The final week before half term - let’s make it a good one! It’s been a great first half term with absolutely loads going on and it feels as if most of the students have made a really good start.
After half term, we start November with an INSET day. To support a slightly gentler start to the new half term, we will begin the first session at 9am in the main hall. You are welcome to have a slightly later start than usual, but please do ensure you are ready, seated in the hall to start at 9am prompt. All staff should attend the first session, both support and teaching staff, as we will be covering important information about the changes due to be brought about by the SEND White Paper. The day will finish at 3pm.
Have a great week before a well deserved holiday.
Mia
The week ahead
Monday
Normal Day
Tuesday
No Meeting
Wednesday
Briefing in the library – 8.15am
Thursday
Normal Day
Friday
Normal Day
Notes:
Year 10 A2L Interim 1 (EMS full)
Year 11 Interim 1
Year 13 Subject Evening (Thursday)
Learning and Teaching Tips and Strategies
Is the last five minutes doing enough?
Week 6: Designing effective reviews
An effective Review gives teachers evidence of what students have learned and what still needs attention. It should inform what happens next.
Top Tips:
Choose 2–3 questions that directly test the most important learning from the lesson.
Decide what response you need from students before choosing the question.
Make the questions diagnostic enough to reveal what students understand.
Build in enough thinking time for students to give a meaningful response.
Keep the Review short enough to analyse the responses and act on them.
Use students’ responses to plan the Do Now or Explanation of the next lesson.
Delve deeper: Tom Sherrington on Responsive Teaching in action: An idealised sequence. Read here.
The Power of Words: Building Equity Through Whole-School Literacy
"Word knowledge is critical for success in every subject, and as such it is theresponsibility of all teachers to become word-conscious . . . Vocabulary is not just an English teacher’s job; it is the vital entitlement of every child." — Alex Quigley
Literacy is the golden thread that binds all of our subjects together—and when our students master language, they unlock the entire curriculum.
Here is a quick roundup of where we are with Literacy this term, including our vocabulary strategies and our whole-school reading intervention data.
Our Explicit Vocabulary Strategies
As discussed in our recent briefing, teaching vocabulary isn't about giving students endless spelling lists or leaving them to copy definitions out of a dictionary. It’s about disciplinary literacy—helping students speak, read, and write like a mathematician, scientist, historian, or artist.
When planning your lessons this week, remember our 3 core vocabulary levers:
3 top tips for teaching vocabulary
1. Pre-Teach and Deconstruct (Morphology & Etymology)
Break words down into prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
Example: In Science or Geography, when introducing biodegradable, teach that bio = life, de = down, and gradus = step. Once students know bio, they unlocked biology, biography, and biosphere.
2. Model "Saying and Using" the Word
Use a simple "My Turn, Your Turn" routine: Say the word aloud, have the class repeat it together, chorally pronounce tricky syllables, and give a student-friendly definition.
Ask students to turn to a partner and use the word in a full, academic sentence using a provided sentence starter.
3. Use Dual Coding and Frayer Models
Please feel free to reach out or pop by if you'd like Frayer Model slide templates, Tier 2 word lists, or support with literacy routines in your department. We will discuss all things vocabulary and key words in our Inset on November 2nd!
Have a great week!
Jen
Inclusion Messages
Inclusion
School photographs and AI (BBC News)
Recently, the BBC reported on concerns by photographers that parents were uploading school photographs to AI in order to remove the watermark.
Whilst the copyright infringement and loss of income are important, the article raises something more relevant to us. That is the safeguarding risk of uploading children’s photographs to AI, particularly where a parent uploads a whole class photograph. The other children in the picture have been uploaded without their parents knowing.
One example in the report was a child who was ill on photograph day. A parent used AI to add the child back into the group photograph afterwards. The academic quoted said he understood why the parents did it. He also said they did not seem to appreciate the privacy and safeguarding risks of uploading and manipulating images of children in this way.
Please note that staff should be aware of the Department of Education's updates on Kinship arrangements. If you know a child in your form may have such living arrangements please inform the CP team.
What is kinship care?
Kinship care is where a child lives full time, or most of the time, with a relative, friend or other connected person. That person provides most or all of the child’s care.
It does not include parents. It does not include foster carers who had no prior connection to the child.
The arrangement can be temporary or long term. It can be formal or informal. Formal means a court order, or approval as a foster carer. Informal means, for example, a grandparent raising a child with no order in place.
Connected persons can include a close family friend.
Private fostering is a type of kinship care. It applies when a child under 16, or 18 if disabled, lives for 28 days or more with someone who is not a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt or step-parent. The carer does not have parental responsibility. The carer is required to notify the local authority.
SEN Updates
The EEF’s guidance report – Special Education Needs in Mainstream Schools – recommends that teachers should use scaffolding as one of the ‘Five-a-day’ evidence-informed approaches to support all pupils, including those with SEND.
So what is scaffolding, what it is not, and how can teachers use scaffolds to boost pupil progress?
Scaffolding: Same concept supported through visual, verbal and written support.
Gurvinder
Bright Spots
Christabel Haines has nominated the first of this week's Bright Spots, Karishma Jotangia, who delivered a Secondary Science experience to over 120 year 6 students at Durdans Park at Lady Margaret Primary school, with thanks to Rose Rai and the technicians who helped prepare all the science equipment for the event.
Rav Dhindsa has nominated Oumayma and the MFL department for trialling homework surgeries to assist KS4 students with their independent learning. There has also been communication home to parents about the importance of their independent homework with expectations being established by all in the department.
Next there's a nomination for André, who deserves celebration not only due to his dialling speed but the way he takes care of his students and team alike. Juggling D of E (which he was shouted out for two weeks ago) and Year 12, he is a busy man but still has time to have the most inspiringly supportive conversations with vulnerable students. Thank you for everything you do, André!
Finally, Tam has said a big thank you to RavKaur and Emma in medical, who have coordinated yet another very smooth and successful inoculations day at GHS.
If there are any concerns about Equality and Diversity (staff) at GHS please contact A Johal (DHT)
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Good Morning All,
Few reminders about the photocopiers:
Please refrain from doing huge amounts of bulk printing on the staff photocopiers, e.g. 100 copies of a 15 page document. Amounts like this should be sent to me - reprographics.
The photocopiers are not designed for constant use or m...
Mia's notes
If there are any concerns about Equality and Diversity (staff) at GHS please contact A Johal (DHT)
