Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you had a well-earned rest over the Easter break. Having students back at the end of the last term was amazing and we have been very impressed with how well they settled back into school life. Seeing them interact with their peers and be children has been the most rewarding. On our return from the Easter holidays, our Covid security measures and systems will remain in place.
A few reminders and updates below:
Face Coverings
On, Tuesday 6 April, the government confirmed that face coverings should continue to be worn in secondary school and college classrooms as a precautionary measure when students return after the Easter break.
Face coverings in schools and colleges are to remain in place at the start of the summer term, following an ongoing review of the evidence and data. All other safety measures continue, including twice-weekly asymptomatic testing of staff and students to help find cases of the virus before potential outbreaks develop.
This cautious approach will help limit the risk of transmission and enable continued monitoring of the effect of school and college returns, as twice-weekly testing is established and embedded in pupil’s routines.
It is expected that face coverings will no longer be required to be worn in classrooms, or by students in other communal areas, at step 3 of the roadmap, which will be no earlier than May 17th. Link to DfE Guidance
COVID 19 Testing Summer Term
Before Easter, your child was given the next pack of Covid tests for home use. They should continue to test twice a week during the Easter holidays. It is critically important that they take a test the night before they come back to Harrow Way for the start of the summer term on Monday 19th April so they must test on Sunday 18th April. The national Covid restrictions were eased on 29th March and again over the Easter holiday so students will be exposed to more situations where Covid could be transmitted. By continuing to test over the Easter break and especially on Sunday 18th April, we can, together, identify positive cases and prevent these from starting chains of transmission in school. We can only keep students safe with your help and co-operation with testing.
Uniform and Equipment
It is important that students return ready to learn and fully equipped for lessons. On return, students are expected to wear full school uniform (As previously, PE kit can be worn on PE days). It should not be a surprise that our expectations, now that retail is opening coupled with supermarkets stocking uniform, is that students will come back in the Summer Term in full school uniform and following all the school uniform rules. This includes rules on hoodies, school shoes, piercings, jewellery, makeup and hair colours. If you need a reminder of the uniform rules, our Uniform Policy is on the school website. We understand the dilemmas parents have faced over the past year but would now like to make a move towards returning to our normal rules and procedures.
Equipment: Please also ensure that your child has all the equipment they need for school and have a clean mask daily, until government guidance changes.
Extra-Curricular activities
After the Easter break, we will continue with the extra-curricular sport and PE. It was great to see so many students involved in these activities before the break. The PE team are already planning how this will look in the summer term. Other clubs and activities will also open up (details to follow) We will take all reasonable measures to limit the risk of infection for extra- curricular activities.
Year 8 Pathways ‘ Virtual event’ Thursday 22nd April
This week we will begin the process for Year 8 Pathways where students will choose the 6 subjects that they want to study in Year 9 alongside our core offer that includes English, Maths and Science. This process will be completed remotely but families will receive guidance from an information booklet and a virtual evening on Thursday 22nd April when videos will be released to explain the process and to give further information about the subjects on offer.
Elevate Education Workshops for Year 10 Students – Friday 23rd April
On Friday 23rd April, we are delighted to be able to welcome presenters from Elevate Education once again. They will be delivering two workshops to groups of our Year 10 students throughout the day. The first workshop is called “Study Sensei” which aims to share and embed vital study skills that lead to exam success, but we have also asked them to deliver a second workshop called “Student Elevation”. This workshop focuses on motivation, goal-setting and independent learning. As Year 10 students begin to prepare for Summer Exams and the demands of Year 11, we hope that the combination of these workshops will inspire and teach the students skills that will serve them well over the coming year and in the future. Please see Mrs German’s letter to Year 10 parents for more information.
And Finally…
Lockdown has been a challenging period for all of us, and we’d like to thank you for your continuing support during this difficult and uncertain time. We all look forward to seeing you all for the start of the Summer Term on Monday 19 April 2021. #HarrowWayfamily #TeamHW
M J Serridge