Hi everyone

How is the season treating all of you at the moment? Good I hope. The fine weather certainly makes a difference to us, and I hope it does to you positively as well. There’s so much sport going on at the moment for example, and so much Outdoor Learning. The MOVE and allotment work is so much better too because of the summer

Elsewhere there’s some interesting stuff on a new Duke of Edinburgh project we want to do, some upcoming events like Coffee & Catch-up afternoons, and some real stars all over the school. Please do enjoy, have a lovely weekend, and we’ll see you here or in school for the last month of the term. Cheers

You Said, We Listened: Parent View

Make sure you don’t miss Eileen’s blog – there’s always good stuff on there that’s very helpful, and it has a slightly different focus to this one. Enjoy that one too!

And also, please do look at the work that Philip and others do on e-safety. I always learn loads when I read his work, or listen to him and the team, and I think that a lot of parents & carers want to know more about e-safety

There’s also PHS stuff of the Foundation blog, so lots of places to find out about what’s going on

It was great that Governors took part in some Governor Training on Saturday past in Newcastle. As a result of that, there’ll be some new things we put in place and hopefully have better governance too!

Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

• Please do see if you can find time to book an appointment – either in person or on Teams – with a teacher, at a time that suits you, for the new Parent/Carer Consultations from the 27^th June to the 8^th July
• We’ll go through the work that’s been done and how your child has been doing, and anything else that’s relevant too, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding, or whatever you want to talk about
• We plan to do one of those every term, towards the end of each term
• The Coffee & Catch-up sessions are more informal are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term. We have some dates!
  • Post-16, 2-3pm, Tuesday 5^th July
  • ELTBA, 2-3pm, Monday 11^th July
  • Engagement, 1.45-2.45pm, Wednesday 13^th July
  • Years 9, 10 and 11, Thursday 14^th July

End of Year Reports

• The teachers have written these and they’re just being checked over, so they’ll be out quite soon
• The format is based on the Key Drivers of Communication, Wellbeing and Independence that you’ve been working with us on through the topics that we’ve been teaching in school, with a few other comments too. The ones I’ve seen so far seem to be a great improvement on last year, so hopefully you’ll find that too

Reading

• Thanks to those of you who came to the Reading session that Becky put on a few days ago. This was the first in a planned sequence, so that we can work on improving reading with you all as partners in that, as appropriate, because everyone’s different!
• We’re prioritising reading particularly, putting on training, buying new books and things, and thinking about our teaching and 1-1 sessions. Be great to work with you as much as we can on this

The Wheel

 

This Is Me Mini Festival

It’s been National Diversity Week, which is incredibly important for us a community. There’s also a lovely mini-festival planned by our PSHE team. This is what they wrote last week, so I thought I’d put it here again

The students are planning their very own “This Is Me” mini-festival to take place in school on Friday 8th July. Students will be creating information leaflets within lessons on areas of diversity such as: LBGTQ+, neurodiversity, race, feminism, etc, that will be distributed at the festival. The event will include activities for students to choose from throughout the day including a reading/drama corner, giant games and a catwalk. There will also be a “shopping village” of stalls of which enterprise groups are planning and creating food, beverages and merchandise for festival-goers to buy. The whole school event will come together at the end of the day for our “This Is Me” march and we would like the students to come dressed in whatever makes them feel fabulous (festival gear, fancy dress, PJs, couture). We’re on the hunt for the following donations if you have any: unused face paint, photo booth props, fashion accessories, glitter and rainbow anything really!

The event will be raising money for a charity which will be chosen by our students. Tickets will cost £1 per student of which they will exchange for a wristband on the day and will be available from Jo or Leanne. They will also need some spending money for the shopping village

We have a small group of students from George Stephenson involved as an inclusion project; they will help plan and run the event. Hopefully we’ll also have some entertainment from local artists, drag queens and students too

The day will celebrate individuality within our school culture, will provide an opportunity to practise functional organisational and money skills and also to bring the fun experience of a festival to our students. If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please contact Jo, Leanne or Lizzie on j.ferguson@percyhedley.org.uk and l.daley@percyhedley.org.uk, or your class teacher

Therapy Focus – MOVing All Over the World, from the fabulous MOVE team

Hopefully last week you caught the amazing MOVing all over the World stuff over on the PHF blog https://www.percyhedley.org.uk/saving-the-planet-with-move/

You’ll all by now hopefully be familiar with our termly MOVE events. However, the team have stepped it up a notch and held our first National MOVE day – ‘MOVE Saves the Planet’. This is an annual event for schools across the country to celebrate the achievements of everybody who is involved in the MOVE program. PHS students have been ‘MOVing all Over the World’ in a bid to raise awareness and explore activities that are good for the planet and to celebrate nature!

The students followed a Percy Hedley World Map around the outdoor areas of the school. There were 11 stations that were related to eco-friendly tasks that they had to complete

1. Conserve water – students had to transport water using tubes from one end of the courtyard to the other without losing any water
2. Plant more plants – to create more oxygen students planted seeds into their every own pot to keep
3. Sort the rubbish – pick up or use a grabber to sort rubbish into the right bins
4. Sea Tunnel – walk, propel, look, reach through the sensory sea tunnel
5. Jungle fun – crawl, walk, propel, reach and look through the jungle and find all the animals
6. Save the animals – scoop animals with nets out of the ‘polluted sea’
7. Reuse rubbish – using rubbish to create games like boccia, tower building or throwing a hoop over milk bottles
8. Solar energy – clipping clothing on to a washing line to use the sun to dry the clothes instead of using a tumble dryer
9. Clean the beaches – pick out the rubbish from a sand pit and sort the rubbish into the right bins
10. Wind power – blow pin wheels to create energy or press a switch to turn a fan on to blow the pin wheel
11. Saving the ice caps – travel with a water balloon on a wooden spoon across 5 metres without it dropping and splatting everywhere

Students throughout school have been learning the importance of conserving water, recycling effectively and cleaning up our environments – and what fun they had! They also learnt how we can help protect wildlife and protect our oceans and rainforests. Take a look at the fantastic activities that they participated in, from litter picking, to hanging out washing, and planting seeds and then to moving through the sensory sea tunnel! (and everything in between!). Every activity has been creatively devised by our amazing MOVE team to promote opportunities for our students to develop not only their physical skills but also to broaden their understanding of why we all have a huge part to play in saving our planet! The MOVE network has promised £500 to spend on Jiraffe therapy equipment to the school who demonstrates the most movement opportunities…. Fingers crossed!

More Therapy Focus! – Parrots in Killingworth Library

Parrots have been going on community trips to Killingworth Library. This outing has allowed them to practise lots of skills to develop their communication and interaction, organisation and independence

They have spent time during their lessons planning their trip, learning about road safety, organising their belongings, and planning how to ask for what they want when they are in the library

Here is Toby practising his standing to choose his book

Abi, Wren and Teddy enjoyed reading and choosing their book

 

They practised their excellent communication skills to borrow their library books, speaking very confidently and clearly to the library staff. Some students used their VOCA. Well done ,guys, this is lovely!

National Week of Sport!

Percy Hedley sports days were back on the timetable this year. It’s been a long two years, but they are back outside in the lovely sunshine. This year’s Sports Days were themed around the Commonwealth Games. Each class represented a country they made flags headbands and posters. First to start was the MOVE on students Monday and Tuesday. The days consisted of a carousel of lots of fun activities including water, which as you can imagine did not necessarily stay where it should have! In the afternoon students took part in relay races, mind there was quite a bit of cheating going on from both students and staff, but fun was had by all as you can see in the pictures

Thursday was the sports day for KS4 and P16 Sports day. Once again, the classes represented a country and lots of fantastic flags on display. The day was made up of a carousel of activities in the morning from football shoot, volleyball, cricket, athletics, basketball, badminton shuttle, move the water and crazy hockey. In the afternoon students

 

Allotment News in Jo’s words! 

This week Sandpipers visited their allotment plot again. With all the lovely sunshine we’re having watering is an endless job but we aren’t complaining! This week we made choices from watering or planting. When those jobs were done, we managed to clear some of the pond weed and counted the best part of 20 frogs!

Our pond (recycled jacuzzi bath) had become neglected and overgrown during covid. We cleared 1/3 of pond weed making more space for our frog friends. After all, these slug munching beauties are a gardener’s best friend and deserve a mansion.

Max laden with plants ready for planting. He wasn’t too keen on the frogs, but each to their own!

Last weeks planting looking gorgeous. A truly wild spot for bees and butterflies. Now George did enjoy meeting Mr Frog!

Lola watered endlessly to the delight of plants and frogs everywhere, then helped find a selection of fruits to smell and touch

Stay tuned for more allotment adventures with Jo!

Team of the Week –

Another lesson of the week – Magpies with the Outdoor Learning! Hooray!

The boys worked together in outdoor learning this week to construct a rope bridge.  They had to work together to get each other across the piranha infested waters! Tom swung across it!

They’ve been preparing and planting seeds for the wildflower garden.  They are hoping to encourage butterflies and other insects into the area. And they made use of the brand new outdoor tap to help the seeds on their way!!!!

Excellent work, Magpies!

Another nice thing happened in the green playground

Jayden found “these caterpillars doing a pose” as he said, whilst playing in our green playground.

We think the caterpillars may be hungry.

“It looks like they are nibbling at the leaf as it’s smaller than the other leaves”

Also in the Outdoor Learning arena, Rebecca writes

Next year we have a really exciting opportunity to be part of a pilot project with several other SEN schools who are developing an award called the OPT award (Our Personal Transition Award), which is an award developed for pupils who are following either the Engagement Model or those who are working with the life skills curriculum within our Post 16 department.  The award follows the same principles of the Duke of Edinburgh award, while having a focus on the appropriate development of tasks for the pupils involved, sensory experiences or developing life skills, without the constraints of time and written evidence.  Pupils will complete three areas over a two-year plan, gaining certificates and badges for their progress, culminating in the full accredited award

It’s aimed at the individual participating in activities that they may never have encountered, providing them with enriching life experiences and enabling positive risk taking, personal challenge and a sense of community.  This is covered through the three areas of Volunteering, Physical and Emotional well-being, and a 48-hour challenge

We are hoping to run this award alongside the Duke of Edinburgh within the Post 16 Department, and in conjunction with our sister School Northern Counties, to provide opportunities for residential or adventure days, allowing for pupils to developed their preparation for adulthood skills

We will have more information on our participation in this in the Autumn term, and planning has started for how this will be developed through out curriculum opportunities, with us working to be a Pathway Lead school for the North-East.  The project is being led by Diverse Abilities, a charity in Dorset, and the website for the award should be going live very soon.  We will update you when we have more information and look forward to working with you on this project next year

 A Fabulous Thing with the Woodpeckers! In their own words!

The Woodpeckers

Look at our amazing pumpkin plants! We have counted 3 new leaves and next week we are planning to repot the plants as they are growing very quickly. This week we have welcomed some caterpillars to the class and we are very excited to watch them grow too!

 

 

Makaton Signs of the Week

Some lovely colours this week, which go perfectly with Diversity Week. Try them!

Black    

                                      

White           

Orange   

                                   

Brown

Engagement Stars of the Week

Star of the week for the Engagement pathway this week is Joseph Middlemass.

Each morning Joseph goes into his walker to take the lunch choices down to the kitchen, which is great, and he socialises with people he sees down the corridor smiling and waving! Marvellous! What a STAR!!!! you are, Joseph!!!!!!

 

ELTBA Star of the Week

This week the team would like to give the ELTBA Star of the Week to the wonderful Wood Pigeons.  During their Outdoor Learning/Geography sessions they have been looking at ways that they can take care of the environment so on Thursday they visited a local park to see how people treat the area and find good and bad examples of looking after the environment.  They were all super sensible and extremely interested in what they were doing and their team were proud of how well they all behaved.  Lots of fun was had in the park when they had finished their important jobs. Congratulations, Wood Pigeons, what STARS!!! you all are!!!

 

More Stars of the Week!

Imogen is one of the great STARS of the week in post-16 – Imogen is a great runner and is running for North Tyneside now!!!!! Go Imogen!!!!!

 Finlay, Aidan and Owen have been collecting food for a North-East Homeless charity as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. They’ve set up a donations box and everything. This is really lovely and great work, guys – well done, total STARS!!!

 Finally…..Our first PROM!

PROM #1!

Less than a month away!

Finally finally…..

Summer Fair, 16^th July!

The Wheel

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here

John & the Team

 

Hi everyone

Well, the weather does finally seem to be getting better! And not before time! Hope you have a decent weekend lined up where you can enjoy it somehow

One thing it does mean for us here though is to be very mindful of the sun and its effect on the pupils, so please do send in whatever it is that you usually do at this time of the year, whether it’s cream, a hat or whatever. It’s a strange thing that we complain when it’s rainy or windy, but the one that can often do the most damage – the sun – is the one we like! No, we’d just appreciate your help with keeping the children healthy in this weather. Cheers

Elsewhere in the blog, there’s some great sport, some pretty great STARS, and some very very nice things happening in MOVE, and lots of other lessons. It’s also great to have the Makaton signs every week, and there’s a few things to look out for such as Parent Consultations, Reading stuff, Prom, Fair and all sorts. Hope this gives you a few minutes of interest and diversion anyway

And please do read about This is Me

You Said, We Listened: Parent View

Do go over and look at Eileen’s blog too, if you haven’t already – there’s always good stuff on there that’s very helpful. Enjoy!

Eileen also sent out a Parent View questionnaire; thanks for getting those back to us – we’ll have a look at what comes back and see what it all says and means. Please do let us know about the things that concern you

Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

• The new Parent/Carer Consultations are from the 27^th June to the 8^th July
• Please do book a 20-minute appointment at a convenient time during this two week period, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you
• The teacher will go through the work that’s been done and how your child has been doing, and anything else that’s relevant too, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding
• We plan to do one of those every term, towards the end of each term
• The Coffee & Catch-up sessions are more informal are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term

End of Year Reports

• The teachers are just gearing up to write these now
• The format is based on the Key Drivers that you’ve been working with us on through the topics that we’ve been teaching in school
• There’ll also be a general section and a note of attendance. We hope that they’ll be useful and meaningful, and that you’ll enjoy reading them. Few weeks yet!

Reading

• Wed 22md June 9.30 – 11am – an introduction to phonics and Essential Letters & Sounds
• Please do joining us in the school for a cuppa and a look at how we teach reading. It’s really interesting, I can guarantee it!

 

 

 

The Wheel

This Is Me Mini Festival Here’s a message from Jo and Leanne about an exciting new thing that’s happening soon Next week is National School Diversity Week and the students are planning their very own “This Is Me” mini-festival to take place in school on Friday 8th July. Students will be creating information leaflets within lessons on areas of diversity such as: LBGTQ+, neurodiversity, race, feminism, etc, that will be distributed at the festival. The event will include activities for students to choose from throughout the day including a reading/drama corner, giant games and a catwalk. There will also be a “shopping village” of stalls of which enterprise groups are planning and creating food, beverages and merchandise for festival-goers to buy. The whole school event will come together at the end of the day for our “This Is Me” march and we would like the students to come dressed in whatever makes them feel fabulous (festival gear, fancy dress, PJs, couture). We’re on the hunt for the following donations if you have any: unused face paint, photo booth props, fashion accessories, glitter and rainbow anything really! The event will be raising money for a charity which will be chosen by our students. Tickets will cost £1 per student of which they will exchange for a wristband on the day and will be available from Jo or Leanne. They will also need some spending money for the shopping village. We have a small group of students from George Stephenson involved as an inclusion project, they will help plan and run the event. Hopefully we’ll also have some entertainment from local artists, drag queens and students too. The day will celebrate individuality within our school culture, will provide an opportunity to practice functional organisational and money skills and also to bring the fun experience of a festival to our students. If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please contact Jo, Leanne or Lizzie on j.ferguson@percyhedley.org.uk and l.daley@percyhedley.org.uk, or your class teacher if you feel more comfortable. Therapy Focus – MOVing All Over the World Another absolutely amazing piece of work from the MOVE team this week – truly inspirational! Have a look at it over on the PHF blog here https://www.percyhedley.org.uk/saving-the-planet-with-move/ There’s millions of photos on there and some really interesting writing too. Great stuff So many of the children got so much out of it, and it was so educational – and fun at the same time! Something Great from Post 16…. This morning a post-16 group went to the shops to buy the ingredients for todays Food Tech session, using maths skills to calculate to the best value for money when buying the chicken and making a saving of £2.50…we all like a good bargain! Then they all got to work to prepare their chicken wraps for lunch. As you can see from the photos there are some really great food preperation skills and cooking going the on. The end products looked amazing too!! Great work, Guys!!  Allotment News from Jo! As part of “Moving all over the world” Sandpipers visited their allotment again this week and worked hard looking after their green space. They also looked at how items had been repurposed and what strategies are used to help harness natural resources or conserve energy. George planted and watered flowers to attract pollinators Jack planted a raised bed very compactly to reduce empty spaces so that watering can be efficient and less weeds would pop through bare soil Nieve also chose her activity using symbols, working towards her Speech and Language target Huge drums are used to collect any rainwater or surplus tap water. This water is used to water plants before hosepipes come out Solar powered window openers automatically open and close greenhouse windows when the temperature is too high or low. This helps keep plants healthy Gutters have been used on fences in a way to brighten the area but also champion a very important philosophy to reduce, reuse and repurpose This planter has also been mended and planted up afterwards to reduce waste

Team of the Week – Girls Football!

Girls Football

Got a great report and pics here on the girls football from Helen

It was the final matches for the Hedleys girls football team last week. We went along to the NUF Community Hub to take part in the cup games as the league had finished at the end of May

So not only were they playing for the cup, they would also find out where they had come in the league. Needless to say they were very excited!

The girls had six matches to play and unfortunately the weather was not kind to us so all the matches were played inside instead of on the rooftop Astro courts, which we were a bit upset about, but the games were still going ahead at least. The first game was a tough one and we lost 3-0 but the score did not reflect how well they played. The following five matches were two draws and two wins one of those being a 5 – 0 win!

The end results were that we came second in the Cup which is a fantastic achievement but the best result of all was that we had won the league. I am so proud of my girls they have played such good football, showed fantastic team spirit, fair play and always congratulated the team at the end of every match played so this is a very justified reward of which they are delighted

Wow, great stuff Helen and everyone in that squad. Here are some fab pictures too

 

Another lesson of the week – Outdoor Learning again!

This week the KS4 Outdoor Learning group has been doing some work on knots and pioneering. They attempted or managed to tie overhand knots, an overhand loop knot, reef knot and clove hitch using strawberry laces and strawberry pencils (or ropes and a stick if they preferred). This was followed by miniature tripods which then led on to some large scale pioneering which we took a stage further to make catapults. Blimey, that all sounds very technical! Good stuff! Outdoor Learning really has become an important part of the school. And this class is a pretty good class! Great stuff guys

Another Fabulous Thing That Happened

Shae’s been getting things sorted and enjoyed having a bit of banter with Jamie. Great to see him, and great to see him looking good! Also great to see that he is giving good banter back to that Jamie! See you soon, Shae!

High-Powered Clever Learning of the Week – Tangrams!

The Guinea Fowl have this week been investigating properties of shapes through Tangrams, and spent a lesson investigating the use of Tangrams and using their core vocabulary words of quadrilateral and polygon.  The students enjoyed the problem-solving and trial & improvement aspect of the task and all said it was much more challenging than they thought it would be and really made them think! Maths everyone! Great photos!

Makaton Signs of the Week

It’s been great to have these every week. So good to have so many trained professionals at the school, in so many different disciplines. OK, here’s your three for this week. I hope you’re using them, I hope you understand them, and they are easy to remember and not forget! 😊

Understand

Remember

Forget

 

 

Engagement Stars of the Week – Puffins!

Puffins made the most of the sun yesterday and went down to the library and listened to some stories, followed by snacks in the cafe there. They then took a walk down to the park and had themselves a play before heading back to school. Lovely morning out! All STARS!!!

ELTBA Star of the Week

The ELTBA Team this week would like to give their Star of the Week to the wonderful Sadie in Starlings.  For the past month Sadie has been working super-hard on developing independence skills whilst at the swimming baths and she has really excelled and persevered, even when she has found it challenging.  Her team are very proud of her.  Sadie, you are a complete STAR!!!!!!!!! Of course you are!

Also a huge Well Done to Jess in Starlings who went in the swimming pool for the first time since joining Percy Hedley and had an absolute splashing time 😊😊😊 Well done Jess! STAR!!!!!

Another Star of the Week!

Well now this is a good one. Katie has trialled her new Powerchair this week with great success and taken a huge step in how good she is at it. She has made real improvements and progress that is really noticeable. Hugely well done, nice one Katie, we have always known that you are, but what a total STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! you are. Congrats!

 Finally…..Our first PROM!

PROM #1!

Less than a month away!

Finally finally…..

Summer Fair, 16^th July!

 The Wheel

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here

John & the Team

Hi everyone,

It’s good to be back, especially for the nicest half term – the second half of the summer. This is where activities and all come into their own, and we start to turn our thoughts to September arrangements as well. There’s a lot going on that doesn’t even make the blog! And the school feels lively and busy, which I like

I hope there’s something that interests you in the blog from the team this week – there’s Makaton, reading, MOVE and some lovely lessons. There are also a few invites to you for various things, so hopefully we will start to get to see more of you in the school, after a long time when that hasn’t really happened

Have a lovely weekend, it’s great to have your son or daughter in school, and thanks for all your support for our community. Very best

Chris sent me this picture! Thanks Chris!

You Said, We Listened: Parent View

Do go over and look at Eileen’s blog too, if you haven’t already – there’s always some good stuff there, like stuff on the Fathers’ Day sale and the Coffee Afternoon. Enjoy that!

Eileen also sent out a Parent View questionnaire; thanks for getting those back to us – we’ll have a look at what comes back and see what it all says and means. Please do let us know about the things that concern you

Achievement & Progress: Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

• The new Parent/Carer Consultations are from the 27^th June to the 8^th July
• Please do book an appointment at a convenient time during this two week period, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you. We anticipate that about twenty minutes will be enough
• The teacher will go through the work that’s been done and how your child has been doing, and anything else that’s relevant too, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding or perhaps e-safety or other training that you would like
• We plan to do one of those every term, towards the end of each term
• The Coffee & Catch-up sessions are more informal are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term

Achievement & Progress 2: End of Year Reports

The teachers are just gearing up to write these now, and you’ll notice that the format is based on the Key Drivers that you’ve been working with us on through the topics that we’ve been teaching in school. We hope that these reports will be useful and meaningful to you, and that you’ll enjoy reading them. They won’t be out for a while yet though!

The Wheel

Reading Reading’s a real priority here, and we want to involve you as much as possible ·        Wednesday 22nd June 9:30- 11am – An introduction to phonics and Essential Letters & Sounds ·        We invite parents to join us in the school hall for a cup of tea or coffee and an introduction to how we teach reading within Percy Hedley. Sounds good Therapy Focus – MOVE to Learn – How’s The Weather? This half term Parrots are learning about the weather in their MOVE to Learn session with Steph and Sophie. They had lots of opportunities to practise their standing and sitting skills, as well creating opportunities to practice their fine motor skills when ‘dressing for the weather!’ For their warm-up, they all practised standing up to look outside so we could work out ‘How’s the weather today?’ (and for the record… it was cloudy!). Here’s Abi and Wren doing a great job! Then, they all had a chance to roll the weather dice, and whatever weather it landed on, they had to search for props around the room to dress themselves appropriately! After that they had to dress their body template by picking appropriate clothing from the washing to ensure they too were dressed appropriately for the weather! Can you guess which weather Toby had to dress for? I’ll give you a clue, we sprayed him with water to make it more authentic!! Can you guess what weather Abi dressed for? Here’s a sneaky clue from Toby and Wren!! Can you guess which weather Chloe and Teddy were dressing for? Here’s another clue – they wore sun cream!! And here is Wren… the clue for this one is that they all practiced their breathing (blowing!) to make the pinwheel spin to replicate the weather Wren was dressing for!  Class of the Week – Starlings!  Well, even although I haven’t managed to see it myself yet, the fabulous Starlings have got a really nice new Reading Area in their nest – I mean, room! Check out some of these pictures of a great class

Another Great Class!

This week the Grouse made some fresh fruit salad during their cookery lesson. They were given lots of choice over the fruit to include in their fruit salads from a wide range including pineapple, kiwi, apples, grapes, melon and pears. Yum! A Healthy Yum!

The KS4 Outdoor Learning group has been doing some mini-beast hunting using a range of methods. They then made some sculptures of mini-beasts using clay and natural materials

Another lesson of the week – Puffins!

Oscar and Oliver made the most of the beautiful weather and they enjoyed reading a story in the garden today. Lovely stuff, and just what you want in June

Another Fabulous Thing That Happened

We’re always really grateful when the PTA does the things they do and funds things. After the online production ‘Hope’, and Eileen’s collected some comments from the students

• Calum: It was alright and made me think
• Benjamin: It taught us to never give up hope and don’t let the bullies get to us
• It was alright and interesting
• Andrew: I felt ok about it. I enjoyed it I know what to do when someone bullies me
• I just found it ok

Always very nice to hear from the children – thanks guys, all who were involved

VOCA News!

Here’s a picture of Ameen using his VOCA. Ameen’s been putting different words together to do the things he wants to do, like ask questions and talk about lunch! Excellent!

 

And although he isn’t in the right section here, Ameen is also one of the Engagement Pathway’s STAR!!! of the week for developing his communication skills so well. Not only has he been using his voice, he’s also using his VOCA to express his needs by using two-word sentences!

That’s real progress right there: congratulations Ameen!

Ameen: Star of the Week!

 

Sunflower Watch with Woodpeckers!

OK, now I know what you’re thinking……………….you’re thinking that these aren’t actual sunflowers. Now this is true, but a number of points. First they are lovey, aren’t they, and they are the class’s 3D model representations of the flowers themselves. Now there is some proper learning there, nice one Woodpeckers!

The other thing is that someone very kind had taken these home for half term, so we’ll be able to catch up with the real ones next week! Some great work from Woodpeckers there! Nice one guys!

Makaton Signs of the Week

More

Finish

Stop

All gone

Engagement Star of the Week

Gracey has been working hard on a number of self-help skills and is becoming more independent every day! Here is a picture of her practising them. She was so proud of her work and wanted to show everyone how great she is! Keep it up Gracey!!

Mattie has been working super hard in the magic carpet room this week. He has been doing some work followed by a nice relax, movement and stretch on the mat. He is expert at operating the projection screen and uses the touch pad and keyboard to navigate between some of his favourites! Well done Mattie!!

ELTBA Star of the Week

This week we would love to give our ELTBA Star of the week to the amazing Abi in Parrots.  Abi has shown a great deal of resilience in trying new equipment to help her access ICT more and hasn’t given up even though it was all new to her.  Everyone thinks she is a total STAR!!!  Well Done Abi!

 

 

***** STOP PRESS: we’ll have some news on girls’ football next week! *****

*****COMING SOON: THIS IS ME MINIFEST – 8^TH JULY!!!!!!!*****

Finally…..Our first PROM! PROM #1!

I’m doing the punch!

Finally finally…..

Summer Fair, 16^th July! Also on Eileen’s blog! Can’t wait!

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here. Here’s to a really lovely last half term of the year – with good weather hopefully!

John & the Team

Father’s Day Sale: Friday 17th June 2022

The student council has decided that this year they would like to do a Father’s Day sale, similar to the format used for Mother’s Day.  We know that students really enjoy choosing their own gift for a parent or other significant male in their lives

 

 

They would be grateful if you could send in donations of gifts which can be purchased next Friday for £3. Please send for the attention of Claire Hayden

MOVing All Over the World Day ….   Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th June

 

Each MOVE task is related to eco-friendly and environmentally friendly activities. These will all be based outdoors and each class will receive a map of Percy Hedley on Tuesday morning to help the students follow the path of activity stations around the ‘Percy Hedley world’!

Activities include… a sensory sea tunnel, using a grabber to collect rubbish, using switches to activate fans and planting seeds!

Students and staff are invited to wear blue or green to represent the earth over the 2 days! This is optional.

Finally, to become a more eco-friendly school each class is going to be receiving an end of day class checklist created by one of our students. This will remind the class to always remember to turn off lights and computers and to ensure taps aren’t left running. Every little helps!

We will be sharing lots of pictures of the event on the blog – so look out for this!

Many thanks,

MOVE Team

Hi everyone

We’re doing staff training today. Just so that you know, that means we are getting in various groups throughout the day and having training on various things, such as dysphagia, medication, positive handling, Rebound Therapy, the curriculum, safeguarding – things like that. I mention it because people often ask! I hope that the day together is ok for you, and very best wishes for the week ahead. We’ll see your children next on Tuesday 7^th June, and I hope you have a lovely time

What we did yesterday was celebrate the theme of Belonging as part of our Emotional Resilience project. But it was also just a really nice day where we had like a garden party for lunch, and all sorts of lovely things were going on. The students were brilliant, some of them dressing up and all sorts. It was a really lovely day

It’s been a lovely week too, with a huge amount going on, and a good, although short, half term. There have been exams (!), lots of sport, some smashing things outdoors, in classrooms and in therapy

Have a lovely half term, and the next time we talk, it will be the last half of the year, and we’ll be talking about you coming in to school at long last! All the very best, and thanks for your support. Have a quick read of what’s been going on if you fancy…..

This was the coin I got when I was at school in Plymouth in 1977, for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee

 

 

 

But this is the one that hopefully went home to you guys yesterday

Hope you like it – I’ve still got mine, all these years later!

 

You Said, We Listened: Parent View

Eileen has sent out a Parent View questionnaire; please do see if you have a few minutes to fill this in. We want to do all we can to listen and be responsive. Thanks

Please do check out Eileen’s blog on another page

***

Also under this section, I’m going to reprint below another version of this information about Relationship, Sex, Health Education (RSHE), in case you missed it last time. Really important stuff

The team working on this have been consulting and seeing what you at home you’ve said about it. Here are some links that you may find helpful and interesting. They had a bit of a low turnout for their Spring 2022 Parent Forum, so they decided to collate some information to share with you regarding the parent and student consultations that have been carried out over the last year. They’ve also included their journey of how we have implemented the new statutory outcomes so far and information regarding our assessment tool. I really enjoyed looking at this – it’s so much better than when I used to teach this kind of thing! Sometimes difficult, but always important stuff!

The first one is more primary, the second one more secondary, if you’re thinking about the ages or stages of the pupils, and your own son or daughter

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aXrp34qzV21t_rrOCT3SiGtuyw-zc0ktOZMSCF_4lEY/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qok2xaiAdpNtouWkmkJcQi5TNvyi9jVP/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108596125345416234729&rtpof=true&sd=true

Actually, I’ve got a third one too under this. You remember that we have been having these lovely Taster Days, following feedback, where the kitchen staff put on lots of choices of foods for the children to try? Well there was a great one the other day that had sandwiches and puddings that were then going to go into the choices for the Jubilee Day. Have a look

Sandwiches and puds…………….mmmmmmmmmmmmm………..yum

 

Achievement & Progress: Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

Just putting a shortened version of this in again too

We’re very much looking forward to discussing your son or daughter’s progress at the new Parent/Carer Consultation that we’ve set up, whereby the Class Teacher will make contact and arrange a date and time with you at a convenient within the two weeks

• beginning 27^th June
• and beginning 4^th July

Please do book an appointment at a convenient time during this two week period, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you. We anticipate that about twenty minutes will be enough

At the meeting the teacher will go through the work that has been done and how your child has been doing, and anything else that’s relevant too, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding or perhaps e-safety or other training that you would like

I hope that it will prove to be helpful and interesting, and indicate to you how your child is making progress – and if they are not making progress, what it is that we are doing about it

If it goes well, then we’ll do one of those every term, so three times a year, towards the end of each term, so in late Nov/early Dec; March or April depending on when Easter is; and in early July

Also, we are organising Coffee & Catch-up sessions, where you can chat with each other, see some aspects of the school that perhaps you haven’t seen yet, and talk to people in a slightly more relaxed manner. These are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Departmental heads will be in contact about those. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term, so roughly in October, February and perhaps May

Hopefully both of these events – one more informal, one more formal – will be helpful. It will be good to see you in the school after all this time

The Wheel

Reading It’s been another busy week in terms of our phonics program, as yet more staff are trained in how to deliver ‘Essential Letters & Sounds’ in preparation for rolling the program out further throughout school. We’ve seen some excellent progress this half term and will be sharing what our students think of the new phonics programme soon! For now, we’d like to make parents aware of the first of our parent training opportunities focusing on literacy Wednesday 22nd June 9:30- 11am – An introduction to phonics and Essential Letters & Sounds We invite parents to join us in the school hall for a cup of tea or coffee and an introduction to how we teach reading within Percy Hedley. We hope that as many of you as possible will join us in person but do understand that this won’t be possible for all. A recording of the training will be made available after the event, and we’ll share the presentation for those of you who would prefer to read in your own time Further information will follow after half term. Happy Reading! Allotment Corner Sandpipers visited their allotment again this week where they all worked together completing garden maintenance jobs. Plants needed watered, fences painted, grassland cleared, and pebbles moved to frame the pond which helps frogs and newts climb in and out Max collected a lot of litter flying in on the wind Nieve helped carry and move piles of dirt using a spade Therapy Focus – MOVE: a message from Tina and Sophie In the summer term on the 6th July 10am-11am we are going to hold a parent/carer session in which we will discuss the MOVE program. The aim is to provide an overview and answer the following questions ·        What the Move Program is? ·        How is it implemented at Percy Hedley School? ·        What have we learnt in our first year of MOVE? ·        It will be an opportunity for families to ask questions to the MOVE co-ordinators What would be great would be if you could help us by expressing an interest on this form and providing a preference of whether it is an in-school event or on TEAMS and therefore recorded https://forms.gle/yCYFZhpFDfstKzjp6 You may also find the following FAQ’s helpful MOVE FAQ’s 22, however if there is anything else relating to MOVE which you would like us to cover in addition to what is outlined above, then please do pop this on the form, or feel free to contact us in advance of the session via email on c.christopher@percyhedley.org.uk or sophie.thompson@percyhedley.org.uk Tina and Sophie, MOVE Coordinators   Rap of the Week! We should definitely have a Rap of the Week every week. But anyway, just wanted to share a class rap with you from yesterday’s Belonging day that I mentioned. The students really enjoyed making this together and everyone participated which was just lovely.  Macey’s beatboxing was second to none!!! This Resilience Framework has really created some amazing work, and we’ll bring it all together at the end of the year Thanks, Leanne and the ‘6LD gang’ – the Owls!!!!!!!!!!!!!   6LD gang – Belonging Rap Yo, yo, yo – 6LD is the place to be, I belong with you; you belong with me. Always together and never apart, Forever we’ll be in each other’s heart.   There’s our Liam, loves nuns and the Wiggles, Then we have Jess with a dance and a giggle! Daniel K? He’s a movie buff, And Tom? The planets? He knows his stuff! James C? He loves the games, and George? Well, he knows all the names! And Callum? He knows all about trains! Jensen is our water baby, and then our Macey? A future actor maybe????? Last but not least, our Lucy dot, dot, dot!!! What an amazing unity we have got!!

Lesson of the Week – Music with Parus Major

On Thursday, 4PC were joined in class by Clarence Adoo MBE from the Sage Gateshead. Clarence has a unique way of playing instruments within the Royal Northern Sinfonia MOVES orchestra. Students loved learning all about the inclusive orchestra who have played all over the world and even with Coldplay at the 2012 Paralympics!

Check out the orchestra here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POnot8syUWQ. And of course some pics – it’s was actually pretty special! Great stuff!

 Another lesson of the week – Acrostics

Now, parents and carers, I am going to use my best teacher voice here and ask you if you are familiar with acrostics? You are? Excellent. (If not, look here)

https://www.google.com/search?q=acrostic&source=lmns&bih=754&biw=1536&rlz=1C1GCEV_enGB936GB936&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj25JzOu__3AhVHeRoKHWNZBzoQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA&safe=active&ssui=on

OK? Right then, well you will be able to see that here are some excellent acrostics that the post-16 English class did. Awesome!

Physios teach us

Exercises to help us

Run really fast

Can

You catch me?

Sophie

Have a great day

Eat choices of grub

Dance all the way

Lessons grow your brain

Each and every day

Your teacher will not yell

Finny

Pilates makes me relaxed

Eat a lot of lunches

Relaxation helps me chill

Cookery is fun

You can come too

Thomas

Happy

Enjoy

Dinner

Laugh

Excited

Yey

Grace

Physio helps me move

Edinburgh and the duke

Richard grooves

Charlie runs fast

“Yipee” he yells

Harvey

Happy

Excited

Dinner

Lessons

English

Yoga

Jack

 

Sports News (honestly, Helen could do a whole separate blog on her own, she does so much of this with our pupils) 😊

The Panathlon Primary Games

Last Monday pupils from Steffi Bell and Andrew Halls class went to their first ever primary Panathlon event. The event was held at the Lakeside Centre and our pupils took part along with 5 other schools in skittles, precision bean bag, polybat, shooting baskets, kurling and boccia skills.

They had a really great time and did brilliantly, coming back with medals and a lovely certificate. Fab

The next day was the secondary Panathlon festival, and it was hosted by the school in Hedleys sports hall. Our students took part in the morning’s activities along with two other schools and came in first place! Congratulations to our KS4 team! In the afternoon session four more schools came to take part, the whole day was a big success, and it was so nice to be able to host events again in our Sports Hall. Check out the video on the Twitter site

DofE Award

Cycling at the Rising Sun Country Park this week, the students worked on cycling up hills and down using their gears effectively going up hill and using their breaks and body position going down

Next week is the first lesson in the Bike4Health workshop

Billingham Ice Rink trip KS4

This is a trip that should have taken place back in February but due to Covid it had to be postponed. So, Monday 23^rd was the new date and off we went. For some of the students this was the first time they had ever been on ice, and it was a very different experience to what they were used to in PE. But they were all very keen to give it a go. They got their boots and practiced walking in them first very wise! Then one at a time they went onto the ice and the photos say it all!

                                                     Waiting patiently to go on the Ice                       

Another Fabulous Thing That Happened

4JF enjoyed the last day of the half term by learning about Belonging as others did. They started the day by learning what Belonging is. The students identified the different groups that they belong to, including the school and their local communities. They made some bunting and paperchains which were used to decorate the hall ready for their picnic lunches. In the afternoon they had a quiz to test their knowledge about the Queen. We were all very proud of them for all their help and support during the preparation and tidying up of the event. They clearly demonstrated our shared values and their sense of belonging……..

Excellent. Check out a few pictures to give you an idea

Sunflower Watch with Woodpeckers!

OK, so now the news you’ve all been waiting for – how big are the Woodpeckers’ sunflowers?

OK, well, the wait is over……..here we go….

First picture: not bad growth, not bad at all………

Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the second picture is not in fact a sunflower. It is a pumpkin. They’ve just got green fingers down there. It’s lovely to get updates

More PE! More good stuff!

This week the KS4 PE group completed a carousel of activities. These included badminton, table tennis, bowling – where they had the chance to gain an insight into what it is like for our wheelchair users, sitting volleyball and noodle mania. The students all enjoyed the session and there were good levels of participation

 

Makaton Signs of the Week

Hungry and Thirsty

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u6AvlVuD1M_pd1S3dHy-dAicAnuQGX8p/view?usp=sharing

Engagement Star of the Week

Millie for joining first video call since surgery

 ELTBA Star of the Week

This week we would like to give the star of the week to ALL of the amazing children following the ELBTA Pathway.  As everyone knows, yesterday was our Jubilee Picnic and lunchtime was very different for all the children. Although it took a lot of them massively out of their comfort zone they all embraced it and joined in making sure they had, as some said “the best time ever.”   They were all superstars!

 Finally…..#1 PROM!

Our first official Prom, happening at the school in July!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally finally…..

The Summer Fair! On the 16^th July!

Look on Eileen’s blog! Can’t wait!

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here. Have a lovely few days together and we’ll see you all soon

John & the Team

The Wheel

The students have decided to hold a party in school to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as a group. They have voted on how the day will run, along with some of the activities.This will take place on Thursday 26th May.

The theme for the day is Belonging, and forms part of our building resilience framework.

 

 

If they wish, they can dress in colours red, white and blue and we would like to stress that this is entirely optional; there is no need to purchase anything new.

At lunchtime they will eat together.

Many will have a packed lunch; this was their choice with different options and they have ordered already. Those on special/puree/blended will have a Jubilee themed meal.

We intend this to be a real celebration of this momentous occasion and hope that students and staff enjoy the day.

 

 

Hi everyone

How is everyone? I hope you’ve had a good week at home, and I hope that you’ve felt that your son or daughter has had a good and enriching week in school. It’s been a very nice week, with lots going on. The weather helps, but there have also been lots of lovely sporting activities, outdoor lessons and all sorts

Another really nice thing is that the pupils voted to have a Jubilee party on Thursday. They can wear red, white or blue – or any combination! They are choosing the contents of a Jubilee picnic, from a range of mouth-watering dishes! Excellent!

This is a Smile Through Sport thing that the PE guys sent to me, and looks good. Have a great weekend everyone, and as ever, thanks for all your support

E-safety

We’re prioritising e-safety in the school, and want to talk about it with you whenever we can. This is on the e-safety blog this week, and called “What Parents and Carers need to know about WhatsApp”. Sounds good, everyone uses that these days don’t they?. Here’s the link – it’s interesting, I’ve had a look

https://phs.percyhedley.org.uk/category/parents-and-families/e-safety/

Stole this image from a primary school’s website

 

You Said, We Listened: Relationship, Sex, Health Education

The team working on this really important area have been consulting and seeing what you at home have said about everything. Here are some inks that you may find helpful and interesting. They had a bit of a  low turnout for their Spring 2022 Parent Forum, so they decided to collate some information to share with you regarding the parent and student consultations that have been carried out over the last year. They’ve also included their journey of how we have implemented the new statutory outcomes so far and information regarding our SEND assessment tool. I really enjoyed looking at this – it’s so much better than when I used to teach this kind of thing! Sometimes difficult, but always important stuff!

The first one is more primary, the second one more secondary, if you’re thinking about the ages or stages of the pupils

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aXrp34qzV21t_rrOCT3SiGtuyw-zc0ktOZMSCF_4lEY/edit?usp=sharing

Primary Forum

RSHE Primary Forum Statutory Outcomes Shared with teachers and therapists Medium term planning Parent Consultation Online Policy Refresh TD Resources Created a TD shared folder DfE recommended Steering Group TD Whole school NCS Student Consultation Secondary x 2 Collaboration NCS George Stephenson

docs.google.com

Achievement & Progress: Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

We’re very much looking forward to discussing your son or daughter’s progress on The Wheel at the new Parent/Carer Consultation that we’ve set up, whereby the Class Teacher will make contact and arrange a date and time with you at a convenient within the two weeks

• beginning 27^th June
• and beginning 4^th July

Please do book an appointment at a convenient time during this two weeks, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you better. We anticipate that about twenty minutes will be enough

At the meeting the teacher will go through progress on The Wheel, and anything else that’s relevant too, that you may need to talk about, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding or perhaps e-safety or other training that you would like

I hope that it will prove to be helpful and interesting, and indicate to you how your child is making Progress – and if they are not making progress, what it is that we are doing about it

If it goes well, then we’ll do one of those every term, so three times a year, towards the end of each term, so in late Nov/early Dec; March or April depending on when Easter is; and in early July

Also, we are organising Coffee & Catch-up sessions, where you can chat with each other, see some aspects of the school that perhaps you haven’t seen yet, and talk to people in a slightly more relaxed manner. Thee are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Departmental heads will be in contact about those. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term, so roughly in October, February and perhaps May

Hopefully both of these events – one more informal, one more formal – will be helpful. It will be good to see you in the school after all this time

The Wheel

 

Reading

Reading is a priority for the school, whether that is reading to help prepare our students for adulthood and the world, for pleasure, or in the phonics program that Becky F spoke about last week. I’ll repeat a bit of it here again

Phonics is continuing to be a big focus particularly within the ELTBA pathway, with students continuing their daily lessons and trying out some of our new books. When learning early reading skills it’s really important that students have a chance to read books that include only the sounds they know (these are called decodable books). It’s great for building confidence and we’re seeing students really respond well to being able to read a little more independently!

All of the books in our Phonics Library are fully decodable, so the staff team know which week of our phonics program the students are on, and which books they can choose from. We’re building our Phonics Library gradually and getting feedback from students and staff as to the types of books they’re enjoying. The non-fiction ranges were proving very popular, so we were pleased to add more non-fiction books in today. With the help of Abi & Jayden, two of our school council reps, they’re ready for students for next week!

Many thanks to the parents who have sent in their preferences about literacy/phonics training. We’re working on a plan now and you’ll receive more information shortly

Allotment Corner & Therapy Focus!

Sandpipers visited their allotment again to check progress of vegetables they planted last week, plant flowers for pollinators and worked towards their communication targets choosing an action from symbols

Planting, watering, digging, potting…………………

They even found lots of creepy crawlies and minibeasts along the way to add to all of their sensory experiences

Jack using a big mack with switch to choose PLANTING after listening to his options. It was a hard decision deciding which to plant, Jack chose the greenfly infested plant. We hope it survives!

Lola chose DIGGING so she used her arm movements to push the soil away with a garden hoe. She explored the different textures of soil and weeds

George chose WATERING and discovered a snail and ladybird! Although he loved the ladybird, he wasn’t very impressed by the snail.

We cant wait to explore more next week

Absolutely loving the allotment news updates – such a lovely thing to do!

Lesson of the Week – Outdoor Learning with David

Over the past 2 weeks, the KS4 Outdoor Learning group have been building shelters. Last week, they made tarp shelters, as groups, that they could use themselves. This week, they made natural shelters to protect Gandalf, a plastic figurine, from rain, a watering can. Lots of the students were successful in making shelters that kept Gandalf dry. This looks brilliant!

Our lovely Outdoor Learning area

Another Lesson of the Week – PE, but this time with David again!

The Key Stage 4 Wednesday afternoon small PE group has been working on their navigational skills over the last three weeks. This has included using a compass to make 2D shapes and using grid references to find locations on the main yard. This week they did some orienteering and at each control they then took part in a challenge. These included, throwing a catching a ball, shooting a hoop, scoring a penalty, racket juggling and running challenges, amongst others

 

 

Another Fabulous Thing That Happens

There was a really nice thing happening in post-16 Enterprise this week where they were creating an ice cream shop to raise money for the homeless. I, like many people, had a mint Cornetto, and enjoyed it very much! Thanks Matthew, that was great stuff

 

Sunflower Watch with Woodpeckers!

The photo won’t come out so I’m going to have to add to this on Monday or just give you double the photos next week! ☹☹☹

Makaton Signs of the Week

It’s really good that we are ding such a lot of work on Makaton now, I’m really pleased about it

This week Julie and the team are looking at our Zones of Regulation (If I haven’t talked about that I can do so in a future blog – I’ll go back and check to see if I have). Anyway, for those, the pupils need to know colours, so the four colours are the signs of the week

You can see what it’s all about on this video, and when we do these Coffee & Cath-ups this is exactly the sort of thing that we could look at together

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fygx5Vx-DATxDD6-WGI2IHNtOoMZ9Exa/view?usp=sharing

Engagement Star of the Week

Our Stars of the Week for the Engagement Pathway are Jack and George. They had a great music session this week, they worked together as a team and did some fantastic turn taking, in music and other subjects. Well done, both – complete STARS!!! 

 ELTBA Star of the Week

This week the team would like to give the ELTBA Star of the Week award to Edward in The Wood Pigeons.  The class team are really impressed with Edward’s attitude to his learning and his ability to get on with his work and do his very best each and every time.  He has been a hardworking superstar!  We would also like to give a shout out this week to Aurora and Connor in the Woodpeckers for some fantastic paired work they did as part of their Science where they had to complete a sorting activity.  They worked amazingly together

STARS!!! All three!!!!!

The Sort Activity

More Stars of the Week

Puffins have been doing ‘MOVE to Garden’ this week with their OT.  Each student was given a task to complete about the quad area in our department.  As you can see by these lovely photos, the team kept everyone busy!

Oscar has been doing some great work in his Rebound sessions, and working hard towards his targets

Oliver has been on the tricycle twice this week, strengthening his legs and having fun at the same time

Two definite STARS!!! 

 

Finally…..#1 PROM!

Our first official Prom, happening at the school in July!

Finally finally…..

This looks like fun if you’re into this sort of thing

The Summer Fair! On the 16^th July!

Look on Eileen’s blog! Can’t wait!

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here

John & the Team

The Wheel

In the summer term on the 6th July 10am-11am we are going to hold a parent/carer session in which we will discuss the MOVE programme. The aim is to provide an overview and answer the following questions:

• What the Move Programme is?
• How is it implemented at Percy Hedley School?
• What have we learnt in our first year of MOVE?
• It will be an opportunity for families to ask questions to the move co-ordinators.

We would appreciate you expressing interest on this form and provide a preference of whether it is in school event / on TEAMS and therefore recorded.

https://forms.gle/yCYFZhpFDfstKzjp6

If there is anything else relating to MOVE which you would like us to cover in addition to what is outlined above, then please do pop this on the form, or feel free to contact us in advance of the session via email on:

c.christopher@percyhedley.org.uk or sophie.thompson@percyhedley.org.uk

Tina and Sophie, MOVE Coordinators

Hi everyone

Happy Friday! Two nice days to celebrate above there…………

Anyway, quite a big blog this week, because there’s so much going on! Lots of nice pictures too, if you only have time to look at them! 😊😊😊

Please do have a look at the information about the Parents’ Events we have lined up – we would love to see you in the school, and have been so frustrated that we haven’t been able to for so long. I’m sure you have too

Also, check out the PE, Reading, Outdoor Ed and Baking items today. Lots of good stuff happening. Hope you’re happy with it all

E-safety

I really hope that some of this stuff is proving to be useful to you. We are working very hard on this, and seeing some comments appearing too on the site, so thanks for engaging. Please do let us know what you would like more information or sessions on. We want to do much more with regard to communicating and training with you all. Philip and Maria like working with you on this. Here’s the link

https://phs.percyhedley.org.uk/category/parents-and-families/e-safety/

 Lunches!

This is all going well. Just to keep you in the loop, this is the menu for the tasting desserts and sandwiches

APPLE PIE WITH TOFFEE CREAM

MERINGUE NESTS WITH FRESH FRUIT

ASSORTED CUP CAKES

KEY LIME PIE

LEMON MERINGUE

WARM CHOCOLATE BROWNIE SERVED WITH ICE CREAM

CHEESE SCONES

DEVON SCONES

CARROT CAKE

APPLE CRUMBLE & CUSTARD

FRUIT TRIFLE

FRUIT CHEESECAKE

TRAYBAKE

 

PLOUGHMANS    HAM, CHEESE & PICKLE

HAM & PEASE PUDDING

CHICKEN & STUFFING

MOZZARELLA, SLICED TOMATO AND PESTO

SPICY COUS COUS WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES

FETA CHEESE, CHERRY TOMATO & SALAD

CORNED BEEF & RED ONION

Mmm, yes please!

 

Achievement & Progress: Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up

So we are wanting to share your son or daughter’s progress on The Wheel through a Parent/Carer Consultation appointment

The Class Teacher will make contact and arrange a date and time with you within the weeks beginning 27^th June and 4^th July. You can book an appointment at a convenient time during this two weeks, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you better. We think that about twenty minutes will be enough

At the meeting the teacher will go through progress on The Wheel, and anything else that’s relevant too, like the Key Drivers, or Annual Review targets – natural things to talk about

I hope that it will be helpful and interesting, and indicate to you how your child is making Progress – and if not, what we are doing about it. If that goes well, then we’ll do one of those every term, so three times a year, towards the end of each term, so probably in late Nov/early Dec; March or April; and in early July

Also, remember I mentioned last week the Coffee & Catch-up sessions, where you can chat with each other, see some aspects of the school that perhaps you haven’t seen yet, and talk to people in a slightly more relaxed manner. Departmental heads will be in contact about those – they sound great. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term, so roughly in October, February and perhaps May. Please do look out for messages about these from us

Hopefully both of these events will be helpful. We are trying to move on post-Covid to open up a bit more – finally! We really want to get you back into the school and talking with us again

The Wheel

Reading Becky is leading phonics and reading in the school. Here’s a message from her Phonics is continuing to be a big focus particularly within the ELTBA pathway, with students continuing their daily lessons and trying out some of our new books. When learning early reading skills it’s really important that students have a chance to read books that include only the sounds they know (these are called decodable books). It’s great for building confidence and we’re seeing students really respond well to being able to read a little more independently!  All of the books in our Phonics Library are fully decodable, so the staff team know which week of our phonics program the students are on, and which books they can choose from. We’re building our Phonics Library gradually and getting feedback from students and staff as to the types of books they’re enjoying. The non-fiction ranges were proving very popular, so we were pleased to add more non-fiction books in today. With the help of Abi & Jayden, two of our school council reps, they’re ready for students for next week! Many thanks to the parents who have sent in their preferences about literacy/phonics training. We’re working on a plan now and you’ll receive more information shortly Great stuff. And here are some pictures! Jayden and Abi enjoying a bit of reading – marvellous!   Therapy Focus – MOVE to Grow! In Paris Major MOVE session, they are transforming the Sensory Garden/Quad! This morning the class went out to make a start and wow what a start they made! Finlay and Aidan were tidying up the ground planter, removing the weeds and dead plants as well as rubbish. James and Phillip were pruning the herb planter and re-potting some of the plants. Katie and Owen were planting sunflower seeds in the tray planter and sweeping up the area! They can’t wait to see what grows and how fantastic they can make it look this term; everyone had a wonderful time outside this week, and they’ll continue to photograph the progress they make. Fabulous! And look at these photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Allotment Corner A lot (!) of people are into allotments here, which is great. I think it’s something that our pupils can really get into. Green spaces can be very therapeutic by their very nature. A group of students from Sandpipers visited a local allotment this week where they enjoyed all on offer. They’ve all participated in “Anna’s Allotment” sensory story and now they managed to visit one in real life to link their classroom learning with outside learning. From bus rides, sensory rich experiences to nurturing plants….it was a fun day for all and we can’t wait to visit again! Jack enjoyed cleaning the pond of duck weed using the net (carefully not catching fish!), replanting a hanging basket, finding worms and looking at plant roots through see through cups George found, dug out and cleaned horseradish, created a rhubarb umbrella (keeping him dry in a shower), and helped plant a runner bean which the class have grown from seed Nieve enjoying everything about our allotment trip especially travelling on the bus, smelling lavender, inspecting pumpkins and watering the plants using the hosepipe Loving all the allotment stuff, guys. Such a lovely thing to do in the spring, summer and autumn   Baking Therapy! In social communication lessons this week, the Blackbirds and the Magpies have been taking part in Baking Therapy sessions. Baking Therapy is very similar to Lego Therapy whereby students work in small groups and are each given a role to play. ‘The Chef’ has the recipe and communicates the instructions, ‘The Supplier’ has all the equipment and the ingredients and ‘The Baker’ has to make the food item. They then need to communicate and work together to create a delicious food item. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to work on their speech, language and communication skills This week, the Magpies made fruit and marshmallow kebabs The Blackbirds made coconut ice. They also created gift boxes to take home and share their treats with friends and family Lesson of the Week – Outdoor Learning with The Magpies!

Now this is the sort of thing we like. A trip out, some Outdoor Learning, and good day had by all. The Magpies had a great time on a trip to Plessey Woods recently as part of their Outdoor Learning sessions.  They participated in team building activities and explored a range of different habitats.  They even saw a deer!

Magpies have also been investigating the relationships between minibeasts in the Outdoor Learning area. There are so many at this time of year!  The boys have been finding out how they can attract more insects to the area to attract a larger variety of birds and small mammals

 

Another Lesson of the Week – Music

Paris Major are also learning about the Orchestra. Philip brought in his childhood Violin from home for everyone to experience. How lovely does this all look?

 

Another Fabulous Subject that we do – PE!

School Games Boccia

The PE department was very busy last week starting with Tuesday a small group of primary students went to their very first primary school games boccia event. They played against nine other schools from around North Tyneside and Newcastle and played really well. Both teams played 5 matches each and managed a win and a draw. They were super well behaved and a real credit to themselves and the school, so needless to say they will be going out to another school games event in the future! Well done to you all

Girl’s football

Final games of the league played this week and true to form the girls won their matches! By Helen’s calculations we might just have won the league – so go girls! 😊 We’re all so proud of how they have played as a team this term and all season. They still have a cup game to play in June so watch out for an update on that. The girls are currently receiving coaching from the Newcastle United Foundation on a Monday lunch time so hopefully we might be in for a chance at the cup. Woohoo! Go the Percy Purples

Wanderers Badminton 

Well, we are beginning to see some real up-and-coming sporting talent in the school

On Thursday Helen took another group from primary to their first Wanderers event – badminton at John Spence School – and they only went and came in second place!

The event was made up of six different stations all to do with badminton, teamwork, shuttle run, Keepy-uppies, pass the shuttle, target throw and serve. They moved round the stations having four minutes to gain as many points as they could. There were five other schools taking part and the atmosphere was brilliant

Duke of Edinburgh Cycling

Students have started their skills section of the DofE with Bike4Health. They have been learning all about their bikes, looking at gears and how and when to change them, balance and control and road safety. The second lesson this week was at the Rising Sun Country Par. They cycled six miles in total crossed roads and cycled on various different terrains. Next week they are out again looking at hill climbs

PE, physical activity, movement of all kinds and Outdoor Learning are all so important for our students, and we can’t ever really do enough of it. It really is proper learning, and enjoyable as well

 

Sunflower Watch with Woodpeckers!

Shall we check in with the Woodpeckers and see how they are doing with their sunflowers? I think we should The update last week was that Emilia in the class said “Our sunflowers are amazing. We water them” and Connor said “They need sunshine and water every day to keep them alive.” With the whole watching them get bigger each day. So………………

 

 

 

 

 

 

First week…………………………….Last week!

This week! They’ve grown!

  Engagement Star of the Week

Our Star of the Week for the Engagement Pathway is Charlie Burridge in Seagulls

She has been really engaged during sessions this week and has been using her Eye Gaze fantastically!! Great job, Charlie, you ARE a STAR!!!

 ELTBA Star of the Week 

This week the team would like to give the ELTBA Star of the Week to Amelia in Woodpeckers.  Amelia is relatively new to Percy Hedley and has worked super hard to become used to her class and her daily routine.  She is making new friends and enjoys sharing during lessons with staff. Amelia is trying new things with a lot more confidence, even if it takes her outside of her comfort zone.  The Woodpeckers love having Amelia in their class.  Amazing Amelia! 100% STAR!!!

More Stars of the Week 

Ruairi in Guinea Hens is the Star of the Week for in Kay Stage 4. He has independently been travelling to and from school, which he has done brilliantly and he has been participating in PE. What an impressive young man he is becoming. Thank you for being a STAR!!! in our school, Ruari

Brandon has prepared for his Maths exam brilliantly and even asks for additional work to practise! Fair play! That is the sign of a complete STAR!!! Well done, Brandon

Jensen has impressed everyone by showing great maturity and resilience – both really great qualities. Great work, Jensen, keep at it. STAR!!!

 

Game Day!

Here are a few photos of Matthew and Benjamin playing a game of Connect 4 (love Connect 4!) whilst working on their communication targets using symbols and switches to direct the game. Nice one guys!

 

Finally…..#1 PROM!

Our first official Prom, happening at the school in July!

 

Finally finally…..

The Summer Fair! On the 16^th July!

Look on Eileen’s blog! Can’t wait!

 

All the very best to all of you, from all of us here

John & the Team

The Wheel