These three words sum up what Hampton Community College is all about.
As a specialist arts college we are committed to ensuring that all our students receive a high quality education which encourages them to reach their academic potential, whilst at the same time seeking to broaden their horizons and enrich their learning experience through the arts. Our latest OFSTED inspection in November 2008 observed that ‘the performing arts status of the college is central to its ethos, and is a strength,’ and the community projects undertaken as part of our specialism were judged to be ‘outstanding.’
We are pleased to report that Wendy Parish, who has been a familiar face at HCC for many years, has been appointed Manager of the catering team.
A Wonderful Team
Wendy said, “I have worked as a Cook at Hampton Community College while my children have been growing up. Now they are older and little more independent, I am thrilled to have taken up the position of Chef/Manager. I have a wonderful team in the kitchen who all work hard to give the children a healthy and varied menu.”
A Worthy Successor
Dr. Demont expressed her delight at Wendy’s appointment, saying, “HCC has had an outstanding catering team for several years under its last two managers, Caroline Burt and Yvonne Dyer, and Wendy will make a worthy successor. Catering, teaching and support staff are very pleased that Wendy’s excellent cooking and management skills have been recognised by the national parent company Compass. We look forward to more of her delicious Thai Green Curry and fish pie!”
ICT Mentor wins Award
Laura from 11GT was December’s Jack Petchey Award winner. Laura is a key member of HCC's peer mediator team and she has received this award for her commitment to mentoring other Year 11 students in ICT during her own time after school.
Laura’s ICT skills and patience have helped many of her peers. The photograph shows Laura with her certificate and her cheque for £200 which can be spent to support a club or organisation of her choice.
Laura has chosen to donate the money to the 3rd Hampton Hill Explorer Scout Group.
Well done Laura!
Youth Parliament Elections 2010
Voting at HCC is now well underway. HCC's candidate Katherine Pearce has been speaking to students and staff about her campaign plans and has already generated a lot of enthusiasm for the election...as well as many votes!
Katherine has a campaign page on Facebook with over 300 members pledging their votes.
A huge 'thank you' to Iblal Hussein and Laura Tyler in year 11 who have assisted Katherine as 'campaign managers'. Voting continues this week in the Dining Hall at lunchtime. HCC students, please come and vote!
For information on all the candidates, click on this link:
Year 9 Shakespeare Workshops – All the world’s a stage...
Genius....... Icon......... Incomprehensible.
Just a few words people use to describe William Shakespeare – still the only writer to be required reading on the National Curriculum.
On the 13th January, Year 9 students were lucky enough to have two actors visit from The Globe theatre for a drama based workshop, which began with some fun warm-up activities. Since the students will shortly be studying Macbeth as a key English assessment, activities were linked to the play to give them an understanding of the plot and key characters; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Throughout, both actors were very impressed with the students’ energy and vivacity.
On March 11th 57 students from Year 9 will be going to watch Macbeth on stage at The Globe theatre.
Miss Stanbridge
(English teacher/literature coordinator)
HCCA News
On January 19th HCCA held the ever-popular and informative Principal's Question Time with Dr Demont and Mr Smith. A summary of the key questions and answers can be downloaded on this link.
Our next event is a planning session for our big Quiz Night. We will be meeting at the Jolly Cooper's pub on the High Street at 7:30pm on Thursday 25th February. All are welcome, old and new, to help us plan for a great night on the 26th of March - an evening which always raises lots of funds for our children at HCC.
Sue Bell
Bringing History Alive to Our Primary School Partners
"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.” Winston Churchill 1940
On Friday 15th January, six HCC pupils altered their daily schedule, and made their way to Hampton Junior School...
After a positive 'mock' assessment, HCC has been recommended to have the formal reaccreditation for the IIC award on February 24th.
We look forward to welcoming the assessor to HCC to meet students and staff, and to be updated as to the many new initiatives within Careers Education and Guidance that we offer, since first gaining the award in July 2006.
K.Drennan & N.Eggett
Highest attending tutor group in HCC win a pizza dinner Mr Ovenden’s tutor group 7GN were awarded with a sumptuous pizza dinner on the 19th January for having achieved the highest attendance in HCC last term. Standing tall at 97%, students in this tutor group clearly showed effort and dedication to their studies. It is no secret that good attendance is inextricably linked to achievement and enjoyment in school.
The DCSF recommends minimum attendance of 93% therefore each student should strive to attend school regularly. Attendance below 90% corresponds to ½ day missed each week, 4 weeks over the school year and a missed attendance adding up to half a year between years 7 to 11.
As their Year Learning Co-ordinator, I am very proud of the excellent start of 7GN and also of the overwhelming majority of year 7, who are outstanding ambassadors for HCC. Mr B. Molin Year 7 Learning Co-ordinator
Opportunities for budding writers
There are currently two competitions running for students to try out their writing skills.
The first is HCC's own mini-saga competition to write a story in exactly 50 words, closing date 29 January 2010. (Link)
The second is a borough-wide competition, sponsored by the Crime Writers' Association, to write a crime story in up to 1000 words. Shortlisted entrants will have the chance of going forward to the national competition and the overall winner will be announced during National Crime Fiction Week in June. The closing date for this competition is 19 February. (Details and entry form link)
Mrs Duane
Librarian
HCC adds value Parents may well have glanced through the annual league tables published last week. In terms of our overall performance in 2009, our GCSE outcomes were not high, though as we explained at the time, our Year 11 students actually exceeded their target for 5 or more A*-C grades (the target being 47%) although they were 5% off the target for 5 including English and maths. We are however very pleased with our CVA score of 997.4 (target 990), which represents the degree of value added to our students’ performance between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.
Congratulations to the eight Year 11 students who gained their Prince's Trust XL Bronze Award. This is the first cohort of students to follow this course at HCC and at the recent moderation the students were commended on the very high standard of the coursework they completed to achieve the award.
Such was the quality of their work, we have been asked if their assignments can be used as exemplar to train future XL Advisors. I am very proud of the progress the students have made and look forward to them gaining further awards.
Well done to Bartosz Bauman, Dale Channell, Kayleigh Cole, Jill Deacon, Gemma Hunt, Jack Johnson, Charlotte Sutherland and Jordan Williams.
The photograph shows some of the students holding their certificates in front of their celebration cake.
Kim Drennan
A fantastic well done to our in house published writers!
Earlier on in the term, students were given the opportunity to take part in a nationwide poetry competition called ‘Bust-A-Rhyme’ where students had to break the stereotype of lyrical poetry. Some of our students’ poems have been selected for publication in a volume of poetry out of hundreds of entries. A copy will be kept at the British library (Publication - 28th February 2010), as well as other libraries across the UK.
Well done to the following writers:
Jessica – ‘The Inner Me’ (Year 8)
Zoë – ‘My Soul’ (Year 8)
Ruth – ‘Dappled Thing’ (Year 8)
Jennifer – ‘My Friend Gone’ (Year 7)
Bobbie – ‘What’s wrong with me?’ (Year 7)
Keep up the talented writing!
Miss Stanbridge.
Improvements at HCC judged ‘Good’ by OFSTED!
On Wednesday 25th November two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools spent a day at HCC as part of OFSTED’s Monitoring Programme. The main purpose of the visit was to examine progress made since our last OFSTED inspection in November 2008 and to establish our capacity for sustained improvement.
After a full and rigorous inspection which involved lesson observations, interviews with staff and students and scrutiny of paperwork, Dr. Demont and her team were pleased to be told that progress on the three key areas for improvement was satisfactory or good in each case, and that progress made in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement was good.
We are pleased to report that Wendy Parish, who has been a familiar face at HCC for many years, has been appointed Manager of the catering team.
Laura from 11GT was December’s Jack Petchey Award winner. Laura is a key member of HCC's peer mediator team and she has received this award for her commitment to mentoring other Year 11 students in ICT during her own time after school. 
Voting at HCC is now well underway. HCC's candidate Katherine Pearce has been speaking to students and staff about her campaign plans and has already generated a lot of enthusiasm for the election...as well as many votes!
Genius....... Icon......... Incomprehensible.
On January 19th HCCA held the ever-popular and informative Principal's Question Time with Dr Demont and Mr Smith. A summary of the key questions and answers can be downloaded on this 
After a positive 'mock' assessment, HCC has been recommended to have the formal reaccreditation for the IIC award on February 24th. 
Mr Ovenden’s tutor group 7GN were awarded with a sumptuous pizza dinner on the 19th January for having achieved the highest attendance in HCC last term. Standing tall at 97%, students in this tutor group clearly showed effort and dedication to their studies. It is no secret that good attendance is inextricably linked to achievement and enjoyment in school.
The first is HCC's own mini-saga competition to write a story in exactly 50 words, closing date 29 January 2010. (
Congratulations to the eight Year 11 students who gained their Prince's Trust XL Bronze Award. This is the first cohort of students to follow this course at HCC and at the recent moderation the students were commended on the very high standard of the coursework they completed to achieve the award.
Earlier on in the term, students were given the opportunity to take part in a nationwide poetry competition called ‘Bust-A-Rhyme’ where students had to break the stereotype of lyrical poetry. Some of our students’ poems have been selected for publication in a volume of poetry out of hundreds of entries. A copy will be kept at the British library (Publication - 28th February 2010), as well as other libraries across the UK.
On Wednesday 25th November two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools spent a day at HCC as part of OFSTED’s Monitoring Programme. The main purpose of the visit was to examine progress made since our last OFSTED inspection in November 2008 and to establish our capacity for sustained improvement.