View this or a previous version in a web browser.

Friday 5th January 2018

Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! Welcome back from the Christmas holidays, which I hope were lovely and celebratory for you and for your family. Best wishes to everyone for the year that lies before us. We have got quite a short half-term coming up with only five weeks, nevertheless it's going to be quite an action packed few weeks. The students have all quickly settled back into their school routines and there is the usual calm, but productive buzz around school.

Eagle Newsletter
The Autumn Term edition of the Harrow Way Eagle was distributed to students during the last week of term. It is also available to view on the website and contains important dates for the remainder of the academic year.

Year 11 Parents Evening Monday 8th January
Appointments are still available to book. Please ensure you make the appointments you need before 11:55pm on Sunday 7th January.

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 10 Work Experience
A reminder that the deadline for Placement Year 10 parents 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.

Homework
Homework is an essential part of your child's education. Not only does it enable students to make good progress and practice what they have learnt, it also develops independent learning - a life-long skill. There are lots of ways in which you can support your child with their homework:

1. Go through homework with them using Show My Homework. All teachers post homework on here including any sheets or resources that students might need. If you are having difficulty logging on then please contact the school.
2. Help your child by having a routine around homework. Many parents find that the period between the end of school and before tea time is a good time. Encourage your child to avoid leaving homework until the night before the deadline.
3. Helping your child does not include doing the homework for them! It can help children to explain the task, what they already know and what they are going to do to complete the work if they are unsure of how to start.
4. If there are any issues around homework then please contact the school. We are here to support you and your child. Homework Club is held every night in the Library from 3pm to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 3pm to 3.30pm on Friday.

Year 7 and 8 have new Home Learning projects this term. Copies of this booklet will be available next week on our website www.harrowway.hants.sch.uk via the Parent Links tab and on the school VLE.

Here is a short run down of the deadlines for this term:

KEY
Grey boxes - work on your home learning during these weeks. Don't leave it until the last minute!
H – hand your Home Learning in to your subject teacher during the lesson (s) you have with them that week.
r – your Home Learning will normally be marked and returned during this week.

Attendance
This year we are conducting a new initiative in our quest to achieve and maintain excellent whole school attendance. We have sent out colour coded letters to all parents advising them of their child's current attendance level; we will send these at the end of each term. Over recent years we have raised the profile of school attendance with varying initiatives and rewards. Colour coded letters are proven to have a positive impact on whole school attendance, and we thank you for your support with this as we strive to our goal of 96% whole school attendance.

Sports Clubs available to students – Spring 2018 - click here see the extensive range of sporting clubs and activities on offer to students. For more information on any of the clubs, speak to Mr Haysom or a member of PE Staff.

A Question to Start the New Year!
How do we become the best that we can be, as individuals, as teams and as organisations? This was one of the questions I considered over the Christmas break having read Matthew Syed's latest book 'The Greatest'. Matthew Syed published his first book on the science of high performance, Bounce, in 2010. His second, Black Box Thinking, followed in 2015. Both received international acclaim and have been translated into multiple languages. He released his latest book, my Christmas read, The Greatest, in February 2017.

In this wide-ranging and provocative book, Matthew Syed, the award-winning Times columnist and bestselling author, explores a new approach to high performance, a means of finding an edge in a complex and fast-changing world. It is not just about sport, but has powerful implications for business and politics, as well as for parents and students. In other words, all of us.

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.

Harrow Way Community School (All Parents) Mailing List

Please contact the Admin Office, including your e-mail address and child's name (if applicable) to update your contact details or unsubscribe. Contact the school here.