Warmth is the Vital Element

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”

Carl Jung

We have had a very positive response to our first recruitment drive for Bohunt Horsham. I have had the opportunity to talk to several potential candidates, answering insightful and interesting questions and, as we enter our first round of interviews, I feel very optimistic about the excellent quality of teaching we will see.  

Of course, we are looking for dynamic and engaging teaching and we want to see colleagues who secure progress across a diverse range of abilities and needs but I will also be looking for teachers who have that warmth that brings out the best in children. I knew a headteacher previously who always asked at interview, ‘Are you a teacher of your subject or a teacher of children?’ This question made teachers stop and think about the most important question in teaching: why? For many teachers a love of their subject may be what brought them into the profession but if they don’t love spending time with children, they probably wouldn’t have stayed the distance. As we recruit our founding staff team over the next few weeks, I will be looking for talent and ambition – and I will also be looking for warmth. It is a vital element of my vision for Bohunt Horsham.  

A practical way I hope to bring that warmth into our school is through the placement of arts and culture at the heart of the school. In meetings with potential contractors last week I shared this vision for Bohunt Horsham in terms of environment – having state-of-the-art drama and theatre spaces, using these for our own performances and making them available to the wider community too. We can also highlight the importance of arts and culture through our involvement in competitions, our extra-curricular experiences such as international trips and residentials and immersive cultural off-timetable days.  

The Headteacher Drop-Ins on Friday afternoons have been helpful to me in establishing some common questions that our potential founding families have. I have included a few here, with answers where I can for information: 

1. Travel arrangements – when we have our postcodes for the final list of students that will be joining us in September, we will take them to HDC and discuss travel plans. As a school we don’t have authority to decide on road crossing plans on A264 but we will be working with the developers, talking to WSCC, the Highways Agency and HDC about this issue as development of the permanent site progresses. 
2. Permanent site – we are on track with the DfE’s timeline for this and are engaging with contractors for the build now. We do have Arun House on Hurst Rd for our second year should we need it.
3. Catering – we will have a full hot lunch menu available from our first year in Arun House. We are already in talks with three major caterers and part of those discussions is always: allergen awareness, healthy meals and affordability. 
4. Reporting – we are in the process of buying in a portal that will enable parents to see and do everything relating to their child’s schooling in one place, either through an app or a web link if they would prefer, parents will be able to see their child’s attendance, conduct, academic reports, punctuality, school lunch account, book parents’ evenings and communicate with school regarding school trips, absence, changes to personal details etc. This clarity of communication between home and school is an absolute priority. 
5. Special Educational Needs – we will not have a full time SENDCo in our first year but students with additional needs will be ably supported through academic, social and emotional needs, in order to achieve this we will have at least one teaching assistant for year 7, who will be supported by our Trust Director of SEN Simon Tanner and will work in close communication with the excellent SENDCo at Bohunt School Worthing. Students’ additional needs will be picked up in a variety of ways, through admissions forms once places have been confirmed, at the Welcome Evening in April and the Transition Evening in July. In addition to this, every child who is due to start at Bohunt Horsham in September will be visited at their primary school in the Spring and Summer terms. I will personally meet with key staff at the primary schools to share strategies that have worked and ensure we learn from their successes.  

I look forward with great excitement to next week’s interviews, taking place at Bohunt School Worthing, and to meeting the teachers who will bring the innovative and engaging teaching we demand whilst demonstrating kindness and compassion for young people.  

On our website, www.bohunthorsham.com we have a ‘register your interest’ button. If you would like to be kept informed of our progress, are interested in our student admissions or staff recruitment please use this button to join our mailing list.  

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