Newsletters

GHS Connect #27 Tuesday 3 May

From the Head

Welcome back after the long weekend. I hope that all of the colleagues who were celebrating Eid had a wonderful time with family and friends. 

I wanted to start by letting everyone know that we will not be moving forwards with the new DHT appointment. We were looking for somebody who would bring some fresh, new ideas, and unfortunately myself and the governors didn’t feel that there were any applicants who had the kind of expertise or level of experience we were looking for. There will be some AHT posts advertised in a few weeks’ time, so do look out for those.

Well done to everyone involved in the CPD sessions last week - it’s so important for us all to learn from each other and to step outside of our comfort zone and try different things with our classes. Perhaps it’s just me, but I am certainly finding Year 7 students have a number of learning gaps and I am having to adapt my teaching a good deal this year. Recent news articles seem to underline that this is an issue we are likely to be facing for years to come, with new research by the National Literacy Trust outlining how parents spent less time reading, chatting and playing with their children during the pandemic. To add to this, early SEN needs are a particular problem in Ealing, where we have a much greater proportion of children either obtaining or needing EHCPs in primary school, or on transition to secondary school.

The biggest difference we can make in plugging these gaps, and ensuring progress for all, starts in our individual classrooms, working out what is and what isn’t working. And while we won’t always get it right, it’s always a good idea to try out different approaches.

Have a great week,

Mia

Monday
Bank holiday.

Tuesday
Meeting: Department time 3.15pm - 4.30pm.

Wednesday 
Meeting: HODs meeting & HOYs/DHOYs meeting 3.15pm - 4.15pm.
Directed time: Teacher marking, planning and collaboration 3.15pm - 4.15pm
CPD: Teach First - Preparation for final reviews. ECF Module 5 Seminar 1 (ECTs only - MAT online).

Thursday
PSHCE P1.

Friday
Normal day.

Notes
KS3 interim deadline originally due this week has been pushed back to the week after half-term (Thursday 9 June).

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

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

Learning and teaching: CPD carousel

Thank you to our wonderful presenters - Amandeep, Adam, Karishma, Cristabel, Jeremy, Jen, Naomi, Hanad, Clare and Georgina who shared with us pedagogical approaches in Wednesday’s Action Research CPD carousel. 

Please continue to work on your own action research over the next few months ready for a self-reflection and self-evaluation of your project in June. 

Inclusion and Pastoral

I hope you all had lovely long weekends!

A few bits and pieces from me this week - we have been looking at our bullying policies, strategies and interventions, with one of the changes being a tweak to how we record bullying on SIMS. We have introduced a new category Name Calling to use if you witness someone being unkind or offensive towards someone. This is to differentiate between a one-off incident and actual bullying, which is sustained and repeated intentional harm. If, however, it is not the first incident for that student, then use the category of Bullying. Please also ensure that you record the action you have taken. There will be more information around this area in terms of the updated policy, our Bullying Flowchart and a new post very soon…

The other thing I wanted to say this week was a big thank you for the SMHW feedback - I have had a look at results and there are some interesting and useful points that have been made. We will certainly bear this feedback in mind as we move forward with SMHW and combine it with the student responses about what is working and what is in need of improvement.

Last thing from me - don’t forget it’s PSHCE this week. So, have a look and see what you are teaching this week and let me know if there are any issues!

Have a good short week, everyone.

Lou 

Inclusion Heroes!

My Inclusion Heroes this week are the entire Learning Support Department, and especially the TAs, who ran a brilliant session last Thursday for Year 9 SEND students and their families on choosing options. It was really well attended, very informative and a lovely way to support some of our more vulnerable students with this crucial step. Thank you! 

Behaviour for Learning: Lose the “but” - use "and" instead… and then develop "because"!

Over the course of the week, we often find ourselves in situations where we need to redirect a student. Some of our students need to be redirected in many of their lessons and this, for a number of different reasons, can lead them to responding with defiance or ambivalence. A small change in the wording used can help, for example:
 
“Mark, I know you’re angry with Harpal at the moment but you need to sit down and do this assessment.”
 
In this instance, the teacher is acknowledging Mark’s emotion but quickly moves to instruction using “but” which invalidates the connection made in the first part of the statement. Consider replacing this with an “and”:
 
“Mark, I know you’re angry with Harpal at the moment and at the same time you need to complete the assessment.”
 
This slight change of phrasing acknowledges the emotion and the need to do something (the assessment) whilst managing that emotion and by not using "but" you don't invalidate the validation/connection. Some students might still find this super tough and need more time on the connection/validation of their feelings before the move to instruction. This is where “because” (ideally x3) works well:
 
“Mark, I know you’re angry because Harpal took your pencil, because he didn’t ask you, because that’s really infuriating… and at the same time you need to…”
 
This isn’t a silver bullet; however, changing our phrasing can, over time, foster positive relationships and behaviour change. If you’d like to discuss this further, then please come along to our next behaviour for learning drop-in surgery which are held fortnightly in the classroom off of the small gym.

Duty 

Please be extra vigilant when on duty at the end of the day and at break and lunchtimes as several students have begun to use their phone whilst on the school site, instead of waiting until they have left the premises. 

If you see a student using their mobile phone whilst on duty, please confiscate it and hand it to the relevant YT, who will confiscate it for 5 school days, as per our policy. 

Students have been reminded of this rule during assemblies last week. 

Please ensure that you arrive promptly to your duty and remember your high-vis jacket. 

SLT Uniform Check

SLT will be conducting a uniform check during form time this week to ensure that we maintain our high expectations regarding students being ready for school. 

Have a great week,

Mark and Jo