Newsletters

GHS Connect #26 Monday 19 April

From the Head

Welcome back everyone - I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday and are feeling ready and refreshed for the term ahead. It seems almost unreal to think that we are now in the Summer term, but here we are, and I hope that we are beginning to move towards greater normality, so that in September we may finally be almost back to how things should be. A big change this term will come about as a result of our decision to reinstate a version of tutor time once a week and I urge you to please read Lou’s info about this further down in Connect. This will begin next week, week beginning 25th April, and is in response to a number of colleagues raising concerns about lack of time with tutees. It will also help us to begin to take steps towards moving back to a more ‘normal’ form of schooling, help re-socialise students with their tutor groups, and of course, support our students better with their pastoral needs. Further information will follow in the form of VLE announcements.

Some things will remain the same this term until we hear otherwise - mask wearing in classrooms will continue, bubbles will still operate and we will need to continue to work with our adapted behaviour policies such as separate detentions, to ensure Covid compliance.

Thank you for your superb work in running Raising Achievement Day for students on the last day of term. I hope that for those of you who ran the day at home, it proved to be a success, and enabled a degree of ‘easing in’ to the holiday. 

Finally, congratulations to Niloo who was appointed as our Mental Health and Child Protection Leader on the final day of term.  This has opened up another opportunity for a new Year Leader as from September, and we will be appointing to this role from the candidates who went through the recent interview process. The possibility of this other opportunity was explained to all candidates on the interview day. Details of the successful applicant will be posted on the VLE later today.

Have a great first week back!

Mia

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

Spotted is a round up of some of the great learning and teaching strategies we’ve noticed being used around school recently. To start off the new term...
 
> Megan Wickens encouraging her year 8 class to use the mini whiteboards to practise before committing to an answer in their books. 

Learning and Teaching: The Lost Generation?

I had the good fortune to hear Kathryn Thomas contribute to the English department meeting just before the Easter break. She explained her irritation with the phrase the media often use to describe the way our students have been affected by lockdown: the lost generation.  Kathryn expressed passionately that no student of hers would be ‘lost’ and explained the methods she was using to assess gaps in student understanding and the ways she was slowing and adapting the scheme of work to support her year 7s to catch up.

Her message about spending time really considering  what students need to help them recover was powerful and inspiring at the end of a very long term!

We’re sure these sentiments are mirrored across the school so this half term we will be sharing teaching and learning strategies which help students with the catch up process. Please let us know if you have been using a particular strategy successfully. 

Kelly McCarthy

Inclusion & Pastoral

Welcome back, everyone - I hope you all had a lovely Easter break and enjoyed the first stage of returning to normality…

The first thing I need to let everyone know about is that we are going to be introducing a weekly registration - this will start in the week beginning 25th April, not this week as I wanted everybody to be able to adjust to being back at school first. There will be plenty of information on how this is going to work, what day it will take place on and how the logistics are going to be managed, so keep an eye on the VLE! I am hoping that this will be a welcome opportunity to spend some time with your tutees, communicate key messages and bring back a bit of pastoral love. 

Building in a registration time is also going to have an impact on how we deliver PSHCE as it will be absorbed into registration, every other week - our next PSHCE session was due to take place on Monday 26th April P3 but will not run on that day. Instead, that PSHCE lesson will be delivered in the first tutor time we have. All of the resources, however, are available to look at in advance and can be modified as you see fit. The huge advantage of this is that you will now be delivering those sessions to the same group, your tutor group, every fortnight and be able to build some continuity into what we deliver. Again, more details will follow on this!

As always, don’t forget all the interventions we have running, that will be back on as soon as we start: Scott, Teens and Toddlers, counselling, mentoring, clinical and educational psychology and all our of counsellors. Keep sending any safeguarding concerns through to childprotection@greenford.ealing.sch.uk and remember that Jo and Tash from Schools Counselling Partnership are there to support staff as well as students if you need them.

Have a good first week back everyone!

Lou Grimley

Behaviour for Learning

Each fortnight 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 #11: Restoring a sense of normality

Research shows that it’s really important to restore a sense of normality after any difficult event in order to foster future resilience; apparent learning gaps after the most recent lockdown may be transitory rather than long-lasting so what can we do to support our learners now?

Focus on the positives
A sense of belonging and community needs to be re-established above all else, highlighting shared social experiences rather than academic differences. Encourage collaborative discussions, allowing children to share common experiences and creating a positive framework within which to structure future learning.  

We can differentiate appropriately so that all students can access the learning and therefore don’t feel the need to misbehave by gaining status via illegitimate means. We can also offer structure and routines which many of our students crave, even if they don’t realise it!

Focus on your own wellbeing
At times of uncertainty, self-efficacy in teaching supports buoyancy and resilience, which, in turn, reduces negative effects and stress. Although differentiated teaching of mixed ability is part of our normal practice, and you are best placed to assess children and plan their curriculum going forward, some of us are likely to need additional support to ensure our own wellbeing, so please check-in on each other. Remember that we have a range of support available to staff, such as a counsellor in-school. Please speak to Lou for further information about what you can access and how.

We hope you have a great half term!

Mark and Jo