HEADTEACHERS WELCOME

Welcome to this edition of the Plymouth High newsletter. Our students have been so busy this term, getting involved in such a wide variety of activities and all this in spite of the COVID19 related restrictions.  Through these pages you will get a sense of the talent, drive and ambition that marks out a Plymouth High student.

On our website, we share with you our latest news and events so that you can keep track of what the students are up to in real time.  By clicking here you can stay updated on school life throughout the year.

Our article writers have also been hard at it with a bumper issue of the student's own 'Hear Me Out' magazine.  Recent editions of the 'Hear Me Out' magazine are available to read here on our website.  Well done to everyone involved in its publication.  

Although the Government has relaxed the conditions around social distancing for Christmas, we must still be vigilant about following safe practices.  I share with you here the rules for Tier 2 which govern our movements outside of the Christmas period 23rd to 27th of December.

If your child develops COVID19 symptoms during the holidays, they will need to be tested. Please contact the NHS track and trace during this time.  If your child is unable to return to school on the 4th of January, please contact the school in the usual way on the 4th of January.  On our website here you can find school information regarding COVID19.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.  The Plymouth High team have worked tirelessly to provide the best possible environment for our students and we very much appreciate your support and kindness.

On behalf of everyone at Plymouth High, I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas break.

Very best wishes,

Simon Underdown.

Headteacher.

Art Captains announced for 2021/2022

We are delighted to announce that Jaimi M and Ria J will be the Art Captains for 21/22. Congratulations!

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.

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/