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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at school! This year, we’ve improved our festive decorations, bringing extra cheer and warmth to our hallways. Our Student Council were keen to have new decorations and I’m grateful to the staff who have made this happen. It’s wonderful to see students and staff getting into the Christmas spirit as we approach the end of a busy and successful term.

Our Christmas Fair last Friday was a fantastic event, filled with a great atmosphere and a true sense of community. It was uplifting to see staff and students collaborating to make it such a success. We’re incredibly grateful for your support, which contributed to making this year’s fair one of the best-attended in years.

It was a pleasure to welcome so many of you to our Meet the Tutor event last night. This was a valuable opportunity to share the successes of the term and for you to meet your child’s tutor, as well as get a glimpse of where they begin their day. We hope you found the conversations valuable and enjoyed connecting with the school.

We’re excited to have launched the MCAS (My Child At School) app this term. This new tool provides live information to improve communication between home and school, and it’s also how you will access your child’s assessment data, which Year 10 and 11 parents will find under the Assessment widget. The workshops held during Meet the Tutor evening were well attended, and we hope many of you are already finding the app useful. You can find information about the app on our website.

If you haven’t received the email invitation or you’re experiencing any difficulties accessing the app, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr. Townsend at school. A gentle reminder: if you have any questions or concerns about the information displayed on the app, please reach out to your child’s tutor directly.

As we approach the final week of term, we’re balancing completing the Autumn curriculum with some festive activities to celebrate the season. Highlights include the Christmas dinner for our Year 7 and then Year 8 students and, of course, our much-anticipated staff pantomime on the last day, written by Mr Fluellen. This uplifting tradition is always a wonderful way to end the year on a bright and joyful note.

I wish you all an enjoyable long weekend,
Mrs Dawn German

BeeWell
We are proud to announce that we are a #Beewell school, part of the #BeeWell Programme which focuses on improving young people’s wellbeing.

As a #Beewell school, we are committed to listening to our students, understanding their needs, and taking action to support their mental health and overall happiness. Through this initiative, we are working collaboratively with schools, researchers, and community partners to create a positive environment where every student can thrive. You can learn more about the programme at beewellprogramme.org.

Attendance Award
On Monday, we were thrilled to receive national recognition for our efforts to improve school attendance in the academic year 2023-24. Our school’s attendance now ranks in the top 25% of all FFT secondary schools across the UK. This achievement reflects the commitment of our students, staff, and most importantly, the ongoing support of parents and carers. Thank you for playing such an important role in encouraging regular attendance—it truly makes a difference. Together, we’re ensuring that our young people have the best opportunities for success, both in school and beyond.

Nasal Flu Vaccinations - Monday 16th December 2024
All students that have registered for a flu vaccination will receive this on Monday, the vaccination is administered via the nose.

Assembly
Assemblies this week focused on one of our school rules: Be Your Best. Mr Reed spoke to students about the power that each one of them has to make a positive difference in their lives and how we can all strive to improve. We also discussed how success will look different for everyone and that we shouldn't compare ourselves to each other, only try to be the best that we can.

Harrow Way School - Christmas Bake Off
As always the annual Christmas Bake off was a great hit this year, and the Heads of house were blown away by the level of culinary flair amongst our students. The competition was fierce. Students had created, whisked, piped and sculpted their way to beat the rest of the competition and be the best amongst the best.

After a lot of deliberation, with our taste buds tingling and our tummies full, the final top three were awarded based on their design, taste and the quality of the bake. 

We are proud to announce that this year's winners are:

1st Place

Jacob Whincup - 7CCH

Kites

2nd Place

Gabriel Hewlett - 8SRP

Kites

3rd Place

Megan Maguire-Hill - 9KLE

Hawks

Congratulations to all our winners, we look forward to seeing you in the Great British Bake Off in the future.

To all those who took part, thank you for your wonderful entries. You will all receive 50 points each for your house towards the competition cup... and we all know that points make prizes!!!!!

This concludes the final competition of the year, we look forward to announcing the dress down day winners when we return. From all of your Heads of house we would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you all a very merry Christmas and wonderful New Year.  Mrs Newport, Mr Manson, Ms Newman and Ms Barlow. 

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.

Work Experience
In Ways Forward this week we have an important message for families in Year 10 who are still searching for a work experience placement - please see the information and advice inside. If you have not yet started on looking for a placement then we encourage you to get onto this as soon as you can. If you have any questions please ask for help sooner rather than later from Mrs Manning and Mrs Thomas in school.

Ways Forward
For all families, we have a new Labour Market Information spotlight section where every week we'll be showcasing useful information to help you find out more about 'LMI' which is information about jobs in our area. This week you can compare different jobs using the Careerometer - which pays the most? Which will have lots of vacancies in the future? etc. We also highlight some webinars coming up soon: how to search and apply for apprenticeships; how to support your child to explore T Levels  and the last Medic Mentor 'Get into Medicine Conference' of 2024. Finally, those of you feeling festive and interested in a creative career might like the Arts University Plymouth's Creative Jobs Christmas calendar!

The second-hand book sale takes place next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - cash only. Items will be 10p, 20p and 50p. The handmade crocheted bookmarks will be £1.00. A present buying opportunity.

Our bumper Christmas Quiz will take place Thursday lunchtime for house points.

Jingles, our Elf On The Shelf, has caused a frenzy this week with students trying to find him as he sneakily hides around the LRC. Students have come across lots of books they may not otherwise have done as they scour all the shelves to locate him!

Year 11 Netball
The team’s final ever netball match was one not to be missed on Tuesday as we travelled to The Clere. When we finally arrived (a road closure didn’t help!), the girls were motivated to give it all they had to finish with a win.

They started on the back foot, allowing The Clere to edge out a 3 goal lead in the first quarter. However, some excellent defending and intercepting by Molly and Lily, coupled with great centre court play by Eve, Caitlin, Malia and Alice, meant that they gradually reeled their score in. Pass of the game by Maya, where she played a backline pass round the back of the post to Charlotte for her to shoot and score helped to bring the scores to 15-15 by the end of the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, fatigue set in over the last quarter and the girls couldn’t sustain their level of intensity for the last 10 minutes. This, with The Clere’s GS barely missing a shot all game, unfortunately the game ran away from them and Clere ended up with a 24-16 victory.

It’s the end of an era for this team, with the majority of them playing together since Year 7. We wish them well for their future netball playing!

Captain - Lily, Player of the Match - Maya, Coaches Player of the Match - Molly.

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. 

As some of you will be aware, the local group The Andover Community Theatre (ACT) is made up almost entirely of current or former members of the Harrow Way community.

Next Wednesday 18th December the group will be presenting a 'live radio performance' of three classic Blackadder scripts (featuring Mr Reed, Mr Allon and Mr Fluellen) including 'Blackadder's Christmas Carol' at The Lights Theatre, Andover.

Tickets are available from The Lights website.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Christmas InAndover Trail, a fun and festive activity that’s perfect for families this holiday season. Running from now until 5th January the trail is interactive and online designed to spread Christmas cheer while encouraging the community to explore and support local businesses in Andover town centre.
 
The trail is simple to join—all families need to do is visit our Google Form, available on our InAndover Facebook page or the events section at inandover.co.uk. Participants follow clues to spot Christmas-themed items around the town and complete the trail for a chance to win fantastic prizes!

We’d love to see as many families as possible taking part and supporting our local businesses this festive season.

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.

Copyright © 2024, Harrow Way Community School, All rights reserved.

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