Week Commencing 13th November

Thought for the Week

Assemblies w/b 27th November

On Monday there will be a whole Year 11 assembly where students will have a presentation from the National Citizen Service about the opportunity next summer to take part in a 4 week programme of activities.

The rest of the week will be House and sixth form assemblies led by Mr Hulme on the theme of ‘success and adversity’

Thought for the Week

‘Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune’ (William James)

‘Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success’ (Dale Carnegie)

Dates for your diary

30/11/2017 Year 11 Parents Evening

6/12/2017 Woman in Black Performance

7/12/2017 Woman in Black Performance

8/12/2017 Woman in Black Performance

13/12/2017 Music Concert

Headteacher blog:

On Wednesday, I was able to attend the Academies show with the Headteachers of schools within the Uttoxeter Learning Trust. Windsor Park Middle School, Picknalls First School and ourselves were the founder schools of the trust and we are thrilled that All Saints Church Leigh, Hutchinson Memorial, Oldfields Hall and Ryecroft plan to join our trust in January. We are working together to ensure we provide the best possible education for our students from the age of 3 – 18.

This week we have also been working on a bid which we are submitting to the DFE to become a Teaching School.

Please find below some information from the DFE about teaching schools:

Teaching schools have an important role to play in a school-led system and school improvement. Teaching schools are centres of excellence, taking a more focused role that prioritises:

co-ordinating and providing high-quality school-led initial teacher training (ITT)
providing high-quality school-to-school support to spread excellent practice, particularly to schools that need it most
providing evidence-based professional and leadership development for teachers and leaders across their network

If successful, we believe this will provide us with further opportunities to improve the quality of the work we do with our young people and ensure that we are at the heart of educational developments in the area.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the application, we will be holding an information briefing for parents on 17th January at 6.00pm – 6.45pm. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have.

Finally, there are only a few tickets left for Woman in Black. Watching the rehearsals I feel it will be a thoroughly professional show and at only £5.00 a ticket it is a wonderful opportunity to see high quality theatre locally.

Absence from School

Please find below the letter from our local authority in relation to Changes to Penalty Notices for Absence from School that we shared with you in September.

Could we please remind you that these changes come into effect from 1st January 2018.

The changes specifically relate to the following areas,

Penalty Notice for leave of absence (holiday) in term time

Penalty Notice for persistent lateness

Period of time used to measure persistent absence and lateness

Letter-to-parents-absence-policy-update-Sept-17

Summer 2017 Exam Certificates

These will be available for collection from TAHS on:

Thursday 14th December 11am -1pm

Friday 15th December 11am -1pm

Hamper Donations

Donations gratefully received for a Christmas Hamper at the front office.

Proceeds of the raffle will go to our PTA who continue to be a huge support to the school.

Parents Evenings

It is year 11 parents evening on 30th November. Bookings for these are to be made via insight, thus you as parents will have to have activated your account. Look out for an email from insight@tahs .org.uk with your details. If you have any issues please email the same address.

A reminder again that appointments can only be made via a PARENTAL login and not via the students.

Thank you to all those parents who attended Parents Evening on Tuesday, if you were unable to attend then please contact the Sixth Form team on sixthform@tahs.org.uk.

The Student Finance Talk for parents took place this week, again this was received very well. If you were unable to attend then please visit this web address for further information https://www.gov.uk/student-finance.

Work Experience is an asset. It enables young people to view, participate and contribute to the running of a business. It can take many forms and often we here of very bad examples where the participant has had a very negative experience. At Thomas Alleyne’s we encourage students to arrange their own work experience. We help sign post them to organisations that we know will be beneficial to their future career aspirations and lastly we facilitate the opportunity to access the work experience placement by allowing, if necessary, them to partake in the learning during term time. There has been an abundance of research to show how important Work Experience is. So far this year we have had students working in schools, nursing homes, hospitals (on the wards with the doctors) and within companies who specialise in design and technology.

We received an email from a company this week that spoke so highly of one of the Sixth Form students, who had been on Work Experience that I felt it needed to be shared so you could see how valued our students are both in and outside of the school.

‘Ellie is a most marvellous young person and a credit to Thomas Alleyne’s. We are no slouch to work experience and have 6-10 young people each year coming in for a few days. What sets someone apart however is the thirst and passion they throw into their time here, we are a fun, ambitious and fast paced business and Ellie has shown such energy, engagement, openness, innovation and a wonderful spirit which I am sure is her nature but should also be considered a trait of the school’.

They go on to state that they feel that all young people should ensure that while they are in the Sixth Form that they should find the time to ‘try out’ industry and to make the most of these types of opportunities.

If you would like to find out more about Work Experience then please contact the Sixth Form Office.

An update on UCAS applications: we are approaching December which means that all UCAS forms must be completed and sent before the end of this term. A number of students have already started to receive offers from universities. We have students sending off portfolios of work and essays to assist in their application, a few have been for interviews and have come back feeling very positive and not to forget those that have had to sit exams to gain entry on to their competitive courses. Some of the universities who have offered places, out of the 35 students that have applied so far 29 of them have received one or more conditional offer from universities such as; Nottingham Trent, Durham, Derby, Chester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and York to name just a few. We are very proud of these students and cannot wait to see more offers flooding in for other students when their applications have been submitted.

Harry Alcock, a past student who currently works for the Fire Brigade, delivered a ‘hard hitting’ assembly to Year 12 and Year 13 students today. It was on road safety and road awareness. It was difficult to listen to the encounter that was shown about a firefighter who had been called to the scene of a Road Traffic Accident. He described what happened and the cause of the crash and then went on to explain that he knew the injured driver of the car. The short film has been produced to make young people aware of the dangers of driving at speed, using their phones or concentrating on what music to listen to or chatting with friends in the car instead of focusing on the very important task of driving safely. The message was to ensure that all people in the car have their seatbelts on, to be focused on driving and arriving safely, and lastly if you are running late then speeding may not get you to your destination any quicker. We hope that the students took on board what Harry said and we, the Sixth Form Team, feel that this assembly was very important as we have many students that have passed their driving test or who are currently taking lessons.

Champion Sheep

Last weekend, some very nervous Animal Care students arrived at the Winter Fayre at the Staffordshire County Showground, preparing to show some of the Thomas Alleynes sheep. Prior to the event they had spent a great deal of time washing and trimming the sheep and also halter training them. They were entered in a number of different competitions but the main event was a show down against Abbotsholme in the schools competition. Thomas Alleyne’s students entered the ring with confidence, presented the sheep well and answered all the judge’s questions articulately. Despite Abbotsholme having ten entries to our four we managed to secure first, third and fourth places! A very big thank you to the students and congratulations on their achievements.

Hair Today ….

Mr Robinson-White (Art teacher) and Year 13 student Mollie Fowell had their hair cut during lunchtime in the Ede Studio in order to raise money for charity. Donations are still coming in but as it stands they have raised over £200.00 which is to be divided between the Douglas Macmillan Hospice and Katherine House. They are donating their hair to the Little Princess Trust.

Well done Mollie and Mr Robinson-White.

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Art News

Year 11 Art GCSE Mock Exams & Dates to Remember!

Coursework deadline is Monday 18th December at 3:05pm– ALL work from Y10 and 11 should be submitted to their art teacher in paper folders. This is worth 60% of your GCSE grade.

To support students we expect you to be putting in hours at art club– every mark counts, this is a new specification and the standard is high to achieve levels. usually More effort = More marks!

Art Exam Parents Evening

January 9th 6:30pm-7:15pm Ede Studio

Art staff will be presenting advice and tips for the exam element of the GCSE worth 40% of the students Art GCSE grade. The Exam papers will be released on this date. Preparation for the exam starts immediately during the January Mock Exam period and students will be able to attend art club at lunch or after school til 5pm most days as per usual.

Calling Budding Artists/Designer- LOGO Competition

Year 9 students are invited to design a logo for Croxden Parish Council, this exciting opportunity is run as a competition across the locality and would be great for a TAHS student to have a go. Details on are Year 9 INSIGHT.

World Challenge Craft Fair – Sold Out!

Luke and Tom have had local artisans and craftsmen and women eagerly booking stalls for their event which is now fully booked. It promises to be an excellent opportunity to buy unique Christmas presents along with enjoying homemade cakes and a hot drink. The boys will also be serving homemade soup and crusty bread if you fancy lunch whilst you browse. The festive atmosphere will be created by a local youth group choir, along with the opportunity to buy handmade fresh door wreaths. Each stall holder is donating to the raffle which will ensure there is an excellent selection of unusual prizes to be won. Entry to the fair is free. There is ample parking at Alton village Hall.

Science News

This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mrs North are:

Year 9

Max Hayes and Callum Mee for excellent marks in their first biology assessment

Year 10

Georgia Cocke and Rachel Spence for excellent class work and homework in biology

Year 11

Sophie Howe and Oliver Stainsby for being above target in all their biology assessments to date

This week’s BTEC Animal Care Students of the Week selected by Mrs North are:

Shannon Davies and Richard Wason for an excellent start to the course

This week’s Environmental Land Based Science Students of the Week also selected by Mrs North are:

Charles Froggatt and Chloe Brown for excellent class work and test results

Well done!

News from PE

St George’s Park trip

As a reward for their commitment to the extra-curricular girls football club, 12 girls traveled to St George’s Park to watch an open training session. The England women’s team have spent the week there preparing for the World Cup Qualifier against Bosnia & Herzegovina. The girls gained an insight to elite level training having observed the team competing in some defensive drills and both small and large sided games. They were also able to ask the Head of Nutrition questions about the dietary requirements of professional footballers. As the session came to a close the players came over to sign autographs, answer questions and have photos taken.

Attending the trip were Sophie Howe, Heather Cockeram, Libby Fry, Tya Messer, Jemima Pope, Sophie Gibson, Laura Backhouse, Maddison Perry, Molly Calladine, Maria Loaring, Courtney Bogacki and Evie Sidwell

The girls were pleased to meet Euro 2017 top goal scorer Jodie Taylor and Miss Jones was keen to catch up with her distant cousin Sue Smith. The game will be screened on Friday night BBC2.

Girls House Hockey – Year 10 & 11 combined.

A low scoring competition with Lucy Greatrex being the only goal scorer saw many of the games being decided by the number of short corners awarded. The results are as follows

1st Torrance

2nd Orme

3rd Elkes

4th Whitmore