Headteacher's update - SNS Home Learning 

4^th February 2021

Dear Parent/Carer,

HT’s Weekly Communication Week 5

This week seems to have flown past! I hope it has been a good one for all in our community. It was lovely meeting parents and students at events of this week, albeit in a virtual forum. Sincere thanks to all of you for your support at this time, I am grateful for all your positive messages which are very much appreciated by the staff.

Today, I do want to say a special note of thanks to the IT and Network Team, who are dealing with a wide ranging list of requests including our IT queries both on-site and off, providing devices and guidance. As you can appreciate their work has seen a significant increase and I want to acknowledge the team’s hard work and industry over the last year.

Online Safety

Our theme for next week is online safety and we will celebrate Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 9 February through our assemblies. The internet is a brilliant tool when used safely and appropriately. This year in the United Kingdom the Safer Internet Day explores reliability online. 'The internet has an amazing range of information and opportunities online, but how do we separate fact from fiction?’ Safer Internet Day will be celebrated globally with the slogan: Together for a better internet.

The UK Safer Internet Centre has a host of resources for young people, parents/carers and teachers. You can find a link here. I thoroughly recommend you explore their website for helpful tips and guides.

On the school SNS Home Learning website, you will see a tab called ‘Online Safety’. Here you will find links to further resources and importantly, there is advice on how to report online abuse. The link to this section of our website can be found here.

On Friday 12 February we will end the week and this half-term with a Digital Detox Day – there will be no ‘live’ lessons and class work will be set through Teams. We have encouraged class teachers to upload tasks which are non-screen based. During this day, teachers will moderate and standardise the work of examination year groups and plan lessons for after half-term.

Key dates

Parent/Carer of BAME Students Forum

Dr Colin King OBE from the FA’s Hall of Fame of Football Coaches will be joining this session. A leading figure in Black and Asian Coaches Association, addressing issues related to diversity and inclusivity in football. If you wish to join the group, please email sop.pre@sns.hackney.sch.uk

Weekly Parent/Carer Year Group Forums

Please see below a reminder of timngs and joining links for the weekly parent/carer forums for each year group. These forum meetings are recorded and uploaded to the shared folders which were emailed on Tuesday 19 January. If you would like a reminder of the link and/or password, please email admin@sns.hackney.sch.uk

Year 11 Parent Forum Tuesday 9 February – We have invited our link Education Psychologist – Katherine Madden to present in this session on ‘Supporting Teenage Motivation’.

I wish you all a restful weekend.

With best wishes,

Zehra Jaffer