Newsletters

GHS Connect #10 Monday 14 November

Mia's notes

I hope everyone has had a great weekend.

I’m catching up a bit this week, as unfortunately, I finally got struck down by the dreaded covid for the first time last week and so I was off for a lot of the week.  Apologies for missing both the new staff coffee afternoon (which we will rearrange), as well as tutors’ evening, but huge thanks to everyone who was involved in that. Gurvinder has asked me to pass on this message:-

A huge thank you to all the Year 7 Pastoral team and form tutors, for their excellent diligence in organising and calling families, excellent conversations during the evening and their amazing work so far this year.  There was a great atmosphere at the Tutors’ Evening and that was credit to their fabulous work. Thank you also to Fay for supporting the evening and meeting so many of our SEN families. Lastly, a thank you to Alan Masters who created a wonderful super spreadsheet that enabled the tutors to have all the information they required, and to Lou, Andrea, Amandip and Mark who supported the evening.

I’m a little behind in my thank yous for trips, but needless to say, all trips and visits are hugely appreciated, not just by me but by students of course! Firstly, thank you to Jeremy and Tracey for the Geography field trip to Overstrand in Norfolk. Thank you also to Marike and Georgina for taking English students to Harrow School. Both of these trips took place outside of school time - both great examples of where we really go above and beyond as a school. Coming up, we have a further 6 trips planned in November alone, spanning the Media, English, MFL, Art, Business and Geography departments. Thank you in advance for these.

Have a good week,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal day

Tuesday
Department time 3.15pm - 4.30pm
TLR holder meetings 3.30pm - 4.30pm

Wednesday 
No meeting

Thursday
SLT: chat, coffee and cake (optional)  

Friday
Normal day

Learning and teaching: Spotted KS3 special Part 2

A round up of some of the great learning and teaching strategies we’ve noticed being used around school recently... This week, we're continuing our focus on KS3 - thanks to Amandeep, Harpal & Ramya for sharing these.

Learning and teaching: Action research CPD

Watch out for an email in your inbox this week reminding you of your focus from the Action Research CPD.   It’s so difficult in our busy jobs to devote time to developing aspects of our practice; if you haven’t started experimenting with strategies in your chosen area yet, don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to get going with it before our next session on 30th November. If you need any further support, don’t forget to contact your Research Lead. 

Kelly

Bright Spots

A whole raft of Bright Spots connected to Year 7 this week!

Amandeep Phull has nominated the following people for a bright spot.

Dan Siskin for all his hard work with year 7s. He had led by example for the line-ups and coordinated staff too, but also spent Friday after school with a parent and student to get them logged into ShowMyHomework. He then led various lunchtimes doing the same with 10/12 students every day to get them logged in, so they were supported in getting logged in. He has gone over and beyond in supporting year 7s to settle in.

Year 7 team (Dan, Jesse, Finola and Adam) who are always leading by example, always out and about. They have been both nurturing and firm when they need to be but have supported the staff and students in getting off to a great start.

Sarah Packman who has been helping parents and students to get their parentpay activated, printing off many copies of timetables as many Year 7s lose these. She has been so patient with parents and the students. She is there for everyone in i-block!

Well done team Year 7, and thank you Amandeep for the lovely nomination!

Digital Learning – Top Tips & Ideas Part 2

As mentioned last week, supported by Ramya, Harpal and Jacob, I am currently working on a strategy for Digital Learning at GHS. The ‘work in progress’ focuses on 4 aims:

1. Continue to develop skills and confidence of teachers in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology to support learning and teaching.
2. Increase and improve safe access to digital technology for all students at GHS.
3. Ensure that digital technology is supportive in all areas of curriculum.
4. Look for opportunities to innovate and invest wisely in digital technology for learning and teaching.

As promised, here is Part 2 of some ‘tips and tricks’ gathered from by Ramya, Harpal and Jacob:

• Websites for online live polls can be useful for whole class assessment (e.g. Mentimeter) during laptop/computer room lessons.
• Quizlet and other quizzing websites for low stakes tests (eg Kahoot).
• ‘Google Quiz’ homework allows you to quickly identify common misconceptions.
• Departments could make a short 1 or 2 minute video of how to use their relevant online platform. This can be shared in Google Classroom, so when students are unsure they can click on the video. Like your very own trouble shooting video! This can help with access issues.
• Text to speech software that might be useful for SEND or to support with access to textbooks outside of lessons where there is no teacher support.
• Look for sources that have Apps or can be accessed on mobile phones.

On top of this, if you have any Digital Learning tips and ideas you would like to share with us and others, it would be great if you let us know by adding your ideas and experiences to this google document.

Paul

Inclusion Heroes!

This week Inclusion Heroes are all the staff and Post-16 students who stayed on Thursday evening for the Year 7 Tutors Evening, with a particular shout-out to the tutors and the Year 7 Team. It was a long and very busy afternoon, but parents and carers were very complimentary as they left and it will have made a massive difference to those families to be able to come in and find out how the first stage of secondary school is going. Thank you to all of you!

Lou