NEWSLETTER
End of Autumn Term 2023
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HEADTEACHER'S WELCOME
Welcome to our Christmas newsletter
The Autumn term was packed with events and has been a real opportunity for our students and staff to shine. Whilst there are many highlights, a few really stand out.
During anti-bullying week we were lucky enough to have a wonderful piece of artwork displayed at the front of school to showcase the important work our anti-bullying student ambassadors do every week. Our students were even interviewed by the local news and appeared on television.
Student leaders across the school have been amazing, helping staff to select the 2024 student leadership teams for; Head Student Team, Earth Alliance and the many House positions. Student leadership is a central theme of life at Plymouth High and we are always delighted with the quantity and quality of applications from our student body for these crucial positions.
Our careers service was awarded the converted Quality in Careers Standard this term. This award is only given to schools who excel in careers advice and careers education across all years. Our motto, for life not school we learn, is all about ensuring our young people are equipped and prepared for adult life and providing first rate careers education is a big part of that.
Finally, a Christmas newsletter wouldn’t be complete without a mention of all the Christmas activities that have been going on in school. A big thank you to all the staff and students who have made our Christmas events such a success and to our entire community for your support and encouragement during every school week, it really does make such a difference.
Wishing you all a happy and restful Christmas.
Best wishes,
Mr Underdown
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05 Dec 2023
Freya, 12BNS, successfully completed The Volleyball England Assistant Coach Award. The course consisted of two online sessions and one practical session. At the age of 16, Freya was one of the youngest members to attend and complete the course. This qualification will allow Freya to assist her...
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21 Nov 2023
Esmee, 7K, took part in a team competition in the Devon Championships Zinc Under 13 over the weekend and were delighted that their team were placed 3rd.
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16 Nov 2023
Plymouth High was one of only 250 schools across the UK who have received a shipment of mussels to be cooked and eaten by our wonderful Year 10 students.
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12 Dec 2023
A round up of the events that have taken place in the library this term.
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04 Dec 2023
Ebenezer the elf will be reading a new book each night and in the morning he will leave clues for students to try and guess what he's been reading. A little festive fun for all to take part, and a chance to win a chocolate treat each day
There will be a new clue each day until 13th December...
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30 Nov 2023
Part of the student librarian role is to complete a project which will be a benefit to the students and the library. Hope, 9A, used her project to guide and encourage students who ordinarily do not like reading, or find it enjoyable.
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03 Nov 2023
8 PHSG students took part in the UKMT senior Maths challenge in October and every single student who volunteered to take part achieved a certificate!
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SPARX MATHS
Thank you to the students and families that have helped students to maintain great routines for their weekly sparx maths completion.
Students have continued to persevere and this year we have seen a real shift in the number of students managing to reach 100% by using the videos, friends and relatives, our Top Up Tuesday club and their own teacher to solve the problems that are causing them the most difficulty. These are the gains that will make all of the difference as students close their own gaps that sparx has identified!
We have continued to perform to an outstanding level as a whole school and 98% of our students reach 100% completion weekly. We would like to let you know that there is a sparx break over the holidays and that in January the deadline each week will be a Tuesday at 2.30pm. We hope that this allows more students to take advantage of our Top Up Tuesday support club on a Tuesday lunch time from 2pm in LRC1.
Well done to all of our year 7-11 students for their work ethic with homework this year!
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05 Dec 2023
The Year 7 Netball A and B teams have been playing in the Plymouth Schools Central Venue League at Hele’s this term.
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24 Nov 2023
The PE department at PHSG work hard to ensure our students are in the best possible learning environment, by experiencing the use of the most specialised venues in the city. This week, our year 10's heading to the Plymouth Life Centre, where they could practice their climbing ski...
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09 Nov 2023
33 PHSG students represented the school today in the Plymouth Schools Cross Country Championships at the Staddiscombe playing fields.
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PE kit reminder:
Please remember that jewellery is not to be worn in PE lessons. Earings must be removed or covered except for trampolining. Lots of classes will be trampolining after Christmas and earrings MUST be removed for health and safety reasons. Please bare this in mind if you are thinking of getting your child's ears pierced as they won't be able to trampoline.
Year 8 are on Football at Harpers after Christmas. Please ensure you have a coat to keep you warm and consider wearing leggings or tracksuit bottoms rather than a skort or shorts.
Parent pay will be available for any parents who have signed consent forms for their child to take part in extracurricular activities after the Christmas holidays.
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13 Dec 2023
This week, our Year 13 Chemistry experiment determined the percentage of copper in 1p pieces, using titrimetric analysis.
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21 Nov 2023
The PHSG Science Fair was created and managed by student leaders, 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 in the gym.
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14 Dec 2023
On Wednesday 13th December, PHSG hosted their annual Awards evening. The event celebrates student achievements and provides the opportunity for the 2022/23 Year 11 & Year 13's to collect their national certificates.
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13 Dec 2023
In the spirit of holiday cheer, students at PHSG have gathered for the annual Christmas lunch. Laughter, delicious aromas, and the sound of holiday tunes filled the air as students enjoyed a special meal to mark the joyous season.
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13 Dec 2023
PHSG are delighted to announce the successful applicants for Head Student Team 2024.
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05 Dec 2023
Plymouth High School have been offered the exciting opportunity to purchase prom dresses at a heavily discounted rate. We would like to invite you to this exciting and exclusive Plymouth High event on Sunday the 17th December between 10 am and 2pm. At Q Store, Eden House, Moorlands Trading Esta...
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27 Nov 2023
Each year PHSG holds a Christmas card competition, with the winner having their design representing the school as the official school Christmas Card, which is sent to affiliated schools and PHSG friends across the country. We are delighted to announce that the winners have been selected fo...
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21 Nov 2023
Last month we launched our support for the Christmas Box appeal for Ukraine, and we are delighted to announce that this year we have had 79 shoeboxes donated!
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16 Nov 2023
Earth Alliance and their Team have collaborated with Derriford Hospital, hoping to aid their journey toward becoming more sustainable.
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13 Nov 2023
An exciting morning at PHSG as the Plymouth Artists together trailer arrives in support of Anti Bullying week. Our anti bullying ambassadors spoke about the campaign with ITV, who will be broadcasting this week on their local evening news segment.
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10 Nov 2023
As a Naval city, many of our students and staff members have connections to our British Military. PHSG marked Armistice Day today with the national two-minute silence held at 11am. Students throughout the week have been contributing to the #weareone event in the Library and our studen...
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31 Oct 2023
Throughout October, schools across the Thinking Schools Academy Trust have come together to mark Black History Month (BHM) for our first #WeAreOne event of the year. It's an opportunity to inspire and empower future generations, while reflecting on the national theme. PHSG students have ref...
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12 Dec 2023
Last week, PHSG 6th form students took part in their first U18 Basketball fixture at DHSB. Unfortunately, it wasn't the result the students would have liked, but it was a great game and atmosphere. A shout-out to Dan for some excellent shooting. Well done everyone!
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30 Oct 2023
Plymouth High School for Girls has held the prestigious Investor in Careers award since 2002. Following our reassessment, in October 2023, we are delighted to announce that Plymouth High School for Girls has successfully completed and achieved the Quality in Careers Standard, through Investor in Car...
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Next Meeting
16th January at 6pm via Teams.
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Student & Class of the Week
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11 Dec 2023
Student of the week: Sanskruti, 11T, ''Fantastic effort in her GCSE mock geography after only starting the subject less than 2 months ago.'' Nominated by Mr Graves. Awarded 10 House Points
Class of the week: Year 9 Food and Nutrition Class with Mrs Brown. ''They...
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27 Nov 2023
Student of the week: Hannah, 8K, ''For the highest achieving English Literature essay of the whole year group. Her eloquent phrasing, preparation and contextual knowledge were exemplary and her work has now been entered into our exemplar library. Hannah continuously exhibits the rigorous aca...
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Reporting Absence
If a student is absent, then parents should contact the school each day of absence before 9am.
Tel number: 033 33 602230 (Option 1 then Option 1 for 6th Form, Option 1 then Option 2 for all other year groups).
Email: absence@plymouthhighschoolforgirls.org.uk
Parents must notify the school on the first day of an unplanned absence – for example, if their child is unable to attend due to ill health – by 8.30am or as soon as practically possible.
Parents should ring the main school phone number and report their child’s absence to the Attendance Officer together with the reason.
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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.
There have been occasions where students have been late leaving for a sports fixture because parents had parked blocking the minibuses. Students can exit the site via Alton Road, and parents may consider this a convenient pickup point or one of the other streets surrounding the school.
Be reminded that there is NO PARKING allowed on the double yellow lines outside the school main gates.
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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 2023-2024
Term
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Starts
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Ends
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One
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4th September 2023(Year 7 & 12 only)
5th September 2023 (All Year Groups)
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20th October 2023
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| Autumn Half Term |
23rd October 2023 |
27th October 2023 |
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Two
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30th October 2023
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15th December 2023
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| Christmas Holidays |
18th December 2023 |
1st January 2024 |
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Three
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2nd January 2024
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9th February 2024
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| Spring Half term |
12th February 2024 |
16th February 2024 |
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Four
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19th February 2024
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28th March 2024
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| Easter Holidays |
29th March 2024 |
12th April 2024 |
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Five
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15th April 2024
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24th May 2024
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| Summer Half term |
27th May 2024 |
31st May 2024 |
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Six
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3rd June 2024
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19th July 2024
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| Summer Holidays |
22nd July 2024 |
September TBC |
Curriculum Enrichment Week
Monday 8th July—12th July 2024
Non Pupil Days
1st September 2023
9th October 2023
20th October 2023
6th May 2024 (Bank Holiday).
22nd July 2024
23rd July 2024
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