Posted on: 4/04/2025Celebrating Work Experience WeekLast month, our Year 10 students took part in Amery Hill’s first Work Experience Week for many years – and what a success it was! We want to say a huge thank you to all the parents, carers, and employers who supported our students and made these incredible opportunities possible. Our students completed placements in a wide range of industries, including accountancy, kitchen design, broking and underwriting in the London insurance market, engineering, sports coaching, manufacturing, graphic design, air traffic control systems, fire and rescue, publishing, scientific research, and architectural design – to name just a few! Throughout the week, students reflected on what they had learnt: · “Getting real life experience” · “Meeting new people and learning new skills” · “Learning pathways into law” · “Insight into how the real world works” · “Provided opportunity for interesting experiences” A special thank you also to Queen Mary’s College, who supported the week, giving students the chance to develop their soft skills while working alongside college staff. We are extremely grateful for their support. If you or your organisation would like to get involved in offering a work placement to our students in the future, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at careersadmin@ameryhill.school. 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: 26/06/2024Year 11 Prom: Sunshine, smiles, tears and mini-golfYear 11 gathered at the beautiful Audleys Wood Hotel for a magical night celebrating the proud achievements of their five years together at Amery Hill School. The arrival of police and fire service vehicles in the first few minutes turned out to be false alarms, as bevies of glamorous students emerged from both. They joined their fellow dapper Year 11 friends, who arrived on the red carpet from all manner of other transportation, both quirky and classic. After welcome drinks, attendees took advantage of some rare summer evening sun, playing the many party games which the Prom Committee had organised – including limbo and mini-golf – against the beautiful background of the hotel grounds and the golden fields beyond. They then descended on the beautifully-decorated marquee for a scrumptious barbecue and ice creams. The atmosphere on the night was utterly joyful, with everyone dancing and laughing together for hours, helped along by tunes from Year 11’s best-kept secret, the band ‘Four No More’, and a staff band into the bargain. Most people seemed to end up holding their shoes, and complaining of blisters, which is generally a sign of a good night had by all! Most were reluctant to leave the party, with final memories shared and tears shed at the end. It was an unforgettable night, and a worthy tribute to a year group that has been through so much together. But they’re ready for the next adventures in their lives now, and if they approach those with half the energy that they did this prom, they will be absolutely fine! Visit https://bit.ly/3W8Jikj to view the Prom Gallery. View Article
Posted on: 17/12/2024Festive Fun!The Amery Hill Christmas Fayre took place this week with every student having an opportunity to attend with their year group friends during the school day. Completely organised and co-ordinated by the Student Parliament, with guidance from Mr Severs, the Main Hall was transformed into a festive fayre for everyone to enjoy! With home bakes, tombola stalls, karaoke, face painting, hand-made eco decorations, games and much, much more, the Events and Charity Committee, supported by the Community Committee, pulled off a fabulous day of fundraising, with the emphasis on festive fun! The origins of the Fayre go back to 2021 when the Student Parliament set themselves an aim to improve the sense of community at Amery Hill School, while at the same time, reaching out to support local charities and forge relationships with local businesses. They have certainly achieved that this week and in spectacular style! Our thanks to the many businesses who supported the event with incredibly generous prize donations. This year the majority of the money raised from the Fayre will be donated to the Salvation Army, with a small portion going towards funding the drama production of Grease. Last year the Appeal distributed more than 84,000 gifts and this year, the number of families requesting help is expected to rise yet further as a result of the cost of living crisis. Operating in over 650 communities across the UK, the Salvation Army provides support to those who are facing poverty, for struggling families and for older people in our communities seeking companionship. They provide food parcels to families and toys to children whose parents are unable to afford presents. Our students have again done us proud and reminded us how compassionate they are. A massive well done to everyone involved, and in particular our Events and Charity and Community Committees who have been busy for months to ensure the Fayre was a wonderful and successful event. View Article
Posted on: 3/07/2024ACAN Ambassadors Lead the WayThe summer term has been Eco-Union’s busiest yet! This term's main event was the Young ACAN Eco Conference. Eco-Union took 14 students down to the Maltings in Alton for a day filled with multiple workshops on environmental topics, all with a focus on protecting our rivers and oceans. Amery Hill was also represented by four of our Year 10 students who acted as Young ACAN Ambassadors, running one of the workshop sessions themselves. The day was a great success and our students were proud to stand on the stage and share their experiences and learning along with students from Eggar’s School and nine other Primary and Junior schools from the local area. The other focus for the term has been completing our application for this years' re-certification of our Green Flag status. The application involves providing evidence of our Eco activities as a school and the members of Eco-Union have put a great deal of effort into this. We have chosen to focus on three topics for next year; Biodiversity, Litter and School Grounds. Keep an eye out for any changes to the school site in the coming year as we aim to make Amery Hill as sustainable as possible. View Article
Posted on: 6/03/2025Iceland InspiresLeaving Amery Hill at the eye-watering time of 2.30am, 48 Year 10 students plus staff ventured off for the land of fire and ice, a location the school had not visited since 2018. Over the next four days, the students were treated to the raw physical Geography of this island, which sits on the boundary between the North American and European tectonic plates. The packed itinerary included hot springs, erupting geysers, plunging waterfalls and black beaches all set in a barren, moon like snow covered landscape. The mornings started around minus eight degrees and warmed to a barmy plus two by the afternoon. Other highlights included visiting the 6th largest geothermal power station in the world for a guided visit and a walking tour of the capital Reykjavik. The students also particularly liked the immersive experience called “Fly over Iceland” sitting in rollercoaster-like seats and being whisked on an exhilarating journey across Iceland in front of a 20-metre spherical screen while special effects, including wind, mist and scents, combined with the ride’s motion to create an unforgettable experience. To cap it all, on the final night the Northern Lights put in an appearance to cap a truly magical visit where many memories were made. Mr Parker, Head of Geography View Article
