News, Stars & Happy New Year from John & the PHS Team 12th January 2024

It was a busy run up to the end of the year.  Over the Christmas period there have been some statutory updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 guidance. 

The focus is bringing together new and existing guidance to emphasise that successful outcomes for children depend on strong multi-agency partnership working across the whole system of help, support and protection including effective work from all agencies with parents, carers, and families. This includes principles for working with parents and carers to centre the importance of building positive, trusting, and co-operative relationships to deliver tailored support to families, and expectations for multi-agency working that apply to all individuals, agencies and organisations working with children and their families, across a range of roles and activities. 

We are in the process of reviewing our training to all staff to ensure they are up to date with the new legislation.  The new guidance is also available to read (if interested) on our safeguarding page of the website.

As always please get in touch if you have any questions or queries through email or our website anonymous link https://forms.office.com/e/QTWAtZJhFE

From Rebecca  r.fletcher@percyhedley.org.uk, Aylisha and the DSL Team 

To ensure a smooth implementation of the system, we would like to remind parents of the need to register for the new payment system, this includes those who are in receipt of Free School Meals. Information with login details have been sent to you previously, if you need these to be re-sent please contact the school office asap and they will be happy to reshare these with you

For parents of children on a specialist IDDSI diet, please be assured that separate communication has been provided, and you do not need to register for the new system

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.

Is my child too ill for school?

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they’re unwell. However, there are government guidelines for schools about managing specific infectious diseases at GOV.UK.  Here is some advice the government have provided around illnesses:

Coughs and colds – It’s fine to send your child to school with a minor cough or common cold. But if they have a fever, keep them off school until the fever goes. Encourage your child to throw away any used tissues and to wash their hands regularly

High temperature – If your child has a high temperature, keep them off school until it goes away

Chickenpox – If your child has chickenpox, keep them off school until all the spots have crusted over. This is usually about 5 days after the spots first appeared

Cold sores – There’s no need to keep your child off school if they have a cold sore. Encourage them not to touch the blister or kiss anyone while they have the cold sore, or to share things like cups and towels

Conjunctivitis – You don’t need to keep your child away from school if they have conjunctivitis. Do get advice from your pharmacist. Encourage your child not to rub their eyes and to wash their hands regularly.

COVID-19 – If your child has mild symptoms, such as a runny nose, sore throat, or slight cough, and feels well enough, they can go to school. Your child should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if they have symptoms of COVID-19 and they either:

have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to go to school or do their normal activities

What to do if your child has tested positive

Your child is no longer required to do a COVID-19 rapid lateral flow test if they have symptoms. But if your child has tested positive for COVID-19, they should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day they took the test.

Ear infection – If your child has an ear infection and a high temperature or severe earache, keep them off school until they’re feeling better or their high temperature goes away

Hand, foot and mouth disease – If your child has hand, foot and mouth disease but seems well enough to go to school, there’s no need to keep them off. Encourage your child to throw away any used tissues straight away and to wash their hands regularly

Head lice and nits – There’s no need to keep your child off school if they have head lice. You can treat head lice and nits without seeing a GP

Impetigo – If your child has impetigo, they’ll need treatment from a GP, often with antibiotics. Keep them off school until all the sores have crusted over and healed, or for 48 hours after they start antibiotic treatment. Encourage your child to wash their hands regularly and not to share things like towels and cups with other children at school

Ringworm – If your child has ringworm, see your pharmacist unless it’s on their scalp, in which case you should see a GP. It’s fine for your child to go to school once they have started treatment

Scarlet fever – If your child has scarlet fever, they’ll need treatment with antibiotics from a GP. Otherwise, they’ll be infectious for 2 to 3 weeks. Your child can go back to school 24 hours after starting antibiotics

Slapped cheek syndrome (fifth disease) – You don’t need to keep your child off school if they have slapped cheek syndrome because, once the rash appears, they’re no longer infectious. But let the school or teacher know if you think your child has slapped cheek syndrome

Sore throat – You can still send your child to school if they have a sore throat. But if they also have a high temperature, they should stay at home until it goes away. A sore throat and a high temperature can be symptoms of tonsillitis

Threadworms – You don’t need to keep your child off school if they have threadworms. Speak to your pharmacist, who can recommend a treatment

Vomiting and diarrhoea – Children with diarrhoea or vomiting should stay away from school until they have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days (48 hours).

Here’s a link to our Code of Conduct, which is also on the website in the Parent and Carers Area – Percy Hedley School’. Most schools have these now, so please do have a read – they aren’t used very often

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

Hello all

On Thursday 18th January our external verification will be taking place. We will be presenting evidence to support the development of the parent partnership between school and our families. She will be meeting students, staff, parents and stakeholders to gain their opinion about what has been put into place to build communication and relationships, for example the yearly calendar.

I will let you know the outcome via the blog as soon as we receive our final report from the awarding body.

Please get in touch with me via the email below and I will be happy to respond to any queries, suggestions about the LPPA.

For Tracy and the LPPA team Contact t.smithson@percyhedley.org.uk

Thank you to Tracy and the team, and all parents supporting us! We know that there is always lots to do, but we are interested in working as hard as we can to create the best kind of partnerships we can with you at home

ELTBA STAR OF THE WEEK!

…is…

HARPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She’s an ELTBA star !!!! Harper from Doves 2RC Harper joined us last term she has been amazing and settled in really well. She has made some lovely new friendships with her new peers and is enjoying her lessons, especially outdoor learning. Resilience at its finest WELL DONE Harper – STAR!!!!!!!

…for…

Resilience

ENGAGEMENT STAR!! of the Week!

…is…..

Lysbeth!

…and it’s for…

Resilience!

The Engagement STAR!!! of the week is Lysbeth. She has shown brilliant independence by sitting on a stool independently for all her sessions since coming back after Christmas. She has also demonstrated great engagement in all aspects and has communicated that she likes sitting on the stool better than in her class chair! Well done, Lysbeth – STAR!!!!!

KS4 STARS!!!

A brilliant group this week, especially for the first week back. Well done to all of these students!

Respect and Teamwork

Tom W, Taylor L, Ahmed F, Lewis A, James R for working together well as a group in PE this week! They were patient with each other, worked at the same pace despite differing abilities and communication styles and helped each other and cheered each other on

Respect

Ahmed F for calmly sharing about his religion in class.

Resilience

Sadie H for plodding on and not allowing medical issues get in her way!

Melody R for coping well with changes and building up her lesson time!

Torri G for longest week so far at Percy Hedley!

POST-16 CHRISTMAS STARS!!! ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!

Resilience

Callum S

For accepting help from a member of staff to complete his work even though it is not his favourite subject.   Well done!!

Sid

For having such a wonderful can do attitude.   Fantastic!!!

Resilience and Respect

Danny for working with staff he isn`t used to.  Also for getting the bus to school independently.   Great stuff!!

Respect and Teamwork

Grace for being so thoughtful and kind to peers

Benjamin for giving so many excellent answers in PSHE

Well done!!

Signs this week are:

Vegetable, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, onion, peas, pepper, potato, sweetcorn, tomato

The Makaton website doesn’t have a drawing of the sign for ‘pepper’ so please check out the video for that one.

Keep signing in 2024!