A Day in The Life of Cohort 9

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Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year

Art Exhibition Page 8

Issue 572 - 21st December 2016

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Quintet Week

Christmas Concert

If you were one of the lucky people to attend our Christmas Concert last Thursday then you won’t be surprised that I’d like to take this opportunity of publically thanking all our learners who took part for the fantastic show they put on for us.

The hours of practice that clearly went into crafting the brilliant musical performances, the excellent readings, the beautifully acted drama and the skilfully choreographed and stunningly delivered dance pieces, really paid off as our learners produced a fantastic evening of entertainment for their audience. In fact, the whole show really captured the Christmas message.

Christmas is, of course, a time for giving and giving really was the theme of the evening. The audience who came to support our youngsters last week were so giving of their time, their applause and their engagement – in fact I don’t think we’ve ever had an audience so willing to get involved as this one did. The staff who gave their expertise and their time to ensure learners had the guidance they needed to put on a show of this quality and, of course, the learners themselves giving great performances, because they gave so much time to preparing for the show, all contributed to this superb event.

As we move into the Christmas weekend, can I encourage every one of our learners to value what they give more than what they receive. Like everyone who was involved in the concert last week, you’ll enjoy Christmas more if you make sure you are giving every bit as much as you receive and the most precious thing you can give is your time and your goodwill. So don’t be the one who’s never around when the washing up needs to be done and don’t be the one who has a strop when they have to watch a film or play a board game because an elderly relative would like to! What we captured at our concert last week were the immensely positive feelings we can all enjoy when we give collectively. Make sure you do your bit in the days ahead to make this a fantastic festival for your family.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

As we reach the end of another year, it seems an ideal time to pause and reflect on the progress we have made in 2016 as well as look toward next year and anticipate what it may hold for us all. We’ve been using a reflective framework throughout the last few years where we’ve asked staff and learners to use three questions to help them consolidate their learning as well as supporting them in generating ambition for the future. The questions are as follows:

“Where was I?”“Where am I?”“Where could I be?”

From research we are increasingly clear that the process of review is one of the very best ways of ensuring that we secure the things we have learned permanently in our brains. By reflecting on

HeadlinesBy Simon Mason

Parents’ Time

Simon Mason will be available to see parents without appointment:

Monday 9.00am—9.45amTuesday 7.15am—8.00am

Wednesday 3.00pm—3.45pmThursday 5.00pm—6.00pm

Friday 7.15am—8.00am

HeadlinesBy Simon Mason

where we started 2016, what we knew then, what we understood about the world and ourselves at that time and what we could do both practically and with the knowledge we had gained, we help to secure the learning in which we had engaged prior to the year beginning.

The process of thinking hard about where we are now, by asking ourselves what do we know that we didn’t know a year ago, what do we understand now that a year ago was a mystery to us and what can we now do that we couldn’t do at the end of 2015, helps us to chart our progress and builds confidence as we learn and develop.

Speculating about our future is the beginning of creating our future. If that speculation is based on an honest review of progress to date then we can begin to take concrete steps to achieve our future goals. Seeing the real progress we have made in our lives, helps us all to realise what amazing learning machines we can be and helps us to realise that anything is within our grasp if we set our ambitions in the highest place and work dedicatedly toward them.

As we all take our break from school over the Christmas holiday period can I ask that we all engage in this process of reflection. There will be so many things that you recall you do now know, that you do now understand and that you can now do that I’m certain you’ll find yourself in a very positive state of mind once you’ve carried out that reflection. With that positive view point, as we reach the turn of the year, try not to make trite ‘resolutions’ for the year ahead, especially not those resolutions that are simply negative, dwelling on the things you’re not going to do next year. Set yourself ambitious goals. We have more than a thousand absolutely magnificent young people attending our school and there is nothing each of you cannot achieve if you put your minds to it!

The commitment I make to all of you is that we will do that same reflection about our whole school as you are doing about your personal learning and I commit to all of you that we will be doing everything in our power to make your learning even more central to our school as we continue to develop in 2017.

Seasonal Wishes

I would like to wish all learners, parents and carers a very pleasant Christmas break and a happy and prosperous New Year. The autumn term is a long one for learners, teachers and parents and I am sure that we are all ready for a well-earned rest. The new term commences on Wednesday January 4th at the usual time of 8:45; we restart on Week B.

Thanks To all those learners who supported our Macmillan Cancer Support badminton tournament on Friday, raising £75.50 to donate to the charity. Congratulations go to Jack Raine (9DSc) and Charlie Wilson (8LBr) who got through to the final where they were just pipped by a staff team. Special thanks go to Emily Eagle (10CHo) and Megan Stevens (10SDa) for contributing cakes to the event.

The transition from KS3 to KS4 is another hard one to which to adapt and there are all sorts of challenges youngsters face when making the move to the GCSE curriculum, where numbers/attainment become more of a focus than before.

Honywood does its best to make that transition as least stressful as possible by preparing learners in acquiring the skills that they will need to handle the transition. The option process is as thorough as it can be for those making their choices in the most informed way possible. But what do the learners themselves think about it all?

Four key questions were posed to the learners to get them to think about how their lives are now:

•What is going really well for me? Why?•What do I find challenging on a day to day basis? Why?•What has been the biggest change coming into Cohort 9?•What would I say to a Cohort 7 now that I know what I know?

And these are some of their responses:

I think P.E Theory is going well for me because I am enjoying learning about the muscles used in sports.I find maths hard because I don't really like it that much so I find it hard to concentrate. I think the biggest change is the amount of I.S you get a day.Start getting organised with lessons and I.S.

My GCSE classes are going well. They’re going well for me because I am enjoying them. I find them interesting.I find handing in homework hard on a day to day basis because sometimes I think I haven't done enough or I've accidentally done the wrong thing.The biggest change of coming into Cohort 9 is the responsibility of now being a GCSE student and you need to act like an adult.I would say to a Cohort 7 to not worry about what GCSEs you take because that's a long way off still. You pick them in Cohort 8 so you don't have to worry about them yet.

I think that most of my lessons are going really well for me because I'm understanding them and getting involved. I find trying not to get distracted on a day to day basis a challenge because I like to sit with my friends but they always want to talk to me about games or the park (so on).I think that the biggest challenge is some of the new subjects that we have been given coming into Cohort 9.I would say "Do the 30-60 minutes of homework you get a day as that's only the beginning and study more as you will need it A LOT"!

I think media is going really well for me because I enjoy it a lot.Communication between me and my peers sometimes.I now get to do subjects that I really enjoy instead of things I don't really like.

I think most things are going well, as shown in my report.I find waking up early to get to school is challenging.GCSEs – the work is a lot harder than I thought.Cohort 7: To not mess around and stay consistent in working hard throughout your time at the school because it will help you have more success in life.

I think P.E is going well because of my report.IS because it is not easy for me to stay concentrated whilst doing my homework.GCSESCohort 7 is easy compared to now so try your hardest in Cohort 7.

I would say that my GCSEs are going well for me because of how much I have progressed from the beginning of the year to now. I can't think of anything that I find challenging on a day to day basis. Starting my GCSEs and keeping on top of my work.As you experience all the different subjects start to think about which ones you really enjoy the most.

Finally, being able to put on a black jumper makes me feel awesome! The work gets a lot harder and I didn't expect it to be this hard! All my lessons are going well for me. I feel like I'm doing the hardest I can in my lessons and I'm trying to work as hard as I can but in my report I got all P2's and one P3 and I

said to myself I can do better than that! I find most lessons hard because when the teacher explains what to do most of the time I don't understand what to do or how to do it! The biggest change has been how the work has changed; it has become a lot harder and has changed the subjects a lot! To Cohort 7: I didn't work as hard as I could in Cohort 7 and 8 and also I wasn't listening sometimes because I was distracted by friends. The best thing for you to do is just to move if the same thing happens to you because I promise you it doesn't help you whatsoever! This is the main reason I struggle now!Be Ready For a Change In Cohort 9 Because It Gets a Lot Harder!Focus as much as possible in Cohort 7 and 8 because otherwise when it comes to Cohort 9 you won't understand anything!

I'm really enjoying Geography, I find it intriguing and fun.Facing my already quite challenging year. Apart from that I'm not too sure.The increase in the difficulty of the lessons is a challenge and the responsibilities I'm being faced with as I grow older.My advice to Cohort 7s is to not give up and to be prepared for the challenges and how it is going to get more difficult. To prioritise clubs and homework.

A MartinCohort 9 Leader

Quintet Week 2 – Poverty and Charity

Between Monday 5th December and Friday 9th December learners in all Cohorts experienced this year’s second Quintet Week, centred around the theme of ‘Poverty and Charity’. This followed on nicely from the whole school’s Food Bank Challenge a couple of weeks earlier as learners were already in the mindset of thinking about how they could help others who are less fortunate than themselves.

As with Quintet Week 1, we wanted to try and offer learners the opportunity to become more aware about and empathetic towards people living below the poverty line both here in the UK and abroad, and also what different charities aim to do to support these people. We decided to make the focus of Monday ‘Poverty in Schools’ and during morning registration learners were shown a video displaying classrooms from schools all over the world. Some learners were really surprised by the things they saw and were shocked by the lack of colour and resources or technology in many of the classrooms.

As a school, we continued this theme into learning sessions 1 and 2 on the Monday as teachers made small changes within their classrooms to try and emulate what it might be like to learn in a school below the poverty line in a third world country. Some learners were set the challenge of working without their iPads, some experienced intermittent ‘power cuts’, whilst others had limited use of basic resources such as chairs, tables and books.

When learners met back as a Quintet Group during learning session 3, they spent time discussing what they had experienced in their classes with their peers. Some of their reflections were really quite profound and learners were quick to express how grateful they were that they had the resources we have at Honywood and particularly the technology that they are able to engage with to support their learning. Some learners also pointed out that while they still felt they had learnt well during learning sessions 1 and 2, they enjoyed their learning much more in their normal sessions when they were able to use a rich variety of resources and their iPads. Learners expressed a great deal of empathy throughout these discussions and were very open and honest about the fact that they felt lucky to have what they do and that they would not like to switch places with learners in schools that were below the poverty line.

Throughout the rest of the week, Quintet Groups were given a ‘menu’ of different learning activities and resources around the theme of ‘Poverty and Charity’ and many Quintet LGLs allowed the learners themselves to decide which activities to complete and where to take their learning. There were lots of different options and learners were able to explore topics such as ‘Poverty in Africa’, ‘Children in Poverty’ and ‘Distribution of the Country’s

Wealth’, among lots of other options. After discussion with lots of youngsters it would seem that they were most surprised by the poverty related problems we face in this country and we would hope that some learners might now be considering what they could do in their daily lives to help others.

Miss Armstrong

Learners’ thoughts about the week:

“I really enjoyed learning about poverty.” James Roffey 10CGa

“I realised that poverty in the UK is a much bigger problem that I previously thought!”Thomas Awad 10CHo

“It made me realise how lucky we are to be living in such luxury!”Fred Barnet 9ATo

“It was really eye-opening to see how different people in the world live”Megan Hewitt 8CHa

CONGRATULATIONS LILY COBBOLD 8JWi JIMMY ROGERS 9HTr ARCHIE ELLIS 9EFo MEGAN GAUNT 9MWo

KAYLEIGH SWEENEY 8TGi POPPY WORBOYS 9KHo ROSS BROOKS 9KHo

MATTHEW WHITE 9HTr BLISS MEMORY 8KBr JACOB MORRIS 9MMe

ARTIST RESIDENCY WITH ILLUSTRATOR

JOEL MULLERCHIP On Wednesday 14th December seven of our learners went to an exhibition of their work at the University of Essex. They were all awarded a medal featuring

one their designs to recognise their fantastic achieve-ment. The two circular panels that they designed and

produced on the theme of ASPIRATION will be displayed in school when the exhibition is ended.

Menu subject to change

CONGRATULATIONS LILY COBBOLD 8JWi JIMMY ROGERS 9HTr ARCHIE ELLIS 9EFo MEGAN GAUNT 9MWo

KAYLEIGH SWEENEY 8TGi POPPY WORBOYS 9KHo ROSS BROOKS 9KHo

MATTHEW WHITE 9HTr BLISS MEMORY 8KBr JACOB MORRIS 9MMe

ARTIST RESIDENCY WITH ILLUSTRATOR

JOEL MULLERCHIP On Wednesday 14th December seven of our learners went to an exhibition of their work at the University of Essex. They were all awarded a medal featuring

one their designs to recognise their fantastic achieve-ment. The two circular panels that they designed and

produced on the theme of ASPIRATION will be displayed in school when the exhibition is ended.

Week 1 Wednesday Thursday Friday Main Course

Beef Lasagne with Green Salad & Garlic Bread

Sweet & Sour Chicken Noodles with Spring Roll & Prawn Crackers

Traditional Fish & Chips with Peas or Beans

Vegetarian Course

Vegetarian Lasagne with Green Salad & Garlic Bread

Sweet & Sour Vegetable Noodles with Spring Roll & Prawn Crackers

Tomato & Basil Quiche with Chips & Salad

Dessert Keylime Pie Strawberry Mousse

Fresh Fruit Salad

Pasta Bake Cheese Sauce Tomato & Basil Plain

Arrabbiata Sauce Plain

Pasta Bake of the Day

Courtyard Cafe

Pizza Tugo Quad Special

Pizza Tugo Quad Special

Pizza Tugo Quad Special

Enterprise & Solutions

MLCs this week are available to Cohort 7 learners that would like to go over any work that they have done in the first lesson of Season 3 on ‘stakeholders’ in business, or for Cohort 8 learners wanting to go over any Season 8 work on ‘methods of adver-tising’ and ‘justifying business decisions’.

Business Studies

MLCs this week will be focused on the ‘marketing’ unit, with emphasis on either ‘Case Study 1’ or revising for the end of unit assessment. How to structure six and nine mark questions will be a particular focus when revising, as well as use of key words and terminology. Learning resources and guidance will also be available for the C10s who have yet to sit their Finance end of unit assessment.

MFL

“Cohort 7 - 11, do you need any support in either French, German or Spanish? Do you need any help with the tenses, vocabulary or any other grammatical structures? If so, book an MLC today!”

English

Learner, following your assessments in English, do you need any help exploring how to achieve your new learning points?Please don’t hesitate to book an MLC today. The support we can provide will help you reflect on your learning and achieve your next steps

Well doneto our Cohort 8 Duty Receptionists

Daniel Woollett Pinto BastoAlex Thistlethwaite

Felix WilsonKayleigh Sweeney

My Learning Choices

Family Learning Teamemail FLT@honywoodschool.comIf your youngster is absent please email attendance@honywoodschool.com