Newsletters

GHS Connect #11 Monday 23 November

From the Head

There’s something about knowing that you have a shorter week ahead of you, that somehow makes it all feel so much more manageable. What with some poor behaviour, quite a bit of staff absence and a false evacuation alarm thrown in for good measure, last week felt like quite a challenge! However, it’s important to remember that November is always a tough month and we always see some student meltdowns at this time. They, and we, are all exhausted, and after a while, it does take its toll. Thankfully, we will all be able to have a little bit of rest on Friday, as we have our occasional day then. Although there won’t be much that can be done on that day, I encourage you all to have a complete break. We’re on the home straight now and things always feel better in December!

In spite of the November gloom, we still have plenty to celebrate and say thank you for. First of all, huge thanks to Sarah Williams who organised the first Greenford Read this year with Year 7. She organised and delivered a brilliant event despite the restrictions and brought a little extra to the book they had read over the summer. She did this within lesson time and the students contributed some great ideas. Sarah also wanted to give her own thanks to all of those involved:

Thank you to Daniel O, Cherish B, Pam L, Carl H, Oli H, Sima B, Pravina V and Tom O who kindly allowed the students out of their lessons to take part;  to Marcia H for covering my drama lesson so I could run the event;  to all the Year 7 Accelerated  Reader teachers and Madeline and Elaine  who kindly conveyed messages back and forth to classes on my behalf, to Mitie for setting up the hall; to IT for setting up the projector; to Gina for arranging my cover and booking the hall for me; to Will  for writing about this in GHS Connect and the website; to David Clare  for making a film and for taking photos and to Elaine for coming to take photos and tweet about it; to the Year 7 team for coming in and catching the students being brilliant; and to Andrea for backing up all my ideas and running round between her own lessons to help  escort students to the right place at the right time.

It was obviously a very successful event and a fantastic exercise in team work

I also want to say a big thank you to Rola for her huge success with the Senior Maths Challenge. The results were absolutely amazing. Well done to Mahdi Bahroloom for achieving Gold/ Best in the year and Kangaroo Maths Challenge; Jay Kanda for achieving Gold / Best in the School and Kangaroo Maths Challenge; Musawer Hussain for achieving Gold and Maths Olympiad. Many other students also achieved certificates. None of this would have been possible without Rola’s commitment to the students and the whole department’s enthusiasm for Maths.

A final, and heartfelt thank you from me, to all of the staff who have supported with behaviour last week. It has been tough at times, but what has really shone through is how many staff have selflessly come out to support when we have needed additional presence - both those who were out on duty but also those who weren’t. It really means a lot to know that so many people are willing to step in and help when needed, and just goes to show what a great, fantastic team we have here at GHS.

Have a great week and a lovely day off on Friday.

Mia

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

A round up of some of the great learning and teaching strategies we’ve noticed being used around school recently…

> Dipa Pindoria and Sajjad Jaffar training the Maths department by teaching some A Level Statistics and Mechanics, empowering staff who do not normally teach these modules to learn them!

> Jen Williams recording mini lessons on how to approach each GCSE English Language question so that these can be sent to students who are self isolating.

> Team English experimenting and developing online resources to be used as homework tasks using a number of new platforms. 

Learning and Teaching: Self Isolating and Remote Teaching

Since the start of term we have had a number of staff who have had to self isolate, teaching their students remotely. Colleagues have approached this in different ways and we are learning, as we go, what works best with different classes. 

> Some teachers have been able to live stream lessons to classes from home; this has worked particularly well at Post-16. 

> Other colleagues have recorded mini lessons - to be played to the class by cover teachers. 

> Most teachers isolating use a mixture of live or recorded sessions and some more traditional independent work/tasks to get the best outcomes from their students.

If you have to self isolate and would like some help with how to integrate live and recorded teaching, please let the Learning and Teaching Team know.  The LPs are ready to support and advise and we can sort out any necessary technology. 

A huge thank you to all colleagues who are supporting teachers working from home by sorting out the tech this end and/or making sure work and resources are delivered to teachers’ homes!

Kelly McCarthy

Behaviour for Learning

Each week in Connect, Mark and Jo will be sharing behaviour for learning tips designed to help manage behaviour in the unusual circumstances of Covid-19.

Behaviour for Learning tip #2: Reminders of Previous Good Behaviour

“Tyrone, do you remember when you helped me clear up the classroom/handed me that excellent design/worked with Shivani (when no one else would), that is the Tyrone that I need to see today, that is the Tyrone I know can make good choices.”

In the middle of gentle castigation, there is a moment of positive reinforcement; a reflection of a better time. For the student, there is nothing to argue with, nothing to attack.

Mark and Jo

Inclusion & Pastoral

This week is going to be a busy one in terms of Inclusion and Pastoral. We have our second tutor session of the term on Tuesday, Period 3, and then our next PSHCE lesson on Wednesday morning, P1. Thank you in advance to everyone for facilitating both of these sessions. 

The tutor session will be a chance for you to catch up with your tutor groups, in the same rooms you were in when we had our October tutor session. Please look at the tutor list on the VLE if you need double check where that is. In terms of what you will be covering with them, there will be 3 key areas, an assembly from Mark, some slides on bullying from Keely and a Character Development focus from Noble and Andrea. The presentation will be on the VLE at some point on Monday if you would like to look at it in advance. As for the bubble-movement timings, I will let everyone know. Please remember it is only P3 - normal lessons will resume P4.

PSHCE timetable

Keely has now put a PSHCE timetable in the shared area so fingers crossed there will be no confusion about who is doing what. This will be Wednesday P1 with the class you ordinarily teach - have a look at the resources in advance, and please let us know if there is anything that needs clarifying or anything you are worried about delivering. Most year groups will be starting with new booklets (hurrah!), but Year Teams will have some spares if need be...

Interventions and concerns

As always, huge thanks to everyone who has had students come and go from their lessons for the various interventions that are going on at the moment. I would also like to thank staff for flagging up concerns they have about some of our students - we know that there are some key groups under a lot of pressure at the moment. The Schools Counselling Partnership is focusing on Year 11 and we have a counsellor who works specifically with Post-16, but we are also keeping a close eye on other year groups too. If you have any concerns at all, please remember to send them through! 

Welcome Michelle

Lastly, if you see our newest member of staff, Michelle Williams, around, please say hello - Michelle is our allocated social worker who will be with us for the rest of the academic year, Monday to Friday, and is a huge asset to the school. I will try to introduce her to as many people as possible as I show her around the school and will get her to come along to briefing at some point to say hello.

Have a fab short week, everyone! 

Lou Grimley

Character strengths at GHS

This week I want to spotlight two examples of how GHS students showed COMMUNITY.
 
From Kelly…
On Tuesday lunchtime, when Veneeta dislocated her knee, Mumtaz Osman, Jasmine Malik and Papina Paraneetharan were absolutely exemplary in the way they helped their injured friend and conducted themselves in a stressful situation. They were very calm:  talking to Veneeta, holding her hand and sitting on the floor with her for the best part of an hour. Until we got the thermos blanket on her, they used their coats to cushion and cover her. Once the ambulance arrived, and their job was complete, they went straight off to lessons with no fuss! A credit to themselves, their families and GHS!
 
In addition to this occurring, Sarah Williams held the first, very successful, Greenford Read of the year. She ran two sessions with year 7 where they got the chance to discuss ‘Running on the Roof of the World’ in groups.

The buzz was palpable and one student commented that being part of the Greenford Read was a great chance to meet new friends and talk about the book. See pictures from the Greenford Read event below!

Noble and Andrea