Newsletters

GHS Connect #21 Monday 3rd March

Mia's notes

Welcome back to another week. Incredible to think there aren't that many weeks until the next break. We are in key recruitment season now, so if there are any roles we are advertising that you think others might be interested in, do spread the word so we can get more great people to join GHS. 

Likewise, we don't want anyone to leave, but if you're planning on moving on, please let me know as it really helps if we can advertise earlier rather than later.

Have a great week,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal Day

Tuesday
No Meeting due to Subject Evening

Wednesday
Briefing in the library - 8.15am
World Book Day Staff Dressing Up

Thursday
Year 12 Subject Eve & Year 13 Student Concerns

Friday
Normal Day

Notes
Year 8 Interim 2
Year 11 Mock 2 

Learning and Teaching - Pride in our Routines

Why won’t it sink in?!

This challenge arises when students have an undeveloped mental model that they are trying to stick new information on to. The development of a mental model is a long-term process which we should consciously build.

This week, Joe Wilcox shares his top tips for using retrieval to build mental models:

• Use ‘Say It Again, Better’ to promote depth in retrieval. Phrases like ‘could you use a term in your answer?’ or ‘develop that for me’ are useful.
• Identify the core - and most important - knowledge and use this as the basis for retrieval.
• Use retrieval to explore connections and links between ideas.
• Draw concept maps on the board to share expert schema on the links between ideas.
• Always contextualise retrieved knowledge by linking it to the bigger picture.
• Strong teacher subject knowledge is the gateway towards building mental models.
• Avoid a ‘conveyor-belt curriculum’. Don’t be afraid to spend time retrieving prior knowledge, as the gains are larger than getting through content.

Looking for a practical strategy to support these principles? ‘Thinking and Linking Grids’ could be a useful tool.

Pupil Premium Update

Pupil Premium on the VLE

We now have a dedicated area on the VLE for Pupil Premium which can be found here.

Breakfast club (Year 7-11)

Breakfast club continues to run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for all Pupil Premium and CLA students, from 7.45-8.30am.

Please can form tutors help to promote Breakfast club by informing PP and CLA students within your tutor group.  All PP and CLA students have a daily budget of £2.50 for breakfast. A breakfast menu of food and drinks is below. For obvious reasons, please conduct conversations with students discretely, stating that they have been selected to attend breakfast club.

Porridge with milk £1.25.

Cereal with milk £1.25.

Toast and spread £1.20.

Toast and beans £1.50.

Hot chocolate 95p.

Students access the canteen via the side entrance of F block and are supervised by GHS staff.

Thank you for your support.

Pupil Premium Teacher Prompt Card

A digital version of the pupil premium teacher prompt card is available on the VLE and can be found here. All the strategies are important, but please prioritise the following as students have acknowledged that these strategies help the most when conducting students voice sessions.

Step 3

Learning Journey 

Chunk your lessons and build in regular checkpoints to refocus and test understanding. Use pictures, videos, group work, discussion & movement in the class to vary the learning experience.

Step 5

Get them talking about the task.

Get students talking & thinking about how they would attempt a task. Get their brains engaged in higher level thinking.

Step 10

Circulating the room with purpose

Target the disadvantaged students in your lesson first to check that they understand and are “on task”. Offer positive feedback where possible (PIP).

Many thanks,

Mark

Inclusion Updates

Alternative Provision

I thought it would be useful to share with you the students that attend alternative provisions.  There are more students in the pipeline but we are organising final details.

Child Protection

Behind the Screen - Childline

Childline’s new ‘Behind the Screen’ campaign, seeks to raise awareness of the sexually coerced extortion of boys and young men. In particular, it seeks to address the extortion of nudes from this group via blackmail, in relation to nudes exchanged and then saved by the extorter. All young people should be able to feel safe to seek support for whatever afflicts them. Childline seeks to provide that service, and to act as a conduit for advice and support. The campaign has specifically been designed for boys and young men, to let them know it's OK to reach out and that a place for their concerns exists at Childline. In line with this aim, they have produced a supporting guide to accompany their ‘Behind the Screen’ campaign. If interested please follow the link below:

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/sfzndfgn/childline-behind-the-screen-pdf-guide.pdf

I would like to thank you for all the work you do day to day with our vulnerable cohorts.

Gurvinder

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