News, Messages & Stars from John & the PHS Team!
Welcome to Percy Hedley School's Whole School Blog.
Friday 21st April 2023
Hi everyone
Happy Summer Term everyone! How are you? I hope the holidays went well for you all
It’s always to get back after Easter and start the summer term, with it being lighter and warmer (a bit!) and everyone just seeming a bit more comfortable and even happier! There’s always loads to do in school too, with more outside activities, all sorts of things to fit in before the end of the school year, and even some folks leaving. There’s a lot coming up, including a Coronation Lunch, the exam season, This Is Me celebrations, and our 2nd ever Prom!
Yep, it’s gonna be a good ‘un, so settle in and enjoy it with us. It’s good to be back
The first blog of a term is usually the quietest, but there are still some lovely things to read about this week, and some of our usual slots, so please do enjoy, and do remember Eileen’s Family Liaison blog, Maria’s e-safety one, and everything else over on the Foundation website too, for all your PHF needs!
Also, Helen’s been at it again and there is some great sport on here – fabulous!
Both Julie and Jo have done some canny work on Earth Day as well……..enjoy!
All the best – hope to see you at the school this term
😊 …from John & the PHS Team 😊
This is what it looks like in our lobby now – looks great!
Look at that!
Personal Development Week – let’s start this term again with this important and sensitive topic area with this from Jo
As a part of your child’s education at Percy Hedley School, we promote personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education program. PSHE education is the curriculum subject that gives young people the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live safe, healthy, productive lives and meet their full potential.
I would like to let you know that, over the next term, students will be taking part in lessons which will focus on ‘Puberty’ as part of statutory Health Education, across primary and secondary. The Department for Education are recommending that students are taught about puberty within mixed gender classes, as everyone needs to know about everything with an aim of removing stigmas, prejudice, and misconceptions. Ground rules will be in place to support the safety and wellbeing of students, ensuring no personal experiences or questions are discussed, however there will be anonymous question boxes available
PSHE education is taught throughout the school in every year group and is monitored and reviewed regularly by the staff and governing body. Please visit the school’s website to view our RSHE policy https://www.percyhedley.org.uk/percy-hedley-school/downloads/?pag=2&sort=DESC . All PSHE teaching will take place in a safe learning environment and is underpinned by our school ethos and values. I will be attending pathway coffee afternoons so you can find out more about what your child will learn, view the materials and resources being used in lessons and discover how you can best support your child to discuss these topics at home. As a school community, we are committed to working in partnership with parents; recent parental feedback has indicated that the overwhelming majority of parents continue to be highly supportive of the relationships, health and sex education program. If you would like to find out more or discuss any concerns, please email or call me. I look forward to seeing you at the coffee afternoons!
Yours sincerely
Jo Ferguson
Personal Development & PSHE Lead
0191 216 1811
Good stuff – but also let’s remind ourselves of a brilliant thing that happened at the end of term – Personal Development Week. Staff took the time to educate our students on the provision we offer in school to support them with their personal development. Classes focused on a different strand of PD each morning and then went on to produce art work for their allocated boards in the afternoons
And here are some of the boards that classes made into PD displays
Attendance
The draft policy is on the website, so do please have a look at it when you can. One of the main differences in terms of attendance across the country now is that fewer requests for absence are going to be authorised, most often when they are for simple holidays. The reason I’ve been mentioning this and other related matters in the blog each week for a while now is so that everyone understands why we are making changes to our procedures. We work with the Attendance Officer from North Tyneside, who meets some parents about this. We have to follow the same rules as everyone else in the country, and we have more “Persistent Absentees” than others, so we need to work hard with any of our pupils who have attendance figures of below 90%. We’d very much like to thank you all at home for your understanding and co-operation with what I completely understand to be a difficult and sensitive area. Ultimately we just want our school to be a safe, happy place where our pupils make progress and attend as much as they possibly can. Thanks again
Lesson of the Week – Outdoor Learning! Of course!
Earlier this week we had a large delivery of wood chippings that needed moving and the path covered
The lovely 3TW were working hard as a team, mixed with a little bit of excellent problem-solving, to move the wood chips and level it out on the paths
The students had great fun exploring the texture and the smell of the conifer woodchips and did a great job. Great stuff Terry’s class! There are some great pictures, like the one at the top of the blog, and these…..
Outdoor Learning is the best!
And Now…..
Stars of the Week!
That reflect our School Values!
The ELTBA star of the week goes to …Abi!!!
Abi for showing fantastic resilience. Abi has a positive attitude when she has been taking part in physical activities, and a positive attitude is all that we ask from any young person here! Well done, Abi, total STAR!!!!!
ENGAGEMENT STAR!!! of the Week!
(It’s a goodie!)
And the Engagement Star of the Pathway is… Oliver! From Hebrons! Oliver had a fantastic Music Therapy session with Chris, our music therapist. Oliver used his initiation to play the tambourine, and worked hard to keep the rhythm with Chris. Great resilience Oliver, well done! 100% STAR!!!!!!!!
POST-16 STARS!!! OF THE WEEK!!!!!
These are some good ones – fine people all of them!
Tatjana. She came back bold, brave and even more resilient than ever after her dental surgery
Santi for being very resilient in ELS and trying really hard
Jamie just for being his lovely caring and respectful self
Amazing Sport of the Week! This is all brilliant!
North Tyneside Active Mile
Students have been taking part in the Active Mile this week either cycling, walking jogging and even running. Everyone was super impressed with all the students. The total number of miles done throughout the week will be collated and I’ll let you all know next week along with lots more lovely photos
Pupil comments
Nikhit said, “Doing a mile was tiring but rewarding.”
Harrison said, “It will help me get fitter.”
Ahmed said, “It was good.”
Wanderers Cross Country
Wednesday 19th April was the new date for the cross-country event that unfortunately had been cancelled last year due to bad weather. This year Hedleys Sport had a team of under-14 boys, a team of under-16 boys with one individual girl in the under 14 girl’s race. What a performance they put on! Some brilliant running over a distance of 800 metres on a difficult terrain starting with a uphill sprint! All finished with good times and Ahmed finishing in third place in the under-16 boys – what an achievement. All of the students who took part showed fantastic resilience and great teamwork supporting each other when running
Stars of the week
Helen’s Stars of the Week are, Joseph and Charlie for showing brilliant resilience running in a difficult 800-metre race, then back to school and Joseph ran another 2 miles as part of the Active Mile! What! Amazing teamwork supporting their fellow runners and finally the respect they showed to the event organisers, other schools at the event and their teammates
Helen and everyone was so proud and delighted with both of them, and what a pleasure to take them out. SUPER SPORTS STARS!!!!!
Prom #2! – Yes, another one really is happening! And we’re 70!
This year’s Prom will be a combined celebration of our 70th birthday celebrations as well as celebrating our leavers and achievers. Formal invitations and further information will be winging their way to all upper school students to allow for us to have RSVPs well enough in advance to book tables and buffet for the right number of students. 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
Makaton Signs of the Week
OK, so Julie has gone with Earth Day on Saturday 22nd for the Makaton theme this week – sounds really good!
So: Earth Day (22nd April), Environment
Here is the video:
Lovely stuff, as usual, Julie, many thanks! And here’s the link for Earth Day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
Keeeeeeep signing everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coming Soon! Date for the diary!
Coffee & Catch-up afternoon for the Engagement Pathway
Please get in touch with Kasia if you want to know more about this – and please do come if you possibly can!
There’ll be loads of stands with exciting, interesting and relevant things on them, and the staff will all be there!
These are great, and really important for keeping in touch
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