Family Information and FOPHS News Friday 23rd June 2023

I hope that the now weekly inclusion in my blogs of E-Safety information prompts families to check the information. Maria is our fountain of knowledge on everything E-Safety linked and much more. Those who have previously joined sessions in school will attest to this; she ensures that she is up to date with CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command) and is happy to work directly with families if you need advice. For us, as parents of children and I don’t just mean PHS children it helps us to safeguard our children/young people against potential dangers of a rapidly evolving online world.

This week’s blog is on:

Protecting Children Online: Understanding Grooming and Taking Action and is dated 22/06/2023.

You will find the E-Safety section on the school website under the “Parents and Carers” heading, and subheading “E-Safety”. For ease, click the link below.

Wednesday 5^th July: Social Coffee morning. 9.30-11.00

Drop in at any time between 9.30 and 11. These are intended to be parent led, although as I have previously said I am happy to arrange focused discussions if this is preferred. We look forward to sharing with you the MOVE Fest, taking place that day. This will be a guided tour after the coffee morning. Thanks to those who have returned the reply slips. It makes sign in easier. A copy of the letter is below.

Thursday 13^th July: KS4/Post 16 Enterprise Fayre. 14-15.00

This is open to parents/carers of students in KS3,4 and Post 16 to come along and support our students. They learn invaluable life skills with these events, both practical and social and your support is greatly appreciated. Letters have been sent out and there is a copy below.

Carer Wellbeing.

It is so important that Carers look after their own wellbeing. I know, from personal experience and talking to many parent/carers over the years that this presents challenges. For the benefit of your child/young person, siblings and other family members finding ways to make time for yourself is vital. Last week Toby Henderson Trust ran a webinar; some of you may have joined. They have referenced the Cerebra Wellbeing guide, recently updated. I read through it and, although Cerebra is a charity supporting those with brain injuries, I find the advice appropriate for all carers.

Have a look through the guide, make notes and see if there is anything which would help you, from Carers assessments, support groups to wellbeing grants. Wellbeing grants may be available to unpaid carers (yes, that’s you as you are not employed as a carer); the criteria differ from one Local Authority to another. You will find information on this and other support in your locality through Carers UK, selecting your area. You should also be able to find links to local support on your Local Authorities “Local Offer”.

The links to the Cerebra guide and Carers UK are below:

Changing Places

I have been advised by a member of staff that there are new changing places in Whitley Bay Park and on the Fish Quay.   There is also a changing places facility at Haven Point in South Shields. These are an absolute essential to so many of our families.

Radar keys.

For those who don’t need a changing place but struggle in the community a radar key may be useful, and I have some for sale at £3.

RADAR key from the National Key Scheme, used to open thousands of disabled toilets across the UK.

Get around for £1 if under 21

Nexus has shared information about cheap travel for young people aged 21 and under. Photographic proof of identification may be required, but enables travel on buses in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Co. Durham, the Metro and Shields ferry for £1. Please see the letter below:

Tim Lamb Centre.

Situated in the Rising Sun Country Park, this charity offers weekly clubs, activities,

and access to their centre for children and young people with disabilities. Siblings are welcome too, with annual family membership of £20, and £4 per child accessing the centre. Significant levels of funding have led to great improvements to the centre, full information in the link here:

This year they are offering limited spaces for 1:1 support for children who need it to attend at a cost of £60 per session, from 10-15.00. This may sound expensive, but if you consider the hourly rate of pay for a 1;1 member of staff it is fair. I don’t know if this would be useful for students who have a Personal Budget, but it may be worth checking. Please see the information and poster below:

“We are able to offer 1:1 summer support during the school holidays to a small number of children aged 5-16 years”.

Various days 10am-3pm.

Places are limited. £60 per child per session.

Email info@pathways4all.co.uk for more information.

Support in School holidays.

Your Local Authority is required to have a “Local Offer” on the council website. Here you “should” find information on what help is available to you including activities, clubs etc. The summer holidays are especially long, and it can be hard to find something suitable for your child. If you need help, let me know. I may have some suggestions.

Look at our new logo! Thanks to Sophie and the communications department for working with us.

We had a productive meeting on Tuesday. We talked about engaging more parents in the FoPHS and know that half our core committee (not including me, as mine is a school, role appointed position) are staff. Parents who did join us pretty much confirmed what we know; parents/carers often struggle to simply get their children in to this school and have other commitments/barriers including work, distance, transport, appointments, not to mention exhaustion from caring duties. As we are now a FoPHS, extended family could, if they wished join and take up officer roles. Just some thoughts as we approach the end of term.

The big news which I trust you have seen is that our annual fayre, which we decided would be better as an Autumn Fayre has now been shared on social media. So, please “Save the date”. Can you help, or could a family member, friend spare some time to make this the huge success we have all come to expect? Please contact me and thanks to those who returned the slip offering help. You’re hooked! For me, apart from seeing current families come along there is real joy in meeting past students and residents from facilities within the foundation come along. So, to those of you whose young people are leaving us next month, please come back and see us. 2 parents have already, other commitments permitting offered to help.

Trade and Information stalls:

These add to the fayres and we have had some lovely small businesses come along in the past, take stalls, provide raffle prizes and support us. We will be putting a call out to traders again. In the first instance, I am asking for an expression of interest. There will be a charge and we need to ensure that there isn’t duplication as that impacts on them. So, please contact me if you would like further information. Feel free also to pass my email address on.

Second hand Uniforms.

We know how expensive uniform is and at times parents/carers send in good quality uniform. We would like to start a second-hand uniform sale; with parents continuing to send what they no longer need to school. We would then sell on at a very low cost. More details to follow. If you have any thoughts, please email me.

School Photo:

Exciting news!  To raise funds for students, the Friends of Percy Hedley (FoPHS) have arranged for your child to have their school photograph taken.  Beth Edwards, who teaches on the Engagement Pathway, is a talented photographer who is offering her services for this initiative.  If you decide to have your child photographed, you will receive proof copies and an order form to proceed, if you wish to. This is a Pay as You Feel initiative (suggested minimum donation of £5) and you will receive your chosen images in high resolution format via email, for you to do with as you wish – make a canvas, a t-shirt or simply share with family. Funds raised will go towards fantastic enrichment opportunities for the students, so we hope to raise as much money as possible!  If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please sign and return the consent form by June 30^th at the latest.

Additionally, we will be taking a whole school photograph to celebrate Percy Hedley Foundation’s 70^th birthday.  The image may be shared on the blog, website and social media.  Students who do not have permission to appear in images shared in this way will not be included in the photograph unless you inform us otherwise.

Parentkind Training

Tracy and I joined a zoom masterclass session on “A whole School Approach to Parental Participation yesterday”. It was good to engage with and hear the experiences and thoughts of staff and governors from other mainstream schools in England. It has given us ideas which we hope to develop. More on that soon as Tracy will feed back to senior leadership. Our aim is to improve parental participation and involvement, which benefits students in the long term. As a school, student welfare and outcomes must be at the heart of all we say and do.

Facebook page:

This is a closed group for family and friends of Percy Hedley School, where you can share news and updates about school life. It is not for external professionals who may be working with families. To join, you need to answer the question stating your link with school.

Please note: this group is for sharing news and updates about school life and is not intended to discuss any issues around individual students, and as such all comments are moderated. If you have a particular issue or concern, please contact school directly on 0191 216 1811.