Weekly Message 280 – 24 October 2025
24th October 2025
As we reach the half-term break, we are proud of the brilliant start to the school year and how our values of Courage, Courtesy, and Commitment continue to shape the ambitious and respectful culture at Cams Hill School.
Our new Year 7 pupils have settled in wonderfully, embracing kindness, respect, and what it means to be a valued member of our community. Across the school, pupils have shown great courage through new learning experiences, exciting trips, and impressive achievements both in and outside the classroom. This has been matched by a strong commitment to our community, from supporting the Fareham Food Pantry to the success of key events such as Open Evening and the Year 11 Art Exhibition.
Thank you to all our families for your ongoing support. We wish everyone a restful break and look forward to welcoming pupils back for another successful half term on Monday 3 November 2025.
Year 7 Power to Progress Evening
Thank you to all parents and carers who were able to join us on Tuesday this week for the Year 7 Power to Progress Evening. We hope that you found the opportunity to meet your child’s tutor valuable and that the information shared by core subject leaders, along with the numeracy, literacy and science workshops, helped you feel confident in supporting your child’s learning journey with us at Cams Hill School.
Design and Technology – Food
In addition to our Food and Nutrition curriculum provision, we have also been very busy this week providing a range of food-related enrichment activities for some of our pupils.
Our Year 7 Nurture Group worked as a team to prepare and cook a batch of fruity flapjacks. This task required them to demonstrate a range of skills including weighing and measuring, combining ingredients, using the oven safely and of course developing their teamwork and communication skills.
Our Young Carers had the opportunity to meet and work together to create a batch of Halloween Cupcakes. This activity helped build confidence, teamwork, and creativity (super piping skills!) while also offering a safe space to take a break from daily responsibilities.
The Year 10 Hospitality and Catering pupils (with a little support from the Year 11 pupils!) had the pleasure of catering for the GCSE Art exhibition which took place on Tuesday 15 October. A range of sweet and savoury canapes were on the menu and included mini eclairs with a caramel glaze and caramelised onion, thyme, and garlic tartlets. This was their first catered event and whilst there was a sense of trepidation at the start, they produced exceptional outcomes. Being part of a kitchen brigade requires teamwork and strong communication skills, and we saw this throughout the preparation, cooking and the presentation stage of the dishes. Some of the pupils volunteered to serve the canapes at the exhibition to showcase the fruits of their labour, and they received some very positive feedback from guests and staff. Well Done!
Activ8
Over the last 6 weeks a group of year 9 pupils have been completing a course led by Activ8. They set themselves targets to:
⭐promote positive leadership through sport and discussion.
⭐highlight and promote how to become a role model for each other and the wider school community
⭐help to manage emotions
⭐work in a team towards a collective goal
The group have fully embraced the opportunity, and this week led their final event for Years 7 and 8 pupils. It was a privilege to watch the group thrive in this environment and reflect afterwards on what the course offered them personally.
Planters Outside Reception
Some of you may have noticed our new planters outside Reception. We are grateful for the advice we received from a member of our school community, Sjoke of Swift Horticulture, whose expert guidance in choosing plants to make our school site more beautiful is very much appreciated.
Year 11 Career Guidance Appointments
Year 11 pupils are entitled to an hour-long career guidance appointment. We are steadily working through the year group but if you would like to book an appointment for your young person to be seen prior to Christmas, please email careers@camshill.com.
Sports Results
Year 7 boys’ football were away at Portchester this week. The boys showed a dominant and well-rounded performance as they won 7-1. The score was 6-0 at half time, with a high-quality team performance.
Menu w/c 3 November 2025
Whole School Letters Published This Half Term
Below is a list of letters emailed to all parents/carers this half term together with the date and time they were sent. If you are unable to find any of the communications, please email office@camshill.com and we can send you a further copy.
End of Half Term 1 – 24/10/25 1602
Nasal Flu Immunisation Schedule – 20/10/25 1047
Attendance Matters – 15/10/25 1203
Homework Submission on Arbor – 10/10/25 1434
School Transport Assistance – 30/9/25 – 1500
Reporting absences on Arbor – 29/9/25 1043
Late start for all pupils – Wednesday 1 October 2024 – 22/9/25 – 1037
End of Week 2 – 19/9/2025 – 1646
Attendance and Punctuality – 12/9/25 – 1001
Attendance Percentages – 11/9/25 1135
Sponsorship Opportunity – Cams Hill School Rugby Kit – 11/9/25 – 1050
First Aid Incident and Medication Administration Notifications – 11/9/25 1029
PE Sports Clubs and Fixtures – 11/9/25 – 0955
Beginning of Term – 10/9/25 – 1803
Annual Nasal Flu Vaccine – 10/9/25 – 1206 (reminder sent 6/10/25)
Coats – 10/9/25 – 0731
Absence reporting – 4/9/25 – 1215
Statistics
Positive Behaviour Points Averages per Pupil for This Week
Year 7 – 5.57 points
Year 8 – 3.17 points
Year 9 – 4.68 points
Year 10 – 3.38 points
Year 11 – 3.66 points
Attendance
This week – 93%
Same week last year – 94.4%
MathsWatch, Sparx and Educake
These are online resources that we expect pupils to be accessing routinely with homework set by teachers and independently to support their progress in Maths, Science, and other subjects. We ask parents/carers to check in with their child to see whether they are accessing these resources routinely and to encourage the best use of them.
Sparx Maths – Year 7
Year 7 were issued a revision list for their assessment this week and independently selected topics to practice.
65% of Year 7 used Sparx Maths to revise for the assessment.
Average time was 61 minutes.
MathsWatch
Average number of questions answered per pupil this week
Year 8 6.9 questions
Year 9 7.5 questions
Year 10 6.6 questions
Year 11 13.0 questions
Highest Number of questions answered by one pupil this week
Year 8 45 questions
Year 9 28 questions
Year 10 24 questions
Year 11 40 questions
Over 50% in Maths Homework
Year 8 55%
Year 9 69%
Year 10 64%
Year 11 50%
Over 75% in Maths Homework
Year 8 43%
Year 9 51%
Year 10 46%
Year 11 26%
100% in Maths Homework
Year 8 14%*
Year 9 15%
Year 10 25%
Year 11 6%
*For example, this figure means 14% of Year 8 got 100% in their homework tasks.
Figures in green indicate maintaining or an increase from last week.
Not all Maths homework is set on MathsWatch, which is likely to affect the averages.
Maths Homework Support is open to all Years on Wednesdays in ICT2 until 4pm.
Year 11 Autumn Exams:
Wednesday 12 November – GCSE Maths Paper 1 (non-calculator)
Monday 17 November – GCSE Maths Paper 2 (calculator)
Wednesday 19 November – GCSE Maths Paper 3 (calculator)
Calculators and other equipment for sale
Casio fx-83GT scientific calculators can be bought via Arbor and collected from the Finance Office. Prices of these and other items for sale are shown below:
Casio fx-83GT scientific calculator- £9.00
Pre-packed pencil case – £2.50
Pair of compasses – 29p
Protractor – 9p
100 blank flashcards – £1.00
A range of GCSE Maths revision materials for KS4 use – See Arbor for details
Educake – Science
Average number of questions answered per pupil this week
Year 7 34 questions
Year 8 44 questions
Year 9 60 questions
Year 10 143 questions
Year 11 82 questions
Highest number of questions answered by one pupil this week
Year 7 151 questions
Year 8 206 questions
Year 9 341 questions
Year 10 998 questions
Year 11 311 questions