Here are the stories from Henley-in-Arden School and the local area for the week of March 16th 2015

HIAS launches new digital revision system. 
Year 11 students have been invited to sign up for an innovative and beneficial revision scheme. GCSEPod 2.0 is a website and mobile app which caters for students revising for their exams, using 'podcast' clips it enables pupils to listen to material which they will need to learn for their GCSE's in May and June.

Solar Eclipse - March 20th 2015
On Friday there will be a 'solar eclipse' between 8:00 and 10:00am. Students are reminded not to look directly at the sun during this period. Students in science lessons have the opportunity to see the eclipse through special viewing goggles. For more information visit https://britastro.org/eclipsesafety.

Waste disposal in the River Alne
Students who enter the site through The Hub skate park may have noticed in recent weeks that there has been a surge in items being disposed of by the bridge. Items discovered include a statue of a cat, broken television and a badly damaged toddlers bike. 24-Hour cameras are now in operation to guarantee the conservation and safety of the river is maintained.

BRITISH RIDING CLUB QUALIFIER
WELL DONE to our Forest of Arden Riding team in the novice show jumping. The team won the competition and now go to the Winter National Finals at Hartpury College on weekend of 4th April.
The team is Victoria Walters, Bizza Walters and Emily Bridgwater.

PE Kits go up in price...
PE Kit from supplier Sportswear International will go up in price on April 1st 2015 students who are looking to immediately replace kit are advised to take the advantage of the cheaper pricing before March 30th.

And finally...
Students and teachers have said a fond farewell to Mr Oram who has been with us since October on a temporary arrangement. His service to the school has been greatly appreciated and HIAS wishes him the best luck for the future.

The next news update is on March 26th.

Year 11's take part in annual Student Conference

On Thursday January 15th 2014, Year 11 pupils took part in the annual Student Conference where they received their mock exam based projection grades and were made to fill in yellow books which will assist them with their post 16 journey.

The conference was began in high spirits as students received their letter containing their projected grades which told them how they would perform in their final examinations based on current attitudes to learning, coursework and mock exam results. Some students were pleased with their results and were clearly happy and this was easily noticed in the ecstatic atmosphere. Soon the conference began and students took part in a two hour session which discussed revision classes, attendance, grades and applications. Following this students were asked to meet with a member of staff who over the next week will talk to students about progress and queries for the future.

In Mr Irvine's assembly this afternoon the theme continued about moving on from HIAS. Discussing the brain and the phrase 'I know I am going to under achieve'. Mr Irvine discussed the affect of telling yourself you were going to under achieve and used a box as an example. Students were randomly selected to wear the box on their heads before being asked whether it felt like they had a block from achieving what they wanted to. Participants agreed and the motto was that as students you should aim to always do well in your subjects and the key to this is to revise and work hard as their still is time to change the results they will receive in August.

If you are a Year 11 student who is stuck with your options after HIAS, you can seek advice and guidance from Mr Taylor, your form tutor and head of year Mr Willard. Alternatively you can use the UCAS progress website at http://www.ucas.com/progress.

All Year 11's will have an interview with a teacher at some point this week. If you are unsure about your time or you do not know then ask your form tutor. You will also be taking part in individual progress checks over the next few months with your yellow booklet and form tutor. The information for these timings will be told to you in due course.

History is made by Year 11 student's new club!

A Year 11 Student has made history, quite literally, as she has launched a new history club for Year Seven, Eight and Nine. The student, Abigail Fowler, was appointed in September by senior staff to create a greater history presence in school. She is celebrating as the club is approaches the one month mark since it’s launch. Head of history, Miss Laszcz, told me that the club has benefitted the students currently taking part and that she is proud of Abigail for establishing a greater history presence at Henley School.

Abigail Fowler spoke to me and answered a few questions about the club.
1) In your opinion, was there a history society or club when it came to extra curricular activity in history before your appointment?
Before I started the history club there wasn't anything but the normal lessons to further pupils learning. It was key for me to change this. I knew that there were quite a few year sevens interested in history and so I wanted to engage with them and use this passion practically.

2) How did you get the position of Senior Prefect with History Responsibility?
Well it was quite simple I put my name down for the role when the check list came round, I have always loved humanities so any of the options would have made me happy and then they appointed me as the senior prefect of history and I was pleasantly surprised.

3) After the appointment did you have any ideas of how you were going to use the job to change the presence of history in school?
I wanted to really focus in on the Year Sevens due to the weak club atmosphere in the school so I wanted to bring the year sevens together whilst learning to maybe make new friends and learn more.

4) What planning went in to the launch?
I made leaflets to be handed out in registers and I told the history teachers to tell the pupils when it was and who was running it. I talked to the head of history and agreed what topics were best and what lessons we wanted to teach them.

5) What have/will students be studying?
The students have been through the Black Plague, World War Two and are currently working on the Aztecs. I plan to do the Great Fire of London and the Slave Trade. These topics are covered throughout Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. I hope the extra activities benefit the students learning.

6) What feedback have you had?
I've had positive feedback from the pupils who attend. One of the students, Rhys, likes it because he loves history and Sam comes along because she likes learning in different ways such as watching videos about the events and creative tasks I’ve organised.

7) Do you have plans to run anything else? Revision Classes? Trips?
I do want to organise a trip with the students. I also would like to carry on the club for as long as possible as far as any other clubs go, I don't think I will run any others because of school work.

8) Has it helped your learning in History?
Yes it's recapped my knowledge of history, and enhanced my learning by seeing what younger people interpret of the events.

The club is open every Tuesday lunchtime in Room F. Abigail’s passion for the project has led her to be praised by all of her fellow peers and is certainly setting a precedent for the role’s successors when they succeed her next May.

A new year and a new look Henley Live...

Students returned to school on Wednesday September 3rd 2014 and were presented with a series of school changes whether it be the new staff or classroom redecoration. But those were not all the changes that will affect students this year. 

In September 2014 Henley Live launches with the aim to connect students with various current affairs being it school news, local news or world news. However Henley Live is not just a webpage, it is a newsletter (under the name of Portfolio) which is released at the end of every half term (more about this in other articles in the future), articles on this webpage and a weekly podcast show which will be on this website.

As part of these changes a new logo is being introduced (image below) which will unite all these methods of news under one brand and will be a symbol that you will hopefully recognise as being a place where you can access news.

Henley Live logo March 2014 - September 2014

Henley Live logo September 2014 - current

Welcome to Henley Live

Hello and welcome to Henley Live, the brand new news service for Henley-in-Arden School. From the start of the September Henley Live will be providing news that will interest you. We'll be reaching you through a number of ways, for example: the blog page, the new weekly podcast and the termly Portfolio newsletter. However Henley Live is not completely about inter school news; we will be talking and writing about the things which will affect you from around the UK and the World.

If you would like more information about Henley Live or you have a suggestion for an article, column or something we should talk about on our podcast, you can write suggestions down on a piece of paper and leave it on Mr Chapman's desk in CO with your name and form and we will try and include your suggestions so that we can provide the best news service for our school.