Dear parents and carers,
I hope this email/letter finds you well. It has been a hectic and rewarding period at school with lots going on and great behaviour and engagement from most students. I look forward to more in the Summer term. Over the last few weeks, we have welcomed the Young Poet Laureate who was very impressed with the poetry our students produced, seen chickens hatching in the Science department, worked hard with outstanding results in the Afrofuturism project in art, the NEST garden mural design competition, and really kicked on in the development of the King’s Park garden where students have made a pond and a fire pit and were found cooking burgers they had made and eating bread they had baked last week. Year 11s and 6th formers have also been working hard on getting the evidence for their Teacher Assessed Grades and the purposeful mood about the place has been good.
Equality
I spoke in assembly today and two weeks ago about the amount of sexual harassment and assault faced by women and girls. You may have seen this in the news referring to schools this week. It is really important to Newhaven that we have a zero tolerance approach to any kind of sexism and we will always follow up concerns around harassment and assault. I am glad that we have had no reported instances of sexual assault for some time, very few incidents of sexual harassment and a reducing number of instances of sex discrimination (4 so far this year). Please encourage your girls to tell us if they suffer any of these behaviours and your boys to make sure they treat girls and women with respect.
We have also had falling instances of racism in the school and of bullying in general which I am really pleased about. I am concerned that we have seen an increase in numbers of homophobic incidents. This is not acceptable in school and indeed is classified as a hate crime in wider society. Please talk to your children about tolerance and diversity too.
End of school for Year 11s and 6th form leavers
The last day in school for year 11s and sixth form leavers will be the 16th June 2021 by which time we will have all the evidence we can get for the TAGs and will have carried out some workshops about moving on from Newhaven. We will continue to work with some students on college transfers and some BTECs. You will be contacted if this applies to your child. There will also be an induction week on the week beginning 5th July for students joining the 6th form.
We will be inviting you in to celebrate the end of your child’s secondary schooling with a record of achievement celebration at school on the afternoon of 24th June for Newhaven Gardens and NEST and the 25th June for Newhaven King’s Park. More details to follow.
Teacher Assessed Grades
We have had the final guidance on setting grades for students this year and it is complex. This means that whilst I will try and avoid this, I might need to shut the school early or take some INSET time next term. I will keep you informed as early as possible. Further guidance for parents and students is available here.
COVID testing
Your child has been given a new set of Covid tests to bring home. Please make sure they take a test before the return to school on Monday 19th April. If they test positive then you can let us know by email on info@newhaven.greenwich.sch.uk or isolate and ring the school on the Monday morning.
Have a safe and restful break and I will look forward to seeing your children on the 19th April.
Yours faithfully
Jon Kelly (Head teacher)
