Many thanks to the 300+ parents who completed our home learning survey. With such a high turnout, the results have provided us with a far clearer understanding of how our students have responded to and been affected by, the move to remote learning.

I think the word unprecedented has never been used as much. The world we all found ourselves in on the 20th March as the school gates closed and the lockdown began, was something I never imagined I would ever experience. Even as the situation in China and then Italy, filled the news headlines, the possibility of school closure for a few weeks (never mind months!) seemed very unlikely.

The past term has been a steep learning curve as we have adapted to a new way of working and living; bringing with it new challenges and achievements. Setting work from home (or school on my key worker days) has been a strange experience. PowerPoints fine-tuned, narrations added, videos made, quizzes created and everything uploaded.

It was great to see that the hard work put in by the teachers at PGHS has paid off, with the vast majority of parents feeling that their daughters have appropriately been challenged during lockdown and that most have continued to enjoy their learning and make progress.

In a week when a government poll suggested that over 2million children were working for less than one hour a day, it was great to see that this was not our experience with our girls clearly working incredibly hard. We know this commitment to their studies reflects a range of factors, including the unstinting support of parents and the resilience and ambition of our students.

Throughout the home learning period, I have been involved in countless discussions with subject staff regarding the best way to teach remotely. Clearly, there is no perfect solution. Research by the EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) has shown that it’s the quality of the resource and the clarity of instruction, rather than the way it is delivered, that matters.

As a school we have opted for the on-demand approach, allowing students to access resources at a time that suits them (and their families) while enabling students to slow down and repeat lessons if necessary. We have been ever conscious of the ICT restrictions in some households, appreciating that not everyone has constant access to a quiet workspace and a personal PC. 

Throughout the lockdown period we have prioritised the mental health of our students, acknowledging that both the spread of coronavirus and the sudden and dramatic change in lifestyle will have caused considerable anxiety for some. Throughout the lockdown period, our team of pastoral staff have been working with parents and pupils to help those requiring support. It was therefore encouraging to see that so many parents reported no deterioration in their daughter’s wellbeing. If you feel your daughter would benefit from some pastoral support from school, Raising Achievement Coordinators can be quickly and privately alerted through the wellbeing function on ClassCharts.

Once again, many thanks for your support and help over the past three months. With the news today confirming that schools will be open to all students in all years on September 3rd for the start of new academic year, I’m sure we are all looking forward to a more normal Autumn.

Mr Ward, Senior Assistant Headteacher

Penwortham Girls’ High School is extremely proud to have been awarded the Bronze award from UNICEF. UNICEF works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. The Rights Respecting Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens. We believe at Penwortham Girls’, it is vital that we educate students that the children’s rights are equal and universally applicable to all.

There are four key areas of impact for children at a Rights Respecting School; wellbeing, participation, relationships and self-esteem. We will now be working hard to turn our action plan into practice despite lockdown to achieve the Silver level. This award also complements the work on the Lancashire County Council Equality Charter, where we have already achieved the ‘Race’ and ‘Religion’ equality marks for excellent practice in promoting equality in these areas. We are currently working towards achieving the ‘Gender and Gender Variance’ and the ‘Socio-economic’ equality marks as part of our ongoing mission to ensure that all our students are given every opportunity to be successful and thrive in our school community.

In addition to this, we are excited to announce that we have recently gained the status of ‘Stonewall School Champion’. Stonewall is a charity dedicated to promoting equality and protecting LGBT+ rights.  As school champions we are aiming to further ensure that our school is a safe and inclusive environment for all our students.

We firmly believe that it is essential that everyone at Penwortham Girls’ High School should feel inspired, nurtured and able to thrive within our school community and we will continue to work to ensure that we champion equality and celebrate diversity with our students.

Mrs Hall (Deputy Headteacher) & Miss Starkie (Teacher of English)