Thank you for your support during this warm weather in reminding young people to come to school with a refillable water bottle (which they should fill at break and lunchtimes to prevent missing learning time) and suncream/a hat if they are planning to be out of the shade during break and lunchtimes – many are taking advantage of the shade of the trees around the site. I have relaxed the uniform allowing young people to remove their ties and untuck their shirts during this warm spell which I hope will help them to stay as cool as possible.
Congratulations to our Athletes who returned from their day of competition as area champions on Wednesday. It is so good to see and hear about our young people enjoying their sport.
It has been Literature Festival here at Hardenhuish this week and we have been lucky enough to welcome two authors who have worked with Year 7 and 8 , inspiring them to read and perhaps even write their own best seller! The Carnegie Shadow Group also had the opportunity to meet with one of the judges, which I am sure they found intriguing ahead of the winning announcement next Wednesday. I have enjoyed reading the shortlist this year and look forward to hearing who will win.
Next week is a busy one! I am looking forward to attending the Chippenham Games on Tuesday and Wednesday where our new Year 7 for September will be taking part in some amazing team building, sporting and fitness activities. We have Successful Lives day on Thursday and Sports Day on Friday so there will be lots to report in the Headlines over the next couple of weeks.
Have a good weekend.
Parent Survey Feedback
In May of this year, as part of our ongoing commitment to school improvement, we sent parents a request to complete a Parents’ Survey in order to find out their opinion of the school and to help us consider what aspects we could further develop.
Please click on the link below to view the report:
History Department Primary Transition Workshop
On Tuesday this week, we were extremely pleased to welcome six of our primary schools from across the area into school, for a two-hour workshop looking at primary and secondary links regarding history. We looked at curriculum content and shared the glories of primary school teaching before looking at what we teach to Years 7 through to 9 at Hardenhuish. The history team then delivered four punchy activities focusing on some of the important skills that pupils learn in their history lessons; chronology, change and continuity, source work, interpretations and significance. There was a wonderful atmosphere and to be able to have direct communication with our primary colleagues was excellent. It has helped us to learn how advanced primary pupils are when they arrive in September regarding some of these skills already, whilst allowing us to share where we take the pupils upon arrival in Year 7.
From a recent survey by the Historical Association only 6% of primary and secondary schools collaborate. This is a trend we want to buck and hopefully this workshop will be the first stepping stone into further workshops at Hardenhuish and opportunities for our staff to work more closely with individual schools. One exciting outcome of our workshop were two invitations to look at the history curriculum within two local primaries. Let’s see what next year brings.
Many congratulations to the following students on their superb music exam results
Ben Woodhead (13 JDW) – Grade 8 Flute (Merit)
Claudia Irving (10 LEB) – Grade 6 Flute (Merit)
Trystan Stovell (9 HRV) – Grade 5 Flute
Lucy McCoy – Grade 2 Drumming (distinction)
On Wednesday 7 June, 10 Year 8 pupils represented Hardenhuish in a county rounds cricket tournament, playing against five schools and winning the first 4 matches. Our final game was against Devizes who managed to get our strongest hitters out early doors. Devizes came out on top and just beat us in the final game. The final positions were close and came down to the amount of players out as we finished on the same points and rounders difference to Sheldon. Sheldon got 13 people out and we got 11 out over the whole tournament meaning we came out on top and won the whole tournament!
Special mention to our dynamic trio of back stop (Hannah M) , 2nd base (Amelie GV) and 4th base (Amelia S) who worked so well and super quick at stopping the other teams scoring points and getting the majority of players out. They were like lightening!
Since making our Pre-loved uniform available to buy through Arbor we have checked, washed and sold well over 200 items. Thank you to everyone who has donated unwanted uniform to the school already; if you have any uniform that your child has outgrown or no longer needs please consider donating it to the school so that it can be used again. Available uniform is listed in the school shop on Arbor, this is updated as more stock becomes available so please keep checking if there is something you would like. Purchased items can be collected from Reception between 2.30pm and 4pm.