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Friday 12th January 2018

Staff and students seem to have returned to School in their first full week with a real buzz of enthusiasm (in the main) and, on a personal level, having read, reflected and chatted widely over the holiday period, I am incredibly excited about the term ahead. That's one of the beauties of working in education; there is the opportunity to relaunch / reinvent after each break if deemed necessary, and there are certainly a number of school-related New Year's resolutions I have in mind…

As you will have seen this week Damian Hinds has replaced Justine Greening as Education Secretary - the 4th Education Secretary during my 5 Years as Headteacher at Harrow Way - Blimey! Justine Greening's 18 months at the Department for Education mean that she had had one of the shortest tenures in the role, despite leaving a legacy of significant changes to school funding and primary assessment. Damian Hinds is the MP for East Hampshire. I have already invited him in for a visit to Harrow Way!

Governor Visit
We are very lucky at Harrow Way to have a very committed team of governors. School governing bodies are responsible for working with the school to ensure that it delivers a good quality education. I spend most Monday evenings with governors in committee meetings. Governors joined us in school on Wednesday and Thursday morning to see the school in action.

The key roles of governors:

1. To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
2. To hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff.
3. To oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent.

I have said many times before that one of the privileges of being Headteacher is that I get to see outstanding teaching and learning right across the curriculum. Through regular walks around school I am able to see every teacher in the school in action on a very regular basis. I was delighted that our governors were able to share this experience with me on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

We have got such a fabulous resource here in our own school with a staff that is littered with great teachers and teaching. Governors were really impressed with the climate for learning and engagement of the students. They also had an opportunity to talk to staff and students.

Year 11 Parents Evening
Monday saw our second parents' evening of the year with Year 11 students and their parents coming along eagerly to find out about their latest GCSE predictions/current progress. The purpose of the evening is, of course, to help diagnose their current position and to set clear targets for the term ahead. There was a fantastic turn-out as always and I hope those in attendance profited from the evening. It goes without saying, that parents must not hesitate to contact the School should they have any concerns over what will inevitably be rather challenging times ahead in the build-up to exams.

Year 11 Mocks
These will run from Friday 26th January for two weeks. This link to the timetable will help you and your child plan their revision work.

Year 9 Parents Evening Monday 22nd January
Appointments are now available to book. Year 9 parents have been sent an explanatory e-mail with a link to the booking website. Please ensure you make the appointments you need before 11:55pm on Sunday 21st January.

Year 10 Work Experience
A reminder to year 10 parents that the deadline for work experience submissions is Friday 13th February. Parents have been sent an e-mail with a link to an explanatory letter giving dates and details of next Summer's Work Experience Week for Year 10 students.

Performing Arts
The Dance and Drama Departments have a busy few weeks ahead. The annual Shakespeare Production is next week, details are below.

The Year 11 Dance Production which this year is based on C S Lewis's land of Narnia will have its public performances on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th January starting at 7.00 pm. Ticket prices £4 and £2, advance tickets only. Available from L6 at lunch time from Monday 15th January. All of the cast have been given letters to explain the purchasing process.

Hampshire Book Awards
This week we registered to take part in the Hampshire Book Award. This important and popular event has been running for more than a decade and this year we will be hosting the County Voting Day in June. A maximum of 12 year 8 students will participate by reading six books and meeting regularly to discuss the merits of each before casting their vote for their winner. If your child is in year 8 and would like to take part, they should contact Ms Burningham in the Learning Resource Centre for more information.

The aims of the award are:

• to promote the enjoyment of reading in Hampshire secondary schools, believing that enjoyment of reading is one of the stepping stones to improved standards of literacy
• to support the Key Stage 3 English curriculum
• to foster a reading ethos both within individual schools and in the county
• to draw attention to the most rewarding and accessible fiction available for the age group
• to provide an opportunity for those who enjoy reading to share their interest with other enthusiasts
• to challenge pupils to critically assess books and to make a reasoned case in group discussion, both within their school and in an inter-school activity
• to promote successful working partnerships between secondary schools, School Library Service and Public Libraries​

This year's Shakespeare show is titled 'Shakespeare's Women'; it features a selection of scenes and speeches that showcase the different ways in which women are depicted in Shakespeare - from the innocent Juliet to the scheming Lady Macbeth.

Public performances are at 7pm on Wednesday 17th & Thursday 18th January.
Tickets are £1 for students and £2 for adults.

These visits for 2017/18 have currently been agreed by the Headteacher. Others will be added throughout the year. There is no guarantee that they will all go ahead as this depends on student uptake. Further details on each visit will be given out to the year group/classes involved by the member of staff organising the visit.

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