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 1st 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
