News, Stars & Happy Mothers’ Day and World Book Day from John & the PHS Team Friday 8th March 2024
Welcome to Percy Hedley School's Whole School Blog!
Hi everyone,
Well, Happy Mothers’ Day for Sunday, have a lovely time doing whatever it is that you do – hope it’s lovely! Feels like spring might finally be here!
It’s also been World Book Day, and we’ve been enjoying that too, with some great reading, discussions and of course outfits! There’s a nice piece on that below, and in fact our three Super Steering Groups are all really interesting this week, so please do give them a look if you have the time – their work is very progressive and informative, and I certainly always learn something every week that they put things out! Elsewhere, do check out the two safeguarding blogs as they’re right on the money this week too, talking about doxing and influencers
Or go to my favourite bit, the STARS!!!!!!!!! Especially the fish! (You have to scroll down and read it to find out!). And a huge shout-out to the FoPHS too – cheers guys!
Otherwise, have a lovely weekend whatever it’s full of, and we’ll see your child on Monday, and hopefully you soon too. Thanks for your support, take care and all the best
J
😊 from John & the PHS Team 😊
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Literacy
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Personal Development
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Physical Development
our three Super Steering Groups deliver our curriculum, Key Drivers and School Values – there’s a paper on the website if you want to read further. These Groups deliver the right curriculum for our pupils. This is where a lot of exciting stuff happens. Here’s the latest from them
Literacy!
First up, the Literacy Team. And here’s Becky talking about the lovely World Book Day
We all had a lovely World Book Day yesterday, celebrating our favourite characters and favourite books together.
As always there was some fantastically creative fancy dress, and a lot of people looking very cozy in their pyjamas. More importantly though, there was a lot of sharing of familiar, much-loved books and a lot of exploring new books!
We’ll share more of what we got up to next week, but below we can hear from 2RC, 6LC & 2BE……
2RC enjoyed showing their friends their costumes and the book they had chosen. They took turns reading each other’s choice of books and even enjoyed listening to a reading of Grandude’s Green Submarine on a Yoto (audio book player!)
6LWC sat and discussed our favourite books in a reading circle, making ourselves comfy on beanbags and snacking on biscuits. Lena shared her favourite book, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, and read a few pages to class and we talked about our favourite places and times of day to read.
2BE enjoyed dressing up for World Book Day today. We listened to each other’s choice of books and said what we liked about each one. This morning we joined 500 other children from 240 schools to listen to a special story live on Zoom. To say we were transfixed would be an understatement! We couldn’t take our eyes off the screen! We loved the story! It was recorded so you can watch it again at home: World Book Day Marvin Story Time Show Special – Positive Eye
Gwyn, who was telling us the story, specialises in story telling to children with complex needs. You can find her website here: http://www.positiveeye.co.uk/.
Please remember to use your £1 vouchers – there are some great free books available or you can use it against a full price book if they have their eye on something! Have a look here at the range of books available this year: https://www.worldbookday.com/books-and-tokens/books/
Personal Development
Jo looks after all Personal Development (PD), including PSHE, Careers, Wellbeing, Online Safety, Social Moral Spiritual Cultural stuff and many other things. It’s a brilliant area! The Online Safety blog is also PD, and all sorts of other stuff too.
Let’s hear from Jo and the team!
Wellbeing
2HW have been focusing a lot on wellbeing and teaching feelings. The children have the opportunity to look in the mirror alongside symbols showing different feelings. They also have sensory stimuli and big macks to listen to the various feelings to go alongside the symbol, so they have deeper understanding of the feeling. For example, for sad we have pipette to create tears and a crying sound on a big mack.
We love our Mums in 2BE/TS! Happy Mother’s Day to all of our lovely Mums! We have been thinking about what we love most about our Mums. Here are some of our answers…
- Danny: “I love it when my Mum sings to me.
- Lysbeth: “I love my Mummy when because she is silly.”
- Benjamin: “I love Mummy’s kisses!”
- Kian: “I love my Mum because she makes yummy tea.”
- Jay: “I like to help my Mum at home.”
- Christopher: “I like to cook chicken with Mummy, play traffic lights – go, get ready, stop! – go to the Metrocentre and go in the lift, go to McDonalds and go to the pub to see the lady.”
Careers
3TW have given much thought this week about their skills and the careers they might be interested in. They discussed their own skill set brilliantly which highlighted their self-awareness and confidence in themselves. It was great to see the pupils think ahead to reach their full potential in the working world! I can’t wait to see this happen!
International Womans’ Day
Pupils in 6LA loved researching a range of influential women for International Women’s Day. Each student researched different women looking for their name, image and a inspirational quote. They then created a class poster celebrating these women.
Physical Development
And Steph runs the Physical Development Group, full of exciting things all over the school. This week in Physical Development, let’s hear from Steph and Abbie and see Abbie’s brilliant new posters!
The Hellens Sensory Motor Suite!
Over recent weeks you’ll have seen snippets of our new soft play area in the Sensory Motor Suite. We feel so lucky that this is an area which is now accessible to all our children in school due to the installation of the ceiling tracking
Exploring soft play can be fun and motivating, but it also has so many benefits for our children’s physical development
Our physio gang have devised yet another helpful and informative poster on the benefits of accessing soft play – please do have a read!
Therapy of the Week! Love Therapy of the Week, especially when it involves Michael and John!
4HF are thrilled to have Michael back at school! Michael and John had a great interactive technology session, turn taking to switch to interact with the whiteboard. Michael engaged well, showing great persistence and realisation, developing his cause and effect skills. John demonstrated brilliant patience waiting for Michael to have his turn before pressing his switch. Excellent work Michael and John.
Super Sports Event of the Week! Let’s hear from Richard about something exciting and a bit different
Today the John Muir class had a visit from Helen who works for Groundworks- a trust that support communities to create a greener future. Helen spoke to the students about some of the conservation projects we could get involved with in our local area specifically near the rivers. Today we looked at conserving the local Kittiwake population on the quayside. The group had to work together to make nests for the birds using raw materials that the birds would use. The group worked really hard, have a look at Bobbie and Kacey showing off their work! James enjoyed researching and reading about the different birds; he found out that the birds lay 3 eggs each time. Well done Noah, Tom, James, Kacey, Robyn, Bobbie and Jack
Safeguarding Updates
Aylisha is our Safeguarding Officer, Rebecca is the DSL, and there is a great team, including Claire, Tracy, Corin, and other colleagues who look at other aspects too. For the blog, they give us weekly updates, which cover a range of topics. Here’s Aylisha with another important topic
Online Safety Blogs
This is based on topics that we know that you ask about or are concerned with
Exams
The Exams Entry Deadline has now passed and candidates are registered and entries have been submitted. The first on demand examination has taken place last week with more to follow this week.
School Lunches
We appreciate your co-operation and understanding as we implement this new system. If you encounter any challenges during the registration process or have questions please contact school on 0191 216 1811
Updated Code of Conduct
Friends of PHS – the FoPHS!
The fabulous Friends are always looking for volunteers for events! If you can offer any support, please contact Eileen at e.robinson@percyhedley.org.uk
Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA)
Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) with Hannah! Let’s hear from her!
Stars of the Week
That reflect our School Values!
Makaton Signs of the Week
There is so much going on in the coming week!
Finally…I couldn’t resist showing some more pictures from people dressed up for World Book Day!
Now, from Hannah’s class we have Matilda, Wonky Donkey and a lion from Dear Zoo! 😊 Have a peak
…..from John & the Team here at PHS