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Hessle High School

Head of Year 7 Blog

 

MRS J TODD

I am very proud to be the Head of Year 7.

If you wish to contact me, please email HOY7@hessleacademy.com

October 2023

Archive

  • WEEK 8 - Thursday 26 October 2023

    Published 26/10/23

    Hello to all my year 7 Students and their families, 

    Whoosh... End of term 1A: The longest of the half terms! 

    Whilst I am not an avid follower of sport, I do look forward to watching Rugby Union. Under the leadership of Steve Borthwick, I have thoroughly ridden the emotional journey of the England Rugby team in their World Cup campaign and saw the team demonstrate many of the values that we as a school hope to instil in our learners. Their determination, reflection of behaviours and performance and resilience have been tremendous- and I have also seen this in the year group over the past 8 weeks too. 

    I will be looking to expand my sport spectatorship in the coming years, as whenever I can, I plan on being out to support our year 7 teams: They are on fire! The various teams are made up by such a diverse range of students and I am seeing friendships change, bonding develop and the camaraderie between then is inspiring: 

    Our year 7 girls football team have got through the first two rounds of the National Cup; they played Ormiston Academy (5-2 win) and Humberston Academy (2-1 win) and progressed to the third round that will be played after half-term.  

    Some of our Year 7 girls were also represented in a 5-a-side Tigers Trust Tournament on Wednesday and did amazingly well.  Two teams (of girls in Years 7 to 9) were entered and both teams managed to qualify from their groups comfortably.  In the next round, the A Team beat Sirius West 3-0, whilst the B Team triumphed 3-2 over Cottingham; both sides progressing to the semi-finals, where Hessle A won 4-1 against Driffield and Hessle B beat Wolfreton 1-0. 

    And so it was an all-Hessle final, with Hessle A victorious but all the girls showed fantastic skill and sportsmanship and are an absolute credit to the school. 

    Our Year 7 boys football team also recently won their first fixture at home to Driffield 5-3 in the first round of the East Riding Cup and will face South Holderness School in the next round.   

    Our Cross-Country team had their first outing this week and again came home with smiles in abundance. Some of the students will also have the chance to take part in the next event over in Scunthorpe once all the positions have been confirmed. 

    Finally, the girls’ Netball team played matches at South Hunsley and were deserving winners of their matches too. 

    A huge round of applause to all involved (especially as the temperatures are dropping!) 

    Beyond the great outdoors, many Year 7s are now fully immersed in Music lessons: Singing, Piano, Violin, Drum, Guitar, Clarinet... the list continues. Students have joined the choir and will be practicing for our annual Christmas concert and the Hessle Lights’ Switch on. Then, there are the aspiring ‘West End’ actors that have secured roles in the eagerly anticipated school production of Oliver Twist. 

    The Dungeons and Dragon club is filling the corridors with laughter and giggles on a Friday when the staff are vacating for the weekend, and many more clubs are starting up as well. 

    On the homework front, please keep your eyes on ‘X’ (Formerly Twitter) as staff are starting to share photos of work done by the students. In Geography, I have been around the world in various shoeboxes- looking at the Pyramids, Australian Islands, key landmarks in London and various miniature football stadiums. 

    Last week, the year group took part in the NHS’s ‘Restart a Heart’ workshop. Paramedics came in to show students how to give CPR if they ever find themselves in a situation that requires it. They looked at how to check for risks first, check breathing, and how to count- singing along to ‘Baby Shark’ which apparently has the necessary rhythm! 

    With regards to testing and assessing students, we have completed CATs and Screening now, whilst baseline assessments are happening in subjects this week and just beyond the half term. Again, I am proud of how students are conducting themselves in these lessons. 

    After the half term I will be rewarding students for attendance and positive behaviours. Please keep your eye out for messages when your child is congratulated and check their bags for postcards from teachers. 

    It has been a busy and tiring half-term and I know so many of the students and staff are ready to take a breather and recharge their batteries next week. Please remember the clocks go back and that dark nights will be drawing in.  

    Please encourage your child to bring a coat, gloves, and a school bag (lots are not using them and filling pockets with their items). They need to be warm and keep dry in the cold and damp climate. Again, I ask that you discuss their trips to and from school to ensure you know which routes they will take and that they do so with others.  

    We return on Monday 6th November, and it will be Week A on the timetable. 

    Have a wonderful week off; enjoy any Halloween or Bonfire events and stay safe. 

    Take Care, 

    Mrs Todd

    Head of Year 7

    Mr Fielden 

    Assistant Head of Year 7

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  • WEEK 6 - Friday 13 October 2023

    Published 13/10/23

    Hello to all our year 7 students and their families, 

    The mornings are starting to feel damper, mist hovers across the school fields, and the leaves are starting to turn colour; it is my favourite season and a time of year where diaries are filling up for everybody. This week the promise of a trip to Hull Fair, if behaviour is good at school, has been hot on the lips of our 7s; with tales of visits to Hull Fair being heard each morning- along with how much sugar has been consumed! It has reminded me how important tradition is for our students and how much time with their friends and family is treasured. It has also set me up to track memories over the coming years that we can all reflect on in the future. 

    One of these early moments, future memories, is how well the students have listened to some very moving life experiences in the past 2 weeks; how they show sympathy and empathy towards others and discuss what they have heard with maturity. Last Friday the students listened to one of Humberside Police’s PCSOs, Dan, talk about how much the families on her patch become part of her life and how she supports them; the difficult tale was then of ‘The Left Behind’ as she opened about one young man making a poor choice that led to a tragic accident. Her bravery to talk about it and encourage the students to not give in to pressure was a powerful message.  

    On Wednesday of this week students then got to meet Paul Spence (From the charity P.A.U.L for Brain Recovery) Like Dawn, Paul spoke about how a single, unprovoked, punch destroyed the life he had built and how he has had to rebuild it- his physical/ mental self, relationships with family and friends, and work; Paul’s story is inspirational and the message to students was to make sure they were not putting themselves in situations where one punch from them could destroy the life of somebody else. Both speakers evoke our core values and I hope your child has learned that resilience, respect, responsibility, and kindness have helped these speakers and how they can develop these values within themselves. 

    We have also been celebrating successes with the year group this week. I started off adding 181 names to a spinning wheel for students who had had 100% attendance in the first 4 weeks. From this, 10 names were drawn, and spot prizes given. I then had a delivery of treats for students who are already hitting the first 3 levels of House Point Milestones. As a year group we have over 27,000 already: AM-AZ-ING! (Channelling my inner Craig Revel- Horwood). As I continue to work on positive rewards and praise, students are now in a 3-week window to embrace my latest challenge; I have three categories for the students to work towards: 100% Attendance and zero negative behaviour points, 100% Attendance, or zero negative points. The challenge started on Monday 9th October and runs until we finish for half-term on Thursday 26th October. 

    As I walk between classrooms each day, teachers are talking positively about how the students are developing confidence in subjects, how marking books reveals their individual characters, and some of the entertaining moments from lessons. One of my favourites was hearing a student read a description of a teacher- ‘Wears high heels and has high standards, without heels she is tiny. She loves a Shein dress and has a great fashion style; her nails are pretty; she is a little crazy; and her dark brown hair, has a silver sparkle near the roots...’, I went home and coloured my hair! They are certainly getting to know me well and understand that their staff care. I hope they continue to enjoy their lessons and develop relationships with so many teachers. 

    Attendance to clubs continues to increase and the latest to be added to the ever-increasing choices is our School Choir; This runs on a Monday lunchtime each week. The choir is a great part of the school and our extended community. They perform at The Hessle Christmas Lights Switch on; Christmas Carol Service; entertain staff at meetings and celebratory events; and any other opportunity that we can find. Beyond this, more clubs happen weekly, and new ones appear at various times throughout the year, so please encourage your child to give them a go; it is a great way to make friends with similar interests. 

    My last note is a safety note. As the days get shorter and darker, please encourage your child to ensure they are walking to and from school with others, use well-lit routes, and that they keep their location turned on on their phones. It is also getting colder, so please encourage them to wear a coat and stay warm when they are outside. 

    As I now end, please remember we are here to support you and your child. You can contact us via the phone, using option 7 and then option 1, or email us at hoy7@hessleacademy.com. 

    Take care and stay safe. 

    Mrs Todd

    Head of Year 7

    Mr Fielden

    Assistant Head of Year 7

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  • WEEK 4 - Friday 29 September 2023

    Published 02/10/23

    Hello to all our year 7 students and your families, 

    Blink once, blink twice, and we are halfway through our first half term; 4 weeks of secondary school for the year group... and I already love being their Head of Year and getting to know them each as individuals. It makes me so excited for what is ahead and so proud to write these blogs letting you know what is happening. 

    It was lovely to meet those of you able to attend our Parent’s Information evening this week. People are asking how I am getting on with my new year 7s and I say things are going well, but I am also getting to know 250 families (Thankfully some old familiar faces from years gone by, so not quite 250.) The relationship between home and school is imperative; this is the greatest way to ensure we support our students through their journey at school and beyond. Additionally, I am developing these relationships through meetings, phone calls, and emails, so thank you for having the trust in me to work together; buckle up as the next five years will be quite a ride. 

    One of the first peaks we are climbing is navigating Microsoft and the various platforms we use for home learning. Hopefully you have received the PowerPoint which was emailed recently, explaining how to find access to our Microsoft Hub and then on to Teams, alongside others. The main cause of worry is passwords; I spent time this week speaking to our Head of Department and think we may have finally made it simple. On Educake, Sparks, and Seneca there are boxes for login details; however, there is also an option to ‘Log in with Microsoft’- Click there and students should then reach the site for their homework. I am forever an optimist and hopefully it will be this simple; on the other hand, I understand glitches may occur, so please let us know if there is an issue. (It is sometime worth trying on a different device if all else fails.) We are going through this with students again next week in tutor. 

    The second of our three peaks are ‘After School clubs’. There were lots of questions on Tuesday, and in the last week over phone/ emails about what is on when. Firstly, all clubs run between 3 and 4pm. The range of clubs available has something for everyone, with new clubs starting all the time. Each week students are shown a PowerPoint slide that lists any clubs that week. Please encourage them to note any of interest in their planners, so that you know their after-school movements. We are looking to build our year 7 Rugby team (Monday night training) and the Arts department are buzzing with excitement as they begin to set up auditions for our school production, ‘Oliver Twist’, which is also the text being studied in our year 7 English Lessons. 

    We must then prepare to climb our last peak; Preparing for what is yet to happen this half term. Next week’s year 7 assembly is with our local PCSOs and our School Nurse; the relationship we have in the local community means we work closely with the Police, and they are often in and around school to give our students the confidence to speak to them and get help, support and advice. It is for this same reason our school nurse, Jacki Scott, will introduce herself to the year group; she is with us once a week and students can see her for a full range of help and advice. On Wednesday 11th October, I have arranged for the year group to meet Paul Spence, from P.A.U.L 4 Brain Recovery; he will be in to deliver his ‘One Punch’ seminar, where he openly talks about brain injury and the implications following an assault.  This helps our students to appreciate risk and the fact that one decision can have lifelong consequences. 

    As we settle back into our daily routines: 

    • Biometric images for use in the canteen- I will be finishing these with students next week. If your child is yet to have theirs done, can you please ensure that you have consented to GDPR Biometric consent on our Arbor app. 

    • The weather- It is starting to become colder, darker and wetter. This week a few children have asked why they cannot bring coats to school which shocked me. Coats are allowed and encouraged. If they won’t fit in their bags, they can carry them and place them on chair backs. Additionally, please encourage your child to walk home with people or plan a route and have a location tacker on their phones as their safety is important for all of us. 

    As I now reach the end, remove my hiking heels, and look towards the weekend, please remember we are always here if you need anything (apart from the winning lottery numbers - I am not that good.) 

    Take care and stay safe. 

    Mrs Todd

    Head of Year 7

    Mr Fielden

    Assistant Head of Year 7

    Read More
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