During the first four days of the October half-term, 46 Year 10 students embarked on a WW1 Battlefields tour, visiting sites on the Somme in France and the Ypres Salient area of Belgium.

Day one saw a super early start with a departure time of 4.30 am from The Henry Beaufort School. After crossing the Channel, we ventured to Lijssenthoek Military Hospital Cemetery. As we walked through the gates, our students were struck by the enormity of where they were and what they were seeing. Approximately 10,000 men are buried here and one woman, Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler. Not only is Nellie the only woman buried here, she is one of only two women to have died as a result of the fighting in the Ypres Sailient during WW1. From here, we visited the death cells and execution pole at Popperinghe where many deserters were shot at dawn. Here we heard the story of Private John Bennett, from the Hampshire Regiment, who was executed for cowardice despite clearly suffering from shell shock. Our last stop of the day before retiring to our accommodation was the Essex Farm Cemetery. Once a casualty clearing station and the inspiration behind John McRae’s famous ‘In Flanders Fields’ poem, now home to 1,200 soldiers. One of these is Valentine Strudwick. At the same age as many of the students on the trip, Valentine lied about his age to fight for King and Country and died in action at the age of 15.

Day two began with a stark reminder of the loss suffered as we ventured through the gates of Tyne Cot. With 12,000 neat, white headstones on the once battlefield and the names of 34,000 missing soldiers inscribed on the walls; Tyne Cot is the largest British and Commonwealth Military Cemetery in the world. Each row is decorated with flowers from the soldiers' home country, giving a quaint English country garden feel. From here we visited one of four German cemeteries in the Ypres Sailent, Langemark. Far from the country garden feel of Tyne Cot, Langemark was one of our most shocking stops. Not only is the cemetery dark and bare, but it is home to 40,000 German soldiers with 25,000 of them being buried in a mass grave. Unlike the British cemeteries, the Germans who were lucky enough not to be in the mass gave still had to share their plot with seven others.

After lunch, we visited the Passchendale Memorial Museum and Sanctuary Wood, where we were able to walk in the original British trenches. From there, we went back to the hotel for a game of football before an early dinner. We spent the evening at the incredibly emotional Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate, which is a memorial to 54,000 missing soldiers in the Ypres Sailent. During the ceremony, two of our students laid a poppy wreath on behalf of staff and students at The Henry Beaufort School.

Sunday was another early start as we drove to France to visit Vimy Ridge, Thiepval and the Lochnagar Crater. At Vimy Ridge we went deep underground on a guided tour of the tunnels used by the Canadians, French and British as they fought the Germans here to gain control of the ridge. After lunch, we visited Thiepval, the largest memorial to the missing in The Somme with the names of 74,000 soldiers commemorated here. Our final stop of the day was Lochnagar Crater – the largest crater made by man in anger at 30 metres deep and 100 metres wide. Now a memorial for those who died there, it is dedicated to Peace, Fellowship and Reconciliation.

Throughout the trip, the students were superb and their polite and respectful behaviour was commented on by members of the public on five separate occasions! They were both a credit to themselves and to the school – well done to all those that attended!

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.