Y7 - 11 Weekly Newsletter | Autumn Term, Week 13 | Date: 1 Dec 2023
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REPORTING STUDENT ABSENCE
We have an online absence reporting form for all absences (whole day or part of the day). If you are unable to use the form you will need to email absence@hgs.herts.sch.uk with the student's name and tutor group, reason for absence and expected return date (if known).
[Every day - Pasta / Jacket Potatoes & Toppings, Panini of the Day]
** MENU SUBJECT TO CHANGE **
** GLUTEN-FREE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST **
Monday: PASTA CHEESE PARCELS (v), QUORN STEW & DUMPLINGS (v), VEGETARIAN SAUSAGE PASTRIES (v), LEMON SPONGE
Tuesday: CHICKEN & LEEK PIE, CURRIED CAULIFLOWER & BROCCOLI CHEESE (v), CHEESE & TOMATO WRAPS (v), APPLE FLAPJACK (free from eggs, milk)
Wednesday: SAUSAGE PASTA, SWEET POTATO, LENTIL & CHICKPEA KORMA (v)(gf), BACON & CHEESE PASTRIES, SYRUP SPONGE
Thursday: CHICKEN COBBLER, BBQ NOODLES (v), CHEESE QUICHE (v), PEACH & APPLE CRUNCH (free from wheat, eggs, milk)
Friday: PASTA BOLOGNAISE, VEGETABLE TIKKA MASALA (v)(gf), FISHCAKES, GOLDEN KRISPIE (free from eggs)
(V) = Vegetarian (GF) = Gluten Free
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SCHOOL NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Good afternoon,
It's December the 1st and 'it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas' here as our tree has gone up in our main foyer today. Next week tutor groups will be adding decorations to their noticeboards, as is tradition here in the run-up to the Christmas break.
December will see our community celebrating a number of cultural dates, including the Jewish Hanukkah and the Buddhist Bodhi Day. I wish all members of our community a very happy festive period.
We will also be marking two important dates coming up: the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December) and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December). Students will be learning more about these occasions in assembly next week.
This week we welcomed back Dr Sutton, who gave his time to lead sessions on the human brain for our Sixth Form Psychology students. His Brain Days are always thoroughly engaging and well received by the students. Thanks to Dr Sutton and Mrs Edwards for organising and delivering this experience.
I hope all Year 9 families found this week’s parents’ evening useful - with Options just around the corner, conversations at home about school, progress and your child’s aspirations are particularly important right now. On Tuesday next week we have the Year 11 parents’ evening, and as this follows the recent mock examinations, it will be a great opportunity to discuss next steps for your child in preparation for the final exams, as well as recognising their achievements and hard work to date.
Have a good weekend.
James Crowther, Headteacher
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Road safety
Now that the mornings and evenings are darker, please remind your child about road safety. We received a report this week that a young person only narrowly missed being hit by a car when they crossed in front of it wearing headphones.
Students need to be mindful that vehicles may not see them, particularly if they are wearing darker clothing, and they need to ensure that they are crossing roads safely. Risks are greater when they have headphones on or are looking at their mobile phone screens as they may not be checking as carefully.
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Snapchat warning
Hertfordshire Constabulary would like to remind students about actions they can take to stay safe on social media apps such as Snapchat.
Snapchat is a photo- and video- sharing app that allows users to chat with friends via text or audio. Users can share images and videos with specific friends, or through a 'story' (documenting the previous 24 hours) visible to their entire friends list.
Snap Map is an in-app feature that uses a device's location information to locate users on a map that is visible to other Snapchat users (dependent on privacy settings).
Advice from the Police includes:
- Keeping location services off, or only on for people they know and trust.
- Not accepting friend requests unless they are sure of that person’s true identity.
- Ensuring all privacy settings are up to date.
- If they feel that something is not right, they should report it as soon as possible. This may be to a trusted adult and/or through the reporting features on the app.
Snapchat has an age rating of 13+ . Further information about the app, safety features and possible risks can be found on the NSPCC website .
A leaflet produced by National Online Safety containing more information can be found in the Wellbeing section below.
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Free School Meals - vouchers for
the Christmas holidays
Hertfordshire County Council will be providing supermarket vouchers for each child entitled to benefits-related Free School Meals to cover the Christmas 2023 holiday period.
Eligible families will receive a digital supermarket voucher to the value of £30 per child on 13 December 2023, which you must redeem within 3 months (the expiry date will be included in the email that you receive from noreply@edenred.co.uk). Please check your junk mail if you do not see the voucher.
Families can choose to spend vouchers at one of the following supermarkets:
• ALDI
• ASDA
• Marks and Spencer
• McColl’s
• Morrisons
• Sainsbury’s
• Tesco
• Waitrose
Please note that the voucher works like a gift card and so doesn't have to be spent all in one go.
Contact HertsHelp for advice and practical support – call 0300 123 4044, email info@hertshelp.net or visit www.hertshelp.net.
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The tree is up!
The hall is decked thanks to our Head Girl Team, whose traditional duties include decorating the HGS Christmas tree - this year in beautiful silver and blue.

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Rainbow Laces
Following the success of last year’s event, we held the Rainbow Laces mixed-team football tournament with Hitchin Boys' School again this month, to show all of our support for equality and diversity in sport and beyond. Teams from Years 7 to 10 took part and all our students were exceptionally well behaved. We’ll look forward to future tournaments between the two schools!
The winning teams were:
Year 7 - Frank
Year 8 - Curie
Year 9 - Rosa
Year 10 - Pankhurst (on goal difference!)


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Year 8 hockey - district champions!
Congratulations to the Year 8 B team who came 4th overall in the District tournament, with some cracking saves by new GK Molly. And to the A team who worked brilliantly together and scored some excellent goals to become district champions! Congratulations also to Sophie for the most goals scored in the competition.


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Our diversity display for December
We are excited to share our new diversity display and calendar for this month - Year 12 students Julia and Georgina have helped to put this together, and it includes a fantastic poem written by Audrey in Year 7 about what Christmas means to individuals. Amazing work everybody!
There are also lots of festivals coming up this month: Hanukkah, Bodhi Day and Christmas! If you would like to take part in a short video to share what any of these occasions mean to you with the rest of school in our celebration assembly at the end of term, please get in touch with Mrs Foster. There will of course be rewards for those who get involved!
Other key dates to note this month are the Food Drive on 8 December, Christmas Jumper Day on 14 December and the end of term on 20 December!
Last but by no means least, we will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights next week in Headstrong. In this important assembly we will also be marking UK History Disability Month (16 November - 16 December) and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December).
Many thanks to all those helping to celebrate diversity in our school community - we wish you a wonderful December and a Happy New Year!

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Autumn term sports report
Have you had success in a sport outside of school at County level or above?
If so the PE department would love to hear about your achievements and include them in the Sports Report to share with the HGS community.
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Library news
The 12 Books of Christmas
Do you want to know what's behind the windows of our 12 Books of Christmas display? There's only one way to find out - head up to the Library during December. We'll be opening a window each day to reveal a member of school staff with a fabulously festive book. And when you've checked out the display, don't forget to borrow some wintery reads to keep you busy over the Christmas holidays.

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Have a listen to our inaugural HGS Podcast produced by our team of digital enthusiasts! Ep 1: Aspirations
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Parent volunteers needed -
Year 9 and Year 11 careers days
We are looking for parent volunteers to help out at our careers days in the new year, either by talking about their work role and career path (Year 9 day) or by conducting mock interviews (Year 11 day).
Year 11 – Get Work Ready, Thursday 25 January 2024
Year 9 – Discover, Believe, Become, Thursday 8 February 2024
ELSA Next Generation, which will be running both days, is a Community Interest Company run by Jane Shipley. We have worked with Jane for many years to support students as they think about their next steps and future careers.
If you may be able to help on one or both of these days, please fill in this volunteer form and Jane will contact you directly to discuss arrangements and what your input will be on that day.
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Please note this sale is CASH ONLY.

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The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has launched The Big Ambition, a national survey of children and young people across England.
The Big Ambition aims to hear from children across England on what they think is important! In the lead up to the next General Election, The Children’s Commissioner wants to take children’s thoughts, opinions and ideas to decision-makers, to make sure that the Government hears young people’s voices on what they think needs to be done to make children’s lives better in England.
Our students will be asked to complete the survey during a tutor time ahead of the closing date, which is Friday 15 December.
The survey asks for information about the person responding, the child’s age, and what school they attend. The questions are slightly different depending on the age of the child answering, but everyone is asked what they think the Government should do to make children’s lives better.
It’s important to remember that the survey is not a test and that there are no right or wrong answers.
Everything in the survey is anonymous. If you want to find out more about the Children's Commisioner's data protection policies, please visit their information and privacy page.
If you have any questions about the survey or The Big Ambition, you can contact them using the contact form on their website.
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HGS will have a tree at the Hitchin Christmas Tree Festival again this year - please come along to see it and vote!

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NOTICEBOARD - CAREERS / HIGHER EDUCATION
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Higher and Degree Apprenticeship opportunities for the following roles in Construction / Built Environment - applications open in January 2024.
- Construction Project Management
- Design Management
- Designer
- Technical Services
- Pre-construction
- Quantity Surveying
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Next dates:
Sunday 3 December (1.30 - 7.00pm)
Suitable for Years 10 - 12
Free registration (Zoom)
These conferences offer tailored advice for medicine, covering:
- Tactically choosing universities
- Personal statements
- UCAT
- Medical interview skills
- Medical leadership programmes
- Awards programmes
- Extracurricular activities
- Work experience
- Building a CV
- Applying for scholarships
Both students and parents are encouraged to attend.
Register
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Insight to Lloyds Banking Group
·Tuesday 5 December, 5.00 - 6.00pm
·Open to all students in Y11, Y12 & Y13
·Suitable for students interested in Business, Finance, Accounting, Data Analytics, Technology, Risk, and HR
·Application link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LloydsBankingGroupCareersLive
RAF Engineering Insight Event
·Tuesday 5 December, 5.00 - 6.30pm
·Open to all students in Y11, Y12 & Y13
·Suitable for students interested in Engineering and STEM
·Application link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RAFVirtualEngineering
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Monthly virtual work experience days
for students interested in careers within the NHS
Suitable for Years 10 - 13
Next session: Sunday 3 December
This is a rolling programme with applications open throughout this academic year.
Careers covered include:
Nursing
Midwifery
Paramedicine
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Dietetics
Radiography
Prosthetics and Orthotics
Speech and Language Therapy
Pharmacy
During the work experience day, students will follow two patients from their initial presentation to recovery. They will observe healthcare professionals as they interact with the patients and each other, and will have an opportunity to ask questions.
This will help students make an informed career decision as well as learn about how healthcare professionals work together as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Each session is completely different, and students will be able to build on their knowledge of NHS careers as they see different patient cases and professionals work in a variety of settings, from the hospital to the community.
Students will also receive certificates as evidence of participation in the programme. The fee is £10 per session to cover administrative costs.
Find out more and register
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NOTICEBOARD - WELLBEING / SEND / SUPPORT
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Bereavement peer support group
Stand by Me, a local charity for children's bereavement support, will be holding weekly Peer Support Group meetings during Thursday lunchtimes (12.45 - 1.30pm) in the Conference Room starting on 23 November.
The aim is to provide a safe, supportive space for students to share their experiences and emotions with other young people who understand how it feels when someone close to them passes away, and to enable them to see that they are not alone.
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