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This morning, it was an absolute delight to host our Year 7 Rewards Breakfast—a celebration of some truly outstanding students! Mrs. Ford, our Head of Year 7, collected nominations from tutors for students who have gone above and beyond in embodying our school values: kindness, respect, aspiration, resilience, and integrity. Others were recognised for consistently giving their best every single day.

These young people have settled into our school beautifully, embracing the challenges of Year 7 with enthusiasm and determination. It was a pleasure to spend time with them and celebrate their achievements. Well done to all—your hard work and positive attitudes make our school community stronger. Keep shining!

Recognising success is important to me, not just for our students, but our staff as well. I was thrilled to hear about Miss Parker’s success at the weekend (please see the article below). As we say to our students, life is about enriching experiences and it is important that we take time for our interests beyond the classroom too.

The Department for Education published KS4 Performance measures yesterday. I was delighted to see that, yet again, our students have made the most progress and have achieved the best outcomes in the local area. Nonetheless, we have always said “Great Schools never stand still”. I remain ambitious for all our students. They deserve an excellent education leading to earning great qualifications which open doors in the future. I am incredibly grateful for my staff who work tirelessly on behalf of our young people.

 

On Monday, we will launch our final attendance challenge for 2024, marking a bittersweet milestone for Mrs. McLachlan—affectionately known as "Mrs. Mac." After many dedicated years encouraging our students to attend school, Mrs. Mac will retire at Christmas. Her tireless efforts have made a remarkable impact, helping us achieve excellent school attendance.
We are incredibly grateful to parents who consistently support our school’s attendance goals. At our school, we aim for 96% attendance, as data clearly shows that students with this level of attendance achieve significantly better outcomes than those with 92% or below. Good attendance is essential for children to thrive academically and personally.

Former Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan introduced robust measures to improve school attendance, including increased sanctions for families with persistent absenteeism. This focus has continued under the current Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson. While penalties can feel punitive, the intent behind these measures is clear: to ensure every child has the best possible chance to succeed in life.

As teachers, and parents ourselves, we understand the frustration caused by the soaring cost of holidays during school breaks. Recently, I noticed a caravan park on the Jurassic Coast tripling its prices for the half-term period—a situation that feels grossly unfair. Teaching unions and other advocates have urged the government to address this issue for families and school staff alike.

Despite these challenges, the school cannot permit term-time holidays. The growing number of families facing not just fines but court action over unauthorised absences highlights the seriousness of this issue. We understand the stress this creates for families. The decision to impose court action lies with the local authority.

As we prepare to bid farewell to Mrs. Mac, we look forward to seeing the results of her final attendance challenge. Thank you for your ongoing support in helping us maintain outstanding attendance rates. Together, we can ensure that all our children have the opportunities they deserve.

I wish you all an enjoyable weekend,
Mrs Dawn German

MCAS - Bromcom Parent App
Yesterday, you should have received a letter from Mr Townsend about the launch of the My Child At School (MCAS) Parent App. We are always looking for ways to enhance communication and provide you with better access to important information about your child’s education. This online app will give you instant access to attendance and behaviour data as well as receive messages and updates from the school, not just emails. Perhaps most importantly, we are going to use the app to publish our reports. We are intending to send out an email on Monday with your login details. If you wish further information or support, please come and speak to Mr Townsend in the LRC during our Meet the Tutor event.

Hyrox Competition
Miss Parker, one of our amazing PE teachers, took part in the Hyrox Competition on 1st December, Hyrox is the ultimate fitness racing - it requires each athlete to undertake the following as quickly as possible:
1km run; 1000m SkiErg; 1km run; 50m sled push (100kg); 1km run; 50m sled pull (75kg; 1km run; 80m burpee broad jumps; 1km run; 1000m row; 1km run; 200m farmers carry (2 x 16kg); 1km run; 100m sandbag lunges (10kg); 1km run and finally lift 100 wall balls (4kg). There is no time limit, you race until it is completed! 

Miss Parker’s finish time - 1 hour 10 mins and 44 seconds. She came 4th in her age group and was rated 9th female overall out of the 939 people who raced. As well as this fantastic achievement, she raised £300 for Macmillan Cancer Trust. The PE department has crowned her the Hyrox Queen. Huge Congratulations.

 

Assembly
This week, Mrs. Woods led assemblies to reinforce our behaviour expectations. While most of our students adhere to the school rules and work with staff to foster an environment of mutual respect, a small number are facing challenges in maintaining appropriate behaviour both in and out of lessons. These assemblies serve as a reminder to all students of what is expected of them and the consequences of not meeting these standards.

At a time when teacher recruitment is increasingly challenging, it is essential that staff are treated with respect. Our home-school agreement highlights the shared responsibility of students, parents, and staff to work together, ensuring no learning time is lost due to poor behaviour.

 

Meet the Tutor

There will be a "Meet The Tutor" event for parents, carers and students in all year groups on Thursday 12th December 2024 from 1.00pm - 6.00pm. You will have the opportunity to meet with your son or daughter’s tutor(s) to discuss their progress this term as well as any issues or concerns. This is an important event, which helps reinforce the home/school relationship that is so crucial to a child’s successful education, so we would strongly request that you attend. Appointments will be ten minutes long and are bookable online from 4pm today (29th November). We would ask that your child/children accompany you on this occasion. A letter with information about this event including how to book an appointment was sent this week. You can see a copy of it here.

Please don’t forget that to facilitate this event, school will close to students at 12.30pm. 

Cash Free Christmas Fair
The Harrow Way Christmas Fair will be taking place today, from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. There will be student run games, competitions, prizes, a BBQ, Santa’s Grotto, a tombola, an assault course and so much more. Rather than using cash, students can buy 'Jingles' to spend at our fair via Scopay. There will also be a limited amount of Jingles available to buy on the day of the fair, using cash or cards. For more information, please view the letter we sent out last week.

PTA Christmas Raffle
With Christmas rapidly approaching, the PTA are holding a Christmas raffle - grab a chance to win one of the amazing prizes donated by some wonderful local businesses as well as generous members of the school community! 

Just scan the QR code or visit the PTA website at harrowwaypta.charityhive.co.uk to enter. Good Luck!

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

Year 10 students - well done to all the students that have already completed their work experience placements information on Unifrog and have had these visits approved.
In this week's ways forward, we highlight information about a career as an electrician, roles in the Government using languages and education pathways in the hotel industry.
Any students thinking of studying in the US in the future, might like to attend a free webinar with the Fulbright Commision and there is information about apprenticeships with the British Army.

There is also some information about the useful resources that 'Ambitious about Autism' for young people (and employers) to help with transitioning from education into employment.

Netball - Harrow Way Vs Winton 19-10
On Tuesday 3rd December, Winton came to Harrow Way for the final home game of the season. Harrow Way started strong with 7 goals to Wintons 3. Lucy and Ruby worked well together to keep the ball away from Wintons defenders. Harrow Way continued to put pressure on Winton scoring goal after goal with Isla and Lexi made some great passes into the circle. Erin was great at defending the opposing teams circle, keeping them on their toes and the game finished with a win for Harrow Way, 19-10. Well done girls, you have had a brilliant season so far. The Player of the match went to Erin and the Coaches Player went to Lucy. 

Year 7 Rudolph Run for Countess of Brecknock Hospice
On Wednesday as part of their PE lesson, Year 7 took part in a 2km fun run in aid of the Countess of Brecknock Hospice.  The run was completed in good spirits and the students all had fun.  

We also made it a House competition where the top 3 boys and top 3 girls were all awarded extra points for their House’s.  Well done to:

Girls:
1st Izzy Kneller - Buzzards
2nd Hollie Wylde - Kites
3rd Maisie Wells - Hawks

Boys:
1st Zach Watts - Buzzards
2nd Jack Bennett - Hawks
3rd Dylan White - Kestrels

We are now collecting all the sponsorship money and will let the Year 7’s know how much they have raised when we present a cheque to the Hospice during the Year 7 Christmas dinner.

Year 7 Football v John Hanson
The final score of the second Y7 football match was 6-2 in favour of John Hanson. For the majority, John Hanson had control and Harrow Way struggled in the game to gain momentum in that first half which was shown by the score (4-0 at half time) and the amount of chances we conceded. However in the second half we gained momentum and moved the ball and created more chances and grew into the game. With the team trying to find the right formula, changes were made in formation and in important positions. The relationships between players are developing and the team is producing good football without the results to match, the second half score was 2-2, with goals from Jaiden Bonello and Jack Bennett. 

Multi Skills
On Tuesday 3rd December, 62 children from different Primary Schools visited Harrow Way for a Multi Skills event. The festival consisted of a round robin of 8 different activities that the children took part in such as, cone carnage, line ball, relay races and rob the nest. My Sports Leaders led the activities and supported the children brilliantly throughout. We have had a great time working with the Primary Schools in 2024 and we are looking forward to doing more of this in 2025. 

Year 9 B v Testbourne B Netball
Despite fielding 3 year 8 students due to injury or absence the team played together as if it was their regular team. The Year 8’s relished the challenge and raised their games and improved as the game went on. Harrow Way took the lead  and control of the game from the beginning and  our shooters were in great  form popping the goals in from everywhere. The score finished 12-2 at half time. Credit must  go to our defence who never really let Testbourne get the ball into the goal circle to have scoring opportunities. Well done to Ella Maya and Sophie for their tireless efforts. Lucy O did a great job at goal attack and her game is starting to develop into being a really effective feeder to her goal shooter. 
The final score finished 23-5 which completed a very good week for this team with two wins from 2 games. 
Players Player: Lucy O and Ella Maya, Coaches player: Lucy O.

Y10 Football vs Rookwood
On Thursday 5th December Year 10 finally had their first fixture of the season at home to Rookwood. The game started a bit cagey with both teams trying to find their rhythm early on. It was about 15 minutes in when the deadlock was broken. Henry Jennings picked the ball up in midfield and played a perfectly executed over the top through ball into Charlie Overland who finished well at the near post to give Harrow Way the lead. There were very few chances leading up to half time with most of the shots coming from outside the box with both defences defending well.

The 2nd half started very similarly to the 1st with it being a tightly contested battle in the midfield. A few changes were made by Harrow Way at half time and it was one of the substitutes who instigated an attack which led to another goal for Harrow Way. Chipoya Masuwa played a lovely ball into Stanley Anoma’s feet who then turned his man and scored a well struck shot in at the near post. 2-0 in Harrow Way’s favour. Rookwood did battle back however, and from a corner one of the Rookwood players scored an absolute rocket of a volley straight from the corner into the top corner. 2-1 and game on. Chances were again hard to come by but in the final minutes there was a scramble in the Harrow Way box and the Rookwood players were screaming for a penalty as they believe Harley Burt handled the ball in the box but due to the poor light and 20 players being in the Harrow Way box both the referee and linesman did not see the incident. The game finished 2-1 to Harrow Way, a good start for the Y10 lads.
Managers Player: Stanley Anoma, Honourable Mention: Henry Jennings.

Lateness 
If your child is late to school, please write a note in their planner or call the school with the reason for lateness, to prevent unnecessary sanctions being set. The sanction will be a same-day lunchtime detention for all Years.  Failure to attend this detention will result in an after-school detention and further sanction will be applied for persistent lateness. Thank you for your support with this, it is very much appreciated.

Website Medical Page
We have an updated Medical Page for parents on our website.  Parents can access forms to keep us updated on all things medical for their child, such as:

Prescription Medication

Returning to school on crutches or with an injury

School inhaler

School Autoinjector

Updating medical information  

Students Feeling Unwell in School
Please remind your child not to contact home in the first instance if they feel unwell. They should go to the school nurse, who will then contact home if necessary. If you send your child into school knowing that they are under the weather, we feel you have made the decision that they are well enough for school and we will stand by that decision unless their condition deteriorates.

School Nursing Team
The school nursing visited recently, they highlighted how parents can support their child's well-being through the teenage years, here are some useful websites and services that they shared with us:

Hampshire Healthier Families

Sleep Charity

Back to Basics - Hampshire CAMHS

Young Minds - Parents' A-Z Mental Health Guide

Community
If you are looking for a new venue for your club/organisation Harrow Way Community School offers fantastic facilities at competitive prices. To view what we can offer please visit our lettings website. We now have a Facebook page. You can find it here or by searching for Harrowwaycommunity

Aluminium Recycling
We have teamed up with Magpie Community Recycling on East Portway Industrial Estate. This local service supports people with learning and physical disabilities and has provided us with a bin so we can collect foil, drink cans and aluminium food trays. There is a collection bin in our Main Reception for the aluminium to be deposited. Please send in any aluminium products you have - this will be collected by Magpie Community Recycling every 2 weeks. Thank you for all your support.

Check out the latest news, fundraising initiatives and upcoming events from the PTA here - harrowwaypta.charityhive.co.uk

This will be the home of PTA news, raffle and event details so please sign up, check out what we are up to and if you have any thoughts, feedback or if you are interested in helping out in any way please get in touch!

The HWCS Parent Teacher Association continues to look at future fund-raising and enrichment opportunities to benefit students and would love to hear from you if you have ideas or experience to share. You can email us here for information or to express an interest. In order to continue, we do need volunteers so hope to hear from you. 

Andover Athletic Club
Happy Advent and welcome to the December edition of the Andover Athletic Club Newsletter. Did you open a door on your advent calendar this morning?  Was it chocolate or sweets? Or perhaps something luxurious? The range of different advent calendars is astounding and yet I struggle to find one that is tailored for athletes.

This bumper edition includes the winners of the Club's Presentation Evening, but the competitive calendar has been quiet, particularly at the hands of Storm Bert, so not a lot of results to report. Enjoy. You can find our December newsletter HERE.

Andover RFC U13’s - We are looking to recruit enthusiastic players to our U13 team (School Year 8). Training is held on Wednesdays and Sundays at the Goodship Ground.

On the 25th of January 2025, Your Space Therapies are offering a practical and down-to-earth ‘Anxiety Toolbox’ webinar for parents and carers to support their children with anxiety and mental health.

All the details and a QR code for ease of booking are on the flyer which can be found HERE.

We look forward to offering parents and carers in your school community kindness and empowerment to support their children.

Being a parent has never been easy. There are no manuals for it, and previous generations may not be able to provide the insight you're looking for. The family unit is more dispersed than ever, with some families existing hundreds of miles from what may be called a 'core unit'. The rapid pace of societal change in the UK rapidly outstrips the knowledge of the immediate past. The result is that many parents may find themselves lost in a maelstrom of contradictory advice. For adults, time has never been more compacted. Family Lives has produced a series of online parenting courses, to make this challenge a little easier. If interested please follow this link.

Family Lives offers a confidential and free* helpline service for families in England and Wales (previously known as Parentline). They can be contacted on 0808 800 2222 for emotional support, information, advice and guidance on any aspect of parenting and family life. Their website is also a rich source of useful support and advice.

Hampshire County Council - Have your say - Barriers to Walking and Cycling
As part of Hampshire County Council’s commitment to improve accessibility and enable more people to walk and cycle for short journeys, we would welcome your support with this consultation and mapping exercise.  Below is the link to take part

www.hants.gov.uk/barriers-walking-cycling

Pop Up Ensemble
PLACES STILL AVAILABLE! Back by Popular Demand - FREE Andover Pop Up Orchestra from Hampshire Music Service. 15th December 2024.

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