Tim Hill will be offering saxophone and clarinet lessons at Heathfield next term.

Tim is an experienced player who is happy to teach classical, jazz, rock and folk styles. He can teach beginners and more experienced players - he likes to find music and ways of learning that are inspiring and engaging. He is as happy to help pupils through grades as teach by ear. Tim is especially keen on improvisation and street bands, music approaches that are great for building confidence and musicality, but he also loves classical music and sharing his love of scales!!!! Tim has been working in schools on music projects and teaching for many years.

Tim organized the Sound of the Streets festival in Taunton this year, leads the Taunton youth street band The Sound Invaders and has been musical director for many outdoor arts companies. You an often hear his local band The Little Big Horns at events around Somerset. You can contact him at milton3hill@yahoo.co.uk

Heathfield Christmas Concert 2022

Thursday 15th December 2022 - 7pm in the Sports Hall

Tickets are on sale from the Finance Office.

Click HERE for more information.

Year 11 Mock Exam Letter

Dear parents and guardians,

Year 11 mocks are a week away, so I wanted to share the timetable:

 

 

I have arranged this timetable to minimise disruption to learning while giving students a good experience of the realities of exam conditions. Students have already been given the timetable, and their tutors will be going through the individual exams (for example, students will write their subject after the colon for Option A on the physical copy of the timetable in school). The options subjects relate to their timetable. For instance, if the class is called 11A/Ar1, that is Option A Art, and they would have their exam for art on Friday during P2 and P3. Where students have chosen triple science, they will complete their science exams in the science slots along with the combined science students.

 

Some subjects do not have an exam during this mock period, and for those subjects’ students will continue with their normal lessons.  This includes Dance (CAPA only), Princes' Trust, Computer Science, Music GCSE and Btec, Performing Arts, PE (OCR Cam Nationals only). Dance GCSE and PE GCSE both have mocks.

 

Parents Evening and Reports

When the mocks have been completed, we will begin sharing the details for parents’ evening, which will run – as it did last year – online, via the School Cloud website. This proved very popular last year, but we will complete a review of the online parents’ evening and you will be invited to give feedback on the process.

If you wish to look at the knowledge organisers or revision tips, please look at the year 11 page on our website. I look forward to giving you more updates shortly.

 

Mr Wood

Assistant Head

 

Heathfield School Christmas Bingo

Friday 2nd December 2022

Doors open at 6:30pm - Eyes down at 7:30pm

EXCELLENT PRIZES

Heathfield Community School
Monkton Heathfield
Taunton
TA2 8PD

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21 October 2022 

Dear Parents and Carers, 

As we reach the end of the first term, I have been reflecting on what has been an incredibly busy and encouraging start to the year. It has been my absolute privilege to get to know so many of our young people doing brilliant things. The standard of performance in the Year 11 shows at the Tacchi-Morris Centre and the recent ‘Finding Amy’ performance from our sixth formers in The Space were the highest I have seen in any school. It has been fantastic to see the numbers of students returning to extra-curricular sport, following such disruption from Covid in previous years. The pride and professionalism of our Year 11 prefects and Year 7 tour guides during recent open evenings and open mornings were a credit to the school and to you as their parents and carers. All this, on top of a term full of commitment and energy devoted to learning in lessons! 

Attendance Matters

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all families of the vital importance of excellent school attendance. An attendance rate of even 90% still represents one day off per fortnight, and below 90% attendance constitutes ‘persistent absence’. Please do contact us if you are struggling to ensure your child attends school regularly. We are here to help.  

I would also like to remind all families that, from Monday 31 October 2022, the school gates will close at 8:55am in the morning. After this time, students will need to sign in late at student reception.  

Student Uniform

Thank you for your continued support in upholding our uniform standards. The large majority of Heathfield students wear their uniform with pride and look very smart. If necessary, please take the opportunity this half term to organise any uniform items that your child might lack. In particular, I would like to remind all families that trainers are not allowed at Heathfield; please ensure your child is wearing formal, black polishable school shoes when we return at the start of term. As we can expect the weather to be increasingly cold and damp, please also ensure your child has a suitable outdoor coat. Students are not allowed to wear hoodies in school. 

Mobile Phone Policy for Students

As you are already aware, Heathfield is a mobile-free school for students. The benefits of a mobile phone ban to school culture, student conduct and safety are well established and understood. If your child brings their phone to school, please do ensure they know that it must be switched off and put into their bag before they come on to site. Mobile phones will be confiscated if seen and returned at the end of the day. If a student refuses to hand in their phone, we will contact parents to collect the phone from their child. Please also ensure that your child understands that taking care of their phone is their own responsibility. 

If you are accustomed to contacting your child during the day, via their mobile phone, please can I respectfully ask that you do not continue to do so from the start of term 2. In the event of an emergency, please contact the school’s main reception who will collect your child from their lesson so that you can speak to them.  

My final Friday video assembly was on the topic of mobile phones. Parents and carers can view the assembly video here: Friday assembly 14.10.22

Zen Den Arrangements

If your child currently accesses our Zen Den SEMH support provision you may know that Mrs Kelly will be absent for a large part of term 2. We will therefore be speaking to the students affected about interim arrangements until her return. 

Staff Thank Yous

At the end of term, we said goodbye to two long serving members of staff. Mrs Bowler is leaving our support-to-learn team to start a new job in hospital education. Mr Husband leaves our senior leadership team to start a new job at EDF energy. We thank them both for all their hard work and commitment over many years. 

I would like to wish you and your families a restful and relaxing half-term break. We look forward to seeing all our students again, on Monday 31 October 2022. 

Warm regards, 

 

Mrs Hannah Jones 

Headteacher 

 

Punctuality uniform letter

28 September 2022 

Dear parents and carers, 

Since I last wrote to you, I have held a further two assemblies with all our students on how we will work together to create a good school culture here at Heathfield; one where children are safe and feel safe, value their learning and value the learning of others around them.  

 

On Friday 30.09.22 I spoke about punctuality. We have made some small changes to school processes, in order to help students and staff to be punctual to school and to lessons. The published times of the school day are changing slightly and will be updated on our website. The school day remains 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, however the starts and end times for lessons has been simplified. We have also reduced the number of bells to just three warning bells, at 8:55am, 10:45am and 1:25pm, so that students begin moving to classrooms ready to be in their seats and ready for learning at the lesson start time. From the start of term 2, on Monday 31.10.22, the school gate will close at 8:55am, and we expect all students to be on site by this time so that form time can start promptly, with all students in class and ready for the register at 9:00am. Students arriving after 8:55am will be marked as late. Students that arrive after registers close at 9:30am receive an unauthorised absence mark, in line with the statutory guidance on school attendance. 

On Friday 07.10.22 I spoke about our school uniform. The overwhelming majority of Heathfield students look extremely smart every day. However, we do need to take some steps to tackle excessive jewellery and students wearing non uniform trainers to school. Trainers are not allowed at Heathfield. The uniform policy has been updated to include the principles which underpin our decisions regarding school uniform, which are summarised here. The updated policy will also be made available on the school website, along with further exemplification of our uniform standards. 

 

The key messages from these two assemblies can therefore be summarised as, “At Heathfield we are punctual” and “At Heathfield we wear our uniform with pride.” 

 

The two video recordings of the assemblies are now available for parents to watch, so that you can see what I have been talking to our students about, and are linked here: 

 

• Punctuality
• Uniform

 

If you would like to discuss the content of this assembly, or any other query or concern, please do contact us at school. 

 

Yours faithfully, 

 

Mrs Hannah Jones 

Headteacher 

Friday assembly

28 September 2022

 

Dear parents and carers,

On Friday, I began a short programme of assemblies for our students around some key features of what I consider to be a good school culture; one where children are safe and feel safe, value their learning and value the learning of others around them. Last week’s topic was on our use of language. Still to come this term will be punctuality, uniform and phone usage, among others.

Since taking up my post, just over four weeks ago, I have been greatly encouraged by the support that the school receives from our parents. I know that our students are best served when there are close connections between school and home, and when they receive the same messages, about acceptable conduct, from both places.

I have therefore made the video of my assembly available for parents to watch for themselves. A link to the YouTube clip is here: https://youtu.be/sKaXB4R52o0

The key messages can be summarised as, “At Heathfield we use respectful language”

· Use polite language, suitable for our school setting

· Speak to one another with respect, always

· Explain our concerns to a trusted adult

· Are resilient to minor slights

I would be grateful if you would watch the video (it is approximately 8 minutes long) so that you can see how I have been speaking to our young people about what is acceptable and unacceptable language. You could ask your child/ren about how they responded to this message after Friday’s assembly.

If you would like to discuss the content of this assembly, or any other query or concern, please do contact us at school.

Yours faithfully,

 

Mrs Hannah Jones

Headteacher

Friday assembly

28 September 2022

 

Dear parents and carers,

On Friday, I began a short programme of assemblies for our students around some key features of what I consider to be a good school culture; one where children are safe and feel safe, value their learning and value the learning of others around them. Last week’s topic was on our use of language. Still to come this term will be punctuality, uniform and phone usage, among others.

Since taking up my post, just over four weeks ago, I have been greatly encouraged by the support that the school receives from our parents. I know that our students are best served when there are close connections between school and home, and when they receive the same messages, about acceptable conduct, from both places.

I have therefore made the video of my assembly available for parents to watch for themselves. A link to the YouTube clip is here: https://youtu.be/sKaXB4R52o0

The key messages can be summarised as, “At Heathfield we use respectful language”

· Use polite language, suitable for our school setting

· Speak to one another with respect, always

· Explain our concerns to a trusted adult

· Are resilient to minor slights

I would be grateful if you would watch the video (it is approximately 8 minutes long) so that you can see how I have been speaking to our young people about what is acceptable and unacceptable language. You could ask your child/ren about how they responded to this message after Friday’s assembly.

If you would like to discuss the content of this assembly, or any other query or concern, please do contact us at school.

Yours faithfully,

 

Mrs Hannah Jones

Headteacher

Clubs for the Autumn Term

Clubs for the Autumn Term