Dear parents and carers,

Thank you for your support throughout this half-term, it has certainly been a very busy one.  The students have been amazing and their determination and hard work throughout the term has filled me with joy.  We have focused heavily on building relationships with students across all the year groups after the difficulties of the last twelve months in particular and the positive atmosphere around school has been commented on numerous times by external visitors.  It truly is a pleasure to greet all our students every morning and see them working hard in their lessons.

We have also enjoyed seeing the students take part in co-curriculum, period 6 intervention and all the sports and arts activities this half-term.  Student leadership has been particularly busy and proactive, and we look forward to hearing more about their endeavours as perm progresses. Several students have been on trips to Albemarle Barracks as well as surfing at Seaton Sluice.

Our Open Evening for Years 5 and 5 and Year 11 consultation evening were great successes. The positive comments from Year 5 and 6 parents about the school really made both staff and students proud to be part of Team HG.  Many parents commented on the wonderful atmosphere and what a credit our students are to the school, which really made my evening.  At the recent consultation evening, it was delightful to meet parents and carers face to face after such a long time and to share the progress being made by students towards their GCSE examinations.  We will be holding a revision evening session for students and parents soon, so look out for that opportunity.

You can catch up with the rest of our news in Heworth Headlines and of course on our social media, and we will keep you regularly updated as the next half-term progresses.

You will also be aware that there will be a government announcement regarding Covid restrictions on Monday 25^th October.  If we do need to put restrictions in place following the announcement we will update parents and carers on the 1^st November, which is a staff training day, in readiness for the students coming back to school on the 2^nd November.

In the meantime, have a lovely weekend and we wish all our students a relaxing half-term and a Happy Halloween!

Ms A Denholm, Headteacher