We decided that Christmas 2020 would be a Christmas of Giving. After such a bumpy year globally, the School has focussed on ways to make a difference locally through a variety of projects. We have embraced the recently launched Classrooms to Carehomes project being promoted by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) which has seen the entirety of the Year 7 students writing Christmas letters to care home residents, as well as holding an inter-form hamper making competition! The School delivered the hampers and Christmas letters to nearby Whiteley Village where they met with staff and residents, socially distanced of course, to present them with the treats. 

We have also supported the Salvation Army Christmas Present Appeal by making donations of toys and gifts that will be distributed to local children who might otherwise have been without a gift on Christmas Day. The Student Leadership Team visited the Woking Salvation Army Church where they presented Mr David House with the gifts and saw for themselves the work they are doing to put together packages for families this Christmas.

To support additional charities, the students have also been selling festive candy cane gifts, as well as taking part in Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 10th December for their chosen charity ‘Shooting Star Children’s Hospices’.

Not to be outdone by the students, the Hoe Valley School staff also stepped up to the giving mark by creating a Reverse Advent Calendar – donating an item each day of advent for Woking Food Bank to help supply much needed food items to local families in need. 

Mrs Davies, Head Teacher commented, “I am really proud of the school community and overwhelmed by the generosity of both students and staff. It is a particularly challenging time for everyone at the moment and it was so special to be allowed into Whiteley Village Care Home and make real contact with the recipients of our gifts. We hope to continue this generosity throughout 2021 as we look forward to plans for Easter giving.”

     

Over the past few weeks, our Year 8 students have worked on a cross curricular digital project in their English and History lessons. They were tasked with creating their very own websites reflecting their research and learning on the First World War. We are now very excited to launch their websites for you to view.

Students have been focusing on a range of topics including; African soldiers, Indian soldiers, female war poets, the Western Front, the Battle of the Somme and famous poems. Their websites look at the conflict through both the eyes of soldiers from all over the British Empire that fought in it, and the poets that recorded their fate.

Their work has been created by collaborating in small groups using new software called Adobe Spark and the quality of their work is really impressive demonstrating both their intellectual and creative skills!

This project is the first of our planned Cross Curricular Digital work supported by our Communication and Digital Skills Lead Mr Inglis, who worked with both the English and History Faculties to aid the staff and students get to grips with the new software package to create up-to-the-minute digital projects to present their work. Our focus on Communication and Digital Skills forms a fundamental part of our Work Ready focus – equipping Hoe Valley School students with crucial skills that will benefit them in life after school.

You can view the Year 8 websites below

 

This year we are delighted to be support 3 charities at Christmas-time.

Christmas Hamper Appeal for Years 7 & 8.

Each tutor group in Years 7 and 8 are designing and filling a hamper which will be delivered to Whiteley Home Trust during our last week of term.  There is a house competition for the best decorated, best filled, and best presented hamper.  Click here  to see a list of ideas for suitable hamper items.

Christmas Present Appeal 2020 – The Salvation Army    

As last year’s appeal of donating presents to the Salvation Army was such a huge success, we would like to support them again this Christmas. All year groups can donate via boxes at their Year Group entrance.

Ideas by age range:

• 0-3 years: dolls, teddy bears, cot mobiles, baby clothes, bath toys, CDs of suitable music and nursery rhymes, puzzles
• 3-5: dolls and action figures, cars, lorries, DVDs and CDs (music and nursery rhymes), colouring sets, pencils, crayons, books, puzzles
• 5-9: educational games & toys, stationery (colouring sets, pencils, crayons, school sets), CDs & family friendly DVDs, books, puzzles, wordsearch, crossword
• 9-12:games and toys, stationery, DVDs, books, t-shirts, hair accessories, gloves, scarves, hats
• 13-16: books, make-up and toiletries (please try to ensure non-allergic ingredients if possible), gloves, scarves, hats, t-shirts, hair accessories and gift vouchers

We are very grateful for the support of our families in donating items for both of the initiatives – we know that our generosity and support is gratefully received and will help make a real difference this Christmas time. We look forward to sharing photos with you all of the finished hampers and toy donations.

At a ceremony at the House of Commons on 21^st May 2019, the School received a Highly Commended Award from Lord Agnew, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, for Outstanding Governance in a Single School. The award was one of the National Governance Association’s (NGA) Outstanding Governance Awards 2019.

The NGA is the national membership organisation for state-funded school governors and trustees in England, and the awards run every 2 years to recognise the very best practice in school governance nationally and celebrate the role of governors. The NGA note that “Our finalists lead the way as exemplars of good school governance and have met rigorous judging criteria to reach the final.” In order to be considered for the award we had to provide a detailed case and a supporting statement from someone independent. Two judges then visited the school to question us on our practice, and inspect evidence.

The finalists in the Outstanding Governance in a Single School category had been chosen because they demonstrate the eight elements of effective governance, and have gone beyond the basics of their role to have a significant impact on the education provided to students in their schools.

The judges noted that Hoe Valley School is a demonstration of what a group of dedicated parents can achieve having turned our vision into reality and created a brand new school.  They were impressed that the board has consistently shown excellent capability to strategically manage all aspects of the school, utilising our experience and enthusiasm to best effect, and that trustees have not been afraid to make difficult decisions.

Below is the full statement from the judges

“Demonstrating what a group of dedicated parents can achieve by setting up their own free school, this board has turned a vision into reality. The board took the early decision to strategically oversee the development of the permanent site, allowing senior leaders to focus on ensuring an excellent standard of education. The permanent site opened in September 2018, four months after the school was deemed Outstanding by Ofsted. An indicator of the board’s success in engaging stakeholders throughout the project was an oversubscription for the third year of entry to the school. Trustees have not been afraid to make difficult decisions and the judges were impressed that board has consistently shown excellent capability to strategically manage all aspects of the school, utilising its experience and enthusiasm to best effect. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28th March 2019

The Governors of Hoe Valley School are pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs Jane Davies as Head Teacher of the school with effect from 1st September 2019. Mrs Davies has been with the school since May 2015, first as Deputy Head, and more recently leading the school as Associate Head Teacher for two days per week during the last academic year before taking on the role of Acting Head Teacher for this academic year.

Prior to joining Hoe Valley School, Mrs Davies was Assistant Principal at The Beacon School in Banstead, where she was Head of Progress and Attainment for Key Stage 4 and then Director of Sixth Form, driving up standards in both GCSE and A Level results across the school. Mrs Davies obtained a Masters in Education from Kingston University in 2013 and her NPQH in 2017.

Chair of Governors, Lynne O’Reilly, said “Jane has been a key contributor to the success of the school since before we opened, including helping to secure an Outstanding outcome from our first Ofsted inspection. She shares the governors’ vision for the school, and has gained the full confidence and support of staff and parents. We are delighted that she will be leading the school on the next stage of its development.”

“I am very excited about taking on the leadership of the school at this crucial point.” Jane commented “Our first cohort sit their GCSEs next year, and we have our Sixth Form to plan and open. I have an excellent team of staff and am looking forward to working with them to ensure the continued success of the school and our students.” Jane went on to add “Our aim is for every student to experience a first class education where they can achieve to their highest potential. I am committed to ensuring that our students leave the School knowing how to confidently take up their place in the world, through the achievement of excellent academic outcomes, ensuring they are work ready, and developing them as good citizens.”

 

Last Friday 10 of our Year 9 students visited Wisley to take part in the Green Plan It Challenge, a 10-week project where the students are asked to think about role of  plants and green spaces in our everyday lives.

Working in a team they will research and plan a concept for a new garden, before building a model of the garden and presenting it to a panel of assessors at the celebration event in December.

 

It was our privilege to welcome Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE and Lottie to school on Friday 14th September. Lord Holmes is Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer, winning a total of 9 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze. He was also Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for the organisation of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

Lord Holmes spoke to Year 10 in assembly, telling them about how at the age of 14 he unexpectedly went blind overnight and how despite that he held on to his dreams of academic success and representing Britain at sport. He shared with us the challenges he had to overcome and his approach to doing it.

As well as going on to study at Cambridge, Lord Holmes won nine gold medals, including the record six gold medals at a single Paralympics. He gained a string of World and European titles, broke 35 world records and was awarded an MBE for services to British sport at the age of 20. He was member of the Great Britain swimming team for seventeen years and captain for five.

Lord Holmes described the help and support he received from family, friends, coaches, teachers and many others along the way. He introduced us to his Labrador, Lottie, who has been with him for 7 years and holds the distinction of being the first guide dog in the House of Lords.

Students and staff were equally enthralled with his talk, and he was kind enough to answer the many questions his fascinated audience wanted to ask. We have all gone away from the assembly truly inspired – thank you Lord Holmes (and Lottie).

We are delighted to have welcomed our students into our permanent home at Egley Road.

Our year 7s arrived on Thursday 6th September looking smart and ready for their first day at secondary school. On Friday 7th September years 8, 9 and 10 joined them. The SLT were on the gate to greet them as they arrived.

It was really pleasing to see how many students arrived on foot or on their bikes and scooters. The racks at the front of the school were very full. Our vision for the school was always that it would be a local school for local children and it is clear that most of our students live within walking/cycling distance.

Once inside, years 8, 9 and 10 went for assembly in the sports hall. Mrs Davies had chosen the theme of “The Big Picture” for this first assembly. She also introduced the new SLT and staff members.

Meanwhile year 7 were with Ms Alford in Founders’ Hall working quietly and diligently. They are settling very quickly into life at HVS and we are already very proud of them.

All of our students were given an individual chrome book to use throughout the school day to enable them to make full use of our Google environment.

Founding governors, Lynne O’Reilly, Claire McDonnell and Claerwyn Hamilton-Wilkes were present to witness the first full day of operation and share in the assembly. It was an extremely proud moment to see the school they had helped to create established in the new building.

To mark the milestone of moving to our new home, on 1st September all governors and staff in post when the school opened, together with the families of students in our first cohort and key supporters who helped us open the school gathered together for a Founders’ Celebration. The event was an opportunity for everyone who played their part in opening the school to come together and celebrate all that we have achieved together.

Founders shared a barbecue lunch, produced by our caterers, Innovate, and enjoyed tours of the new facilities, before gathering in Founders’ Hall on the first floor of the school.

Governors Claerwyn Hamilton-Wilkes and Claire McDonnell formally named the hall in honour of all of the founders before unveiling two items recognising everyone who had an involvement.

Parents were excited to see their children recorded as part of the creation and history of the school.

The students from year 8 and year 9 who have been studying Latin travelled to Fishbourne Palace in West Sussex on Thursday.  Fishbourne is the largest Roman residence found in Britain. The students enjoyed a workshop on Roman life, which involved handling genuine Roman artefacts and discovering what they tell us about life at the palace. They were able to explore the remains of the villa and gardens, including seeing the impressive mosaic floors which have remained intact.

It was a great reward for all the hard work they have put in to their study of Latin this year.