Newsletters

End of Summer Term Newsletter 2022

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Plymouth High
School for Girls

 

NEWSLETTER

 

End of Summer Term 2022


HEADTEACHER'S WELCOME

As we reach the end of another school year I am mindful of just how amazing our students have been.  They have thrown themselves into all the extra-curricular opportunities at school, worked hard in their academic subjects, prepared well for their assessments and made our festivals and other whole school events such a success.  They have shown true Plymouth High spirit.

I do hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter, as usual it is a celebration of student achievement. Please do remember that you can keep up with everything that is going on in school by clicking on the latest news section of our website.

Over the summer we will be embarking on yet another round of substantial site improvement to include a fully refurbished and modernised student toilet block, refurbished history suite, remodelled library and sixth form study centre, redecorated main hall, upgraded hallways and a host of behind the scenes improvements.  The site team are doing a wonderful job of managing such an ambitious programme and I am sure that students and staff will enjoy the improved areas when we return in September.

A level examination results will be available in school from 8.30am on Thursday 18th August.

GCSE examination results will be available in school from 8.30am on Thursday 25th August.

The first day back in school for year 7 and 12 students is Friday 2nd September.  Years 8,9,10,11 and 13 return on Monday 5th September.

I wish you all a happy and restful summer break.

Very best wishes,

Mr Underdown


Student Achievements

19 Jul 2022
Izzy receives glowing report for her entry in Devon Junior Chef of the Year Finals
Izzy, Year 7, took part in this year's Devon Junior Chef of the Year and has received high prise from the director of the event, Julie Harvey.
Read more
19 Jul 2022
Gabby and Lily win 9 medals in the last swim meet of the season
Gabby Year 8, and Lily, Year 7, travelled to Luton on Friday with their club, Plymouth Leander, for their last swim meet of the season. Both girls performed exceptionally well against tough competition and came home with 9 medals between them and personal best times in their races. It was...
Read more
18 Jul 2022
Jess completed Coast to Coast 2022
Jess, year 10, completed the Coast to Coast challenge, which is a 35 mile hike between Portreath and Maenporth.  
Read more
14 Jul 2022
Megan's climbing success
Megan has completed her NICAS Level 5 Climbing qualification. She has worked hard to achieve this and is really pleased.
Read more
14 Jul 2022
Mali is announced as 16th in the country
Mali went to the English Schools Athletics finals this weekend and came 16th overall in the 300m. She competed in the relay too and came 4th in her heat and 13th overall. What fantastic results, we are so pleased for her.
Read more
14 Jul 2022
Eva has won gold!
Eva, Year 8, has won a gold medal in the girls under 13's synchronised event at the National Age Group Diving Championships.
Read more
11 Jul 2022
Melody's badminton success
Melody, Year 9, has been selected to become a member of the National Youth Voice Forum (NYVF) for Badminton England. 
Read more
24 Jun 2022
Royal Approval for Megan's DofE volunteering work
Megan, one of hundreds of students presently taking part in DofE at PHSG, was invited to meet HRH Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex on last month in recognition of her DofE Volunteering activities.
Read more
21 Jun 2022
Abi, Year 12, completes the Plymouth Half Marathon
Congratulations to Abi F who completed the Plymouth half marathon at the weekend and enjoyed it enough to want to do another!
Read more
20 Jun 2022
Mali wins both races and is selected for National finals
Huge congratulations go to Mali H, year 11, who attended the SW Schools competition this weekend where she placed 1st in both the 300m and relay despite wind and rain in Exeter on Saturday. She has now been selected for the English Schools Athletics Championships national final in Manchester on t...
Read more
20 Jun 2022
Esther reaches the top 3 in a French Slogan Competition
Our Head Student, Esther, in year 12 entered the B1-B2 category of a French Slogan competition organised by the University of Durham, and she came 3rd! 
Read more
20 Jun 2022
Abi is to be appointed as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets for the County of Devon, for 2022-23
Following a highly competitive boarding process, we are delighted to hear that Abi, Year 12, has been selected for the appointment of Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets for the County of Devon, for 2022-23.
Read more

Hummingbird

01 Jul 2022
Hummingbird wins both races in the SW Formula 24 Heats
We are delighted to announce that our Hummingbird Team have won both races in the SW Formula 24 heats and the Sustainable Award, earning them a position in the Goodwood final later this year!
Read more

Art

23 Jun 2022
Year 13 Art Exhibition
On Wednesday night we had a fantastic evening opening our A Level exhibition. Well done to our artists and thank you to all the school community that attended.
Read more

Careers

Unifrog – The Complete Destinations Platform

In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next step after school, we will now be using Unifrog; an award-winning, online careers platform. All students now have access to this website.

Unifrog brings into one place every undergraduate university course, apprenticeship, and college course in the UK, as well as other opportunities, such as School Leaver Programmes, MOOCs and every college at Oxford and Cambridge. This makes it easy for students to compare and choose the best university courses, apprenticeships or further education courses for them. They can also explore exciting opportunities further afield by looking at English-taught undergraduate programmes available in Europe and the USA.

Additionally, the platform helps students successfully apply for these opportunities by using Unifrog to write their personal statement, applications and CVs and guiding them through the process, allowing teachers to give live feedback.

Students access the platform by clicking a link in their welcome email, where they create a password and can begin using the platform. They login to Unifrog using their email address and password and they can do so from any computer, tablet or smartphone. We would encourage you to use the platform with your child so you can support them through the process of deciding their next step.

We have also set up a parent login so that you can use Unifrog as if you were a student yourself, allowing you to truly support your child. Please contact Heather Longford; our Careers Leader & Advisor, H.Longford@tsatrust.org.uk to request the form code to sign up.

For more information, go to www.unifrog.org or contact H.Longford@tsatrust.org.uk

Starting to think about what your child will want to do in the future shouldn’t be hard work! Consider what they would do if they had to get somewhere and they did not know where it was. They may ask for help and advice and they would probably look on the internet or plan a route using a map as there may be lots of different ways to get to the same place. Ultimately it would be your child who had to decide which route would be the best to take! Exploring options and career ideas is just the same;

You can find detailed information relating to Careers and Work Experience on phsg.org

Plymouth High School for Girls - Careers and Work Experience (phsg.org)

Please have a look at the new “PHSG Career Journey” tab which summarises the careers programme. You can find this towards the bottom of the page under CEIAG Entitlement & Provider Access. Click on Entitlements and Policy; then you will see a link for PHSG Careers Journey.

If there anything else you would like to see on the Careers Page please email me with your suggestions. H.Longford@tsatust.org.uk

English

28 Jun 2022
PHSG English Department receive their texts for their new diverse programme
The English department are delighted to have taken receipt of the core required reading texts for our new Year 7 and 8 programme.
Read more

Library

18 Jul 2022
PHSG Library needs you!
Please could you spare a few minutes to nominate PHSG for £1000 of National Book Tokens, to help our library purchase and expand our book collection.
Read more

PE

19 Jul 2022
PHSG Sports Day 2022
Thursday 12th July saw the return of the PHSG annual Sports day at Brickfields. 
Read more
24 Jun 2022
Swimming Gala 2022- Latimer are champions and two school records get broken.
It was great to see the return of the swimming Gala after two years off. Over 70 students took part at Marjons and after Temple had won the previous 6 gala’s Latimer were able to break their winning streak.
Read more
20 Jul 2022
Plymouth Albion Summer Camps
Train like a pro! Experience a day in the life of a professional athlete in this Pre-Season training camp. Strength & Conditioning, rugby skills and games, match analysis, decision making and position specific training!
Read more
14 Jul 2022
Free, fun fitness classes from Nuffield Health
To keep students moving over summer, Nuffield Health are offering free, fun, and inclusive weekly fitness classes at local parks and community centres across the UK as part of their Move together programme – a programme designed to encourage teenage girls to get a...
Read more
27 Jun 2022
PHSG achieves their gold mark award
We are delighted to announce that we, Plymouth High School for Girls, have achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award for the 2021/22 academic year.
Read more
08 Jun 2022
Year 8 rounders team continue their winning streak
The year 8 rounders team had another successful evening of fixtures today. They played Lipson, Notre Dame and Eggbuckland and are still undefeated. 
Read more

MFL

We have had a very busy term in MFL and we have been learning all about life in France and Germany. Year 7 have enjoyed a French breakfast, Year 8 have enjoyed creating fashion shows, Year 9 have learned all about festivals (did you know there is a pig festival in France with a human pig squealing contest!?) and all year groups have been keeping in touch with their penpals across the continent. We hope some of you will be able to practise your language skills abroad over the summer but also remember your ‘Quizlet’ or ‘Seneca’ accounts to revise vocabulary and ‘Duolingo’ is also highly recommended! We would love to hear about your experiences with French and German in September!

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Whole School

19 Jul 2022
Year 12 Enterprise Event
Special guest, Adam Corbally, was invited to join our Year 12's in their Enterprise Day. Please see below a review of the day from our very own Coevus, Year 12.
Read more
19 Jul 2022
Curriculum Enrichment Week 2022
Curriculum Enrichment Week (CEW) took place on the week commencing 4th July 2022.  Activities are not only of educational value but also provide the elements of personal and social skills students gain by taking part, making new friends, meeting old ones and having to work with others away from...
Read more
18 Jul 2022
Cultural celebration at PHSG
Here at PHSG, the courts tend to be the hub of many school activities. Friday lunchtime, as part of a celebration of cultural diversity, the courts were the scene of a spectacular Bollywood dancing lesson. Despite the heat, a large group of students enjoyed a 30 minute lesson, in what w...
Read more
18 Jul 2022
Year 10 Work Experience
Year 10 students were up for the challenge during their work experience debrief on Friday 15th July. Working in teams, the students focused on the skills and personal qualities that an individual would need to be successful in the job sector that they had recently worked in.
Read more
18 Jul 2022
PHSG Long Service Awards
PHSG were delighted to host their first Long Service Awards event for their staff. 
Read more
29 Jun 2022
Head Student Team, Trust wide conference
PHSG Head Student Team have hosted the very first Student Leadership and Student Voice conference across 14 schools across the nation, to discuss the opportunities within each school and how the work of student leaders can influence decision making at the highest level within the Trust.
Read more
29 Jun 2022
PHSG Enterprise Day with Year 9
Yesterday, our Year 9's swapped their regular timetables and used their skills to set up businesses in the Tyre Challenge, as part of the Year 9 Enterprise Day.
Read more
07 Jun 2022
WANTED: Preloved Uniform
PHSG need your help with donations for the schools uniform swap shop. If your child has grown out of any item of the NEW STYLE uniform, please donate it to the school to be swapped or sold.
Read more
27 May 2022
PHSG through the ages
PHSG will be 150 years old in 2024 and the first part of our celebration has started with the ‘PHSG through the ages’ display in the main corridor. Students and staff have really enjoyed looking at some of the old images that have been displayed in the main corridor this week...
Read more

Student & Class of the Week

19 Jul 2022
PHSG Student and Class of the week
Student of the week: Lily, 7K. ''For creating a wonderfully artistic, creative and detailed homework for English, presented in today’s English lesson. She had to present a character analysis of her choice and express her understanding in a creative way. The effort, pride and hard work...
Read more
24 Jun 2022
PHSG Student and Class of the week
Student of the week: Esther, 9A. ''For planning and running a new project in Textiles Club.'' Nominated by Miss Westaway. Awarded 10 House points.  Class of the week: Year 10 Silver DofE Group. ''For completing 6 days of training, practice and assessed expeditions to...
Read more
07 Jun 2022
PHSG Student and Class of the week
Student of the week: Holly 10WAN, ''For her Log Graphic work. She designed a plaque logo to go on all of our Bee Planter. The design incorporates the Polleanize Community Company and the PHSG logo as well.'' Nominated by Mr Watson. Awarded 10 House points. Class of the week: 11RRY...
Read more

School Notices

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.


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

Non Pupil Day - Year 7 and Year 12 Students in school only
All Day
02
September
All students back to school
All Day
05
September
Year 7 Camping Trip
All Day
From 05 Sep until 09 Sep
05
September
Expectations Evening Year 12 (5pm -6pm)
All Day
14
September
Expectations Evening Year 7 (5pm-6pm)
All Day
14
September
11+ Examinations
All Day
17
September
Year 10 Art Trip - date TBC
All Day
From 19 Sep until 23 Sep
19
September
Open Evening (4.30pm - 6.30pm)
All Day
20
September
11+ Examinations
All Day
24
September
Non pupil day
All Day
26
September
English School Swimming Association SW Region Finals
All Day
28
September
Year 10 Expectations evening (5.530pm - 6.30pm)
All Day
05
October
National Poetry Day
All Day
06
October
Hummingbird Final at Goodwood
All Day
From 08 Oct until 10 Oct
08
October
Year 8 Enterprise Day
All Day
11
October
Year 8 & 9 Evening (5pm - 6.30pm)
All Day
13
October
KS5 Art Trip
All Day
14
October
Head Student Team Launch
All Day
17
October
Year 11 & Year 13 Evening (5pm - 6.30pm)
All Day
20
October
Non Pupil Day
All Day
21
October

Term dates

Calendar Term Dates 2022-2023

Term
Starts
Ends

One

1st September 2022

21st October 2022

Autumn Half Term 24th October 2021 31st October 2022

Two

 1st November 2022

16th December 2022

Christmas Holidays 19th December 2022 2nd January 2023

Three

3rd January 2023

10th February 2023

Spring Half term 13th February 2023 17th February 2023

Four

20th February 2023

 1st April 2023

Easter Holidays 3rd April 2023 14th April 2023

Five

17th April 2023

26th May 2023

Summer Half term 29th May 2023 2nd June 2023

Six

5th June 2023

21st July 2023

Summer Holidays 24th July 2023 September TBC

 

Curriculum Enrichment Week:

Monday 3rd July—7th July 2023

 

Non Pupil Days

1st September 2022

2nd September 2022 - Only Year 7 and 12 in school

26th September 2022

21st October 2022

20th February 2022

1st May 2023 (Bank Holiday)

Week B
All Day
From 18 Jul until 22 Jul
18
July