Dates for your diary

(Subject to change)

Week Commencing 16th

September 2019 is Week 1(A) on

the Secondary Timetable September 18.09.19—Primary individual & Sibling Photos 19.09.19—Primary & KS4 Parent Information Sessions 20.09.19-21.09.19—Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expedition 25.09.19—Reception Curriculum Evening 6.30pm 28.09.19—School Open Day and Primary Meet the Teacher Day 11am-3pm 30.09.19—Year 11 & 13 Mock Exams week October 03.10.19—Year 7 & 12 settling in Evening with Tutors (times to be confirmed) 09.10.19—Nursery Parent Information Evening 6.30pm 10.10.19—Parent Conference (times to be confirmed) 16.10.19—Year 6 SATS Information Evening (times to be confirmed) 17.10.19—Year 11 Parents Evening. 2.30pm-6.30pm 21.10.19-01.11.19—Half Term November 04.11.19—Inset Day 07.11.19—Friends Firework Night (TBC) 12.11.19-14.11.19—Primary Parents Evening (TBC) 14.11.19—6th Form Open Evening (times to be confirmed)

Please continue to refer to the

School Website calendar for

regular updates.

Please direct any enquiries to

office@heyfordparkfreeschool.org

Friday 13th September 2019 Issue 3

HPFS Whole School Bulletin

Primary and Secondary Joint Update

This has been a week like no other in our experience at Heyford Park Free School.

Most of you will have read the email to parents yesterday regarding the death of

one of our Reception pupils, following a tragic accident near her home on Sunday.

For those of you who have missed this email, we sent out the following

information:

We were saddened to hear the news of the death of one of our pupils. She was a

big part of our community and we will always remember her. Our thoughts are very

much with the parents and family and we will offer them help and support in any

way we can.

We know that all parents, carers and the wider community will join us in sending

our love, thoughts, prayers and sympathy to her family.

We are very conscious that there will be families and children that need particular

support for a variety of reasons and we are working with families at this time. As

part of this support, we have arranged for some professional help from an

Educational Psychologist who coming in this Friday (tomorrow) from 1-3pm for any

family who feels affected by this tragedy to drop in and talk further. This is only if

you feel that personal support would be beneficial. Please come to the main school

entrance and the office team will direct you. Other support can be found through

your GP, and some national and local charities, including:

SeeSaw http://www.seesaw.org.uk/ 01865 744 768

Cruse Bereavement Care https://www.cruse.org.uk/ 0808 808 1677

It is our understanding that many children are currently unaware of what has

happened. However, as families talk to their own individual children about the

tragedy, children may start to talk to each other. As a school, we will answer

questions children have in an age-appropriate way: for the younger children

parents may wish to let us know the language they have used to explain what

happened so we can mirror that for different families in school. Please note that we

will not make any announcements – this is not our news to share and we respect

the family’s privacy.

We recognise that members of our community will be affected by this for some time

to come, and ongoing support will continue to be offered.

Mrs Hughes and Miss Wallington

Primary News

Primary Notes, reminders and changes for next week:

Open Day: Saturday 28th September 2019

Just to remind all families that you are welcome to come to the Open Day on Saturday 28th September between 11am and

3pm. Children can show you their classrooms and you can say hello to the staff. There will be times when phase leaders will

give a short presentation about the curriculum for their phase as follows:

Key Stage 1 – Miss Ward – 11.30pm and 1pm

Lower Key Stage 2 – Mrs Jefferies – 12 noon and 1.30pm

Upper Key Stage 2 – Mr Marchant – 12.30pm and 2pm

These will take place in the classrooms of these teachers. Reception and Nursery will doing their presentations at evening

meetings that are already planned.

Do remember that it’s a great opportunity for children and parents in primary to look round the secondary part of the school

(including the SC) – we hope to see you there!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday 18th Primary individual and sibling photos

Thursday

Friday

Principal’s Message

“We only have what we give.” Isabel Allende

This week has brought sadness to our Heyford community. It has been a time for each of us to reach inside ourselves to give

the best of our selves to others to give strength to those around us. My thanks go to everyone who has done this to ensure

all our community members are cared for at this time.

Year 6 have returned from their residential – well done to all, staff and students alike. Next weekend we see our Duke of

Edinburgh students take part in their qualifying expedition.

The academic year has started formally now. There are a number of events for you to be involved in coming up this half

term including, our Parent Conference, our Open Day, Reception Evening and Nursery Evening as well as Sixth Form Open

Evening.

I hope you will be able to come to our Parent Conference on the 10th October at 6pm – 7.30. This is an opportunity to build

on the conference we held in July to look at the vision for the school going forward over the next 1-2 years but also over the

next 3-5 years. This is a chance for you to have an influence on the vision for the future for Heyford Park Free School as well

as feedback on the more current.

News from the English Department

Welcome back to a new academic year; we hope you had a nice summer relaxing, visiting family and interesting places but

also reading many books!

We wanted to celebrate yet another set of excellent GCSE English results with you and to say how proud we are of last year’s

cohort who have raised the bar even higher to 86.8% of grades 4-9 in either English Language or Literature. These successes

mean that our students are able to continue their education and pursue courses they wish to confident in their skills and

proud of their achievements. Indeed, we have a new year 12 class studying the AQA Literature B course and we are very

excited to be working with them!

Some of the successes worth a special mention are:

Haytham, Lily and Miesha with grade 7 in Language and grade 7 in Literature

Thomas, Adam, Amy, Ryan, Georgia, Will and Malaika with grade 6 in Language and grade 7 in Literature

Danielle with grade 9 in Language and grade 8 in Literature

Seb and Chauni with grade 6 in Language and grade 8 in Literature

Alfie and Josh with grade 4 in Language

Well done to everyone and good luck to class of 2020! Can they do even better? We certainly think so!

We would also like to introduce to the department 2 new members of staff- Mrs Morbey-Burras and Mr Lewis Dady. Here is a

little introduction about them both- I know you will make them feel very welcome. Keep learning, keep reading and keep

achieving!

Miss Marin

Mrs Morbey- Deputy Director of English

My love for this subject is the most important thing to know about me (that and the fact that I am a huge Harry Potter fan-

feel free to challenge me on any HP book knowledge). Being a teacher of English, in my opinion, is all about trying to inspire

students to explore the power that words can have. Whether that is in their own writing, helping to craft and create a way

for them to communicate their ideas, opinions and imaginations to the rest of the world, or through their reading where

infinite possibilities lie ahead (in what other subject would they be able to be in the middle of the battle on Troy one minute

and then flying through space looking for a new world the next...?). I hope that in my time at Heyford Park Free School, I can

try to promote at least part of this love for reading, writing and speaking into the students that I see.

Lewis Dady- English trainee teacher

I am currently training at HPFS to become an English teacher. I have previously studied English Language and PE at university

before graduating in 2018. Since then have worked at Chipping Norton School as a teaching assistant. In my spare time, I

enjoy both watching and playing sport, mainly football and cricket- I support the mighty Aston Villa! I also enjoy reading for

hours on end; my favourite authors are George Orwell and Anne Michaels but also the poetry of Frank O’Hara and Liz Berry.

Mrs Wilson’s summer reading

If you are stuck for reading ideas, I have three recommendations - all very different but equally gripping.

Normal People is a teenage love story set in Ireland. The title, however, is deliberately misleading as the two

teenage protagonists are really not normal at all. In fact, when you read this book, you may well start questioning

how 'normal' any of us actually are.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite needs little introduction because the title says it all. The

first chapter opens with Korede scrubbing blood off of a skirting board wishing that her sister could give up

murdering her poor boyfriends. The plot thickens when both girls fall for the same man. A short, fast-paced read

for those who like lots of gore..

This is going to Hurt by Adam Kay is a warts and all set of diary entries that chart his life as a Junior Doctor

in a busy hospital. This book brings a whole new meaning to LOL - yes, you will laugh out loud but you may

shed the odd tear too. It's honest, hilarious and horrifying all at once.

There you are - buy it, borrow it or stick it on your Christmas list.

Happy reading!

Message from Miss Gibson

This year I am so looking forward to having a year 8 class again so that I get to teach ‘Of Mice and Men’. I find that for

teenage students, the themes of racial inequality, sexism, class divides and friendship are just as relevant now as they were in

1930s depression era California. Students always enjoy the journey of George and Lennie, which makes it a lively class read.

Also this year, we see our new Year 7 unit – Greek Myths and Legends- so I can’t wait to broaden my own knowledge of the

topic and get to know more than the standard five or so tales most people remember. Finally, ‘Rubbish at Adultery’ makes

another appearance in Year 9 Love and Relationships poetry, meaning that I can update my display board with the new home

learning responses from the point of view of the male lover – one of my most humorous boards of work all year.

Welcome back to the new term from the SEND department.

How can we support our pupils working memory ?

Attached are some strategies that you may find useful in helping you to support and develop your child’s working

memory.

Heyford Park Free School OPEN DAY

Saturday 28th September 2019 from 11am-3pm

The team at Heyford Park Free School is warmly inviting families and potential students to visit the school on Saturday 28th September from 11am. This will be an opportunity to meet with staff from nursery to 6th form, to have tours of both sites and to hear presentations from the Leadership Team.

Friends of Heyford Park are also organising a BBQ and will sell refreshments throughout the event at the main school site.

Please join us to find out more about our small and inclusive all-through school and to celebrate our great results!

For more information please contact Cat Marin- Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning on cmarin@heyfordparkfreeschool.org

KS4 Information Evening Thursday 19th September - 5:00 - 6:00pm

Students and Parents in year 9, 10 & 11 are all invited to our KS4 evening focusing on how to help your child succeed at KS4. The main focus will be on English, Maths and Science and the subject leads will present important information on their subjects.

Attendance Figures

Whole School = 95.03% Secondary = 93.67% Primary = 96.76%

ICT Extra Curricular Activities

Mr Lutgens will be providing TWO after school sessions each week taking place on a Tuesday and Wednesday to enable a choice of convenience for year 11 pupils taking Digital Media and/or Digital Technology.

As well as these support sessions, the computer suite is also made available for work purposes at lunch time Monday to Thursday (13:00 to 13:30) - Lunch time will be for independent working and after school will be for both independent and supported working.

Mr Lutgens—ICT