Saturday 5 October was World Teacher’s Day. We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate our amazing teachers and support staff who consistently go above and beyond to ensure that our students achieve the best possible outcomes. Thank you to all of you. If you would like to say ‘thank you’ to a member of staff, you can do this using our Staff Recognition Scheme here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/staff-recognition/ Staff will receive a postcard with your message and this really does make their week.
This week we have been delighted to host Year 5 and 6 students with their Parents/ Carers during Open Mornings. The Year 10 Prefects have been wonderful tour guides and ambassadors for the school during these events. In the feedback forms, Parents/ Carers have commented:
- ‘The students were brilliant’
- ‘The Prefects could answer all our questions’
- ‘The students were so polite’
- ‘It was great to see students enjoying their lessons’.
We enjoyed meeting Year 7 Parents/ Carers during ‘Meet the Tutor’ evening on Thursday. Thank you to everyone who also completed the Transition Survey. Feedback is really important to us, so if you have 5 minutes and have not completed this, we would really welcome your response – https://forms.office.com/e/VJESrzXABH
Finally, we also hosted our first Parent Forum meeting of the year early this week. Thank you to the Parents/ Carers who gave up their time to attend and provide valuable feedback. This information will be discussed in the next Senior Leadership Meeting and we will use it to continue to drive the school forward.
A few Year 7 Parents/ Carers commented that they were sometimes unsure about how to contact the school. We have put together a helpful poster below – We hope you find this useful.
Next week is WEEK 2
Check out just some of the positive comments about the school from various stakeholders this month.
Question of the Week
Please select your answer in the form below, all fields marked * are required and to help prevent SPAM this form is protected by Google reCaptcha v3.
Each week we will ask parents/ carers a question in the Weekly Message – This will either be about a topic we are focussing on or an aspect of our school improvement plan. We would appreciate it if everyone answers it when reading the Weekly Message.
Events w/b 7 October
w/b 7 October – Year 7 CAT Tests
w/b 7 October – Year 8 Review Assessments
w/b 7 October – Year 11 Food Preparation and Nutrition Exams
Tuesday 8 October – EARA Group Visit (selected students)
Thursday 10 October – Year 11 English Literature Mock Exam
Future Dates
w/b 14 October – Year 11 Food Preparation and Nutrition Exams continue
w/b 14 October – Second week of Year 7 CAT Tests
w/c 14 October – Year 9 Review Assessments
Tuesday 15 October – Year 11 Achieving Excellence Evening 5:30pm-7:30pm starting in the Main Hall. All Year 11 Parents/ Carers and students welcome. Please sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/LqmzxEifh2
Wednesday 16 October – PSHCRE Day for Year 11
Thursday 17 October – Year 10 &11 Mayflower Theatre Visit to see War Horse
Letters
You can find all letters sent home over the week here – https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/letters-to-parents/
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 – Black History Month and Reading Week
The History Department will be leading assemblies this week to commemorate Black History Month. In the UK, Black History Month happens every October. It gives the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.
People from African and Caribbean backgrounds have been a fundamental part of British history for centuries. However, campaigners believe that their contribution to society has been overlooked or distorted. More information on Black History Month can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54522248
During Personal Development time in tutor, students will be engaging in Reading Week. They will be reading speeches from influential black figures: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Michelle Obama. Students will have the opportunity to read aloud and we will recommend David Olusoga’s Book ‘Black and British – A short essential history’. Students will read extracts of this with their tutor, but it is available on Amazon for £6.20 if your child would like to read more – Click here.
This Week at the Dinner Table…
- Discuss with your child why reading is important. Remind them of the academic and social benefits.
- Help your child to be proactive in their wider reading. Ask them what types of books they enjoy reading.
- Where do they like to read? Help them find a quiet space to read.
- What have they read at school this week? Take an interest in what they are reading in lessons.
To find out more about Reading at The Hamble School, visit our website: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/reading-curriculum/
Year 11 Update
Over the next few weeks students will be preparing for their Mock Examinations which begin on Monday 11 November. It is vital that students are preparing for these exams by revising at home. We will be supporting Parents/ Carers and students with a variety of events and activities over the coming weeks.
Revision
As you are aware this is a crucial time for your son/ daughter and they should now be actively engaged in revision for their GCSE examinations at home in addition to their homework. Staff will be able to guide them with what to revise and how to do this. Information will be posted on Class Charts but we will also be completing activities and workshops in the coming weeks so that students are equipped with the tools needed to be successful in their studies.
The curriculum booklet distributed at the Year 11 Curriculum Evening (and available on our website here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/curriculum-overview/) details the examination boards and what topics students need to revise as well as suggested resources. Many students already have their revision guides from Year 10, however we will be giving Parents/ Carers the opportunity to purchase any resources their child does not have through Scopay next week.
During the week beginning 14 October and 21 October students will be putting together a revision timetable during tutor time. If they have already written one, they can bring this in to show their tutor. In lessons each subject will ‘showcase’ and practise a different revision strategy over the fortnight so that students have knowledge of a wide range of techniques. Please do ask your son/ daughter about their revision to ensure that they have the resources required and check they are following their revision timetable.
PSHCRE Day
On Wednesday 16 October students will be engaging in a series of workshops and speaker-led sessions based on revision, exam technique and managing stress and anxiety during Year 11. We will welcome external speakers and organisations into school to support with this day.
Raising Achievement Programme
Our Raising Achievement Programme is one element of the comprehensive package we offer to support students in their final year at The Hamble School. This began in Year 10 with a series of workshops focused on independent learning. As you are aware on Tuesday 15 October the programme continues with our first Raising Achievement Evening of the academic year, focused on Study Skills. The evening will start at 5:30pm and we anticipate it will last for two hours. Parents/ carers should ideally attend with their child and the event will take place in the main hall.
The evening has been organised by the Teaching and Learning Team. We aim to inspire and equip students and parents/ carers with practical strategies that enable students to fulfil their potential in their examinations. The event will include:
- An overview of the Year 11 road map
- Examples of effective revision techniques
- Training on how to create a revision timetable
- How to develop healthy study habits and routines
- Representatives from the Year 11 pastoral team available to answer your questions
We will also welcome come college/ further education providers.
If you wish to book a ticket for this free event, please do so using the link here: https://forms.office.com/e/LqmzxEifh2
English
Last week Mrs Loveridge (Head of English) talked to students about changes we are making to support learning in English. Next week on Thursday 10 October students will complete an English Literature Mock Exam. Before this exam, from Monday, students will be moved into Focussed Teaching Groups. This means that they will now be taught in classes appropriate to their attainment and target/ predicted grades. Students will concentrate on the knowledge/ skills required to ensure that they maximise their grades in the summer GCSE exams.
Students should already be revising for the English Literature Exam, however, some of the information we shared in assembly is also detailed below:
Key dates
Students have already completed their first Review Assessments in Year 11 and you will receive your child’s first Progress Report on Friday 18 October. Further details about the report will be sent home to explain the different grades listed. Students will then reflect and action plan in tutor time on Tuesday 22 October.
When the reports are sent home Parents/ Carers will have the opportunity to ask questions or speak to relevant members of staff via the feedback form. Mrs Barkshire (Year 11 Progress Leader), Mr Taylor (Assistant Progress Leader), Ms Balch (Raising Standards Leader for KS4) and Mrs Valleley (Deputy Headteacher) will also be hosting a Year 11 Progress Meeting for selected students on Wednesday 23 October. Parents/ Carers invited to these meetings will be contacted directly after the Progress Reports are issued.
Executive Functioning
How can Parents/ Carers support planning, goal-setting and self-monitoring at home?
Young people require strong executive function skills to regulate their progress towards any goal-directed activity. They need to be able to identify goals, plan ways to achieve them, monitor progress and adjust their behaviour as required. While teaching young people about strategies and tools for better self-management is important, these will have little effect unless young people are motivated to use them. Practising and improving executive function skills such as long-term planning and goal-setting should be presented as important for autonomy and self-realisation.
- To practice goal-setting, young people should be encouraged to create personal goals that are simple and achievable, with longer goals broken into short-term steps. Young people can think about the skills they need to learn and practice in order to meet their goals, as well as the problems or difficulties they might have and how they might handle them.
- Long-term planning using tools, such as an online calendar, can be made an integral part of your curriculum, to show how planning ahead and thinking about how to fit everything in is an important habit for success. For example, regular reference to a class calendar with the due dates of all assignments, tests and exams can be modelled. It is also important also to teach young people how to use digital learning management systems so that they know how to view, submit, and read feedback from assignments.
- Young people can list their responsibilities and tasks, to provide them with a concrete reference which they can process in a more rational (and less impulsive or emotionally-based) way, and engage in more effective decision-making. Young people can analyse their list, dividing tasks into categories according to their due date (one day, two days or later, or one day, one week, or one month). Young people will find it easier to plan for shorter periods of time at first before progressing to longer stretches.
- To support a deeper level of processing and understanding about an important assignment, you might create periods of time for young people to determine (individually or in groups) how to break down an assignment into smaller steps, such as ‘write an outline’, or ‘collect resources’. From there they can write priority lists, thinking about both urgent and important action steps, perhaps colour-coding each step and setting alerts for each step on a digital calendar. You can remind young people to recognise and celebrate when they have achieved each part of a task.
CAT Testing – Year 7
CAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) testing is designed to assess a students’ ability in three areas: verbal, quantitative and non-verbal. Results from CAT testing can help in intervention, monitoring progress and setting targets for future attainment.
The information may be used to see if a student is under achieving or whether there are specific learning difficulties. It will also enable us to support children effectively through our Express Programme.
A reminder that as per the letter previously sent home, CAT Testing will begin on Monday 7 October 2024 and will be completed over a period of two weeks. We have chosen to use the IT and PSCHRE sessions as these will have the least impact on your son/daughter’s core timetable. These assessments will be completed in class and, where possible, in their normal classroom.
The CAT tests are taken online and no revision or prior knowledge is necessary. Specialist equipment for these sessions is not required, however we would encourage all students to bring their own headphones and also a reading book to each session. Headphones must be able to be plugged into the computer audio jack. Air pods / Bluetooth headphones are not suitable and should not be brought in to school. There are limited spare headphones available. If you do not have access to your own, please advise the Progress Leader for Year 7 and we will arrange a loan of headphones.
Year 7 Science/ Geography Trip to London
As you are aware we plan to run a trip for all Year 7s to visit the Science and Natural History Museums during the w/b Monday 14 October. We have asked Parents/ Carers to make a voluntary contribution of £16.75. As stated in the letter, if we do not get enough voluntary contributions, we will not be able to run the trip.
We currently do not have enough funds to run this fieldtrip as a number of Parents/ Carers have not contributed. If you are in a financial positive to do so, we would ask that you contribute by Tuesday 8 October. On Thursday 10 October we will write home to confirm whether the trip will go ahead or be cancelled. We really want to be in a position to run this visit and provide an opportunity for Year 7 to visit London, however, we hope that you appreciate that our school funds cannot stretch to subsiding large numbers of students.
Rewards
The students with the top reward points in each year group this week are:
- Year 7 – Zoe G 7-1
- Year 8 –Harriet S 8-1
- Year 9 –William W 9-8
- Year 10 – Milan B 10-9
- Year 11 – Zak S 11-5
Congratulations to you all.
Support
If you or your child would like support with wellbeing, please check out the links of our website: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/student-wellbeing-support/
We have recently added information about a number of free parent/ carer courses or events to this section of our website.
