End of Term 4/Start of Term 5 Letter

Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for your support in Term 4.  It has been brilliant to see our students working hard in their lessons and being kind towards other students, staff and visitors to the academy.

Following our recent Ofsted inspection and as part of our normal school improvement review processes, we are updating a variety of systems and procedures to make sure that they continue to inspire high expectations and standards whilst feeling inclusive so that the needs of our students are met.

This term, we have listened to feedback from students, staff and parents about our behaviour system and are in the process of making some adjustments to our daily routines.   With this in mind, we want to make you aware of two small alterations that that will come into effect from Term 5 and our summarised at the end of this letter.   We will also be communicating this information to your child/ren through assemblies next week so that they can prepare themselves appropriately.

Next term, we will be continuing to work with children and staff to complete our annual review of our behaviour system and processes and a full updated academy Behaviour Policy will be shared with you once this has been agreed by our Academy Councillors.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Please take a moment to read our Academy Newsletter for Term 4 (below) which contains lots of information regarding what has been happening in the Academy across the term.

Term 4 Newsletter: Term 4 Newsletter

Thank you for your on-going support for our community school. I hope that you and your family enjoy the Easter holiday period when it arrives.

Kind regards

Rebecca Tushingham

Vice Principal

HWA Routines Update

 Access to toilets during lessons:

We are always looking for ways to support our students while maintaining a calm and focused learning environment. With this in mind, we are introducing a new system for students who need to leave their lessons for the toilet or a movement break.

Teachers now have passes that they can give to students when needed, meaning that individual toilet passes will no longer be required from Term 5 onwards. However, for students with medical needs, their requirements will still be securely recorded on our information management system (Bromcom) ensuring that they can continue to access the toilet as needed without having to publicly share personal information in their lessons.

To help minimise disruptions to learning, we encourage all students to use the toilet before school, at breaktime, and at lunchtime when all facilities are open. During lessons, as always, students will continue to require permission from their teacher to leave the classroom and we trust our staff to use their professional judgment if a student has an urgent need.

We appreciate your support in reinforcing these expectations with your child so that we can continue to maintain a focused and supportive learning environment for everyone.

Fidget Toys

We have recently noted the appearance of some toys, labelled as ‘fidget’ toys which are being brought into school and on many occasions, they are not appropriate for use in the learning environment in school. In particular the ‘squishy’ toys are becoming a distraction and at times impacting on health and safety as they have a tendency to burst creating mess and disruption to the learning environment.

At Hanham Woods, we allow discreet fidget toys to be used in school in discussion with your child’s pastoral leader. Excessive amounts of, heavy, large or noisy fidgets which are a distraction to learning in lessons may be confiscated by staff, to support us to ensure that all students can access quiet, and distraction free learning environments please do not allow your child to bring in the toys described above. The advice from our SENCO is that once of the best (and cheapest) fidgets is a small piece of blu-tac that can be rolled between the fingers as a means of expending energy and reducing levels of stress.

Being a ‘hands free’ Academy

It has come to our attention that there has been a noticeable increase in pushing, shoving, barging, and play fighting among the boys during their free time. This behaviour, although often perceived as innocent play, can have several negative impacts. Not only does it pose a potential risk for physical harm, but it also creates an atmosphere that may be unsettling for others. Furthermore, this type of behaviour, if left unchecked, can escalate and potentially lead to more serious incidents. It is important for us to encourage a positive and respectful environment for all students. As such, we believe it is necessary to address this issue in a proactive manner. We aim to instil in our students the values of mutual respect, safety, and consideration for others, even in less structured or supervised settings. We plan to implement measures that promote cooperative and respectful behaviour, while still allowing students to engage in physically active and enjoyable recreational activities. To support pupils in understanding the risks we will run a series of assemblies

Phones

Our current policy that phones are powered down and in bags remains the same. Your child will not be able to receive any calls or messages throughout the day as their phone will be “powered down and in bags,” until they have left the site at the end of the day. Any emergencies or urgent messages required will go through the main office and the year team.

This supports students to build reasonable and appropriate phone use habits, so they are focused during lessons and throughout the school day. If your child is found to be using their phone for any reason during the Academy Day, the phone will be confiscated and held securely until 3:30pm. Where students are repeatedly choosing to use devices on site a ban upon bringing the device onto site will be implemented. Where this is the case students will be expected hand their device in for secure storage at the start of each day or choose not to bring the device to school.

Uniform

The Academy uniform is an important part of our community and building a sense of belonging. It is one piece in the building blocks of creating a culture of high expectations and high achievement through an inclusive, supportive environment. All students are expected to be in full Academy uniform every day. If a student arrives at the academy in the incorrect uniform, we will support students in the following ways to meet our expectations:

• offer uniform items to borrow (if available)
• ask to go home and change (in agreement with parents/carers)
• ask to work in the Inclusion Area until the correct uniform is delivered to the Academy by parents/carers

If you are aware of your child needing support to resolve a uniform concern, please proactively contact their tutor in the first instance.

Please note the following items which are not allowed:

• Jeans (defined as having back pockets and jean-like material) or leggings
• Tube skirts/tight stretchy material for skirts-skirts must be to the knee
• Hoodies (students need a weatherproof coat)
• Trainers
• False/acrylic nails of any kind
• False eyelashes

 A reminder about our uniform expectations can be found here:

https://hanhamwoodsacademy.clf.uk/our-academy/uniform-equipment/