20/12/2018 – Last day of term & Christmas Jumper Day
21/12/2018 – Inset Day
7/1/19 Inset Day
8/1/19 School reopens for students
Headteacher blog:
This week, I had the opportunity of conducting interviews with year 11 students discussing their options post 16. I was impressed by both of the boys I met on Wednesday. although they are not certain of their plans, they were both clearly ambitious. One student said that he felt he had not worked as hard as he should have done in year 10 but that now it has struck him how important GCSEs are. He is looking at Physiotherapy due to his passion for Sport and Psychology. The second student is looking at working in Agricultural Contracting. He is already exceeding many of his target grades. Both students felt well supported by the staff in their preparations for their trial examinations. For students who have not revised as much as they should have, the week will have been challenging. We hope they use this final weekend to ensure they are well prepared for their final 4 days of examinations.
We are opening applications to attend our 5 day Outward Bound course in Aberdovey and can see this will be a very popular opportunity for Year 9. Once we have piloted it this year we hope to offer additional residentials for students to run alongside the fantastic Duke of Edinburgh Programme led by Mr Crum.
In our final week we will be holding our Music Concert, Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day! We will close on Thursday at our usual time of 3.05 and school will open again on Tuesday 8th January.
Uniform
A reminder to all students, parents and carers.
Hooded sweatshirts are not part of the uniform at Thomas Alleyne’s High School. We encourage all students to wear a v necked blue or black school sweatshirt over their shirts, especially now that the weather has turned cold.
We encourage them to also bring outdoor coats, and gloves. If they do bring hooded sweatshirts to school and wear these beneath or over their blazers these will be removed from them to be collected by parents as they are not part of the school uniform. We appreciate parents support with ensuring these sweatshirts, which are not part of our uniform are not brought to school.
Thursday 20th December – Christmas Jumpers
Staff & students are invited to wear Christmas jumpers on the last day of term.
£1 donation, with all funds going to TAHS YESS counselling support services.
Please note for students, the jumpers can only be worn alongside full school uniform.
Reports
Year 9, 10 and 12 reports are available on Insight.
Y9 Residential Trip to Aberdovey
All students have received a letter about a residential trip to Aberdovey week commencing 25th February.
Monday is the deadline to submit the reply slips, a ballot will take place next week for the places. A discount price is offered to pupil premium students.
Christmas Dinner
We are proud to announce that the turkeys came to the farm as day old chicks in September, they were initially kept under a heat lamp to keep them warm.
They have been fed highly nutritious pellets supplemented with fresh vegetables. Students have been monitoring their growth on a weekly basis as well as keeping their pens clean and tidy.
All this from Thomas Alleyne’s very own farm!
Also as we break up on a Thursday, Fish & Chip Friday will be in Thursday next week!!!
Online Safety
The impact of social media can be amazing – the promotion of events, the re-connection with friends from times past and the sharing of memories – are all fantastic ways of communicating.
Unfortunately social media is not always used in such a positive way.
Advice regarding uploading pictures:
Only upload pictures that you’d be happy for a parent to see (the internet is a public place). Don’t post pictures of you or your friends wearing school uniform (this lets people know where you will be). Tick the “no pic forwarding” option on your settings page – this will stop people forwarding your pictures to anyone without your consent. Who are you communicating with? Do you know? Do you really know?? Have you met them? If you know someone… who knows someone… who knows someone….. it doesn’t make them your friend.
Advice for students:
What you put on social media sites is there forever. Consider the information you share – you don’t know who your friend’s friends are… or your friend’s friends’ friends… Be aware that information on your profile could potentially be viewed by anyone. Consider you photo – what info does it give about you? Understand the meaning of ‘joint enterprise’ Be aware that university admissions and employers WILL check your internet activity.
In the event of an emergency with your child, have you got a new phone number (especially mobile)? Have you moved? Has there been a change in your circumstances? Has there been a change regarding any medical information for your son or daughter? If so, it is vital that you alert school so we can change the details on our system. Please contact school as soon as possible.
Need to Talk?
Need help and advice? Then follow this link for more information.
Natalie Stretton was the winner of this years ‘Class of 1961’ award for ‘Original Thought in Art’. The fabulous trophy was generously donated a couple of years ago by a group of past students from 1961 in recognition of the TAHS Art departments strong tradition of developing artists with a strong sense of individuality.
Natalie was awarded due to her diligence through out GCSE Art where she was often seen in the department Art Club after school. Natalie uses both analytical and expressive styles in her work is currently in year 12 working towards her A Level Art Craft and Design alongside Biology and Health & Social care.
Well done Natalie!
Year 11 Cambridge National in IT
A reminder that 50% of your course is due in to Mr Cartwright by 3.05 this coming Thursday, 20th December. As you are all fully aware work on this is NOT allowed outside of school, thus 43 will be open every lunchtime and after school next week.
Make the most of the opportunity to maximise the grade on this essential piece of work. Please also be reminded that there can be no extensions given as this deadline is exam board derived.
Year 10 French Exchange
Year 10 French Exchange partners’ details have arrived. Don’t forget the next payment is due soon.
History
Year 11 Mocks
Papers 2 and 3: don’t forget that you can collect some additional revision resources and activities to complete at home in preparation for these exams. Mrs Johnson and Mrs Young are also running lunch time and after school drop-in sessions if you have any questions.
Science
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mr Beech are:
Year 9
Josh Briddon and Freya Blackman for excellent Biology assessment scores.
Year 10
George Foster and Leon Bareham for excellent scores in the Bioenergetics topic.
Year 11
Lucy Greatrex and Georgia Fleeman for excellent assessment scores in Biology.
Well done!
PE
U16 County Cup Football
Alleynes marched into the semi finals of the county cup with a 3- 0 win over well fancied Aldridge to give supporters an early Christmas present. The long bus journey didnt help our visitors as they began sluggishly, with us hitting them with 2 quick goals from Archie McNair and the flu ridden Lewis Dawson. Lewie Thornton started up front after his excellent substitute appearance in the last round and carried out the game plan to perfection. Dawson added a third before half time just before he had to be withdrawn.
The 2nd half was much more even but Alleynes showed good match awareness to close the game out and always posed a threat through the outstanding man of the match Alex Shaw. This game showed Alleynes could adapt their tactics to suit the conditions and opponents.Captain Frankie Bussell and his midfield partner Ethan Archer were instrumental in the implementation of the game plan.
The draw was made this week and after our final performance last year we have been given a bye in the first round and will face our Alleynes rivals from Stone in the 2nd round.
U14 County Cup Rugby
On Wednesday yr9 travelled to St Josephs college for our first 15 aside fixture. With great parental support we began very strongly with well organised defence and strong running. While small errors cost us against a very experienced and talented side the team can be very proud of their efforts.
Monday- U15 Football v Australian touring side (see notice board for team list)
Tuesday- Staffordshire Moorlands Swimming Gala. See Miss Jones for team list. Details will be text to parents on Monday.
U14 Basketball away at Robert Sutton- Team list on PE notice board
Wednesday- U14 Football county cup
Team list on PE noticeboard.
Swimming Gala
If anybody is interested in competing in the swim gala but has not been asked please let Miss Jones know. Full details are on the sportshall notice board.
Girls Rugby
Another excellent rugby festival was held by Mark Tolley & Burton Rugby Club at Shobnall fields. The girls competed in two competitive full pich games, drawing 2 – 2 with John Taylo and beating Robert Sutton 5-0
Holly Chatfield led the side brilliantly, also representing the school were Lydia Martin, Maddi Porritt, Jessie Johnson, Abigail Baldwin, Lucy Calladine, Jess Perry, Abbie Garland, Heather Leech, Lydia Martin, Caitlin Jones, & Beth Reilly
Maths Puzzle
Answers to November Puzzle 65,72 and 97. There were no correct entries.
This months puzzle for December is
Christmas Car Sales
‘How’s the motor business’ asked Ian. Chris smiled ‘Its not usually good leading up to Christmas but sales have picked up again. We sold 56 in the first 3 weeks. The difference between the number we sold in the first and second weeks, multiplied by the difference between the second and third weeks, comes to the same as the number we sold in the first week’.
Ian was stuck as he was not in a top set maths class at school.
How many cars did Chris sell in the third week of that month?
Answers to Mr Askey
Year 10 Maths
All of Year 10 will have a maths assessment next week based on the topics they have studied this half term.
Sets 1 and 2: Indices, angles, properties of polygons, congruence, similar shapes
Sets 3, 4 and 5: Statistical measures, indices, algebra, constructions, loci
login is the student’s usual school login with @tahs at the end eg smithjohn04@tahs
the password is triangle
They will need to bring the following equipment with them to ensure they can answer all the questions:
black pen, pencil, ruler, rubber, protractor, compass and scientific calculator.
Christmas Concert
Tickets are available from the online shop and also from Mr Power. £5 each (£3 concessions).
Excellent Year Year 13 Work
Some fantastic revision materials have been created in preparation for the Year 13 Philosophy and Ethics exam – this demonstrates a great work ethic, well done. Please see the pictures below to see good examples of thorough revision strategies.
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Links
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Thomas Alleyne's high school 