Harrow Way ENEWS

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Friday 7th April 2017

Good afternoon,

It has been yet another hugely busy and successful term. As we reach the Easter break with lighter evenings and hopefully brighter and warmer days it helps to focus the mind on the imminent arrival of the summer exam season. The Easter break is an opportunity for students and staff to recuperate from the efforts they have put in over the last three months. There are no easy terms in the school year but in my opinion the spring term is the most intense. The run of parent evenings combined with the pressures of mock exams and controlled assessments mean there is little time for reflection but the Easter break will allow everyone to recharge their batteries a little and gather their strength to face the challenges that all their efforts have been geared towards.


Our Year 11 students are now counting down the last few weeks before their GCSE examinations start and I have been delighted to see so many Year 11 utilising their lesson, tutor and intervention time to good effect.


I am keenly aware that a supportive parent community like ours experiences the exam pressures too and it is sometimes tricky to get the balance right between supporting the students and keeping them focused and taking them to task if they are too complacent. The key to good revision is practising exam questions against the clock which can be corrected to give an idea of topics which need attention and also creating revision aids like cue cards or mind maps. Both these activities avoid the trap of reading notes without retaining the information which many students fall into. I know that many of the students are now following a clear revision plan. It is vital that all of the students spend the Easter break wisely in terms of revision and exam preparation.


Year 11 parents will also have received a letter with details of our English Literature Revision day at The Lights on the first day back – Monday 24th April. There is a reply slip for parents to complete. The letter is also available here and permission can be e-mailed to caroline.lowing@harrowway.hants.sch.uk . The department have been busy planning an exciting programme to support Y11 revision.


Our new Year 10 prefects and Student Leadership Team are taking over responsibility for prefect duties from next term. Prefects will be attending a training day at Norman Court on Tuesday 25th April.


Looking at the range of activities mentioned in this e-newsletter over the term I am again reminded of the huge amount of extra-curricular activities that go on and success that we achieve. I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues who despite increasingly heavy workloads continue to give so freely of their time at lunchtimes, after school, in the evenings, at weekends and during holidays to enrich the learning and life experiences of the students. Your child should have brought home the Easter edition of the Harrow Way Eagle Newsletter yesterday, with dates for the Summer Term. It is also available to view here.


Celebration Assemblies this week have rewarded students in many ways for their achievements across the school community this term. We have celebrated Learners of the Week, Learners of the Term, Stamper Totals, High Attendance and Tutor Learners of the Term.


Our Year 9 French students started their journey to Paris early on Thursday morning – and are tweeting already – you can follow the group @harrowway.


I wish you a very happy Easter break and look forward to welcoming the students back to school on Monday 24th April refreshed and ready for more!


Uniform
School Uniform

At Harrow Way we are very proud of our school uniform, which is an essential part of our school's ethos. We believe that a smart uniform improves our students' self-esteem and confidence and contributes to good behaviour, as well as helping them to feel part of their school community. At Harrow Way we are doing more than preparing students for exams, we are preparing them to be citizens in the world of work. A professional and appropriate appearance is vital in every industry.


Since the beginning of the school year students have been growing and for many of them their skirts are now too short, please can we ask that you check carefully the school guidelines which state skirts must be plain and black. They must also be of an appropriate length to preserve decency. A guide for appropriate skirt length is that it should be no shorter than one hands width above the knee. Lycra fashion skirts are not permitted. We hope that you will support us by having this in place by the start of the Summer Term.


 
Calendar
April 2017

Monday 24th April
Start of Summer Term
Year 11 English Revision Day – The Lights


Tuesday 25th April
Year 10 Prefect Training – Norman Court


Thursday 27th April
UK Maths Challenge – some Year 7/8 classes


Could parents please not come onto the school site to pick up students at the end of the day – the road is reserved for school buses.


New Currency

We had the exciting release of the new £1 coins on 28th March. The downside to this and the previous £5 note change is that our coin and note loaders do not accept the new currency. Please note that the old £5 notes cease to be legal tender on 4th May and cannot be accepted. Please read updated information on this and for using our on-line cashless system here.

School Reports

A reminder that reports are now published on the SIMS Learning Gateway. Please keep your log-in and password secure; resetting passwords cannot be automated and is time-consuming. Do bear in mind there is a student log in if you have problems. Your child just needs to login using their school network username and password to view the same information.


Easter Activities
Easter Break Activities

Lego Adventure – Milestones
This interactive exhibition features over 100 incredible LEGO models of buildings, animals and treasures from around the world and has plenty of activities to keep children busy, from completing the detective trail to helping us build a giant LEGO Big Ben! There's also 20% off if you book online and under 5s go free.
More details here

#InspireAndover Skate Jam
22nd April 12 - 4 pm
More details here

A-Fest
23rd April 2 - 6 pm
More details here

 
Eagle Newsletter
Eagle Newsletter

Our latest Newsletter, including the 'Head's Corner' and a summary of all the news and events that's happened at Harrow Way over the Spring term, can be viewed here.


A reminder that school breaks up for the Easter Holidays at 3.00pm on Friday 7th April 2017. Summer Term commences on the 24th April 2017, 8.45am.

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