Announcement

Please read below for all updates

--------------------03 of April 2020 @ 3:35PM--------------------

Please follow the link for the End of Spring Term Newsletter https://go.aws/2UClkPA

--------------------24 of March 2020 @ 4:35PM--------------------

Supermarket Vouchers from Wonde for FSM students/families

Parents -- Please understand that this is a new service that has only become necessary in response to Covid-19 and people behind the scenes at Harborne Academy and Wonde have been working hard to get it up and running as soon as possible. There may be a few teething problems so please bear with us while we get these first vouchers out to you.

How the process works… 

1. Parents whose children normally get free meals at Harborne Academy have been allocated vouchers by the school and parents should have now received the option, through email and/or text message from Wonde, to choose a supermarket voucher preference. These include: 

• ASDA
• Morrisons
• Tesco
• Sainsburys 

1. Electronic vouchers are bulk purchased from the supermarkets and will be processed twice a day during this initial busy period. This frequency may change to once a day depending on demand/volumes moving forwards. Harborne Academy will be allocating vouchers weekly to start and reviewing that to ensure it is suitable. After this initial processing run we will try to ensure that vouchers are sent at the start of each week.
    
2. Vouchers are sent directly to parents by Wonde, Harborne Academy will monitor that this process is happening and that vouchers are being collected. Here are the voucher lead times that should be expected.

• ASDA - Next day
• Morrisons - Same day
• Tesco - Same day
• Sainsburys - Same day

--------------------23 of March 2020 @ 4:51PM--------------------

Public Examinations:

This year’s summer exam series, including GCSEs, A levels and other qualifications, were cancelled, following the actions to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The exam regulator, Ofqual, and the exam boards will work with teachers to provide grades to students whose exams have been cancelled this summer.  Ofqual will develop and set out a process that will provide a calculated grade to each student which reflects their performance as fairly as possible, and will work with the exam boards to ensure this is consistently applied for all students.

The exam boards will be asking teachers, who know their students well, to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead. To produce this, teachers will take into account a range of evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment – clear guidance on how to do this fairly and robustly will be provided to schools and colleges. The exam boards will then combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student, which will be a best assessment of the work they have put in.

We at Harborne Academy are sorry that it has come to this and it is not ideal, fortunately we conducted a lot of in and out of class assessments and therefore have a lot of current information to hand to support the grades we will be sharing with Ofqual.

The Government’s priority is now to ensure affected students can move on as planned to the next stage of their lives, including going into employment, starting university, college or sixth form courses, or an apprenticeship in the autumn. This means ensuring GCSE, Level 1, 2 and 3 students are awarded a grade which fairly reflects the work that they have put in. There will also be an option to sit an exam early in the next academic year for students who wish to.

More information will be provided in April.

-------------------------------------20 of March 2020 @ 4:30 PM---------------------------------------

Student Eligible for Free School Meals

Following the Government’s announcement that all students in receipt of FSM will receive supermarket vouchers, I can confirm that the Academy has registered for the scheme.  You will receive e-voucher’s directly to the mobile number we hold for you.  You will then be able to select which supermarket you would like to use and the correct vouchers will be sent to you.  These vouchers can be redeemed in store or online.  Please let us know if your mobile phone number has changed using enquiry@harborneacademy.co.uk

Just a reminder that if you are struggling with lunches (and are entitled to free school meals) or sanitary products please email safeguarding@harborneacademy.co.uk

-------------------------------------19 of March 2020 @ 4:30 PM---------------------------------------

Dear parents and carers,

RE: School Closure, Monday 23^rd March

I am sure that you are aware that, yesterday evening, the Government took the decision to close schools in England from Monday 23rd March to all students except for children of key workers, children with a social worker or those with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). We are aware that this is an unusual and worrying time therefore we are intending to set out how the Academy is responding to the government guidance below.

As I’m sure that you appreciate, any provision that we are able to offer is under constant review. If government advice, staffing levels or catering services means that our level of provision has to change, details will be uploaded on the Academy website and you will be sent a text message to inform you of changes. To this end, if you have not been receiving text messages, please email us at enquiry@harborneacademy.co.uk with your updated telephone number.

Public Examinations

The Prime Minister announced that public examinations scheduled to take place this May and June are cancelled, but assured students that they will still get the opportunity to get qualifications they need to progress. At the moment, we do not have information from the examination boards about what schools need to do following the cancellation of public examinations. As soon as we receive information regarding this, we will be in contact with Year 11 and Year 13 students and post information on the Academy website. Your children have been given packs of work for English and science and other resources will be uploaded to Show My Homework. If you are unsure about how to access the online resources, please refer to instructions on our website. Please ensure all school resources and mock exam papers are utilised for revision as there is no confirmation regarding the examinations being postponed beyond June. As the Academy is closed until further notice, we anticipate that the prom may need to be postponed although this is subject to change depending on any future Government announcements. We appreciate that this is a really worrying time for our Year 11s and, if you have any concerns, please contact Remy Mal, Rochelle Thomas or Emma Ferris.

Children of key workers

If you have emailed to inform us that you are a key worker, feel unable to leave your child at home unsupervised and are unable to make arrangements for their supervision, a plan is being formulated with regard to what provision we are able to offer. If you are a key worker and would like your child to attend the Academy, but are yet to let us know, please email us at enquiry@harborneacademy.co.uk with the email subject ‘key worker’ before 1.00pm Friday 20^th March. Please do not be offended if we ask for proof of profession.

Children with EHCPs

Please contact the Academy if your child has an EHCP and you are at all concerned about your child over the coming weeks. Please do not hesitate to contact Matthew Fortune at matthew.fortune@harborneacademy.co.uk or use the enquiry email for the attention of the SENDCo.

Free school meals – only relevant for students entitled to a free school lunch

No child should go without while the Academy is closed.  If you are concerned about how you are going to provide lunch for your child during this time please, contact us confidentially at safeguarding@harborneacademy.co.uk or call 0121 464 2737.

Work for students

In line with the Government’s advice on social distancing, students not attending the Academy should not be out and about. In order to ensure students are still being provided an education during this time resources will be uploaded to Show My Homework on a regular basis. Instructions and help with how to access this can be found on the Academy website by following the link on the home page pop-up and scrolling down. If your child is unable to access online resources, please contact the Academy and we will post work home.

Student wellbeing

The impact of self-isolation on mental well-being has been widely covered in the media. Where practical, students should exercise from home and do all they can to look after their mental health. Advice and resources regarding this will be posted on the Academy website. The school safeguarding team will maintain responsibility for any students who require support and will remain in regular contact with these students during the period of closure. If you have a concern about the safety or well-being of a child, please us at safeguarding@harborneacademy.co.uk. Alternatively contact the Children’s Advice and Support Service (CASS) on 0121-303 1888.

Please remember that, in order to protect the students, staff and wider community, anyone presenting symptoms of a high temperature or a new persistent cough should not attend and self-isolate. Anyone in a household of a person presenting symptoms should also self-isolate for fourteen days.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support during these unprecedented and difficult times and wish you and your family well. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Ross                                  Click here for a pdf version of this letter 

Deputy Head Teacher

--------------------------------------18 of March 2020 @ 2:47 PM-----------------------------------------

Resources for students who are not in the Academy will be placed on Show My Homework. There are also links to resources on the school website. Follow the link below for more information.

Accessing Digital Resources from Home - Click Here

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have made the decision to open the Academy for Years 7 and 11 only until further notice. A number of families, students and staff are self-isolating because they are in the vulnerable categories and are following government advice. We wish to continue delivering an education on site for as long as possible, therefore we are asking Years 8, 9 and 10 to work from home. Staff have provided students with packs of work and will be uploading resources to the subject areas of the website, Show My Homework and GCSEPod. We would ask you to kindly ensure this work is being accessed and completed. The Academy website, Facebook and Twitter will be updated on a daily basis with further information. Thank you for your continued support during these challenging times.

Harborne Academy Senior Leadership Team