Information for Year 8 Parents
Important Dates
26th September 2024 | Open Evening, school closes at 12.30pm |
21st October 2024 | Y8 France Trip Departs |
25th October 2024 | Y8 France Trip Returns |
28th October – 1st November | Autumn Half Term |
4th November 2024 | INSET Day 2 |
5th November 2024 | Staff Training – School Closed – Students working from home |
18th November 2024 | Yr 7 9 – ECO Club Trip |
6th December 2024 | Christmas Fair |
12th December 2024 | Meet the Tutor – school closes at 12.30pm |
13th December 2024 | INSET Day 3 |
16th December 2024 | Nasal Flu / HPV / Teenage Booster vaccinations |
20th December 2024 | End of term – school closes at 12.30pm |
23rd December – 3rd January | Christmas Holiday |
2025
6th January 2025 | First day of Spring Term |
20th January 2025 | Yrs 7/8 Cross Country Event – Testbourne |
17th – 25th February 2025 | Spring Half-Term |
12th March 2025 | Yrs 7/8 Rugby 7’s Andover RFC |
27th March 2025 | Year 8 Parents and Carers Consultation Evening – Virtual |
4th April 2025 | End of term |
7th April – 21st April | Easter Holiday |
22nd April 2025 | First day of Summer Term |
30th April – 2nd May 2025 | School Musical Shows |
26th May – 30th May | Summer Half Term |
12th June 2025 | Harrow Ways Got Talent Show |
16th – 20th June 2025 | Yr 8 Calshot Trip |
23rd June 2025 | Yrs 7/8 District Athletics |
26th June 2025 | Yrs 7/8 Presentation Evening (by invitation) |
10th July 2025 | PE Presentation Evening (by invitation) |
11th July 2025 | Sports Day |
14th July 2025 | Sports Day reserve |
18th July 2025 | End of term – school closes at 12.30pm |
21st July 2025 | INSET Day 4 |
22nd July 2025 | INSET Day 5 |
An up to date list of calendared events can be found here.
Extra-Curricular Clubs
Suggested Reading
At Harrow Way, we acknowledge the large body of research which indicates a correlation between reading and academic success and between reading and well-being and we encourage all our students to be readers. To this end, our Learning Resource Centre operates a library facility with thousands of fiction and non-fiction books supporting reading for pleasure and reading for purpose. Some audio fiction titles are available. There are also a wide variety of magazines.
We operate an E-book platform though Hampshire County Council and this now includes audio books too. Our Reading Cloud platform allows students to access the library catalogue, read and write book reviews, find out what new titles are available and more. Both can be accessed via the VLE. All of these are free to use. However, lost items will need to be replaced by the borrower. In addition, we run a student book group called NatterReads who meet informally most weeks over lunch to share what they are reading.
Our Learning Resource Centre Manager is able to provide recommended reading book lists for students who are reluctant or struggling readers as well as recommended book review and search websites.
Some Year 8 readers will be given the opportunity to participate in the annual Hampshire Book Awards, which involves reading six shortlisted fiction titles in 10 to 12 weeks, meeting weekly to discuss them and then attending a Hampshire wide voting day in June/July. They then meet the winning author in the Autumn at a presentation event.
Suggested Reading:
- Jonathan Stroud
- Helen Dennis – River of Ink series (Hampshire Book Award winner 2017)
- Tamsyn Murray – Instructions for a Second Heart (Hampshire Book Award 2018)
- Sharon Gosling – Fir (spooky thriller)
- Jane Prowse – Hattori Hachi trilogy (ninja adventure)
- Joffre White
- JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit (fantasy adventure)
- Cathy Cassidy
- Cathy Hopkins
- Sophie McKenzie – Girl Missing series
- Anthony Horowitz
- Joseph Delaney – Spooks series (fantasy adventure)
- Derek Landy – Skulduggery Pleasant (fantasy adventure)
- Sarah Crossan – One (conjoined twins)
- Jon Walter – My Name’s Not Friday ( child slavery during American Civil War)
- Renee Watson – Piecing me Together (a coming of age story set in Black America)
- Susan Nielsen – We are all Made of Molecules (family dynamics)
- Kim Slater – Seven Letter Word (scrabble, stammer)
- Chris Priestley
- Emma Moss – Girls Can Vlog series