Message from the Head
Dear Parents,
Thank you to the D of E team who are braving cold conditions. I will be pleased to see everyone home and how I wish the weather was warmer for you. You will appreciate a hot shower tonight!
We started the week with my assembly about standards. We talked about teaching standards. These have changed recently to reflect what we know about learning and especially how memory works. A couple of years ago I was a member of a working party looking at Initial Teacher Training standards for Cambridge University – the idea being to include retrieval practice, interleaving and spacing into teacher training. Happy to say we are well versed on these subjects at Hollygirt.
I also talked about standards with friends, family and school. Our uniform is a key example of standards at work. This week I received the new ISI inspection framework for independent schools = more standards. It’s an interesting read and places the wellbeing of students at the heart of everything we do as a school. We are pretty good at this sort of thing at Hollygirt but will never rest on our laurels here.
On Wednesday, we had the final of the House Music Competition and wow – we have some people who can rock. A special shout out to Mrs Griffiths for her sportsmanship here and congratulations to Rufford for winning the House Singing Competition!
Standards – this week we housed the Maths Challenge and I’m sure we’re setting high standards in our efforts here.
Year 11 have had a special assembly with top tips from Mrs Brown and our new Sixth Formers are invited to a special breakfast next week. Lots more events and opportunities are planned for the new Sixth Form. Into next week again, and we will welcome visitors to the school; the candidates for the Assistant Head (Pastoral) role. The students will be an important part of our decision-making process and some of you may have been contacted for permissions to miss lessons to take part in the interviews.
Hope you have a good long weekend.
Dr Helen Barsham
Head
Message from the Deputy Head/Head of Prep
Good afternoon,
Open Day last Saturday was a great success. We were so lucky with the weather! Thank you to the children for being amazing tour guides and demonstrating different activities in the classrooms. Thank you also to parents who helped out serving refreshments. We had so many positive comments about the school and the children.
Well done to Welbeck for baking delicious cakes and cookies for their bake sale this week. They raised an impressive £115 which will also be donated to the Make-A-Wish charity. Thank you to parents for your help with this.
Yesterday, Mr Appleyard ran some really useful PSHE workshops with Years 4–6. If you wish to discuss any of these topics further, please let Form Teachers know.
On Tuesday, Years 4 and 6 are visiting Mary Arden’s Farm in Stratford-upon-Avon to take part in a Tudor workshop. I am sure this will be a thoroughly valuable experience for them.
On Friday, we are inviting all parents to join us for our Coronation Tea Party. This will begin at 2:00pm. This day will be non-school uniform with a red, white and blue theme.
It is of course bank holiday weekend. Enjoy the break and I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Victoria Wright
Deputy Head/Head of Prep