This week we have focussed on Careers. Thank you to 350+ NHS who met with students to discuss careers in the NHS and deliver their NHS myth buster presentation.
Over the next two weeks there are a number of activities taking place to celebrate Christmas and support available for families over the festive period. We hope to see lots of parents/ carers at these events.
Once again, we would like to remind parents/ carers that if they have any comments, questions or concerned about the school we would like you to email general@thehambleschool.co.uk rather than discuss/ report them on Facebook. As a school want to be able to investigate and act.
Next week is WEEK 2
Events w/b 4 December
All week – Year 7 Review Assessment Week. Revision materials will be available on Class Charts.
All week – Food Bank/ Clothing Bank collections. Breakfast Club available for selected students.
Monday 4 December – Peace Jam Workshop for Debating Club.
Tuesday 5 December and Wednesday 6 December – Christmas Lunches (tickets will be handed out on Monday).
Wednesday 6 December – Bereavement Friendship Group Christmas Meeting.
Wednesday 6 December – Year 12 Presentation Evening.
Thursday 7 December – Year 11 ‘Cause for Concern’ Parents’ Evening (appointment times have been sent home).
Thursday 7 December – Food Bank open for collections 3:15pm-4:15pm.
Friday 8 December – Christmas Jumper Day (and non-school uniform).
Future dates
Tuesday 12 December – Tuesday 12 December – Year 7 Grandparents Christmas Celebration.
Tuesday 12 December – Food Bank open for collections 3:15pm-4:15pm.
Thursday 14 December – Community Carols. Year 11 Intervention will be cancelled.
Friday 15 December – Last day of school – All students will finish at 1pm.
Letters sent this week
All letters can be found here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/letters-to-parents/
Whole School – Christmas Events and Support, Parent Governor Vacancy, Student Leadership Team Quarry.
The canteen menus can be found here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/food-and-drink/
Please check your child’s Attendance regularly on Class Charts
Theme of the Week – Sustainability
This week Mr Knight (Assistant Head of Science), Mrs Gaskin (Head of Geography) and the Eco Ambassadors will deliver assemblies on sustainability and the environment.
They will be encouraging families to ‘Cut Your Carbon’ by completing challenges (see below). As you are aware, emissions of carbon dioxide are one of the leading causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming that is affecting our planet. By taking part in at least one of the challenges, you not only will have done your bit to cut some of those carbon emissions but also learn about the changes you could make to reduce your carbon footprint in the future, and often save yourself some money too. Look at the 9 challenges below to see what challenges you could attempt.
The Eco Ambassadors would love to hear about which challenges you have completed so we can add them all up across the school and send off how many times the different challenges have been completed – You can message Mr Knight or Mrs Gaskin on Class Charts.
- Make at least one journey more sustainable. Transport is responsible for around 20% of globalCO2 emissions. So how about turning a car-ride to school into a bus-ride to school? Or perhaps a bus to the shops could become a bike to the shops?
- Go meat-free for a day. Farmed animals are responsible for around 14% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, so choose a day to go meat-free and discover how delicious cutting carbon can be. As an extra challenge, try going entirely plant-based for the day (meaning no dairy or eggs either) or attempt a meat-free day each week during November.
- Have a no food-waste weekend. Prepare only what is needed, eat everything edible on your plate, and ensure any leftovers are saved for another time or used to create a new meal. Growing, processing, and transporting food releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and even more gases are released if this food is binned and sent to landfill.
- Turn down the heating by 1°C for a week Heating is the biggest source of CO2 emissions in many homes. Dropping your heating 1° below your usual temperature for a week can reduce your carbon footprint and save your family money. You could even go further and commit to 18° for a week, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
- Design a flight free holiday. Flying is bad for our planet, so for this challenge, we’re asking you to appreciate exciting destinations closer to home – sit with your family and decide on a future trip you’d like to take that doesn’t involve flying. This might be to visit Stonehenge in Wiltshire, try surfing in Cornwall, or go hiking in the Lake District.
- Say ‘no’ to a new item. Write a list of every non-essential item you bought, or that was bought for you, last month and categorise each – e.g., clothing, toys, cosmetics. Choose a category and commit to not purchasing any items in this category for a month, because every item you buy has a carbon footprint.
- Donate something you no longer need. Manufacturing new items releases carbon into the atmosphere. For example, producing a book releases about 1kg CO2, a t-shirt 7kg, and an iPhone, a whopping 60kg! Passing on things you no longer need is a great way to prevent emissions, so, swap a book with a friend, donate clothing that doesn’t fit to charity, or pass on an unused device to a relative.
- Substitute 4 baths for 4 showers and limit them to 4 minutes. Swapping a bath for a 4-minuteshower can use up to 44 litres less water, saving the energy required to clean, transport, and heat this water. We recommend using a 4-minute song as a timer that you can sing-along to!
- Share carbon-cutting advice with someone. To conquer climate change, we all need to work together, so share three pieces of carbon-cutting advice with people you know. You might remind a brother or sister not to waste food, challenge a grandparent to time their shower or share a plant-based recipe on social media. Don’t forget to add #CutYourCarbon to your posts.
In tutor time students will focus on a different aspect of sustainability:
- Year 7 – Litter
- Year 8 – Transport
- Year 9 – Energy Usage
- Year 10 – Consumer Choice
Christmas Events and Support
We are hosting a number of events to celebrate Christmas and support families over the next two weeks. Please do attend as many as you can.
Monday 4 December – Parent/ Carer coffee Morning 11:30am-12:30pm. Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/aVkz1qyfBr
Friday 8 December – Christmas Jumper Day Students are invited to wear a Christmas Jumper with non-school uniform. They need to either donate an item for our Food/ Clothing Bank or you can donate money to our Community Initiatives on ScoPay.
Tuesday 12 December – Year 7 Grandparents (or another suitable family member) Christmas Celebration 1pm-2:30pm. Join your Grandson/ Granddaughter for Christmas Music, crafts and some refreshments. Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/DvvwcktPsG
Thursday 14 December – Community Carols 3:30pm. Join us for mince pies and music. Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/GnE1T6FcRq Year 11 Intervention will be cancelled on this day to allow everyone to celebrate Christmas.
Our Food Bank is open at the following times before Christmas:
- Thursday 7 December 3:15pm-4:15pm
- Tuesday 12 December 3:15pm-4:15pm
If you would like to donate to the Food Bank and take part in our Reverse Advent Calendar (see below) there is a box in our reception area for you to put items. This is open 8am-6pm everyday.
Please note that on the last day of term (Friday 15 December) the school will close at 1pm.
Proposed Quarry Development
Hopefully you have read on social media and in the Southern Daily Echo https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23960401.hamble-school-pupils-sign-petition-proposed-quarry/?fbclid=IwAR1UuEsckDEZSwMzE6Pl7RLmqCXGj–pajjBFgzH8P6Sz-prAmbiHU4F30Q that our Student Leadership Team wrote a fantastic letter to Hampshire County Council against the proposed quarry 90 seconds walk from the school. The rest of the student community and staff signed a petition against it on Wednesday. We will be taking this to Hampshire County Council but also have a visit from Paul Holmes MP next week, who has been very supportive of the school’s campaign against the quarry.
Our Student Leadership Team are continuing to work hard on behalf of us all but they also need the help of every parent/ carers. Please do ensure that you write your own letters to Hampshire County Council. If you have written previously, you will need to write again as Cemex has responded since the initial objections. There is a great Facebook page available to support you writing a letter: https://www.facebook.com/groups/341011544616215/ On here they provide the following instructions:
We have until 15 DECEMBER to counter their response.
Response is by email to: planning@hants.gov.uk.
Or by post – Development Management, Universal Services, The Castle, Winchester, Hants, S023 8UD
Please remember to include the Planning Application Number: HCC/2021/0787, with your name & address.
Further information can be found by links below:
Hampshire County Council: https://planning.hants.gov.uk/Disclaimer?returnUrl=/Planning/Display/HCC/2021/0787
Hamble Parish Council: https://cemex.hambleparishcouncil.gov.uk/nov-23-reg-25…/
Or, by hard copy at the Mercury Hub
Letters need to be different but we have attached an example from the Governors at Hamble Primary School to help you with your objection.
School Uniform
At Parent Forum we discussed concerns from both the school and parents/ carers about the length of skirts. We are reminding students in school to ensure they are not rolled up. Please can we ask that if your child wears a skirt you look at the length of it over the Christmas Holidays – The policy states that it should be on the knee. If your son/ daughter needs a new one, we will be launching our second-hand uniform shop in the new year. We are also looking for donations of old uniform, so if your child no longer fits in their skirt and you are happy for it to be re-used please bring it into reception.
Your child is expected to bring their planner every day. If they need a new one, these can be purchased on ScoPay.
Parent Forum
Thank you to all parents/ carers who completed the online survey about availability to come along to the Parent Forum. 50% said they would like the meetings to continue Face-to-Face and 50% said they would like a combination of online and Face-to-Face. The most popular day to host the meetings was a Tuesday, followed by Monday and then Wednesday. Over 65% of Parents/ Carers felt that an evening meeting after 6pm was the best time. Thank you for your contribution to future topics – We will publish a new calendar of meetings/ topics in the new year.
The Inclusion Department
Our vision for Inclusion is ‘to provide whole school inclusion, which is led by high quality inclusive teaching in the classroom and supported by ‘additional to, different from’ intervention for some, that enables achievement for all’.
As you are aware one of our key areas of focus since February has been the quality of the SEND provision in school. We have an expanded team of a Deputy Headteacher, two SENDCos, an Internal Alternative Provision Lead, Behaviour Coaches, an Inclusion Officer, Inclusion Coaches, a Student Support and Guidance Manager, ELSAs and a Family Support Worker to support children with SEND.
We also now have 3 rooms available all with a particular focus:
- Engage: Support is primarily focused for students with SEMH needs and anxiety; it is personalised to the student and support is provided through nurture-based intervention. Engage has also been used to re-engage students who have not attended school for some time.
- Retrack: Support is primarily focused for students with behaviour challenges and students finding difficulty in accessing learning due to poor learning attitudes; this provision supports students to develop positive learning behaviours and to succeed in lessons.
- Step: Support is primarily focused for students with academic needs and to achieve a range of EHCP outcomes, support is tailored for students and follows the graduated response.
We have received very positive feedback from Hampshire (HIAS) on the quality of our provisions, however, Parent Voice is very important to us and we would invite parents/ carers to complete the questionnaire here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SENDDec23 by Friday 15 December to share your views on our SEND Provision.
Rewards
Congratulations to our students who achieve rewards this week.
13 students were awarded Bronze Awards
64 students were awarded Silver Awards
41 students were awarded Gold Awards.
11 students were awarded their Ruby Awards.
The students with the most reward points in each year group this week were:
- Year 7 – Emmie P 7-5
- Year 8 – Charlotte W 8-9
- Year 9 – Karina Ng 9-6
- Year 10 – Luca V 10-2
- Year 11 – Victor K-W 11-5
Proud Friday!
Well done to all the students were awarded certificates/ positive points at Proud Friday this week.
Thank You
If you would like to nominate a member of staff for a ‘thank you’, please click here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/staff-recognition/
Support
If you or you child would like support with wellbeing, please check out the links of our website: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/student-wellbeing-support/ You can also email staysafe@thehambleschool.co.uk or use our ‘Report a Concern’ link on the school homepage.
