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As always, there’s plenty to celebrate at Harrow Way, and this past week has been no exception.

 

Monday 3rd March was National Offer Day, and I am delighted to share that Harrow Way has once again filled all available places for our incoming Year 7 cohort in September 2025. The continued high demand for places is a testament to the excellent education and nurturing environment we provide. 

Last night’s Year 9 Parent Consultation Evening was a tremendous success. It was wonderful to see such high levels of engagement, with parents, students, and teachers coming together for meaningful discussions. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to these valuable conversations. This event also supported our Options process, giving parents and students an important opportunity to explore the curriculum and make informed decisions about GCSE choices. A reminder to all Year 9 families—the deadline for submitting options is fast approaching. Students have been shown how to enter their choices via the MCAS system, and we encourage them to complete this promptly.

This week, we have been immersed in the excitement of Careers Week 2025, a truly inspiring time for our students. A standout moment for me was the visit from Ash Bhardwaj, a BBC journalist, who delivered an uplifting talk to our Year 8 students on the theme "Say yes more." His message—about embracing opportunities, persevering through challenges, and the power of human connection resonated strongly with our school values. In fact, Ash’s visit came about through a chance conversation at a recent conference in London. Our paths crossed unexpectedly, and a simple chat turned into a wonderful opportunity for our students. Fittingly, Ash encouraged them to do the same—talk to new people, as you never know where it might lead. As part of the day, he also interviewed some of our Year 11 students, and we look forward to seeing the outcome of this exciting collaboration.

Each of these experiences reflects what makes Harrow Way so special—a school that not only focuses on academic success but also prepares students for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The moments this week not only highlight our ongoing commitment to excellence but also capture the vibrant and dynamic nature of our school community.

I wish you all an enjoyable weekend,
Mrs Dawn German

Assembly - A Week of Inspiring Opportunities
This week, we have been privileged to welcome an incredible range of speakers to our school as part of National Careers Week. It has been truly inspiring to see our students engaging with professionals from a variety of fields, broadening their horizons and exploring exciting possibilities for their futures.

 

BBC journalist and broadcaster Ash Bhardwaj spoke to Year 8 about the power of saying yes to every opportunity—a message that resonated deeply with our students. He then took the time to interview some students for a documentary, making it an unforgettable experience.

Year 11 had the chance to hear from Derek Marshall, a barrister from College Chambers, who shared insights into studying law and life at the Bar. Year 10 explored career and apprenticeship pathways with representatives from AWE, while Mr. Fluellen encouraged Year 7 and Year 9 to dream big and believe in their potential.

We were also delighted to host Lloyds Bank, whose employees led practice interviews for Year 9, giving them invaluable experience for the future. Meanwhile, Year 10 took part in a Skills for Life day, supported by the British Army, where they developed key employability skills in a hands-on, engaging way.

Year 11 had the chance to hear from Derek Marshall, a barrister from College Chambers, who shared insights into studying law and life at the Bar. Year 10 explored career and apprenticeship pathways with representatives from AWE, while Mr. Fluellen encouraged Year 7 and Year 9 to dream big and believe in their potential.

We were also delighted to host Lloyds Bank, whose employees led practice interviews for Year 9, giving them invaluable experience for the future. Meanwhile, Year 10 took part in a Skills for Life day, supported by the British Army, where they developed key employability skills in a hands-on, engaging way.

A huge thank you to all our visitors and to our students for making the most of these fantastic opportunities. The future is full of possibilities!

 

We Value Your Feedback
As per my letter to you earlier this week, we are committed to working in partnership with parents and listening to your views. Last year, you told us you wanted better communication, more information about your child’s progress, and improved site security. We took this seriously and have implemented changes. You can also read the Strategic Plan that we created on our website. Your feedback helps us continue to improve, so please take a moment to complete this year’s survey and share your thoughts. The survey closes at midday on Monday 17th March. Thank you for your time and support.

 

World Book Day 2025

This year for World Book Day we asked tutor groups to decorate the doors of their tutor bases, we had an amazong 22 dressed door entries.

 

The judging decision for the World Book Day Doors was incredibly tricky again - we had some truly stunning entries and we certainly have a lot of talented artists and creatives! It was important to us that everyone or almost everyone in the tutor group made a contribution and that the group created something 'home-made'. A great team working opportunity. Well done to everyone who joined in!

Mrs German and the judges decided on the following:

Keeping Our School Site Safe – A Gentle Reminder
We’d like to remind parents and carers that for the safety of our students and staff, access to the school site is restricted during the school day. Students should enter via the pedestrian gate, and parents will not be permitted to drive onto the site unless their child has a serious injury requiring crutches or other mobility support.

We understand that dropping off your child after a medical appointment can sometimes be tricky, but we kindly ask for your support in following this policy. Our staff must prioritise site security, and we appreciate your cooperation in helping us maintain a safe environment for everyone. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Year 11 Parents - GCSE Summer 2025 Timetable
You can now access your child's GCSE timetable for Summer 2025 via the Bromcom My Child at School MCAS App by clicking on the Exam icon on the left.

Ways Forward - National Careers Week Special

After a brilliant, packed National Careers Week, the careers information does not stop there! In Ways Forward this week you can find out more about science careers - it's British Science Week from 7-16 March 2025 - and we also highlight careers in motorsports, and meteorology.  Our Labour Market Information spotlight focuses on 'green' apprenticeships this week.

In news from local colleges - we highlight an open event at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke that Year 10 students might be interested in going along to and Basingstoke College of Technology are running a Student Support Evening aimed at Year 11 students who have already applied.

For Year 11, there are 2 new apprenticeships vacancies that they might be interested in - a childcare apprenticeship, and a distribution craft apprenticeship; both of which are based in Andover.

I shared this with our SEN team last week and Mrs Law, our SENco, thought families may find it useful. It concerns how to engage SEN students with reading. With 4,000+ items in our physical Library and nearly double that on our online reading platform, there really is something for everyone! Students just need to be open to the opportunity.

Our calendar of activities for March and April is looking excitingly busy.:

Looking further ahead, we are considering marking VE Day in early May as it is the 80th anniversary. If you have stories, memorabilia or artefacts passed down through your family about this time in modern history, please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you via this link. Thank you.

Much as we are reluctant to, we will be posting some reimbursement requests on Scopay for a number of very overdue loans. Students have been contacted numerous times and letters have gone home. We have a wonderful book collection and need to maintain it for the benefit of all. Thanks for your support.

Highly Commended World Book Day doors:

County Cross Country
Our Year 7 and Year 8 cross country runners who qualified at the district competition headed over to Down Grange, Baskingstoke to take part in the county round representing Andover Schools. This is always an excellent competition with a simply mind-blowing standard of athletes taking part. Heidi and Isabelle were up first and finished respectfully in their age group.  Zach, who had won the district round by some margin, was next up.

After an excellent start the more experienced runners really dug deep and the pace picked up on the second lap.  Zach stuck in well and finished 15th (although controversially moved there in the funnel after crossing the line in 13th!).  This means Zach has qualified to represent the Hampshire team at the end of March, we wish him well! Nala then ran in the Year 8 race and finished just outside the top 50.

Our runners proudly represented Harrow Way and the Andover schools team really well and gave their maximum effort in a very tough competition.  Well done, also, to the athletes from John Hanson and Testbourne who competed for the Andover team.

Primary KS2 Festival
On Tuesday 4th March 72 KS2 students from 5 local schools came to Harrow Way to take part in a Multi Skills festival. They completed a round robin of activities including; dodgeball, balloon volleyball, crab football, target ball and mat races. The students were supported by my brilliant Sports Leaders, who guided them through each activity. We are looking forward to hosting KS1 Hockey Skills on 12th March.

Y11 Boys Football - John Hanson 2 - 1 Harrow Way
Ethan Smith saved Harrow Way from an upset with some important stops late in the first half as  the John Hanson Y10 side beat the Harrow Way Y11 2-1 on a sunny afternoon this Tuesday 4th. Jasper Taplin scored for Harrow Way in a late fightback that proved futile in the end. Harrow Way has now dropped points in two consecutive matches to their closest rivals. It was the first game for the away side in the New Year and maybe the rust from the break showed. Despite long periods of possession the team could never find a killer pass to create good chances. Two goals either side of the half time whistle was enough for John Hanson to see out the game. 

Y9 Boys Football - Harrow Way 3 - 1 Wellington
Harrow Way managed to get their revenge against Wellington this week, with a 3-1 win at home. Alan Elzanowski opened the scoring, after a great through ball from Neyo Furtado, lobbing the keeper to make it 1-0. The scoreline doubled soon after, with another great through ball from Neyo which found Alfie Kinghorn who finished brilliantly from a tight angle. Just before the half time break, Wellington fought back to halve the deficit, scoring directly from a free kick just outside the area.

Harrow Way came out quickly after half time, and whilst Alfie Kingorn was through on goal, Wellington’s keeper made a risky challenge and gave away a penalty. Mo Barahmeh stepped up and slotted it home to make it 3-1. Harrow Way continued to have chances, but couldn’t increase the scoreline, and the game finished 3-1. A good display and another three points on the board.

Year 9 Boys Football - Harrow Way 0 - 2 John Hanson
A second game in as many days for our Year 9 boys, and they were looking to continue their form from the previous game. The game was very cagey to begin with, with both sides struggling to keep hold of the ball and create any chances. At the end of the first half, Arthur Andrews made two excellent saves to keep the score level at the break.

In the second half, John Hanson raced out the blocks and caught Harrow Way by surprise, and after another great effort saved by Arthur in goal, the John Hanson striker followed in and tucked home the rebound. Harrow Way had to make a few changes due to injury, and for long periods of the second half it was backs against the wall, trying to hit John Hanson on the counter. The game however was put to bed after a somewhat controversial touch (hand!) from the John Hanson forward took the ball past Arthur and found its way into the back of the net. Harrow Way had some chances to get back into the game, but weren’t able to convert. 2-0 it finished, with the return fixture booked in for next week. Unlucky boys!

Year 10 Boys Football - The Clere 2 - 4 Harrow Way
On a crisp evening, Y10’s made the fairly long journey over to The Clere school. In only their second league game of the season Harrow Way made a fairly strong start to the game and broke the deadlock just five minutes into the game. A good cross in from Stanley Anoma caused The Clere defenders a bit of a problem and Emre Yoruk was on hand to give Harrow Way an early 1-0 lead. It was a bit of one way traffic with the Harrow Way defence playing high and sniffing out any danger which allowed the team to push high and keep the pressure on The Clere.

It was soon 2-0 Harrow way with Henry Jennings whipping in a delightful corner which found Harley Burt at the back post who half-volleyed beautifully into the back of the net. The pressure did not stop there as Henry Jennings again turned provider as he played Charlie Overland through with a defence splitting pass and Charlie finished brilliantly at the keepers near post. 3-0 Harrow Way. Henry Jennings then turned goalscorer as he shot from 25 yards and, unfortunately for The Clere, the ball took a wicked deflection which wrong footed the keeper and ended up in the back of the net which made it 4-0 to Harrow Way.

As half time was approaching The Clere found a way back into the game. Despite the first half stand-in keeper Lennon Marriner having a calm and composed first half, a weak corner was bundled into his net which made it 4-1.

The 2nd half started much the same with Harrow Way dominating the game and they had many chances but were very wasteful in attack. The Clere then scored their 2nd towards the end of the 2nd half, after the team had been rotated a lot, but by that point there was little time left and the game finished 4-2 to Harrow Way.
Man of the match - Henry Jennings. Honourable Mention - George Harris.

Year 10 Rugby Harrow Way 71 - 17 Wellington
The Year 10 rugby team have been incredibly committed to training this year and are continuing to develop into a very handy team.  Our main objective of this game was to use the ball more effectively and they worked really hard to move the ball away from the contact area to utilse the space created.  The first half was tight however the 9-10 partnership of Lucas and Henry got the ball moving allowing Stanley to get the scoresheet rolling.  In the first half Stanley scored twice, as well as Henry and Harley scoring.  Henry also converted two of these.  Wellington kept themselves in the game scoring 3 tries in the first half.  Half time score 24-17.

It was nice to see a few players run out who haven’t had much match experience; Lennon, Justin, Aidan and Toby all making great contributions to the team. As the game progressed our boys found their flow and managed to take advantage of gaps in the Wellington defence.  Many of the tries were the work of excellent rucking, secure ball and reacting quickly to turnover ball.  Stanley scored two more, Justin got himself a hat-trick of tries, Leighton ran in a lovely try and Harley got one more in the second half. Henry with an overall 72% kicking success (significantly higher than Finn Russell) had an excellent game at fly half but man of the match was awarded to Lucas Williams who was phenomenal at scrum half.  He controlled the breakdown well, utilised the ball well out to the backs and defended courageously. Well done lads, a well deserved victory. 

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.

Lost Property
Is your child missing a water bottle, coat, blazer or their shoes??!  Please get them to check at student reception as we have several of each item waiting to be reunited with their owners.

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
You can find our March newsletter here.

 

We are excited to announce that Andover Musical Theatre Company’s youth division, Starlights, will be staging Annie Jr as our next production! Following the success of Matilda Jr, we are now looking for enthusiastic young performers to join us for this exciting musical adventure.

We would love for you to share this opportunity with your students, parents, and relevant departments, such as Drama and Music. This is a fantastic chance for young people aged 9-18 to build confidence, develop performance skills, and be part of a fun, supportive theatre community.

Audition details and key dates will be announced soon, and we welcome all young performers who are eager to take part. If any of your students are interested, they can fill out the interest form attached - Starlights Sign Up - Andover Musical Theatre Company.

The Solihull Approach 
Free online courses for ALL parents, parents-to-be, carers, grandparents and teens living in Hampshire. Plus courses for professionals working with children.

Holiday Activities and Food Programme - Easter 2025

Bookings will be available in early March, but eligible parents / carers are encouraged to register their children for HAF to receive their booking code. Registration can be done by providing very simple information at the following weblink: 

Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) registration

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