School Policy

School attendance is incredibly important. Please inform the school if there is any reason for your child not attending.

Highgate Wood School has a school uniform which principally constitutes of a school jumper and other presecribed items. All students from Year 7 to Year 11 are required to wear the uniform. We have one uniform that remains the same throughout the year, irrespective of whether it is winter or summer.

The school is governed by the policies that can be accessed below. Other policies are available on request from the school. You may request a paper copy, free of charge, of the policies listed below by emailing admin@hws.haringey.sch.uk

We are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all of our students so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying and harassment will not be accepted and incidents will be dealt with in a positive and supportive manner that strengthens and empowers all members of the school community. We call this CARE

Highgate Wood School takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously.

The General Data Protection Regulation, in force from 25th May 2018, is designed to ensure that personal data is kept safe and secure and that there is transparency around what information is collected, how it is used and with whom it is shared.

See below for answers to some of the more frequently asked questions. Exam notices for the website (Current as of July 2026) During busy exam periods and during the summer holiday please ensure you send emails to both the exams officer and also cc examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk this will maximise the chance of a timely response. This is from April to the end of October in and calendar year. Please be aware that with exam results communications must be from the student and from their personal email address. Parents can help the student write this and be copied in etc but exam results belong to students and not parents, we are not allowed to communicate with parents about exam results without the student’s written consent. 1 Results days a) Results days in 2026 are Thursday 13th August for year 13 and Thursday 20th August for year 11 b) Any year 12 / year 10 results can be obtained after 11am on the relevant results day or in September c) Students are expected to attend the results day if at all possible d) Results belong to the student and we are not allowed to communicate with parents or give parents information regarding results without the written permission of the student e) A student can give a relative or a friend permission to collect results but must email the "examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk" from their personal account to inform her of this arrangement before results day, a note to allow them to pick up their results on results day is not acceptable, also the person nominated must have photo ID to prove they are who they say they are f) If a student wishes results to be emailed to them (or to someone else) they must email examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk at least three working days before the end of the summer term from their personal not their school email address. Once we have this permission we endeavour to send the information by 2pm on the day of the results – we cannot do this earlier as the exams team are running results day. We will not be able to send emails before late afternoon on results day 2 Re-marking exam papers / clerical checks etc a) If you wish to seek a re-mark for any result the deadline is 21st September (in order to give the exams team time to apply by the exam board deadline of 24th September 2026) b) All requests for a re-mark must be made by the student (not the parent) and be made in person on the results day with a completed EAR form, and a SCOPAY receipt (or cash - exact money only) by the student from their personal (not school) email to examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk with the completed EAR form and a SCOPAY receipt (see appendices) c) If you need an urgent re-mark (for A’ level results only) in order to secure a university place the deadline for the ‘priority service’ is 17th August (in order to give the exams team time to apply by the exam board deadline of 20th August 2026) d) Results for the non-priority re-marks arrive in school by the end the second week of October – please do not contact the school prior to this date to check on re-mark results e) Results for the priority re-marks arrive in school within 7 days of sending the request – please do not contact the school before this date to check on re-mark results 3 Advice about whether to appeal a result a)The exams officer / exams team cannot give any guidance on whether to apply for a re-mark they can only inform students on how many marks away from the grade boundary above the student is b) No advice can be given by the exams team on which paper or papers to re-mark (usually there is no way of knowing which paper is more likely to increase the mark) c) The only advice that might be given is by subject teachers and it needs to be recognised that this is only a point of view and not guaranteed, any re-marks are the student’s decision d) Subject teachers might feel able to give advice though equally they may not feel able to and this needs to be respected e) Any advice sought from teachers can be requested in person on results day or by email to a named teacher (if one is available) and this email must be sent the same day as the results are given out or the day after in order to manage staff workload though there is no guarantee of an answer during the school holiday f) In the absence of direct advice from teachers, in general we suggest that in a maths or science-based subject it is usually only worth getting a re-mark if within two marks of the grade above. For a literacy-based exam then perhaps 4-5 marks from the grade above would be appropriate. If it can be afforded then it is likely better to have all papers re-marked but for financial reasons students / parents might decide not to do this. 4 Contacting the exams officer a) During the summer holiday we do try to ensure there are responses to emails (unless the information is on the school website) though by necessity this is limited to the Monday before the first results day and successive Mondays after that until the end of the holiday (email: examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk) b) During term time, outside of the busiest times, the exams officer aims to answer emails (unless the answers can be found on the school website) within two working days c) During very busy times (September and April to June) it is important, when emailing examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk to recognise that replies may be delayed. 5 Collecting exam certificates Collection of exam certificates is as follows: a) By the end of November, a notification to all students of the cohort concerned will be sent by text message or email saying that certificates are ready for collection. b) The student (not parent) should email examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk to confirm a date and time that they are able to collect their certificates, for 6th form they should copy the 6th form team. c) Students must attend at the arranged time at the Windrush office with photo Identification. d) If someone else is collecting certificates on behalf of the student then an email must be sent from the student’s personal account confirming the name and relationship along with the date and time. The nominated person needs photo identification. e) If a student wants certificates posted they must pay for recorded delivery on the online systems however we do not recommend this, nor do the exam boards. f) Once certificates leave HWS they are no longer our responsibility. g) It is important to recognise that collection of certificates is the responsibility of the student. h) If a student does not follow the above procedure and request their certificates at a time other than this then the process of getting the certificates might take up to four weeks and we do not process any requests in the months of April, May or June. i) The student is responsible also for keeping certificates safe. If a student loses a certificate then the school should not be contacted as we cannot help. The exam board needs to be contacted via their website. Also, if the exam was taken several years previously when the exam boards were different an internet search should be able to identify which exam board has these records. j) Highgate Wood School does not necessarily keep records as to which exam board was historically used for a particular subject. An ex student in this position will need to conduct their own research on the internet. k) We are obliged to keep exam certificates for only one year and after this we are expected, by the exam board, to destroy the exam certificates. When this happens ex-students will need to research, organise and pay for their own replacement directly with the exam board. 6 Community Languages See: https://hws.haringey.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Community-Languages-procedure-and-request-form.pdf Please note that we cannot guarantee being able to facilitate the spoken component of a language (apart from French and Spanish) though we will try. We believe a good grade can still be obtained without this component. Notes on A’ Level community languages a) Students thinking about this and a member of the 6th form team and ideally their parents must read and understand the expectations of the specifications for the course b) Apart from French and Spanish we are highly unlikely to have the expertise at HWS to facilitate an A’ level in a language and students and parents should seek to do such a qualification outside of the school – we will of course authorise absences to do this c) Knowing how to speak and write in the language is not sufficient d) A lot of in-depth research is to be conducted for the writing and speaking exam (not all A Level have a speaking element - check the specifications) e) It is highly recommended to have an A’ Level tutor or attend a language school on Saturdays or after school to prepare f) You need to be aware of past and current economic, social and political affairs linked to the language undertaken g) There is a written response to works (literary texts) and a written response to works from films. Students must write an extended response on either one or two of the literary texts listed in the specifications and film chosen. Prescribed literary texts and films are included in the specification. h) For the speaking exam if there is one, (see note above) it demands an important chunk of personal work. It sometimes has a high percentage of the overall mark. You have an independent research to prepare for which no feedback can be given. This independent research main ideas and topic must be shared with the examiner so they can prepare the interview to be held with the student for the exam. All the information is on the specifications. Students have to have a tutor or go to a school to support how to navigate the expectations of that exam, we do not have the expertise in school to support with this except for the languages specified above. 7 Access arrangements for exams See: https://hws.haringey.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Access-arrangements-at-HWS-Parent-info.pdf 8 Missing public exams a) If a public exam is missed it cannot be re-sat in the same academic year and no such re-sits are offered in HWS b) The only re-sits of public exams at HWS are for English and Maths GCSE and are strictly for students who are on roll at HWS at the time of the re-sit – in order to re-sit in other circumstances a centre that specialises is external candidates needs to be sought by the student / parent c) A doctor’s note or hospital note must be provided for any missed exam d) The exam board might (though it is at their discretion) average out the marks from the other papers that are sat in the subject as long as there is medical evidence for the absence e) If a student arrives late then there is a risk that the exam board will give zero marks for that exam and this risk is higher if the student is very late