January 21, 2022

Weekly News Friday 21st January 2022

This week's featured image is of our Entrance Day. It was wonderful to see so many new faces, alongside our current Year 6 pupils, enjoying a day at Hollygirt Senior School.

Message from the Head

 

Dear Parents,

In assembly today, we heard about the random acts of kindness that the students have demonstrated this week. From sharing pens to opening doors for staff and helping at home! Kindness is a core value that runs through the lifeblood of Hollygirt school.

It’s Year 8 parents evening on Monday and we look forward to seeing you then, and Year 9 options are almost upon us. I am so excited to say that we will be increasing the options this year to include GCSE PE and Computer Science. We constantly review the depth and breadth of our education on offer and will be relentless in looking to see what further provisions both curricular and extra-curricular we can add as the terms roll on.

This week we had 42 students for Entrance Day and 23 for Scholarship Day. The students did really well and loved the school. I met with all prospective parents (apologies if anyone was trying to get hold of me). The feedback from the prospective students was great to hear. They love the kindness of Hollygirt teachers, the majority love Maths! Good news for our Maths team there! They liked our anime club! Prospective new students would like us to get a school dog, start a rock band and run a coding club. All good ideas in my opinion! Parents love the idea of our small class sizes and nurturing atmosphere; the feeling of being part of a family and recognised the excellent teaching that happens at Hollygirt.

My thanks to the Admissions Team for the seamless administration around the days and to the staff who helped with lessons, tours, toilet trips etc. We were so busy and the atmosphere was great.

At SLT (Senior Leadership Team), we continue to look at parent communications and ways we can improve and I have asked our lovely Amy on Reception to send out reminders about ingredients for Food & Nutrition for Y7 and Y8 to try and help the last minute ‘I’ve got Food tomorrow, I need’…… I hope you find this helpful. And as per last week, all upcoming dates are included on this newsletter.

That’s it from me this week because most of the week has been taken up with the Entrance Days. Have a good weekend and keep wrapping up warm. Has anyone seen any snowdrops yet?

Best wishes,

Helen Barsham
Head

 

Message from the Head of Juniors

 

Good afternoon,

This week has been Sparkle Week.  It has been a great success in raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing by demonstrating acts of kindness. The children and staff have worn some fabulous sparkly accessories.  Earlier this week, I was delighted to find a Year 6 pupil had left some sweets with a kind message on my desk – what a lovely thought. Photos will be posted on our social media pages so please have a look at some of the activities the juniors have been involved in. Of course, we encourage the children to be kind every day of the year.

On Wednesday, Dr Alvarez from Nottingham City Council is coming into school to lead the Years 5 and 6 children in a project about architectural sketching. They will learn a variety of skills, and this will culminate in a visit to the Council House later in the term to look at local decision-making and placemaking. Thank you to Dr Alvarez for her continued support.

We are continuing with our DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) programme which is going really well.  Children should make sure they have a book of choice in school for this session.

We are waiting for the final summer dress for approval in the next couple of weeks.  We are hoping this will be available to order before Easter and will keep you informed on this.

This week’s Stars of the Week can be viewed here.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Wright
Head of Junior School

 

 

Key Dates for the Week Ahead

Monday 24th January

Year 8 Parents’ Evening, 4.15pm onwards

Wednesday 26th January

Year 5 and 6 Architectural Sketching Project with Nottingham City Council
Drop Everything and Read 1.05-1.15pm

Thursday 27th January

Year 5 and 6 DART (previously known as DARE)