News, Stars & Witches from John & the PHS Team! – 27th October 2023

Literacy!

With The Literacy Squad! All Things Literacy! Let’s hear from them!

A lot has been happening on the Literacy front this half-term and as we come to a well-deserved break, it is nice to have a look back on how the year has begun, and also to have a brief glimpse of what is to come.

In recognition of ‘Black History Month’, there have been some wonderful texts highlighted in the school library that students and staff can choose to access to help them better understand the lives, histories and experiences of others.

Also a couple of weeks ago some of our PSHE groups put their wonderful literacy skills to work by writing out some brilliant inspirational and motivational messages and dotting them around school. Even a few weeks on, the messages are still cropping up and providing those who read them with a moment of unconditional positivity from an anonymous messenger. (I personally smiled at reading a message that simply said “You’re doing great”)

Next month will see Non-Fiction November, and preparations are underway to help provide our students with the opportunity to keep on learning about the world around them and any topics that pique their interests.

Enjoy your break

The Literacy Squad

There have been some recent issues in the local area with youths having been involved with dangerous use of fireworks (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-67225136).   

Please see the video for the British Firework Association’s advice for safe handling of fireworks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2moq7blxXw4). The RSPCA have also created a video advising about pets and fireworks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3krrbz_Dr8 .    

I have provided resources to teachers suitable for all ages and developmental stages if they think what we call a responsive curriculum is required in the lead up to bonfire night. If you feel like you would like some more resources for home, please email me on j.ferguson@percyhedley.org.uk and I’d be happy to provide you with some.

Also, PSHE is part of Personal Development

Post-16 have been learning how to react should they ever be a bystander to discriminatory behaviour through role play. Here is Robyn, who takes her acting extremely seriously, pretending to say unkind things to me. Students had to use the micro-script provided to decide how to help the victim.

It was lovely chatting with parents at the ELTBA coffee afternoon about PSHE. I will provide information on the blog first week back to update you on the topic for the lead up to Christmas. In the meantime, feel free to email me at j.ferguson@pecryhedley.org.uk if you would like to discuss your child’s PSHE education

Excellent stuff from Jo and the PD Team there – thanks to all, especially Robyn!

Plus it’s still Black History Month, so don’t forget this!

Black History Month 2023 – Celebrating Our Sisters

It gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture. People from African and Caribbean backgrounds have been a fundamental part of British history for centuries. However, campaigners believe their contribution to society has often been overlooked or distorted. Greater attention has been paid to the importance of the Windrush generation and the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years, especially since the 2020 death of unarmed African American man George Floyd

The first Black History Month in the UK took place in 1987, the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean. It was arranged by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who came to the UK from Ghana as a refugee in 1984. Like Woodson before him, he wanted to challenge racism and celebrate the history of black people. October was chosen partly because it’s traditionally a time when African leaders gather to talk about important issues, and partly because it was at the start of the school year

The theme of Celebrating our Sisters emphasises the vital role black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change, and building communities. This year’s commemoration will feature trailblazing black women who have made incredible contributions to literature, music, fashion, sport, business, politics, academia, social and health care, and more. Through the Black History Month Magazine and our online platforms, we will amplify their voices, stories, and achievements, inspiring future generations to carry on their legacy

Additionally, we will explore themes such as resilience, self-care, and wellbeing, underscoring the strength and determination of black women throughout history. It is time to celebrate their accomplishments and encourage future generations to take care of themselves and their communities

Black History Month will also include a national poetry competition and an education pack, offering students the chance to learn about and appreciate the contributions of black women across history. The contest invites young people to express themselves creatively whilst discovering the diverse experiences, challenges, and victories of black women

PE – Gymnastics

As we’ve previously mentioned, one of our Physical Development goals is to ensure we promote a healthy and active lifestyle through a physically rich curriculum. Well, we can’t wait to share with you what we have been doing in PE this half term in support of this… GYMNASTICS!

We all know that participation in gymnastics has some great physical benefits. It helps us to maintain a good posture and to understand how we move our body, but also to improve our coordination, balance, flexibility and strength. Students within ELTBA and Accreditation pathways have had lots of fun practicing these skills. They can then of course generalise these skills across other aspects of life such as being able to maintain a good sitting posture to improve access to the curriculum, and being able to maintain balance and control when out walking on uneven terrain or within busy environments.

Students have learnt new skills and sequenced these together to make routines, they have tried new rolling techniques such as ‘pencil’, ‘egg’ and forward rolls, they have practiced their balancing skills along benches and beams and practiced varied jumping techniques and safe landings… and this is all in addition to learning about the health benefits of participating in exercise!

Take a look at some of the ELTBA gang…. Move over Max Whitlock, we have some new Olympians in town!

4AH explored pumpkins during their sensory cooking lesson. All students showed exploration, anticipation, persistence, initiation and realisation (the 5 areas of the engagement model) during this activity

David liked pulling the seeds out one by one, Benjamin enjoyed pulling the pulp out with his hand, Gracey like choosing an emotion for her pumpkin and Amelia liked teasing staff with the pulp of the pumpkin! As you can see from the pictures, we all had a great time!

Rebecca is the DSL and has a great team working with her. They give us weekly updates, which are very helpful as they cover a range of topics, and you can see how many there are from that word logo thing just below here, for us all to get up-to-date on. This is from Rebecca

As promised last week the online safety group have been busy making some forms to help us to understand how best we can support families through training and advice.  Please use the below link to let us know of any training needs you may have or any information you may need around this issue.  This will also come out in a text to parents and is available on the website.  If you require a paper copy please let us know

https://forms.office.com/e/g4aYCnV3rH

We have also added a section to both the online safety page and the safeguarding page on our website for you to ask us any questions in confidence about online safety or safeguarding.  This form can have contact details added to it if you would like a personal response, if not these questions will be answered within a frequently asked questions section on the website and the blog

Online safety questions link: https://forms.office.com/e/HyR50tTy35

Safeguarding question link: https://forms.office.com/e/QTWAtZJhFE

Within all of our forms we are thinking about access for our parents, so please use the drop down menu at the top to change the language of the form, or use the text to speech option for accessibility.  If we have missed any languages you feel would be useful please let us know

Away from this the team have been busy this week with Nappi training, which is a positive support program for pupils who are in distress, The overall aim of NAPPI training is changing lives, through the use of Positive Behaviour Support to improve the quality of the person’s life and quality of life for those around them.  Our safeguarding officer Aylisha will be completing the train the trainer course for this after half term to expand out training team in school

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

The Online Safety blog this week is on PEGi ratings, gaming and appropriate content. Maria thought it was a handy one to introduce for the holidays – great idea. Here’s the link:

You may remember in the summer term that we wrote to you explaining we are in the unfortunate position where due to increasing costs, we plan to begin charging for standard school meals.  There has been a slight delay with this and it will now be rolled out in the New Year. As promised we will still introduce the charges gradually, so hopefully reducing the financial impact upon you.  We will be sure to provide you with more details as soon as they’re available and we’ll of course contact parents of our children and young people who require an IDDSI meal prepared at levels 1 – 5 separately

If you think you’re eligible for Free School Meals and haven’t yet applied for this then please contact Eileen Robinson e.robinson@percyhedley.org.uk our Family Liaison Officer who can send you the form and support you with the process

After half term we have our new Winter Menu, if you’d like to take a look at this it’s on our website here: Parent and Carers Area – Percy Hedley School  The catering team are also planning for the next themed day which will be on St Andrews Day, we’re already looking forward to it!

Mark our new Attendance Officer has been very active so far, and some of you may have been in contact with Mark. In fact, some letters have gone out this week about attendance

Attendance was the only thing that arose from the inspection as an Action For Improvement. This is what was in the report

Too many pupils are frequently absent. This limits their learning and has an impact on their academic progress. The school should strengthen its attendance systems and attendance strategy to promote regular pupil attendance. The school should provide challenge and support for parents to help them to overcome any barriers that may prevent their child from attending school regularly

So it’s good that we have Mark now, and that we are working with Local Authorities and, most importantly, you about this. It’s one pf those issues I think that is all about partnership, because working together is the only way to have success. As I say, it really is an issue right across the country! Thanks for your support with this piece of work

Here’s a link. I hope you have time to have a read. In my experience these things don’t come into play very often but it’s important that they are there, and most schools have them

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

Your opinion is such an important part of the process we have been following and therefore any contribution is welcome.  This should only take ten minutes to complete.  We have created a hard copy and an electronic format, which will be sent out today

Please complete and return the questionnaire to school by Friday 10^th November 2023

Just to remind your that the date for our final verification visit is Tuesday 12^th December 2023

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact the team on the email below, we welcome your thoughts and ideas

Thank you in advance for your contributions

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

The final blog of this half and a big well done to all the children on the ELTBA Pathway. It has been such a busy but fun half term with lots of learning and fantastic activities. From climbing, swimming, MOVE to Spook, charity events, parties and parent visits along with visits from some special people, including ice creams for all. The children who changed classes this year have all settled in well with their new peers and staff. We have had some new starters who have settled into Percy Hedley as if they have always been here. We have all shown Teamwork, Respect, and Resilience in one way or another so once again well done. Now time to enjoy a lovely break and come back refreshed for the final term of the year. ELTBA ALLSTARS!!! Well done all

Amelie!

Resilience

Amelie has spent lots of time this week independently moving her way around the classroom. Amelie has demonstrated resilience through continuing to move until she reaches her motivating object! Well done Amelie! STAR!!!

Respect

Charlie for helping someone who had a fall

Jack and Joseph for being caring towards someone who was upset

Tom and Ahmed for donating money to the cat and dog shelter

Tom for showing respect towards Mr Runnacles’ classroom

Aaron for being kind and caring in lots of areas

Wii club for showing respect to each others’ needs

Resilience

Shaye for working hard with his walking

Phillip for weight-bearing in a standing frame for the first time in a long time

Teamwork

Daniel for directing therapists to make something

Bobbie for helping and getting involved with everyone

And…in addition….a special one…

Charlie!!! STAR!!!

Upper school have introduced TREDS to the playground

During breaktimes they are looking at Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship when playing sport such as football or rounders.  The students have embraced this new culture and our first Top Treds is Charlie!  He has shown all our core values this week: Resilience -coping with the new changes, Respect – listening to the referees decisions (even when they didn’t go in his favour), Teamwork -nominating a peer for player of the match when he saw she was upset at the end of a game.  Well done Charlie! TOP TREDS STAR!!!

This is great stuff, well done everyone

STAR QUALITY ALL ROUND!!!!!!!!!

All 3! Resilience, Respect and Teamwork!

Benjamin for joining in everything with such enthusiasm.    Well done for being an inspiration to us all. A TRIPLE STAR!!!!!!!!!

Respect

Callum for following the new football rules. Fantastic STAR!!!

Resilience! STAR!!!

Milly for coping with difficult situations and always having a smile on her face.   What a STAR!!!

The link to the calendar is here. 

We very much want to be giving you as much advance notice as possible of all the things that are happening

Thank you for making the ELTBA Coffee & Catch-up…..this is what happened at it!

ELTBA Coffee & Catch-Up afternoon

It was lovely to see many of you at our first coffee and catch-up afternoon of this academic year.  We had the opportunity to share more information about the ELTBA pathway and curriculum and many of you met and chatted with Jo, the Personal Development lead at school, as well as having time to meet other parents. Thank you for completing the short feedback forms, these will support us to plan further events

Look out for our next coffee and catch-up afternoon in Autumn 2 half term

Thanks for coming!