Keep up to date with all the latest news stories and messages shared here! The three most recent Latest News articles also appear on the Home Page of the website. The full bank of Latest News feed articles can be viewed below:

• We´re Gold! Healthy High Five Award

  Sun 07 Jan 2024

  Healthy High 5 GOLD Award at The Polygon School

   

  The Healthy High 5 Award was launched in Southampton to make it easier for schools to provide healthy and fun activities for all pupils to improve their wellbeing (the award is slightly different for primary schools as is age appropriate).

   

  The award is comprised of 5 “Stars” to achieve:

   

  • Physical activity
  • Mindfulness minute
  • Water beats fizzy/energy drinks
  • Shorter queues for healthier lunch options
  • Love your lungs (smoking/vaping education)

   

  These goals/stars link in with Life Lab, a service provided at Southampton General Hospital to help educate young people about lifelong health.

   

  At the Polygon we are proud to say that we have now achieved a GOLD award! 

  Lots of hard work has been done to progress from “Working towards Bronze”, “Bronze”, “Silver” and finally “GOLD”!

   

  We have been taking part in this scheme for 2 years now and plan to continue with it as it is a timetabled lesson, and part of our everyday routine now at school that the pupils enjoy.

   

  ***Photos of various HH5 activities can be seen on our blog. Our digital GOLD award logo is displayed on The Polygon School homepage (see bottom banner) and our physical copy is displayed in the school reception***

   

  For more information about Healthy High 5 please see:

   

  https://www.southampton.gov.uk/schools-learning/support-inclusion-education/healthy-schools/healthy-high-5-award/healthy-high-5-award-for-secondary-schools/

   

• Festive fun at the Polygon

  Thu 14 Dec 2023

  What a way to bring an end to the first term!

   

  The end of term one is always a great week of celebration and fun leading up to the Christmas break...this week has not disappointed!  From a Pop Up shop, trips out, to making Christmas trees in a swimming lesson, all staff have come together to make sure pupils have had a fantastic week.

   

  The annual Christmas dinner is the highlight and an example of how teamwork is great at our school.  Jane in the kitchen cooked a fabulous Christmas dinner that was then served to pupils in their own tutor rooms.  This setting allowed all to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere before Santa came to visit with presents.  The Polygon would like to say a  HUGE "thank you" to Family Action who partnered the school up with local companies who were willing to donate presents for Santa to deliver.  These were:

  • South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust
  • Evelyn Partners (Chartered Accountants)

  The generosity did not stop there and a "thank you" goes to Environcare who look after our grounds maintenance.

   

  *A special mention and "thank you" goes to our Business and Finance Manager who went above and beyond in making Christmas special for all. 

   

  "On behalf of everybody at The Polygon School, Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody connected to our school community!"

  

• Investment in technology

  Thu 14 Dec 2023

  This term we have had a significant investment in technology to assist teachers and pupils in their learning.  School purchased SMART boards for each classroom which has allowed teachers to enhance the lessons and learning experience for pupils after extensive training.  The increased interactivity in lessons has brought a new dimension to aid and further pupils learning.  Teachers have found them reliable, stable and can be used all day long.  One teacher has said:

   

  "Pupil engagement has increased. Being able to highlight texts interactively to pupils is a great tool to have."

   

  Pupils have found them very useful with a pupil in 4PR saying:

   

  "I do interactive Maths games on the SMART boards in tutor time. I find this has helped me learn more."

   

   

   

  

• Outside agency visits supporting our curriculum

  Sun 03 Dec 2023

  We have been very lucky recently at The Polygon to have had a lot of outside agencies come and back-up, enhance and develop our enriched curriculum.  We have had visits from:

   

  • Richard Taunton's College - They were on site to deliver an assembly to our KS4 pupils about the options available to them if they chose to apply for the college.

   

  • South Western Railway V- we welcomed staff from South Western Railway to deliver a workshop alongside the Saints Foundation around the dangers of the railway and how to use public transport appropriately.
  • Theatre for Life - Theatre for Life  is an arts organisation working with marginalised groups, NHS, mental health charities, educational providers & the wider community through specialist creative and health programmes. 

  

• Wilding Schools Project

  Sun 12 Nov 2023

  Wilding Schools Project

   

  The school has started another exciting new project and are one of the first schools to be involved with the report going to the UK government!  

   

  The Wilding Schools Project is another strand of SOS-UK's Green Schools Revolution programme and will run alongside and complimentary to CAPs. What is involved and the aims of the Wilding Schools project is laid out below:
   

  1. Wilding Schools supports the government to deliver on their '30 by 30', idea is to help your school have 30% of your school grounds for nature by 2030.  
     1. The timeline: long term 2.5 project, starts in September 2023 same as CAPs so both start this autumn. 
     2. We have some funding available for schools to support changes to grounds, you can also apply for external funding for bigger pieces of work if wanting more transformative changes. 
     3. Teachers do not need any expertise in the area as they will be supported. We want the project to be student-led, but does need some staff commitment 
  2. What will be involved: 
     1. Initial assembly (can be joint for both projects with CAPs) 
     2. Wilding Schools onboarding meeting to introduce project to your 'Wilding Council' - essentially your Eco-club group of students, supporting staff, member of senior leadership and ideally grounds team present (so your 2 caretakers) 
     3. Habitat survey of grounds - once you have had our initial meeting and then sign up to be a Nature Park school you will have access to a mapping tool for your school grounds. You would need to go out and map the grounds using this to see what habitats are there, what can be improved/added 
     4. Wilding Plan session - once you've mapped your grounds, we then do another meeting to start writing your Wilding Plan and decide what you want to focus on - should have support from this with local ecology experts such as Wildlife Trust or Southampton Council 
     5. Baseline survey of wildlife you are aiming to increase 
     6. Implementing wilding plan (aim for 30% of grounds to be for nature by 2030) 
     7. Monitoring and evaluation to measure changes in biodiversity - e.g. regular surveys 

   

  Exciting times ahead involving this project and congratulations to Miss Newman for leading it.

• An idea grows in to a working bike hub!

  Sun 29 Oct 2023

  Bike hub created at The Polygon School!

   

  "The Bike Hub", it all started with Mr Bartlett needing a few bikes to work with a new pupil 1:1.  He had an idea and decided to put an advert on The Romsey Facebook group, asking if anybody wished to donate their old and unwanted bikes.  The response was amazing and he was inundated with offers.  He spent the following weeks collecting bikes from all over Southampton, ending up with just over 30 bikes...the school garage is full! 

   

  This idea happened at the same time the schools transport facilities were changing and the "Bike Hub" project was put in place where we have started to fix up the bikes to gift to those boys who need them.  Boys who are in line for a bike, come and work on them so they have an understanding of the maintenance involved in owning a bike.  They also have the reward of taking ownership knowing they earnt the bike by bringing it back to life by themselves.

   

  The "Bike Hub" has also been utilised as an intervention for pupils who would benefit from a practical engagement session.  Pupils are working on their own bikes that they will then get to take home once they are finished and will then be able to ride them to school.  Riding sessions are also planned for after half term to help pupils feel more confident in tackling the streets of Southampton on their way to school.

   

  Quotes from pupils:

   

  "Wow, did we really get given all these for free, that's amazing that people have done that"

   

  "There are so many bikes, this is going to be so much fun Sir."

   

  "I really want to fix a bike with you Sir, because I would love to be able to ride to school."

  

• New course at The Polygon

  Fri 20 Oct 2023

  Staff have gained new qualifications and are delivering a new course at school.  This year pupils in KS3 are participating in ASDAN lessons. They are working towards their Life Skills Award and need to complete a series of activities to gain enough credits to pass.

   

  “ASDAN’s mission is to engage young people aged 11 to 25 years in greatest need to achieve meaningful learning outcomes, which elevate them to go on to further education, training or work, and empower them to take control of their lives”

   

  This year we are delivering the ASDAN ‘Lifeskills Challenge’ to individuals and groups. This programme enables schools to meet pupil’s needs by providing a personalised curriculum for young people with SEND or those facing barriers to learning.

   

  Challenges have been mapped to the four Preparing for Adulthood pathways and cover subject areas such as English, mathematics and PSHE

   

  One of the challenges they are doing is to build famous landmarks in Minecraft. Using their cross curricular skills from ICT they have researched various famous buildings and selected one to build in the programme. Current projects include The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Egyptian Pyramids. We look forward to seeing the results of the pupils ASDAN challenges in the coming months.

   

  To learn more about the course please click on the link: https://www.polygon.southampton.sch.uk/asdan-1/

  

• Meet your school Council 2023-24

  Thu 05 Oct 2023

  Meet your School Council 2023-24

   

  Each class in school voted for who will represent them on the School Council. The School Council will meet at least once each half term to discuss issues pupils bring forward, as well as topics put forward to them by SLT.

   

  This week one of the first duties of the School Council was to host the school community in the Head boy Elections.  Pupils and staff all cast their vote to choose who would represent them as Head boy and Deputy Head boy.   After the votes were counted there was a winner, and a tie for second place.

   

  Mr Penfold presented the Head boy, and the two Deputy Head boy badges, in front of the school the next day.

   

  Congratulations to:

  • SC - Head boy
  • LH & JLS - Deputy Head boys

   

  

• International School Award re-accreditation ...12 years and counting!

  Sun 03 Sep 2023

  03,09,2023

   

  British Council International School Award success for

  The Polygon School

   

  "The Polygon School in Southampton has been re-accredited/awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom."

   

  The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.

   

  The Polygon’s international work includes; a whole school cross curricular Lion King project, bi-annual Ski trip, the third British Council School Exchange visit in Iceland to one of our partner schools, Green Phone Sustainability project linked with the Eco-School Award, Food Box project helping out a local food shelter charity, The World we Live in and staff career development.

   

  On hearing the news that The Polygon School had received the award, Mr Patchell – International School Co-ordinator said: “the past twelve years we have been on our international journey embedding an international ethos across the whole of the school curriculum.  Having staff lead such exciting and diverse projects, for example, the whole school cross curricular Lion King project, shows how far we have developed in making our pupils and staff global citizens.  Using our produce from the school allotment to help a local food charity shows how we are trying to help and impact the local community.  Long may it continue!”

   

  Scott McDonald, Chief Executive of the British Council, said: ‘The school has earned this prestigious award through its inspirational international work and links with schools abroad.

  The International School Award is a chance for schools to be recognised for their important work bringing the world into their classrooms. This is especially commendable when schools have been deeply affected by the global pandemic. The desire to build on their international work shines through and it is with upmost pride that we celebrate their achievements. 

  By embedding an international dimension in children’s education, these schools are preparing their students for successful lives in the UK or further afield, empowering them to be global citizens, and are creating vital opportunities in an increasingly global economy.’

   

  The Award is now available worldwide in countries such as Greece, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Over 6000 International School Awards have been presented to successful schools in the UK since the scheme began in 1999.

   

  The International School Award encourages and supports schools to develop:

   

  • An international ethos embedded throughout the school
  • A whole school approach to international work
  • Collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of partner schools
  • Year-round international activity
  • Involvement of the wider community

  

• GCSE results 24th Agust

  Wed 23 Aug 2023

  We will be welcoming our students to collect their results tomorrow (Thursday 24th August) from 9am till 11am.  Good luck everybody!

   

  YoungMinds - https://www.facebook.com/youngmindsuk

  If your child is getting their GCSE results tomorrow, here is our advice on managing a disappointing outcome.

  1/ If your child is happy to show you their results statement, you might find it helpful to have a look, just in case they have misread or misunderstood, or overlooked something.

  2/ Accept their feelings, whatever they are – disappointment, anger, embarrassment, bravado. Their feelings are neither right nor wrong, they just are. Don’t offer immediate judgement, or solutions, or even reassurance – there will be plenty of time for conversations later.

  3/ Reflect back how they are feeling to show you have understood, for example, “I can see you’re disappointed with the Maths result.”

  4/ Let them know you love them through highs and lows. Big hugs are good (although may be embarrassing in public).

  5/ Show you’re on their side - it could be something small like getting their favourite snack.

  6/ Give yourself some breathing space and time to reflect.

  7/ Ask the school to help your child explore any possible next steps, such as re-takes, re-marking or alternative courses.

  8/ If your child is disappointed with their results, they might also be embarrassed. Agree with them how they want their results discussed with family and friends, if at all.