BSW Blog – 17 October 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

The first term after the Summer Holidays is always a busy one and seems to fly by so quickly. Before we know it our new year 7 students have already completed 6 weeks in their new secondary school, nights are drawing in and Christmas is only 69 days away (at the time of writing this). 

So with all of that in mind, I not only thought it would be an appropriate time to remind all parents & carers of the importance of road safety when our students travel to and from school at this time of the year, (or indeed throughout the year) but also encourage every parent and carer to have appropriate safety conversations with your child if you are allowing them to go out trick or treating this Halloween or indeed will be participating in any Firework displays. Safety and awareness of how to stay safe at this time of year are always important and we have recently sent a letter to parents and carers with key details on this topic. 

As we move towards the second half of this term and indeed the Christmas holidays, it is really important as a school community that we are seizing the opportunity to make the most of this time, whichever year group our young people are a part of. These weeks are precious to all if you are in Year 11 or Year 10, 8, 9 or 7, now is the time to double down on your studies and ensure that you are cementing the knowledge and skills required to have a successful platform to move forward into the new year. Many of our young people recognise this and are working incredibly hard, which I am sure will be recognised within reports, that for some year groups will be issued soon. Please encourage your child to have a positive attitude to learning and complete home learning in order to be recognised with ERA points within the school. 

Not all students are able to have this highly focused mindset. I would therefore ask all parents and carers to ensure that they are having conversations about their child’s learning at home. Challenging their thinking, developing their thoughts outside of the classroom and supporting the undertaking of home learning.

Our school is a place where students have the opportunity to develop their individual skills, understanding and love of learning about subjects which they enjoy. We would like to encourage as many parents & carers as possible to be involved in this continued learning experience. If you would like to be a part of our Parental engagement group (PEG) please contact our office at info@bohuntworthing.com

I wish all our students and their families a safe and restful half-term and look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 31 October.  

Best wishes

Paul Collin

Enjoy

On Thursday 29th September we opened our doors for the 2022 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. Over 350 students gave up their evening to be proud ambassadors for the school and to welcome our visitors as friendly, informative guides.

Young visitors to the Open Evening were able to take part in the Dinosaur Challenge. Collecting a variety of different letters in dinosaur footprints around the school they could then arrange these to spell out a word and be entered into a prize draw. The challenge was launched by a rather unusual visitor who you may have spotted stomping around in the front car park! Yes, our very special prehistoric guest star T-Rex was on hand to greet visitors with a toothy smile! Winners of the dino challenge were Max, Sophia and Myron and they notified via email the next day – congratulations!

The Science department demonstrated some explosive experiments and some dicey dissections, while just down the corridor some delicious bread was being baked up in food tech. Elsewhere there was some amazing athleticism on show in the Sports Hall and some electric live performance in Music.

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 Collin 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.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to take part in our two weeks of Open Mornings and our Open Evening – we hope you found it useful and informative. If you have any queries you would still like to ask please don’t hesitate to call us on 01903 601361 or email us info@bohuntworthing.com. Please don’t forget the deadline to submit your Year 7 2023 application online to WSCC is 31 October 2022.

Respect

The school would be nothing without our students, and it is vital that their voice is heard. This term we have been offering some brilliant opportunities for our students to get involved in making decisions as to how our school operates. The Student Council has been recruiting from our current Year 7 cohort, with applicants being interviewed soon. The Student Council meets with Mr Goldberg and Mr Collin regularly to put forward the views of the student body. We have also reached out across all year groups for some House Leaders. These students will work with their Achievement Coordinators to help put on sporting and charity events as well as helping in assemblies and other whole school events. We have also been recruiting Sports Leaders to help put on regular inter-house tournaments as well as helping organise events such as Sports Day later in the year. We encourage all students to take these opportunities as they arise and we massively value the contribution that our pupils make to life at BSW.

As part of their GCSE Geography course, some of our Year 11s visited Selsey on Tuesday 20 September to conduct fieldwork along the coast. Looking at important environmental issues that affect our coastline, students conducted surveys and research before writing up their findings to support their GCSE unit.

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. On Wednesday 29 September Y11 students and their parent/carers attended a post-16 choices event at the school with education providers from the local community showing the opportunities available next year. Our Careers Team were on hand to support our students as they start the process of applying for courses and apprenticeships.

We have some great sporting results to report on. While we will always celebrate the big wins we also acknowledge the effort and passion from our students that goes into all games. We know that every game helps develop our student teams, whether winning, losing or drawing.

Monday 26th Sept – U16 Girls District Area Basketball Tournament (Lost 2, Drew 1)

Wednesday 28th Sept – U14 Girls Football vs Steyning (Lost 4-0) 

Monday 3rd Oct – Y7 Boys Football vs Steyning Towers (Lost 5-1)

Tuesday 4th Oct – Y9 Boys Football vs Durrington (Lost 3-0)

Wednesday 5th Oct – Y8 Boys Football National / County Cup vs Tanbridge House (Lost 8-1)

Thursday 6th Oct – Y8 Boys Football vs Angmering (Game conceded 3-0 win)

                         – Y7 Boys Football vs Angmering (Game conceded 3-0 loss)

Friday 7th Oct – Y8 Boys Football vs Shoreham Academy (Loss)

Thursday 13th Oct – Y7 Boys Football vs Littlehampton Academy (4-2 win)

School Office Messages

Uniform donations requested: We are busy preparing our second hand uniform stock and would appreciate donations of any good quality uniform you may have that your child no longer needs. These can be dropped to the school office from 8.00 to 4.30pm. Thank you very much.

Lost property: The office team are keen to reunite these items with their owners. The students have been shown these photos during tutor time but if you recognise anything please do feel free to come and collect it .

Any item remaining by Friday of next week (21/10) will regrettably be disposed of due to storage  constraints.

Key Dates