News, STARS, Hays Travel and Special Sandwiches. And a pirate! – from John & the PHS Team! Friday 24th January 2025

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday! And Burns Night tomorrow I do believe! Julie has referenced that in her Makaton piece this week – love it! You can look at our plans for the library, or see what happened when the Hays Travel Team came in. Or there is some nice sport, making special sandwiches, and an update on the UNICEF Award.

There are also some more serious messages around radicalisation and the use of whatsapp groups, and other school business to do with attendance, exams and whatnot

But the best bit is the STARS!!! And they are out in force today, with some great ones from all around the school, as well as Therapy Star of the Week and an Award in PE as well. Or get on over to Eileen or Joel’s blog for more PHS material, or the rest of the school or Foundation blog

Thank you for your very kind messages about the inspection from last week. The school is a partnership and doesn’t work at all without parents, so it is your judgement as much as it is anybody’s. Thanks for your support as we batten down the hatches against this wind – although as I write we’ve just been downgraded from amber to yellow, so fingers crossed for a safe journey home for all. Have a lovely weekend 😊

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!

Developing our Library

And National Storytelling Week!

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Literacy Team is continuing to develop our Library this academic year, to make sure it is not only a welcoming place to be but also that there is a variety of books available to cover our wide range of student need and interests. We’re going to be getting a lot of feedback from students on what is important to them and what they would like to see in our library in the next few months, but this week we’re pleased to be able to share some new ‘Hi-Lo’ books.

‘Hi-Lo’ refers to a ‘higher’ interest age, and a ‘lower’ reading age, meaning that the text may be shorter and simpler, but the content or storylines are aimed at an older student group. We already have a range of ‘Hi-Lo’ books in school, but we wanted to add more variety and add more non-fiction to our collection. You can see a few of the different titles we have added below, so we can hopefully share what our students have thought it in coming weeks!

Finally, a reminder that we’ll be celebrating ‘National Storytelling Week’ from the 3^rd February, so if your child or young person has a favourite story they love to hear or share please encourage them to let their class know!

Happy Reading!

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

Hays Travel Team!!!!!

Last week we had some lovely visitors from The Hays Travel team. They have been ever so helpful and generous in hosting fun-filled charity coach trips, raising and donating a total of £1445 to PHS.

We have decided to put the funds towards exciting new items such as switch toys and accessible model microwaves and washing machines. For some of our students it can be very challenging to access regular toys and utilities independently, so this will be a fantastic contribution to support our students physical needs whilst promoting their independence.

Beth and Stephanie from Hays came into school to meet some of students who will benefit from these new purchases and we can’t wait to update you all when they arrive!

We would like to say a huge thank you to the team at Hays Travel Killingworth for their hard work and generosity in fundraising. We can’t wait for the new items to arrive 🌟

Fabulous stuff there with the Hays Travel Team in school

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! The inspectors really loved all of the PD we do!

PSHE

In PSHE, 4RR have been exploring a variety of emotions including tiredness, sadness, relaxation, disgust, upset, happiness, anxiety and excitement.

We talked about each emotion and matched the vocabulary to corresponding images that depicted them.

Particular praise goes to Leon who found the emotions vocabulary on his V.O.C.A. and drew corresponding faces to match each one.

SMSC

This week in 4OW we have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and impact he had on the civil rights movement in America.

Students discussed why they think equality is so important and highlighted what they think is still unfair today. Learners thought about how they would feel if they were singled out from their friends or other classes.

4OW even took their learning further by exploring the life of Rosa Parks, listening and signing along to the Horrible Histories music video!

6LA have enjoyed researching Martin Luther King and finding out about his life and legacy. They used the internet and a range of books to collect information on his life

Health

We have submitted our application for North Tyneside Healthy Schools Award to recognise our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our community. Watch this space as we begin to raise awareness of how we achieve this, and what we will be working on to make our school even healthier!

Wellbeing

Let’s hear from Andy and the Wellbeing Team about what’s happening this year in their Connect Challenge series! Go Andy!

Since September, our school has been embracing the “Connect Challenge,” a wellbeing initiative encouraging everyone to reach out and connect with themselves, with others, with the community – WITH THE WORLD!

This week’s challenge invited students and staff to step out of their comfort zones and engage with those around them. Whether it was greeting a classmate in the corridor, acknowledging a teacher, or even smiling at someone new in the lunch hall, the goal was to create a sense of community and belonging.

Throughout the week, we’ve witnessed beautiful moments of connection; like in the Engagement assembly, where staff and pupils were literally singing “hi” to each other – that was great to see! Pupils shared stories of how a simple “hi” transformed their day. One mentioned that saying hello to a classmate who usually sits alone sparked a conversation that blossomed into a new friendship and one teacher noted how a warm greeting from a student brightened her day, reminding her of the positive impact she has on her students.

A friendly greeting can make a world of difference. It opens the door to conversations, removes feelings of isolation, and can even build bridges between people from different backgrounds. 

So, to carry the spirit of the “Connect Challenge” forward, next week we are asking everyone to connect with themselves and to “find time for your talents”. This can be tricky due to our busy and hectic lives, but might involve going to a club, using your break to draw a picture, or singing your favourite song in the shower! 

Whatever you do, have fun and keep connecting!

Behaviour for Learning (BfL)

Let’s hear from Aylisha about all the exciting work this team are doping

The BfL team are still working very hard behind the scenes here in school.  Our main focus remains on our Learning Support Assistant training for this term, which is everything behaviour related. This training is in place every week until half-term.

In addition to this, we plan to continue to train our staff in NAPPI (Non-Abusive Psychological and Physical Intervention).  This is to provide all our staff here in school with consistent approaches and strategies. We also then have a common use of language and understanding of behaviour so that we can better identify the needs of our students here in school.

If you have any questions or you wish to know more about behaviour here in school, feel free to contact the Behaviour for Learning Team direct

Cooking Club for Young Inventors! With Darren

Darren has been having fun with some students on National Young Inventors Day! Let’s hear and see what he’s gotten up to! Yum, yes please!!!!!

Last Friday 17^th, it was National Young Inventors Day, so at Cooking Club we decided that the students would create their own sandwiches

Some sandwiches created by the students

• ham and garlic with peppers, onions, and tomato
• avocado, green peppers and cheese
• bacon and cheese with garlic
• pepperoni, tomato and cheese toasties

Early Years – The Ducklings!

There are 6 children in this class that only opened in September! Anyway, it was lovely to see them all again. Let’s hear from Kerry about what they’ve been up to! And then see some of her pictures!

On Monday we celebrated National Penguin Awareness Day. We free-painted our own penguins, we visited the Experia room where we watched an episode of Pingu, lots of lovely giggles from the children. Our tuff tray resembled the Arctic and the children explored the snowy scene

In Outdoor Learning we had great fun climbing the muddy hill and trying not to slip down the other side, just like the penguins sliding on the ice. The children showed great teamwork, one of our school values, helping each other down the hill

We have also enjoyed lots of small world play this week. Turning taking with the cars and garage, building our own train tracks and sorting dinosaurs into size order

In soft play one of the older children came to play – he was fantastic, he made dens for the children, and he played with the children from the photos. I think someone made a new friend

The children enjoyed exploring our wet weather box

In our social communication session, we worked on using different voice outputs. VOCA, GoTalk, our symbol boards and eyegaze

We also managed a little bit of science this week using the droppers to change the colour of the water using paint. Lots of fun once again

Therapy Star of the Week – love therapy Star of the Week, especially when it’s Hayden!

Rachel has been working with Hayden this week and is very impressed! Let’s hear why! It seems that it has something to do with Peppa Pig!

Hayden is my Therapy Star of the Week! He has settled well in to Early Years and has shown good resilience. He is also beginning to explore communication boards – here he is with one for his favourite Peppa Pig book

UNICEF Award update with Rebecca

We got the Bronze level of this, and Rebecca and others are working on the next level. We particularly like it because it puts the voice of the child at its centre. Let’s hear what’s been happening

Following on from last week where we looked at Article number one from the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child, we are this week moving to looking at Article 2

Article two states that all children, under the age of 18, have these rights

The convention states that for Article 2

1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members.

In school this week we have met with our student council, who are working with the steering group to design the notice board which will help our pupils to learn about their rights.  WE hope to have a picture for you next week

Sports News of the Week with Nathan!

Let’s hear what’s bene going on in PE and other sport this week, and see what Nathan has sent us in the way of Sporting Stars!

In PE this term for lower/upper school and post-16, the focus has been skills around racket sports with the focus on badminton and a new sport that has just been introduced into Percy Hedley School called Street Racket, which is a fun racket sport game that can be played anywhere and ideal for an outdoor activity

Also…

One of the standout students in PE is Ellis who achieve one of the PE award certificates. Well done, Ellis!

…..from John & the Team here at PHS

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Our Key Drivers

Communication, Wellbeing, Independence