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Friday 4th December 2020

December has arrived this week and after the events this year, I'm certain that we all deserve some festive cheer! It was great to see the Christmas tree going up in reception and outside the school. I have also been signing over 400 Christmas cards! Below is the winning entry for 2020. Congratulations to our Year 7 design winner, Maya Knight.

We are aware of the difficult decision families will be making about the Christmas break. Considerations about who they will see, and how careful they have to be with more senior members in the family bubble are bound to be uppermost in everyone's minds. Now, more than ever, we are asking everyone to continue to be really careful to avoid unnecessary mixing, and to keep children away from the school if there is any suspicion of a Covid symptom in the household. Your forbearance and patience with this has been remarkable, and we are all hoping that we can get through to 18th December having been able to remain open continuously. Thank you so much, again, for your true community spirit.

With continued high levels of attendance, we can see the students making real progress since September, for sure. That diet of learning which they experience each day is so very important and we try to ensure that it is as effective as possible for them. It is actually reassuring to know that, albeit with some operational differences, school, learning and our students are continuously developing. We have fantastic students who are academics, artists, mentors and performers who, I assure you, will enrich the lives of those around them for many years to come. It is a privilege to see how they have coped over this year - it is to their credit and the support that you as parents give them.

Year 10 Parents Evening
Thanks to so many Year 10 parents for taking part in our first ever online only, video based parents evening last night. The majority of the 1003 appointments arranged went ahead successfully and we thank so many of our parents for taking the time to meet virtually with subject teachers. We are aware that the parents-booking platform we used experienced some issues for 30-60 minutes at around 5pm, and had largely recovered again by 5:30pm. Our supplier has fully acknowledged the issues and told us that the volume of schools using the platform for their parents evenings was at its biggest ever on Thursday and that they are today meeting with all parties involved to put measures in place to ensure the same issues do not happen again. They have said that they are "bitterly upset about it" and regret "letting you, your parents down, and ourselves down". We thank parents for the feedback already received, both positive and negative, and have shared all of it with our supplier.

Year 11 Exams 2021 – Announcement on Thursday 3rd December
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced yesterday, students sitting exams next year will benefit from a package of exceptional measures to make them as fair as possible and manage the disruption caused by Covid-19. It is not perfect. Nothing can be, given the fact that learning has been so disrupted by coronavirus and that pupils have been affected to vastly different extents. Various options have been discussed exhaustively, and, frankly, schools just needed a decision. The uncertainty has gone on for far too long and they need to be able to get on with the job of preparing our Year 11 students for these important exams.

More generous grading, advance notice of exam topics and additional papers are promised by the Department for Education to make up for the disruption faced by students during the pandemic.

The measures mean:

• more generous grading than usual, in line with results from summer 2020, so that this year's cohort is not disadvantaged
• students getting advance notice - at the end of January - of some topic areas covered in exams to focus revision
• exam aids - such as formula sheets - provided in some exams to cut down on the memorising required
• additional "backup" exams - to be held in July - to give students a second chance to sit a paper if they have to miss main exams or assessments due to illness or self-isolation
• and a new expert group, which will monitor variation in the impact of the pandemic on students across the country

We know that you as parents as well as our students will be relieved to have a clearer sense of what the arrangements are and how this will ensure that individual circumstances are taken into account. These steps should help students feel more confident about their exams next summer. ​I​f you would like to see the information shared by the Department for Education about the steps taken, please click here: Extra measures to support students ahead of next summer's exams.

Year 11 Pre-Public Examinations Harrow Way
To help our students prepare for the exam series in the summer, we will be holding our PPE exams (Pre-Public Examinations) as planned. Our published calendar shows that these exams will take place in the week before the February half term and the fortnight following the break. This will give all students the opportunity to experience exam conditions and where applicable, practise using exam concessions. These exams offer some really valuable information about current levels of performance, strengths and those areas that still need to develop in order for students to fulfil their potential in the summer. Mrs German will write to Year 11 parents in January with more information about the PPEs and share the timetable with you.

Senior Environmental Prefects
Thanks, from our senior environmental prefects to the trustees of the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation and Roots & Shoots UK for our first ever 'Hanson box'. The amazing donation is full of exciting resources of books, DVDs, a magic bean growing kit, an insect hotel and wildflower seed.

Safeguarding

We are aware of the impact on mental health and wellbeing of the pandemic and even more so as we head into lockdown. If you are concerned about your child or there are circumstances within your family that you believe we should be aware of please do let us know by contacting your child's Tutor in the first instance. You can also flag up any concerns to our dedicated safeguarding email: safeguarding@harrowway.hants.sch.uk.

This link is worth a look as it offers parents/carers lots of advice and support on how you can ease anxiety around the Coronavirus, keeping your child safe online, working from home, taking care of your mental health and other parenting pressures and conflicts you may experience.

Safeguarding Report
We have been informed that a young man was approached by a stranger near Anton Lakes this morning. Police have been informed and the incident number is INC20201204-0389 if further incidents need to be reported.

Getting to Grips with Google Workspace - Students
As well as Google Classroom, all students have access to a Google Drive with the full suite of apps: Docs for word processing, Sheets for spreadsheets, Slides for presentations, and a wealth of other apps integrated into the Google Suite.

Google Classroom also has a superb app, available for both iOS and Android smartphones and tablet devices. This means that students don't need to have a laptop (although Classroom works well on those too!) Work can be accessed online, completed on paper, and a photograph uploaded if necessary, all from a single device like a mobile phone.

Assemblies

This week's assembly was on Anti-Bullying and the Power of Kindness. We explored the theme of this year's Anti-Bullying week which is "United Against Bullying". Every member of the school community can make a difference in the fight against bullying and we hope that all pupils will take up the challenge. Our SMSC thought for the week was "Strong people stand up for themselves but the strongest stand up for other people" and Mr Reed challenged Harrow Way students to live up to this in their lives.

Non-Uniform Day - Thursday 10th December
Thursday 10th December would have been the date for our annual Christmas Fair which is normally a brilliant, fun event that also raises funds for charity. As this cannot take place this year due to current restrictions we would still like to mark the day with a dress down day to raise donations for the Andover Food Bank. If students have PE/Dance on the 10th then you can still 'dress down' but must wear your own appropriate sportswear.

We would like to ask families to make a small donation of a food item in exchange for students wearing their own clothes that day. Donations should be in date and unopened/sealed and should preferably be worth in the region of £1 as this is our usual dress down donation. These will be collated and boxed in school before being dropped off at the Food Bank.

So that we are able to donate a variety of goods, can I please ask that each year group donates something from the designated themes for each year group.
YEAR 7: 'Roast Dinner' - eg Tinned Meat, Tinned Veg, Gravy Granules
YEAR 8: 'Condiments' - eg Jams, Pickles, and Chutneys
YEAR 9: 'Snacks' - eg Biscuits, Crackers and Crisps
YEAR 10: 'Dessert' - eg Desserts and also Cooking Sauces
YEAR 11: 'Naughty but Nice' - eg Sweets and Chocolate

My Weekly Reminder
Please can we remind parents/carers - do not send your child to school if:

• someone in your household is awaiting results;
• there is a positive case in your household;
• someone in the household is symptomatic or your child is showing symptoms.

Face Coverings
Students have been fantastic every single day in meeting our expectations around the wearing of face coverings. A very small minority of students are routinely not bringing a mask. Please do ensure that your child is bringing their own face covering.

As we move from a national lockdown into a Tiered lockdown, can I please remind you about our students wearing face coverings on transport.

It is already the law that children and young people aged 11 and over must wear a face covering on public transport. PHE advises that children and young people aged 11 and over must also now wear a face covering when travelling on dedicated transport to secondary school or college. This does not apply to those who are exempt from wearing a face covering on public transport.

We had already requested this of our Harrow Way students who use dedicated transport supplied by Pikes Coaches and Stagecoach, as well as taxis. Can we please ask parents again to remind their children to wear masks on school transport, and to have a plastic bag available to safely store masks when not in school communal areas.

Parent/Carer Visits to School
Please can we ask parents/carers to carry out daily checks so that forgotten items do not need to be dropped off during the school day.

Support staff will not be taking items to classrooms to avoid breaking bubbles. There is a grey box in the Reception foyer in which items can be placed, with a form to fill in. A message will be emailed to the student's teacher to pass on. You will appreciate this is not guaranteed so let's please ensure our students have all they need at the start of the day. Thank you!

Remote Learning - Absence

If your child is away from the School for any reason e.g self-isolating, waiting for a test or for any other reason we have created a remote learning programme to help them to keep up with their studies. Students need to work through their normal timetable; for example if it is Tuesday week B and they have Geography periods 1 and 2 then they find their year group under the Geography column and click on the last topic that they studied. This hyperlink will take them to a series of lessons from the Oak National Academy or Seneca so that they can keep up with their class.

The document can also be found at Remote Learning under the Curriculum tab on our website. If you have any questions or comments then please direct them to: caroline.lowing@harrowway.hants.sch.uk

Thursday 2nd September - INSET DAY
Friday 3rd September - New Year 7 students only
Monday 6th September - All Year groups

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