News, STARS and Bats for a Spooky Hallowe’en! from John & the PHS Team Friday 25th October 2024

Hi everyone,

I can’t believe we’ve come to the end of the first half term of the school year – but we have, and it’s been a long one of eight weeks too. Once we get going into the term, it just seems to fly by! It’s probably the hardest half term too, as people have been away for a while, and then often have to get used to new classes and arrangements when they get back. It’s been a really exciting and busy half though, and a pleasure to be around

I hope that your son or daughter has enjoyed this first half of the autumn term, and I hope that you’ve been pleased with what they’ve been doing and how they’ve felt about it. It’s been great to have some new faces, and really good to see some familiar faces in older classes or doing older things! It’s a lovely school to work in

One of the reasons it’s lovely is because of all the different professions that work together here to do the best job they possibly can. But the biggest reason is the children that come in every day. We couldn’t enjoy our job or even get near to doing a good one without your support and partnership, so thank you for being on the journey with us, and all the very best for a lovely week – spooky or otherwise – and beyond

All the best, take care and see you soon in some form or another. We’ll be here on Monday week waiting for all the children to come back and get on with it again in the run-up to Christmas

John S

😊 from John & the PHS Team 😊

We have 3 Super-Steering Groups which deliver our Key Drivers through our curriculum. The Key Drivers are Communication, Wellbeing and Independence. The Groups are Literacy, Physical Development and Personal Development

Literacy

Becky, our Literacy Lead, leads a team that improve all aspects of literacy, including this year a lot of handwriting and oracy (it’s OK, she’ll be going into explain all of that) as well as reading, phonics, books and all sorts!

This week we have Becky talking about a funny word – oracy! Let’s hear about it!

This week we wanted to share a little bit about one of the key aspects of our Literacy focus this year, which is oracy!

Oracy is a bit of a popular term in schools right now, but it’s something that we’ve always focused on at Percy Hedley School. Oracy is essentially all about speaking and listening – ‘learning to talk and learning through talk’.

Last academic year we were very pleased to be part of the Voice NE project, through Voice 21, a national oracy charity. The North East Combined Authority have funded places on the Voice NE project for 100 schools, and we are delighted to be working with Voice 21 in the second year of this project. The project launch for this year was at the Discovery Museum this week and it was great to link with schools on a similar mission!

You may have heard about Oracy and Voice 21 on either BBC News or BBC Radio 4 earlier in the month, discussing the importance of ‘a high quality oracy education for every student’. This was because of a government report which calls for oracy skills to be seen as equal to reading, writing and maths. 

We’re really looking forward to working with Voice 21 again, as we explore further what oracy eduction looks like across our different curriculum pathways. This fits beautifully with our transdisciplinary approach and key drivers, and it will be lovely to build upon all of the great oracy teaching already happening. 

Happy ready and happy talking! 

If you’d like any further information, Voice 21 are great at sharing little bits of info here:

Physical Development

Everything that is fabulous in the world of Physical Development! This includes physio, hydro, MOVE, PE, HI, VI, a lot of OT and all sorts of key areas for us, including all of the Outdoor Learning, John Muir Award and many other aspects. Steph oversees this and will ensure that an aspect is shared in the blog each week

This week, physio with Lysbeth!

Lysbeth has been doing some fantastic work developing her sitting and standing balance. Look how proud she looks of herself when standing nice and tall – she’s catching up to Nina her physio! Sitting balance is challenging for many of our pupils in school, and the trampoline is a great way to challenge this in a fun and engaging way. Just look at the concentration and determination required to sit on the therapy roll! Well done Lysbeth!

Personal Development

One of the best things about the school and one of the most important for our pupils, PD covers PSHE, Wellbeing, Careers, Social Moral Spiritual & Cultural, Online Safety, Behaviour and similar areas. Jo pulls it all together. Let’s see what Jo and the team have in store for us this week – quite a lot as usual I think!

This week, a huge amount of activities! Have a look!

PSHE

Having the ability to give consent is an essential aspect of preparing for adulthood and a huge part of personal development. It’s a skill that our students in Post 16 Engagement work very hard on.  It is fantastic to see our young people learning to express themselves and growing in confidence, using their skills to let us know their preferences.  Even more importantly, we love to see them directing adults to support or facilitate their needs, or to say ‘No!’ very clearly.   Being able to give or deny consent is important for everybody.

For our VOCA users, these skills are practised through: modelling, where adults demonstrate a skill, then support the student to do this themselves; repetition, through practising the same skill in the same safe, supportive environment; generalising, through offering opportunities to practise their skills with new people or in different contexts.  Recently one of our students was able to show a visitor how he could choose his favourite music, using his device, and another was able to tell us that they were uncomfortable and needed some help.  For other students, Intensive Interaction is a great way to connect with familiar people and peers, and show preference or consent, perhaps through vocalising, closing their eyes or turning their head away.  Essentially, it is important that our student voices are heard and responded to  – it’s all part of growing up!  We’re so proud of the effort and hard work they all put into developing these skills.

Black History Month

To honour Black History Month, 3RC held a discussion about the Black History Month and influential figures in Black history. We’ve watched a video highlighting several heroes and then learned how to draw Rosa Parks, an iconic civil rights leader. It was an enriching day filled with learning and artistic expression, fostering a deeper understanding of the importance of Black history in our society today.

United Nations

Pupils in 6LA enjoyed looking at the United Nations Day. We discussed what the UN is and what they do. We then went on to look at the countries involved in the UN by completing wordsearches, colouring flags and identifying the flag for each country.

Harvest Festival

Upper school welcomed Reverand Moon in our Harvest Festival Assembly last week. She left us with a giant jammy dodger to be awarded to the person that was the most helpful and thankful across the week. We just couldn’t choose, so gave out jammy dodger prizes to the wining students!

Halloween

It’s feeling very spooky in upper school today as our students prepare for their Halloween Enterprise disco! DJ Beetlejuice Billy is at the ready. Look at some of the Ghastlies and ghouls that have turned out for today….

Lesson of the Week

We love Food tech, cooking and all things related to all of that! Let’s hear from Laurie

In Food Tech we have been baking Halloween cookies and decorating cupcakes. Also, here are the recipe cards for the cookies in case anyone would like to make it at home with the pupils

KS3 to Post-16 had a great time this week getting ready for Halloween. Some pupils enjoyed decorating cup cakes by creating spooky faces and ghosts. While other pupils have loved baking monster cookies and gingerbread zombies. We all had to be careful though because some cookies included an unexpected trick (a minty flavour) or a treat (extra chocolate chips).

Wellbeing!

We heard about helping others last week, which was great. Let’s get the latest from Andy

Hello everyone!

Our latest Connect Challenge focused on connecting with ourselves, as we invited you to step outside your comfort zone by trying something new. So, let’s hear about your experiences!

4RR have been sampling a variety of dips in cookery, they said “it was market research” as they plan to create their own tasty dips. A big shoutout must go to Patrick who bravely sampled hummus and garlic for the first time! Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone!  

Future-focused pupils in post-16 have had a busy week visiting potential new colleges; Casey, Logan, Eve and Shannon went to have a look around Gateshead College on Monday! Casey also began preparing for a job interview – bravely pushing herself to meet and chat to new people.

Meanwhile, students in 4JF have signed up to try some new sporting events this week – a special mention goes to Evan who has agreed to try basketball and gymnastics! Well done to all!

This week marked our final challenge before half-term. A huge thank you to everyone who has participated and helped make our ‘Connect’ theme a truly uplifting activity for the school. Our challenge has been about connecting with one another by spreading kindness. To do this we encourage you to “Give a compliment.” Giving and receiving compliments boosts self-esteem, strengthens relationships, and promotes positivity. Let’s aim for a wonderfully positive conclusion to this half-term!

As always, don’t forget to share your photos and stories with Andy at a.dawson@percyhedley.org.uk. Let’s keep connecting!

Feel free to send any photos or comments to Andy at a.dawson@percyhedley.org.uk Let’s keep the fun going!

Behaviour for Learning (BfL)

Behaviour for Learning (BfL) is a new team, overlapping sometimes with Safeguarding and Mental Health. BfL is an approach to understanding and developing children’s behaviour that focuses on their relationship with their self, others and the curriculum, and promotes readiness for education. The BfL team support staff and pupils. The BfL approach is consistent with our values and compatible with systems such as PBS and NAPPI

Harvest Festival

This has been great this year. Nat has been leading it and doing loads, so let’s hear from her

As you know, this year for Harvest Festival, Percy Hedley School have been collecting for The People’s Kitchen in Newcastle. What a delight it has been to see our Harvest Festival box overflowing with some fantastic donations! We’ve got everything you can think of, from biscuits to baked beans and everything in between! We know The People’s Kitchen and the individuals and families they support will be thrilled. Thank you so much to each and every person who has donated, we have really pulled together to help the community

To help us further celebrate Harvest Festival, we had a very special visitor to deliver an assembly… with a twist! Reverand Sarah Moon came from St John’s Church, and we were very impressed with her Jammie Dodger analogy. Sarah said that Harvest Festival can be summed up in a Jammie Dodger, can you imagine that? From growing and sourcing the ingredients, to baking, delivering to supermarkets and eventually ending up in our tummies – the whole process reflects how everyone must work together to make and supply food. Plus, there’s a love heart in the center to remind us of others who need love and support (and they’re very tasty) ❤️

Hmmm, who fancies a Jammie Dodger? All this talk is making me hungry!

Thanks again to everyone who has taken part in our celebrations and made donations. We hope everyone has a lovely half term holiday, and until next year, Happy Harvest!

And What About Hallowe’en Culture Around The World? Let’s ask Leanne!

We have been learning about the different Halloween traditions from around the world in our Culture options lesson, and we decided to carve our own pumpkins as an end of half term treat.

Francis enjoyed Leanne’s story of her childhood – in 1980’s Gateshead when there wasn’t a pumpkin to be seen!  She used to be bought a swede to carve out and it was a long and difficult task!!!

Francis was determined from that moment to create his own perfectly carved swede – and he did!!!!

Welcome to Early Years!

Here’s Kerry with what’s been happening recently with our youngest pupils. Let’s hear what Kerry has to report and then look at a few pictures!

So we have come to end of our first term in Ducklings. We are so proud of how well all of our children have settled in. This week we have participated in spooky activities, googly-eyed gloop pumpkin painting, and enjoyed a spooky sensory story about a castle

We have used our senses to explore the creaking door, the bony skeleton, the flappy bats  and the banging door. We used bubble paint to make some bubbling cauldrons. Our story of the week has been ‘Room on the Broom’, talking about the different characters and exploring the props

Outdoor play has been fun – we have had a builder this week and made potions in the mud kitchen. We have also had great fun learning numbers and number recognition through number rhymes. Our new sensory fish have been a great hit. We have enjoyed rebound and soft play every day too.  Hope everyone enjoys and lovely half term

Therapy Star of the Week!

Love Therapy Star of the Week, especially when it’s Ella Rose, Patrick and Ayaan!

Teamwork

Let’s see the picture, but first Kathryn says

Great teamwork in therapy sessions; working together to design, make and play their own Disney Pairs game

What a great picture!

Therapy STARS!!!

…..from John & the Team here at PHS

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Our Key Drivers:

Communication, Wellbeing, Independence