NEWSLETTER
End of Autumn Term 2021
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HEADTEACHER'S WELCOME
Dear Students, Parents and Carers,
Hello everyone and welcome to our Christmas edition newsletter.
As usual, we have a bumper publication. There are articles in the newsletter on our charitable work and how PHSG has supported local Christmas appeals, information on how to access our virtual Carols and Mince Pies event, the outcome of our Christmas Card competition, a variety of articles showcasing what our students have been up to and details of our 2022 Student leadership team.
Student leadership is a central feature of life at Plymouth High and I am delighted with all of our new student leaders; House Captains, Junior Captains, subject Captains, Head Student Team and Earth Alliance. Indeed, our website details much of what our student leaders do and is well worth a visit.
Following my letter to you about January lateral flow tests, I can confirm that we will be able to complete all the tests (for those who have consented) on Tuesday 4th January. Students will be given the times of their test when they arrive in school.
I would be grateful if you would also ensure that your child has completed a lateral flow test on either Sunday 2nd January or Monday 3rd January. Anyone who tests positive should self-isolate and book a PCR test at the earliest opportunity. Testing before returning to school increases our confidence that we will not bringing Covid-19 back into school after the holiday.
The last day of school is Friday 17th December and we will finish at 12.45pm. Students who usually catch DHSB buses will still be able to do so. All students return to school on Tuesday 4th January 2022.
I wish you a happy and relaxing Christmas holiday and best wishes for the New Year.
Simon Underdown.
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03 Dec 2021
Harmani in 10DVS was invited to represent the Saltash Fire Cadets at the Cenotaph in London for the 2021 Remembrance Parade.
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03 Dec 2021
We are delighted to announce that some of our Sixth Form Students have been invited to interviews at both Oxford and Cambridge University.
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29 Nov 2021
Abi, 12VAN, has been working in partnership with Earth Alliance and Pollenize Plymouth on echo project to increase pollination in urban environments.
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25 Nov 2021
Megan 9K has been competing in the National Youth Climbing Series following her win in the Team Bouldering League last term.
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12 Nov 2021
Staff and Students from PHSG took part into the Tour de Moor last term in order to raise money for St Lukes.
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Duke of Edinburgh Updates
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07 Dec 2021
The payment deadline for the Year 9 Bronze DofE Expedition in July 2022 is Friday 17th December 2021.
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08 Nov 2021
On Friday 15/10/21 both Year 12 and 13 Art students experienced a valuable snapshot into both established and up and coming organisations within our city. The day allowed our students a deeper understanding of career paths they could follow if they decided to take their creative practice beyond...
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15 Dec 2021
Students in our Year 9 Design and Technology class have been designing bags under the theme ‘supporting people’, investigating how products they design can support their target market or improve their current use of a product.
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15 Dec 2021
Students have been completing an Interior design project alongside Cornish interiors and Plymouth College of Art. All students have designed and printed their own block print design across their chosen fabric and today constructed this into a lampshade.
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15 Dec 2021
The Year 7 Design and Technology students have been learning multiple skills this term by designing and making cushions.
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15 Dec 2021
We have had a wonderful time this term at our ‘Razzamataz After school club’. The girls work so hard each week. We have been learning dances from Six, songs from Wicked and doing a mixture of devised and scripted drama. It is fantastic to watch the girls’ confidence improve week af...
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07 Dec 2021
Throughout December, the library have been hosting festive events for students during the break and lunchtimes.
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26 Nov 2021
Each year, our school Library Team and Student Librarians host the PHSG Annual Book Quiz. The Team were delighted to welcome the event back following the restrictions over the last couple of years and the event was a huge hit with students and teachers alike.
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11 Nov 2021
Congratulations to Esther, Elizabeth, Rosa and Emma for being successful in their application for Student Librarian. They all performed exceptionally well during their interview and are already proving to be a real asset to the library.
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Library news
It was great to see the PHSG Annual Book Quiz back this year. The event was a huge hit with students and teachers alike. The ‘Agatha Quizities’ were crowned winners. To read more please see the article above.
Student Librarians.
Congratulations to Esther, Elizabeth, Rosa and Emma for being successful in their application for student librarian. They all performed exceptionally well during their interview and are already proving to be a real asset to the library. To read more on this, please see the article above.
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Library Advent Challenge.
Well done to all the students that participated in the advent challenge. Each day during December there has been a new challenge. We have loved reading your poems, finding out about your favourite authors and trying to baffle you with our Christmas anagrams. As it stands, 7A are the winners with the most entries!
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Book Review Baubles
A big thank you to all the students that helped with one of our Christmas displays, by filling in a ‘book review bauble.’ Writing book reviews is a skill in itself and reading a review by a peer can be really helpful if you’re stuck on what to read next. Book reviews can also be submitted on Accessit.
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15 Dec 2021
The PHSG Science Fair was created and managed by the school Science Captains and offered to years 7 to 11. Students were given the opportunity to create a project on a science topic of their choice and display it in one large fair.
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03 Dec 2021
On Wednesday 10th November a group of students sat the Senior UKMT Mathematics Challenge. The 90-minute multiple choice challenge promotes the students love of problem-solving.
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13 Dec 2021
PHSG Year 8 French class get their first return letters from the cultural and educational exchange project with the students of Mayotte.
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07 Dec 2021
This week saw the end of the Chinese club Autumn course, students celebrated with homemade Chinese themed food and traditional Chinese folk dancing.
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07 Dec 2021
The 6th Dec is St. Nikolaustag in Germany and Year 8 celebrated it in a traditional German way during their German lesson today.
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15 Dec 2021
To enhance their learning experience, our PHSG A Level PE class went to visit the superb facilities at the Marjon Sports Science lab last week.
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26 Nov 2021
We are delighted to announce that the Sports Council has been announced for 2022.
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26 Nov 2021
Our Year 9 Netball Team took to the courts once again this week to play against some our local school competitors.
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25 Nov 2021
Our U14 netball team made it through to the Devon round of the National Schools Netball Tournament in Exeter on Thursday 18th November.
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Explore all the latest information and opportunities to support your career options with the Heart of the South West’s free-to-use Student Padlet
https://hotswcareershub.padlet.org/jacquelinehobson/yfp4rek12r1g196h
Parents, not sure about the options that are available for your child? This new website from our Partners at Heart of the South West Careers is packed full of information for Parents/Carers
Save this link to your favourites or access the Student Padlet via the Student's section on the PHSG.org website by clicking on The Careers and Work experience page.
Any questions please contact Heather Longford, Careers Leader & Advisor
H.Longford@tsatrust.org.uk
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13 Dec 2021
The winners have been selected for the PHSG Christmas card competition.
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03 Dec 2021
Last month we launched our support for the Plymouth Homeless Shoebox appeal and we are delighted to announce that this year we have had 82 shoeboxes donated!
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25 Nov 2021
PHSG are delighted to announce the successful applicants for Head Student Team 2022.
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08 Nov 2021
On Friday 5th November, PHSG students conducted a silent protest on the school grounds with a message of 'Enough Talking, Time for Action' in support of the COP26 Youth Day.
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19 Nov 2021
Today students took place in a range of activities to raise money for the annual Children in Need campaign.
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15 Nov 2021
Throughout the week Plymouth High’s LGBTQIA+ Alliance (lead by Lauren in 13MCA) sold rainbow shoelaces for £2 per pair to support th Stonewall charity. On Friday, the students were able to show their support by wearing them in school.
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16 Dec 2021
We are delighted to announce the successful applicants for Earth Alliance 2022
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Student & Class of the Week
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07 Dec 2021
Student of the week: Eleanor, 10RIC. ''Eleanor joined my PE Outdoor and Adventurous Activities group from another PE group back on early October. Having taken part in Mountain Biking she is now Climbing where she has really excelled, both in terms of her climbing skills and ability. It has b...
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29 Nov 2021
Student of the week: Niah, 10K. ''For volunteering to support a new student in Year 10'' Nominated by Miss Boyle, Awarded 10 House points.
Class of the week: 7T in PSHE Class, ''For participating in thoughtful and open discussions.'' Nominated by Miss Yarwood...
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25 Nov 2021
Student of the week: Issy, 11T ''For achieving one of her highest grades in a Biology test.'' Nominated by Dr Doddrell. Awarded 10 House points.
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15 Nov 2021
Student of the week: Jacob, 13MAL, ''For teaching his class about the carbonate buffering system of the blood last Friday, doing a very good job. He even had a retrieval task and a salient slide.'' in Chemistry class, nominated by Mrs Hatfield.
Class of the week: Year 13 Diversity...
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03 Nov 2021
Class of the Week: Year 10 PE/Mountain Biking Group with Mr Payne. ''For choosing the toughest route to complete on their last lesson with lots of big climbs, fast downhills, demanding single tracks and lots of hazards to overcome. Amazing - well done!''
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PARKING
Please can we ask Parents for consideration when parking near the school, there have been some instances where it has been difficult for our students to walk safely due to the volume of cars.
Be reminded that there is NO PARKING allowed on the double yellow lines outside the school main gates.
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Attendance
A polite request for parents & carers to advise the school of the following regarding student appointments and illness:
- Provide medical evidence indicating attendance at the dentist, doctor or optician before the arranged appointment unless an emergency situation has arisen.
Whenever possible all appointments should be made outside of school hours. Students must be collected at Reception from parent /carer unless written permission has been received prior to the appointment.
- Provide written explanations/email of any absence and medical evidence for whole day appointments as well as medical evidence for absence from school due to illness after 3 consecutive days.
Medical evidence may be any of the following:
Hospital discharge letter
Note from your GP
Screenshot copy of your appointment notification or eConsult from your GP
Copy of the prescription or copy of the medication label
Note from a pharmacist
Note from any other health care professional (e.g. physiotherapist, optician, podiatrist etc)
Emails to be sent to: absence@plymouthhighschoolforgirls.org.uk
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Late arrivals
Please find details below which may help students in the event of cancelled or delayed bus services arrive to school promptly and safely.
Skipper ticket
The Skipper ticket can be used on Plymouth buses across different bus companies on the following buses:
- Go Cornwall Bus
- Oakleys Coaches
- Plymouth Citybus
- Stagecoach South West
- Tally Ho
You can travel in Plymouth, Torpoint, Saltash, Roborough, Langage, the built up areas of Ivybridge, Lee Mill, Smithaleigh, Wembury and Heybrook Bay.
 Skipper ticket map [PDF, 360KB]
Please visit the following link for more information https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/parkingandtravel/publictransport/skipperticket
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HOME SCHOOL COMMUNICATION
Students may contact staff if they have queries, firstly by visiting them in their department area, and only contacting them using school email system if they really can’t see them in person.
Parents may wish to contact staff. The following outlines what the Headteacher regards as important considerations regarding home/school communication, particularly by email:
¨ All communication must respect the dignity of the recipient.
¨ Within 48 hours: receipt of an email will be acknowledged by school either by the person contacted, or the most appropriate person able to deal with the issue (term time only, not after 5pm nor over a weekend).
¨ Within 5 working days: school will provide a response to the email by telephone or in writing, or e-mail. This may include informing the sender that more time is required to provide a full response. If this is the case, staff should indicate a time frame for a response.
¨ Staff will not be expected to monitor or respond to emails outside their normal working hours (nor at weekends and published school holidays).
Whilst this is extremely rare, if a member of staff receives an e-mail or call which is of an aggressive tone, sets unreasonable demands or could otherwise be interpreted as harassing, they will refer this to a senior line manager in the school, who will decide if consideration needs to be given to dealing with further communication under our Complaints Policy.
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PARKING
Out of respect for our neighbours and for health and safety reasons there is NO PARKING on the school site or for collecting/dropping off students on the double yellow lines outside our school gates.
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SCHOOL NURSE DROP IN
Don’t forget for our students, the School Nurse visits school to provide a “drop in” clinic on Friday Week A at lunchtime. Just pop along to the Counselling Room.
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STUDENTS LEAVING SCHOOL DURING THE SCHOOL DAY
For safety reasons if your daughter has to leave school during the school day, and you are unable to collect her, she must have a note in her planner with clear instructions that you give permission for her to leave unaccompanied. Without your express instructions to this effect we will not allow any students to leave school unless they are collected by an adult from reception.
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NUT ALLERGY
Please be aware that we have students who are severely allergic to nuts and we would, therefore, appreciate where possible that you try to avoid putting nuts into packed lunches.
Although we are not going completely nut free, we have stopped selling packets of nuts as snacks in the canteen to try to reduce the risk to them and appreciate your support.
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SOCIAL MEDIA & ONLINE SAFETY
Our Children are spending more and more time on their mobile phones. Making them aware of the dangers of social media, and protecting them from these dangers can be very challenging. These are some of the better known sites that pose risks to children—are they on your child’s phone home screen?
To help safeguard your child please regularly take the time to talk to them about the way they use their social media apps:
Do they always know who they are engaging with?
Do they share their passwords?
Do they feel comfortable with what they are seeing and doing?
Do they feel pressure from “friends” to do/say things they don’t want to?
For more information please regarding online safety, please visit our website: www.phsg.org/
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Calendar Term Dates 2021-2022
Term
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Starts
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Ends
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One
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7th September 2021
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21st October 2021
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| Autumn Half Term |
25th October 2021 |
29th October 2021 |
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Two
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2nd November 2021
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17th December 2021
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| Christmas Holidays |
19th December 2021 |
3rd January 2022 |
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Three
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4th January 2022
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18th February 2022
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| Spring Half term |
21st February 2022 |
25th February 2022 |
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Four
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28th February 2022
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7th April 2022
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| Easter Holidays |
11th April 2022 |
22nd April 2022 |
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Five
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25th April 2022
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27th May 2022
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| Summer Half term |
30th May 2022 |
3rd June 2022 |
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Six
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6th June 2022
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22nd July 2022
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| Summer Holidays |
25th July 2022 |
6th September 2022 |
Curriculum Enrichment Week
Monday 4th July—8th July 2022
Non Pupil Days
6th September 2021
1st Oct 2021
22nd October 2021,
8th April 2022 (additional Bank Holiday for the Queens Platinum Jubilee)
2nd May 2022 (Bank Holiday)
25th July 2022
26th July 2022
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