The Winchester Mental Health Support Team came in to give our new Year 8 and 9 Wellbeing Ambassadors some training and explore ideas about their role in school. Our Wellbeing Ambassadors' role is to be non-judgemental, to be knowledgeable about signs and symptoms of poor mental health, to support and signpost other students to mental health organisations or safeguarding staff, to destigmatise Mental Health by presenting on important topics such as World Mental Health Day in tutor and assemblies and to be positive role models.

On Friday, 13^th September, the Sports Hall was transformed into a Freshers’ Fair, featuring over 40 stalls. This event was designed to showcase the wide array of clubs and after-school activities available to all students.

Enthusiastic existing club members were on hand to explain their clubs and sign up new members. Now that we have completed the first week of extra-curricular clubs, we are hopeful that every student has attended at least one club. It is not too late to join a club – please feel free to attend and turn up on the night.

There have been some additions to the extra-curricular timetable since it was initially published, so please have a look at the updated version. 

https://www.beaufort.hants.sch.uk/extra-curricular

On Tuesday 2^nd July we had our Music Department Summer Concert at Henry Beaufort, and what a wonderful evening it was! The concert got off to a fabulous start with a very entertaining performance of The Acrobat by J. A Greenwood performed by David on Trombone and accompanied by Bernice on Piano. The audience were then treated to a very dramatic and aptly humorous rendition of Meet The Plastics from Mean Girls the Musical performed by Maddie, Caitlin, Lucas & Isabella. We also had a range of fantastic solos from some of our very brave and accomplished “rising stars”, including Primrose on Trumpet, Harry on Saxophone, Riley and Julia on vocals, Bernice on piano and Freya on flute. These performances ranged from classical to jazz, to rock and pop, and the standard was extremely high in every single one. Year 10 students Roseanna & Lucy sang a beautiful duet, Vienna, by Billy Joel, and Year 8 students Henry & Megan showcased their strong stylish voices in Tears Dry on Their Own by Amy Winehouse. A newly formed rock band starring Amelia, Teddy, Henri & David performed a lovely version of Have you Ever Seen the Rain by Creedance Clearwater Revival, and Mrs Seddon’s Woodwind ensemble played a toe-tapping version of The Pink Panther. We were delighted to welcome the Resonate Choir to the stage to perform Rumour Has It by Adele, and Read All About It by Emeli Sande. With over 50 members in the choir, they really made a beautiful, strong and expressive sound. It has become a custom for our concerts to end with our fabulous Jazz Band. And they did not disappoint! They wowed our audience with their very professional and highly polished performances of Chameleon by Herbie Hancock, The Bump by The Haggis Horns and Cold Duck Time by Eddie Harris. Each piece was played with fantastic energy and pazazz! We are so very proud of all the students who took part – their incredible talent, their confidence and their support for each other really shone through.

Mrs Saunders and Mrs Seddon

Photo of Jazz Band (from Left to right) Ellis, David, William, Matthew, Tim, Harry, Jacob, Louis, and Harper.

n June, the Resource Base team took our deaf and/or hard of hearing students along to a ‘Deaf Role Model’ day organised by the Specialist Teacher Advisory Service (STAS) for Hampshire. This event was hosted at a primary school with a Resource Base for deaf children and was attended by children from similar primary and secondary settings.

Our students had the opportunity to meet different deaf role models so they could learn about them and their specific job roles, their interests, and experiences growing up. Throughout the day, students mixed with peers from all settings as they met each individual role model. These included a deaf DJ, a hairdresser, a sailor and a tennis player. Interpreters supported some of the deaf role models as they shared their individual journey to their chosen job role and demonstrated their talent. Their resilience and determination to succeed, empowered our students as each demonstration reminded them that anything is possible.

Highlights of the event were our students demonstrating their talent as they practised tennis skills and stepping into the shoes of a DJ; experiencing a ‘WOOJER’ vest that enabled the vibrations of the music beat to be felt as the tunes played - each one of our students was literally ‘blown away’. The sailors demonstrated various knots and our students learnt how to tie a ‘sailors knot’. They also looked at maps to determine how to get from one destination to another. As they watched a hairdressing demonstration with the deaf role model talking about their own secondary school and college experience, this encouraged the students to think about the type of job they might like to do one day and sparked conversation around goals, dreams and aspirations for the future.  

To finish the day, the deaf DJ Jeffo played the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ whilst all the students (and adults) joined in!

On the way back to school, our students were buzzing with excitement as they recalled the best parts of their day. One student summed the day up perfectly: ‘best day ever!’

On Thursday 20^th June it was a pleasure to host 25 Year 5 students from Weeke, Harestock, Itchen Abbas, Michledever and Kings Worthy.

The students were nominated by their Primary School to take part as they had been identified as being Gifted and Talented – either academically or in a particular field.

The students were given the opportunity to take part in lessons to get an insight into what secondary school life is like.

The day started with a tour. Then they went off to lessons. These lessons were designed to give students new and exciting opportunities that they may not have experienced before and really challenge them to be ambitious in their learning.

First up was learning how to decipher codes with some crypto challenges. They then investigated a cold case in history, learnt the art of African drumming, learnt some Mandarin and played some competitive games of badminton!

It was a busy day, and it was a joy to welcome these students to the site.

A big thank you to Taleya, Evelynn, Dominic and Douglas (Year 10) who did an incredible job in helping the students.

The Brittanica Encyclopaedia defines the study of Humanities as “those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture with analytic and critical methods of enquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself”. At The Henry Beaufort, our three Humanities subjects - History, Religious Education and Geography seek to do just that – with a breadth in our curriculums which challenges our students to truly reflect, considering different perspectives and ideas.

We seek to make our lessons and home learning as engaging as possible – in Geography, some recent project style home learning entitled “Biome in a Box” – students were challenged to recreate one of the Earth’s large ecosystems in a box – including plants, animals and, in some cases, the climate! The engagement level on this project was truly fantastic – you can see some examples below:

 A recent History in class project saw students presenting on the Black Death, during their Medicine topic. As you can see the quality of their presentation materials was truly exceptional.

Cultural Capital is truly crucial to a well-rounded Humanities curriculum and we are always seeking to develop the extra-curricular opportunities in our department – from a fantastic Environmental Club, to visits to a Gurdwara and Mosque, from our Geography fieldwork opportunities to our current project – a truly thought-provoking cross-curricular Cultural Capital day for Year 8s in June.