Hello to all Year 7 students and their families, 

Wow, these April showers are showing some of our values: 

• Resilience - to never end; 

• Responsibility- to ensure the environment is lush and green; 

• Responsibility- to cover all areas in the UK.  

Somebody has reliably informed us that we are actually in Spring, and that summer is close… If you find spring lurking in your area please send it our way, as students are in a complete muddle with their daily attire and are either too warm or too cold, and occasionally damp! 

Beyond the ever-changing weather, the year group are doing very well. Having done assemblies that focused on our school values and their futures, students in Year 7 have been discussing ideas of what we could do to keep them off their phones in their free time and are now telling me what the 3 images shown in each assembly mean. Mrs Davies and I have been very impressed by their levels of responsibility and improving belief in themselves. 

Respect, kindness and resilience are values that we are encouraging students to promote daily, reminding them that ’Manners do not cost anything’, ‘One kind act leads to another’, and ‘Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow'. I have also shared two thought-inspiring videos to the year group, via email, this week and thought I would share them with you as well: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT-HBl2TVtI Kindness 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTsvSAItPqA Respect 

The kindness video brought a tear to my eyes as I watched the spread of kindness. 

As we move forward towards the half term break, and beyond to the end of July, Mrs Davies and I are looking forward to further developing the way we support the year group with things to meet their needs, taking onboard thoughts and ideas. To help us do this I will be giving each tutor group a questionnaire to complete next week. Students will be discussing reward ideas, things that are going well, things that they feel are issues to be addressed, topics they wish to know more about, how many use their school email, and anything else they want us to do or be aware of. Once I have the feedback, I will start looking through responses and discuss the key areas with tutors and their groups next week. I will share their thoughts and ideas in my next blog. 

For now, stay warm and dry (Bonkers that I am saying this as we near the May bank holiday!) 

Please stay safe, take care, and remember we are here to help all students. If there are any concerns or worries at home please remind your child of this and you can also email us to let us know HOY7@hessleacademy.com 

Mrs Todd

Head of Year 7 

Mrs Davies

Assistant Head of Year 7