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GHS Connect #26 Monday 20th April

Mia's notes

I hope the first week went well last week.

We are now really into the important part of prepping Year 11 and 13 for their exams and it’s essential to remain positive with them, but to be clear about what they can do to achieve.

Thank you to everyone who is running interventions. I know this is a very big commitment, especially when it comes at the end of a long day, but it will definitely make a difference and should not be under-estimated.

Remember that most of our students will need structured revision where they are given an activity to complete, rather than just a general direction to ‘revise.’  Giving them something to complete will help to make it much more focused for them.

Have a lovely week.

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

Learning and Teaching Tips and Strategies

This term, we will be sharing top tips and strategies around revision.

Week 2 – How can we make the most of revision in our lessons? 

Don't teach till they get it right, teach till they can't get it wrong.

Doug Lemov

Explicitly plan revision and consolidation into your lessons. Why? The act of pursuing mastery helps students to gain knowledge under various conditions. Also, consolidation restructures knowledge, builds connections, and deepens understanding (see blog for more). 

Top Tips when creating consolidating activities for students:

1. Prioritise "Active Retrieval" 
   • Ensure every activity starts with a "closed-book" element. Whether it's a quiz, a brain dump, or a flashcard session, students must attempt to recall the information before they are allowed to look at their resources.
2. Use "Interleaving" 
   • Design activities that jump between different units. A 10-question quiz should ideally have 2 questions from 5 different topics. This forces the brain to "reset" and work harder to retrieve specific information.
3. Incorporate "Dual Coding"
   • Ask students to convert a paragraph of text into a diagram, or a timeline into a series of icons.
4. Focus on "Command Words"
   • Build activities around the verbs. Create a "sorting" task where students have to categorise model paragraphs based on whether they are describing, explaining, or analysing.

Finally, try to keep revision activities relatively short (20–30 minutes) to align with the Pomodoro Technique, as concentration levels often dip after the half-hour mark.

Making retrieval work in the classroom

In my previous Connect entry (see here) we looked at how retrieval (trying to remember prior learning) helps strengthen long-term memory.

A useful next step is thinking about what makes retrieval effective in practice.

Retrieval works best when pupils have a short opportunity to:

• think independently
• work without notes or models
• attempt to recall from memory

This doesn’t replace discussion or explanation. In fact, a simple structure works well:

1. A short independent attempt from memory
2. Followed by feedback or discussion

This ensures that all pupils try to recall something themselves, and then leave with the correct knowledge.

Key idea: it’s the attempt to remember that strengthens learning — even if pupils find it challenging at first.

Haydar

Inclusion Messages

April is Stress Awareness Month, and this year’s theme highlights how small, consistent actions can make a positive difference to our wellbeing.

Managing stress can be challenging, especially in busy education settings.

There is a free, confidential helpline for you, day or night. Whatever you’re facing, you’re not alone.

Safeguarding

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break.  I just wanted to share a few safeguarding pieces of information with you all:

• Parents will be receiving further information on managing digital safety. See below

'What I wish my parents or carers knew…': a guide for parents and carers on children's digital lives (Children's Commissioner)

The Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published a guide to help parents and carers navigate the challenge of managing children's everyday online habits. Written with direct input from children and young people, including teenagers consulted in schools and the Commissioner's Youth Ambassadors. The guide is designed to make difficult conversations easier and more regular.

The guide covers setting boundaries around phone use, talking about harmful content, and building ongoing communication that goes beyond a one-off conversation. The voices of young people runs through it, including this from one teenager: "Don't be afraid to be firm… If you are worried your child is seeing harmful content and you don't know what they're watching and it's affecting their behaviour, just take it that you know best, they don't."

For DSLs, this is a practical resource to share with parents and carers, particularly at transition points or where online harms are presenting in school. Four versions are available to download: the main parent and carer guide, an activity pack for children, and print-ready single-page versions of both.

The downloads can be found here: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/what-i-wish-my-parents-or-carers-knew-a-guide-for-parents-and-carers-on-managing-childrens-digital-lives

• Guidance by the Outdoor Education Advisers Panel

As we head into the summer term and plan many enrichment activities, please ensure that all safeguarding processes are followed.  The OEAP publishes guidance on ensuring trip leads maintain their safeguarding responsibilities.  The guidance focuses on emergency contact details and how to record information systematically.   Please see the link below:

https://oeapng.info/18166-critical-incident-plan-for-outdoor-education/

Inclusion Updates

 

• Please note that the ‘Lion Project’ with KS3 pupils mainly Y8 and Y9 is continuing every Thursday Period 1&2.
• SEN team are finalising details of exams access arrangements
• We will be running a Governors Intervention Panel this term.  This is where the Chair of Governors meets the parents and students with a high number of behaviour concerns to relay the schools expectations.

Thanks for all your continued support.

Gurvinder

Bright Spot

This week's Bright Spots have been nominated by Claire Kemish, who says:

I just wanted to let you know how impressed I was with Emma and Rav in Welfare. They attended a seriously unwell student who needed ambulance intervention and their prompt response was amazing, so quick. I could hear Rav shout instructions to Emma as she ran out of the room. The support other staff gave over the radio too was lovely to hear. You can tell that students here are truly well looked after and cared for very well by all staff.

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