News, STARS, Welcome Back & Good Luck in the GNR – from John & the PHS Team Friday 5th September 2025

Hi everyone

How are you and how was your summer? Good I hope, and I hope you had the time that you wanted and needed

It’s great to see the children again, to be back, and to be back into the swing of things. It can always be a bit odd right at the start of term, but there’s been so much energy and positivity around the new classes, groups, staff and students that it’s been a joy to be here

The school looks nice and there has been lots of new work, including phase 1 of a new sensory room, new LED lighting in sports hall corridors, the Hydro pool being fully re-tiled, 4 new ceiling track hoists fitted in classrooms, 7 new air con units fitted in rooms, some corridors painted at main entrance, new equipment in the boiler room and various areas touched up with paint, and light fittings changed

There have been GREAT exam results, and although we’re only concerned with the right students doing the right awards for them, and we aren’t obsessed with that sort of thing at all, it’s still lovely to see them achieve so well

Our leavers have all gone on to their first choice destinations, so we’re delighted about that for them too

We’ve got great times ahead, and I’ll keep you up to date with how things are progressing

Please do keep in touch in all the ways that you can – and, as ever, thanks for your support

All the very best to you and yours for the whole school year

John S

😊 from John & the PHS Team 😊

How it works

• 3 Super-Steering Groups deliver our Key Drivers through our curriculum
• The Key Drivers are Communication, Wellbeing and Independence
• The Groups are Literacy, Physical Development & Personal Development

• Literacy

Becky, our Literacy Specialist Lead, leads a team that improve all aspects of literacy, including writing, oracy, reading, phonics, books & the library!

Let’s See What Sort of a Start Becky Has Had!

So lovely to see students back this week and so many boxes to unpack for the literacy team after various summer holiday deliveries! We’re getting ready for the next wave of additions to the library, so looking forward to sharing more about that in weeks to come. Yes, still plenty more library chat to be had in the new academic year I’m afraid!

When we asked students what they wanted in the library and what they liked to read, many of our students in the Appropriate Accreditation Pathway reported enjoying newspapers. We wanted something that was guaranteed to be suitable for our students, so we chose a subscription to a newspaper called ‘First News’. It’s a printed newspaper which also has a news website updated daily, written specifically for 7–14-year-olds.

Newspapers articles can be short, snappy and have large images. You can flick through and find something that interests you or read a little bit and then move on. You can see why that would appeal to some students rather than a chapter book which they need to come back to again – and whatever gets people reading is fine with us!

We’re looking forward to seeing how First News is used across school, and this will be starting next week so if this sounds like something your child or young person might be interested in tell them to ask their class teams! There are all sorts of games, quizzes and competitions on the website too, which we’re looking forward to exploring further. We’ll update as to how we all get on!

Happy Reading! From Becky! 😊

• Physical Development

Everything that is in the world of Physical Development, including physio, hydro, MOVE, PE, HI, VI, OT and other key areas for us, including Outdoor Learning, the John Muir Award & many other aspects. Steph oversees this!

This is from Richard:

in Pe we have achieved the Platinum School Games Mark Award – the highest award

This is really great news, because sports, movement & games are a really important part of the school and our young people’s development. Well done to all!

• 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 & similar areas. Jo pulls it all together.

Wellbeing

Our Wellbeing Team & their work is very important. Let’s hear at the top of the year from Andy

Just a quick message to say welcome to a new school year, everyone! It’s great to see familiar faces and some new students joining our school too. We understand that returning to school can bring a mix of excitement and nerves, and that’s perfectly normal. Our school wellbeing team is here to support you through any challenges you may face, whether big or small so remember, it’s ok to ask for help. 

To find out more about the wellbeing team, who we are and what we can support students with, please follow the link below:

PE with Nathan!

Nathan has started the term off at a great pace already! What a terrific start! Cheers Nathan!

This week in PE a lifestyle Health & Fitness class has started with certain students in Post 16 and I have been amazed with the enthusiasm and knowledge students have about foods to eat and knowledge of the importance of general movement and being active

Owen was talking about the important of staying fit to help with mentality and performance in football

Looking forward to seeing how student will continue to gain knowledge and put into practice over the coming weeks.

Class of the Week – Chris’ Class – what stars they are!!!

Let’s hear from Chris about his wonderful new class

What a wonderful start we’ve had to the new school year!

This week we’ve been busy exploring our brand-new classroom, settling into routines, and making some fantastic new friends. The children enjoyed playing lots of fun games together, which helped us get to know each other and feel part of our classroom community

We shared stories about our summer holidays! It was lovely hearing what everyone had been up to and what we are most looking forward to this year. We enjoyed outdoor learning and a visit to our new school library learning outdoors. We also began our new topic, Our Home, Our World 

It’s been a brilliant first week, and we’re excited for all the fun, learning, and adventures ahead!

Archie & Harper in Chris’ Class!

Behaviour for Learning (BfL)

Aylisha and Corin have developed the BfL Team and are working on supporting our pupils all the time on the best way to be in all situations. They’ve been joined by Nicola and Nat, Sarah and Andrea

It’s good to see all of the students back after the summer break. This half term the BfL Team will be prioritising staff training. Next week our NAPPI trainers in school will be completing additional training with NAPPIUK

Nat and Nicola are our new NAPPI trainers in school, for now they will be learning all the systems used for BfL in addition to organising and delivering NAPPI training for our staff

Andrea and Sarah will be supporting the BfL Team by coaching our staff and assisting to support students across the whole of the school

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact the BfL Team

• holland@percyhedley.org.uk
• orr@percyhedley.org.uk

Early Years – The Ducklings!

Welcome back to Early Years!

We have had a fun first week settling back in Ducklings. We would also like to welcome our new teacher Kate who has settle in really well

We have had fun exploring the pasta, putting hair on the faces in the tuff tray. Rowan made a fantastic monster from the playdough, Aimee was great at teamwork. George took us on an adventure on the train and Hayden enjoyed some great filling and emptying in the water area. Aimee has shown us some lovely number work this week, writing and saying the numbers.

We have made marks with the pens and the cars. We have also spent a lot of time outside in the nice weather, bouncing on the space hoppers and playing with the cars. We have our daily visit to the soft play and trampoline

A fun week had by all – welcome back, Ducklings!

UNICEF Award update with Rebecca

It was awesome to gain the Silver level of this award!

Amazing stuff from everyone. This is an important piece of recognition that fits in well with our values. Well done everyone!

Exams were great!

We have had another fantastic set of results including GCSE Maths results, BTEC First Information and Creative Technology at Level 1 & 2, Level 1 & 2 Functional Skills, and Entry Level exams.  All pupils who had conditional offers got their first choice of college and we will continue to work with this years leavers to ensure the same

Thanks to all of the staff involved, its a really stressful time and staff go out of their way to ensure our pupils are comfortable and assured of their abilities throughout

We had some exceptional feedback about our internal marking, thank you to everyone involved in this

Areas where marking standard was not applied correctly

‘None, the marking was exemplary.’

We have a new suite of BTECs for science and PE this year so we look forwards to our first set of results for those.

Well done to everyone who has sat any kinds of exams of any kind! It’s great that some people do, according to their own plans, and that we’re able to help our students with a variety of different awards & accreditations. Well done all!

Preparation for Adulthood with Hannah

PfA is a key part of the School Improvement Plan. Let’s hear below what Hannah & the PfA Team have been working on

(Taken from Darlington!)

Preparation for Adulthood in Focus

Welcome back! This term is a particularly busy one – lots of our students’ Annual Reviews will take place, with many of these being transitions. This is a good time for you, your child/young person, and the team around them to start thinking about how best to prepare for the future, and which next steps they can take to enable them to do so with the greatest success. Preparation for Adulthood is an essential aspect of the school journey, from Early Years to Post 16, and one we will be focusing on in the coming year. We will be supporting you with information, toolkits, guides, regular check-ins and more, to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to getting the best outcomes for your child

You will be aware that we are changing the way we report to you: our new ETCH plans clearly show your child’s learning journey and alongside end of year reports, parental consultations and day-to-day check-ins, we hope to give you the very best information about their progress to support your child’s goals and aspirations. We are also currently developing a range of materials to support you in preparing for annual reviews – more information to follow in the next few weeks. You can also check out the new area on the school website under Parent Resources, which has lots of information to help you understand ways in which you can prepare and plan for the future. Additionally, we will be growing our parent/carer forum offer over the next few months, and are looking forward to meeting with you to discuss aspects of Preparation for Adulthood in more detail, with a bespoke approach

If you would like to speak to someone about something PfA-related, please feel free to contact

• Hannah Fuller – PfA Lead
• Eileen Robinson – Family Liaison Officer
• Louise Finlay – Careers Lead

We look forward to meeting and planning with you over the coming year

And finally…

Eileen is all over this but there are lots of people doing the mini, junior and Great North Run over the weekend. Fab stuff from all of them!

…..from John & the Team here at PHS

*******

Our Key Drivers

Communication, Wellbeing, Independence

STOP PRESS

We’ve just heard that The Duchess of Kent (Princess Marina) who officially opened the original Percy Hedley School in 1954, with the ceremony happening exactly one year after the school first began operating, has died. We send our condolences!