Newsletters

GHS Connect #15 Monday 13th January

Mia's notes

It has been lovely to welcome everyone back after the holidays. We have had some new staff join us who we introduced in briefing on Wednesday, and we extend a particularly warm welcome to them.

As I walked around school on patrol and during other moments last week, I saw many examples of active, engaging learning going on. It feels as if a really great start has been made, and I saw much evidence of the non-negotiables agreed with HODs back in September.  Thank you for your commitment to this.

We continue to try to keep students in lessons, so please carry on with your push on this, not allowing students out to fill up water bottles etc, and remembering that those students who do have permission will have a relevant timeout card. All of us will have noticed some slippage in uniform, and so we will be conducting a uniform learning walk shortly. Please continue to confiscate banned items such as hoodies so that students know we are all working together in this. A reminder that there are to be no coats in lessons either please! More details from Rav and Ajay below.

Thanks so much everyone,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal Day

Tuesday
Department Time 3.15pm - 4.30pm

Wednesday
Briefing in the library - 8.15am

Thursday
Normal Day

Friday
Normal Day

Notes
Yr 11 Interim 2 due
Year 13 Mock Week 1 (Study Leave)

Learning and Teaching - Pride in our Routines

When quality assuring classroom talk, we need to make it clear to students how we want them to participate. In addition, high quality discussion is not just made up of talking, but of listening also. Agree, Build, Challenge is a useful tool to support these two aims of talk.
This week, Trish Soneji talks through ways to use Agree, Build, Challenge effectively:

• Use statements as a starting point (see below) to probe discussions.
• Provide sentence stems to support discussions and award character points for using these.
• Use a continuum to explore differences in the scale of agreement/disagreement.
• Only allow 'agree’, ‘build’ or ‘challenge’. This develops listening skills.
• Provide individual or paired thinking time ahead of a discussion to ensure that everyone can participate.
• The traffic light pages in planners can be used for whole-class ‘agree/disagree’ responses.
• Set behaviour expectations beforehand and reward students who follow expectations. This teaches positive routines for talk.

Want to challenge your current thinking? Want to think more deeply about oracy? Clare Sealy argues for oracies not oracy here.

Behaviour

A massive thank you for every challenge, de-escalation and patient exchange throughout November and December. We are wholly aware that these are challenging months for behaviour, so your support is greatly appreciated. Please note below a few key messages for this half-term.

Uniform

A reminder that all students should have blazers, shoes and ties worn with pride in and around the school community. Hooded tops and athletic jackets are not allowed. The complete uniform policy is on p.39 of the KS3 planner and p.40 of the KS4 planner. It is always helpful to direct students to these pages if they require further clarification when challenged on uniform. 

Red Card/Patrol

All Red Card Timetables are now updated and on the VLE. Please can you ensure there is also a copy in your classroom either on the desk or wall near your computer. Allow students take-up time and follow the behaviour system with caution, yellow and red cards. Patrol should only be called for one of our red lines - fighting in lesson, swearing at a member of staff, acting dangerously putting students at risk, damaging school property, leaving the lessons without permission, refusing to go to the RC room or misbehaviour in the RC room, medical assistance or a medical emergency. 

Keeping Students in Lessons 
A reminder that students with a toilet pass should only be allowed to leave to use the toilet. If you are sending a student to medical, ensure they have a signed medical pass. 

If you have any queries, suggestions or concerns around behaviour - please do let us know.
Once again, a huge thank you. 

Rav & Ajay

SEN Department Updates

Child Protection

We are seeing a slight increased level of concern in our school with students struggling at home due to parents/guardians drinking.  As a result, we will be asking Mark Cherrington from the Easy Project to offer additional support in the form of ‘open surgeries’ for families to drop into and for him to produce a document that can be added to the Safeguarding part of the website to support families.  We will keep you updated.  Please be mindful of this in discussions with pupils and, of course, continue to log all information on CPOMS.

Coping With Suicidal Thoughts - Childline

Suicidal thoughts and feelings are unpleasant, and may leave the thinker fearful as to what led them to that point. Part of the problem when they occur is that they originate from self examination. Yet it is often the case that this examination is flawed in some way. Learning to cope with these manifestations is an important skill. Childline has published an article aimed at addressing these feelingings in a healthy and productive way. Please follow this link for more information on how to help.

Ealing Family Support

To view the Ealing Family Support Network Bulletin, which has upcoming dates, resources and information, click here (opens as a Google Document).

Pastoral Support Workers

Please note we have changes amongst the Pastoral Support Worker Team:
Jarnai Brady- Howse working with Year 9
Kelly Findlay- Working with Year 7
Please make them feel very welcome in their new roles.

Gurvinder

If there are any concerns about Equality and Diversity (staff)  at GHS please contact A Johal (DHT)