Welcome back to Term 3!
I hope that you and your young people had a good May break. Term 6 has started well. Years 9 and 12 have started their internal exams and Year 11 and 13 have continued with their GCSEs and A Levels. Year 10 also have their GCSE statistics next week. We are so proud of how well our young people manage their exams and hope that they are looking after themselves around these, getting plenty of sleep and finding time and opportunities to switch off and do something to recharge their batteries.
I am delighted to congratulate Dr Bassford who has secured a Headship at Sir Bernard Lovell School in South Gloucestershire to begin in September. Congratulations also go to Mrs Glossop who has been promoted to replace him as Deputy Headteacher. I wish them both luck as they begin their new professional adventures!
Further to my message on Tuesday, I can confirm that we are rebuilding our various IT systems. The pupil absence form on the website is now operational again, enabling you to request pupil absences here.
Please can I ask that food is not delivered to pupils in school during the school day (either by you or any well-known food delivery company!) unless it is a packed lunch that they have forgotten. This should come to the main office in the house for them to collect.
Please see attached an update regarding the multi-academy trust discussions I emailed about back in December.
The Bridge Education Partnership announcement June 2023
Please remind young people that they should be taking care to keep safe in the warm weather by bringing a refillable water bottle to school to ensure they are hydrated and to take advantage of the shade across the site during breaks and lunchtimes.
I hope that you are able to enjoy the sunshine this weekend.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Use of vehicles onsite
Please can we ask you to note the following regarding the use of vehicles on the school site. This is to ensure the safety of our school community.
- The speed limit for all vehicles onsite is a maximum of 5 mph.
- Students are to be dropped off and collected in the identified drop off zone only.
- Students are not to be dropped off at reception unless returning from an appointment or arriving late to school, where they are required to sign in at reception.
- Parents/visitors are to park in marked parking bays only, and not to park in any other areas, including the passing and loading bays.
- Please can we ask you to be mindful of our neighbouring community when dropping off or collecting your young people.
- Please can we ask you to adhere to the safety signs on our site.
Thank you for your support.
ArtBytes and TAS Wessex Celebration Event
On Wednesday 7 June, Year 9 pupils participated in an art celebration event in the Neeld Hall, Chippenham as part of a National Inter School Art competition organised by ArtBytes to give primary and secondary pupils the opportunity to experience having their work exhibited in public. The event was generously sponsored by The Arts Society Wessex, Chippenham Borough Lands, Abstract Artist Rae Melody and Wiltshire Council.
Pupils enjoyed participating in practical art activities, watching a virtual gallery tour of other students work from around the country, being awarded certificates of participation and of course the delicious refreshments!
One parent commented “It was an inspirational opportunity for our Young Artists”
Other pupils commented” It was a really cool to see my work exhibited! And “I was proud of my work and it was an amazing experience” .
It was a fabulous to be welcomed by our Mayor, Declan Baseley and see our wonderful pupils work on display in the heart of the town. Once more, a huge thank you to Heather Leach of TAS Wessex for all her dedicated support and hard work who makes things happen and to Emma Griffiths (project Coordinator (South).
Mrs Bush
Resource Centre news
It’s an extremely busy term 6 ahead here, headlined by the Hardenhuish Literature Festival next week. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet two successful authors, with both Fleur Hitchcock and Simon James Green visiting the school in person.
Fleur Hitchcock has written several gripping murder mysteries for children, with many Year 7s in particular choosing her novel ‘Waiting For Murder’ as their Bookbuzz choice way back in the autumn term. She will be speaking to the whole of Year 7 on Monday afternoon, along with a general Q+A at lunchtime and a workshop here in the Resource Centre.
Simon James Green is a Carnegie-nominated author of a wide range of young adult novels and he will be speaking to the whole of Year 8 and Year 9 on Wednesday, as well as another lunchtime Q+A open to all. He specialises in comedy but also tackles some really important social issues, most notably in his recent novel ‘Boy Like Me’.
We hope that the whole of KS3 enjoy these chances to meet Fleur and Simon. We have plenty of copies of their books available in the library so please do come and give them a try during this summer term! Will any of their novels become Hardenhuish’s number one most borrowed going into the summer holidays?
Mid-June will also see the culmination of our Year 8 Carnegie shadowing scheme, with our group reaching their decision on Hardenhuish’s favourite from the shortlist and getting the chance to watch the awards ceremony live. Look out for a review of this and the Literature Festival in a future edition of Headlines.
Our main Hardenhuish Book Group meanwhile spent term 5 looking at some modern retellings. ‘Percy Jackson’ by Rick Riordan was described as “the best book series…you should definitely read it” whilst another recent interpretation of classic myths and legends, ‘Oh My Gods’ by Alexandra Sheppard, has “an amazing plot with really cool characters”. For older readers, both ‘She Who Became The Sun’ and ‘The Song Of Achilles’ went down well with KS4 with one student commenting “OMG IT’S AMAZING” and everyone mentioning the strong storylines in both. This term we are moving onto a much more contemporary theme, with these five selected novels for the summer:
‘The Secret Sunshine Project’ by Benjamin Dean
‘Not Here To Be Liked’ by Michelle Quach (Year 8 upwards)
‘Loveless’ by Alice Oseman (Year 8 upwards)
‘Meat Market’ and ‘Clean’ by Juno Dawson (Year 10 upwards)
As always, if you like the sound of any of those and didn’t get along to Book Group today, please ask Mr Southwood to reserve a copy.
Finally, just one last request if you have any remaining library books lying around at home waiting to be returned! Please could you get these back as soon as possible so that Mr Southwood can complete a full stock-check this term (particularly important after the recent cyber-attack!). Your support with this is much appreciated.
Wiltshire U15 National Bronze Badminton England Tournament
During half term, Year 7 pupil Imogen Drew competed in the Wiltshire U15 national bronze Badminton England tournament, winning gold in girls singles, gold in mixed and bronze in girls doubles. Great to perform so well in a local national tournament.