ask questions, and many took the opportunity to quiz Sarah on her ideas and experiences working with government so far. The pupils took a lot from this experience, as did the staff!
Following meeting with Black Rod, we were also lucky to have a 45-minute session with local MP Michelle Donelan where she explained her role as an MP and took questions from our pupils. This was a lively session and the opportunity to ask questions freely was certainly valued by the pupils.
We rounded the day off with a tour of the Supreme Court, led by our own Mr Arkinstall. The pupils had a great time sitting at the desks in the Court rooms and hearing all about some of the higher profile cases which have been considered there.
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable day for all involved. The pupils were fantastic, and we were very proud of how they conducted themselves, well done Year 12!
Year 11 Health and Social Care students enjoyed a visit from Lydia Holmes, a Iyengar Yoga Practitioner and co-owner of Yoga Tree, in Corsham. They learnt about the origins of Yoga and the physical, intellectual, emotional and social benefits of it. They also had the chance to try some Yoga postures and reflect on their experiences. Thank you for your time Lydia, this is so helpful for the students work for their Creative and Therapeutic Activities coursework unit.
Cyber Escape Room Event
This week some of our Year 9s visited local business CGI for a Cyber Escape Room event. Three teams took turns to look for clues, solve puzzles and decipher riddles to complete the Escape Room Challenge. During the day they learned about potential cyber security risks and how to keep information and assets safe. There was also an opportunity for students to talk to employees on the CGI Graduate Programme and to learn more about the Post 18 Apprenticeship Scheme. To round off the day there was a coding competition – prizes to follow!
Ms Lacombe and Mrs Burton (MFL team)
Welcome to the Team Poppy!
It was a very cold and chilly Saturday on 20 January but despite this our show jumping team turned out and gave their best performances. Hardenhuish won the 80cm and 90cm classes and qualified for the championships at Addington. The team comprised of Faith ,Louisa and Poppy who only joined Hardenhuish before Christmas. All 3 scores had to count. Poppy, riding Bay Jamie, went double clear in both classes and was 5th Individual in the 90cm. She rode very well and with a cool, calm head. Faith was 3rd on Ballinlough Kevin, both flew around in great style qualifying as an individual for the champs as well! Louisa made the twisty course look very easy despite her horse being 17hh.!
Mrs Bush
Football Boot Sale/Exchange
Our first football boot sale/exchange was held this week and we were able to help everyone that wanted to either buy or exchange boots. We will endeavour to hold an exchange termly with the next one planned for Tuesday 20 February between 3.15 and 4pm. It’s just £5 for a pair to buy or £1 if you have a pair to exchange.
We do have limited stocks so it’s very much a first come first served basis and the boots are in varying degrees of muddiness, but it’s a great way to save money and help support sustainability.
Football Tournament
Our Year 7 and Year 8 football teams went to a tournament this week held at Corsham School. The girls all played well, and it was great to see them grow in confidence as the games went on. They played in quite challenging weather conditions which did hamper some of our games but not our spirits! The girls came out victorious finishing top of each tournament and left in very high spirits. Well done to all that took part and what a credit you were to our school.
Year 7 Results
Huish 0-0 Sheldon MVP-Madeleine
Huish 3-0 Corsham MVP-Harper: goals scored Amy, Harper and Esmie
Huish 0-0 Malmesbury MVP-Maria
Year 8 Results
Huish 2-0 Sheldon: MVP Martha – goals scored Martha and Maddie
Huish 1-0 Corsham: goals scored Martha
Huish 0-0 Malmesbury: MVP Martha
U12s WSFA Quarter Final vs Wyvern St Edmunds
The U12s played their quarter final this week against Wyvern in very windy/wet conditions. They worked hard and had to battle the wind in the first half where Esmie made some fantastic saves keeping Wyvern at bay. The defence worked tirelessly with Maria and Willow making some fantastic tackles. Unfortunately, with the help of the wind Wyvern took the lead and scored very quickly afterwards as well.
With the wind with us in the 2nd half we had many more chances to even up the score with Sufia coming close as well. Aria worked hard at the start of the 2nd half gaining more confidence as the game progressed and Maddie had 2 great shots saved by the Wyvern GK. Tori and Harper played well out of position this week and really showed that they were team players which is positive moving forward. Erin grew in confidence as the game progressed and was fantastic at tracking back. With Hardenhuish pushing forward to score with Amy and Madeleine leading the front line, Wyvern were able to sneak another goal confirming their win. Well done U12s on a good run in this cup competition, but we have a promising future as a squad, please continue to attend training on Tuesdays after school 3pm-4:15pm.
Lithuania Football Tour
Hardenhuish pupil Finley recently took part in a three day football tournament to Lithuania – please see the report below:
We arrived in Lithuania on Thursday ready to play in the Ateitis Cup tournament, despite the snow. Luckily, all matches were played indoors in large sporting venues.
During the three day tournament, we played teams from Croatia, Latvia and Lithuania within our group. Our first game was a win despite a different style of refereeing compared to that are used to in England! We lost our second game but came back with another win in the third game. This took us to the playoffs which was a 1-1 draw at full time, meaning penalties for the win. Winning on penalties secured us seventh place in the cup. We’re looking forward to the next tour with the hope of bringing back the cup!
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