From the Head
In briefing last week, I announced that I would be starting a staff wellbeing group, to look at simple ways we might be able to ensure that we keep an eye on workload, wellbeing and work-life balance - the 3 of which are interlinked, of course. I am looking for 6-8 people to be part of the group and I would like representation from teaching staff at various stages of their careers, along with support staff. I am planning on having meetings once a half term, during the school day. If you are interested in being involved, please drop me a line or pop in to see me.
Recent Hot Chocolate Fridays have been a delight and have reinforced just how much our students value you all. The importance of the form tutor was outlined by Nia Jeffrey who named Charline Blanc as her advocate. Nia completely understood what Charline was trying to do in supporting her if she makes the wrong choices with her behaviour.
Ola almost wrote an essay about Ravneet Dhindsa and Amandeep Phull - the key themes were working hard, high expectations, inspiration and most importantly, care. It’s interesting how often we are reminded that our students do want us to push them - they know we care if we seek to get the best out of them.
Sheba nominated Amanda Hill and Christabel Haines both for displaying exceptional listening and for explaining things to them really carefully, while Sahas championed his support from Ena Akinsoyinu and Niloo Adhami. Elias chose Aansa Ali and Ellie Navarro as sparking his interest in Geography and Science and Diya told us that Phil Crampton and Karishma Topiwalla both really believed in her.
It’s lovely how specific the students are when they talk about their teachers - a clear indication that relationships at GHS are often what make the biggest difference.
Thank you to Year 8 teachers and the Year 8 team for a long haul parents’ evening on Thursday. I always think it’s one of the hardest things to do after a long day of teaching. It was a great turnout and I was given very positive feedback from the parents I spoke to. Much appreciated everybody!
I hope everyone has a great week (not long now until the 29th November ...!)
Mia
Dedicated to PSHE lessons this week....
Ollie Hardcastle in the Art department has been experimenting with using the visualiser to improve his students’ art work. He uses it at the top of the lesson to demonstrate to students the end product-what they’re aiming to produce-and then periodically during the lesson to demonstrate each step before the students try it independently. In this way, students built up their skills using wax to add texture to their paintings.
