NEWSLETTER
Spring Half Term 2025
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HEADTEACHER'S WELCOME
Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends of PHSG,
Welcome to our February half term newsletter. As usual, it is full of interesting articles that showcase some of the amazing things our young people have been up to. Our year 11 have been thinking about their future steps and found the recent career interview experience informative and helpful. Students from across the school enjoyed the Harry Potter quiz where they could wow each other with their in-depth knowledge of Hogwarts and the wizarding world, whilst year 12 Law students very much appreciated a local Barrister visiting school to share with them what it’s like working with clients and the legal system. A huge well done to our students who applied for places at Oxford and Cambridge this year. To get an interview is an achievement in itself, but to secure an offer is particularly exciting. Our school production of Frozen Jr has been superb and I know that many of you will have enjoyed it. The cast and crew have been sensational and deserve all the plaudits they have received. I do hope you enjoy looking through the newsletter and I wish you a relaxing break.
Very best wishes
Mr Underdown
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 | 12 Feb 2025 We are thrilled to share the exciting news that Maya, 9A, recently competed in a tumbling competition in Milton Keynes and came home with a silver medal! 🥈 |
 | 21 Jan 2025 The University of Bath Entrepreneurship Programme, led by Enterprise Bath, gives students the opportunity to pitch to ‘Dragons’ for the chance to win direct investment into their start-ups. Dragons’ Den 2 took place last year and ex pupil Katie, won an investment for her business... |
 | 16 Jan 2025 Lottie, in Year 9, has secured a grant from the Dr Colin Jones Grants Charity to support her to race nationally in the British National Enduro Series (mountain biking). |
 | 13 Jan 2025 We are excited to share some fantastic news about one of our talented students, Ava from 9A! Ava has recently achieved an incredible feat in the world of swimming by winning the prestigious Junior Ladies 100m Individual Medley (IM) Devon Sobrep Cup Trophy. This remarkable achievement places her... |
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We have 5 tickets left for Matilda at the Theatre Royal in Jan 2026 and the first instalment is due by the end of this month. For any students in years 7-9 who would like to snap up these amazing and final tickets, please come to see Mrs Crouch in the Drama Office.
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17 Jan 2025 On Tuesday 14th January 2025, our Year 11 students had the valuable opportunity to practice their job interview skills during a series of mock interviews. The event was designed to give students a taste of real-world interview scenarios and to help them develop the confidence and techniques needed t... |
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31 Jan 2025 This week, the Library hosted our ever-popular annual Harry Potter-themed book quiz, a highly anticipated event that brings together Harry Potter buffs from across the school for an afternoon of friendly competition and magical fun. |
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World Book Day Thursday 6th March
From Monday 3rd March until Friday 7th March, we will be celebrating reading as a school as part of our annual ‘World Book Week’. We are writing to inform you that World Book Day takes place this year on Thursday 6th March, and we would like to invite all students to come to school dressed as their favourite character from a book. This could be anything recognisable from a children’s story to a work of classic fiction.
Please encourage your child to think ‘outside the box’ and come up with costumes that are imaginative, that don’t necessarily have to cost a lot of money or take much time to organise. Some of the best ideas in the past have been the simplest. This year there will be a small prize for the three students judged to have the best costume. All students who want the opportunity to be included in the ‘Best Costume’ competition should come to the library during lunchtime on Thursday 6th March where judging will take place.
If your child chooses to dress up on World Book Day, they need to fill in a sign-up sheet provided by their tutor from Tuesday 25th February that will give us details of who they are planning to dress up as. If students decide not to dress up as a book character, they must come to school in their correct school uniform for the day.
To encourage and help them on their reading journey, every student will receive a £1 book token which can be exchanged for one free World Book Day 2024 book or £1 off a book costing £2.99 or more. You can find out more information about this on the token given or the World Book Day website.
We hope these activities will continue to promote the enjoyment of reading and literature for all students. Research into the role of reading has found that reading for pleasure has the strongest effect on children’s vocabulary development. It shows that children who read for pleasure make more progress in Maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read. The ‘World Book Week’ aims to promote reading within our school, and we look forward to sharing this with the students.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Yours faithfully
The Library Team
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28 Jan 2025 On Saturday 18th January, six Plymouth High students braved cold and muddy conditions at Exeter Arena for the Devon Schools Cross Country Finals. |
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Plea from the PE Department...
Please can we ask all parents/carers to clearly label their child’s PE kit and school uniform. We have an increasing number of items of PE kit and uniform left in the PE changing rooms. Some items are named and can be reunited with the students, but a lot is unnamed and does not get claimed from our lost property.
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 | 14 Feb 2025 What an incredible journey it has been for our talented cast, crew, and everyone involved in this year’s spectacular school production of Frozen Jr.! The unforgettable performances, dedication, and hard work that went into bringing this beloved musical to life truly made the show a highlight o... |
 | 28 Jan 2025 On January 20th, a group of Key Stage 4 students participated in the workshop, marking an exciting step forward in scaling up climate education in schools. The workshop was not only educational but also interactive, allowing students to connect the theory of climate change with real-world action. Th... |
 | 27 Jan 2025 Holocaust remembrance is important to us at PHSG, therefore we are supporting the Holocaust Memorial Day today, to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Our Library Team have created a reading list for students who are interested in... |
 | 08 Jan 2025 This week, PHSG students met with committee member Alex Moore, from the National Education Union, to discuss a partnership with 'Hands Up Project' alongside other schools across the city. |
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16 Jan 2025 Year 12 A Level Law students were treated to an engaging and informative visit from Nigel Hall, a respected local barrister from KBG Chambers. During the session, Nigel shared invaluable advice on a variety of legal careers, outlining different pathways into law and offering a glimpse into the excit... |
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Student & Class of the Week
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 | 12 Feb 2025 Student of the week: Lily-Mae, 10T. ''For consistently working hard in lessons, with a positive "can do" attitude.'' Nominated by Miss Hofmann. Awarded 10 House points.Class of the week: Year 11 Drama class with Mrs Crouch. ''For pushing through the last few wee... |
 | 02 Feb 2025 Student of the week: Ella F. 8K. With two nominations! ''Ella has worked consistently hard throughout this term, grappling with the complexities of the short story collection we are studying. She has consistently pushed herself to answer challenging questions in Retrieval and has significant... |
 | 29 Jan 2025 Student of the week: Daisy B, 10K. ''For her brave contributions during the Y10 PSHE Day'' Nominated by Miss Cook. Awarded 10 House Points. Class of the week: 8B English. ''Superb engagement with 'The Yellow Wallpaper', with deep connections being made b... |
 | 20 Jan 2025 Student of the week: Nieve & Megan, 8K. ''Being really helpful and acting as runners for me during registration and p1 to solve some issues.'' Nominated by Miss Barnett. Awarded 10 House Points. Class of the week: Junior House Captains: Katie, Amelie, Maya & Darcy... |
 | 13 Jan 2025 Student of the week: Clara, 10K. ''For going above and beyond in English Literature. Clara has worked hard to make continuing improvements to her written work, seeking guidance and engaging with feedback in a positive, mature and tenacious attitude. This drive and ambition to be the best sym... |
 | 07 Jan 2025 Class of the week: 8B Maths with Mr Underdown. ''Wonderful attitude to learning and homework all term. Really impressive effort in the recent assessment. Overall, a great class working hard.'' |
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New Attendance Improvement Co-Ordinator.
We are delighted to welcome Mrs Nicky Gill as our new Attendance Improvement Co-Ordinator.
Telephone number: 033 33 602230 Email: absence@plymouthhighschoolforgirls.org.uk
Please remember for information about our student absence process, visit the school webpage here
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Artificial Intelligence Safety Tips for parents.
Learn more about Artificial Intelligence (AI) content and tools, and discover ways to help your children stay safe.
Supporting your child to use AI safely from the NSPCC.
Artificial intelligence safety tips for parents
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Did you know that you can set up a low balance alert on ParentPay?
In the hustle and bustle of daily life, keeping track of your child's school balance can easily slip your mind. But with ParentPay, there's a simple solution!
You can set up an automatic notification through the app to alert you whenever your child’s balance is running low.
This way, you'll never have to worry about topping up at the last minute!
Stay on top of things and make managing school payments even easier with this handy feature.
Visit our school webpage here, for a step-by-step guide.
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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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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 2024-2025
Term
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Starts
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Ends
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One
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4th September (Year 7 & 12 only)
5th September (All Year Groups)
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17th October
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| Autumn Half Term |
21st October |
1st November |
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Two
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5th November
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20th December
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| Christmas Holidays |
23rd December |
3rd January |
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Three
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6th January
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14th February
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| Spring Half term |
17th February |
21st February |
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Four
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24th February
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4th April
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| Easter Holidays |
7th April |
21st April |
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Five
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22nd April
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23rd May
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| Summer Half term |
26th May |
30th May |
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Six
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2nd June
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23rd July
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| Summer Holidays |
24th July |
2nd September |
Curriculum Enrichment Week
7th July - 11th July
Non Pupil Days
3rd September
18th October
4th November
5th May 2024 (Bank Holiday).
24th July 2024
25th July 2024
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