Test Valley School tell us about the great things that they have been doing this week .
“We had a successful launch of our Test valley to Tokyo Challenge. The aim is for members of our school community at Test Valley to run, walk, swim or cycle the 9659km from Stockbridge to Tokyo in time for the start of the opening ceremony of the re-arranged Olympic Games on 23 July. The school is doing this to raise money for Helpful Hounds this is the fantastic charity that has provided us with our wellbeing dog Hope (pictures attached). Helpful hounds is a charity that purchases, trains and places assistance and therapy dogs with schools and families. Since Hope joined Test Valley School she has been making a huge impact on pupils and adults. We are keen to repay the charity’s investment in us in order for them to continue to provide training for hope and to provide other assistance and therapy dogs for those who need them. During half term, pupils and staff ran, walked or cycled a total of 1436km towards our 9659km target – this was amazing start. In addition we have raised £390 towards our target of £500. If anyone would like to donate to this wonderful charity our JustGiving page is Andrew Page is fundraising for Helpful Hounds Assistance Dogs (justgiving.com)
We have been holding weekly wellbeing hours this term. Friday the 5th February was the first one and staff and pupils were encouraged to get out and do something away from their screens. Pupils rode their bikes, went on dog walks, played boardgames and made homemade pizzas. Staff went for runs, did some DIY and played the ukulele. The following week a whole the lesson 4 and Thursday was the wellbeing session with activities put on for our in school pupils including our Year 11’s who did a dance session. This week wellbeing hour is Thursday lesson 5 and we look forward to hearing about all the things pupils have done in their hour.
In order to start to build the skills of our year 7s, we have started to develop a relationship with the charity Stormbreak. Their strapline is “When the storm rages we teach children to find shelter, create light, calm and change through movement.’ Stormbreak is a charity that aids personal development of young people through the medium of movement. Their core values centre on the development of resilience, self-worth, relationships, self-care and hope and optimism. In preparation for returning to school our year 7 took part in a Stormbreak session during their tutor time today, Year 7 pupils will also have an online assembly next week to further cover how we can support their return to school both academically and emotionally with further resources from the charity.
Yesterday (Wednesday 24th February) we held an online live event for our Year 9’s futures day. Usually this would have been held in school to help our Year 9 pupils decide their GCSE options, however this year we had to plan it slightly differently. The pupils all logged on in the morning and after an introductory session, took part in a programme called Fast Tomato, this programme has been designed to help young people broaden their horizons and consider a broader spectrum of career and education options. Pupils take a short psychometric questionnaire which gauges interests, attitudes and motivations. They are then presented with career and education suggestions, personalised to them. After that all pupils logged into a selection of options talks, and also heard from subject leaders in Maths, English and Science about career opportunities from the core subjects. There was also a broadcast from Andover College explaining apprenticeships and how they work. Pupils and parents were thrilled with all the information that was put out to help guide their GCSE choices. One parent commented “Huge thank you -having spoken to my son, the day has really helped with thinking about possible options and making decisions. He and his friends really enjoyed it. Notes were taken and lots of discussion. The day appears to have given them introduction to their GCSE’s. A massive impact”.
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