View this enews or previous versions in your browser.

The conversations I've had with students this week have reminded me just how important it is that school is a place where young people feel connected, challenged and supported. For me, one of the most important parts of our role in school is helping young people to flourish, not just academically but socially and emotionally too.

We have distributed our end-of-year student survey, which is already providing valuable insights. I have been delighted so far by the overwhelmingly positive feedback about life at our school, while also identifying areas where we can continue to improve. One finding that particularly stood out was the number of students who have encountered inappropriate material online – a timely reminder, given this week's national discussion around social media use for under-16s.

We have long believed that childhood should be about conversations, friendships and experiences rather than endless scrolling. Our phone-free school has transformed social times, with students talking, laughing and enjoying one another's company instead of looking down at screens. We know that schools and families share responsibility for keeping children safe online, but we cannot do this alone. We welcome any national measures that help create healthier digital habits and protect young people's wellbeing.

Last Friday, our Year 10 students attended an assembly with a simple but powerful message: “one year can make a difference”. As Year 11 celebrated the end of their examinations, we encouraged our current Year 10 students to build good habits now. Mrs Everett spoke about the importance of good attendance. She highlighted how even half a day off per week equates to 90% attendance across the year. This means lower grades, at least one if not two grades lower, in every subject, no matter the student’s potential. I talked about the importance of making the most of every lesson, in particular the Do Now activities, which help students to retrieve essential knowledge.

Mr Whitworth outlined a new initiative that we are introducing this year to teach our students how to revise. We are also pleased to be expanding our additional support programme in English and Maths so that every student has the opportunity to achieve their very best. Attending every day, engaging fully in lessons and learning how to revise effectively, will shape their success next summer.

Finally, many students will have noticed that work has begun on preparing C Block for its exciting transformation. By the end of this week, it will have been completely emptied, and contractors begin the next phase on Monday. While there may be a little extra noise over the coming weeks, the disruption will be worthwhile, and we are all looking forward to seeing the refurbished facilities ready for the start of the autumn term.

When it opens, it will be named The Waypoint. The name has been chosen to reflect both our school's connection to the ancient Harrow Way and our belief that every young person's journey is unique. Just as travellers have always paused at waypoints to rest, reorient and prepare for the next stage of their journey, this space will provide support, reassurance and encouragement so that students can thrive with confidence as part of our wider school community.

I wish you all a restful weekend.
Mrs Dawn German

Harrow Way are grateful to the following local businesses for their sponsorship:

All key dates for 2025-26 are also available on the website.

Assembly
This week’s assembly has been focusing on understanding what it means to be a refugee, in light of international refugee day on the 20th June. The assembly covered; famous refugees, correct terminology, misconceptions, and refugees in British history.   Miss Holton

Year 10 Progress Reviews
Year 10 Progress Reviews are now available to view on your MCAS App as well as the student portal.

Thank a Teacher
It was national thank a teacher day on Wednesday 17th June. Thank you to all parents and students who sent messages and virtual cards to our staff this week. Those kind words mean the world to us. Teaching is the best job in the world, but it is also hard work. A little appreciation goes a long way.

Meducators
I had the honour of taking 14 year 9 students to Andover College today for a “Meducators workshop. Our students were extremely well behaved; a credit to our school and their families. 

The first session was an icebreaker where students had to decide to whom they should give a Liver transplant - our students were discussing sharing the transplant with all three patients as they knew it could regenerate. The Doctor leading the session said he was so impressed with our students’ knowledge; he felt they knew more than year 12 students he had presented to last week! For instance, Brianne asked about a Craniotomy, Seren explained why the brain swells, Lexi knew an obscure use of the skeleton as a mineral store and Jonathan shared that blood cells are made from the bone marrow. 

Other sessions involved using a stethoscope to listen to their lungs, heart and pulses, and a Veterinary Nurse gave an overview of when to treat at home, consult a vet or emergency clinic. It was an inspiring day. The students are all excited for their future careers in Healthcare!  Mrs Burden

Icknield Sports Day

On Wednesday, a group of our Year 9 and Year 10 students had the privilege of supporting the Sports Day at Icknield School, working alongside pupils with a wide range of physical disabilities and learning difficulties.

The feedback from staff and families was overwhelmingly positive. The headteacher, Mr Cannon, praised our students for their kindness, patience and inclusive approach, adapting activities with maturity and compassion to ensure every participant could enjoy the day. They were great ambassadors for our school.

Taekwondo Success
Huge congratulations to Year 9 student, Lucy, who achieved her Black Belt in Taekwondo last weekend. She has been training for many years, demonstrating determination, dedication and resilience, one of our school values. It was a pleasure to award her with a Headteacher Commendation in assembly this week  in recognition of her achievement. Well done Lucy.

Newspaper Weekly Voucher Collection Competition

The school is taking part in a voucher collection competition ran by the local newspaper, the Andover Advertiser. The school that collects the most tokens from the paper can win a voucher for £1000 to put towards new equipment for the school.

Please collect tokens from the newspaper from 11th May 2026 and hand them into the school. Students can hand tokens into Student Reception. The deadline for tokens to be handed into school is 3rd July 2026.

Many thanks for your support.

The Great British Summer Savings scheme is running from 25 June to 1 September 2026, helping families feel a bit less squeezed this summer.

The new scheme includes reduced VAT on days out, including tickets at attractions like soft play, adventure centres and theme parks, children's tickets for theatres and cinemas, and children's meals in restaurants. Children aged 5 to 15 in England will also be able to travel free on local bus services throughout August. For further information about the scheme visit Summer Savings.

HAF - Free Holiday Activities for Eligible Children this Summer

Please follow this LINK to access helpful resources for parents/carers of children moving up to secondary school.

Welcome Packs
All welcome Packs have been sent out to families and the New Intake Page on the website is now live and is linked HERE

If you haven’t received your Welcome Pack by Friday 19th June, please get in touch with the school by emailing adminoffice@harrowway.hants.sch.uk

Year 6 Welcome Disco - Wednesday 8th July 2026
There is still time to put your child’s name down for the welcome disco. Please sign up HERE.

Parents of secondary age children in mainstream school and children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) can now apply for School Transport for the 2026/27 academic year. Applications for primary age children in mainstream school will open on 16 April.

Application deadlines
You can check whether your child or young person is eligible for transport on the School Transport webpages. If you believe they meet the criteria, and you need help getting them to school, you must apply on time to make sure your application is reviewed before September. The deadlines are:

If your child already receives School Transport, you don't need to do anything unless your circumstances have changed. If you have moved home or school location, you will need to reapply for transport. Visit the website for full details including how to apply

Date for Year 11 Parent/Carer Diaries

GCSE Results will be available to collect from the Auditorium between 10.00 am and 11.30 am on Thursday 20th August 2026.

Action4Youth Camp Details for Year 11 Students
Please follow this LINK for more information, the programme is open to all young people who would enjoy spending several days away from home, meeting new people, building confidence, and taking part in a range of activities within a supportive camp environment.

Ways Forward - our weekly newsletter for Careers, Apprenticeship, College, Work and Work Experience.

This week, find out more about: NHS Allied Healthcare roles, apprenticeships with Speedy Hire, new college and sixth-form open events (useful information for Year 10), games design virtual work experience, careers with geography, a local Saturday art club, what a court reporter does, and a Youth Advisory Council opportunity with Into Film. 

Our Year 7 and 8 Hampshire Book Award judges will shortly be meeting to vote for their winner - this will be relayed to the School Library Service at Hampshire County Council to add to the hundreds of votes being collected across the county. This award has represented a low stakes opportunity for students to develop their oracy skills, critique skills and to read books they may not have chosen, thereby growing and enriching their reading.

We are thrilled that some of our upper years students have applied to become Reading Volunteers at the Public Library for the Summer Reading Challenge for Primary pupils. It has been a pleasure to complete their references. Some of these students are going on to to become Harrow Way Reading Mentors from September and will attend a training session with me in July.

In order for a stocktake to take place in August, ALL books must be returned by 17th July - including the overdue ones we have been chasing for a while with students and, in some cases, with parents. Students can continue to access 7,000+ items online for free and 24/7 using SORA (click on 'continue using Hampshire Schools Library Service'). Books, audio books, comics and magazines are available for 4 to 18 year olds.

Below you can find some photos of various World Cup and football themed book displays we have - as mentioned last week.  We try to capitalise on events to engage readers. As the DFE National Year of Reading says, if you're into it, read into it!

Year 9 Rounders
The Year 9 Rounders team travelled to John Hanson on Tuesday to take part in the District Rounders Tournament. With a small field of only 4 schools taking part, the girls knew that every match really counted. They started well against Winton with a 10-6 win. Some good batting into the gaps at 3rd Deep and a great catch by Ivy in the second innings gave them confidence into the next game.

Testbourne was a much tougher affair. A well drilled fielding team made it hard for our girls to score and with some big hits in their second innings, Testbourne sailed to a comfortable victory. The final game against John Hanson was to decide second place. The scores were close after the first innings with only half a rounder in it and Emily made the opposition nervy with an excellent rounder. However, despite some excellent catches by Emily and Ivy the girls still couldn't quite stop the opposition from finding the rounders, and with our team struggling to find the gaps in their second innings, they unfortunately fell short with a final score of 10-5 and finished the tournament in 3rd place.

Still, a fun afternoon of sport in the sunshine was had by all, with all participants competing with excellent spirit.

Horse Showing Competition
Congratulations to our Year 7 student, Lottie on an outstanding performance at a recent horse show.

Competing in a range of classes, she achieved excellent results throughout the day, demonstrating skill, dedication, and a strong partnership with her horse. Lottie was awarded 1st place in the Working Hunter class and also secured 1st place in the Mountain and Moorland class.

Following these impressive performances, she qualified for the Working Hunter Championship, where she went on to achieve the title of Reserve Champion.

These results are a fantastic accomplishment and reflect the hard work, commitment, and horsemanship shown by both Lottie and her horse. We are incredibly proud of her success and look forward to seeing what Lottie achieves next.

Year 7 and 8 Cricket Tournament
We had our first cricket fixture of the season on Thursday at John Hanson, where our Year 7 and 8 team took on a number of other schools in a round-robin style tournament. For a lot of our students, this was their first experience of a competitive cricket game. Harrow Way took two teams to the tournament, and showed great skill and teamwork during each game. Harrow Way 1 finished the tournament on 6 points, with wins against Danebury and Wellington. They unfortunately lost the big showdown against Harrow Way 2, which meant they finished 3rd overall. Harrow Way 2 also secured wins against Danebury and Wellington, alongside their win in the Harrow Way derby, meaning they finished on 9 points and finished 2nd overall. Some great cricket was played and lots of experience gained. Well done boys!

The Best Job in the World
We are proud to work closely with i2i Teaching Partnership to grow great teachers. If you would like to train to teach, please see their newsletter here.

Check out the latest news, fundraising initiatives and upcoming events from the PTA here - harrowwaypta.charityhive.co.uk

For local community events and information, please click the button below:

Copyright © 2026, Harrow Way Community School, All rights reserved.

Harrow Way Community School,
Harrow Way,
Andover,
Hampshire.
SP10 3RH