Newsletters

GHS Connect #28 Monday 9 May

From the Head

I hope everyone has been enjoying the weather and is looking forward to what should hopefully be another good week.  I am not usually out of school, but please note that this week I will be absent for some of Friday as I am involved in an exclusions hearing (for another school) in Ealing.

We continue to be busy with staffing, with interviews last week for KS3 Leader, a previously unfilled post, and Head of Science, as Andrew will be leaving in September. Congratulations to Clare Secombe who has been appointed as Head of Science, and to Amandeep Phull who has been appointed as KS3 Leader. Clare will take up her role in September and Amandeep will begin in June, to support some of our work in transition in the last half term.

This week we have a slight change to our usual schedule with HODs and HOYs meetings. During these meetings, there will be further discussion and information about pastoral work going forwards. One of the things that we will be continuing to work on is students’ perception of bullying, following on from some concerns that came out of our Ofsted inspection. To help with this, we have advertised the post of Anti Bullying and Online Education Leader, and also considered some of the recording and tracking processes around bullying. Please ensure that when you are recording one-off instances such as ‘name calling’, that these are flagged as such, as outlined in Lou’s recent announcement. Where things become repeated behaviours, then this should of course be considered bullying. Follow-on actions should always be noted on SIMs. More on this and other pastoral matters will be discussed at the staff meeting in June.

Finally, a massive well done to our Year 10 girls’ rounders team who have become borough champions, and thank you to Kathy for all of her hard work with them.

Mia

Monday
Normal day.

Tuesday
Meeting: Department time 3.15pm - 4.30pm.

Wednesday 
Meeting: HODs 3.15pm - 4.15pm.
ECT CPD: Careers - SON / WES (DG08)

Thursday
Normal day.

Friday
Normal day.

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

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

• Liz Ayres using a great active task with her year 7 class to consolidate learning - each student had to walk round the class and complete a survey. It was great to see students so engaged and using Spanish so confidently!

• Hassnain Mahay’s Year 10 students flicking back through their books to use knowledge checklists and prior learning to help answer exam-style questions. It was great to see students monitoring their learning and selecting the resources provided by Hassnain to make progress. 

Learning and Teaching: exam prep!

Many of us are marking like crazy at the moment to support our students in years 13, 11 and 10 to prepare for the first set of external exams in several years. If you are turning around exam papers and essays rapidly, please consider the following to help you manage workload: 

• In this final run up to the exams it may be appropriate to offer class feedback on key points rather than lengthy comments for individuals.
• Students should have some time in lessons to act on this feedback and correct misconceptions to make it really valuable. 
• Consider homework tasks that students in exam (or other) classes can usefully do to prepare that does not generate yet more marking-flashcards, quizzes, tasks on online platforms etc. 

Thank you for everything you are doing for our students at this challenging time!!

Kelly McCarthy

Inclusion and Pastoral

We are half-way through the half-term - hurrah! Although I do appreciate that this brings it own pressures…

The only updates from me this week are about staffing and a reminder that it’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Firstly, welcome to Ben Gunn as Deputy Head of Year 8, covering for Buchi’s maternity leave. He said hello to Year 8 last week and goodbye to his Year 7 tutor group, so we are good to go!

Secondly, we welcome Akeella Burgess to Greenford High School this week - she is our new school social worker, taking over from Michelle Williams. Akeella will be based in A Block with Niloo, Sarah and Nuggy and will be carrying on the essential work that Michelle was doing in supporting our highly vulnerable students and families. Please pop your head in and say hello and if you have safeguarding queries, feel free to talk to her. And, Scott Osborne returns today from annual leave - Scott will now be with us on Mondays only and is based in AF14 if you want to go and pick his brains about anything behavioural…

All our other interventions carry on as normal, with external staff coming and going, and don’t forget to contact Jo, our school counsellor, if you feel the need for any support over these next few weeks. It’s Mental Health Awareness Week so keep an eye on yourselves, please, as always, and reach out if you need to.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Lou 

Inclusion Heroes!

My Inclusion Heroes this week are Steve and Tara for covering for so many people last week - Steve was out on patrol for most of the week, for a variety of staff absences, and Tara attended 2 very high level CP meetings for students in Year 7. A huge thank you to both of you!

Character strengths at GHS

Pupils are motivated by different things so how can we help promote positive behaviour choices at GHS?

Extrinsic motivation is vital in helping encourage our students to continue to build their Character Strengths. At GHS we - to name a few - give verbal praise, award Character Points, make phone calls home, write postcards, present rewards, create certificates, have celebration assemblies/activities. 

How can we encourage intrinsic motivation in our students: pupils who are self-motivated and resilient in the pursuit of their goals?

We collected a range of statements from colleagues on what keeps them motivated - too many to share during assembly. Therefore, during one form time this week, use their reflections to kick-start a conversation on motivation. Challenge them to work on their resilience by adopting one idea given. 

You can find the statements on Google Slides here. 

Please share any success stories with us! 

Andrea and Noble