Dear Parents

Whilst away at the GDST heads' conference I attended a talk which gave 10 practical ways to build resilience. I thought I would share them with you.

Reward resilience and praise and encourage children who recover from setbacks and "failure"
Empower students, for example through volunteer work
Set high expectations
Instil a Positive relationships network - all children need someone to rely on
Learn how to learn
In front of the class - encourage students to present to the rest of the class
Escape sometimes - resilience requires perspective
Neural plasticity - brains can grow through challenge so seek out these opportunities
Challenge using desirable difficulties in safe places
Explore the traits of individuals who have come through adversary

Ensuring children develop the necessary resilience and grit to overcome setbacks is essential to ensure that they can cope with life beyond school and indeed with their experience in school. At PHS we try to develop our pupils’ ability to cope with everyday experiences and with unexpected events. We encourage independence and provide challenge and opportunity in a safe place. Our mission statement underpins this approach to educating girls: “Portsmouth High School is committed to academic excellence and encouraging girls to be creative, independent and ambitious in a caring and friendly environment”.

Jane Prescott
Headmistress

Save the date for Fireworks Night!

Saturday 12 November from 4.00 to 6.00 pm
Tickets and further information will be available soon.

Dear Parents

On Wednesday I attended a junior head’s leadership forum in London. This is an event that happens each term where junior heads from around the GDST gather in one place, liaise with each other and receive training in a particular area. The value of these days cannot be underestimated as the sharing of experiences and expertise from a variety of different schools is invaluable. It can also be reassuring that our own junior school is heading in the right direction.

Variety is also important. To come out of school for the day and have a change to daily routines helps to keep things in perspective and can be re-energising. It is a strength of the GDST that they continually train and develop their teams. Every member of the junior school teaching and support staff gets the opportunity to attend at least one course each year.

It is of value for the children to have their week disrupted from time to time as well. Life rarely follows an exact science and different events like a music, speech and drama or forest school lesson breaks up the timetable. Some children find this more difficult than others and it is tempting to attempt to avoid interrupting their normal routine. But to do so, within reason, is to prepare them for what lies ahead. This is one of the reasons I am a great believer in a co-curricular activities and a broad curriculum with plenty of emphasis on sport, the humanities and the arts.

Paul Marshallsay
Headmaster of the Junior School

Early Years' News

Nursery School
This week, the nursery children have started thinking about their senses, beginning with smell and taste. We have had fun making garlic and herb bread, which the children enjoyed eating for snack time. Our sound of the week this week has been ‘a’ and we have been concentrating on recognising and writing number 2.

Reception Class
This week reception have been exploring the grounds with different length pieces of string, measuring everything our autumn environment has to offer large and small. They have been talking about length and width and making comparison between their own heights.

Challenge Day for Young Engineers

Portsmouth High School hosted visiting primary schools from the local area this week for a Technology Challenge Day.

The Year 5 and 6 girls were challenged to design, build and test a sustainable transport system which involved them in thinking, planning, constructing and presenting on the day.

Ten teams of girls from Gomer Juniors, Hambledon Primary, Mengham Juniors, Northern Parade Juniors, St Swithun’s Primary and Oakwood School took part.

The girls were told that an eco-friendly train is required for a new bridge link from Gunwharf to Gosport. Their task was to create the travel company branding and design a vehicle carriage that will run on the test track.

The teams then had to present their ideas to David Hill, Technology Faculty Outreach Coordinator from the University of Portsmouth who said:

‘We are currently short of over 20,000 engineers a year in this country. So, a day like today is vital to get young people interested in a career in engineering. Only 9% of engineers are women so I am so glad to have come today to have judged the girls’ excellent designs and hopefully we have some budding engineers here for the future.’

The winning team was Gomer Junior School with their presentation on the Gosmouth Techtrain.

Plastic bottle lids please

As part of our eco ideas, we would like to create a piece of artwork for the school garden made out of plastic bottle lids. Please could all girls collect as many plastic bottle lids as possible and put them in the box in the entrance hall.

Thank you for your help.

Eleanor Wallace and Megan Spanner
Eco Prefects

PSA Macmillan Tea Party

Friday 23 September saw the first PSA fund raising event at Dovercourt this term and it turned out to be a huge success.

The tables were laden with sweet delights. The PSA helpers had turned out in great numbers and the girl eagerly awaited their chance to visit the ‘cake shop’ on Friday afternoon.

In just over an hour we raised £228,69 a goodly sum to send to this amazing charity, which touches so many families.

An enormous thank you to our ‘Star’ bakers, our fabulous PSA ladies and to the girls for being so generous.

Junior School Dates for the Diary

Monday 3 October
Nursery Plan, Do & Review 9.30am – 10.30am.

Tuesday 4 October
Junior GDST Swimming Gala at Northampton High School.

Wednesday 5 October
Year 4 Trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace.
U11A & U10A Netball v HCS 1.15pm – 5.00pm.

Thursday 6 October
U9A, U9B Triangulation v Ryde (H) 2.30pm – 4.00pm.

Friday 7 October
Harvest Celebration Assembly: Harvest for Food Bank 8.40am.
School ends at 1.00pm for Open Morning preparations.

Saturday 8 October
Open Morning (All girls to attend) 9.00am – 12.30pm.

Year 7 bond with a weekend of challenges and fun

On Friday 16th September, 56 Year 7s and their tutor team embarked on a two day adventure. The weather was not on our side initially but who were we to allow a few inches of rainfall to stand in the way of our bonding weekend?

We started our challenges at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum at Romsey and were tasked with splitting into groups of eight pupils to complete the 20 challenges and a scavenger hunt during the day. PHS enthusiasm and excitement was no match for the rainclouds and within half an hour the skies cleared and the sun shone.

Our teams were tasked with solving challenges which built trust, developed teamwork skills, required patience and listening skills and ultimately the winning team was the one where everyone contributed and worked well together. “Fancy a cuppa” was a popular challenge where teams had to transport all of the water from one full bucket to another empty one using tin cups which were looped through ropes and tied around trees – teamwork was crucial! “Ring my bell” saw the teams try to get through a web of strings festooned with tiny bells without causing any one of them to ring.

We travelled from Hilliers onwards to Fairthorne Manor where we enjoyed a campfire and sing song and then games in the sports hall. We even had a trip groupie in the form of the Fairthorne cat who was keen to follow us where ever we went! After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast the morning activities began with Team Challenge Obstacle Course, The Crate Challenge, Jacob’s Ladder, Raft Building or Kayaking.

As ever it was a tiring but hugely worthwhile experience and a part of Year 7 that I am sure all involved will remember for a long time to come.

Humanitarian Aid Worker talks to the Sixth Form

We were delighted to hear from Humanitarian Aid Worker from Save the Children, Cat Carter, who came in to talk to the Sixth Form about her work in conflict zones across the world including Syria, Somalia and Gaza. She spoke movingly about the children caught in the crossfire, particularly when the fabric of society breaks down. ‘The questions we ask, define us,’ she said. ‘I will share their stories until I run out of breath.’ For more information about the work of Save the Children please visit http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

Charity appeal

As part of our harvest celebrations, we will again be supporting our local food bank. We have been asked to collect longlife juices along with tinned meat and fish. Girls can put these items in the house lockers. The last day for bringing in the items will be the morning of Friday 7th October.

We are also continuing to collect stamps for RNIB (please leave a 1cm border); washed plastic milk bottle tops for New Forest Mencap; and ring pulls and toothpaste tubes for PCF.

Diamond Challenge Duke of Edinburgh

On 17th September 11S undertook the Diamond D of E challenge to raise money for the Duke of Edinburgh charity, which helps disadvantaged children. Our challenge was to build a raft and sail it across a lake and we have successfully done this through teamwork and laughter. We set our goal to raise £600 but we have exceeded this by raising more than £700. We would like to thank everyone who supported us by donating and especially Mr Oliver for helping us set everything up.
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This week in sport...

The south region tennis players Jessie Nilssen, Hannah Foord, Rachel Kellagher and Frances Colley competed in Abingdon last week and beat St Helen’s and St Katherine’s in the semi-final to progress to the final. They lost to a very strong Wykeham Abbey team but this makes them runners up in the whole of the south region which is a superb result.

On Thursday last week we played our second round of netball league matches for Year 7 and 8 against Ditcham Park and won 24-4 and 21-2. Players of the match were Maddie and Bea Oliver.

The under 14 and 15s also played Ditcham Park last week. The 14s lost 7-12 and player of the match was Ellie Brett but the 15s won 9-7 and player of the match was Issy George.

On the hockey pitch we are continuing to score goals with a one all draw for the under 15s against Bedales. Natasha Small scored off the left post and narrowly missed a second goal and player of the match was Libby Wilson.

Well done to all.

Senior School Dates for the Diary

Saturday 1 October
U14XI Hockey v Ryde 9.40am -1.00pm.

Monday 3 October
GDST Sports Rally: Y11-U6 Senior hockey, U15 netball 4.30pm-8.30pm.

Tuesday 4 October
Year 7 Maths for Parents 7.00pm-9.00pm.

Wednesday 5 October
Year 7 medicals.
Y9 English/ Y10-U6 Drama trip to Much Ado About Nothing 11.55am-6.30pm.

Thursday 6 October
Atrium Concert 5.00pm-6.00pm.

Friday 7 October
Charity: Dress down day for Lord Mayor's Appeal - £1 donation.
Harvest Celebration Assembly: Harvest for Food Bank.
School ends at 1.00pm for Open Morning preparations.

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