Newsletters

GHS Connect #37 Monday 14th July

Mia's notes

Another massive celebration of all that is Greenford last week with our wonderful International Week, culminating in the ever-popular International Day on Thursday, which was brilliant. Thank you so much to Maya for all of her work on planning, organising and leading the day, and also to Rav D who has worked on so much of it too.  I thought it was the best one yet. Thanks also to Dan Oag who supported so much with the main events, and in my opinion, also wins the prize for best outfit! We also had the CDIA event and of course the Sports Awards, and my heartfelt thanks go to Dan (again) and Paul respectively, as well as everyone else who will have worked so hard to make the events a success.

I also want to thank Kathy and her team for all of their work on the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions this year and, of course everyone who has planned or taken students on a trip or is about to do so. We also look forward to Sports Day on Wednesday.

This will be our last Connect this year. We will meet as a staff body on Tuesday (tomorrow) after school which will also serve as briefing, this week. We will then meet as a staff body for the final time this year on Tuesday 22nd, once students have departed the site.

Have a lovely week,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal Day

Tuesday
3.00pm - 4.00pm Department Time
4.00pm - 4.30pm Main Hall - Goodbyes to staff who are leaving 

Wednesday
Sports Day. Staff roles on the VLE

Thursday
Normal Day

Friday
Normal Day

Notes
All week - Enrichment activities. See VLE for further details.
Year 10 Interim 4 due.

Learning and Teaching - Thank You!

Thank you for all the work you put into learning and teaching each day. It really does support our students and makes a huge difference to their learning experience.

This year, we have explored a few key areas of our practice:

• Non-negotiables
• Patchy prior knowledge
• Oracy
• Retrieval
• AI and Digital Literacy

 

All of the Top Tips, strategies and wider reading links shared through Connect this year can be found here. This collection can support departmental discussions as we continue to develop our practice next year.

We hope you took something from last week’s CPD and there is more to come in September. You can find all the slides here.

Have a lovely summer!

Mental Health Support

As we approach the summer holidays, it is often time to reflect, reset, relax, and focus on spending time with friends and family.  Please see a list of websites that provide support for staff to tap into.

 

Preventing MH issues escalating - Below is some information on what we can do to stop mental health problems from developing and how we can start to promote positive mental health

Preventing Mental Health Issues

Talking about MH - This area focusses on how to discuss mental health concerns, words to use, reaching out to others if you are worried and support that is available.

Talking About MH

Work-life balance - Discusses a good work-life balance, factors to look at to improve work-life balance and the impacts of this on your mental health

Work-Life Balance

Stress – This section gives an understanding of stress, how this can be managed and regulated in a more positive way

Stress

Women and MH - This may be useful to look at areas within mental health, which may be specific to women

Women and MH

Men and MH - This may be useful to look at areas within mental health, which may be specific to men

Men and MH

Online MH support - Details of organisations and support available to everyone online

Online MH Support

Looking after your mental health as teachers - A more specialised guidance and support, around the dos and don'ts of better mental health

Teachers' Mental Health

Have a lovely summer break when it comes.

Niloo Adhami

Inclusion Updates

Safeguarding Updates

Final reminder

Please complete the Prevent Training.  A huge thank you to all staff that have completed this so far! Deadline is Monday 14th July.

In order to continue building on our professional development and to ensure staff are all up to date on Keeping Children Safe in Education guidelines, we will be asking all staff to complete the 30-35 minute Prevent Training online.

We will be asking staff to complete this training week beginning the 30th June - 14th July, either in department time or in gain time.

Once you click on the link and go through the training, answering questions and reading the explanations, you will be given a certificate to evidence completion of the training.

We will be asking all staff to download the certificate and email this to Monika Sierkowska and complete this Google Form to evidence this has been completed.

Please see the link: Awareness Course

I wanted to end this message by thanking you all for your patience, support and encouragement working with our cohort of students.  You are all hugely valued, and I wish you all a lovely long summer break.

Gurvinder

Fun Fact

Did you know that Michael Rosen — the beloved author, presenter, and all-around word wizard — has a surprising connection to Greenford? His  father was a teacher at Greenford High School (back when it was called Greenford County Grammar School) between 1947 and 1952.
A great connection to our school!

Bright Spots

The first of this week's Bright Spots nominations comes from Peter Mather, who says:

Shout out to all staff for once again supporting our Teach First School Centred Learning last week.

A terrific experience enjoyed by the cohort of brand-new Business, MFL, Maths, History, RE, DT, Science and English teachers. Gratitude below from them to share:

Next, Andrea has nominated Peter for:

Overseeing the incredibly successful School Centred Learning where we hosted Teach First in their first ever week of being in the classroom.

Also, Peter welcomed our new staff in their induction, new ECTs and new cohort of Teach First - lots of new faces who are ready to start in September! Thank you for making them feel welcome and ready for September.

Andrea has also nominated Harpal, Henry and Scott saying:

Thank you for leading on the final Action Research CPD of the year and launching GHS into the world of AI! Your energy and enthusiasm last week got us thinking about how AI might help reduce workload and offer creative and innovative solutions to our teaching practice. Thank you for delivering such brilliant sessions.

Amit has nominated Sarah Williams for her work on all the Greenford Reads events, saying:

A huge thank you and shout-out to Sarah Williams for her commitment in delivering five fantastic ‘Greenford Read’ events. Through meticulous planning, thoughtful resource creation, and a deep understanding of student engagement, Sarah ensured every session ran smoothly and had real impact. Form tutors selected two students who excelled during the Form Time Reading Project. The Form Time Reading Project didn’t just fill form time — they sparked meaningful discussion, encouraged reading for pleasure, and helped embed a culture of literacy across the school. Thank you for the time, care, and passion you bring to promoting reading for all our students and staff!

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