The Polygon School on Southampton Business South!

Following our visit to the Mayors Parlour recently, we have had an article published online on “Business South”. We are very proud of our achievements. Here is the article below:

 Southampton City Council Celebrate Southampton Schools for giving Students the best start in Life.

Southampton City Council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust celebrated the outstanding efforts that schools across Southampton are making to improve the health and wellbeing of their pupils at the annual Healthy High Five event.

Below is a quote from Miss Long's speech:

Jessica Long, Teacher at The Polygon School, explained how they’re maintaining their gold award: “We are very lucky to have the facilities and opportunities to offer activities which contribute to us achieving the award. For example, our pupils are all offered swimming lessons, orienteering, sailing, bike riding, magnet fishing, as well as opportunities for learning outdoors, taking part in “Wellbeing Wednesdays” and healthy eating by providing fruit to all classes.

“We believe giving children life skills via lessons such as Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN), work skills, outdoor learning and personal development opportunities also gives the children a wider vocabulary and helps them to develop their imagination, which in turn helps to support their mental and physical wellbeing.”

Schools across the city are working hard to ensure that children have a good start to enable safe, active and healthy lives. To date, since the award launched in 2018, over 100 Healthy High Five certificates have been awarded in Southampton.

You can check out the whole article at:

https://businesssouth.org/15-07-2025-southampton-city-council-celebrate-southampton-schools-for-giving-students-the-best-start-in-life/

Radish time with Sam!

 Sam really enjoys going to the allotment on Tuesdays for activities. Today he pulled up some radishes (he was looking forward to trying them for the first time) and watered the plants in the greenhouse. We also found lots of lovely insects such as butterflies, ladybirds and moths. We took a photo of the moth and looked it up as it looked so unusual-check out what we found below!

This is a Jersey Tiger Moth. We saw several on the allotment and they were beautiful! According to Google they are quite rare but we are seeing more of them along the South coast especially on the Isle of Wight.

VAWG film

That’s a wrap! 

This time last year, Wayne from Yellow Door and I were sat in a coffee shop, brainstorming all of our bold and brilliant ideas for a collaborative project on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) a partnership between The Polygon and Yellow Door. 

When you dream big anything can happen! 

Today, after months of hard work both in and out of the classroom, we have a powerful and meaningful product shaped by young people’s perspectives on VAWG. 

A special thanks to Solent University you’ve been incredible. From recognising the value of young people’s voices, to guiding our pupils through scripting, using technical equipment, and even directing a student with no prior acting experience into a confident actor in a short film you made it all possible. 

We’re beyond grateful to the staff and pupils at Crestwood for trusting our vision and jumping on board with such energy, and Lily, our brilliant amazing lead. Thank you for all sharing your talent and experience. 

This couldn’t have happened without the dedication, passion, and commitment from every single person involved. It truly was a collaboration across education, charities, and councils, representing young people from Southampton, Hampshire, and Portsmouth. 

To Fergus and your phenomenal team - what you pulled off today was nothing short of inspiring. We can’t wait to celebrate in the Autumn term and showcase this incredible journey and creation. 

From me, Mrs Foster, and all of us at The polygon thank you for giving our pupils a platform, for sharing a passion for PSHE, Drama and Flim, and most of all, for helping young people find their voice! 

New library books

 New books!

You asked, we listened!

We have recently had some exciting new books arrive at the school to go into the library! 

These will be available for pupils to borrow, read and return.

 We will have more arriving soon!

Warning: These books will help get rid of brain rot and boost aura. 

The Polygon Planter

 The Instillation of The Polygon Planter

At Southampton Central Station

As part of the work experience, in collaboration with the Saints Foundation, at Southampton Central Station the boys painted their very own Polygon Planter to have on Platform 4! 
Lots of effort went into the design of the planter, it features a South Western Railway train perfectly painted on the front. 
The boys all loved getting the chance to have a go at lining the planter, filling it with soil and planting some lovely flowers into it. 

 

Stretch & Engagement Programme's year in Boxing.

As part of their personalised timetables, some of the pupils at Morris House have taken part in boxing sessions as part of their sport and physical education curriculum. 

Most of the pupils have been taking part in boxing lessons since the start of the academic year, and before, and as a result have learnt a host of different boxing skills. The sessions are led by experienced coaches, in excellent facilities, that have produced champions in the past! Alongside the boxing skills, our pupils are increasing their fitness and strength, and learning lifelong skills in discipline, resilience and communication. This is a fantastic resource for our pupils and it is hoped that many will continue to access the same facilities and maintain boxing as a hobby beyond their Polygon years. 

The sessions are run as part of both the Stretch and Engagement programmes, and take place at ABC Boxing in Sholing and the Golden Ring in Millbrook. This means the sessions are accessible to all of our pupils as they can be easily travelled to from anywhere in the city. 

This has been a very successful provision over the years, and will continue to be integrated into the timetables of those who engage well in the sessions.

Year 8 English - War Poetry

 War Poetry 

Year 8's this half-term have been exploring World War One, they have looked at causes, impacts and what life was like in the trenches. The pupils have shown great interest in certain elements and have even compared it to modern times, creating discussions and engaging with the news, where relevant. They have also explored a variety of war poems looking at poetry features and themes, and some have then written their own, either as a group of individually.  

Below are three of the poems created this half term. 

3JG - As a class 3JG created a poem about the life of a soldier in war, they have named it 'The Messy Truth'

– The Messy Truth

Money and power is the reason war exists

Family arguments, murderers get away.

Started a war, because people are bored.

Countries gain power, whilst others fall.

 

I shot loads of people,

And they died.

I got shot a load of times,

But I survived.

 

I blew someone up with my tank,

I shot people out of a plane,

Naval artillery burnt everything it saw,

Called in with a radio, then they just move on.

 

I shot loads of people,

And they died.

I got shot a load of times,

But I survived.

 

Trenches were in great condition,

Rats, no hygiene, dirt and gas.

Suicidal, damn everyone else.

People thinking the worst about their allies.

 

I shot loads of people,

And they died.

I got shot a load of times,

But I survived.

 

I got shot in the hand, temporarily disfigured

Medically discharged, but still a hero.

I shot loads of people.

I’m lucky to have survived,

It’s a shame everyone else died.

Josh - He wrote his poem about the destruction war has on civilians and the land. He has called his 'A Time'. 

A time where people in different countries flee. 

Children evacuated from their homes, 

ripped from their lives, 

Hungry, beaten and depressed nowhere to run too. 

A time where people in different countries fight

Death and destruction are everywhere, 

Guns firing from every angle, 

Scary times, they could find you anywhere. 

A time where people fight in different countries, fight for land,

Pointless. Fighting for rubble and dust,

crumbled buildings no one wants, 

what is the point? 

A time where people in different countries fight for land or power. 

Billy - He wrote his with the perspective of being a German soldier having to fight for Hitler. He named it 'Germans Vs Brits'. 

World war will make us hungry for food 

And we hail Hitler for our lives

For the young we will leave but the old we will take

Our bombs will take lives and our guns too

It is scary but make sure you're not hairy

We will fight until we win and they lose. 

Healthy High 5 at the Lord Mayor’s Parlour

The Polygon School was invited to attend a celebratory event yesterday at The Lord Mayors Parlour. We were there celebrating our achievements with the Healthy High 5 award alongside several other schools.

Miss Long gave a short speech about what we do at The Polygon to achieve a Gold star for this award and spoke about all of the amazing activities we do to enhance pupils personal development and mental and physical wellbeing.

The boys were all fantastic and enjoyed meeting The Lord Mayor and Captain Carrot!

Aidan also accepted a bug hotel and some seeds that were gifted to us-you can see that this has already been put up in the allotment!

We were very proud to be a part of this event and to have our achievements acknowledged. 

ASC: Spam-Fried Rice

 This week in after school club we made spam-fried rice. One of the pupils requested we make something using spam so we gave it a go and it went down really well! 

We are open to suggestions in after school cookery so let Miss Long know if you have any ideas!