Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends,
With the final week of this half term almost coming to a close, the events and activities at The Holt are still in full swing.
Our Year 10 and 11 drama students had a theatre company called Paper Birds deliver a workshop in verbatim theatre. They are a company who focus on taking complex subjects and making them accessible to audiences through performance.
Lily in 11S gave us a write up about the day:
“Now what is verbatim theatre? Paper Birds taught us that verbatim is taking individuals words and putting them into practice, this can be done in three different ways for three different effects. One approach to verbatim is when the interviewees’ exact emotions and mannerisms are taken without changing them. This is extreme naturalism which is used to preserve an individual’s dignity and to treat their issue with respect, so there is no risk of an actor distorting the words into something ignorant or offensive. This effect is useful when dealing with a topic that perhaps nobody within a cast has dealt with before. It helps to provide authenticity.
“Paper Birds gave us a fantastic and eye-opening performance of their original piece called ‘Broke’. It weaves in many characters with stories detailing those who are struggling financially and covers different topics surrounding poverty.
The workshop was fantastic and it was a pleasure to be a part of!”
Thank you to Miss Edwards and Mrs Bennett for organising the workshop.
There were also some ‘hair raising’ events in the science department this week, as physics ran their KS3 masterclass – ‘physics practical work beyond GCSE’. Some of the activities included:
• Using a Van de Graff generator to create static electricity
• Using a Rubens’ tube which uses pressure to make sound visible through fire
• Using a super capacitor to generate charge to create sparks
Thank you to Dr Lewis and Ms Kostaki for running an action packed session!
The masterclasses allow students to take part in activities which are outside of the curriculum and are open for everyone in Year 7, 8 and 9 to attend. Teachers are regularly advertising these masterclasses, and they are a great way for the students to stretch themselves in subjects in which they take a particular interest.
The following masterclasses are running next half term, so please do encourage your children to sign up:
| Drama | Practicioners in Drama Yr 7 | Wednesday 16th March |
| Maths | Enrichment Week | W/B 14th March |
| Technology | Free Machine Embroidery | Tuesday 15th March |
And finally, our Year 12 Diversity Forum have been running assemblies this week all about equality. The Diversity forum work to promote equality in our school community. Their assemblies this week to all year groups have focused on practical tips and strategies of we can embrace diversity. These ranged from how to learn more about other cultures in a respectful way, to supporting those who may face discrimination in their lives. They also talked about the Equality Act and the different protected characteristics that people may hold in society. There were some really important messages from the forum, so thank you to Sabah, Nia, Ananya, Aayushi and Michaella!
With a view to next half term, we are wishing all our Year 13 students the best of luck in their PPE exams. And also a reminder that tickets are on sale for our school production Bugsy Malone. Tickets are available to buy through this link https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/the-holt-school and there are performances on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of March at 7pm with doors opening at 6:30pm. We hope to see you all there!
From everyone at The Holt, we are wishing you all a restful half term break.
Emma Ward
Assistant Headteacher
Head of Sixth Form