Newsletters

GHS Connect #34 Monday 27 June

From the Head

Hi everyone,

I don’t know about you, but this time of year always feels like a combination of counting down and feeling like there isn’t enough time left as there is still so much to do. The good news is that most of these things are positive events and along with the many trips I mentioned last week in briefing, there are a number of whole school events this week which I’ll summarise below:

This week we have the Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly on Thursday, which will be an excellent opportunity to say farewell to the year group. Although we have had our fair share of challenges with this year group, they have shown outstanding resilience and perseverance in being the first year group to sit exams in so long, and that’s all down to staff support of course, so thank you again.

As the ‘old’ go out, it’s in with ‘the new’ with the Year 6 induction day on Friday, preceded by the transition evening for parents on Wednesday. We also have Teach 1st joining us for 2 days - Thursday and Friday this week, and the rest of the new staff coming in for their induction day on Friday. So it’s a busy week!

Don’t forget to look at the adverts and job descriptions for the new posts that are being advertised. The closing date is Monday 4th July. There will also be some other adverts coming this week - these will mainly be adverts for temporary posts that have come to the end of their initial period. If you are currently in a temporary position that is being advertised, and you wish to continue with the role, you will also need to apply. This is obviously for equal opportunity purposes.

I hope to see as many people as possible at the wellbeing event on Tuesday.

Have a lovely week,

Mia

Monday
Normal day.

Tuesday
Year 12 UCAS event.
Meeting: Staff wellbeing event.

Wednesday 
Year 12 return to lessons.
No staff meeting.
ECTs: Reviews of Summer Objectives and setting those for the next term (Mentors/MAT/LEA).
Year 6 Welcome Evening.

Thursday
Normal day.

Friday
Common Induction Day.

Notes
KS3 exams.

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

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

• Neha Palta circulates constantly in her classroom, differentiating her time amongst her students depending on their needs. She checks every single student’s work and gives them just in time hints that help them move on.
• Rachael Chong makes sure that her class is really secure in their use of language. She uses a range of techniques including bracket definitions and having students repeat their answers using the correct vocabulary. She uses her whiteboard to provide a scaffold for students as she teaches vocabulary, for example drawing horizontal lines as she teaches the word.
• Isabella Madill modelling complex practical techniques in her laboratory with BTEC (below). She split her class into groups and assigned specific roles to each student so that everyone was engaged and contributing. She then questioned students throughout the practical about the purpose of each step to support their learning. Practical work is a core part of many subjects, but it is easy for students to learn very little unless they think deeply about each task and integrate them into the whole idea.

• Trisha Soneji was revising with her class using resources which structured their revision. It was therefore teaching students how to revise and (hopefully!) building independence in our learners by showing them what effective revision looks like.

• Maya Popovic knows her students really well. She circulates the room with purpose, always checking-in with a couple of students at the start of every task because they need it. She uses AFL effectively and responds throughout the lesson by addressing misconceptions and challenging those who need it.

Learning and teaching: Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who reflected and evaluated on how their practice has developed in the last of our CPD session this year; it has been really inspiring to read about how colleagues have been making a difference in their classrooms in areas which matter to them. 

Thank you to all of the research leads who have supported colleagues brilliantly throughout the process.  

Last chance! If you haven’t yet given us feedback on how we have organised CPD and meetings this year, please remember to do so using this link before the end of the day Monday.

Kelly

Inclusion and Pastoral

Hello and I hope everyone had a lovely weekend - much relaxation from the mini-Grimleys at this end now that exams season is over…

Just a few bits and pieces this week - apologies for the slight delay in the PSHCE Survey. Keely and I will be sending it out in the next couple of days. And, thank you to everyone for last week’s lesson. Only one left for the year!

Don’t forget that we have now set up email addresses for each of the Year Teams so that you don’t have to try to remember who is with who - if you start typing the word ‘year’ when selecting your email recipients, the different options will come up… But, if anyone would like a reminder of who is with each team, here goes: 

Year 7 - Tara Quigley, Amit Pall, Gulaid Gulaid and Hibo Ahmed
Year 8 - Rav Dhindsa, Ben Gunn, Abbie Allen and Barbara Latawiec
Year 9 - Allison John, Hassnain Mahay, Jamie Rosser and Tevin Deola
Year 10 - Sarah El-Sockary, Shem Parry, Adam Hamida and Hemal Odedra
Year 11 - Dan Siskin, Finola Doyle and Jesse Mantey
Post-16 - Rich Lewis, Christabel Haines, Annji Bashforth, Sal Ramsdale and Fuad Mohamed

Lastly, it’s a big week for Transition this week, after all the parent workshops and visits to school. We have Welcome Evening on Wednesday, with 2 sittings at 4:30 and 6:00, and then Common Induction Day on Friday when we welcome all our prospective Year 7s to the school for the day. Thanks in advance to those who are involved.

Have a good week, everyone!

Lou 

Inclusion Heroes!

I have 3 Inclusion Heroes this week - firstly, Hibo Ahmed for running a Transition Workshop with our Somali families joining us next year, and Sonia Yamoah, for all of her incredible work with Year 7, both with her tutor group and beyond. Year 7 are lucky to have the pair of you! I would also like to say a huge thank you to Sarah Packman for fielding the 300 families who have come to visit us over the last fortnight - you have been amazing!

Character strengths at GHS

This week we say goodbye to year 11 (assembly Thursday period 1 - 2). After demonstrating incredible resilience over the past five weeks of exams, they’ve signed their shirts and started their summer break. We will now wait to celebrate their results on 25th August.

On Friday, we will welcome our new cohort of year 7 for their induction to the GHS community. Let’s celebrate our current year 7s who have spent the year becoming Greenfordians both inside and outside the classroom.

The courage to make new friends.

Ms Humphries: students took responsibility for their learning by completing the work set and then showing compassion by helping others write their analytical paragraph - you can see them standing in the photo.  

Remember to celebrate character in the last few weeks. If you need more postcards, please ask!

Andrea and Noble