Newsletters

GHS Connect #30 Monday 18 May

From the Head

After a couple of terrible, dreadful weeks, I thought it might be nice to be reminded of some positives and share some lovely feedback we have had around our remote learning provision.

Lucy Metcalfe has shared this feedback from the mother of Hafsah Farooqi, in Year 12. “I am so pleased with the support Hafsah has received during the lockdown. I wanted to say thank you to her teachers for all their help with her studies and the support the school has given her.”

We have received more positive feedback from governors:

“I have witnessed a number of exciting lessons which have made my daughter’s learning more stimulating and fun. More than anything else, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the following teachers for the hard work, support and positive dialogue that they have put into teaching my daughter and all the other students.  Miss Hobbiger, Mr Hysenaj, Ms Oulidi, Mrs Iqbal, Ms Ramsdale. Please pass on my gratitude to all for their dedication and hard work.” - Sunny Chana, Vice Chair of Governors (and Parent Governor).

“I am sure I'm not alone in being impressed on how excellent Greenford High School is (always) especially during this lockdown. Children have been given great virtual learning and engagement and GHS teachers have risen to the challenges of educating during this pandemic. Please pass on our well wishes and congrats to you and to all your staff.” - Naima Abdi, Chair of Students’ Committee.

I have some other ‘shout outs’ sent to me by staff, which also show how well we are all working together. Lisa Panford has passed on the following:

Thank you to Hiba and Tom O for delivering training to colleagues on the exciting new KS3 computing platform (due to be launched this week) and to Don and the whole team for their excellent example of collaborative working and supporting one another's wellbeing.

Thank you to Dan S and Lucy W for hosting a fab quiz night for the MFL department and to Charline (and her elephant portrait) for winning!

School closure updates

We have now given out laptops to all families in need, with the final few going out today. Huge thanks to Lou and her team for organising and distributing these - it’s been a massive job checking with every single family in the school whether or not they need support with online learning, and has taken some time, but we are now confident that all students can now access the learning in some form.

I know that many of you will be concerned by the potential return to school in June. Please try not to get anxious about this. Although we will need to start getting students back in at some point, at present, there are no certainties around this, and as I said in my VLE announcement, we will ensure that we manage the process in as sensible and safe a way as possible. It is unlikely that we will be returning on the 1st June itself to Year 10; we are currently planning a return date a bit later than this. We will begin to share ideas with you all this coming week. Any return for Year 10s will be in small, manageable groups with plans to ensure social distancing is in place.

Finally, we welcome back Gurvinder today following maternity leave. Gurvinder will be taking on the role of Acting SENCO. Caroline has had her baby boy, named Max, and we’re sure you’ll all agree that he is absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations to Caroline.

Enjoy this week, and remember, this is ‘catch up week’, so no new work needs to be set. And… we are closed over half term, so make sure you get a proper rest!

I hope that everyone has a good week.

Mia

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

A round up of some of the great remote learning and teaching strategies Greenford staff are using currently…

> Ellie Roome giving positive praise to KS3 History students (since the start of lock down) to keep them motivated. 

> Rebecca Hill and Maya Popovitch (along with others in the MFL department) awarding certificates to their students who have been working really hard on their online learning:

You can download these certificates to customise them yourself from Google Drive here.  

> Lucy Barrett writing a lovely upbeat message and wording her online assignments really positively to encourage students to complete them.  

> Tara Quigley offering year 12 students live Q&A sessions so that they could better understand their assessment feedback.  

Catch-up week

Phew! It’s catch up week.  Hopefully this will give us all a breather, allow us to clear outstanding work and head into the holidays as calmly as is possible in these challenging times.  

Although we’re not setting much work this week, below, Georgina offers some more tips on how to support students by making sure the formatting of any documents you upload to Google Classroom can be easily accessed. Something to try after half term perhaps.

Lachlan’s Top tips for Google Classroom

Lachlan (my son in Year 7) has definitely found it easier to access, use and edit documents that are ‘Google format’’ in Google Classroom, as opposed to Microsoft Office format.  Therefore, if you are not already,  it might be worth considering using Google Drive if you are creating a resource from scratch in the Google format: Google Docs (word), Google Sheets (excel), Google Slides (ppt).

If you are attaching an existing resource - a Word file or a Powerpoint - for an assignment, you can convert it to a Google Doc first.  Here is how to do that:

1. In Google Drive, click on the cog in the top right hand corner, then click on ‘Settings’

2. Ensure you TICK next to ‘Convert Uploads’ so it says ‘Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format’ then all your word docs etc will be Google Docs.  Then ‘add’ in Google Classroom.

Georgina Stevens

Inclusion update from Lou Grimley

I am going to start adding a little bit to GHS Connect each week - hurrah, I hear you all cry. This will hopefully keep you all updated on all the hard work that is going on behind the scenes to support students' wellbeing and ensure that our more vulnerable students are being checked up on.

Since the start of lockdown, the following groups of students have been contacted at least once a week to make sure they are ok: our lads in the ARP, anyone who has an EHCP, all KS3 students on our SEND register, all of our LACs, anyone who has an allocated social worker, our persistent absentees, those who are on the EAL register, and all of those that our pastoral teams have identified as vulnerable. A huge thank you to the various teams of people who have made this contact, which has not always been straightforward. Some of this have been done remotely, but many have also come in to school to either sort out work to be sent home, find the other 10 numbers on the system that might just work, or to spend some time with the small handful of vulnerable kids who have come in for some sessions.

You will also seen from my VLE Announcement this week that we are going to try to streamline the communication between pastoral and teaching staff, so that we can identify those who are genuinely struggling with these extraordinary circumstances, for all sorts of reasons, and those who are just being lazy oiks. With 3 teenagers of my own at home, I am acutely aware of the gamut of issues that our students are facing - and that is where there is space for everyone to work, a device for each child, and supportive parents (most of the time...). We know that some of the circumstances that our students are facing will be far more difficult, and finding that balance between learning and emotional wellbeing is key.

Thank you to everyone for all the amazing work that is being set, the tutor classrooms that you have set up, the lovely emails and shout-outs, and for adapting to this new way of life. And, please keep in touch with me with all the suggestions and ideas that have been coming through about how we can continue to offer the incredible emotional support on which Greenford prides itself.

Lou Grimley

This week's Speakers for Schools

Speakers for Schools are continuing their programme of virtual talks and have now created an online library of previous talks in case you want to set one of these as a lesson or extension activity. 

The video library can be accessed here.

The schedule of talks can be found on the Speakers for Schools website here.