Message from the Head
Dear Parents,
This week is Anti-Bullying Week and thank you to Mr Casey for Monday’s assembly reminding us of this year’s theme of ‘Reach Out’. We talked through all the ways the Hollygirt students can reach out and we also surveyed the students about bullying in school in PSHE this week.
Our Anti-Bullying Policy is on the website and the students were involved in the construction of this policy – all reported incidents of bullying come to me, and we investigate so the ‘Reach Out’ is so important; if we know about it, we can manage it. The dreaded (and can be useful and helpful) social media is where most incidents occur, and we will manage these if we know about them – screenshots are really useful to us in sorting problems out!
Thank you to Ms Howlett for organising all things Children in Need this week including assembly today; I thought the students looked wonderful today in school.
Work starts in the next two weeks on training some staff with a view to training all staff on a new messaging system in school; it’s hard work but it will mean that next September you will all be using a brand new messaging app where reports, letters, news, emails will all be stored – in one place; we are levelling up in our parent comms but it does take some time.
Check out the Nottingham Post this week – information about our new Sixth Form and a picture of yours truly explaining a little bit more about just how different we are in terms of understanding our students and the provisions we make for them especially around high stakes exams (makes a difference to the last article about parking!).
This weekend Rusty arrives…
Mrs Wright has emailed Junior parents dates of events in the run up to Christmas. See below dates for Senior events over the coming weeks:
Monday 5th December 6-7pm – Sixth Form Open Evening – this is primarily for external parents but please feel free to come along for more information if you missed the last event
Wednesday 14th December – Christmas Dinner
Thursday 15th December – 2.00pm Christmas Fair in Senior School
Thursday 15th December – 5.30pm Carol Service at St. Peter’s Church. Refreshments from 5.00pm
Friday 16th December – Last day of term – we finish at 12.15pm with a pizza treat for all pupils before they leave
Have a good weekend,
Dr Helen Barsham
Head
Message from the Head of Juniors
Good afternoon,
This week is Anti-Bullying Week and the children have been really busy participating in assemblies and lessons on this theme. It is hard to summarise all the activities but I will mention some. Children have made kindness charts and thought about how they can be kind to each other. They have discussed what bullying is and what they would do in different situations. Some have learnt poems and looked at scenarios from different people’s points of view. Classes have made posters, paper chains and their own wrist bands with messages of kindness. The younger children have been celebrating how we are all unique and have been getting to know more about each other with their ‘All About Me’ bags. All juniors have learnt this year’s song and will perform this later in assembly. It has been amazing to see all these activities, plus many more, happening in school this week and children recognising how they can do something positive by reaching out to others.
Some quotes from our younger children:
“We want to know a little bit more about each other.”
“Take turns and share.”
“It was fantastic when we did our kindness chart.”
”The circle time was so much fun!”
“The song was brilliant.”
Today is Children in Need and the juniors have enjoyed dressing up. A huge thank you to Year Six and their parents for baking the delicious goodies for our Bake Sale on Wednesday, and to Mrs Keyworth for organising this. We are still selling merchandise today and next week, Year Six will total the money raised.
I am sending home a detailed list of December events. We are approaching a very busy time of year so I hope that this is helpful. Thank you in advance for helping children learn lines, songs and with costumes. Please note that the coffee morning for junior parents on Friday 9th December (an opportunity to catch up for a chat!) will be slightly earlier than advertised last week, from 8:15am to 8:45am. Please pop in if you are free after drop off.
A slight change in arrangements for children in the Junior School arriving late (after 8:45am). Please could you call 07519 002783 to alert us that you have arrived and a member of staff will come to open the gate on Elm Avenue, rather than going to main Reception.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Victoria Wright
Head of Juniors