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Welcome to the new school year! We have had a fantastic first full week back at school (despite the rather wet weather) and it has been wonderful to see our students returning smartly dressed, helping to create such a positive atmosphere around the site.

 

I was especially delighted to welcome our new Year 7s. What a lovely group they are turning out to be—plenty of good manners and smiling faces from the very start. As one member of staff remarked, you only get one chance to create a good first impression, and they have done just that. Parents, you should feel very proud. I must also commend our team of Year 7 tutors, who have been outstanding this week under the guidance of Mrs Roberts (Year Leader), Mrs Meek (Assistant Year Leader) and Mr Reed (Assistant Headteacher).

I am equally proud to introduce the excellent new colleagues who have joined our teaching and support staff this September. No doubt you’ve heard some of their names already: Mrs Georgina Crook (Director of English), Mr Remi Hopwood (Director of Science), Miss Trudi Fisher (Lead Practitioner in Science), Miss Molly Coombs (Science), Mrs Charmaine Wilson (SEN Administrator) and Miss Jess Pollen (Teaching Assistant). We are fortunate to have such highly qualified and enthusiastic specialists joining the team, and I have every confidence they will make a great impact.

Mrs G. Crooks

Mr R. Hopwood

Miss M. Coombs

Miss T. Fisher

The new school year is now well under way. As I mentioned in my first letter, we’ve made a number of site improvements and have begun rolling out new initiatives. One particularly exciting change has been in our canteen. Students have responded with real enthusiasm to the new food, and we are delighted to hear such positive feedback. The Student Council had previously shared their disappointment with the limited options available — especially the lack of proper vegetarian choices and the absence of fresh fruit and vegetables. We listened carefully, and as a result appointed a new catering company, Caterlink. They have upgraded the look of our canteen, introduced a wide range of delicious, healthy meals, and expanded the choice of snacks on offer. I am pleased to show that when our students speak, we listen — and that change can, and will, happen.

I also want to highlight our ongoing commitment to student and staff welfare. You may have heard of new government guidance known as Martyn’s Law, designed to strengthen safety and security in schools and other public places. In line with this, we have taken steps to improve our own procedures. A tannoy system has been installed to allow messages to be shared quickly across the school, and we have refined our evacuation and invacuation plans to ensure we can respond swiftly and effectively in any situation. We’ll be sharing more detailed information about these improvements shortly, including how staff and students will be trained and how we will continue to keep everyone informed and prepared.

Here’s to a successful and happy year for everyone,
Mrs Dawn German

All key dates for 2024-25 are also available on the website.

Assemblies This Week 
This week in assembly, I welcomed students to the start of a new school year by talking about fresh starts, high expectations, and our core values. I focused on the value “Be Aspirational”, encouraging students to set themselves meaningful challenges, even when they feel scary or uncomfortable. Using a personal story about swimming with sharks, I shared how facing fears and showing respect—both to others and to oneself—can lead to personal growth and pride. We also introduced our thought for the week: good manners make a difference, highlighting kindness, politeness, and consideration for others as essential for a safe, respectful, and positive learning environment. Following our three simple rules—Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Your Best—sets students up to succeed and thrive this year.

 

Andover Heritage Week 2025
In the summer term, our Year 8 History students were challenged to design a walking trail that would bring Andover’s rich history to life. The project encouraged them to explore the town in detail, uncovering fascinating stories and hidden heritage that many of us walk past every day.

 

We are delighted to share that the quality and creativity of their work has been recognised beyond the classroom. Thanks to support from the local council, a selection of the students’ heritage trails will be proudly displayed in the old O2 building in the Chantry Centre from 12th–26th September as part of National Heritage Open Days.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our students’ efforts to be celebrated by the wider community, and we are incredibly proud of the thoughtful and thorough work they produced.

You can read more about Heritage Week on the Andover Facebook page.

 

Year 11 Information Evening

Thank you to all parents and carers who joined us for our Year 11 Information Evening. It was a fantastic launch to what we know will be a successful and important year ahead. We were especially grateful to the colleges, universities, and employers who came along to showcase the pathways and opportunities available to our students beyond school, giving them a real insight into the future that awaits. It was wonderful to see so many families engaging with the evening, and we hope the presentations from our Directors of English, Maths and Science proved both informative and reassuring as you support your child through this crucial year. You can find the slides from the presentation here. 

Diary Reminder – School Photographer
The school photographer will be visiting Harrow Way School on Wednesday, 17th September to take photographs of Year 7 and Year 10 students only.

Please note: Any students who have recently joined the school and have not yet had their photo taken will also be included.

Late Detentions
If your child is late to school and has no valid reason for being late, they will be required to attend a same-day detention after school for 15 minutes.

If your child does not turn up to this detention, the detention will be moved to the following day and extended to 30 minutes after school. Thank you for your support in helping us encourage punctuality.

Locker Availability
There are plenty of lockers still available for students.

 If your child would like to use one, please log in to Scopay and complete an order under the Products section.

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

Welcome to the first issue of Ways Forward for this school year. Ways Forward is produced by us at Harrow Way to give you one location to find everything about Careers, Apprenticeships, College, Work and Work Experience.

In Ways Forward this week you can find out about lots of different careers thanks to @mypathcareersuk videos, including artist, translator, marketing manager, security guard, foley artist, and hydrologist.

Those in Year 11 will shortly be visiting colleges and school sixth forms to work out whether further study after GCSEs is the right path for them; we've listed the dates of the local open events coming up soon to help you plan. Year 10 students are also welcome to attend these events if they'd like to get a headstart!

We also highlight a wide range of events coming up soon including events with the British Army, i-Construct construction careers event, Unifrog's virtual university fair, Southampton International Boat Show Careers and Apprenticeship Evening, and SETA's engineering workshop taster day.

Having visited the Year 7 tutor groups, we are now seeing a number of the new students visiting for books, help and homework. Our Year 7's are expected to have a book to read. During the next 2 weeks, they will all have an LRC induction so they know what is available, how the space works and how we can help them. This information can be found in a  slide presentation on the LRC and Library Google Classroom to which they all have been invited by email. They can show you this. 

All year groups can access Reading Cloud and SORA either from the school website (students tab) or from the free apps. SORA is the free 24/7 online platform with around 7,000 books, comics, magazines and audio books. Reading Cloud shows the physical stock we hold, reviews, recommendations and more. Five minutes checking out each of these is time well spent and is strongly advised.

Students can use the LRC and Library at break, lunch and after school. We close at 4.00pm other than on Fridays when we close at 3.30pm and they can simply turn up - no need to book. We particularly recommend that they use the space for homework. The LRC remains phone free at all times including after school.

If you have queries or questions, you can email us. 

Here is a link to the online magazine WRD About Books - very colourful and engaging with articles, reviews and recommendations.

We look forward to meeting more new students over the next few weeks and to sharing what we have been up to. Have a lovely weekend.

Enrichments are Underway!
Our Enrichment Programme kicked off this week with fantastic numbers joining Netball, Football and Rugby on Tuesday. It was brilliant to see so many enthusiastic students keen to learn, compete and develop their skills across a range of sports.

Next week, we’re excited to add Badminton and Climbing to the line-up. Plus, the newly formed Harrow Way Heat basketball club will hold its very first training session of the season this Friday after school — Mr Carter is looking forward to welcoming his players!

A quick reminder: all clubs are completely free and there’s no sign-up required — just turn up and get involved. With so many opportunities on offer at Harrow Way, there’s something for everyone. Speak to any member of the PE team to find out more.

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:

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