Dear Parents and Carers

It was lovely to welcome students back to school today after the half term break and following a very productive training day on the 1^st November.  During the training day we reflected back on our values and culture and what is important to us as an organisation so that we can support our young people.  We also reviewed how successfully we have implemented our curriculum this year and how we can continue to improve lessons for students as well as co-curriculum. During another session we reflected on how we can support literacy across school to ensure our young people not only read fluently but that they understand the meaning of more complex words and feel confident using them.   In the final session we reviewed our attendance data and discussed strategies to support students with lower attendance.

Attendance

Attendance remains a key driver for us at Heworth Grange and we expect students to have attendance of at least 96%.  If you require any support with this, please contact the attendance team to discuss how we can help.  We know that if students attend school regularly then there is statistically a much higher chance of them achieving their target grades, when they do not the chances of them achieving their grades diminishes.  You will also be aware that attendance is critical for employability and that is why at Heworth Grange we want students to develop good attendance habits from the start of their school career.

Sexual abuse and sexual harassment

Parents and carers of students in Year 8 to 11 will recall that before the summer holidays I alerted you to a report written by Ofsted about sexual abuse and sexual harassment in schools across the country.  For parents and carers of Year 7 students please find the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges/review-of-sexual-abuse-in-schools-and-colleges

This remains a key area of work for all schools and you will be aware from the news and national campaigns that this is an area of concern across the country.  At Heworth Grange we want all our students to feel safe and secure so that our young people can enjoy school and their learning.  We know that in schools sexual harassment and sexual abuse can and does happen, the report highlights the ways that this can happen to students both in and outside of school. 

During last half term we spoke to groups of students about their experiences and what we can do at Heworth Grange to support equality and prevent incidents of harassment or abuse.  We know that being informed and educating our students is the best way forward so that they in turn know how to be safe and the importance of respecting others.  During the course of today we had assemblies with all our young people and talked about the issues raised during the discussions.  Students have been reminded about what constitutes sexual abuse and sexual harassment and what to do if it happens to them or if they see it happening.  We have also set up an email address which students can use privately to so that the safeguarding and pastoral teams can support quickly.

For student use HGA-stopitnow@consilium-at.com

In addition, we have set up a separate email address for parents and carers to report any issues that children may disclose at home. 

For parent and carer use hga-reportit@consilium-at.com

Students also have age appropriate lessons on healthy relationships during their personal development lessons where they can discuss their concerns and thoughts on these issues. We will continue to work on this aspect of personal development and I thank you in advance for your support. I will provide further updates as we go through the half term.

As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact school.

Ms. A Denholm, Headteacher

October 2021 Half term Edition of Heworth Headlines

After further contact from the NHS immunisation team yesterday, they are unable to come and do the COVID vaccinations today due to a backlog from their other schools yesterday. They will now come on Friday 22^nd to complete outstanding COVID vaccinations. My apologies for the inconvenience caused, but this is entirely out of the school’s control. This does give us the opportunity to now accept COVID consent forms until Friday 22^nd at 9am and students can collect forms tomorrow and Thursday if they did not do so yesterday.

Please remember, this is only for students who are eligible (aged between 12 and 15), it is the FIRST COVID vaccination for those who couldn’t get it when the nurses were in last time and, there is no flu immunisation being offered, it is just the first COVID vaccination.

Dear Parent/Carer,                                                                                                                         September 2021

Period 6 Lessons Wednesdays & Thursdays 2:45pm-3:30pm

As part of our strategy for ensuring your child is fully prepared for their examinations in Summer 2022 your child will be beginning their Period 6 lessons from Wednesday 29^th September.  These will take place every Wednesday and Thursday and all students in Year 11 will participate.

Over the year the subjects covered in these lessons will change, but initially your child will be attending lessons in one of the core subjects: English, Mathematics or Science.  They will be told on Wednesday which group and subject they will be attending.

We are confident that Year 11 will continue the excellent attendance and exemplary behaviour of previous years and we know that these sessions have a huge positive impact on student progress and attainment.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs C Froom                      Miss S Rennie

AHT Assessment              Head of Achievement (KS4)

Issue 6–July 2021