May 2018

Newsletter

Yr9 Student Jordan Williams wins National Competition! Huish Academy is proud

to report that one of our YR9 students Jordan Williams has won the latest National Mountain bike

Competition which took place last week in Scotland. Jordan is ranked number one in the Country for

his age-range and proved his ranking by winning with a huge margin of eight seconds. Jordan was nine

seconds faster than the current women's senior champion! Well done Jordan and good luck with your

next competition.

Exam season is upon us. Following two years of hard work on a GCSE, BTEC or A level course the

students are now facing the challenge of sitting numerous exams over a period of a few weeks. It can be a

stressful time for students, parents and staff; but it can also be an opportunity to shine and take pride in a job

well done. For parents in particular it can be a confusing time; the changing of grades in almost all subjects

to a 1-9 system coupled with uncertainty about grade boundaries, and of course the new school performance

measure of Progress 8 leaves most parents bewildered about how best to assess the performance of their

child and the school. Add to this the news this week that Ofsted have not inspected over 1600 individual

schools for over 5 years due to them having been previously graded as outstanding and the picture becomes

even harder to understand.

To my mind the Ofsted judgements and progress 8 scores are a snap shot in time; an important indicator of

how things are going; but of much more importance and reassuringly, the one thing you can always be

certain of in education is the commitment of our staff every day to make a difference to the life chances of

the children and young adults that come to Huish Episcopi.

I have been so impressed by the level of cooperation between students and staff this year to get to this

point. Students have worked diligently all year, supported by caring staff, both with the singular focus of do-

ing the best possible job in the exams. I am really looking forward to the two results days in August, as this is

a great opportunity to celebrate individual success and see the joy that students experience when they see

the result of all the hard work they have put in. It is also the time when doors begin to open to new chapters

and adventures, whether in the 6th form, at college or university, on an apprenticeships or in employment.

Seeing students develop into people ready to take their next step in life is a privilege and the reason we came

into this job.

Good luck to everyone still sitting exams.

Chris Wade

The outside classroom DT Food at the Academy are in the process of designing an out-

side learning space to further engage our students. The space will

be for all age groups and consist of growing both consumable and

non-consumable products. Students will have the opportunity to

plant, take care of and harvest. We will then utilise items for use in the food department in lessons. The

preparation of the garden will be taking place before the end of this term and will need extra hands to help!

In addition, we are also looking for any no longer wanted garden tools and/or any suitable plants you are

willing to donate.

If you think you can help with any of the

above, please email Mrs Mimpriss or

leave a message for her to contact you.

Thank you in advance!

On Thursday 3 May 2018, Year 9 pupils visited ‘The Land We Live In – The Land We Left Behind’ exhibition

at Hauser & Wirth in Somerset as an invaluable introduction to studying GCSE Art & Design next year. The

exhibition tells the story of humanity’s evolving connection to the land, our perception of, and reliance

upon it. It includes over 50 international artists and producers, as well as works on loan, by artists work-

ing from the 1500s to the present day, including William Holman Hunt, Samuel Palmer, Frank Lloyd

Wright, Marcus Coates and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

The pupils were thoroughly engaged in and inspired by the exhibits and the presentations delivered by

the education staff at the gallery. An extremely successful visit and opportunity to experience Art outside

of the classroom.

Oxford University visits

This academic year we have given 24 Y10 students the

opportunity of visiting Oxford University. These visits are

intended to promote high aspirations, and help the Academy

to be able to identify students who are aiming at applying to top class universities in the future.

Students are supported through Key Stage 4 and 5 through the ‘Learning without Limits’ programme.

Comments from students

Today has been really interesting and provided me

with an amazing insight into what life at Oxford

University would be like. It has really changed my

perception of Oxford and how universities work in

general. Going on this trip has given us more

knowledge and helped to answer any questions

that we had.

I really enjoyed the trip and learnt so much. I am

now interested in applying to Oxford. I learnt

about the accommodation and had a great insight

of the grounds and lifestyles. I find it easier to

understand the students’ fees and loans.

The day was really informative and useful and a

great insight into the future. It helped resolve some

fears that I may have otherwise had about going to

University.

The Key to Me

Challenge Plus

This year Huish has been working in collaboration with 9 other Academies in the South West to support

and give opportunities to groups of high achieving students. As part of the Challenge Plus programme 12

students attended a motivational day under the title ‘The Key to Me’ . The students worked on a variety of

challenges aimed to take them out of their comfort zone, and to promote deep thinking.

Comments from students

The Key to Me

I have really enjoyed my experience at Kilve

Court and I have found a new element (or key)

which would help me in the future. I have also

improved my social skills and made new

friends, which added to the experience.

My personal favourite workshop was the work-

shop ‘Discovering the Extraordinary’ led by

Antonia, as she effortlessly led an interesting

and surprisingly creative presentation as magic

was involved. It opened up a new way of think-

ing about the world around me and how

mental tricks and illusions are a part of every-

day life, and that we should all be aware of

how biased information is being presented to

us.

One workshop featured some outdoor

activities, helping us to collaborate as a team

and work together and learn to be part of a team, and look out for each other. This can help us in any

school teamwork session, or in any further life experiences. This also helped us to understand that some-

times we can’t just use our individual brains or maybe personalities, but in teams it could help us to find

the key to who we are.

The workshop ‘The Thought Chamber’ really made us think, and we used our brains to think about puzzles

and riddles. We also thought about “what is the biggest change to humanity in the future?” I answered

using concerns and diseases which are life threatening. In the future it would be brilliant if technology

could be used to provide for water, food and resources in emerging Countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan and

Yemen. This workshop showed the perspective of thought and how we can find our thoughts and opinions

to find the key to ourselves.

Finally, we were introduced to Tai Chi and how this activity can help maintain and improve our balance,

posture and movement. Also this helped to find the key by using movement and actions to gather a sense

of peace and stress free lives. This could also help us in the long-term due to having a positive impact on

our health.

Year 9 student

Careerpilot is a great website for both young people and their parents/carers to use to find out detailed information about:

All choices at 14, 16 and 18;

22 job sectors and 100s of Job Profiles

Places to study in the South of England.

The site also has Career Tools to help young people decide their choices and to identify their skills.

The site helps young people explore their options and make informed decisions about future study and work.

Careerpilot also has a Parent Zone which aims to help parents and carers get answers to career-related questions. The Parent Zone also has a quiz to help parents find answers to key questions that can impact on young people’s decisions.

www.careerpilot.org.uk www.careerpilot.org.uk/parent

We were delighted to welcome over 40 parents/

visitors to the academy during the week March

5 – 10 to talk to students about their career

journeys and job roles.

Parents were invited to the Academy as part of

National Careers Week. They volunteered to

deliver a short presentation to students during

tutor time. The aim was to raise awareness of

different career options.

We had a huge range of career areas represented.

These included armed forces, health, environmen-

tal management, garden design, legal sector and

engineering. Our visitors included a vicar, transla-

tor, freelance writer, a vet, chef and even a police

dog!

We would like to thank the large number of

parents who offered to join us. We were over-

whelmed by the response and look forward to

running something similar next year.

We recommend that students register on the

Careerpilot website and use it to support them

with their choices. Student and parents can also

request an individual careers appointment with

Emma Higman (Independent Careers Adviser) via

their tutor.

Maths Challenge Success 2018

At the beginning of February, some of our year 9, 10 and 11 students took part in the UK

National Intermediate Maths Challenge. Brilliant news, 37% received certificates – 29

bronze, 23 silver and 4 gold. Huge congratulations to our year 11 students Daniel Wright,

Ben Moore, Adam Goodwin and Edward Lane, year 9, who achieved gold for their high scores

and a chance to compete in the prestigious British Mathematical Intermediate Kangaroo

competition. Fantastic news, all received certificates and Edward was awarded a merit

certificate for his great score and the opportunity to attend a special Royal Institution

Mathematics Masterclass celebration event at the University of Bath.

Some of our year 7 and 8 students participated in the UK National Junior Maths Challenge at

the end of April. We are awaiting their results but we are confident of their success.

We recently celebrated National

“Number Day” along with many

schools across the UK, to help raise money for the NSPCC so it can car-ry on working to keep children safe. The Maths Department organised numerous maths activities through-out the day including an ex-tremely popular “Chocolate Tom-bola” and “Cake Sale”. We were delighted to raise £447.37 for this worthy cause. A big thank you to all students, staff and parents who supported this event.

Year 11 football team

4 out of 5 to finish their time at Huish

The year 11 football team have finished on winning ways. When

they arrived in year 7 and won the Area Cup final with ease I

had a feeling this would be a very special team. Five years on

and the boys have won 4 Area Cup finals and runner up in the

County final. Along with this, they progressed to the 5th stage

of the National competition. The latest result was a 4-2 win

over Bucklers Mead, which showed how good at times this

team can be.

The team has consisted of mainly the same group of players

with a few additions throughout the years:

GKs:

Elliot Howells/ Benn Richardson

Defences:

George Smeeton

Innes Davidson

Charlie Shepard

Zak Wilson

Ben Moore

Shay Lucas

Midfields:

Sam Bonds

Sam Ough

Felix Smee

Kieran Webber

Harry Fisher

Ed Trayling

Harvey Cattle

Strikers:

Tommy Conway (Captain)

Phil Duck

Fin Telfer

I would like to thank all the boys for an outstanding achieve-

ment and wish everyone success as they progress on from

Huish.

Mr Wood

The Huish Episcopi Ski Trip offers a

fantastic opportunity for skiers of all abilities to

hone their skills. In recent years Austria has been

our destination of choice. Our most recent trip in

March 2018 saw us return to the slopes of the

Amadé Ski Area. During six days on the snow,

novice skiers successfully mastered red runs. The

lower intermediate group and advanced skiers

worked with their instructors to build on previously

learnt skills. The less said about the higher

intermediate group the better but we were all

relieved when they boarded the bus for the

journey home!

Pupils experienced a mix of weather throughout the

week, skiing in the sun as well as snowy and

blizzard like conditions. As always the ski

instructors were absolutely fabulous and were

impressed with the behaviour of all our students.

Despite a couple of ‘skidoo’ trips down the

mountain and a number of students having their

resilience tested over the first couple of days,

everyone enjoyed their week. Lessons were

complemented by a full après-ski programme

which included bowling, thermal baths, quiz and a

pizza night.

Thank you to the staff that supported the trip and

the students for behaving impeccably throughout-

it was an absolute pleasure.

We are looking forward to Austria 2019 which is

already a sell out!

Miss Cawthorn

County Success

The year 10 netball team travelled to Millfield School on the 12th April for their first appearance at the

Somerset School Games. The team, captained by Elysia Carter-Rice and Emily Evans, qualified for the

competition as area champions with impressive wins over well drilled teams from Sexey’s, Holyrood and

Preston.

The girls got this year’s County campaign off to a winning start by beating Wells Blue with some fantas-

tic shooting from Tabi and Elysia. However, despite excellent defending from Jemima, Emily and Ellie, the

team could not hold off the attack from The Castle School. The final match against Haygrove was always

going to prove difficult but the girls fought hard in and out of their positions and despite losing finished

in a very respectable third place. Well done girls - we are extremely proud of how much progress you

have made through your commitment to training.

Miss Cawthorn

Team (L-R): Emma Cowie, Rebecca Woodfield, Jemima Lee,

Ellie Strudwick, Tabi Raybould, Elysia Carter Rice, Emily

Evans, Ornela Velaj and Lexus Poole.

PE Kit is available direct from our supplier SWI Schoolwear:

Website: www.swidtp.co.uk

Phone: 01928 752 610

SWI recommend that orders required for the start of term are placed by Monday 6th August 2018.

Please see the Academy website for full details of the PE Kit expectations from

September 2018.

Academy Uniform:

We are making changes to our uniform from September 2018 - Please see the Academy

website for full details of the uniform expectations from September 2018.

The main changes will be the new Academy Grey Tartan Skirt and the new House Ties.

The Academy skirt will be available from Taunton Uniform Shop:

Address: 144b East Reach, Taunton TA1 3HT Website: www.tauntonuniforms.co.uk Telephone: 01823 278080

The House Ties should be available from the Academy Shop from Monday 2nd July 2018.

Ties can however be pre-ordered online via Wisepay

(Students can then collect them from the Academy shop after

2nd July).

The Academy Shop will be open Monday 16th to Friday 20th July 2018 8.30am – 4.00pm,

for anyone wishing to purchase ties, badges and sketchbooks.

ATTENDANCE LINE

Call the Attendance Officer - Miss Ali Powell on

01458 254434 or Mobile: 07827 289504

Email: Huishattendance@educ.somerset.gov.uk

Information you will need to have to hand:

Pupil’s Name and Tutor Group

Reason for absence

Symptoms - Have you made a Doctor’s appointment?

It is the responsibility of parents or guardians to contact

the Academy as early as possible on the first day of

absence. If a student is absent for more than one day, the

Academy must have a written note of explanation.

Please note that it is the Principal’s decision on

whether an absence is authorised and not the parent/

guardian.

Parents of new students should

now have had their Wisepay

log in details either by email or

letter. If you have not received yours, please email us at

huishaccounts@educ.somerset.gov.uk with your child’s

name and form and we will send your log in details to

you.

We no longer accept the old £5 notes and will not

accept the old £1 coins after Friday 13th

October.

The Academy shop is open to students every day:

break time (11:00-11:20am) and Lunchtime (1:40-

2:00pm).

Cash and cheque payments can be made in the shop.

(Cheques made payable to ‘Huish Episcopi Academy’)

PE Kit can now be paid for through the ‘Shop’ section on

Wisepay.

ABSENCE REQUESTS

Huish Episcopi Academy will not authorise term time leave

unless it is an EXCEPTIONAL circumstance.

If the Academy refuses a request for term time leave and

the pupil is still taken out of the Academy this is recorded as

an UNAUTHORISED absence. A Warning Penalty Notice

can be issued in this instance

Categories of Attendance

Attendance is reviewed regularly and pupils fall into one of

the categories below:

100% Excellent

98% Very Good

Below 95% CONCERN

Requires improvement

Below 90% Serious CONCERN

Persistent Absentee

If a student falls below 90% there may also be a referral

made to the Parent and Family Support Advisor.

If a student has more than 10 unauthorised

sessions of absence in 12 weeks, legal action may

be considered.

Careers appointments available for Year 11

students needing help with exploring post-

16 options. Parents are welcome to attend

or to contact the Careers Adviser direct-

ly for advice/information.

Appointments can be requested via

tutors or by contacting

emmahigman@huishepiscopi.net

Please note that wherever appropriate

we intend to send correspondence to

you via email. If we do not have an

email address on record for you, we will

continue to post letters home. If you

have changed your email address, since

the last data collection return, please

can you advise us by emailing:

office@huishepiscopi.somerset.sch.uk

HuishPrint is the Huish Episcopi Academy’s in-house printing

department where we are a dedicated team providing a

professional and quality service. We can offer competitive

prices and an efficient and flexible service to meet your

individual needs:-

Our services include:

Posters

Enlargements/reductions

Black & /full colour printing

Book binding, laminating, scanning

Stapling, compilation

Reports, business and ID cards

Flyers, leaflets and booklets

HuishPrint @ Huish Episcopi Academy

For a no obligation quotation please contact us on:

01458 254433 or email us at

Huish.Print@educ.somerset.gov.uk

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