Y7 - 11 Weekly Newsletter | Autumn Term, Week 7 | Date: 21 October 2022
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If you have symptoms of Covid-19 or you have tested positive for Covid-19, you should stay at home and avoid contact with other people.
Symptoms of Covid-19 can include:
- a high temperature or shivering
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
- shortness of breath
- feeling tired or exhausted
- an aching body
- a headache
- a sore throat
- a blocked or runny nose
- loss of appetite
- diarrhoea
- feeling sick or being sick
Students under 18 years old who test positive or have symptoms should stay at home for 3 full days. The day you first have symptoms or have a positive test result is Day 0. You may return to school on Day 4 provided you do not have a temperature and feel well enough.
Full government guidance is available here.
We will continue to support the personal choice of students and staff in wearing a face covering. We will also continue to ensure good levels of hygiene and ventilation for everyone here at school, and will maintain appropriate cleaning regimes.
If you have questions regarding official guidance please call 119 for visit the NHS website.
If a student is unwell, regardless of whether Covid-19 is suspected, they should stay away from school and the absence should be reported via our online absence form.
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 **
Monday: PASTA CHEESE PARCELS (v), VEGETABLE KORMA (v), CHEESE & ONION PASTIES (v), CHOCOLATE CRUNCH (free from eggs, milk)
Tuesday: CHICKEN & NOODLES IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE, QUORN HOTPOT (v), CHEESE QUICHE (v), APPLE & RED CHERRY CRUMBLE
Wednesday: TUNA PASTA BAKE, CAULIFLOWER CHEESE (v), CHEESEBURGERS, DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP SPONGE
Thursday: CHICKEN & MUSHROOM PIE, POTATO MARGARITE (v), CHEESEY BEAN YORKSHIRES (v) JAM SPONGE
Friday: BEEF CHILLI (gf), MACARONI CHEESE (v), BATTERED FISH, GOLDEN KRISPIE (free from eggs)
(v) = Vegetarian (gf) = Gluten Free
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SCHOOL NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Half-term next week: Mon 24 - Fri 28 October
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Message from the Headteacher
Good afternoon,
Welcome to the last newsletter of this half-term - and what a great one it has been with much to celebrate and enjoy.
This week has seen our Business students take part in the Garden House Hospice Dragons Challenge Event, while yesterday a group of Year 9 Classicists visited the Verulamium Museum in St Albans. We have also had our second round of House assemblies led by our Heads of House - the competition between the Houses is most certainly heating up.
Congratulations to Isabel Plunkett and Rose Meenan who met with me on Wednesday to receive their Headteacher Awards - I shared an excerpt from Isabel's work last week and Rose produced an amazing composition in music this term. Well done to you both.
I wish you all a restful and enjoyable half-term break.
James Crowther
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Supermarket vouchers for half-term
for children entitled to FSM
Every child in Hertfordshire who is entitled to benefit-related Free School Meals will receive a digital supermarket voucher worth £15 for use during October half-term.
Please look out for the e-voucher from Edenred.
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Year 9 Ancient Civilisations & Latin
On Thursday our students explored Roman Verulamium (St Albans), enjoying a hands-on experience of life in Roman Britain at the Verulamium Museum, dressing as Romans and Celts and handling 2,000-year-old objects.
We also visited the splendid mosaic, the Roman city walls and the fabulous Roman theatre in the surrounding archaeological park.
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GCSE History
Students were given the task of thinking about the structure and function of the Berlin Wall through building models out of biscuits. There were some impressive confectionery constructions that defied gravity!
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Year 7 House icon art
As part of their Induction Week, our Year 7 students produced portraits of their House icons, resulting in some wonderful unique representations of Austen, Bronte, Curie, Frank, Jewel, Pankhurst, Rosa and Teresa.
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Library news
Book Buzz
Every year we team up with the charity Book Trust to give each Year 7 student a free book to keep as part of the Book Buzz scheme. There were 17 different titles to choose from this year, including adventure stories, sci-fi, graphic novels and non-fiction. Students learned about the books and watched videos by the authors before making their choice. Our Deputy Head Mr Jones made a guest appearance to hand them out to an excited 7B last week!
All 17 titles are also available to borrow from the school Library. We hope the students enjoy reading their new books over half-term.
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Careers Guidance & Education
Take a look at our Autumn 2022 Careers Newsletter, which outlines all the help and resources available to our students, as well as our team of Careers staff and upcoming events.
We are fortunate at HGS to have independent impartial Careers Advisers, offering interviews particularly to Years 11 and 12. They also welcome other students to drop in at lunchtime. They are currently prioritising Year 11s, so please do encourage your child to consider what they would like to discuss in the time available to them.
Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to help us at the forthcoming HGS Careers Fair - this is the first in- person event we have run since Covid and we are really excited that our students will be able to hear from local and national employers.
See our Careers Guidence & Education webpage and newsletter
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Jeans for Genes Day - thanks for your donations!
We raised £1583.75 for Jeans for Genes last week - a big thank you to all who contributed and especially to the cake makers in Year 7. We sold out before the end of breaktime and took over £250!
Those who still have cake containers in room S40 - please collect them as soon as possible as the space is needed for lessons. Thanks so much everyone!
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NOTICEBOARD - HOLIDAY PROVISION
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NOTICEBOARD - EDUCATION / CAREERS
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Digdata are thrilled to announce their upcoming live virtual work experience and live online career panels for the Autumn term with Experian and Lloyds Banking Group.
Sessions are aimed at First Step (KS3) students and Next Step (KS4 & 5) students.
Wednesday 2 November, 5.00 - Lloyds Banking Group "Next Step" live online career challenge - Can you assess our customers’ financial situation and make some recommendations on how different groups of customers should approach their upcoming purchases?
Thursday 3 November, 6.30 - Lloyds Banking Group live online career panel - We invite students, parents, teachers and career leaders to discover more about their career opportunities in data!
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About Skills Gap
Skills Gap is a career accelerator that runs insightful workshops for young people aged 15-19 – because it’s never too soon to think about building your skills for a competitive edge in your future studies and career.
We're offering a range of intensive workshops this autumn, all designed specifically for 15-19 year olds and delivered to small groups by experienced industry experts:
Coding for Game Design
Saturday 22 October
With one third of the world’s population already estimated to be gamers, the gaming industry offers one of the hottest career tickets today. Our online workshop gives you a unique insight into the latest trends from multiplayer games to game streaming. Led by Josh Hills, a programmer on some of the world’s largest multi-player games, including Runescape and Horizon, you’ll get first-hand experience of developing and enhancing a physics-based game prototype and discover the skills you’ll need to succeed.
AI in Engineering
Saturday 5 November
Finding new and optimal ways of doing things is at the very core of engineering. Which makes it the perfect partner for AI and machine learning, from smart production lines to image processing technology that allows machines to see. Our online workshop is led by civil engineer and data scientist, Johan Hagstrom, who will introduce you to key AI algorithms and trends. You’ll also get hands-on experience with Python, being guided through a computer vision algorithm that can detect cars on the road – a peek into the world of self-driving vehicles.
AI in Finance
Saturday 12 November
The world of finance has been an early adopter of machine learning, from fraud detection to finance chat bots, yet it’s still just touching the surface of AI’s potential. Our workshop is led by Chelsea Murray, a data scientist at ING with a Masters in Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence from University of Cambridge. Chelsea will introduce you to the vast range of financial AI applications and give you practical experience training a machine learning algorithm to predict credit card fraud.
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NHS Allied Healthcare Work Experience
For students interested in
- Nursing
- Midwifery
- Paramedicine
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Dietetics
- Radiography
- Prosthetics and Orthotics
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Pharmacy
Applications are now open and will remain open throughout this academic year, with the first programme taking place on 2 October.
During the work experience day, students will follow two patients from their initial presentation to recovery. Students will observe the healthcare professionals as they interact with the patients and with each other. They will have an opportunity to ask questions and gain knowledge through teaching.
This will help students to make an informed decision about their career and give them the opportunity to learn how healthcare professionals work together as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Each work experience day is completely different and students will be able to build up their knowledge of NHS careers as they see different patient cases and healthcare professionals work in a variety of settings, such as in a hospital and in the community.
Students will also receive certificates as evidence of participation. Those who complete the entire five-month programme will be awarded a Highly Commended Reference from the Presidents of Medic Mentor.
Places are £10 a day to cover administrative costs and run the tech on the day.
Find out more and register
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NOTICEBOARD - WELLBEING / SEND / SUPPORT
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