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Hi everyone

I put this in last week, but just so everyone sees it, here鈥檚 a message from Rebecca about the Easter Fair

Our Upper School and Post 16 department would like their parents/carers to join us for our Upper School Easter Fair on the 10^th April at 2pm.听Pupils have been working towards this as part of their Employability and Enterprise groups within school and would like you to see what they have been working on.听There will be an opportunity to buy some crafts and refreshments and join us in our raffle

The proceeds of this are being used to support our end of term Prom which all pupils in Upper School are invited to. The invite for the Prom will be with you shortly

Please support us with knowing how many people will be attending the fair by completing the slip below and sending this back to us for the attention of Eileen Robinson

We听look forward to seeing you on the day

John S

馃槉 from John & the PHS Team 馃槉

Literacy

Becky, our Literacy Specialist Lead, leads a team that improve all aspects of literacy, including this year a lot of handwriting and oracy (it鈥檚 OK, she鈥檒l be going into explain all of that) as well as reading, phonics, books and all sorts!

EASTER!

The spring-like weather we’ve had this week has certainly had a lot of us thinking of the Easter Holidays and there’s been a lot of excited chatter of chocolate, eggs and time to relax. For the blog this week we wanted to share some Easter/ Spring themed book recommendations, whether you’re after a physical book as a present perhaps, or to access some lovely, themed stories online whenever you want. Have a look at the links below for inspiration.

For students who prefer to listen to stories or for those who may not be on the look out for new books, Words for Life have added two lovely Easter themed audio stories for free, find them below,听and don’t forget that Pickatale has a range of books with audio story features, and all students can access Pickatale at home or in school (via web browser or app). Please speak to your class team if you need a reminder of the log in!

Happy Reading/ Listening!听

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

听

EGGcited to MOVE!听

It鈥檚 that time of year again when we all get EGGcited to MOVE!! We鈥檝e had our annual Easter MOVE day this week and all the children enjoyed exploring the activities we had on offer! We love our MOVE days and are so grateful we get the opportunity to enhance our children鈥檚 physical skills through such a fun and engaging day! Here are a few photos to give you a little snippet into the fun that was had, but we鈥檒l report back next week with some more EGGcellent phots and reviews just in time for the Easter break!

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鈥檚 see what Jo and the team have in store for us this week! The inspectors really loved all of the PD we do!

Being Heard

In the Engagement Department, we work very hard on using our voices to make our opinions known and understood

We really want our young people to feel confident to speak up to let people know their preferences, to give consent and build their social skills

As our students get older, we practise these skills using a variety of communication methods, not just in our classroom or around school, but in the wider community too

In order to build confidence and resilience, we have been visiting new and unfamiliar places to engage in different kinds of activities than we can do at school.听For instance, we have been to museums, art galleries, activity centres and Newcastle city centre and Quayside

Some of our students have used their VOCAS or symbol books to communicate choices when out and about or used their vocalisations and facial expressions to show their preferences about what to do or where to go.听One of our students has even used the arrow keys on his device to help us navigate!

Students are also encouraged to interact appropriately with unfamiliar people with increasing confidence, for example, shop workers, or servers in the caf茅. Parents report that they have noticed progress in terms of how their young person accesses the community and this is so important in supporting them into adulthood

We are proud of how hard our post-16 students have worked on this all year, and how much progress they have made.听 We鈥檙e excited to see how their skills develop!

Wellbeing

Here are Andy and the Wellbeing Team about what鈥檚 happening this year in their brilliant Connect Challenge series! Go Andy!

Connect Challenge

This week, our wellbeing 鈥淐onnect Challenge鈥� took on the theme,听“Connect with Friends”!

Students have been sharing their experiences and interactions, highlighting the benefits of spending quality time together and it’s been great to hear about the ways they’ve been connecting both in and out of school.

Some have enjoyed playing 鈥楶op-up Pirates鈥� during morning break, while others in post-16 gathered for lunch this week, enjoying meals in the sunshine and deepening their friendships outdoors. Some pupils took their connections online, as KS4 pupils played games after school and chatted about their school day! The fun didn鈥檛 stop there though – our talented students are showcasing their skills at the school Talent Show on Friday, with friends rallying to support and encourage one another during our latest fun-filled resilience day activity!

These moments of connection remind us of the importance of friendship in our lives. Connecting with friends not only brings joy but also significantly enhances our overall wellbeing, providing support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging. Let鈥檚 keep connecting and continue to develop and cherish these important bonds!

Gotta get yourself connected鈥�..

Therapy Star of the Week 鈥� love Therapy Star of the Week, especially when it鈥檚 a Transdisciplinary Group with Lori!

Sounds like there has been more really good work as part of these TS sessions. Let鈥檚 hear from Lori how it all was

Trans-disciplinary Group 鈥淩oad Crossing鈥�听

This group comprises four students who need some help with understanding traffic hazards and risk factors to ensure they can stop at a kerb and cross the road safely. The trans-disciplinary approach used aimed to support their safety awareness

We used a combination of learning approaches, delivered by an Occupational Therapist. This included theory-based work alongside weekly opportunities to practise road-crossing skills in the community. In the initial weeks, we focused on the importance of stopping behind a kerb and completing left and right checks to ensure the road was clear in both directions. When they gained some confidence and skill, we began planning walking routes that focused on all or one named crossing. For example, the zebra crossing, pelican crossing, island crossing, puffin crossing, toucan crossing and a footbridge crossing

To support the students鈥� concentration when completing road crossing walks, we used a checklist consisting of road crossing signs and other observational objects within their environment. This helped the students to remain attentive to busy roads and their surroundings. For example, cycle lanes

All four students have made progress with their road crossing skills. One student said 鈥淚 am getting really good at this now鈥� when he took responsibility for being the 鈥渓eader鈥� on one of the walks. All four students are now able to remain behind the kerb at crossings and clarify with an adult when it is safe to cross.

Sports News with Nathan!

Some really lovely news from Nathan this week

This week in PE we give a special mention to students in upper school KS4 who participated and passed the 鈥淧laymakers Award鈥�, the PE team plus a special mention to Claire who helped encourage each student to do the best they can in each session.

The great factor was each student showed a lot of resilience, respect and had fun but most importantly, they worked as a team

Well done鈥�

• Robyn K-T
• Josh L-B
• Noah R
• Braden S
• Evan P
• Lucas A
• Taylor L
• Nikhit K

Club of the Week 鈥� Spa Club!

On Monday 31st March the Engagement department started a weekly Spa Club, it was very successful with the students engaging in having a manicure, hand massage, facial spray, foot spa and having their hair done.

The most popular one was students having their nails painted.

This club will be run every week by Susan Smith

Behaviour for Learning (BfL)

Aylisha and Corin have developed the BfL Group and are developing it all the time

If anyone has any queries or would like more information about this, please feel free to get in touch with the BFL team

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

Lesson of the Week 鈥� Persuasive Writing with Sophie, Hazel and Lena鈥檚 Class!

It was very nice to be invited in to hear some persuasive writing and speaking from this great class. Sophie is telling us about it!

In 6LWC we have been working on our persuasive writing and we invited John along to see if they could use their persuasive language skills to try and get John to agree our ideas.

Dominic idea 鈥淚 would like school to start later because students can sleep in鈥�

Ella-Rose 鈥淚 would like school to open earlier and have a breakfast club so we can have bacon sandwiches鈥�

Owen 鈥淚 think we should have a whole school break where we are all mixed together鈥�

Following the discussions we then began to talk about a house system where the whole school would be divided up into different houses where the classes would collect points. We are excited to hear whether we were able to persuade John

Another Lesson of the Week! Year 9 Ice Cream! I mean, Science!

Now then, what does Kat have for us here?

Group 9 Science class made their own ice cream last week and this week created some colourful and messy lava lamps in science where they learned about the density of different liquids and how gas interacts with these liquids. Great work Group 9!

Early Years 鈥� The Ducklings!

Let鈥檚 get the latest update from what鈥檚 been happening down in the fabulous Early Years, and then see some lovely pictures which show what sort of a week they鈥檝e had

Another busy week in Early Years and lots of lovely Spring activities

In Outdoor Learning this week we planted some sunflower seeds

Some of us enjoyed the story 鈥淚鈥檓 not scared.鈥澨鼴aby Owl is trying听to convince the other animals that as an Owl he’s meant to be out at night and, more importantly, that he is not scared, when maybe he is!

We then had a walk around the woods looking for the animals and seeing if we were a little scared in the trees

In attention group we have enjoyed the dancing bunny, wiggly worm, light up fish and ballons, followed by the shower of feathers, using our core words 鈥渟top鈥� and 鈥済o鈥�

We have once again enjoyed the lovely weather and made the most of our outdoor continuous听provision in the water, mud kitchen, bikes and bouncing around on the space hoppers

We have also burned lots of energy in our soft play sessions

UNICEF Award update with Rebecca

Since we gained the Bronze level of this award, Rebecca & the teams are already working on the next level. We particularly like this scheme because it puts the voice of the child at its centre

As always if you want any further information about the UN Rights of the Child, or the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award, you can find information below听where you can find lots of information for parents and training in this area

Beth鈥檚 Assemblies!

Beth is doing the LSTE Department鈥檚 assemblies this half term 鈥� and they鈥檝e been so good. It鈥檚 great to hear about them 鈥� let鈥檚 have a bit more now!

The LSTE assembly planted new bulbs last week and thanks to 4CH who are looking after them, some of them have begun to sprout! Our blossom tree continues to get fuller and is becoming more and more beautiful. If anyone sees a blossom tree when they are out and about, please send us a photo and we will show it in our assembly! It would be lovely to see some real blossom trees

…From John and the team here at PHS