Newsletters

HGSS Newsletter - July 2025

Dear Parent or Carer,

Welcome to our newsletter for the last half-term of the academic year 2024/5.  Right from the top, we would like to say a huge thank you to all parents and carers who have actively supported the school this year by ensuring your child(ren) is equipped and ready to learn, and having all those positive conversations about success, exemplified by over 147,000 achievement points issued.  I have enjoyed calling the parent / carer of the student who has gained the highest number of achievement points each week. 

There has been a wide array of trips and enrichment activities for students this year: from the success of our Robot club; those who collected their Gold DofE badges from Buckingham Palace; Hampton Court; Shakespeare’s Globe and many more.  Please continue to encourage your child(ren) to take up these opportunities to foster friendships, learn/develop skills and improve their CVs.

None of the above would be possible without the support of all our staff and our dedicated group of Governors who give freely of their time to support the school in moving from strength to strength.  All this effort supports our mission for students to become the best possible versions of themselves.

We wish all our Year 11 and 13 students all the best with their results and hope to see all Year 13 on 14th August and Year 11 on 21st August.

The new school year begins on Friday, 5th September 2025 for Year 7 and 12 students. All year groups will resume on Monday, 8th September 2025, with normal timetabled lessons. Students are expected to wear school uniform, with PE kits required only for PE lessons, have their phone lockers, water bottle filled and all their necessary equipment.

Updates:

Mobile phone policy – our locker system is working well as we are seeing next to no disruption in lessons/around site.  As a result, our mobile phone policy has been further strengthened here to a half-term's confiscation should a device not be off and in the locker when on site.

School uniform, jewellery and equipment – please note the link here to our school uniform, jewellery and equipment policy.

Homework Timetable – as part of our parent survey we have heard we need to make it much clearer to parents and students about what homework they should be doing each evening.  From September a clear timetable will be in place with which subjects should be completed each evening.  This timetable is set and will not vary throughout the year.  The response to the parent survey is here.

Emails - We are receiving an ever increasing number of emails.  We prioritise staff teaching, planning and marking as this has the greatest impact on student progress.  The average member of staff teaches 21 out of 25 lessons a week and responding to multiple emails and follow-up emails takes time.  Staff are therefore being asked to respond to emails within 5, not 2-3, working days (excluding weekends and holidays).

Finally, we wish everyone a wonderful summer break. We hope you enjoy quality time with your families and that all our students stay safe, returning refreshed and ready for the new school year.  I leave you with the following poem, “Summer Night” by Langston Hughes, which speaks to the warmth and tranquillity of a summer evening.

“Summer Night

Let the night be quiet

Let the moonbeams fall

Soft and gentle as the night—

Let it all be still.”

Langston Hughes

Work Hard, Be Kind, Have Passion.

Ed Hillyard 

Headteacher 

Please follow this link to the Governors' Annual Report 2024-25

https://www.hgss.co.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=1060&type=pdf

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We were thrilled to be joined by Natasha Marsh from Chiltern Music Academy who ran a Musical Theatre Workshop for our choir members, and year 9 and above music and drama students with an interest in singing. The students learnt about best posture, expression and breath control and by the end delivered a powerful vocal performance.

We thank Natasha for an inspiring event!

Mrs Rachael Whitby, Head of Music

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Students in The Bridge and The Base have been working hard on their AQA Unit Awards, showing great independence and determination. They’ve completed a range of tasks and developed valuable skills along the way. A handful of the awards completed are Fashion Design, Nazi Germany, Animal Care, Graffiti Art and Media Mash-up.  Well done to all for their commitment and focus!

Grace McShane

Head of Alternative Provision

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Goodbye

This term we say a fond farewell and wish all the very best to:

Mr Bazzano, Mrs Blundell, Mrs da Costa, Ms Edwards, Ms Gifford, Mrs Hill, Miss Newell, Mrs Parker-Grant, Mrs Rouf, Mrs Selleck, Ms Shahbazi, Miss Tempest, Miss Walford, Mrs Will

 

EXTRA CURRICULAR CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES

We run a range of additional experiences for our students to participate in, a taste of which is listed below.

If you wish to book your child onto one or more of these activities, please do so through the link to SchoolCloud:

Please visit https://holmergreensenior.parentseveningsystem.co.uk to book your extra curricular clubs.  Login with the following information:

Student’s First Name (preferred)

Student’s Surname  

Student’s Date of Birth

There are a broad range of activities on offer including:

Choir

Music Band A

Music Band B

Interventions for year 11

Stem Club

FTC Robot Club

History Society

Library/ Homework Club

Homework Club/SEN

Sports Clubs

Current Vacancies

HGSS is a wonderful place to work!  Please click here to see our latest vacancies and please do share with anyone you know who you feel may be interested.

 

HGSS Trips – Summer 2

 

It has been a busy half-term for trips and off-site events; to list a few….

Year 11 and 13 Proms, District Athletics Competition, Cambridge University Tour, Year 10 – Romeo and Juliet Theatre trip, FTC - Robot Competition and then two days in London at the Championships! Bucks Host School for Oxbridge, Brilliant Club Graduations for Years 7, 9 and 12, MFL Ambassadors meal and French Market at HGJS, School Choir events at Music on the Common and a performance at HGJS.

Whole-year group trips are always a lot of work for all included and a massive responsibility, especially for the Trip Leader, who undertakes the trips on top of an already busy schedule, and I personally would like to give a big ‘shout out’ to Emily Kinghorn, Year 8 trip to Hampton Court Palace, and Brittany Read, Year 7 trip to Thorpe Park.  Both trips were a great success and enjoyed by all, with students to be proud of.

Important information: As students’ and parents’ personal information can evolve constantly, we are not always informed to update our SIMS database. It is imperative that we have any current medical details for each trip, to safeguard all students whilst off-site.  For this reason, it is important that we obtain a Medical and Consent Form for each trip (apologies for the inconvenience). May I take this opportunity to please request that, wherever possible, parents complete payments and consent forms by the trip deadline date.  To provide some perspective, we have had to obtain 850 completed forms for this half-term alone and I would be ever so grateful for all replies to be provided promptly please. This will also reduce the number of emails that you will receive regarding a trip.

With many thanks.  May I wish you all a happy and restful summer break! 

Emma Carter

Trips Coordinator

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Traffic and Parking

Can we start by saying thank you to the huge majority of parents who do not drive down Parish Piece.  This has been very helpful in allowing students to exit more safely and to clear more quickly.  We would still encourage more students to walk, cycle, or catch the bus to build their independence. If you really do need to travel by car, please drop your child(ren) away from the school vicinity and allow them to walk. Please park safely, legally and respectfully at all times, particularly further than 10m away from any junction and not blocking the entry or exit to any bus stops. We are very keen to keep our students and other road users safe at all times.

SCHOOL UNIFORM CODE

click here

 

Please can we remind you of our School Uniform requirements. 

All information (including a link for name labels) can be found by following this link below:

School Uniform and Equipment

Attendance

Full attendance at school is really important to all students' progress; however, there may be times when a student is unable to attend, e.g. due to illness. If your child is unable to attend school, please email attendance@holmer.org.uk or call the Attendance line (01494 719901) and leave a message. 

PARENTS' ASSOCIATION

Our Parents' Association works hard to raise funds for your children in school and to promote the school in the local community.

Please support them where possible and if you wish to become involved with the team, please contact office@holmer.org.uk

More information is available on the website:

Parents' Association

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS ILL OR HAS MEDICAL NEEDS

The school has Medical and Attendance Officers.  They are available during school hours to discuss matters relating to the health of your child.   It is essential that you notify them of any health problems that your child may have (e.g. medical details, particular problems or needs).  We can store spare EpiPen’s and diabetes monitors or any necessary prescribed medication.

If your child is taken ill or is involved in an accident during the day, he or she will be looked after in the Medical Room until we can contact a parent or carer.  Students should tell their teacher or report to the Medical Room if they feel unwell and not make direct contact with you by mobile phone.

Please note that the medical room now has a separate phone number - 01494 719923.

If your child needs to take medication during the day, it should be clearly labelled with the child’s name and passed to the Medical Officer with a letter from the parent or carer.

LATE ARRIVAL AND ABSENCE

The school gates lock at 8:50am, so students must be on site by this time. Students should be at line up no later than 8:50am. If your child arrives after 8:50am they will be marked as late, and a sanction will be set.

If they arrive after 9:15am, they will be marked as an Unauthorised absence as student arrived after registration has closed. There will also be a sanction for this

Email the Attendance Officer if your child is absent or late

attendance@holmer.org.uk

When you know in advance that your son or daughter will have to miss school for any reason, we ask that you inform us in writing beforehand with at least 48 hours notice, if possible. However, we reiterate that it is important for your child to attend all lessons, every day.

If your child needs to attend an appointment, please try to arrange these in the school holidays or after school. When absence is due to illness, we ask that you contact Attendance as soon as possible on 01494 719901 or email attendance@holmer.org.uk.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS OR MEDICAL REASONS WILL BE RECORDED AS ABSENCE ALTHOUGH IT WILL BE AUTHORISED. Further information on attendance and medical concerns can be found here: Attendance

AUTHORISED AND UNAUTHORISED ABSENCE- Failure to notify the school of an absence will result in your child’s absence being classed as unauthorised which may result in the school referring to the Education Welfare Service. Only absences perceived by the school to be genuine will be classed as authorised. Holidays during term time will not be authorised. We will authorise one day for Eid celebrations.

At Holmer Green Senior School we expect an attendance of 96% or more for all students—Every Day Matters.

 

 

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FREE PORRIDGE AVAILABLE FOR ALL STUDENTS

IN THE DINING HALL EVERY MORNING FROM 8.15AM TO 8.45AM

Parents' Association

Please visit our Parents' Association page on the link below for information on how you can support the school.  Thank you

Parents' Association