Dear Parents

Sheffield City Council is putting in place an additional three new local testing units to make testing easier and more accessible.

A site is opening at Station Road Car Park in Darnall.  Free testing  for people in a household where they have any of the below symptoms:

• A high temperature
• A new, continuous cough
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste

• Appointments can be booked in advance online at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.  Walk in appointments are also available.

4^th September 2020

Dear Parents/carers

The Senior Leadership Team and I have been reviewing our start and end of day arrangements and I wanted to share with you some changes we will be implementing from Monday 7^th September.

Firstly, I would like to thank all those parents who have been very co-operative and supportive over the last two days, by observing social distancing when queuing, arriving at the correct school gate and on time and supporting the staff team with the safe arrival and collection of our pupils.

However, many parents have not been following the agreed procedures and this has made our job as a school really challenging. Therefore, the school has looked at how else we can make this process of dropping off and collection of pupils easier and we have decided the following:

• There will be one time slot for each year group for drop off and collections.
• We will put even larger and more signage on all gates to support parents.
• Parents will have to arrive with the time slot allocated and only those parents should be at the front of the queue.
• Morning drop off- As we can only let one year group in school at a time, the year group lead will stand outside facing the queue allowing only children from that year group through the school gates. When their 15-minute time is up the next Year group lead will come the front and start letting through the next group of children.

           Please note that if you miss your time slot then we are asking, for the safety of all, that you go to the back of the queue until we have taken in all pupils. Please do not come near the gate as the staff will not be able to speak with you then.

• Collection of children at the end of the school day – We can only let one year group out at a time. The year group lead will stand outside facing the queue and they will call out your child’s name to come out. This will be a slightly slower process as we will need to ensure that each pupil is handed over safely to their adult.

Listed below are the School start and end time for all year groups for your reference. This information is also on our website.

I urge all our parents to support us by doing the following:

• Arrive at school at the designated time
• Ensure that you are at the correct gate
• Always observe social distancing
• Be patient

I am sure that with your help and support we can ensure that all pupils start school on time and are collected safely at the end of the day. Your support with this also means that I can keep my staff safe and well and that no learning time is wasted.

I look forward to having our first full week at school with all our pupils next week.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Yours sincerely

Mrs A Maqsood-Shah

Dear Parent/Carers 

This will be my final message to you for this academic year 2019-20. What a year it has been! we have had many challenges but more importantly some significant achievements too. To list a few achievements: Good Ofsted outcome, our Curriculum design completed and well sequenced and strengthened impact of PTA and the local community partnership to list a few.

As you will know, the government has announced the very good news that all schools will be re-opening in full from September.

We have now received the full government guidance about how this will work and we are currently finalising our plans for how we will deliver this at High Hazels Academy. At all times, the safety, health and well-being of pupils and staff will be of the greatest importance and we will be ensuring that everything needed is put in place over the summer.

Our intention is that the school will run as normally as possible within the guidance and I will be writing to you before the end of term with specific details of how these will work. In that letter I will also confirm arrangements for the very beginning of term.

I look forward to welcoming back all our pupils when term begins. In the meantime, please do continue to ensure your child continues with their online learning or, that they attend school until the end of term.

Yours sincerely

Mrs A Shah

Dear Parents/Carers 

Last week saw us taking in children from Years 2, 3,4 and 5. I am delighted to report that the pupils from those year groups starting last week have settled in very well and are catching up quickly with their learning. 

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed receiving your child/ren's end of year reports and joined us in celebrating their achievements in what has been a challenging year for all. 

This week, we are all busy putting in place all our transition plans for September, whilst following the government's most up to date guidelines. I will write to you next week with more detail about this. 

You will have received this week on Monday a text message with a link for two surveys (parents and pupils). I would really appreciate your engagement with this. The results of these surveys will help us evaluate our current home learning offer and help us plan for our provision in September. The survey will be open for one week only from 6th July to 10th July.  To take part in pupils (Years 3-6) survey , click this link  and to complete the parent survey click  this link and follow the instructions.  

All new home learning for this week has been uploaded onto our website. If you need any support with this, then please do contact the school and one of the teachers will get back to you. Alternatively, you can discuss this weeks learning with the adult who will be ringing you this week and they should be able to support in any way they can. 

Yours sincerely, 

Mrs A Maqsood-Shah

Dear Parents/Carers

Last week was another successful week. A range of pupils attended in Years 6, 1 FS2 and Nursery. They have all settled in very well into the new school routines and systems. I want to take this opportunity to thank the parents of all the above year groups for supporting us by ensuring that they are dropping off and collecting their child/ren on time and from the designated gates. This has meant that we have been able to fulfill our duty of care and health and safety of all without any issues. 

I wrote to the parents of Years 6, 1, FS2 and Nursery last week to inform them that as the uptake of pupils place has been low I was opening up the offer to our Years 2,3,4,and 5 pupils. However, this means that if your child in Y6, 1, FS2 or Nursery had not attended school yet then they may not have a place this term as I have reallocated resources to open up other year group bubbles. I would appreciate your support and understanding with this.

This week my team will be sending out your child/ren's end of year reports. Like me, I am sure, you will be looking forward to read about your child's success and targets for next year. Your child/ren's report will also include information about who their teacher will be in the next academic year.

As we are only 3 weeks away from the summer term, I would like to also remind you that you can order your child/ren's uniform using our online payment system. If you need any support with that then please ring the main school office, the the admin/pastoral team will be able to support you with placing your orders. 

Yours sincerely, 

Mrs A Maqsood-Shah 

Dear Parents/Carers 

We opened our doors for the first time since lock-down to our Year 6, 1 and Reception children last week. Although the uptake of places has been low, I know that those who attended had a very enjoyable and productive week. I have included some images and videos of this here.... We will be welcoming welcoming our youngest children from Nursery this Monday.  This week I will also be evaluating the overall uptake of places for Y6, 1,Reception and Nursery. This means that if uptake remains low then I will be contacting parents/carers to offer school places for this half term to other year groups. I will be writing to you about this, later this week.

I have been very pleased with the amazing work the staff here at High Hazels Academy have been doing; from planning first class home learning, to keeping in touch calls to families as well as continuing with our offer of food pack distribution to our families. Having said this, I am also very proud of you as parents/carers for the hard work and dedication you continue to demonstrate whilst supporting your child/ren's home learning. We are currently reviewing other ways we can continue to encourage those pupils who remain reluctant to engage with our online home learning offer. Again, I will share our plans for this in my message next week. 

Finally, a message to parents/carers of all pupils currently attending school. As part of our health and safety risk assessment we recognise that pupils will need to change their school uniform at least 3 times a week. This is to ensure the safety of all by limiting the spread of any virus. I appreciate that this could be challenging to facilitate for many families. To this end, I am relaxing the school uniform rule to allow parents/carers to ensure that their child/ren are changing their clothes 3 times a week.

Please do continue to support your child/ren with the home learning offer, which is uploaded weekly onto the website on the home learning resource page.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Mrs A Maqsood-Shah

Dear Parents/Carers 

We are very excited to welcome our Year 6/1/Reception and Nursery children back to school this week! As I have already mentioned in my letter to parents on Friday, we will start the week by welcoming Year 6 pupils on Monday, Year 1 pupils on Wednesday and Reception children on Friday. This will allow staff time to support the pupils to settle into their new groups and spaces. 

I hope that you have taken the time to read all the additional information we sent out on Friday as these will no doubt answer many of your questions and help alleviate any worries or concerns about the wider school opening. However, do please contact school if you have any further queries regarding arrangements for your child/ren. 

It is also important to mention that for all pupils in Year 2/3/4 & 5 we will continue to offer our online Home Learning programme and we will also extend this offer to those pupils of other year groups not attending school. 

Finally, I would like to thank you for your continued support and partnership.

Yours sincerely, 

Mrs Shah

Dear Parents

Following an excellent staff Planning Day on Monday, the school is fully prepared for the return of pupils. Key worker and disadvantaged children are already welcome to attend and we look forward to joining other Sheffield Schools in welcoming Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 on Monday 15th June. 

We will be speaking to all families with pupils in these classes over the next few days to make sure that everyone is ready to return.

I look forward to seeing our pupils back at school. 

Yours sincerely

Mrs A Shah

Dear Parents/Carers

Last week saw many of our families marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan with the celebrations of Eid-UL-Fitr. On behalf of all governors and staff at High Hazels, I would like to wish all those families Eid Mubarak.

As I have already sent today a detailed letter to you explaining our arrangements for this week regarding the wider opening of school, I will keep this message brief. Suffice to say that if you have any questions or require any further clarification, then please do not hesitate to contact us. 

We have once again uploaded our home learning materials for all pupils this week and hope that you will continue supporting and encouraging your child/ren to actively engage with all the learning set for them. 

Finally, I hope that you are all finding some time to enjoy this glorious weather.

Yours sincerely, 

Dear Parents,

As you will know, our intention had been to re-open the school for Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children on Tuesday 2nd June.

We have been working very hard over the past few weeks to ensure that we would be able to manage the safety and well-being of pupils and staff when they return. The school, however, has not been open at all since the Lockdown began.

On Monday, staff will be returning to High Hazels for a planning day. But, given that the school has not been in use for anyone since the Lockdown began, we have decided not to open to pupils on Tuesday. Instead, we will begin by hosting key worker children and vulnerable pupils at High Hazels so that we can all get used to the school being open again and in use. During Lockdown, these children have been offered supervision at our sister academy, Sheffield Springs.

We will review this situation at the end of the week and look forward to welcoming our youngest pupils back very shortly.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this causes parents; particularly those who had planned to return to work next week, assuming that their children would be back at school.

If you are a key worker and would like your child to start attending again at High Hazels - regardless of what year group they are in - do please let me know.

Thank you for your patience and tolerance at this time.

Yours sincerely

Mrs A Maqsood-Shah

Headteacher