BSW Blog – Thursday 7 October 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our first blog of the year that captures how successfully the start to term has gone.  Whilst remaining sensibly vigilant over COVID it has been fantastic to return to more normality in many of our daily routines and we are hopeful that moving forward we will be able to further expand our opportunities to be together in larger groups as a community.  It has been a real pleasure to be able to look further ahead and promote wider school activities such as our Y7 trip to Normandy and Y9 to Sorrento. 

Possibly more than classroom education it is the wider school experiences and opportunities, which are often such a memorable part of a young person’s education, that have suffered due to the pandemic.  We are extremely proud of the fact that 84% of students have signed up to at least one of our 66 co-curricular clubs a week.  This demonstrates not just the huge breadth of opportunities that we offer but the keenness of your children to try out new or return to much loved activities.  Hats off to our intrepid Y11 Silver Duke of Edinburgh cohort (and the staff support team) who epitomise this willingness to give something a go and last weekend braved two nights under canvas and three days hiking on the south downs in terrible conditions but returned safely, upbeat and with many stories to tell.

This term has also focussed on successful new starts in particular Y9 beginning their GCSEs, Y7 moving to secondary, a school that a number had never set foot in due to restrictions over the past year.  We’ve also welcomed huge numbers of prospective parents and students from local primaries themselves making their own important secondary transition decision.  Our students are always our best advert and have been amazing at touring guests around the school for both open evening and open mornings.  We have carried out over 750 student led tours which means that most of the student body has been involved at some point.  Feedback has been universally positive about how impressive, polite, articulate and knowledgeable our students have been – demonstrating a genuine pride and enthusiasm for their school.  To quote one parent:

‘My son and I were extremely impressed with the way your open evening was organised.  In particular, our student hosts were fabulous – engaging, knowledgeable and, above all, passionate about Bohunt.  They were a credit to the school.’

One piece of news for the end of the year is that because the additional bank holiday for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee falls during half term, schools across the country have been given an additional day’s holiday during term time.  In line with most West Sussex schools we have chosen to put this at the end of the summer term so our students last day will now be Thursday 21 July.  Do enjoy the rest of this blog and we look forward to sharing more celebrations and opportunities with you as the term progresses.

Best wishes

Mr Whitehead

Enjoy

On Thursday 1st October we opened our doors for the 2021 BSW Open Evening. Prospective families and visitors were given an insight into the brilliant things our students and staff do at the school as they toured the school, dropping in on different departments to get a taste of life as a BSW student. From experiments and dissection in Science to bakery in Food Tech, all departments demonstrated excellent teaching and learning. Over 350 students gave up their evening to be proud ambassadors for the school and to welcome our visitors as friendly, informative guides.

As well as our Open Evening we have also been welcoming visitors to our Open Mornings, which have run across several weeks this term. Prospective parents and carers have received an in-depth introduction to the school from Mr Whitehead before being shown around the buildings by our students, giving a chance to see lessons in action and get a taste of daily life at BSW.

On Friday 1st October an intrepid team of students set off into the South Downs to achieve their qualifying expedition for the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. Trekking the Washington to Amberley loop, these Year 11 students hiked and camped through the a weekend that featured plenty of high winds and heavy rain! Leading the expedition, Mr Cochlin praised the students for their resilience and upbeat attitude during what was a challenging trek. A big well done and congratulations to all those who took part.

European Day of Languages is celebrated on the 26th September every year. At Bohunt Worthing, we spent the week celebrating all languages. Starting with a brilliant assembly that showcased the incredible variety of languages spoken by both students and staff at BSW, the week continued with a special program of events for students including a French Spelling Bee in Year 7 and a BET Cultural Passport in Year 8. Head of French Mr Davis also created a menu of challenges for our students to take part in, including watching a French film and learning some French tongue-twisters!

Respect

A fantastic team of BSW students volunteered to operate the Mile 19 Water Station at this year’s Brighton Marathon on Sunday 12 September. The students provided a much needed refreshment to the runners with smiles on their faces, making the school proud. A big well done also to Ms Message, Mr Attrell and Mr Pope who ran the Marathon!

On Thursday 16th September we wished our brilliant team of Learning Support Assistants a happy National Teaching Assistant Day! We’re so lucky to have such a formidable group of LSAs who support our students in reaching their potential. To mark the occasion our brilliant LSA Jenny Latham created an illustration showing the LSA team. Students also dedicated some homemade thank you cards to the team.

To mark National Poetry Day the English department and the LRC reached out to staff and students to select their favourite poems. Some of these are on display around the school and represent a diverse range of poetry from John McCrae to Lucy Rudman.

Year 8 Geography students have been learning about the fair trade movement and the importance of knowing where our food and produce comes from. As part of their exploration of global development students have created posters to highlight the importance of fair trade. Blythe Hall in 8MDM created an especially eye-catching and beautiful poster.

Achieve

Our Year 11 pupils have now embarked on their final and most challenging year at BSW. While they are very much engaged in achieving the best GCSE results they can they also have an eye on the future and will soon be submitting their college and post-16 application forms. Our excellent Careers Leader Ms Armstrong has launched a brand new online careers platform called UniFrog that helps students get inspired and organise their plans for the future. On Wednesday 29th September the school hosted a range of local and national employers and education providers at BSW’s first Post-16 Event, helping students and their families to start planning for life after BSW.

We are delighted to report that our brilliant Mandarin teacher Miss Fu was one of just four people to achieve and Excellence in Teaching Mandarin award at the National Confucius Institute annual conference in London on Saturday 11 September.

With sports fixtures back after a long hiatus it is fantastic to be able to report on some scores. Below is a roundup of our most recent sports results. A huge well done to all players who have taken part in these games.

Monday 20th Sep – Y7 Football won 10-0 vs St Andrews

Tuesday 21st September Y9 Football won 2-0 vs Shoreham College

Thursday 23rd September Y8 football lost 4-0 vs St Andrews

Tuesday 28th September Y9 Football drew 3-3 vs TLA

Monday 4th October Y7 Football lost 4-2 to Shoreham Academy

Tuesday 5th October Y9 Football won 4-2 vs Steyning Grammar

Wednesday 6th October Y7 Football drew 3-3 vs Steyning Grammar

Wednesday 6th October Y10 Rugby 7’s played 3 games. Won vs Worthing High, won vs Steyning, lost vs Steyning

Key Dates