NEWSLETTER
Summer Half Term 2023
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HEADTEACHER'S WELCOME
Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter. It is our chance to share with everyone some of the amazing things our students have been getting up to.
We all enjoyed the year 11 and 13 celebration events in school. They were an opportunity for everyone to come together and say a big ‘well done’ to our public examination groups for their hard work and dedication. Preparing for examinations is a challenge and our students showed themselves to be resilient and utterly determined. We are so proud of them all and wish them well.
We have become an OCR (examination board) Ambassador Centre for English Literature. Our English team work tirelessly to provide the best possible literature experience for our students and to be one of only 20 schools selected for this role is a mark of their expertise and enthusiasm.
Our mathematicians entered the UK Mathematics Trust challenge in large numbers this year. In fact, we had the highest number of entries the school has ever had. We are very proud of how readily our students take up challenges, whether they be in school, local or national. It is testament to their love of learning and we are delighted that so many want to get involved.
Our Hummingbird team excelled yet again this year and finished 1st in their initial race and 4th in their second race during the May event. The well oiled team worked together with such team spirit and determination whilst having enormous fun along the way. Well done to everyone involved and many thanks to the parents who support the venture, it really does make such a difference.
I wish you all a happy and relaxing half term.
Very best wishes,
Mr Underdown
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25 May 2023
Last weekend, Harriet 9K, took part in the pony club mounted games competition, qualifying her team into the next round.
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22 May 2023
Rose, 11T, has been selected to be the first ever female mace bearer in Liskeard.
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05 May 2023
Jess, Year 11, has completed the coast2coast for the second year in a row, this time, finishing in first place. Well done Jess!
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28 Apr 2023
We are delighted to share that Lily, 9K, has achieved her Grade 3 Organ Certificate, which she passed with a distinction, last week.
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21 Apr 2023
Following a gruelling 6 hour Karate grading over the weekend (which started at 4am!) we are delighted to share that Saskia, Year 8, has achieved Shodan Grade. Well done Saskia!
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We are thrilled to reveal that we have been selected to be one of the few schools piloting the new Sparx Learning initiative: Sparx Reader. This new provision will enable us to go even further with our Reading for Pleasure Agenda, ensuring that our learners have regular opportunities to read meaningfully both fiction and non-fiction, supporting their emotional growth, literacy, and cultural capital. Further details in due course!
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21 Apr 2023
PHSG is now an OCR Ambassador Centre for A Level English Literature and we have received an exciting delivery this week of over 300 new books from Penguin.
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17 May 2023
On the 4th May, the library was once again packed with students from all years ready to take part in the Harry Potter Quiz.
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05 May 2023
It was a tough decision, but we narrowed it down to 3 top entries (pictured). All 3 students have been emailed individually and will each receive a £5 Waterstones voucher
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22 May 2023
48 students competed in the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge, which was the most we have ever had, and we now have the results to share!
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22 May 2023
The year 7-10 students have really hit the ground running and combined with the year 11's who have been working hard on their weekly sparx tasks all year, they have correctly answered a quarter of a million questions!
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17 May 2023
The Year 7 and 8 cricket teams have got off to a great start in their league, with the Year 8 team winning both their games against Plymstock and Plympton.
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PHSG PE department have been celebrating lots of sporting achievements over the past two terms. Year 9 are currently unbeaten in rounders. We have represented the Devon Softball Cricket competitions for U13 & U15. Our year 7's competed in the Athletics Super 8's coming 3rd place. We had success at the Indoor Athletics competitions coming 1st place, teaming up with St Boniface Boys school.
Coming up in term 6, we have Sports Day, the swimming gala and our Sports Awards.
PE would like to thank all the PHSG students who have taken part in sports fixtures and attended clubs.
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22 May 2023
On Friday 19th May, our year 12 Biology and Environmental Science students headed out to the Wembury Marine Centre to investigate organisms that are found along our local coastline.
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26 May 2023
PHSG will be hosting an Open Evening on Thursday 29th June from 4.30pm - 6.00pm. Booking is not required.
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25 May 2023
Earth Alliance is holding a photography competition for students as part of the IMAGES day of TSAT Arts week. The theme is WE ARE ONE WITH NATURE and we would like as many of you as possible to be involved.
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15 May 2023
The theme for this year's Mental Health Awareness week is Anxiety. Throughout the week, PHSG students and staff will be exploring the symptoms of Anxiety and sharing ways we can combat these feelings when they arise.
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12 May 2023
On Thursday 11th and Friday 12th May, our current Year 13 and Year 11's celebrated their school journey with peers before heading off on study leave to prepare for their upcoming examinations.
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26 Apr 2023
On Wednesday 19th April a group of year 7 and 8 students, whose parents are in the Armed Forces, visited the Royal Marines Barracks in Stonehouse, Plymouth.
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21 Apr 2023
The registration for the 11+ examinations that will take place on Saturday 16th and 23rd September, will open at 9am on Monday 24th April and close at 9am on Thursday 17th August 2023.
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Join Speakers for Schools virtual open evening – Wednesday 7th June at 18:30 - to hear about fully funded work experience placements your child can access from anywhere in the UK
We know how hard it is to help your child weigh up future career options when the job market has changed so massively, and there are so many different pathways into employment you might not be aware of.
Speakers for Schools are a youth charity that offers FULLY FUNDED work experience opportunities with big-name national employers like Boots, PwC and Willmott Dixon, offering thousands of placements across the whole of the UK.
Speakers for Schools offer both virtual and in person placements, so where you live will not be a barrier. They want to make sure that every young person from a state school or college can face their future with confidence.
During the session, Speakers for Schools will clearly signpost how your child can access eye-opening work experience. All placements are offered at no cost to either the young person or their school/college.
To reserve your spot please click on the link below:
Virtual & Hybrid Work Experience Session for Parents/Carers of 14-19yr olds Tickets, Wed 7 Jun 2023 at 18:30 | Eventbrite
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Student & Class of the Week
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22 May 2023
Student of the week: Rosa, 10L. ''For creating a fantastic year 7 revision PowerPoint for 7L and is leading some excellent revision sessions for them during tutor time. They are finding the help of the peer mentors really useful in preparing them for their end of year examinations.''...
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17 May 2023
Student of the week: Daisy, 11DVS. ''For dedication to German writing revision, Daisy has completed multiple extra writing tasks and has achieved great success in them!'' Nominated by Mrs Gilchrist. Awarded 10 House points.
Class of the week: 8T German class with Mrs Carter. '...
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10 May 2023
Student of the week: Eloise, 10K. ''For her continued effort in all the behind the scenes action for Hummingbird, the F24 car. Eloise is having constant contact with outside companies, requesting for sponsorship or enquiring about merchandise. She, along with friends, has helped raise a larg...
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02 May 2023
Student of the week: Eva, 9A. ''In German, for an outstanding presentation on the Berlin Wall that was well researched and thought provoking.'' Nominated by Mrs Gilchrist. Awarded 10 House Points.
Class of the week: 11C Geography Class with Mrs Nutter ''For their effort an...
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26 Apr 2023
Student of the week: Michelle, Year 11. ''For improved attitude in Science over the last few weeks and attendance at revision club at a lunchtime.'' Nominated by Dr Doddrell. Awarded 10 House Points.
Class of the week: 10p En2 English with Miss Taylor. ''For such beautiful...
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Year 8 & 9 Immunisations
Year 9 HPV2 and years 8/9 HPV1 immunisations are taking place at school on Tuesday, 6th June 2023. Parents/carers of students who have the HPV1 vaccination outstanding have been sent the link to consent/decline the vaccination. The link closes on 29th May 2023. If you have any questions, please contact the immunisations team on 0300 247 0082 or email vcl.immunisations@nhs.net
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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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Road Closure
Please note, St Lawrence Road will be closed by the National Grid between 17th May to the 18th August for major roadworks. Access to the main school gate will not be affected, however, cars will not be able to pass down the one way system through to St Lawrence Road. We recommend that if you use this road when collecting / dropping off your child, that you consider seeking an alternative route.y
Please do not use the school car park as turning circle, this is a one way system in the mornings for staff entering the site, there is not enough room for cars to pass each other on and off site.
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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 2022-2023
Term
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Starts
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Ends
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One
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1st September 2022
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21st October 2022
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| Autumn Half Term |
24th October 2021 |
31st October 2022 |
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Two
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1st November 2022
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16th December 2022
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| Christmas Holidays |
19th December 2022 |
2nd January 2023 |
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Three
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3rd January 2023
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10th February 2023
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| Spring Half term |
13th February 2023 |
17th February 2023 |
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Four
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20th February 2023
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1st April 2023
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| Easter Holidays |
3rd April 2023 |
14th April 2023 |
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Five
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17th April 2023
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26th May 2023
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| Summer Half term |
29th May 2023 |
2nd June 2023 |
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Six
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5th June 2023
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21st July 2023
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| Summer Holidays |
24th July 2023 |
1st September |
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 2023
1st May 2023 (Bank Holiday)
8th May 2023 (Bank Holiday - Kings Coronation)
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