Newsletters

GHS Connect #24 Monday 13 March

Mia's notes

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.
 
We obviously have a slightly odd week this week with 2 strike days one after the other. We will provide details of what is happening on these days - as with the previous 2 strike days there will be a partial opening and parents were informed of this on Friday.

Thank you to everyone for their support at Parents’ Evening. I heard it went very well and I’m sorry for not being there; I was at the ELP Ealing Headteachers’ Conference which was very interesting and provided some good nuggets of information.
 
An overriding theme at the conference centred on the importance of assessment, not for assessment’s sake, but to inform what we should adapt, reinforce and re-teach. This is such an important, fundamental part of pedagogy, particularly in the lead up to exams for Year 11 and Year 13. As practitioners, we can either choose to remain on the conveyor belt of delivering the next lesson in the SOW, or we can interrogate where our students are and use the next lesson to actively teach what they need to improve. These last few weeks are crucial, so let’s make sure we all make the choice that will ensure the most progress.

Have a great week,

Mia

The week ahead

Monday
Normal day.

Tuesday
Meeting: Year Team Meeting/Pastoral Time - 3.15pm - 4.30pm

Wednesday 
NEU Strike Day - see VLE for details

Thursday
NEU Strike Day

Friday
Normal day.

Learning and teaching: Spotted!

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

Respect

Hopefully you will have noticed a few slides going up in assemblies, in tutor time and in Reception about the importance of Respect in our community, how it is one of our three rules, and what disrespect looks like.

We are going to be launching a Respect Strategy very soon, which will include assemblies on this theme, a PSHCE session pivoted around it later this month, a focus on seeing if students are being respectful to staff when Patrol checks in with teachers, and sanctions for those who are not showing respect. We will arrive at a shared definition of what it means to be respectful through a staff survey and carefully track those students who are not abiding by it. In addition to this, the Pastoral Support Workers have been working hard on a series of Respect Workshops that Heads of Year and Heads of Department will be able to refer key students to. More information and details will follow very soon… If anyone has any questions in the meantime, please feel free to ask!

As always, a big thank you to everyone for your support with all our students from a Pastoral and Inclusion point of view and for your patience with some of our more vulnerable and challenging students. And for looking after the students of GHS so well.

Lou

Bright Spots

There’s been a bit of a break from Bright Spots so some of these come from a while back, but they are still, of course to be celebrated!
This week’s bright spot goes to Abbie Allen, Harjit Bhullar and Malakh Ellington nominated by Rav Dhindsa. Abbie, Harjit and Malakh have gone above and beyond in sacrificing their time to manage, resolve and control a few difficult situations in the pastoral world of Year 9. Thank you to you all and well done!

Inclusion Heroes

This week’s Inclusion Hero award is shared between the Computing teachers. We had a particularly tough afternoon on Monday on B Block ground floor, and when the The IC Team arrived on Tuesday morning, there were cup-cakes and a message to cheer us up. Thank you for being so thoughtful and caring! Here’s to some less frantic afternoons…

Lou