News, Messages & Stars from John & the PHS Team Friday 30th June 2023
Welcome to Percy Hedley School's Whole School Blog!
Hi all, Happy Friday!
How are you all? Good I hope, and I hope the weather suits you – I must say as an outsider that the North-East is even lovelier when the weather is like this. Lots of classes are having trips out, and there is a lot of sport and Outdoor Learning happening, which is also nice
There are exams too – I’ve always felt bad for students that they have to do exams in the hottest weather, but it’s great that they are sitting them
We are planning for September, appointing new staff where we need to; and class lists are being finalised as we speak, ready for transitions and all sorts of similar arrangements – it’s an exciting time of the year, even if it can be a little nerve-wracking to think about change
Oh, and our lovely catering team are hosting another themed day today…. It’s Italian Day! The menus look great – I’m hoping for some nice pictures for next time.
Have a lovely weekend. J😊
😊 from John & the PHS Team 😊
Literacy
Now, we talked about ‘National Writing Week’ last week, but The Squad have collected some examples, so we thought it would be nice to briefly share some this week. Great idea, squad! Let’s hear from Philip, key squad member:
The avid readers of this school blog will know that last week was our ‘National Writing Week’, and they will also know that I promised some snippets of what our wonderful students had been working on. The act of ‘writing’… composing thoughts and feelings, and communicating ideas, can be quite a challenge for many of our students, but it is a challenge that many have risen to.
‘Communicating’ is a part of everything that we do, and it was amazing to see classes come together to share ideas and express themselves in the form of ‘writing’ (whatever form that looks like to them).
The students of Terry’s class created their own poetry, while the students of Key Stage 4 created a story featuring a ’90 something year old detective called Jez’, solving some form of mystery (I haven’t read the end yet).
In Post 16, the classes each contributed a chapter to an adventure story all about a hero’s journey to give someone a “much-needed hug”.
Even the Post 16 drama group got involved in ‘Writing Week’, and composed their own short fantastical story beginning with:
“Once upon a time there was a boy who tripped over his shoelaces. He hurt his head and dreamt about a lost girl who wanted to find her love…”
(They had me at the boy tripping over his shoelaces, and I hope they go on to act it out… safely).
There are too many brilliant pieces of work to mention in this blog, but you can look forward seeing more as we make our way around the variety of classes in school.
The Literacy Squad
We prioritised Reading in our School Plan this year, and that’s been great, but we’re going to broaden it our for our priorities list next year, and concentrate on Literacy in general, in a bit more of a wider sense. I’m sure that Philip and the rest of The Squad will respond brilliantly – as will our pupils!
Safeguarding
Just a little update this week on something we’ve been talking about this week – being an Operation Encompass school this week, and I thought it might be useful to put a little update about this into the blog. It’s about Domestic Abuse. I’ve taken a bit of info from their website to explain it if you haven’t come across it before. Our Key Adults are Rebecca, Corin and Claire
Operation Encompass is a partnership between police and schools…
All incidents of domestic abuse are shared with schools…
Every school appoints a trained Key Adult – the Key Adult is the person who receives information about police attended Domestic Abuse incidents
The Key Adult will be notified prior to the start of the next school day that the police have attended an incident of domestic abuse. This timely information sharing enables appropriate support to be provided for that child so that all interactions, from when the child first arrives at the school gates, are of a positive nature
The Key Adult must be trained as a Designated or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead…
Cooking session of the Week with Daniel
Cooking, food technology and all things related are very important here and are going to become even ore so as time goes on – so this is all good for now and for the future! Well done indeed, Daniel!
Daniel from the Magpies was busy on Tuesday, experimenting with the air fryer. He made his now world famous, “Floofy Chicken Nuggets and Paprika Fries with Sweet Chilli Dip”. He then went for a walk around school offering samples to staff and pupils. They were a big success. Well done, Daniel!
Friends of PHS – FoPHS!
The FoPHS had their meeting! Thanks for taking part and attending! And thanks to the FoPHS for all of their support for the school
The Friends are always looking for volunteers for events! If you can offer any support, please contact Eileen at e.robinson@percyhedley.org.uk
Go FoPHS!
And here is more from Hannah on the FoPHS
We are excited to be moving forward with our school photographs and have had an overwhelming response – thank you! Photographs will be taken over the course of next week and order form proofs sent out as soon as possible. If you like the photographs, please return the form with the information required and your chosen donation (Pay as You Feel) to Friends of Percy Hedley School (FoPHS) which will be used to fund enrichment activities and resources for our students. We aim to get the photos to you as soon as possible, and certainly before the end of term, via email. Please be patient with us, as this is a new initiative, and we are learning as we go! For those who have already sent a donation, thank you so much for your generosity. It is very much appreciated, and we will be able to fund some fantastic events from the proceeds
There are some absolutely beautiful photos up in school at the moment, really classy black and white ones taken by Beth and chosen and put up by some of the team. Have a look at them next time you’re in. Cheers on this everyone, and definitely – Go FoPHS!
LPPA – Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA)
Tracy and the LPPA Team are doing a lot of work to try and improve our partnership working with parents, and they thought they would send out this update. It’s very important to us to improve as much as we can on this issue and to keep exploring how we can work better with you all. It’s a journey that we will probably never quite achieve fully achieve as well as we want to, but the trick I think is to keep working towards it
‘Research makes it clear that effective partnership with parents has a major impact on the learning of children and young people.’
We would like to give you an update of progress made towards achieving the LPPA.
There are five stages in the LPPA process and there is a strong thread of evaluation throughout the process.
Stage 1: We have successfully completed the school self-evaluation. √
Stage 2: We prepared an action plan, which sets out the evidence we need to achieve each key performance indicator. √
Stage 3: Implementation of actions and portfolio building. We are currently working at this stage.
Stage 4: Interim assessment of progress. This has been booked for the last week of the academic year, so that we can provide you with outcomes of our findings in September. √
Stage 5: Verification leading to achievement of the award. Our timescale is to achieve this award by December 2023. We will not be ‘resting on our laurels’ but will continue to improve and build on engaging parents, carers and families in our school life.
We love to hear from our parents and families as the more we communicate the better the relationship between school and home grows.
Tracy and the LPPA team
Contact t.smithson@percyhedley.org.uk
Attendance
Thanks to everyone for all the support and feedback on the Attendance Policy. This is on the website, and just states what I’ve been saying in the blog for months now, just in a bit more detail. The simple fact is that we want to have the pupils in the school as much as is sensibly possible so that we can do as much good work with them as we possibly can. Thanks for working with us on this. Here again is the letter I sent out a while ago
Requests for leave of absence during term time
As you may be aware, amendments to The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 make it clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances, and that Headteachers should determine the number of days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted. Some circumstances are of course exceptional, and we are happy to support these in whichever way we can.
Thank you for working with us on this matter; the attendance situation at our school has slightly improved but we need to continue to try and address some areas of concern moving forwards.
We are currently receiving a significant number of holiday requests that do not fit the definition of exceptional circumstances; these will continue to be unauthorised going forward, as they have been recently. However, despite the fact that these requests not being authorised, we are still seeing a significant number of pupils being taken out of school.
Exceptional circumstances are, for example, weddings, family graduations, significant one-off events, bereavements, religious observances, some forces leave, respite on occasions, or unexpected family crises – for just a day or two. Leave is at the Headteacher’s discretion.
We want our students to maximise the time that they are in school to best prepare them for their next steps and adulthood. We also have a duty to support the placements of students in school in relation to our agreements with local authorities who support their places here. We know that pupils make more progress when they are in school and it is therefore important that they attend whenever they possibly can.
The government document, ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’, to which our policy refers, has been in place since September 2022. This guidance is very clear about persistent and severe absence, and the routes available to schools to address concerns, including legal intervention.
Because of this I’m letting you know that from September 2023 we will seriously consider using more means available to us than we are using now for unauthorised holidays in term time. Up until now, in conjunction with the local authority, we have mainly been using supportive methods. However, if the situation persists then we will consider, in certain cases everything, up to and including fines and further legal action, as per the national guidance.
I appreciate this letter may cause concern amongst some of you and may require you to reconsider plans moving forward. We have tried to be sensitive to the needs of the families of our students and have taken a gradual approach to this issue. I have referred to it many times and written about it here in the school blog.
We are committed to improving attendance to ensure that more of our students make the best possible progress. As I said at the start, thank you for the support of an overwhelming number of you – it means a great deal – and I do appreciate how difficult this issue is for some. I hope we can continue to work together constructively on this for everyone’s benefit
And Now…..
Stars of the Week!
That reflect our School Values!
ENGAGEMENT STAR OF THE WEEK!
Resilience
Our star of the pathway this week is… Ethan from the Herons!
Ethan was brilliant in his reading session this week! He used his eyegaze device to instruct, first by saying “story” and then activating 2 cells to say “want read”. Well done Ethan!
ELTBA STAR!!! of the Week!
Teamwork and Respect
Matthew is an extremely polite, respectful and helpful member of the class. He goes out of his way to help others and to be kind. This year he has been becoming more independent and giving trickier things a go himself! Well done Matthew!
He’s a complete STAR!!!!!!!
KEY STAGE 4 STARS OF THE WEEK
Some good ones here, and one extra-special one for a new student!
Teamwork
Robyn for assisting and giving reassurance for other peers within lessons and other activities. What an achievement to be Star of the Week having been here for such a short time!
Resilience
Rosie for settling in well to her new class and school. STAR!!!
Jack N for looking out for other activities to get involved within school. STAR!!!
POST-16 STARS OF THE WEEK
Resilience
George for being such a star at Music Sparks. Well done!!
Benjamin for getting on and completing his work even though he doesn`t enjoy the subject
STARS both of them!
It’s great to have post-16 students represented here as well – it’s a really successful and important part of the school, especially when a lot of the talk and work is about the future, transitions and Preparation for Adulthood
ANOTHER MASSIVE STAR OF THE WEEK!!!!!
And talking of transitions, take a look at this guy and what he’s been doing…
Transition visit to ESPA
On Wednesday, Finny attended a transition morning at ESPA in preparation for his big move there in September. Finny had a lovely morning in a horticulture session with Jason, the tutor, exploring the garden, weeding, and planting butternut squash. Prior to the visit, Finny worked incredibly hard to create a pupil information profile that he shared with his new staff to ensure they know a little bit about him before he starts and how they can best support him. After a productive morning of working in the garden, Finny sat down to enjoy some delicious homemade cheese scones!
This is just the best. Take a look and get a sense of what was going on
Finny and the tutor. And yes this is the story that the scones and gloves picture at the top related to!
HORTICULTURAL STAR!!!!!!!!!!
PE & Sport – Physical Development!
Helen and the team have been at it again! Great stuff for sport and all physical activity, which we love
A team from all ages in the school took part in the School Games Tyne & Wear Panathlon County Finals. They all took part in a carousel of activities scoring points at each station. Each team came in Third place, so more medals to add to the massive collection the students have got this year. Well done to all. Here are a few pics
Our Second Prom!
We are drawing ever closer to the Prom!
Our second prom, following last year’s inaugural one, will be a combined celebration of our 70th birthday celebrations as well as celebrating our leavers and achievers. It will be a great night, and anyone who attended last year’s Prom will agree how much fun the students had!
Any questions please contact Rebecca at r.fletcher@percyhedley.org.uk
There is also going to be a Junior Prom! And it’s on the same day as well!
Goodness me, last year’s prom was our first ever and we’re having junior ones as well! The Team at that end of the school are organising this, so this should be one to look out for – sounds great!
Makaton Signs of the Week
Last week was Insect Week!
A great opportunity to share some fun signs for summer
Insect, bee, wasp, fly, beetle, ladybird, caterpillar, butterfly, spider, worm
In order:
Insect, bee, wasp, fly, beetle, ladybird, caterpillar, butterfly, spider, worm.
Have fun bug hunting and keeeeeeeeeeeeeep signing!
And finally…..
Another chance to see our new Governors’ Poster and those, ahem, gorgeous pictures!
On a serious note, it is really good to know who the governors are, and we’re very grateful for the time and input that they give. Go on, have another look! Some are much nicer in real life than in their pictures, I promise (especially that top row)! 😊
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
Respect…Teamwork…Resilience
from John & the Team here at PHS