News and Stars from John & the PHS Team Friday 3rd March

Hi everyone,

It’s been World Book Day!

How are you all, and how was the half term break? I hope it was a good time for you and the family

It’s excellent to be back and moving on to the second half of the year, which often seems a bit more fun than the first half! Maybe it’s just coming out of the winter! Anyway, there have been some fun things already here such as World Book Day – which I’ll find some ore pictures for next time, St David’s Day, and excellent things happening in all areas of the school. We do appreciate it when you participate in these kinds of days, but we’re also very aware that it can be a pain and a drain for some as well, and we will be looking at that as we plan other things

Otherwise, Love of Reading is apparent in what we are doing, there was a comedy show here before half term, and there are absolutely loads of Stars of the Week, which is very nice indeed to see, especially as they are all based on our School Values of Resilience, Teamwork and Respect

I hope there’s something you like in the blog. You might also like Eileen’s blog, there are always good things in there, and other ones across the Foundation as well. You may even have seen pictures of the Ball, which raised a bit of money, some of which we will be asking for!

Cheers, all the best and hopefully see you around here soon

😊 John & the PHS Team 😊

From Louise B

On the last afternoon of the half term, some students enjoyed a surprise hour’s comedy show. This was school’s Act of Kindness in connection with our recent collapsible day, focusing on thinking about others as part of the ‘Belonging’ strand in the Resilience Framework. The show was called Dip’N’Dab and the premise of the show was that two painter and decorators were suddenly having the standard of their work inspected. A lot of slapstick fun and mayhem ensued!!!! There was audience participation with students and staff taking part and volunteering to be up at the front of a large audience takes some bravery and resilience. It was great seeing most of the students laugh and have fun. A member of staff commented later that one student who rarely smiles had laughed all the way through.

The performance was sourced from Bigfoot Arts Education and came highly recommended; certainly our research paid off as the two very talented actors had everyone laughing in the show from the word go. They were skilled at responding to the students’ communication styles and contributions and with great props and an energetic show, they had everyone’s interest throughout!

Reading

Here’s our weekly update from the Literacy Squad

Well Percy Hedley’s World Book Day 2023 has seen it all!

We’ve had Aliens loving underpants, White Rabbits late for important dates, star catching, lighthouse keeping, red riding hoods, golden tickets, minions and pirates and penguins… oh my!

And quite possibly the easiest game of ‘Where’s Wally?’ you’ve ever played (they were everywhere!)

But it’s not about the costumes… students and staff have come together to celebrate their most loved books, talking about their favourite stories and bringing things that they love to read in from home to share with each other

Across the school, literary themed activities have been a wonderful way to incorporate the love of reading into our learning (and an enjoyable way to end the week). Students have written book reviews in their English lessons, in Employability they have carried out interviews with staff to find out their favourite reads, Maths has involved estimating the length of time it might take to eat James’s Giant Peach (a very long time indeed)…and much, much more

As always, a massive thank you to all our wonderful students, staff and their families, they make this day as special as it is

Enjoy using those book tokens!

The Literacy Squad

Loving the Literacy Squad!!!!! Especially what they do on Love of Reading. Here’s some pics

Attendance

The draft policy is still on the website, so do please have a look at that

One of the main differences across the country that there is going forward is that fewer requests for absence are going to be authorised, most often when they are for holidays. The reason I’ve been mentioning this and other related matters, in the blog each week is so that everyone understands why we are doing this, and what it means. We now work with an Attendance Officer from North Tyneside, who I know has met some parents already. Our attendance is still a little lower than the average of special schools nationwide, so we just need to be following the same rules as everyone else

Our form teachers have been a very big help in keeping the registers properly and keeping in touch with home, and we’d very much like to thank you all at home for your understanding and co-operation.

Lesson of the Week – St David’s Day!

For St. David’s Day, 6NC had a competition to draw their own Welsh flags. Everyone worked hard on their entries, with some putting their own unique spin on it – for example, Robyn added cat ears on her dragon, while Santi coloured his to represent his own Spanish heritage! Absolutely lovely work.

The group also enjoyed learning some fun facts about Welsh history, as well as how to say “good morning” and “goodnight” in Welsh. Santi was so interested he ended up doing his own research – ffantastig!

Let’s hope they can celebrate the rugby a bit later on this month!

Therapy!

Daily movement in Christian’s class with Maikel – pictures to follow!

It’s amazing to have physios going into class – we’re so lucky to have that set-up in our school

One of the activities that many of the students enjoy is daily movement

Christian’s class enjoy doing during their daily movement session using their standing frames. This gives them a welcome change of position, and a stretch, as well as being pretty healthy

The guys in the class really enjoy having a good stretch out on the bed and that’s great because it’s also part of a lot of postural management plans

Great stuff Maikel, thanks!

This is them! A fabulous department in the school!

And Now…..

Stars of the Week!

With added School Values!

The ELTBA Star of the Week is…..

Daniel has shown resilience when swimming. He had a great swimming session this week. Good job, Daniel, what a STAR!!!!!

ACCREDITATION Stars of the Week! And it’s all about Resilience this week!

Brian – for showing resilience and confidence in maths this week

Jay – for being resilient and showing perseverance

Ryley – for using his VOCA at home to achieve targets that will go towards his qualifications

And there are more, from post-16………..a great week for Resilience there I think!

Finn completed a film making course at Beacon FIlms and was awarded a certificate

Josh for showing great resilience and having a fantastic attitude.  Well done Josh!

Milly for being super independent all week and smashing her swimming targets.  Amazing resilience!!

Tatjana for being really resilient, managing her emotions, trying really hard and enjoying school much more

ENGAGEMENT Star of the Week! Nat the Resilient STAR!!!

Puffins would like to nominate Nat for TWO reasons this week. On Wednesday, at the end of Social Communication, Rachel forgot to do Nat’s favourite part of the session – which is where the class stretch the scrunchie and after “ready, steady, go…” they PING the scrunchie into the middle. Nat used brilliant communication to tell Rachel something was wrong and when Rachel asked him if she’d forgotten something, he smiled and then laughed when she remembered we hadn’t pinged the scrunchie. Well done Nat! STAR!!!!!!!!!

Here is Nat with his solemn face which he uses to tell adults something is wrong, and here is Nat telling Rachel, “Yes! I want to ping the scrunchie!

The second reason is that on Thursday, Nat walked all the way from the physiotherapy room back to the classroom. When we got to the classroom he was asked if he wanted to go into class or sneak off down the corridor. Nat laughed and looked down the corridor! He then walked all the way to the Life Skills Room! Nat Walker indeed – Nat the STAR!!

Makaton Signs of the Week

World Book Day

world, book, day, read, like, favourite

Great stuff, Julie, super to be celebrating World Book Day! And an appearance by Justin too!

Keeeeeeep signing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And finally…..more World Book Day!

Books, dressing up – what’s not to love about WBD?

All the very best to all of you at home, from all of us here at the school – we’re pushing on now with the second half of the school year, with the weather getting a bit better as well, and hopefully seeing you here some time at Consultation Evenings, Coffee & Catch-up afternoons, or other funky events

from John & the Team here at PHS