Newsletters

GHS Connect #31 Monday 2nd June

Mia's notes

Welcome back everyone and I hope a really lovely break has been had by all.

This half term should provide some welcome relief from the constant push regarding exams, and allow everyone time and space to reflect on and possibly experiment with creative teaching strategies, or ways to incorporate elements of research-led CPD into the classroom. We will also have lots of trips going out, and I thank everyone who is leading on these.

I hope the first week back is a pleasant and productive one for everybody.

 Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal Day

Tuesday
Department Time - 3.15pm - 4.30pm

Wednesday
Briefing in the library - 8.15am
HODs Meeting - 2pm - 4.15pm - Library
Meetings - 3.15pm - 4.15pm
HOY/DHOY
Teacher Mark, Plan & Collab
SEND Focus Group

Thursday
Normal Day

Friday
Normal Day

Learning and Teaching - Pride in our Classrooms

This term, we will continue sharing strategies to support oracy. This week’s 60-second strategy is: Yes, but…

This strategy develops cognitive oracy skills through reasoning.

Strategy:

1. Assign pairs and provide a scenario or talking point.
2. One student will argue ‘For,’ and the other ‘Against.’
3. Both students can only respond using ‘Yes, but…’
4. The goal is to keep the conversation going for as long as possible.

Stretch and Challenge:

• Assign specific roles to students so that they argue from particular perspectives.
• Encourage them to consider the types of arguments their partner may be most receptive to.
• To consolidate, categorise arguments into themes and assign each one a weighting.

Learn more about the strategy here.

PP Strategies - Reminders

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.

Form tutors – please continue 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 4

Demonstrate & model 

It is important to model what a great performance looks like in your subject & even more important that you model the process (meta-cognition) of how to approach problems or tasks.

Step 9

Oracy 

Encourage disadvantaged students to read out loud. Make it part of your lessons and teaching rather than an “add on”. Pause and explain the meaning and pronunciation of any key words.

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).

Step 11

Parental contact 

Make regular contact with disadvantaged students’ parents and carers to praise and challenge. Send a postcard home as a mark of recognition.

Equipment drive

Calling all form tutors! If you notice that a PP or CLA student is missing any equipment, such as a pencil case, calculator, pens and pencils etc, please inform the relevant YT and me so that we can support. It would be wise to conduct an equipment check on the week commencing 02.06.25 during form time.

Many thanks,

Mark

Inclusion Updates

Safeguarding Updates

Safer Internet Day Impact Report - Safer Internet Centre

Safer Internet Day 2025 achieved unprecedented reach, engaging 57% of UK children aged 8–17 and 50% of parents and carers. Centred on the theme “Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online,” the initiative saw over 160,000 educational resources downloaded and 1,726 organisations register as supporters. Notably, 76% of young participants felt more confident addressing online concerns, while 71% of parents felt better equipped to safeguard their children online.

This year’s campaign also marked a 20% rise in parental awareness compared to 2024, reflecting growing concern about online scams. The official report highlights the vital role played by schools, youth groups, and social media influencers in amplifying the message. Resources included lesson plans, videos, and interactive activities. The UK Government and major tech platforms continue to support the Safer Internet Centre’s work, underlining a collaborative, cross-sector approach to online safety. The full impact report is available online.

Some practical follow-up actions for schools:

• Use the campaign resources for assemblies or PSHE lessons
• Encourage students to create scam-awareness posters or videos
• Review your online safety and digital resilience curriculum
• Discuss online scams in staff safeguarding briefings
• Involve digital leaders in promoting ongoing awareness activities

Read the report here

We will be running a KS3 workshop with parents about this in June.

SEN Updates

Please complete the Google Form Questionnaires sent out by HUD, highlighting the areas that you would like more support and training in. Your feedback is highly valued.

Thank you for your continued support

Gurvinder

Bright Spots

The first of this week's Bright Spots is Sam Merchant who has been nominated by Ajay Balu: 

A shout out to Sam Merchant in the English Department for using postcards during his lessons to motivate his class. As a result the class displays more positive behaviour and are engaging in the lessons. Sam pre-types messages to manage his workload, but also to speed up the positive rewards process. 

Next, Sarah WIlliams has nominated three Bright Spots, saying:

I wanted to nominate Will Halsey, Peter Mather and  Mohammed Hassan for  joining in with the Year 12 Greenford Read event two weeks ago. Several colleagues volunteered to read the book too, but Peter, Will and Mohammed all found time to come and join the discussion after school with the eager group of Year 12's. It was great to have students and teachers discussing together, and I was really grateful to them for their time and enthusiasm. 

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