Posted on: 12/07/2023Students have once again been awarded a coveted Eco-Schools Green FlagStudents have once again been awarded a coveted Eco-Schools Green Flag. The Eco-Schools Green Flag is an international accreditation that recognises efforts to raise environmental awareness amongst young people, whilst taking action to make their school more sustainable. Amery Hill School is proud to announce that it has retained its status as an accredited Eco-School. The Eco-Schools programme was established in 1994 and is now delivered in more than 70 countries across the globe. The programme prompts young people to explore a variety of environmental issues, including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Students are then empowered to plan and deliver environmental actions in their school, local community, and beyond. This year, the Eco-Union has continued to build on the strong foundations set out at the start of the school’s Eco-Schools journey and in recent months has completed an Environmental Review. This has really highlighted the scope and positive impact of many eco initiatives implemented over the past three years. Promotion of earth day, numerous recycling initiatives, eco competitions and fundraising for key climate change charities are just some of the work the Eco-Union has spearheaded. “The Eco-Schools Green Flag award is an internationally recognised symbol of high environmental standards. The students and school staff are to be commended and deserve immense credit for their hard work, determination, and creativity to retain the school’s status as an accredited Eco-School. They are an inspiration to us all.” Mr Mann.View Article
Posted on: 5/03/2024Nathan Ward WorkshopMiss Burrell, Head of Art We were very lucky to have Amery Hill alumni Nathan Ward visit the department again this year to work alongside our Year 10 GCSE Fine Art and 3D Art students. Nathan is a paper and cardboard artist and began by showing the students examples of some of his recent projects which included multiple installations at the National Trust property Waddesdon Manor as part of their Christmas displays. He then did a demonstration where he taught the students different techniques on manipulating paper and how to construct 3D shapes before they were then given the opportunity to create their own artwork to be displayed as part of an underwater scene. The students really enjoyed having the opportunity to work collaboratively and create their pieces over the course of three periods and the final displays look fantastic. View Article
Posted on: 20/03/2024On the Lava Trail - Sicily 2024The 2024 trip to Sicily was an action-packed event for 47 intrepid GCSE Geographers this year, with an itinerary taking in all the best bits of a visit to the Italian island. The first day, of two, included a tour of the Cyclops Riviera in the east of Sicily where students could marvel at the coastal stacks created from ancient lava flows and the black volcanic rock, followed by a short coach ride to the town of Taormina. The Greek/Roman amphitheatre here is steeped in history and with Mount Etna as a backdrop, could not be better placed. The evening meal, after some shopping opportunities, was at a traditional Italian pizza restaurant where all the students made their own pizza! Day two started with what, for many students, was the trip highlight – river trekking. Following the course of a river flowing directly from Etna itself, the cold water and the requirement to jump off four waterfalls presented a great challenge to the students. The highest jump was from a waterfall six metres high! Fortunately, wetsuits and helmets were provided. The afternoon’s journey up Mount Etna via cable car was exciting as the air temperature started to drop. Unfortunately, the cloud cover and weather conditions were too poor to proceed to the summit, however, students marvelled at the barren moon like conditions. And incredible scenery. Overall, it was an amazing trip enjoyed by all! View Article
Posted on: 2/04/2024Education For LifeMr Millard, EfL Co-ordinator Opportunities abound During the Spring term we held a number of careers-based events, which were targeted towards students in Key Stage 4. On Friday 23 February Year 10 students took part in the 'Mock Interview Day', where local businesses came in and interviewed each student for a job that they had shown interest in. Each student will be given feedback in their upcoming careers EfL lessons. At the end of the day the interviewers praised the students saying that they were 'Engaged and polite... confident and prepared... and professional young people'. The second careers event we held was the Careers Fair, which started with a carousel of activities which the students took part in. These involved a wide range of careers and future education courses, which involved snails, a hedgehog, robots, the police and a stranded submarine to name just a few! Alongside this, students found out about the ever-growing number of apprenticeships which are on offer. After school we held the fair where more businesses, colleges and universities joined us to give the students an opportunity to ask questions and help them with their on-going careers education. To help inspire students to interact with the exhibitors we set up a challenge in which all students could take part. If a student asked a meaningful question to a visitor they received stamp on a bingo card, and after the event three completed cards were selected at random with students winning a brand new laptop. These laptops were given to us by The Careers and Enterprise Company, who put on a parental talk about careers alongside the Fair - there will be another parental talk around careers later in the school year. The laptops were presented to students by Mr Jeckells. Mr Jeckells also awarded another Careers Fair prize to a student who had won an Amazon voucher donated by local accountancy firm Sheen Stickland. Thank you to our these organisations for helping to inspire our students. Health and Wellbeing Spring has been quite a term for ‘Education for Life’ with a number of events and enrichment activities alongside lessons which have covered many important topics. The first of which was a series of sessions run by the fantastic Tj Power. Tj spoke to students and parents about the importance of wellbeing; whilst exploring how our minds worked, students left sessions with small achievable tasks to help improve their mental and physical health. See page 15 for more details on this. These topics were also looked at by Year 7 who have been studying 'Health and Puberty', looking at the importance of sleep and healthy eating, whilst connecting it to mental health. Year 10 have also looked into this theme by finishing off their studies of substance misuse, with the visit of the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation. Students heard the powerful story of the misuse of substances and were given guidance on how to make safe choices.View Article
Posted on: 9/07/2024Community, Creativity, CultureWe have been delighted to participate in this year’s Alton Arts Festival, a 10-day, multi-venue, multi-disciplinary arts festival in Alton. As a not-for-profit enterprise, the aim has been to celebrate the arts, community, and creativity which has provided our students with some fabulous opportunities and new experiences. Our thanks to all of the organising committee for a fabulous festival! As part of the festival a group of Year 8 students were invited to participate in a series of silversmithing workshops run by Meon Valley Studios. The sessions had been arranged in conjunction with the Alton Arts Festival and the workshops had been funded by 'The Goldsmiths Centre’ which included the cost of silver, so that there was no cost for our students to participate. During the workshops, the students learnt how to make and personalise a silver ring. This included punching a name into it, bending the silver using a ring mandrel and mallet and then sawing the ends off using a piercing saw to cut the shape. They then used a small blow torch to solder the ring closed before filing and polishing the silver. All the students had an amazing time and were so grateful to have been given this opportunity. Their completed pieces looked incredible and were so professional. A huge thank you goes to Olivia at Meon Valley Studios for arranging these sessions. View Article
Posted on: 29/11/2024Careers Fair a Huge SuccessThis first term of the school year has seen some important positive change to our ‘Education for Life’ programme, as a result of the adaptions to the structure of the school day. Students now have two extended tutor times a week where they cover the PSHE and Careers Programme, which has allowed us to cover more material in greater detail, giving them a real ‘Education for Life’. In this new spiral curriculum, students across the school have been studying similar topics during the autumn term, with various levels of age-appropriate content, to ensure knowledge is built on as they progress though the school and to continue to challenge their views on important topics. The Careers Programme is an important module within our ‘Education for Life’ curriculum. Just before October half term, many of our local colleges, as well as an apprenticeship provider, came into school to help Year 11 apply for their chosen next steps. As the first of the college application deadlines has just passed, it is important that all students apply for a place, if possible, this side of Christmas. If you would like more information around this, please get in touch with our Careers Advisor at careers_counsellor@ameryhill.school Earlier in the term, we were pleased to announce that our Year 10 cohort will be on a week of work experience later in the school year. This opportunity will help provide even greater insight in to the world of work and options beyond Amery Hill, and will hopefully give them experiences that will help inform future choices. Students who have been unsuccessful in finding their own placement have been supported to find a suitable opportunity, but if you still have a concern that a placement has not been found or agreed please get in touch at careersadmin@ameryill.school On Friday 29th November we hosted our annual Careers Fair, in which Year 9 and 10 students had the chance to interact with local businesses and colleges in workshops throughout the school day, followed by a visit to the Careers Fair in the Main Hall. Students took part in workshops as: ‘Seeing is Believing’ with InSync Technology, ‘The Power of Journalism’ with Naked Politics and many, many more. Thank you to everyone who came along and made the Fair such a huge success. We hope next year will be even bigger! View Article
