Small enough to know you, big enough to make a difference. Part of Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust.
We express our deepest sympathies for the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Her dedication to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and to her other realms and territories is unparalleled and we thank her for her service.
Our school will observe the mourning period whilst continuing to support our pupils, families and staff.
Staff and students at Holsworthy Community College are celebrating a successful Ofsted report, with the school receiving a ‘Good’ rating from the body.
The report – which has been published following a section 8 inspection at the school on the 14th and 15th of June – highlights some of the key reasons why the school remains ‘Good’.
As part of this, it highlights that “the cooperative values of Holsworthy Community College are present throughout the school”, before going on to praise:
The report also highlighted areas in which the school can improve further still, and these have been firmly taken on board by the Holsworthy leadership team.
Gareth Smith, Principal of Holsworthy Community School, said:
“We are incredibly proud of this report, and believe it is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone in the school community. Though the pandemic posed a wide variety of challenges for everyone in Holsworthy, we navigated these together, and we are looking forward to building on this report’s positive momentum to achieve even greater things. In the meantime, though, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy and restful break over the summer holidays – it is hugely deserved!”
Students at Holsworthy Community College in Devon are celebrating today after receiving their GCSE results, as they get ready to take their next steps in their education journey.
Staff and students have come together to mark the achievements of all the students, who have worked exceptionally hard over the past couple of years to secure these grades.
Alongside the continued success of the academy, which is part of the Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust, some particular individual highlights include:
Reuben Cole who successfully achieved six grade 9s in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, Maths and RE, alongside grade 8s in English Literature and English Language and a distinction star in iMedia.
Congratulations are in order for Maisie Frost who achieved two grade 9s, 4 grade 8s, 2 grade 7s and a distinction star. Maisie intends to go on to study for the International Baccalaureate in Armenia. Maisie is a member of Youth Parliament for Devon in her spare time.
Katie Martyn will be celebrating after being awarded three grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and 1 grade 7. Katie was delighted with her results and will be studying for A-Levels at Callywith College.
Joseph Ojiaku is delighted to have achieved a grade 8 for PE. Grade 7s for Geography and History, grade 6s in Biology, Physics, Maths, Chemistry and English Language, and a grade 5 for English Literature. Joseph is going to study A-Levels at Exeter School Sixth Form.
We are very proud of so many curriculum areas, but some highlights are PE where 9% of students achieved a grade 9 and 87% at least a grade 5, RE where 29% of students achieved at least a grade 8 and Hospitality and Catering where 60% of students achieved a distinction star.
Gareth Smith, Principal at Holsworthy Community College, said: We are incredibly proud of all of students. They have worked exceptionally hard in the most trying of circumstances. The support from their families and members of staff at the college has been incredible. It was amazing to see so many smiling faces this morning and hearing about each student’s plans for the future. These are our best results since the GCSE reforms, and they represent the hard work of so many people in our community.
On Monday 8 November, Holsworthy College hosted a KS1 Multi Skills Festival for the local primary schools in the area.
The event saw over 150 pupils attend and take part in a range of activities to work on fundamental skills such as agility, balance, and co-ordination.
Despite the weather being slightly cold and wet at times, all the pupils appeared to enjoy themselves and all were a credit to their schools in terms of their behaviour and effort throughout the afternoon. A special mention must also go to the sports leaders from the College who helped run the event. Their confidence, enthusiasm and all-round great leadership skills allowed the event to run smoothly. They were all a credit to themselves and the College. One member of staff from the primary schools made a special mention to one of our leaders who, ‘was great with the children and went above and beyond with them’.
Our next event this term will see Year 3 and 4 pupils attend and take part in a tag rugby festival. Fingers crossed we can get another great turn out in attendees, along with good weather!
Dear Parents/Carers,
Parent Forum – Thursday 14 October 2021 5pm-6.30pm
We will be holding our first Parent Forum, of this academic year, on Thursday 14 October. These events aim to give parents support around areas such as keeping children safe online and effective revision. This event will also provide an opportunity for you to give feedback to the College. By working together, we can improve outcomes and opportunities for the young people in our community.
This first session will be held in our Purple Circle on Thursday 14 October, starting at 5pm and finishing at 6:30pm. The focus will be around behaviour and safeguarding; Mr Richards will be giving a presentation on E-Safety. Mrs Woodhead and I will be discussing safeguarding, behaviour and bullying. This session is aimed at parents rather than students, although your children will be allowed to attend if you wish.
If you would like to attend the evening, please complete this form.
I look forward to seeing you at our Parent Forum.
Gareth Smith
Associate Principal
On 27 September, HCC played Callington in the first-round of the English Schools U15 girls football match at Holsworthy Football Club. It was an outstanding effort from all the girls and their teamwork throughout the game led them to their 5-4 victory. Despite it being a close game, the girls didn’t allow their heads to drop and showed consistency throughout the whole game. We scored some great goals, including a hat trick from Ruby.
Well done, girls, a great win!
A big thank you to Holsworthy Football Club and their Chairman, Mr Lee, for allowing us to use their pitch and to our linesman, for volunteering his services.
“It was fantastic to be involved in a fixture again, which is so important to the students at HCC. We played extremely well throughout the game and the effort the girls showed was outstanding throughout. Well done and we look forward to the second-round game!”
Mr Vanstone
Head of PE
Hi, it’s Mr Bulut here. For those that don’t know me I’m a teacher of Mathematics and have taught at HCC for 5 years. I would like to welcome back our existing students and extend a huge welcome to our new Year 7s. We hope that the first few days are exciting, that you settle in quickly and start enjoying your time at HCC. A lot must be said about the interruption of Covid-19 to our students’ education, but hopefully this academic year it will run smoothly.
I am proud to announce that I have become a House Champion this year and I will be representing Poseidon and Thor. My co-Champion, Mrs Godwin, will be championing Apollo and Zeus. Our role will be to celebrate and recognise the achievements of all students using our social media platforms, certificates for achievement points gained that week, assemblies and Faculty competitions. We aim to update the blog regularly to show you all the exciting and inspiring things we do here at HCC.
This half term our faculty competition is going to be led by the MFL department as they aim to engage and explore the riches of the world. Please make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that competition as there will be some excellent prizes for the winners and runners up.
6 September 2021
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope that you all had a restful summer break and that students are now ready for the start of term. I would, in particular, like to welcome our new Year 7 students and parents to Holsworthy Community College. In July, I wrote to parents explaining the changes to our COVID-19 risk assessment. You will have seen in the news that cases nationally have continued to rise over the summer period, and in particular the South West of England. We have taken advice from the government and adjusted our risk assessment and contingency plans accordingly. These are published on our school website.
Face Coverings
On 27 August, the government announced additional support for the South West. Included in this announcement was that staff and students are required to wear face coverings in communal areas, unless they are exempt. For Holsworthy Community College students, this means that they will be required to wear a face covering in corridors, the canteen and social areas. Initially, this is until 1 October, or until we hear otherwise from the government. Students using school transport will need to wear a face covering (unless exempt) whilst travelling to and from school.
Bubbles
As announced in July, students will no longer be in ‘bubbles’. However, if students wish to be in the school building during social times, they will need to stay in their tutor rooms. If they wish to mix with other year groups, they can do this outside of school buildings. There will be a phased reopening of the canteen, with students pre-ordering food as they did in the previous year.
Ventilation and Hand Washing
Rooms will continue be ventilated, as long as a comfortable temperature can be maintained, and school uniform expectations will return to normal. The government will be providing CO2 meters, and once they have been delivered, they will be used to ensure adequate levels of ventilation. There are hand sanitisation stations at the entrance to every classroom, and students should use them every time they enter or exit a classroom. We will also be keeping our one-way system to minimise students being in large groups around school.
Testing
As announced in July, students will be asked to take two lateral flow tests at the beginning of the school year, before testing twice weekly at home. This testing programme is not compulsory, and consent must be given. You will already have given consent for your child to be tested for COVID-19, but if you are not sure, you can give consent again here. Testing is strongly recommended, as the tests identify asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, and participating in this programme will help us to reduce the risk of transmission. Please read the privacy notice on our website. More information about our COVID-19 procedures can be found here.
In order to facilitate this, we will have a staggered start to the new school year. Students in Years 7 and 10 will start school on Tuesday 7 September. They will spend the day with their tutors and will be given work to complete whilst they are tested. Students in Years 8, 9 and 11 will receive remote education on the Tuesday; the work for students is here. All year groups will be in school on Wednesday 8 September and they will all spend the day with their tutors. They will be given work to complete and Years 8, 9 and 11 will be tested. Normal lessons will resume on Thursday 9 September.
Students in Years 7 and 10 will be tested for the second time on Friday 10 September and students in Years 8, 9 and 11 on Monday 13 September.
I look forward to seeing the students back in school shortly.
Yours faithfully,
Gareth Smith
Associate Principal
21 July 2021
Dear Parent/Carers,
I would like to thank everyone for their support during the pandemic. Together we have managed to help students through remote learning, bubbles, lateral flow tests, and centre assessed grades. We hold the College cooperative values at the heart of everything we do, and this has enabled us to work together in supporting our young people; I hope that the next year brings a bit of stability. I am delighted that we were still able to organise a Prom for our Year 11 students, who had a fantastic send off.
We have recently reviewed our pastoral structure and decided to move away from the heads of house model. From September, we will have leaders of key stage; Mr Watkins will be leader of KS3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) and Mrs Bloxham will be leader of KS4 (Years 10 and 11). Your child’s tutor is still the first port of call at school, but you may wish to contact the leader of key stage, if you have any further pastoral concerns. We still want to preserve the house identities, so we have also appointed 2 house champions, who will keep the ethos and values of the houses alive. Mr Bulut will be leading Thor and Poseidon houses and Mrs Godwin will be leading Apollo and Zeus. The house champions will be organising house events and celebrations. When students arrive at school in September they should go straight to their tutor rooms, which are:
Two weeks ago, I wrote to you about the changes in COVID-19 regulations made by the government. In short, from Tuesday 7 September, students will not be required to wear a face covering, there will be no more ‘bubbles’ of students and there will no longer be a one-way system or a staggered end to the day. Students can still wear a face covering, if they wish, and they will still be expected to sanitise their hands whenever they enter a classroom. Rooms will continue to be ventilated, whilst a comfortable temperature can be sustained. The government have asked us to continue to provide tests for students. They will be tested twice in school before testing is done at home once again. The first test should be taken before they start back in their lessons. This testing programme is not compulsory, and consent must be given. You will already have given consent for your child to be tested for COVID-19, but if you are not sure, you can give consent again here. Testing is strongly recommended because the tests identify asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 and participating in this programme will help us to reduce the risk of transmission. Please read the privacy notice on our website. More information about our COVID-19 procedures can be found here.
In order to facilitate this, we will have a staggered start to the new school year. Students in Years 7 and 10 will start school on Tuesday 7 September. They will spend the day with their tutors and will be given work to complete whilst they are tested. Students in Years 8, 9 and 11 will receive remote education on the Tuesday and you will receive details about this in September. All year groups will be in school on Wednesday 8 September, and they will all spend the day with their tutors. They will be given work to complete and Years 8, 9 and 11 will be tested. Normal lessons will resume on Thursday 9 September.
Students in Years 7 and 10 will be tested for the second time on Friday 10 September and students in Years 8, 9 and 11 on Monday 13 September. For the first two weeks of the school year, students will still have to pre-order lunch; the canteen will reopen fully on Monday 20 September.
From the 16 August, people under the age of 18 will no longer be asked to isolate if they are a close contact of a positive case. This means that students at school will only be asked to isolate if they have symptoms of COVID-19 or have produced a positive lateral flow test. If a student has symptoms of COVID-19 or produces a positive lateral flow, then a full PCR test should be completed. If positive, students will be asked to isolate for 10 days.
You may wish to use the summer holiday as a time to refresh your child’s school uniform. During the last 18 months, there has been some relaxation of the uniform policy due to COVID-19. From September, we will be asking students to wear full school uniform. This includes a plain white shirt, black tailored trousers or black pleat skirt, school jacket and black shoes. Students are not allowed to wear jeans, hoodies or trainers. Our school uniform policy can be found here.
We will not be setting any work for students over the holiday period. I want to encourage students to spend some quality time with their friends and family after a difficult 18 months. However, I appreciate that some students may wish to complete some work. Oak National Academy have produced a series of lessons to support students over the summer and you can access them here.
I would also like to say thank you to some members of staff who are leaving us this month. Miss Johns has taken the decision to leave her post as a teacher in the English faculty at Holsworthy College. After 19 years at Holsworthy College, Miss Johns has taken the decision to pursue other interests. The Trust would like to thank Miss Johns for all her hard work and dedication she has given her role. Miss Johns enjoyed her time at Holsworthy College and would like to wish the staff and students well for the future. Mrs Cobbledick is leaving us after teaching here for 7 years. She is an incredibly dedicated member of staff who has made fantastic improvements in the careers provision at school. Mrs Mander is leaving our music team. In the time she has been here she has transformed the musical education for students as well as holding some incredible musical events. Ms Riley is also leaving us after working here for 2 years. I wish them all well with their adventures. We will also be welcoming Mr Loades (science), Mr Cosgrove (music) and Mrs Hallett (lead pupil coach) to our team in September.
I am sure you will join me in saying a huge thank you to all members of staff at Holsworthy Community College and Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust for the hard work and dedication they have shown this year. I wish you all a fantastic summer and I am looking forward to welcoming back the students to school in September.
Yours faithfully,
Gareth Smith
Associate Principal
Our Year 11 students have worked exceptionally hard throughout the pandemic and we understand their disappointment at not being able to take their formal GCSE examinations. We were incredibly impressed with how they conducted themselves throughout the internal assessment period.
Even with COVID restrictions still in place, we managed to give them a school prom to recognise their efforts.
We subsidised the event for them and everyone had an incredible night! The highlight was seeing everybody dancing on the floor to ‘Oops Upside Your Head’!
Gareth Smith
Associate Principal
Holsworthy College 