Newsletters

GHS Connect #22 Monday 10th March

Mia's notes

Thank you very much to the Year 12 team for a fantastic, well attended parents’ evening. And thank you to all staff who were there to support our students and families. There was a lovely atmosphere and lots of positive faces.

As we approach the home straight, let’s keep that focus on Year 11 achievement and active, engaging, purposeful learning, both in the classroom and also in the revision tasks that we set.  We know from experience that even the most disengaged students can make startling progress if they commit to do so now, so a positive reminder of that can also help.

With Year 13, it’s the same message and a reminder of how independent learning makes all the difference with A Levels.

We had a visit from our Teach 1st partners last week who were completely blown away by our school. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the visit. Here is their very positive email they sent to me afterwards.

We would like to express our heartful thanks for so kindly hosting us this morning at Greenford High School. It was such an uplifting day for us to hear from your amazing team and talented pupils. You have a wonderful school with impressive facilities, innovative approaches to teaching, and such obvious care towards the individual needs of students, teachers and staff members. It was really humbling to hear about the work you do and how everyone goes the extra mile to support those facing disadvantage. It was great to hear how Teach First and Greenford have built such a strong partnership over the years across our different programmes. 

Have a great week everyone,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal Day

Tuesday
Department Time - 3.15pm - 4.30pm

Wednesday
Briefing in the library - 8.15am
Meetings 3.15pm - 4.15pm:
HOD Meeting
HOY/DHOY 
Teacher Mark, Plan & Collab
SEND Focus Group 

Thursday
Normal Day

Friday
Normal Day

Notes
Year 7 Interim 2 due

Learning and Teaching - Pride in our Routines

Retrieval can build robust, flexible knowledge that can be applied to new contexts. SEND learners benefit from this structured repetition and active recall.

This week, Nasneen Tarafdar shares her top tips on retrieval to support SEND students.
1)      Quality assure your retrieval opportunities:

• Pre-plan and script the verbal retrieval questions you will ask.
• Use previous lesson objectives to scaffold questions and create meaningful curriculum integration.
• Differentiate between core and hinterland knowledge: focus on core knowledge retrieval.
• Keep the language that you use simple and streamlined.
• Allow flexible timing so SEND students can process and formulate ideas.
• Don’t be afraid to stop and reteach if students can’t remember. Learning is not linear.

2)      Create a safe culture for retrieval:

• Start with surface knowledge and add depth to build confidence in learners.
• Ask every student a question and use the seating plan to help you track this.
• Pre-plan the hints and support mechanisms you will use to support if SEND students are unsure.
• Consciously praise effort not outcome and create a low-pressure environment.
• Vary the question types but keep the format the same. This creates safety through familiarity.

Looking for ideas of new strategies for SEND retrieval? Try ‘Label It’ or ‘Picture Prompt’!

Vocabulary and Oracy - Top Tips

“Literacy - for students in all subjects - is vital to pupils’ life changes.” David Didau

In your classrooms, how are you explicitly helping students improve their literacy? Here are my top tips for vocabulary and oracy.
 

Finally, the L&T team would like to get some anonymous fearless feedback. Please take a moment to fill in the Google Form - link here.

Andrea and the L&T team

World Book Day - Thank You!

There was a fantastic turnout of GHS staff on a beautiful sunny day for World Book Day on Wednesday, and the group photo outside proved a happy distraction for many of our students at lunchtime. World Book Day is always widely enjoyed and awakens our students' curiosity and gets them talking about books (and languages). There were a large number of 'Wallys' this year, and very strong representation from MFL, English and DT / Art / Music. A heartfelt thank -you to everyone who dressed up in costume to support World Book Day.

Sarah

Inclusion Updates

SEN

Please see the reminders below that Fay discussed in briefing this week:

• Exams Access arrangements are closed as the deadline for assessing is approaching and the SEN team are finalising the last few requests with the external assessor.
• CATS scores for the lower band pupils are being sent.  It is important to look especially at our high-profile pupils and the strategies that can work to support them in class
• The SEN team will be delivering SEN specific strategies next Tuesday in your department meetings.  Please let Fay Hudson know the room number that your meetings take place in.
• The SEN department will be conducting learning walks to look and plan areas of training and how students’ progress.

Child Protection

How to support children with Eating Disorders

Shout 85258, is a free and confidential text messaging support line for people struggling to cope. The digital service has issued new guidance on the issue of eating disorders. Eating disorders are recognised by the NHS as a ‘mental health condition where you use the control of food to cope with feelings and other situations’. Recognising an eating disorder is the first step towards healing and regaining balance. There are various types of eating disorders, including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder. However, some individuals might not fit into these categories and instead experience Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED) or ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), which is more common among individuals with autism. Understanding these different experiences helps us better support those going through these challenges. If interested in finding out more, please click on the link above.

Key factors that may prevent disclosure:

Fear of consequences:
The guidance indicates that children may not disclose if:

• There are concerns that "doing so may put the child at increased risk of harm"
• There are risks from their carer(s) who "may harm the child, or react violently to anyone seeking to intervene"

Lack of recognition:

• Children may not understand that what is happening to them is abuse
• They may not recognise exploitation, particularly in cases of criminal or sexual exploitation

Complex relationships:

• Children may have complicated relationships with their abusers
• They may be fearful of getting someone in trouble
• There may be elements of control or coercion preventing disclosure

KCSIE (2024) stresses that professionals must maintain vigilance and professional curiosity even when a child hasn't made a direct disclosure, as signs of abuse might require investigation regardless of whether the child has spoken up about them.

I would like to thank you for all the work you do day to day with our vulnerable cohorts.  Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Gurvinder

Bright Spots 

This week's bright spot is Yvonne Akinyele who has been nominated by Tam:

Yvonne has not been with us for very long at all and she has fitted right in, feels like she has been with us for a long time.  She had massive ‘Gina shaped’ shoes to fill and she is doing a really great job.  She is efficient, proactive, and always has a smile.  Thank you, Yvonne

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