Blog 6.11.20 - Milford Haven School

It was a pleasure to welcome back Years 7 & 8 in person this week, and well done to all Years 9-13 who engaged with their remote learning. A huge da iawn to you all on such a positive start to the new half term.

This is typically a very busy term for everyone here at Milford Haven School, and we are working hard to bring you as many of our calendared events as possible (although some will have been tweaked to make them CVD safe). With that in mind it is now less than one week till you will be able to join us online for our first ever virtual Open Evening! This year we are sadly unable to host our annual Open Evening in its traditional format, where usually we would open our doors to the whole school community and welcome you onto school site. This year we still want to stay connected to the families and town we serve, and so have been working hard to bring you a virtual version of our Open Evening which we hope you will enjoy. This event will go live on our school website at 5pm on Thursday 12.11.20. Please help us share this across the school community to help reach all those that can benefit from an insight into school life here at MHS.

The Milford Haven School Sixth Form have always strived to support Children in Need, and we are so very proud of our history of fundraising for this cause. This year however, our plans have had to be streamlined and scaled back to ensure that we can fundraise in a safe and responsible way.

As a result we are hosting our first virtual CIN event this year, the ‘Milford Wiggle’! This will be a 24hr danceathon in which our pupils, teachers and community members will dance in a relayed event from 15:00 on Thursday 12th November, culminating in our big dip dance at Broad Haven beach at 15:00 on Friday 13th November. You don’t have to be directly linked to the school to get involved, anyone can take part- we just need you to send us a photo or video of you dancing, let us know how long you danced for and donate if you can using the link at the bottom of this post.

This event will be supported by smaller events within the school, and we will of course keep you updated on details as and when they are finalised.

Da iawn pawb to our wonderful senior prefect team for your hard work organising this event. And thank you in advance to all members of our school community that will be involved in the ‘Milford Wiggle’, every year you blow us away with your support.

If you are able to donate here is the link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/michelle-griffiths32

Thank you to everyone that has signed up to our MHS 100 Reasons, as always we really appreciate the support from our school community.

Sadly, although we have had extremely positive feedback and lots of praise for the project, we have not recruited enough members to proceed. Sadly that means that at this time we will not be able to run ‘MHS 100 Reasons’, but will put a pin in it for now as this is a project we would like to revisit in the future.

If you have signed up already all cash payments will be refunded, cheques will not be banked, and if you have set up a standing order please cancel with your bank. Again, thank you all so very much for your continued support.

Information for parents/carers of pupils in Years 9-13:

To support home learning, pupils have been reminded this morning via their year group’s Google Classroom of the fantastic resource GCSE POD. GCSE POD is designed to support the GCSE curriculum so is of great benefit for years 9-11, however all year groups can access the website and resources. Pupils have been reminded how to access the website via their MHS email addresses, as well as receiving a video site tour.

Should parents wish to see what the site has to offer, please view the following videos:

Parent introductory video http://resources.gcsepod.com.s3.amazonaws.com/…/Parent…

Parent video: how to use GCSE POD http://resources.gcsepod.com.s3.amazonaws.com/…/Parent…

If you have any further questions, please email: mgriffiths@milfordhavenschool.co.uk

We have attached below some useful information from Welsh Government for parents and carers. This includes details on the Track & Trace system currently in operation, and also when and for how long you may need to isolate.

https://gov.wales/…/test-trace-protect-information-for…

Thank you to everyone that has continues to ensure that their children attend school in proper school uniform. It is important that pupils wear the correct clothing as our uniform helps to put all young people on an equal footing, supports the safeguarding of your children and creates a sense of school community. If you are having issues with sourcing school uniform please be aware that there is a grant available from PCC for those that qualify, and we also have a small amount of uniform stock at school for emergencies. Details of our school uniform can be found on our school website, along with a copy of the dress code policy.

There have been lots of new rules and tweaks to our school systems since the start of this academic year to ensure that we are doing everything possible to keep our whole school community safe, and these changes will all remain in place for the rest of this term. Some of our new strategies implemented include a one way system, almost 100 additional hand sanitising stations around school, and all staff and pupils have been provided with face masks. As adults we all check for the basics before we leave home- keys, wallet, phone.

MHS pupils we need you all to check before leaving home that you have – a face mask, a drink of water, your own set of stationery.

We at MHS are doing everything we can to support the safety of our whole school community, but it is vital we all play our part.

All parents and carers in all year groups have been issued login codes for our school app WEDUC, this is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with us and stay up to date with school life.

Please contact us if you need any support getting started with the app, or have any trouble logging in, so we can help you get connected.