Message from the Head
Dear Parents,
Another busy week!
Monday’s assembly focussed on the topics of racism and misogyny. Thank you, Mr Dean, for engaging the school community in thinking about these subjects and in promoting our thinking about how we can avoid and challenge such behaviours.
On Tuesday, Year 10 had an amazing visit to Science Live and were excellent ambassadors for Hollygirt as our seating area was left the tidiest!
I was able to compliment the school on some really positive comments that I had received about the manners of our students this week – I was a very proud Head. However, I did have to pick up some reports of silliness on the Elms later that day with the older boys – not all of them! (highs and lows of Headship) and ask that you remind your children that a unique aspect of Hollygirt is that they are on public view every time they are on The Elms! Thank you for your support in this.
Monday was the Friends of Hollygirt committee meeting and it was such a joy to have so many people face to face for a meeting in school. See below for a message from the chair of Friends of Hollygirt, Pooja Gadhia.
Yesterday we celebrated World Book Day and I did manage to see all the Juniors dressed up amazingly. In the Senior school, each lesson of the day read a different part of the story from Ben Zephaniah’s Windrush Child -the story of a young Jamaican boy who arrives in Manchester. It was a great idea – thank you English Dept and to Ms O’Looney for a wonderful World Book Day assembly that reminded us all about the benefits of reading.
We had another wonderful assembly from Mr Rollinson this week about the power of failure! I couldn’t agree more – there is nothing quite like failure to create success. Thank you for the Fixed vs Growth Mindset reminder and please do talk to your children about their beliefs around intelligence. Are you born with a certain amount of intelligence or can you grow it? I know some of you have had this conversation already.
Junior School Council had a great idea for us to dress up in blue and yellow next Friday (minimum contribution £2) in support of Ukraine and lots of students are keen to organise more fundraising activities soon. Our thoughts are with the people there. I sent a PDF earlier in the week with some tips about how to talk to your children (thank you to the parents who led me to this valuable resource). In Issues with Year 9 this morning we discussed these events.
Next Wednesday is a working Open Morning and we have quite a lot of families who have registered their interest. I shall look forward to showing off our wonderful Hollygirt students and staff then!
Please can I ask that you are careful where you park and that you don’t park on the pavements.
Best wishes,
Helen Barsham
Head
Message from the Head of Juniors
Good afternoon,
The juniors have had a lovely week despite the weather meaning we have been inside more than we would have liked to have been.
It was fantastic to see all the different costumes for World Book Day – thank you so much for all of your efforts. You may have noticed some of the staff dressed as Little Miss and Mr Men characters – well done to them too! The children have participated in a variety of themed activities; I particularly enjoyed the Nick Sharratt workshop with Years 1 and 2 where we were able to see his new book whilst learning to draw some of the illustrations. In my lessons with Years 3 and 4, we discussed some of our favourite books and enjoyed talking about the characters in stories we have read over and over again.
Thank you to children who have purchased red noses this week. There will be a Bake Sale on Wednesday 16th March so children should bring in money for this if they wish to buy cakes. Thank you in advance to Year 6 and their parents who will be baking! Please could I remind you that any edible items, being brought in for either Bake Sales or to share for celebrations, must not contain nuts or sesame and need to be accompanied by a full ingredients list.
This week’s Stars of the Week can be viewed here.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Wright
Head of Junior School
Message from the Chair of Friends of Hollygirt
Hello everyone,
I hope you have all had a lovely week this week.
We had our Friends of Hollygirt meeting this Monday and it was a great turnout, thanks to everyone who attended… we may have to start using a larger room to accommodate you all!
We now have a new secretary! Thank you to Sam Boswell for stepping into this role! Our committee is getting larger by the day and this is great news. We can’t support the school and children without your involvement so again thanks to all who attended Monday night!
We’re looking to appoint a Treasurer – if you’d like to put yourself forward for the please email clairejones@hollygirt.notts.sch.uk.
We have now planned all of our events for this academic year and have some amazing things lined up. Some of the events planned are a junior school disco, a PJ, popcorn and pizza party for years 7 and 8 and a summer family BBQ. Watch this space for more news on future events!
We have a pot of money which we allocate to the teachers to use for the children (and the teachers themselves). We had quite a few teachers submit numerous bids which included plants and a bench for the junior school garden, football accessories for after school club and musical instruments. We went through every bid Monday night and as a committee made some difficult but fair choices. We hope the money allocated will provide the children and teachers with the supplies they need to further support their growth, personally and academically.
Bids for items will be open again in September. Further details will be provided nearer the time.
We will be opening up our second-hand uniform shop in the coming weeks. Please keep an eye on our social media for upcoming dates and items we have in stock.
I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend.
Pooja Gadhia
Year 2 Parent and Chair of Friends of Hollygirt
Key Dates for the Week Ahead
| Tuesday 8th March | International Womens’ Day (Senior School Assembly) |
| Wednesday 9th March | Open Morning D.E.A.R |
| Thursday 10th March |
DART Years 5 & 6
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| Friday 12nd March | Non-uniform day to raise funds for the people of Ukraine (blue and yellow theme) |