BSW Blog – end of autumn first half term 22 10 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is wonderful to be able to share with you some highlights from our half term which reflect the fact that despite the current pandemic we have been able to deliver much that is normal since September, albeit at times altered to reflect current restrictions.  This has only been possible due to the amazing adaptability, enthusiasm and commitment shown by both students and staff.

A big highlight for me was our Virtual Open Evening for prospective students and parents considering joining us in September 2021.  We made the decision early to make this student led and technology driven.  The resulting resources and the experience of staff and students co-creating them are not just of benefit to those looking to join the school. It also provides a snapshot of information for all, giving a real sense of us as a forward thinking school with a diverse offer for all types of student.  If you haven’t had a browse, I strongly recommend you do – www.openevening.bohuntworthing.com.

As a Trust, we champion education in the widest sense and the huge benefit extracurricular and outdoor experiences bring to academic learning.  Despite the restrictions in place, our extracurricular offer now exceeds over 60 weekly clubs and opportunities as well as the successful daily expeditions for our Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh students.  I am hugely grateful to the staff and parents who gave up their time and energy to enable the latter to take place a couple of weekends ago.  School is as much about experiences as it is about the classroom and it has been excellent to see so many students fully engaged in our wider offer.

In the classroom we have seen real focus and progress from students who have adapted well to working under new school structures.  A good measure of how students are engaging is that despite growing in size by an additional 60 students this year, we have had half the behaviour incidents compared to the equivalent time period last year and students are 19 times more likely to be recognised and praised for something positive, than be given a behaviour point. 

We recognise that the pandemic will pass and therefore we have focused some our efforts and CPD on the day job of delivering exceptional education to our students in a caring and supportive environment.  We are asking parents to complete a single survey that covers both a review of how we are doing in terms of the current structures and systems, and also areas which we should be prioritising moving forward.  Please do take the time to complete it, and if you are able, do volunteer to be part of our parent engagement group going forward as parental voice is really important to us.  You can find the survey here https://forms.gle/vTWh4KsAwq1N97Qn9

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to pass on my thanks to all the students, parents and staff who day in day out, have supported each other in making sure not a moment is wasted and risen to the challenges of new expectations and systems with a positive can do attitude.  I wish everybody a well-deserved and relaxing half term break.

Best wishes

Adam Whitehead

Enjoy

We were delighted to host our first ever Virtual Open Evening and series of Virtual Open Mornings this term. On Thursday 1st October prospective students and parents/carers were able to enjoy a virtual tour of the school including in-depth looks at different departments, interviews with staff and students and a full virtual tour of the buildings. The ‘Bohunt Experience’ was hosted by the brilliant Luca Venditto and Ide Sullivan in Year 10 and captured what life at BSW is like, offering valuable insights into how different faculties, curriculum area and pastoral teams work and the wonderful opportunities available to our students.

Following on from the Open Evening a number of virtual tours of the school have been available to prospective visitors, replacing our usual round of open mornings. Both the Open Evening and Open Mornings can be found here: https://www.bohuntworthing.com/parents/y6-virtual-open-evening-2020/

On Thursday 8th October the school enjoyed its first ERA Day of the new academic year. As to be expected, all activities took place within school but students were still able to enjoy a varied and exciting program of sessions. For Year 7, the day focused on online safety with a series of workshops exploring digital footprints, cyberbullying and privacy among others. With the students at the cusp on their teenage years and having recently received their school iPads, the day provided a vital reminder of the importance of staying safe online.

Year 8 students looked at the various different careers available in the arts, exploring the worlds of dance, drama, music, art and photography and having a hands-on go at some creative projects. Students produced some brilliant work including some excellent movie trailers and demonstrated their ability to create something imaginative in a short space of time.

Year 9 spent their day working on the Science Crest Award, looking at sustainability and solutions to creating cleaner and more efficient sources of energy. Again, students were able to show their problem-solving and teamwork skills when tackling some challenging scenarios.

Year 10 pupils focussed on healthy living, exploring the different ways that we can maintain our physical and mental health. From healthy eating and fitness classes to handling conflict and improving sleep, our pupils learned about how they can stay positive and healthy during what can be a stressful time as they work through their GCSE preparation.

With their exams not far away, Year 11 worked on their English skills with workshops focusing on the key texts of Macbeth and An Inspector Calls alongside revision skills sessions and tips and advice on how to thrive at their English GCSE.

We have now seen four Bushcraft groups completing sessions in our Outdoor area, one from year 7, two from year 8 and a year 9 team. They have been involved in tree identification, orienteering and fire lighting activities so far, with whittling and shelter building to come in the next few weeks. One student said – ‘I absolutely love Bushcraft in school! It’s really fun and I love being outdoors. I’ve learnt loads about different trees and I can now start a fire with just some dry grass and a fire striker. It’s really helped me settle into my new school’. Future plans include using the area within different subject curricula, and developing more sessions to work with different groups of students, including some time during ERA days and as a reward for working hard in school.

We – like all schools across Bohunt Education Trust – now have one ‘Outdoor Education’ twitter account for Bohunt School Worthing @BSW_Outdoors, managed by Mr Cochlin. (This replaces the old ‘BSW_DofE’).

Our Bronze and Silver D of E participants all enjoyed a glorious weekend of Day Walks on the South Downs, showing great team work and fantastic enthusiasm for the challenging routes. They just now need to complete their other sections of the Award for them to receive their full certificates in the Spring term. The weekend was summed up well by one of the participants:

I’m so glad I took part in DofE this year. I think the expedition was the best part of this experience, as we got to go out in the downs and enjoy a weekend all together, out in the glorious sun!  This weekend was definitely a character building opportunity but also team building. It really put your survival instinct to the test.  Once again I really enjoyed this experience and will definitely be taking part in Silver. 

We now look forward to recruiting the year 9 students onto the Bronze level, with a number of current year 10s also expressing an interest in moving up to Silver level. A special mention needs to go out to all the staff that were involved in the weekend, helping make it so successful and who will help continue to make the D of E such a special programme in our school community.

Respect

During October we have loved celebrating BAME History Month. There have been themed school-wide displays, assemblies, Tutor Times and teaching activities across subject areas which have celebrated the diverse contributions people of a black, asian and minority ethnic background have made to life in Britain and the wider world.

Tutees were given the chance to vote on a choice of six songs by artists of a BAME background to be performed by BSW musicians. The winning song was Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. Our students’ performance can be accessed here.

Many thanks to the musicians; Evie Carter, Lilly Dear, Haydn Le-Manquais, Sam Greening, Pelham Harvey and Rowan Hetzel and to Miss Farr for arranging the recording.

Alongside student song requests, Mr White has curated a BAME History Month Spotify playlist which showcases the phenomenal contribution artists of a BAME background have made to modern music. The Spotify link is below, if you would like to enjoy listening to this playlist with your loved ones during half-term.

BSW BAME History Month Playlist

Saturday 10th October was World Mental Health Day and to mark this Mr MacInnis gave a series of assemblies on the importance of looking out for one another and checking in with our friends to see if they are feeling okay. With statistics showing the number of young people affected by mental health issues having increased during lockdown it is more important than ever that we talk to each other and open up if we’re not feeling good.

Over the last few years our GCSE students have had the privelege of hearing Dorit Oliver Wolff tell her incredible story at school. Dorit is a Holocaust survivor who went on to become a singing sensation and author and who now spends some of her time education young people on the Holocaust and the dangers of hatred and bigotry. We are delighted to hear that Dorit has received a British Empire Medal for her services to education. A huge congratulations to Dorit and thanks for her visits to our students to share her amazing life story.

Achieve

Year 11 will soon sit their first mock exams of the school year in preparation for their GCSEs next Summer. The mock exams are timetabled to start on Monday 16th November and will finish on Tuesday 1st December. All students have already received their individual timetables and have also had an assembly presentation which provided advice about revision plans and exam expectations. We also included some lovely messages and helpful advice from last year’s Y11!

Huge congratulations to our Y11 GCSE music students who have successfully completed their performance exam, which is part of their overall music GCSE. Miss Farr said ‘I’m incredibly proud of all the students who have worked hard to produce some really outstanding results!’

Year 11 students have attended a series of assemblies aimed at preparing them for the challenging year ahead. The very first assembly of the year was hosted by Mr Beezy our guest speaker, who gave our students a motivational and inspiring talk about how to seize opportunities and try their best.

This year the Art and Geography department have teamed up to run an Art competition that aims to give students a voice about how they view the environmental issues in the world in which they live. Students should submit work that addresses climate change  and/or environmental issues in some way. Students can use various media to create their work. For example; drawings, paintings, digital art, photographs, sculptures, stop motion animation etc. All work will be judged in year group categories by the Art department and the Geography department collaboratively.  The winners will receive an ‘Art pack’ of goodies and have the opportunity to get their work displayed around the school. We have already had an amazing entry by Louise Vickers in Year 11 which you can see below.

We have some incredibly talented photographers at school and this month we are proud to showcase the work of Lily Wingrove and Will Davies in Year 11. Both students have created some stunning images which have been featured in the OPEN20 Young Photographers exhibition on Worthing Pier as part of the Photo Fringe Festival. For more information visit ttps://colonnadehouse.co.uk/october-2020/

School Office messages

School Lockers
Under the current COVID-19 guidance we are unable to allow students to use lockers at this time. As detailed on our Risk Assessment, it is not possible to effectively sanitise these communal areas to a standard which would make them safe for students to use.

Key Dates

Have a wonderful half term break and see you on Monday 2nd November!