Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Webinars

Dear parent/carer

Somerset Educational Psychology Service have produced a two-part webinar for parents and carers in collaboration with the Somerset Parent Carer Forum (information and relevant links attached).

If you are interested in this, please click here to download the flier. You can also find the training here: Somerset children & young people : Health & Wellbeing : Mhtk A El (cypsomersethealth.org)

If you do watch any of the webinar sessions, it would help the EP service if you could also complete the evaluation form (which is also on the attached document) ACEs Post-Evaluation - Recorded webinar for Parents/Carers (office.com).

With best wishes

Nicola Patmore
Safeguarding Lead

21st June 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian

You are probably aware that there have been several positive cases of COVID identified particularly in primary settings, some of which are feeder schools which could affect our community through siblings.

Several parents have asked if we could revisit the wearing of masks in class. At the moment students and staff are encouraged to wear a mask in corridors and places where social distancing is compromised. The advice around masks is guidance only but if you feel reassured by your son/daughter wearing a mask then we would support this.

We also advise revisiting the guidance around testing using the lateral flow kits.

We would be grateful that any positive tests are reported to the school via the website.

More testing kits are available from reception if required.

Hopefully by working together we can reassure and support our community.

Yours faithfully

Pete Hoare
Head

Dear parent/carer,

I hope you will find this information available to download here, helpful. 

Please could I ask all parents and carers to remind their young people about keeping safe online by not sharing private details or images and as adults, being aware of what your child is watching or accessing online.

Nicola Patmore (safeguarding lead)

Attention all Year 7s! There is an excellent opportunity for you - Somerset Music are offering 10 free brass lessons (in pairs).

There is also the opportunity to have 1 free drum lessons; this is available to all year groups.

If you enjoy your lessons, when the offer ends you can continue lessons at a paid rate.

Here is a presentation featuring Glyn Bowen explaining a little more about the offer.

Click here to download more information on the Brass offer.
Click here to complete the form mentioned in the letter above

Click here to download further information on the Drums offer.

A Heathfield Student, Owen, has recently been awarded first prize in the Pride of Somerset Awards Volunteering Category. Owen waged war on plastic last year in a series of assemblies, and also volunterrs for the West Somerset Railway.

Owen was interviewed about his award on BBC Radio Somerset - You can listen to the interview by clicking below and skipping to 2 hours and 50 minutes.

Afternoons on BBC Radio Somerset - 11/05/2021 - BBC Sounds

Congratulations Owen!

School Road will be closed between 10am and approx. 1pm tomorrow from just after the Main School Vehicle Entrance onwards past the Co-Op. This is for Emergency Patch repairs by the Highways Department.

This should not affect normal school drop off and pickup times, however it may be a little more chaotic than usual and you may therefore wish to make alternative arrangements to drop off / pick up a little further away from site than normal, or walk/cycle if possible. If you need to come to site for any reason during the day or usually park on the roads near school during the day this may not be possible so please be prepared to park and walk from further away. Sorry for any inconvenience caused, the School have had no control over this work.

Dear Parent/Carer

Over the last few weeks, members of the Senior Leadership Team have been out and about dropping into lessons. We have all commented on the excellent behaviour for learning, the well planned and sequenced lessons and how wonderful it is to see the students engaging with all tasks and opportunities on offer. We are really pleased with how the vast majority of students have responded to the quality of the face to face teaching again.

We are aware of the impact that COVID-19 and the extended periods of lockdown have had on the knowledge and learning of our students. Therefore, we have made some changes to the exams (Assessment Point 2) for Year 7-10 at the end of this year.

Year 10 – exams will take place starting week beginning 14th June. They will be in the Sports Hall and students will receive an exam timetable in due course. Access arrangements will be in place.

Year 7-9 – exams will be in classrooms in all subjects. The timetable of when each exam will take place will be shared on Teams for that specific subject. All exams to be completed by Friday 25th June. Access arrangements to be provided by the subject.

Students are being explicitly taught in lessons, in preparation for the exams the most effective ways to revise and learn independently. A summary of these can be found in the e-mail sent last week with the revision booklet for each year group. The three key strategies are flashcards, mind maps and Cornell notes.

Reports will be e-mailed to parents/carers by 22nd July. These will reflect your child’s progress from returning from the lockdown in March to present date. Building on the success of Academic Monitoring day on Teams, parent’s evenings will continue to be virtual next year. More details around the logistics and timings of these will be shared in due course.

Please do continue to test your child at home for COVID-19 and report all test results, including negative test results via the links on the school website. This continues to keep our community safe.

Thank you for your continued support.

Your sincerely

Ian Grant
Deputy Head.

Year 7, 8 and 9 Revision guides are now available from here, or by clicking below.

Please could parents who park at Farriers Green at pick up time be mindful and considerate of our neighbours, as there has been a complaint to the police from a local resident about the location of some of the parked cars.

Many thanks

Heathfield Community School

HotSW 'Which Way?' Virtual Careers Fair

This is an exciting opportunity for students of all ages to find out about different careers and career paths. Please click here to find out more.

Resources are available for 3 days from Tuesday 27th April to Thursday 29th April.

Dear  Parents and Guardians

As we approach the start of the Easter holidays I wanted to remind you to refer to the guidance around home testing during the break which was sent out on Friday 26th March. It contains all the information and guidance needed for those testing at home. 

 It has been fantastic to see students returning fully to school from March 8th and in particular enjoying social activities in their “ bubbles “. The students have shown great resilience, enthusiasm and commitment in returning from what has been an isolating learning experience to one of greater interaction. I would like to thank you for all your support and perseverance through these challenging times and thank all teaching and support staff in responding, sometimes at very short notice, to national expectations.

Finally, we wish you a very happy and safe Easter break and very much look forward to welcoming you son /!daughter back on Tuesday 20th April 2021.

Peter Hoare 

Head

EASTER HOLIDAY- Virtual Work Experience for Year 10 Students.

Springpod’s April virtual work experience programmes are closing their application windows next Monday (March 29th). There are over 20 programmes which are completely free for students (and always will be). They include everything from politics and journalism, to fashion and engineering. They can be completed at time that suits your students and offer a certificate great for CVs, cover letters and interviews upon completion.

The programmes are open to applications from students in Year 10-13 and will run between April 6th and 16th.

You can view all of our April programmes here

Please note that Year 10 students MUST NOT under any circumstances apply for work experience during term time. There will be other opportunities within school  which parents will be informed of shortly.

DISCLAIMER STATEMENT 

This opportunity for students will take place outside of school and is unsupervised by school. Whilst we check as rigorously as we can to ensure that safeguarding protocols are followed, we cannot be responsible for and monitor the content of any virtual content which may involve live dialogue between students and outside members of the community. We would encourage parents to have oversight of online conversations and to raise any concerns with Heathfield Community School immediately.  

Army Careers Events:

TalentEd Academies – Doing Your Degree Differently for young people - 31^st March

Exploring what university-level study is all about, discovering opportunities to get degree-level qualifications locally including degree apprenticeships, hearing from students who are already studying in Somerset, and activities to research these options yourself

All associated resources for each broadcast are available on the EBP website   https://www.somerset-ebp.co.uk/talented for you and students to access at your convenience.  In addition, all broadcasts will remain available for you and students to access on the Learn Live Partner Page https://learnliveuk.com/partner/talented-academies/ for the next 12 months to support curriculum inputs

NSSW - Inspiring Stories – Years 11, 12 and 13

During these one-hour live webinars, local professionals from different sectors will talk about their pathway through HE into the workplace, how HE has helped them succeed in their career, the lessons they’ve learnt along the way and what they wish they’d known when they were 16-18-years old.  Providing inspiring examples of people with whom they can identify, who have progressed through HE and have fostered a career in the working world. After hearing from the speakers, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions for the panel to answer. Click here to download our Pre-Easter IS Events document for more details.

• Spotlight on Healthcare - Wednesday 31^st March 2021, 16:00-17:00 via Zoom
• Spotlight on Public Services - Thursday 1^st April 2021, 11:15-12:15 via Zoom 

Bridgwater and Taunton College are offering some online taster sessions on the jobs below:

Barbering Online Taster – Monday 29 March 2021 - 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Barbering Online Taster - Bridgwater & Taunton College (btc.ac.uk)
Hairdressing Online Taster – Tuesday 30 March 2021 - 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Hairdressing Online Taster - Bridgwater & Taunton College (btc.ac.uk)
Beauty Online Taster – Tuesday 30 March 2021 - 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Beauty Online Taster - Bridgwater & Taunton College (btc.ac.uk)

Heathfield students were well-represented at this year's Lucas Cup, the annual Artistic Writing competition organised by Richard Huish College.

This year's competition 'challenged students to create a Lockdown-based illustration for a poster, either hand drawn or digitally rendered.ʼ

Judge Tjark Schoenfeld, Course Manager for Graphic Design, awarded this year’s prize and Heathfield’s Tabetha scooped first prize in the partner schools’ section with her 'striking design.'

Huge congratulations to Tabetha and all those who entered.

The next "Future Thursdays" session is on Thursday 18th March and will be a presentation from Dyer and Butler Construction on jobs and careers in the construction industry. See below for details on how to book. 

"Future Thursdays" are a series of event organised by Ian Caddy, our Head of Business studies and enterprise that will be taking place over the next few weeks. Each session is a fantastic opportunity for Heathfield students of all ages to listen and ask questions to local business leaders about a ranger of careers. The meetings are online virtual via Zoom every Thursday in March at 6pm. The aim is to give information and excite students across the school in learning about possible careers that may interest them. It is also designed for families to be involved too: -

• Thursday 4th March 6-7pm – Wessex Water – careers in Engineering amongst others.
• Thursday 11th March 6-7pm- LED Leisure- careers in the Leisure industry.
• Thursday 18th March 6-7pm- Dyer and Butler Construction- careers in the Construction industry.
• Thursday 25th March 6-7pm- Kennedys Law- A career in Law and an explanation of the different routes into the law profession.

Please click here to download a flier, along with the necessary information to register for these events. Alternatively, click here to register directly.

Well done to all our 'Stars of the Week' for the past two weeks. A fantastic achievement to be chosen by your teachers for either your dedication to your home learning work or your excellent effort back in school this week. Congratulations to Megan, Daniel, Edith, Adel, Jacob, Megan, Sam, Charlie, Grace, Izzy, Olivia, Frieda, Livy, Finley, Isobel, Lily, Ben and Lydia. We are proud of you all.

• Have you heard of CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation)?
• Do you know about County Lines?
• Do you know what Online Grooming and Exploitation is? 

Here is the final 'Heathfield Way' bulletin, packed full of information, celebrations and lots of your staff with a special welcome back message. We're looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!

Dear Parent or guardian,  

We are working to keep our school as safe as possible. You may have heard that testing for those without coronavirus symptoms is planned to take place as students return to school from Mon 8 Mar. The testing uses the quick COVID-19 tests known as ‘lateral flow tests’.  

Along with the other protective measures we are taking, these tests will help staff and students to remain in school safely. Up to one third of people who have coronavirus experience no symptoms. By testing we will help to stop the virus spread and help to keep our school open as safely as possible. The test is voluntary, but I would strongly encourage everyone to take it.  

We are finalising the schedule for when students will return during the week beginning Mon 8 Mar and will communicate this soon. As per the recent Government announcement, we are offering tests to all Heathfield Community School students when they return to school. Participating students will have a scheduled first test followed by a second test 3-5 days later, and then a third test another 3-5 days later. These will happen during the school day. Further down are some frequently asked questions that provide more information about what happens in the event of the different test results. 

If you are happy for your child to be tested, please fill in the consent form (one per student) attached or click this link https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=evXzFh8sH0SOI5kHz4NMF1SSr9f7DnZCn7dYC7fzrLJUMjZDOVc5VERYQ0FBTE9WNk5CWUQzQ09FTS4u to complete the consent online. No student will be able to participate in the testing without consent. If your child will be taking part in testing please complete the consent form as soon as possible to help us understand the number of students we will be testing.  

We will also register the test on the Government’s NHS Test & Trace system using the data we hold for your child. Doing this will mean the test result is sent to the mobile phone number and/or email address we hold for you. In the event of a positive test, NHS Test & Trace will use this phone number to contact you about any potential close contacts your child may have had outside of school. 

The test is self-administered and those taking the test will be supervised and guided by trained staff. The ‘lateral flow’ tests are quick and easy using a swab of your nose and throat. 

We know these tests work - in validation studies conducted by Oxford University and Public Health England, they were shown to be as accurate in identifying a case as a PCR test (99.68% specificity). The tests have lower sensitivity but they are better at picking up cases when a person has higher viral load, hence the need to test frequently.  

Testing will be offered free of charge.   

Yours faithfully,  

Peter Hoare 
Head
Heathfield Community School                         

Frequently asked questions… 

What if a student tests positive?  

Participating staff and students who test positive will be informed about their results individually. Where participants are under 16, parents or legal guardians will also be notified. Guidance on safe travel and additional precautions will be provided along with test results.  

Students will need to take a further ‘PCR test’ (similar to those done in local and regional testing sites) on the same day (or as soon as possible). School will be able to provide these PCR test kits to perform at home or you can go to www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or call 119 to book a follow-up test. If ordering a PCR test yourselves, they should choose to visit a drive-through test site if possible, as it is faster than requesting a home test.  

During this time while they wait for the PCR result (via text / email) they will need to self-isolate.  

If the PCR test returns a positive result you will have to self-isolate and follow the guidance from NHS Test and Trace.   

What happens if the test is negative?  

They will be able to stay in school and resume their activities as normal. A student will only be told if they test positive on a ‘lateral flow’ test, so if you do not hear you can assume it was negative. A small number of students may need to repeat the test if the first test was invalid or void for some reason.  

What if a close contact at school tests positive?  

A close contact of someone in school who has tested positive for COVID-19 will have to self-isolate and follow the guidance from NHS Test and Trace. 

What if my child develops symptoms?  

This testing programme at school is for people with no symptoms. If your child develops symptoms at any time (such as a high temperature; a new, continuous cough; or a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste) they must immediately self-isolate, and book a test by calling 119 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or 0300 303 2713 (Scotland) or visiting https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test.  

We will support our staff and students throughout, but please contact us if you need this information in any other language or format or if you have any questions. You can call the office on 01823 412396 or email covidnhs@heathfieldcommunityschool.co.uk.  

Click here to download our Privacy Notices
Click here to download a consent form

Click here to download a copy of our latest careers newsletter.

In addition to the Careers Newsletter  here are some other useful sites to explore:

www.Barclayslifeskills.com - This site includes lots of information and advice for young people and families to build resilience and employability skills for the future (all free resources)

www.nextstepssw.ac.uk - This site has a range of information about Higher Education and You, student life, student stories and finance.  It has virtual university experiences, a parent's area which includes Your Child's Options (GCSE and Further Education).

Next Steps South West have also teamed up with Unibuddy which allows students to chat with students and staff.  Although Unibuddy is always available, NSSW have started drop-in sessions on Wednesday afternoons 2.30pm-5.30pm until July 2021.  There is a video on the website about the Unibuddy programme.

https://nextstepssw.ac.uk/nssw-unibuddy-for-parents/

https://nextstepssw.ac.uk/unibuddy/?unibuddy=buddies%2Fstudents

UPDATE

Year 11 - On Thursday 25^thFebruary,  Huish will be have their next ‘Meet Charlotte’ Facebook Live event. Questions can be sent to our Facebook and Instagram .

charlottes@richuish.ac.uk

www.huish.ac.uk

The 2021 Aspire Challenge Award programme has now been officially launched and copies of the Challenge booklets are available from the student hub or  by clicking here. 

The Aspire Challenge Programme is a Heathfield Award scheme designed to inspire YOU to achieve YOUR potential and celebrate YOUR ability throughout your school years.  

The Aspire Challenge Programme consists of a number of challenges which aim to stretch, challenge, engage and motivate Heathfield students in a wide range of skills and subjects.  There is no realistic limit to the number of challenges you can undertake and achieve.

The challenges can be completed in any order.  Certificates are awarded once you have completed blue, red and green challenges and if you complete the bronze, silver, gold, platinum or rhodium challenges, you receive a pin badge to wear on your school jumper.

Most importantly, the challenges encourage you to learn new skills, seek high levels of achievement, make positive contributions to society and aspire academically, socially and emotionally.

The Aspire challenges can be found in this booklet along with information on the requirements of each challenge and which member of staff is responsible for signing-off each challenge.  The booklet also contains guidelines for submitting your work in a Covid-safe way.  Once enough challenges have been completed, you will be awarded with a pin badge and/or a certificate.

Are you ready to Aspire?

Good luck!

Mr Bament
Aspire Programme Co-ordinator.

NB: The Maths Aspire booklet is also available by clicking here.

Please click here to download the first edition of our Careers Newsletters.