Latest News | Hugh Sexey C of E Middle School

Summer Music Concert

Fri 28 Jun 2019 Mrs Harrison

It was a pleasure to welcome pupils and parents from schools across the Wessex Learning Trust and Fairlands last night at our music concert. The audience were entertained by a wide range of performances from the drummers and our yr 8 musicians. Well done everybody.

Year eight Careers Day

Thu 27 Jun 2019 Mrs Allen

As our year eight progress towards their next stage in education, the timing of our careers day was very applicable. The idea behind the day was to invite a mix of professionals into school to speak to our pupils about their chosen career path. Hopefully, some of the talks inspired and enriched our pupils' thoughts about their futures.
I am very grateful to our visiting speakers who gave their time freely and who prepared fascinating talks. On this occasion , our speakers included the police, a Dr, an entrepreneur, a published author and a prison warden.
In the afternoon the year eight tutors prepared a lesson on interviews and interview technique.
The pupils were also given a chance to research the qualifications they needed for career paths they were interested in.
On speaking to some of our pupils throughout the course of the day, it was interesting that different pupils enjoyed different talks .
The pupils were all thoroughly engaged and benefitted from the change in the curriculum for the day.

Year 5 Swimming Gala

Thu 27 Jun 2019 Mrs Allen

Year five gala took place on Wednesday 26th June . A very sunny day and so the children appreciated the gazebos erected by Mr, McKinley and his team. It was good to see so many supporters .
Every race was close, and the cheering was loud.
Year eight leaders helped with placing and timing.
Many great performances, Ronnie from the Saxons almost broke the breastroke record. There was a very close race in the beginners event when Felix and Ed worked their way to an extremely close finish. Some beautiful technique in the butterfly race.
The final house point score was 4th - Normans 3rd Vikings 2nd Celts and this year the winners were Saxons by two points.
Good too see so many pupils enjoying the water.
Mrs. Allen

Year Seven Swimming Gala

Thu 27 Jun 2019 Mrs Allen

This year our year sevens were given a choice to swim. 36 of our pupils chose to take part.
It was a good natured but competitive gala.
It was very pleasing to see some fantastic club swimmers perform, but also good for our less experienced swimmers to have an opportunity to compete.
Finlay H broke a long standing two length breastroke record . His time was 39.5 seconds . Well done.
Some excellent team performance from all the houses but the five Normans who took part worked particularly hard.
Well done to all swimmers.
Mrs Allen

All Years Rounders v Fairlands

Thu 27 Jun 2019 Mrs Allen

The annual rounders events took place here at Hugh Sexey .
It was a glorious sunny afternoon and the standard of play was good.
Every year group took part. Many thanks to Mrs. Scott and Miss Crossland for umpiring and their support with rounders this term.
Year five had their first match, after having swum in the school gala. It was a close match and the girls developed a good understanding of match play.
The final result was 5-3 in Fairlands favour.
The year six team, coached by Miss Scott , played well with good fielding skills. Hugh Sexey won 11.5 - 9
The year seven had a fun match , some good hitting by Hugh Sexey led to a victory, 7.5 -6 .
And finally... The year eight team played well , it was a 12.5 -10.5 victory to Fairlands. It was lovely to see our year eight girls socialising with the year right girls from Fairlands in preparation for year nine.
All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon of rounders.
Well done .
Mrs Allen

Year 6 at Mendip Activity Centre

Fri 21 Jun 2019 Mrs Jackson

I had the good fortune of being with the Y6s last night and took some photos of the night walk.

A Great Day at the Races

Thu 20 Jun 2019 Mr McGrath

After a week of torrential rain and forecast thunder and lightening it is with great relief that the year 7/8 Sports day has been completed on the scheduled day.

We were treated to some truly wonderful athletic performances with long standing records narrowly missed on a number of occasions. I was so very proud to see the races so well filled and to see people stepping up and competing for their house. There were some lovely examples of sporting conduct throughout the day and it makes me so happy to be a small part of that truly inspiring atmosphere. It was a real team event.

The first events of the day were the 800m and 1500m. Katie ran a very well executed race in the year 7 girls 800m. Settling into 3rd place she paced herself perfectly on the first lap and then slipped through the gears to roar home in first place. Chloe was in 2nd followed by Amalie and Jemima. This year we gave Houses the opportunity to enter 4 for each event and it was great to see so many relish the opportunity to compete on the track. in the boys race Finley went of like a rocket and completed the first lap in a time that had me thinking we may see Fox's 10 year record be broken. It wasn't to be, but a time of 2.39 was easily enough for first place for Finley of the Saxons. Nathan, Dennis and Oliver taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. Finley also took first place in the 1500m with Ellis, Nathan and Dennis in hot pursuit. In the year 7 girls race Maddie of the Vikings twice performed a sprint finish to take 1st place. The year 8 events were equally pulsating. In the boys 800m Joel and Ben became the best of rivals as they both hammered down the home straight with Joel of the Normans taking 1st. Lewis, who had a very busy day took an impressive 3rd followed by Harvey and Louis. The girls 800m saw Phillipa of the Vikings take first place, reward for the hard work she has put in on the track. Anna put in a great performance in this race and that was to be the theme throughout the day as she regularly got crucial points for the Saxons.

Lesson 2 and 3 saw the field events alongside the popular collaborative events of star relay, capture the flag, tug of war and the new addition of the obstacle race. There were strong performances in a number of the events with Luc of the Saxons putting in a big performance in front of a gathering crowd. His best score of 1.37m was enough to take first place in the year 8 event with Alex and Oscar not far behind. The year 8 girls event went to Daisy of the Vikings. She also took first place in the long jump with 4m 20. Her height of 1m 20 was enough to establish a commanding victory. Ella and Mary sharing 2nd place on the day. In year 7 both high jump events were tied at the top. Georgie and Jemima sharing the girls event and Fin, Ben and Oliver all registering the same score on the boys jump. The Welly wang, a staple of the Hugh Sexey Games, went to Caleb of the Celts in year 7. In year 8 Polly was agonisingly close to breaking a school record and she secured top points for the Vikings. The 2 hours passed very quickly and it was pleasing to see the houses enjoying the competition in all of the events. Even when points were not at stake the students gave everything. Which for me is so pleasing to see.

The afternoon was dedicated to the sprint events. Thankfully the track had dried up over the course of the day and a number of sub 13 times and personal bests on the 100 m proved that. The heat events in the 100 and 200 meters proved to be very popular. With 16 students competing for a place in the final it gave ample opportunity for athletes to put on a show in front of the gathering crowd. Kenny, Olly, Joel and Ben set the scene for a fast 100m final. Kenny's time of 12.10 was the fastest time in the heat and was so close to breaking the record of 12 seconds flat. in the boys final Joel snatched first place with a desperate dip for the line. Evie, Natasha, Freya, Ellie, Polly, Rosa, Millie and Sophie all qualified for the girls 100m final. Rosa of the Saxons took 1st place with Polly in close pursuit. the year 7 boys final belonged to Max, the fastest qualifier in the heats. He executed an excellent 100m sprint. An explosive start, powerful transition phase and he seemed to be floating on air as he dipped for the line with his arms aloft. Alice of the Vikings performed in a similar way, with Sarah and Maddie, both Vikings, taking 2nd and 3rd. Max and Jemima were victorious in the year 7 200m finals. Tom and Daisy both getting victory in the year 8 event. The Vikings showing up very well in this event, with 6 top 3 places on offer the Vikings secured 4 of them. Finley and Alice also showed up well in the 400m final, both getting 1st place with excellent times. Whilst the winners always deserve a mention, the most pleasing thing for us was the huge level of participation. So many students put their hands up to compete in events and there were a number of students who whilst they never took 1st place always put in a huge performance and showed immense dedication for their Houses. Those points are invaluable. It was a lovely event to observe and I hope the athletes are very proud of themselves and each other.

Reformation & Dissolution -Year 7 Visit Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey

Tue 18 Jun 2019 Mrs Adair

On Monday (17th June), a group of year 7 pupils traveled to Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey to learn about the reasons for and impact of the religious changes associated with the Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. After a tour of the Cathedral and an opportunity to inspect a pre and post Reformation Bible, the pupils tacked a challenging source-work activity where they worked with the original transcript of the document that sold off one of the Cathedrals chapels. The pupils found out not only about the reason for the sale but also the conditions under which the transactions was made.

We then travelled to Glastonbury Abbey when the pupils participated in a costumes re-enactment of how the “religious rollercoaster” of the Tudor period would have affect the monks and pilgrims during the time. They proudly wore their costumes and really got into character and the spirit of the drama. The girls even took to song in the Abbot’s kitchen to test out the acoustics in the very fancy building. The pupils will now be encouraged to share their experience with others in the classes, helping to really bring their classroom learning to life.

Winning Engineering Inventions

Tue 18 Jun 2019 Miss Latti

On Friday 14th June I had the pleasure of attending The South West Secondary Engineer Leaders Award and Exhibition at the University of the West of England. As part of the Leaders Award pupils were asked to answer the question ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ Pupils had to draw a design to solve a problem within their home, local community or the wider world.

Congratulations to Natasha Broad (7RH) who received an award and trophy for winning the Year 7 category with her invention ‘The hand held steam cleaning glove’. The aim of the product is to help medical professionals and people at home with cleaning. The product was designed to solve the problem of cleaning wet wipes ending up in landfills which is a huge problem for the environment because it takes hundreds of years to degrade and causes harm to animals due to them not being recyclable. The hand held steam cleaning glove destroys bacteria without using harmful chemicals. It works by using hot steam to destroy germs quickly. It connects to a rechargeable battery which provides heat and a water supply which provides steam once heated. The judges commended Natasha for showing excellent creativity and creating a design to help protect the environment.

At the end of the ceremony a prototype of Philippa Griffiths (8AMW) design ‘RLBS (Red Line Breaking System)’ was unveiled. She was awarded winner of the Year 7 category and overall winner of the competition last year. Over the course of the year a team of engineers from the university have worked with Philippa to bring her design concept to realisation. Philippa‘s prototype works by displaying red lights along the back windscreen of a vehicle to alert other drivers of the severity of breaking and levels of attention needed. This would help to reduce fatalities on our roads.

Congratulations to Charli Beeson (7RH) for being awarded Distinction and Jemima Seagrove (7KS) for being awarded the Judges Highly Commended Award. Their work has been put on display at an exhibition in the university alongside Natasha’s invention and Philippa’s prototype.

Miss Latti (Leader of DT) said “It is brilliant to see a pupil from Hugh Sexey win the Year 7 category for the second consecutive year! The pupils who participated in the competition have all really enjoyed exploring engineering possibilities to solve problems locally and in the wider world. The inventions they have created demonstrate excellent ingenuity. Well done to all the pupils on their incredible achievements.”

WW1 Battlefields Tour - Day 4

Tue 11 Jun 2019 Mrs Adair

Well, we made it. What an incredible journey. although we only spent half a day on the battlefields today, we certainly packed a lot in. We began with a visit to the German cemetery at Langemark. The children we instantly struck by the contrast of the site to that of the CWGC cemeteries. They identified many of the features of the cemeteries, including the horizontal head stones, the comrades grave, the lack of regiment details or personal family inscriptions on the stones. Historically many of the children see these sites as 'different', however, amazingly, many of the children were able to draw on their experience at Notre Dame de Lorrett and suggested that in fact, there are many similarities between how the Germans and French nations chose to remember their war dead. Some even suggested that maybe it was the British who were 'different'. After a visit to the Passchendaele Museum where the children ventured underground into the deep bunkers and out into both German and British trench systems, we concluded our tour at the Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial; the largest CWGC cite in the world. Here each pupil was given the name and details of a soldier, with whom many shared their name, and they were give time to go and find their solider and pay their respects. Many chose to lay a cross of remembrance. Our guide Simon was spoken to by one of the cemetery interns who complemented him on how well behaved, respectful and engaged the children were in their learning. Standing at the cross of sacrifice, you can see the entirety of the battlefields of the Ypres Salient - and standing there, many of the children felt the impact of their journey of these past 4 day.

I would like to conclude my blog tonight with a big thank you to both the children and to the parents for their support of this trip. I have received many positive comments from the children about how much they enjoyed this trip, not because it was 'fun' but because they learned so much and felt inspired by and connected to their experience. Many thanks

Mrs Adair