Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
What a busy last two weeks of half term……..
Last week was biology week, which at The Holt means one thing………. dissections…….once again huge numbers of students came to watch as the biology staff dissected a variety of creatures on Friday. This was definitely not for the faint hearted and you may want to avert your eyes from the pictures coming up if you are remotely squeamish!
Friday’s dissections followed a whole week of special events. Mrs Whitehouse, Head of biology gave the following account:
Biology week this year has focused on the innovations in biology that will help us to support all life on Earth, now and in the decades to come. The science prefects presented on an innovative research topic that inspires them, this ranged from using silk to create artificial blood vessels to using plants as data storage, and from a gecko’s sixth sense to bioengineering vaccine patches and the reproduction of stingrays. To conclude biology week, the KS3 masterclass ran at lunchtime on Friday in the form of the annual dissection day. The biology department dissected a rat, frog, pig, turtle and heart for any students from year 7-9 to attend. The sessions were really well attended and there was a real curiosity shown by the students about the anatomy and physiology of these organisms, with some great questions. They were able to gain a real insight into the dissection techniques used in the upper school and hopefully we managed to inspire a few future biologists.
Thank you to the science prefects for all of their hard work in preparing and presenting the assemblies and to the Miss Hayes, Mrs Izod-Martin, Mr Thrower and Mr Mirams for giving up their time to carry out a dissection.
And thank you Mrs Whitehouse for masterminding the whole week
Our Year 12 and 13 artists were treated to a day out in London last week. The day was led by Ms Schotting and she gave the following report:
We went to visit the Francis Bacon ‘Human Presence’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and then upstairs to the ‘Portrait Gallery Award’. We all had an opportunity to vote for the viewer’s choice.
We then walked back via Trafalgar Square along the Thames to photograph the Houses of Parliament, then to the London Eye. Our final stopping point was Leake Street Arches under Waterloo station filled with exciting street art and paste up art.
The students all photographed architectural features along the way. It was great to see the comparisons between the hyper realistic paintings in the Portrait award, then the gut wrenching emotional portrait paintings of Francis Bacon and then to see how street artists used spray paints to create portraits. We even all got the opportunity to join in and leave our marks in the tunnel ourselves. A thoroughly enjoyable day for all made even better by the sun shining for us throughout.
Thank you to Mrs Schotting for organising this trip and also to Mrs Skeates and Ms Cartmell-Webb for accompanying the students.
Below are some pictures……
Whilst the “legal” graffiti here looked amazing, I would say I am against graffiti popping up randomly….especially across the school. Luckily, we don’t have much, however, these pictures did remind me of some found a few years back in the music toilets……it made me smile then and it does now as well! I don’t know who wrote this, but if you recognise the handwriting …………!
Mrs Hart, our careers manager also took a trip out last week . This was a career in the Aerospace, Defence & Space Industries event that took place at Farnborough International Centre for some Year 11 and 6th form students.
Mrs Hart gave the following report:
We were the largest group of students at the conference which showed that all were keen to finding out more about the Space Industry.
Thank you to the members of staff who accompanied the students to the morning session.
The programme of talks by industry and careers professionals were inspiring, learning more about their career opportunities to date.
The speakers:
- An overview of the Aerospace, Defence and Space Industries
Adam Orme, Trinity Space Technologies
- The importance of Physics in developing your skills for the workplace!
Jess Hamer, Institute of Physics
- What does a career in Defence look like?
Wing Commander Dave Black, UK Space Command
After the conference there was time to interact with a small number of companies based in the South and South-East.
Some of the stalls were interactive which was great.
The event offered great opportunities for students to speak with the professionals and universities regarding routes into the Space Industry.
Whether they were thinking of aerospace engineering, marketing or business. There was something for all.
Even I managed to network during the event. Never to miss an opportunity!
Thank you to Mrs Hart for organising another great STEM event.
Below are some pictures.
The history department also led a trip last week for our Year 13 to the National Archives in London and the Tower of London. The students were lucky enough to handle 500-year-old documents, including King Henry VIII’s will and a letter written by Elizabeth to delay her half sister Mary sending her to the tower.
Our historians had a fantastic day and thank you to Miss Howard for organising it.
Our last big event of last week was the #Wearitpink Fun Run organised by Mrs Bolton and the PE dept. All money raised is going to the charity Breast Cancer Now, which is a research and support charity for people and their families going through breast cancer diagnosis as well as to fund research to help prevent breast cancer.
In all, 480 students from Years 7 to 13 took part, and Mrs Bolton was overwhelmed by the number of girls who made the effort to dress up and walk or run with their friends and the huge £2650 that was raised. The afternoon began with Breast Cancer Now tattoos being printed onto happy and smiling faces and lots of pink fancy dress and accessories being worn. Fancy dress prizes were awarded to Nancy, Erin and Chloe, Sophie and Ayla, Evie and Elsa, Ella and Kayla. Thank you to Year 7 who decorated flags to make bunting for the finish line and to Mila who gave a heartfelt speech on her family’s experiences of the disease. A highlight of the afternoon was when a huge crowd cheered Year 10 Nancy over the finishing line in her pink whale costume!
Mrs Bolton said
I am so grateful to everyone for their support, and for the effort from The Holt community to help make this event a success. I am running the London Marathon next year for Breast Cancer Now which is a cause incredibly close to my heart and I am determined to contribute to a future where fewer people have to face this battle. I am so grateful for all of the money and generous sponsorship- thank you!
Let the training commence!
Here are some pictures of the fancy dress, and hopefully you get a feel for the atmosphere.
This is what a sports hall full of passionate, pink performers looked like! As you can see, the atmosphere was electric and very special
Well done to all our runners and special thanks to Mrs Bolton and Mrs Ebden and their PE team for organising such a powerful and important event.
Finally, on to this week……what a lovely way to end our first half term of this academic year! Yesterday, The Holt Association ran their doughnut sale raising about £350 for The Friends of The Holt. This money comes directly to the school to buy lots of extras for our students. We are very grateful to this dedicated team and you too for buying the doughnuts! Thank you!
Also yesterday, we had the Year 7 singing concert, which was lovely. Over 200 of our Year 7 students performed a medley of numbers from musicals along with some solos to their parents, families and staff in a concert organised by our talented music department, Mr Gray and Mrs Crozier.
Thank you very much to both of you and well done Year 7.
So that’s it- the first half term is done! It was a long one for sure…….but the others are all a bit shorter at least!
Have a great half term holiday and we will see you all again on Monday 4th November!
Katie Pearce
Co-Headteacher