Newsletters

GHS Connect #8 Monday 2 November

From the Head

Welcome back! I hope everyone has had a wonderful half term with some time for some proper rest and recuperation.

You will have all heard the news, no doubt, about the move to a stricter, national lockdown as of Thursday. This makes little difference to us as the clear message is that schools will remain open. However, we have no way of knowing how things might pan out, so we do need to make sure we are all fully ready for the delivery of remote learning if the worst case scenario happens at a later date.

As cases seem to be rising, now feels like a good time to gently remind everyone about the rules that we all need to follow. Please remember that if you are living with anyone who develops symptoms, you must remain off work until he or she has had a negative test. If someone in your household tests positive, then you need to self-isolate for 14 days from when you last came into contact with the affected person. Getting a test does not make a difference to when you are allowed to return.

Now that we are in national lockdown, mixing with other people in indoor spaces outside of work is not permitted. At work, we all need to continue to socially distance and we now need to wear face coverings in congested, communal areas such as corridors. Lift sharing with colleagues is also not to be advised, but if you have to do so, then please sit as far apart from one another as possible and wear a face covering.

That’s probably enough on Covid for now! But one last thing…. Please remember the colleagues we have who are living alone, who are not able to see family and who may struggle more in this darker period of lockdown. We all benefit from a smiley face and friendly chat at work but this is probably more important over the coming weeks than ever before. And if anyone feels that they need particular support, or just fancies a chat, please remember that my door is always open.

I hope that you all have a great week. I will be out and about as much as possible over the coming weeks and I look forward to hearing all about the wonderful things that everyone is managing to achieve in spite of the extraordinary circumstances we are working (and living) in.

Mia

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

A round up of some of the great learning and teaching strategies we’ve noticed being used around school recently…

> Chloe Altman showing her students how to use the ‘One-Two Punch’ to the greatest effect in their English Literature essays. 

> Gurvinder Nayyar demonstrating to her business students how to develop their exam question responses.

> Helen Judson using reusable Magic Whiteboard Paper (giant flexible whiteboards that can be stuck on the wall and assessed from a distance) with Post-16 students. 

L&T: Keeping track of homework on Google Classroom

Finding it hard to keep track of the homework students submit online? Need to have a conversation with a student about work completed during a period of self isolation? This week Georgina has a look at two tools to help facilitate constructive conversations about keeping on top of work set on Google Classroom - watch the video here.  

Inclusion & Pastoral

Welcome back - I hope everyone had a lovely half-term and feels rested. One of my lot was self-isolating due to track and trace at their school but it forced us as a family to slow right down, which was no bad thing. 

Schools Counselling Partnership

This week sees the start of the Schools Counselling Partnership working with us. Jo and Tash, our therapists, will be based in school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will be running a variety of sessions. Jo has put together an introductory video for us all, which I will ask Will to put on the VLE, and will also be introducing herself in HODs briefing on Wednesday. They are going to spend this week sorting out their rooms and the administrative side of things, but will begin to see clients, students and staff, referrals and drop-ins, from next week onwards. If you would like to know any more about the service, please do ask. But, there will also be more information to come for those who would like to use the service - any interaction you have with either Tash or Jo, from a personal perspective, will of course be confidential.

PSHE

Thank you to everyone for your continued support and delivery of the PSHCE programme - I hope the session in the week before half-term went well. Our next session will be Tuesday 10 November, during P1. If you could remind students to bring in their PSHCE booklets on that day, that would be great. I’m not sure how they got on with remembering them for the last session, but fingers crossed the majority of students remembered… The next lesson you will be delivering is the third lesson on the system for the year group you are teaching on that Tuesday morning. Please do have a look at the resources beforehand, if you get the chance, and feel free to adapt, if you need to. If you do do this, make sure you make a copy of the presentation before doing so, so that it is not changed for everyone else. Similarly, if there is anything that you are unsure about delivering, or are concerned about, please speak to either myself or Keely. All the resources for PSHCE can be found in Teacher Share > Common > PSHE > 2020-2021.

Tutor sessions

As mentioned before in GHS Connect, I have had to tweak the PSHCE dates moving forwards, given the mixed classes we have in some GCSE classes. Please check the new dates on the VLE. What I have done instead is use those slots on a Tuesday and Thursday to factor in some tutor sessions through the year. This is so that we continue to get some regular face-to-face time with our tutees which I know both staff and students have found invaluable. I have pencilled in the dates of these sessions, which will run in a similar fashion to the session we had in October, but have yet to firm up on the actual logistics - the dates are included in with the revised PSHCE dates, so please have a look at when those sessions will be so that you can plan accordingly. Also, let me know if there is anything you think should be covered during those sessions, or if you are liable to lose a PPA slot as a result of being with your tutor group.

Lastly, a plea for those of you who have not yet let me know about reading KCSIE (if you can’t remember what the acronym means, you might be one of those people) - I’ll be sending out individual reminders at some stage this week, so see if you can get in first! You can find everything you need in the Safeguarding documents page of the VLE.

Lou Grimley

Character strengths at GHS

This month we are focusing on COMMUNITY: encouraging random acts of kindness for others; showing respect for the environment.

When speaking with students - for example in class discussion, when praising student behaviour, or engaging in restorative conversations - use language around COMMUNITY:

> It showed a sense of community when you decided to…
> How did you show a sense of community when…
> In the future, you could show a sense of community by…

If you spot any students showing COMMUNITY in lessons or the playground, please send their names to us so we can celebrate their character.

Noble and Andrea