December 2012
Hylands Voice
Welcome to the BRAND NEW Hylands School Newsletter, ‘Hylands
Voice’! A specially selected team of Sixth Form students has taken
over this year and we’d like to take this opportunity to wish you
a very Happy Christmas and an even better new year!
This term has been extremely eventful. Mr Dunn has begun his
first term as Head Teacher, changes have been made to the canteen
system and new build and we’ve had some great events like the Open
Day, Operation Christmas Child, and the Rock Stars concert!
Just a reminder for everyone that school breaks up for the Christmas
holidays on Friday 21st December at the end of period 3 at 12:15. We
hope you have a wonderful break and come back to school on Monday
7th January feeling relaxed and refreshed.
Who is Santa’s most
Knock knock
famous elf?
Who’s there?
Elfvis!
Wayne
Wayne who?
Wayne in a manger!
What do you say to Santa
when he takes the register?
Present!
What did one snowman
say to the other?
Can you smell carrot?
Who looks after Santa
when he’s ill?
The National Elf Service!
Make sure you check out our new website
www.hylands-tkat.org for all the latest news!
1
My Ypres experience
On Friday 26th October, the last day of the half term, the year 9s went on a
day trip to Ypres in Belgium. Everyone had to arrive at school at 5 in the
morning! We were so tired! We boarded the coach and set off for Ypres. It
took 4 hours to get to the Eurotunnel and once on it was very hot and
stuffy. Once off the train at Calais we drove across France and into Belgium.
When we got to Ypres the first place we went was the trenches. We
explored the underground passages and looked around the small museum.
It was lots of fun—even if it smelt a bit! We then travelled to Ypres town
and looked at a church destroyed during WW1.
Then we were off again to Menin Gate which says all the names of the
soldiers who were killed. Once we had looked around we were allowed to
visit some of the chocolate shops in the town—the chocolate is very good
in Belgium! We even got some for free! Everyone bought loads and some
had eaten too much …
The coach was filled with the smell of chocolate as we travelled to a British
cemetery, all the graves were in perfect lines and very white, it was very
grand—and emotional! We then went to the German cemetery which was
very different to the British one—it was a huge mass grave. 25,000 people
were buried in the same
place. It was horrible that
the British one was nice and
neat but in the German one
everyone was buried standing up, it was dirty and dark.
My experience in Ypres is
one I will never forget, it
was educational, emotional
and fun!
By Yasmin Spencer and Becky Rouse
2
Rock Stars
The annual rock concert “Rock Stars” was back in full swing this
year with more talent than ever! The concert organised by Mr Cosadinos
and Miss Johnson attracted many students, teachers and parents as it hosted the cream of Hylands’ musical talent. The set included such hit classics
such as “House of The Rising Sun” emotionally performed by Joanne Davis,
“Sunshine of Your Love”, the Artic Monkeys’ hit tune “I Bet That You Look
Good on the Dance Floor” and Paramore’s “Misery Business”. Well done to
everyone who took part and a special thank you to the sound technicians
and the Music teachers, without whom the music concerts would not be as
successful. Can’t wait for next year’s!
1st Prize for Hylands!
On the 26th October, Chelmsford Cathedral hosted its annual A-level Art
exhibition in which 5 local Sixth Forms displayed their work including Hylands,
Boswells and Moulsham. The judge, renowned portrait artist Jonathan
Wonnacott, spent 2 hours looking round the hundreds of pupils’ pieces before
deciding the 6 artists who had won a prize for their work. Despite serious
talent from other schools, Hylands won first prize with an amazing landscape
by A-level student Charlie Semmence! Martha Pothen was also a prize-winner
for her charcoal portrait. Well done to everyone who entered their art work
and good luck for next year!
Left—Charlie Semmence’s award-winning
landscape, above— Martha Pothen with
her portrait of Mrs Williamson
3
The Great Hylands Bake-Off
Budding bakers of Hylands School have been taking part in a competition!
Across the last few weeks, a specially selected panel has been judging your
culinary delights to decide the ultimate cook, the best in baking, the...
Hylands Bake-Off Champion!
All you had to do to be in with a chance was bake the dish of the week and bring it into Miss
Williamson’s office on Thursday lunchtimes.
Thursday 6th December SPONGE CAKE
This included any flavour of sponge you liked - chocolate, vanilla, carrot... and
extra marks were awarded for ingenuity, creativity and originality.
Thursday 13th December COOKIES/BISCUITS
Shortbread, digestive, chocolate chips cookies, any biscuit/cookie you could think of! Extra marks awarded for a Christmas theme.
Thursday 20th December THE FINAL
At the time of writing, the live final looms tomorrow after school for the winners of the cookies/biscuit
round! In this round you can choose what you would like to cook: sponge, cookies/biscuits, pastry, anything you can bake in an hour and a half!
The Bake-Off works across a series of weeks. To enter the Bake-Off
at all, you had to participate from the first week, bakers being eliminated each week. Watch out for news of the next round next year….
4
Here are
some of our
wonderful
entrants!
5
Café Hylands
For the first time in our new dining hall, we
hosted our Open Morning and 6th Form Evening. We’ve received many very favourable comments from prospective parents and students about these new facilities and wish to use
them as much as possible for school events going forward.
Our students tell us that their favorite food items are our freshly prepared hot ‘grab and go’ items. With this in mind, we’ve expanded our
ranges to include additional hot baguette, wrap, Panini, and soup
choices. We’ve also introduced a homemade cake/biscuit range
which is proving extremely popular. We also currently have a hot
drinks machine selling hot chocolate and coffees.
Breakfast opening is currently occurring and includes freshly prepared hot/cold items such as bacon/sausage/egg muffins and baguettes, croissants and pastries. These items are only available for
consumption in the dining hall.
Responding to comments from our 6th Form students, we will shortly
be introducing a flexible ‘all day’ menu for our 6th Formers to purchase. Our Catering staff are also always willing to consider requests
for special orders such as a whole pizza, cakes for birthday celebrations etc at very competitive prices. So don’t forget to ask!
We always encourage feedback from our school community, so if you
have any comments or suggestions regarding our Catering facility,
please contact us:
Heidi Nally, (e: [email protected])
6
A number of students have been coming to school already
unwell and in some cases, with injuries sustained outside
school, in the hope that they will be treated here.
Please may we remind you that we are only able to provide
simple first aid and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses
which occur at school.
We ask you to not send your child to school if they are too
unwell and if they have an injury that requires attention—
please seek medical treatment from your GP.
May we also remind you that if your child needs to take any
medication during the school day, that this must be sent into
school clearly marked with your child’s name, tutor group
and ‘A Request to Administer Medication’ form (available
from Reception) should be filled in. This form and the medicine should be handed into Reception.
Responsibility for taking medication rests with your
child—the school cannot accept liability for reminding
pupils to take it. Thank you!
If your child is unable to attend school for any
reason you must inform the school on the first
day of absence on 01245 266 766. You can also
ring outside of school hours and leave a
message. If your child is absent more than 2/3
days please ring again. On their return to school
the school will require a signed letter from
parent/carer addressed to the Attendance
Officer, confirming the reason for absence.
7
A disturbing number of absences have been reported this term due to an
“odd day off” culture that seems to be creeping in.
If you feel your child could attend, even if they are saying they feel unwell,
send them in and we can keep a check on them in school.
If your child suffers regularly from headaches, period pains or anything else
that requires painkillers, please ask for a medication consent form and
send it back to student reception with a supply of the medication and we
can administer this at school.
Please look at ways to help your son/daughter to stay
healthy: healthy diet, reasonable bedtimes, plenty of
fluids.
Nationally it is proved that slipping to 90% attendance instead of 100% equals on average one grade less in every subject at GCSE.
Year Group
7
Amount of sessions absent (2 sessions=1 day)
200
8
255
9
437
10
396
11
702
Year 11 have
the most
absences!
8
Operation
Christmas Child
This year the Charities Committee ran
Operation Christmas Child in school to help children in
developing countries. All tutor groups were encouraged to put together a box of gifts for children less fortunate than themselves.
They included things like stationery, cuddly toys and toothbrushes.
This year a fantastic 40 boxes were put together and donated to
the charity thanks to the co-operation of all the tutor groups in the
school. A special thank you to all parents who helped contribute to
this fantastic cause and to the dedicated Charities Committee.
Well done to everyone
who got involved, you
have truly made a
difference
to a little
boy or girl’s
Christmas!
9
The Hylands
Christmas Carol
Concert
Come and join in our festivities this year as Hylands
School invites you to the annual Christmas Carol
Concert featuring all your classic favourites and a few
new twists to keep you on your toes!
No more Bah Humbug! Get out of the Bleak Mid
Winter and share a mince pie and some mulled wine
with fellow carol lovers at a night that is sure to
entertain, enlighten and inspire!
The music department will
also be selling a Hylands
Music photobook with all
proceeds going to a cancer
charity which will be
available to buy on the
night.
Thursday 20th December
2012 at 7pm
10
Open Day
We are pleased to
report
that
the
school Open Day on
th
Saturday 29 September was a
great success! This year Hylands
attracted more prospective students than ever, coming from all
over Chelmsford and the surrounding area.
The music department put on a
fantastic demonstration of the
strength of our Hylands musicians,
where various bands and choirs
gave the families a warm welcome
to the school. Well done to
everyone who helped out here, you
made yourselves and your school
proud.
Parents were particularly impressed
with the students involved in the
open day; either helping in the
departments or giving guided tours.
They spoke of how kind and polite
you all were and how you were a
credit to the school. Your efforts are
highly appreciated by everyone in
school and we thank so many of
you for coming in early on a cold
Saturday morning!
And another big thank you to all the
year 12s and 13s who gave up their
time for the Sixth Form fair on Thursday 25th October. You all played an
important role in promoting the
Hylands Sixth Form as being a positive
environment for learning.
11
Remarkable readers!
On the 18th October year 7 students from Hylands School took part in a
Literacy Day ‘READ-A-THON’ in which they read for a whole day and raised
£445! Across the past few weeks the school has also taken part in special
10 minute slots in which students are asked to drop everything they are
doing and read.
Ms Dave, the co-ordinator of this event would like to
thank friends and family for contributing to the Literacy
Days and thank all students for their continued enthusiasm
for books.
Am I entitled to free school meals? If you are receiving
certain benefits your child may be entitled to a free,
nutritious school meal.
You can get Free School Meals for your child if you or your
partner is entitled to the following benefits:

Income Support

Income based Job Seekers Allowance

Employments and Support Allowance - Income
Related only

Child Tax Credit

National Asylum Seekers Support

Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit
Students who qualify for Free School Meals will receive a daily allowance of
£2.03.
Academy schools are now individually responsible for the application verification,
administration and payment of Free School Meals. Please telephone our school
office for an application form (01245 266766) or complete an on-line application
form via the parents area of our schools website www.hylands-tkat.org
Successful applicants can receive a daily allowance which is immediately available
to the student.
Evidence of current benefit entitlement and household income is required, and will
be verified at least annually.
12
“A rising tide lifts all ships” says Mr
Williams
Mr Williams, current PE teacher, has
recently been appointed as the new
Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator
and is extremely excited to start his
new role.
As an innovative, experienced teacher Mr Williams is keen to start inspiring pupils through “visual celebration
of talent”. “Every lesson students
will be challenged,” says the passionate PE teacher, who wants every student to become more aspirational,
to believe “they are the best”.
education that will challenge higher
thinking skills and by creating notice
boards that clearly display the students who are improving their work
and are particularly gifted or talented in a subject.
Mr Williams also has plans for
“Challenge Days” that will cater to
specific requirements and interests
of students involved in the G+T programme.
We wish Mr Williams the best of luck
in his new post and to be in with a
chance of being part of Gifted and
Mr Williams plans to achieve this
Talented, make sure you’re trying
through parents’ involvement,
providing them with opportunities to your best in your lessons, completing
continue development at home. Also all homework tasks and attend all
by providing alternative methods of lessons!
Shoot for the moon, and
even if you miss ...
… you’ll land
amongst the
stars
13
In my opinion…
makes me drowsy just thinking about it.
When I hear the word ‘austerity’, I think
Cut the Conservatives
of camaraderie, a nation as a whole,
by Daisy Handscomb, Year 9 everyone pulling together, going without
our luxuries to help. But, contrary to
In my (not so) humble opinion, the Towhat we’re being told, the debt we’re
ries should be forced to take a rather
sacrificing for now is a quarter of the
bitter taste of their own ineffective medone we faced after the Second World
icine, delivered by the kind nurses who
War, so no need to worry, old chaps. So
work for the NHS, Tax Payer and Pleb.
why is the government using the same
This should serve to show them that
word as we needn’t give up as much as
austerity, and their ‘clever’ little plan to
we did then? After the Second World
blame someone else, just won’t work.
War, even though we were facing a debt
One thing I think we need to clear up is
four times greater than the one today,
this confusing word: austerity. You hear
we managed to build the welfare state,
people on the TV harping on about it,
the NHS, motorways, council housing
but you don’t know what it actually
and regenerate our cities. The irony of
means. Like antidisestablishmentarianthis is that, although the debt today is
ism (I know that some of you know what
smaller, we’re cutting all of the above!
it means, but I don’t. So there. It may
not be necessarily important in terms of The cuts themselves have no excuse –
the tax payer (e.g. your mum, dad and
modern society, but it really bugs me.
just about everybody else) didn’t pay
Austerity literally means basic; no frills
money to the banks as a failsafe (it was
and no luxuries. If you’re any good at
history, you might realise that ‘austerity’ the government’s idea – we didn’t have
a choice) so why must we face the backwas used by the government after the
lash of a plan doomed from the very
Second World War, to convince people
start? I honestly don’t understand it.
to go without things in the interest of
the nation. The government now is using
it as an excuse for what they’re actually
doing, which is cutting services we need,
to pay off our national debt. Of course,
this is just the shortened explanation,
because I really can’t be bothered to go
into any more detail than I actually need
to. And I don’t want to bore you – it
You may not realise it, but the cuts will
and probably already have affected
you, though perhaps not in the way
you’d expect.
We’ve all been to hospital, or know
someone who’s had to go. Unless you
went to a private hospital, the National
14
Health Service will have paid for some, if
not all of the treatment cost. About four
months ago I had to go to my local hospital for an operation in my mouth (you
don’t want to know the details, trust
me) and the NHS paid for my treatment
then, and the check-ups I will need for
two years after – so that’s around
£9,000 – give or take. If the hospital had
been privately owned (like a business),
we would have had to pay for all of it,
which we could not afford.
Not all the cuts have such drastic
effects. Some, like the loss of a sports
teacher, will be felt by those they taught
but will not necessarily be seen as terrible. But to those who lost a mentor, the
effects can be just a hard-hitting. The
sports coordinator at Hylands (whose
job was to organise competitions between schools, extra-curricular clubs
etc) came to my primary school several
times to teach us kids different sports
like tag rugby, football and cricket. As a
result, I took up sport whole-heartedly
Your house is on fire. You’ve had a car
when I came to Hylands. The sports cocrash. You’ve fallen down the stairs.
ordinator taught me all I know about my
Your TV has been stolen. Who you gonspecialist sport, and encouraged me to
na call? (Get it?). The fire service? Pojoin the county club. But the governlice? Ambulance? You know that, whenment cuts cost him his job, so now, not
ever you’re in serious trouble, you can
only did I lose a brilliant coach and role
always call 999, and help will always
model, but the hundreds primary school
come. But, thanks to cuts to all of the
kids he should have taught will go withabove services that we all rely upon,
out the encouragement I felt to go into
response times are getting longer and
sports. What a wonderful Olympic legalonger. With fewer fire engines and fire
cy.
fighters, there’s a horrible chance that
your house will be burnt to the ground
I will now proceed to quote our lovely
(bit of an exaggeration there, sorry).
Mr Cameron; “What I can tell you is any
With less police officers available in each cabinet minister, if I win the election,
county, your TV will probably be long
who comes to me and says: ‘Here are
gone, and stay gone. Less training for
my plans’ and they involve front line
ambulance drivers, and paramedics be- reductions they’ll be sent straight back
ing made redundant, you’ll be staring in to the department to go away and think
pain at the ceiling for a while. It ain’t no again.” 2nd May, 2010.
one’s fault but the Tories. And we’re all
I really hate liars.
in trouble.
15
Sixth form trip to London
The 4 sixth form tutor groups : Raphael,
Donatello, Michelangelo and Da Vinci
travelled together on the train and then
went to visit a different London-based
university each: Westminster, City University London, Queen Mary and South
Bank. Students were then allowed the
rest of the day in London in friendship
groups to shop, go for lunch or take
part in the “sight-hunting” competition
Mrs Williamson had set up for them.
The sight-hunting involved groups of
the Sixth Formers going to as many
different sights as they could (London
Eye, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham
Palace) and taking a picture of them
with it. Extra marks were awarded if
they got their tutors Ninja Turtle in the
picture as well. All tutor groups put in
lots of effort and had a great day of
exploring and navigating their way
around in small teams but the winning
tutor group was Donatello who took the
most photographs at the most sights.
Well done to everyone in Mr Curno’s
group who have won the prize of a free
lunch for their hard work!
16
Youthbuild UK - Young Builder
of the Year 2012
Ryan Andrews is in his second year of
the Increased Flexibility Programme
here at Hylands School. Through this
programme Ryan has completed work
experience for a local logistics company, days at college as well as working
towards GCSEs in school.
Ryan has regularly been attending
Youthbuild as his college placement.
Youthbuild UK promotes engagement
with young people, through construction related training and employment,
to overcome social exclusion and celebrate their success. Ryan, through his
hard work, was nominated for the
YBUK Young Builder of the Year Award
2012. The award recognises the
achievements of young people who
have overcome their personal barriers
to achieve success through commitment and hard work.
ceremony was attended by executives
from some of the UK’s largest construction companies.
Ryan was
named as
the Young
Builder of
the Year
2012 for
his
age
category. With this Ryan won tools for
himself and his college, a crystal trophy with framed certificate and a cash
prize. It was all topped off with a trip
on the London Eye.
Everyone involved with the Increased
Flexibility Programme and Essex Youth
Build are exceedingly proud of the success that Ryan has achieved through
his hard work and dedication to the
course. Ryan has been inspired to continue his educational journey with the
potential apprenticeships being available following this award.
Ryan was invited to attend the presentation ceremony at the Houses of Parliament having made it to the final five
from over a thousand nominees. The
17
TICKET SCANDAL
Shortly after London 2012 promised that every seat would be filled at both the
Olympics and Paralympics, thousands of people who missed out on tickets were
shocked and angry to find that officials had to fill hundreds of spare seats by
inviting the army, volunteers and coaches to try and cover this fact. Chairman
Lord Coe revealed that students and teachers also had to be called in at the last
minute while organisers LOCOG launched an investigation into the ticket disaster.
“July 30th—London 2012 started to put thousands of tickets back on sale for the
Olympics in an emergency bid to fill the empty seats at venues across the
Games.”
Events like Gymnastics, Wrestling and Tennis had whole sections of empty seats
that did not belong to Officials or The Press. It was reported in The Daily Mail
that about 50,000 tickets were being held back by foreign countries so they
could resell them at “inflated prices” as part of the black market. “Seats will not
be filled,” quoted a PM spokeswoman, “as it is difficult to predict how many of
the Olympians’ families will attend the events.”
However, a London 2012 spokesperson said
“The atmosphere in our venues, both yesterday
and today has been terrific, and most venues
are packed to the rafters.”
Well, this only just turned true as by the second
day running, embarrassing gaps in stadiums
were seen to; 3,000 tickets were put back on
sale to encourage more people to fill the gaps.
By Hannah Donnan, Year 9
18
What good sports!
On Monday 8th October the year 9 netball team travelled to William
de Ferrers School to play their second game of the term. It was not going to be
an easy game, as we all knew, WDF had beaten us before but this time we all
hoped it would be different. We were still flushed
with success from our win the previous week so we
were sure we could do it again!
At first both teams started off quite evenly
matched and after ten minutes it was 2-2. After
the second point we had a tiny blip and were down
5-4 but we hadn’t given up yet. If it wasn’t enough
playing a team that was hard to beat, the rain started to set in. We were doing well though, only a
goal down and there was some good defence as well as attacking and shooting
going on, then as the third quarter finished we were 8-6 up! All we had to do
was make sure we didn’t lose in the next ten minutes! As we started the last
quarter we all had the same thoughts going through our minds: the coldness,
but overpowering that, the thought that we had nearly won, we were almost
there.
The final whistle blew and we ran over to see what the score was. To our delight we won 10-7 and we were now a changed team, we could now play a
better game of netball that Mrs Wood could enjoy! Hannah Donnan was voted
player of the match by William de Ferrers.
Thank you Mrs Wood for taking us there, we all had a great afternoon!
Well done to Holly Davis, Emma Dennis, Hannah
Donnan, Georgina Flack, Phoebe Purvis, Mhairi Rankin and Phoebe Wood on
their victory!
By Holly Davis
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Hannah
Hannah who?
Hannah partridge in a pear
tree
19
Dates for the diary
December
Thursday 20th—Christmas concert 7pm
Friday 21st—Break up for Christmas holidays 12.15pm
January
Thursday 10th—Year 11 maths exam results day
Friday 11th—Year 11 mock exam results day
Thursday 31st—Years 9, 12 & 13 Consultation Day
February
Thursday 12th—Year 9 Geography trip to Tilbury power station
Saturday 16th—Saturday 23rd—Winter sports trip
Thursday 28th—Parents’ forum 6pm
Hylands School
Chelmsford Road
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 3ET
Tel : 01245 266766
Fax : 01245 252570
Email : [email protected]
With special thanks to:
Martha Pothen, Lucy
Muir, Harriet Feest, and
the members of Mr Loye’s
writing club for putting
this newsletter together