Newsletters

Newsletter Spring Half Term 2021

Plymouth High
School for Girls

 

NEWSLETTER

 

Spring Half Term 2021


HEADTEACHERS WELCOME

Welcome to the Spring half term newsletter.  Our students and staff have been coming to terms with the demands of online learning and have risen to the challenge wonderfully.  Teachers have been trying out a variety of learning styles and encouraging students to put their cameras on and to speak up in class. Our parents have provided super encouragement at home and we are very grateful for the support.

Very sadly we lost one of our long serving and much loved colleagues this half term.  Julie Wonnacott had been at Plymouth High for over 10 years and was a firm favourite with staff and students alike.  We have prepared a booklet containing a collection of memories of Julie for the family to keep  So many of our staff and students took part and demonstrated yet again what a thoughtful community we have here at Plymouth High.  Julie will never be forgotten.  

As you will remember, we officially joined the Thinking Schools Academy Trust on the 1st of February and are very excited about the possibilities this represents for our whole school community.  Plymouth Hgh is the first school in the Thinking Schools South West hub and we are hopeful that more schools will soon join.

I do hope you find this edition of our newsletter interesting and enjoying finding out about all that has been going on at school.

I wish you all a happy half term holiday and hope that you are all able to have a rest and enjoy some down time.

Best wishes,

Simon Underdown.


Student Achievements

12 Jan 2021
Head Student Team 2021
2021 welcomes the arrival of the new PHSG Head Student Team, Jess, Dominique, Maisy and Naomi.
Read more
08 Feb 2021
Jenny, Year 8, cooks up a mulitcultural family feast
Jenny put her food technology skills to use this weekend by cooking a family feast inspired by the far east.
Read more
15 Jan 2021
Issue 2 of The Glass Ceiling has been released
Previous students have released their second issue of the their online feminist magazine 'The glass ceiling'.
Read more
28 Jan 2021
Heloise is all set to follow her music dreams
Student Heloise in Year 11 has been accepted into the Music Junior Academy at Plymouth University
Read more
28 Jan 2021
Oxbridge News
Cambridge have released their offers today and we are delighted to hear that  Ella R has been offered a place at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge to read Human and Political Sciences (Anthropology and Philosophy strands are where her interest lies)
Read more
13 Jan 2021
PHSG students offered Oxford University placement.
We are delighted to share the success of two of our Year 13 students who have been offered places at Oxford University for this September.
Read more

Plymouth High School for Girls would like to say a huge congratulations to all of the Students who have secured university / further education placements, including our Year 11 students who have applied to 6th Forms and colleges. We wish all the students the very best of luck in their next steps, whatever venture they have decided to pursue. 

04 Feb 2021
sMiles Challenge update
We did it! PHSG staff managed 1534 miles in January as a team - what an amazing effort.
Read more
25 Jan 2021
Holocaust Memorial Day 2021
'Be the light in the darkness' is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2021.  Holocaust remembrance is important to us at PHSG, therefore we are marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 on 27th January to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered during the Ho...
Read more

Duke of Edinburgh Updates

04 Feb 2021
Year 9,10 & 11 Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award Summer Expeditions 2021 - important information.
Despite the pandemic, PHSG DofE is hopeful that the planned Expeditions for Year 9(Bronze),Year 10(Silver) and Year 11(Silver) due to take place in May, June and July 2021 will still take place.
Read more

Departmental News

Design and Technology

08 Feb 2021
Year 9 Textiles, bagging their designs.
The textiles department would normally be busy with the hum of sewing machines and print press operations at this time of year as designs are turned into practicals and students learn how to use the equipment to make their products. During lockdown, the practical elements of subject's, such as d...
Read more

PE

04 Feb 2021
PE During Lockdown
We have asked our students to spend time away from their screens being active during core PE as we all adjust to working online.
Read more
27 Jan 2021
Devon Virtual Games
Devon Virtual School Games are launching some challenges over the next few weeks where students from PHSG can compete against other students in the county.
Read more

Student & Class of the Week

09 Feb 2021
PHSG Student and Class of the Week
Student of the Week: Isabella, 10VAR. ''She was quite ill with COVID and missed a couple weeks of lessons but has managed to catch up and produce some fantastic work over the last two days. I really think she deserves some recognition for this. She also kept in touch throughout....
Read more
01 Feb 2021
PHSG Student and Class of the Week
Student of the Week: Beatrice, Year13. ''For making a great Wordpress website of her Artwork for her Degree course application - good luck Bea! She has been working hard this lockdown pushing her expressive drawing skills. Very impressive.''  Nominated by Mr Varrall. A...
Read more
27 Jan 2021
PHSG Student and Class of the Week
Student of the Week: Nadia, 8A. ''Nadia has been sending in evidence for the sMiles during lockdown competition almost daily and is very motivated to keep active. She is polite in her communications and it always puts a smile on my face to hear what she has been up to.'' Nominated by...
Read more

School Notices

01 Feb 2021
PHSG officially join the Thinking Schools Family.
Following a successful consultation, PHSG have officially joined the Thinking School's family today.
Read more

Stuart Gardner, the Chief Executive of Thinking Schools Academy Trust, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Plymouth High School for Girls to the Thinking Schools family, making us a close-knit 16 schools. Their motto ‘For Life, Not School, We Learn’ is very much on brand for our Trust as we are unique in ensuring that our students leave school fully equipped with the tools they need to reflect on the knowledge learned in life. 

“The transition period has seen teams from the school and our Trust working collaboratively in providing a firm foundation to kick-start our new and exciting beginnings.

“We are really looking forward to working even more closely with PHSG as they become an incredible part of our Trust, with a successful future ahead.”

08 Feb 2021
Stay In for Sleep Easy – The Big Sleep Over!
YMCA Exeter has been running Sleep Easy for 10 years and this year is extra special!  We are putting together a week of free activities for children and families over February half-term and hosting a livestreamed event on Friday evening. If you participate in the scheme, we are very ha...
Read more

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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/


School Calender

Governors Visit Fortnight
All Day
From 22 Feb until 05 Mar
22
February
School Nurse - Drop In
1:30pm – 2:30pm
From 26 Feb and on Friday every 2 weeks until 01 Apr
26
February
World Book Day
All Day
04
March
Skills South West Yr12 tbc
All Day
10
March
Yr 12 Parents Evening
All Day
11
March
Comic Relief Mufti
All Day
12
March
School Nurse - Drop In
1:30pm – 2:30pm
From 26 Feb and on Friday every 2 weeks until 01 Apr
12
March
Year 12 UCAS Fair
All Day
23
March
Yr 10 History Trip TBC
All Day
26
March
School Nurse - Drop In
1:30pm – 2:30pm
From 26 Feb and on Friday every 2 weeks until 01 Apr
26
March
Yr 8 Parents Evening TBC
All Day
31
March
End of Term
All Day
01
April
Gym/Dance Festival
All Day
01
April

Term dates

2020-2021

Autumn Term:

Thursday 3rd September 2020 – Friday 18th December 2020

Half term: Monday 26th October – Monday 2nd November 2020

Spring Term:

Monday 4th January 2021 – Thursday 1st April 2021

Half term: Friday 12th February – Friday 19th February 2021

Summer Term:

Monday 19th April 2021 – Friday 23rd July 2021

May Day: Monday 3rd May 2021

Half term: Monday 31st May – Friday 4th June 2021

Curriculum Enrichment Week

Monday 11th July—16th July 2021

 

The non-pupil days are:

Tuesday 1st September 2020 (staff inset)

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 (staff inset)

Friday 25th September 2020 (staff inset)

Friday 23rd October 2020 (staff inset)

Monday 2nd November 2020 (commuted holiday)

Friday 12th February 2021(commuted holiday)

Date in June tbc 2021 (staff inset)

 

2021-2022

Autumn Term:

Tuesday 7th September 2021 - Friday 17th December 2021

Autumn Half Term:         Monday 25th October 2021 - Friday 29th October 2021

Spring Term:

Tuesday 4th January 2022 - Thursday 8th April 2022

Spring Half Term: Monday 21st February 2022 - Friday 25th February 2022

Summer Term:

Monday 25th April 2022 - 22nd July 2022

Summer Half Term: Monday 30th May 2022 - Friday 3rd June 2022

Curriculum Enrichment Week:

Monday 4th July - Friday 8th July 2022

 

The Non Pupil Days are:

Monday 6th September 2021

Friday 22nd October 2021

Monday 2nd May 2022 (Bank Holiday)

TBC June 2022

Monday 25th July 2022

Tuesday 26th July 2022

Options Form Yr 9 deadline
All Day
11
February