News, Stars & “Happy Easter” from John & the PHS Team! (and a bit of important safeguarding there too)
Welcome to Percy Hedley School's Whole School Blog!
Hi everyone
Happy Easter!
A shorter blog this week as I have to get it off early on Thursday, as tomorrow is Good Friday! Have a great time with whatever you’re doing over the next few weeks, and when we see you again it’ll be the summer term, with all of the nice things that that brings with it It’s been a short, good, busy term!!!!!
There is a vacancy for Parent Governor, as per the information we’ve put out, and we’ll feed back on that after Easter. Please do look at Eileen’s Family Liaison blog, and Maria’s Online Safety blog too, and then if you’re still needing more Percy Hedely, the rest of our website and the whole Foundation’s
There’s some very good safeguarding stuff this week, as well as some very nice topics and short articles
Thanks for your support this term. I’m so glad that so many of you have come to the Consultation sessions, and the assemblies, fayres and other events. Thanks for coming. See you soon. All the best
J
😊 from John & the PHS Team 😊
Easter Bonnets!
Hannah’s class chose which colour Easter bonnets they wanted whilst at the shops on their community visit
They all had so much fun decorating them, communicating which decorations they wanted to add and practicing their fine motor skills!
Subject of the Week – Geog Blog!
Great stuff here from Chris, not only because Geography is a great subject, but because of the rhyming title! It’s brilliant to see another subject being given a high profile for our pupils and being led well
Promoting Local Knowledge through the Smiley World Trail in North Tyneside
Are you ready for an exciting adventure filled with smiles? We are delighted with some of our pupils’ interest in the Smiley World Trail taking place in North Tyneside, at this moment in time. As part of our commitment to fostering our students’ knowledge of the local area, we encourage all pupils to embark on this fun-filled quest to find as many Smiley faces as they can.
The Smiley World Trail provides a fantastic opportunity for our students to explore North Tyneside and its surroundings. By participating in this initiative, they will not only enjoy an engaging activity but also enhance their geographical understanding. Encourage your children to be curious, observant, and adventurous as they search for these delightful and iconic symbols of joy.
To make this activity even more memorable, we kindly request that you capture photos of the Smiley Faces and the areas where they are found. These visual records will serve as valuable evidence of our students’ exploration and can be shared with their fellow classmates and teachers. Any photos can be emailed to c.taylor@percyhedley.org.uk
Let’s make this Easter weekend an unforgettable experience by immersing our pupils in the wonders of their local environment. Encourage them to discover, investigate, and appreciate the beauty that North Tyneside has to offer. Details of the trail can be found below.
The trail ends on April 2nd, so this is our last chance to capture these smiles. Happy hunting!
Regards
Chris Taylor, Geography Lead
Literacy
The Literacy Team thought that an Easter/Spring-themed book recommendation list might be nice and a bit different for the blog this week
There are some lovely options on this link if you’re looking for a new easter themed book to share, they are recommended by age up from board books up to chapter books for confident readers so may well be worth a look!
Personal Development
Wellbeing
Here are some lovely updates from 6Che about their wellbeing!
Nieve loves to get out of her wheelchair as part of her daily physical health routine. Sitting on a stool and holding herself up straight makes Nieve happy.
George loved helping to paint our plant pots ready for the Easter Enterprise Fayre.
In 4JH, we have been discussing ideas for a small display board within the classroom and have decided to focus on wellbeing and explore neurodiversity. Students have thought about what works well for them and have expressed that it should have examples of tools that could help them regulate again. This is going to be developed over the next term.
PSHE
PSHE ‘The World I Live In’
3HB have been thinking about jobs they can carry out as part of belonging to a class group and a whole school community.
They embraced their library tidying job by sorting and putting away a very large pile of returned books.
Now that is done, they hope to sort the picture book box.
Careers / Enterprise Easter Fair
4KR and their KS4 peers all took part in the Easter Fair this week to celebrate the upcoming Easter Holidays but also to develop their life career skills. They planned and produced their products, set up their stalls, communicated with customers and practised their money skills. Using their aiming high, creativity, and teamwork skills, KS4 completed another successful fair.
Well done everyone!
Physical Development
MOVE at the Allotment!
Not only does MOVE occur within school, we also encourage this within community settings! Below is a lovely poster that our OT department have devised, to showcase how MOVE principles can be applied in the allotment! Our pupils love exploring and experiencing the outdoors, whilst also developing their physical skills! Take a look at the physical skills they’re developing….
EGGcited to MOVE!
Careers News!
On Thursday a few of our young people got the lovely opportunity to visit the Greggs factory on Baliol Business Park. During the visit, the young people learnt what kind of tasks the factory workers at Greggs were required to do daily. We started the tour upstairs where we discovered the different working roles available within the factory and looked at the working target board. The students changed into Protective PPE before receiving a tour of the working factory floor. Here are somethings they said!
Callum S “There was a lot of people making sausage rolls” and “I would like to work delivering for Greggs.”
Aidan “There are a lot of job roles in Greggs” and “Greggs is far better than KFC. The tour was very good.”
Francis “I liked seeing the rolls get made and “I liked watching the robots that was involved in making the treats.”
Logan “I liked the tour.”,” I learnt about profit and working job lines.”
Josh “I like that Gregg workers get treated well and they don’t have a gender pay gap” and “I enjoyed the experiencing the hygiene standards and finding out what they must wear. I liked putting on the PPE.”
Artist of the Week (for last week but it’s still good!)
Jayden in 4JH!
Resilience Day
Claire recorded a Talent Show as part of the last Resilience Day! Here’s Claire now
On the resilience day the students shared their talents as part the core self strand of the resilience framework.
The talent show is on a video!
Students can also take home their list of things they could do in the holidays to make them smile-which they also created on the resilience day
Safeguarding Updates – this week, issues that can arise in the holidays
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
As we approach the spring holidays, we want to make our parents and carers to be aware of the potential safeguarding risks. Long-standing issues may be heightened over the holidays, as well as the potential for new safeguarding issues to occur.
Children may also be exposed to:
- Domestic abuse
- Lack of basic care
- Eviction
- Parents or carers with mental health or addiction
- Criminal exploitation
- Online scams
- A generally stressful home environment
We understand that there can be a range of pressures on our parents and carers therefore, it is important to be aware of the support available. Some of our students may struggle with changes to their daily routine. Families facing cost-of-living pressures may struggle to afford activities or childcare so children may spend more time at home alone or without any supervision over the holidays.
Agencies that can provide additional support and guidance are as follows:
- Local food banks
- Mental health support
- Local drug and alcohol services
- NSPCC
- Children’s Services
- Police (in the case of an emergency)
As always, if you need any help, support or advice please get in touch, you can use our anonymous questions sheet on the website within the safeguarding section if you would prefer to do this. Look out for our safeguarding letter that will be sent via parent mail
As always please get in touch if you have any questions about this or anything else, or queries through email or our website anonymous link
From Aylisha aylisha.holland@percyhedley.org.uk and the DSL Team
Online Safety
This is based on topics that we know that you ask about or are concerned with.
Blog this week is about the alert from Northumbria Police on Self Harm WhatsApp group that is doing the rounds in North Tyneside
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. We will be moving to the full price for lunches from w/c 15th April when we get back from Easter – that’s £2.50 for two courses. Also the school meals page is now up and running with various bits of info….
Updated Code of Conduct
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
Friends of PHS – the FoPHS!
So excited by all the things that the FoPHSare talking about and planning. A huge thanks to all of them for their time, commitment and support, with projects, ideas and all sorts. They’re also talking about the Outdoor Learning area – my favourite part of the school! It could be called the FoPHS Outdoor Learning Zone or anything! Great to have you guys on board, thanks again
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)
Please get in touch with me via the email below and I will be happy to respond to any queries, suggestions about the LPPA and other issues for parents
From Tracy and the LPPA team Contact t.smithson@percyhedley.org.uk
Stars of the Week!
That reflect our School Values!
ELTBA STAR OF THE WEEK!
Ethan in 2KH/ The Magpies. Ethan has shown fantastic teamwork by helping his friends when we have been acting out the play ‘Turtle Tug’ by Julia Donaldson. He was also a very supportive audience member, cheering on his friends when they were performing. Great job Ethan! True teamwork and respect
POST-16 STARS!!!
Two great people on this list this week, George and Grace
Resilience
George for trying so hard with his work. Also for singing and dancing and making everyone happy. Well done George! STAR!!!
Grace for having such a wonderful positive work experience at Northumberland Zoo. She has grown so much in confidence and independently communicated with a family who were looking for the snow leopards. Great work Grace! STAR!!!
Makaton Signs of the Week
Here’s Julie! And it’s Easter!!!!!!!!!
Wishing everyone a very happy Easter break
And here are the signs
Here are the Singing Hands with some Easter Makaton treats:
Happy Easter Everyone!
…..from John & the Team here at PHS