May 11th 2018

No assemblies for next two weeks due to Year 11 examinations taking place in the school theatre.

Thought for the week

w/b 14th May is Mental Health Awareness Day

Dates for your diary

14th May First GCSE Examinations

25th May Last full day of school for year 11 & 13

Headteacher blog:

We are thrilled to be able to share with you that Thomas Alleyne’s High School has been selected to be a national teaching school. I would like to thank Mr Brunt and Mr Osborne-Town for their work on securing this status for the school.

Please see below a press release from the Department for Education:

The headteacher and staff at Thomas Alleyne’s High School part of the Uttoxeter Learning Trust, have been selected for top roles supporting schools in challenging circumstances and training new teachers.

Thomas Alleyne’s High School is one of over 40 schools that has been selected to become a national teaching school in the latest recruitment round, taking a leading role in recruiting and training new entrants to the profession.

Mrs Julie Rudge is one of more than 50 headteachers to be appointed to the role of national leader of education in the latest recruitment round

Introduced in 2011, teaching schools are excellent schools that work with partner schools in an alliance to provide high quality school-led initial teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers at all stages of their career.

They raise standards through supporting other schools, especially those in challenging circumstances, and ensure that the most talented school leaders are spotted and supported to become successful headteachers.

Julie Rudge Headteacher said:

“It’s an incredible honour to receive this designation on behalf of Thomas Alleyne’s High School. Our commitment to securing the best quality of education for children in the Uttoxeter area is unwavering.

‘’We look forward to building on the work already in place within Uttoxeter Learning Trust to further develop teaching and learning, both across our trust and beyond.’’

Mr Brunt said:

“The designation of Thomas Alleyne’s as a Teaching School, is a wonderful recognition of the significant work that had been undertaken over the last four years to develop the quality of teaching and learning in the school.”

Alison Trenery Chair of governors said:

“The Governors are delighted to hear this news which is a tremendous achievement for a comprehensive school in a semi-rural area like Uttoxeter, and which is the result of the impressive progress made by Julie Rudge and her colleague staff in taking the school and the Uttoxeter Learning Trust forwards.’’

Lord Agnew, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, said:

“I’d like to congratulate Thomas Alleyne’s High School and Julie Rudge on being appointed as a teaching school and a national leader of education. They should be very proud of this achievement.

“Teaching schools and national leaders of education are supporting other schools, attracting and training the best new teachers and developing the next generation of leaders.”

Successful headteachers will be invited to attend a regional induction event.

GCSE Warm-up Sessions

A large number of departments are offering pre-exam booster sessions and the full program is outlined below:

WARM UP FOR YEAR 11 EXAMS

RE Revision

Please see the attached Presentation with information about the Saturday Revision session 10-12.

Please note that there will be also warm up sessions from 8am on Monday 14th and Wednesday 16th May in room 33A and 33B. All Year 11s welcome.

Year 11 – RE Revision plan

Computer Science & ICT

The first written papers of the 2018 GCSE Season are the Computer Science Paper 1 & the ICT written paper on Monday morning.

A large number of revision resources, question papers and websites have been shared with the students via social media and insight for both qualifications.

Please can you encourage these to be used over the weekend.

A breakfast session will be held on Monday morning at 8 am for both subjects. This will be an ideal opportunity to focus the mind, go over some quick-fire knowledge based questions and fully prepare the students for the exam.

They have all the resources and knowledge at their fingertips and they need to go in full of confidence and attempt every question, that is the only way they will get marks!!

The students have all worked incredibly hard and the end is insight – so please pass on our best wishes to them all and we hope to see them at 8am on Monday.

Year 11 Geography

The first geography paper is on Tuesday 22nd May. This is the Physical Geography paper and the topics to revise are Natural Hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms and climate change), the Living World (Ecosystems, Tropical Rainforests and Hot Deserts) and the UK Physical Landscape (Rivers and Coasts). The GCSEPod resources for these topics have been reassigned to all Year 11 Geographers in order to help with revision. The following YouTube clips are also useful for revision but also for exam technique on how to answer the questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9k5Ck2OtY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTEmHfgd7_A

Students will also need to ensure the know how to read an Ordnance Survey Map as one of these is likely to come up in this paper. This link is to the BBC Geography – Get Lost series and is a quick explanation of grid references but there are also clips on scale and contours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNd0HyhwV90

Paper 3 is on Monday 11th June, a month from today! This paper focuses on Geographical skills, fieldwork and the Pre-release material. Every student will have been given a copy of the Pre-release material for them to read over and annotate. They will be given a new copy for the actual exam. The Pre-release material is a decision making exercise based upon the construction of a reservoir. The following mind map gives some structure on how to prepare for this exam. There is also a mock paper with answers to help students prepare and some questions regarding the fieldwork.

Revision warm up sessions will be taking place on Monday 21st May, Monday 4th June and Friday 8th June from 3.15 to 4.30 in room 6.

Paper_3_Fieldwork_Revision_CHECKLIST

Sample Questions Pre Release 2018

GCSE PE EXAMS

The GCSE PE exams take place next week. Paper 1 on Fitness and Body Systems is on Wednesday 16th May and paper 2 Health and Performance is on Friday 18th May. Reminder GCSE POD and GCSE bitesize have been updated with new content, Students have all been issued with practice questions and have revision work on insight. There will be a final warm up session for the exam at 8am on Wednesday 16th May in room 83A. Good Luck.

Maths GCSE Revision

After school revision sessions continue to take place every Wednesday (rooms 48, 102, 103 and 105), Thursdays (rooms 48 and 102) and Fridays (rooms 46, 47, 102, 103 and 105)
In addition to these the maths department will be putting on some extra sessions before each of the GCSE maths exams.

Paper 1 revision sessions:
Wednesday 23rd May after school
Thursday 24th May 8am- 8.40 am (exam starts at 9am)

Paper 2 revision sessions:
Wednesday 6th June 11.20-1.20 (periods 3 and 4) and after school
Thursday 7th June 8am- 8.40 am (exam starts at 9am)

Paper 3 revision sessions:
Monday 11th June 11.20 – 12.20 (period 3) and after school
Tuesday 12th June 8am- 8.40 am (exam starts at 9am)

Equipment needed for the maths exam:

black pen, pencil, ruler, rubber, protractor, compass and a scientific calculator for paper 2 and 3.

There are also unconfirmed rumors that a lobster was seen teaching maths this morning, but it has to be said that she (there is a clue) was rather camera shy. We will see what we can do for next week!!!

Save the Date!
Tues 26th June 2018- Art department Exhibition

Please note that the Art Department Exhibition will be open to the public on Tuesday 26th June 5-7pm, and is a great chance to see a lot of the wonderful work that our students have produced. There is hours and hours of dedicated work in Art, Craft & Design, Photography from Year 9-year 13 on display and a chance to talk to some of the 6th form artists about their work.

PTA FUNDING RAISING EVENT – SAVE THE DATE

THE PTA HAVE ORGANISED A CINEMA NIGHT FOR ALL TAHS PUPILS

THURSDAY EVENNG 21^ST JUNE 2018

JURRASIC WORLD

DISCOUNTED TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

News from PE

The district athletics saw victories on the track for Shani Wright in the 800m and Lily Ede in the 300m. Lottie Cooper and Vicky Catterall were 2nd Place in the 100m & 200m. Lewis Dawson completed the same events for the boys and also finished 2nd. We are still awaiting the final placings for the field events but there were some creditable performances with Ewan Walsh & Ellie Alcock in the Shot & Discus, Frankie Bussell in the triple jump, Shani Wright in the Long Jump and Lily Ede in the high jump.

Round 2 is next Wednesday also at Shobnall

The Year 9 team played their first rounders game of the season on Tuesday evening. We played William Allitt at home and there were a few nervous faces before we played. By the end of the game those faces were smiling and victorious. The girls won 16 – 3 1/2 after being 10 1/2 – 2 at the end of the first innings. The team were led by captain Alice Boothby and made up of Freya Hadgett, Eve Bednall, Holly Chatfield, Frankie Tooth, Jess Banner, Abby Moore, Jazz Hardisty and Scarlett Simister with Amelia Hadgett being given Girl of the Game for her excellent bowling. Well done ladies, lets keep the wins coming!!

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Science News

This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mr Gilson are:

Year 9

Eleanor McCarthy for excellent practical skills dissecting the heart.

Amelia Hadgett for super assessment scores.

Year 10

Matthew Payne and Maisy Jeffrey for continued dedication and success in assessments.

Year 11

Alfie Bednall and Brad Cope for showing a continued excellent level of revision and subject knowledge.

This week’s Animal Care Students of the Week selected by Mr Gilson are:

Year 10

Tom Clayton and Morgan Perry for both producing course work above their target grades.

This week’s Environmental Land Based Science Students of the Week selected by Mr Gilson are:

Year 11

India Edwards and Sian Rendell for hard work, resilience and dedication to the subject.

Well done to all students!

Attendance

As part of the Uttoxeter Learning Trust we are please to inform parents that we are working with “Attend EDC” in maximising the attendance of our students.

This arrangement will not change any of our current practices & procedures. Our key Education Welfare Worker is Mrs Marie Shananahan.

Please direct all normal correspondence and questions to school using attendance@tahs.org.uk and 01889 561820