Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends,
We are now five weeks into the Autumn Term, and the time has certainly sped by – the weather is getting cooler (at last), and we are all settling into the routines of school life at The Holt.
Everyone has been through their timetable twice now and Year 7 certainly know their way around the school. All the year groups have had character, behaviour and safeguarding assemblies and their first House assemblies of the year. There have been trips, charity events and visiting speakers and the extracurricular activities are well underway.
Here are just a few examples –
Mrs Hornblow told us – On Monday 5th October, our Year 7 students took part in Streetwise, an engaging road safety performance and workshop delivered by Performance in Education. The performance followed three students on a school trip as they made a series of risky decisions near the roadside, experienced several near misses and ultimately faced the consequences of an unfortunate accident. The thought-provoking performance encouraged students to consider how everyday choices can affect their own safety and the safety of others. This was followed by an interactive workshop, including a road safety quiz and discussions about how students can stay safe when walking, cycling and travelling around roads. It was an important and engaging opportunity for our Year 7 students to develop their awareness of road safety and make safer choices.
Miss Hayes told us about Science Club – We held a ‘come dressed as a scientist’ event, where we had the Wright Brothers, Jane Goodall and Marie Curie turn up, with Benjamin Franklin demonstrating his kite building and flying skills over a 2-week period. Each week we will be investigating and exploring different concepts in science club with dissections and microscopes next.
At the start of every year all the Form Groups are involved in a highly competitive noticeboard competition. They need to include all the notices of course but can also decorate their board having been given a theme by their Head of Year; it is certainly competitive. I am linked to Year 11 and was amazed at the high standard – they are as competitive as they were in Year 7! Their theme was ‘Journey’ – the winning notice board included aspects we require as well as an original theme. Well done to all of the notice board winners – 11S, 10C, 9S,7C and joint winners 8B and 8G!
The first residential trip of the academic year also took place last week. The annual Biology Fieldtrip to Somerset. Mrs Whitehouse writes –
The year 13 biologists visited Nettlecombe Court in Somerset, for the annual biology field trip. We were incredibly lucky with the weather this year and the sun shone for the whole trip. On arrival they were straight out to the rocky shore, carrying out a transect to investigate the abundance of species from the lower to upper shore. Some had the opportunity of holding a crab or touching a sea anemone for the first time! The following day we moved to fresh water, sampling in riffles and pools and completing an investigation into the microhabitats of an invertebrate species. Using all of this information they had one hour to create an academic poster, some of which are pictured. A data logging practical and comparisons of quadrats on mown and grazed fields completed the practical skills. The students were meticulous in their data collection and were able to analyse all of their results with skill, completing stats tests and written conclusions.
To wrap up the variety of sampling techniques, they identified moths for inaturalist, a great citizen science app that anyone can download and set mammal traps to contribute to national data on wood mice and hopefully a shrew! All contributing to national statistics and increasing their capacity for application questions. It was a really successful trip and hopefully enjoyed by all!
Mrs Diaz told us about her trip – On Monday, we went with 15 Yr12 and Yr13 MFL students to a Business in Languages event hosted at Reading Boys School. Collaborating with MFL students from other schools, this year’s theme was Global Theatre. After individual team interviews, a keynote talk about the international nature of drama from Warwick University, and an excellent workshop from Sam Amestoy at Reading Rep Theatre, the students took to becoming playwrights and performers themselves. After lunch, the stage was set and we enjoyed an array of brilliant plays from the different theatre groups. A huge congratulations to all the Holt Students, particularly those that were part of the Popular vote win, the runners up and the main prize winning team!
Miss Armit reported: ‘I was incredibly impressed by the way our Year 12 and 13 French and Spanish students conducted themselves during our trip to Reading School. They showed a remarkable enthusiasm for getting involved, excellent communication skills, and a fantastic ability to use their spoken language confidently and effectively throughout the day. It was wonderful to see them embracing every opportunity to communicate and put their language skills into practice. Bravo!’
Extracurricular activities are also well underway so far the attendance at clubs has been fantastic. Mrs Bolton writes – We have been delighted with the huge number of students attending our clubs, from Year 7 all of the way through to Year 13. New additions to our extra curricular programme include recreational netball and hockey for non-club players who just want to play and have fun. Table tennis has also been popular!
Congratulations to our individuals and teams who have made a great start to the sporting year. Emma in Year 7 has won every race in the Reading and District Cross Country League and our Year 7 netball team enjoyed a win against Headington Rye in the first round of the National Competition. Our Year 10’s are undefeated in the Wokingham District netball league. Other football, netball and basketball teams have also been victorious in fixtures. Please follow us on Instagram or Facebook for more regular updates.
It is also an important time of year for our Initial Teacher Trainees and Early Career Teachers. Our ECTs have had a chance to settle into the routines of school and are now beginning to focus more closely on the requirements of their ECT training programme. I recently delivered a training session for ECT mentors across Wokingham and Bracknell, helping them to think about how best to support their ECTs. Next week, our ECTs will have their first conference day as they begin the programme in earnest.
Our Initial Teacher Trainees, who joined us a few weeks ago, are also settling into school life. We work in partnership with the University of Reading to support the next generation of teachers, and while starting a teaching career can certainly feel overwhelming at times, it has been lovely to hear our trainees talk about their reasons for entering the profession. We are delighted to be supporting them at the beginning of what we hope will be a long and rewarding career. I would certainly recommend it!
Looking ahead, we have the final Morning Tour of the term on Friday. These visits give parents and their Year 6 children the opportunity to see the school in action during a normal school day. They hear from our Co-Headteachers before being taken on a tour of the school by our prefects. It is a great way to get a real sense of what life at The Holt is like from the perspective of the students themselves.
And finally, our Geography Department is off to Iceland, taking 50 students on what promises to be an unforgettable trip. I suspect the staff are looking forward to it just as much as the students!
Yvonne Smith
Assistant Headteacher