It has been excellent to see the high turn out of Year 11 students in after school revision sessions as they spend their final days in school with us. Over 40 students were present in Geography on Friday evening and the GCSEplus sessions have been well attended. Students continue to use GCSEpod to help them with their revision. We will be distributing packs of revision guidance to students next week to support them in the run up to their GCSEs.
The Bronze Duke of Edinburgh participants continue with their preparations for their expeditions next weekend. We wish all students well for their practice expedition.
This week we said goodbye to one of our longest serving members of staff, who has worked in the school canteen for over 23 years. Sue, thank you for the care you have shown us all over the years and all the best for your much deserved retirement.
Assemblies
Next week Mrs Lindsay will be leading assemblies on the theme of Festivals.
Our thought for the week :
“love your family and friends. Spend time and serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised and today is short”
Supporting Your Child During Exam Time (Young Minds)
As we start to move towards exam season, Young Minds have launched advice for parents about supporting their children.
Tips include:
Encourage your child to take revision breaks and find a balance between studying and doing things they find enjoyable and relaxing.
Make sure they are eating and drinking at regular intervals.
Reassure them – reinforce that you are and will be proud of them no matter what happens.
Remain positive and hopeful!
Let them know their feelings are valid and normal, but also offer support and solutions where possible.
Anxiety is often worst at night and this means it is useful to encourage good bedtime routine
Congratulations to Anna Adams. Anna has been a Young Leader with Tean Valley Netball Club. She has volunteered her time helping to coach at sessions for younger children and officiating in local school and County leagues and tournaments. A fantastic example of student leadership.
Intervention Timetable
The latest timetable for interventions and revision in linked below. Make sure you make the most of the opportunities that are presented to you.
The following is also on offer over the Easter holidays….
School Lottery
Win money and support the school – what could be better!!!
Good Luck Year 11
French GCSE speaking exams in room 26 Monday 1st- Friday 5th April. Bonne Chance.
Yess its Back…
Chocolate bingo…….
Science Week
Following on from the inspiring events throughout ‘British Science Week’, our Year 9 classes have been learning about geoscience and climate change during a geology presentation given by Mrs Gouldmith.
The students had the opportunity to handle a piece of a 4.6 billion year old meteorite, look at dinosaur bone and eggshell and hear accounts of the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius and the devastating effect on the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mrs Faizey are:
Year 9 Lucy Howson and Grace King for having an excellent attitude to work.
Year 10 Eleanor Webster and Dylan James for making a superb effort in every Chemistry lesson.
Year 11 Maddie Andrews, Eleanor Punchard, Katie Lawrence and Amy Podmore for excellent effort throughout the Chemistry course.
This week’s Animal Care students of the Week selected by Mr Gilson are:
Year 10 Lucy Sutton and Merrillees Rankin for continued effort and enthusiasm. Year 11 Rachel Spence and Joe Porritt for great results in their recent BTEC Animal Care Exam.
Well done!
News from PE
Girls Rugby
Thomas Alleyne’s enjoyed a great rugby fixture against Robert Sutton in the sunshine at Burton Rugby Club. The hard ground was not conducive to rugby but the girls wanted to continue playing full contact. The team were well organised with the experience of Holly and Jess organising positions and tactics on the pitch. TAHS made an excellent start scoring a try in the opening minute through Maddy. The tries continued to rain in but the match was still very competitive with Beth and Heather increasing the total. It was an ultimate team performance with strong defensive play from all team members. Thank you to Mark Tolley for organising
Team – Porrit, Jones, Chatfield, Banner, Poole, Yates, Beresford, Baldwin, Leech, Perry, Reilly
Links
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Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. If there are any changes you would like to see please let us know.
This week, we have spoken to students about ensuring that they make the very most of their ‘Right to Education.’ During assemblies we reminded them of the importance of our school values and school rules. We would appreciate parental support in reminding them that we want them to be ‘Ready to Learn’ as soon as they arrive at school so that they are able to get the most from their day. Some students have been arriving at school without pens/pencils/rulers/glue sticks, which makes their day more difficult. If you can check their bags and top up any pencil cases that would be very helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact our Heads of Houses if you need support with this.
We would also like to remind students that, if they do choose to bring mobile phones to school, these should be kept in bags during lessons. We have had students lose expensive headphones recently and would ask that, either they do not bring these into school, or if they choose to they to they are kept in their bag. Thank you for your support.
Beyond lessons, it as been a busy week. It was my pleasure to see our Year 10 and 11 boys play in the football county final at Stafford FC. They showed real sportsmanship and mettle during and after the game and were a credit to the school. Max Hayes’ match report – is fantastic and little did we know that Mr Barrow was such a natural on camera!
Max is entering the Football Blogging Award’s this year. You can vote by clicking the link here: https://bit.ly/2EJ5Hgd and scrolling down to the box where it says ‘Best Young Content Creator’ then type in the box ‘Matchday With Max’ . Please help Max bring another trophy home.
With only three weeks left of this term I would like to share with you that most students in Year 13 are showing a very mature attitude towards their preparation for the upcoming summer exams. I as I moved around the school this week I have seen students working in the canteen, library and other vacant classrooms. They are working in groups, as individuals and even having small tutorials with teachers, it is nice to see this positive work environment helping them to achieve.
On a slightly negative note I would ask that both Year 12 and 13 female students take time this weekend to think about aspects of their uniform. We encourage all students to dress appropriately, this includes skirt lengths and also blouses and not jumpers. The Sixth Form team will be addressing all students next week about this issue, some of the skirts are simply too short, this does need to change. Students must wear the correct uniform to school; if the uniform does not meet previous discussed criteria then students will be asked to wear spare uniform.
On a positive note, we are impressed with the boy’s attire.
We had an ongoing understanding with B&Q that our Sixth Form students can park in their car park, sadly, this has ended and students must now not park there. They are installing an automatic number plate recognition camera in the ca park and our students run the risk of being fined by the company that owns the carpark. We have spoken to Bradley Street British Legion and they have stated that our students can park in their car for £1 a day; passes can be purchased from Mrs Walton and need to be displayed in the windscreen of the car.
As part of TAHS sixth form’s ongoing commitment to provide advice regarding future intentions, please follow these links for some useful information about student finance kindly given to us by Derby university. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the sixth form team.
Next week Mr Washbounre will be leading assemblies on the theme of World Water Day.
Our thought for the week :
“the right to safe & clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”
The United Nations
Assemblies until Easter are as follows:
Year 10 Artists Workshops
In addition to our regular Art Club which supports our GCSE and A Level students, Mrs Cornell has gathered together some of our creative year 10 art students to develop their expertise in sketchbooks, drawing and experimental work. We look forward to seeing what they do over the next few weeks….
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Rotary Art Competition
Some examples of the fantastic work we are entering this year
Intervention Timetable
The latest timetable for interventions and revision in linked below. Make sure you make the most of the opportunities that are presented to you.
The following is also on offer over the Easter holidays….
School Lottery
Win money and support the school – what could be better!!!
County Lines
Reflections on visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau
Two Year 12 students Amy and Lily-Ella recently experienced a 24 hour visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust. Linked below are their reflections of their visit:
On Tuesday 10 Yr 10 boys played in a County cup competition at St Joesphs Catholic College.
15 teams from across the county competed in a league tournament. Alleynes were drawn against King Edwards of Lichfield, Walton, Clayton and Graham Balfour. From their first game the team knew that they would be up against some tough opposition. Losing the to King Edwards without scoring in the first match was a steep learning curve however as the matches progressed the team improved significantly, they became much better organised and took their chances to score tries. Despite improving they couldn’t quite master a win. As a team they pulled together throughout the afternoon with excellent performances from Harry Meredith Wood, Alfie Clowes and Harry Ashton. Well done to the team and thank you to the parents who transported us to Trent Vale.
Versatility Netball Tournament
A mix of Year 9 & 10 students combined to play in Miss Jones’ favourite netball tournament at Deferrers. Robert Sutton were our first opposition where the girls had to adapt to having different team mates and our first victory was chalked up. Deferrers A were next up, and they had a strong team, with TAHS unable to get into the attacking third and Deferrers winning the ball and scoring quite regularly they took an 8-2 victory. Alleyne’s were then back in the groove for the remaining fixtures to record convincing victories against John Taylor A & B and Deferers B.
Team – Dickens, Young, Robins, Adams, Hadgett, Hadgett & Bednall.
Thank you to Mrs Adams who assisted with transport and umpiring.
Girls Cricket
A great day was had at Fenton Manor on Tuesday with 8 of our students taking part in the Under 15 Lady Taverners Cricket Competition. We played 4 games throughout the day. The team was made up of Zoe Carr, Lib Carr, Maddy Egerton, Evie Robins, Holly Chatfield, Amelia Hadgett, Freya Hadgett and Eve Bednall. With special thanks to Lucy Carr for umpiring the games.
The first game was against Painsley who had already played and was suitable warmed up. We were a little rusty but put up a good score of 71, Painsley then responded with a strong 88 to give us our first defeat. Woman of the match was Maddy Egerton for her bowling after playing cricket again for the first time in a long time.
The second game of the day gave us our first win, against Newcastle Under Lyme School. We batted first again and got our highest score of 90 and due to strong bowling and fielding we kept Newcastle to a total of 81. Woman of the match for this game was Holly Chatfield for her excellent batting.
Third game was against Alleyne’s, this time we fielded first and kept them to a total of 76. It then came down to our last ball to gain 3 runs to draw and 4 to win. Unfortunately we didn’t get the final runs, so finished on a total of 73. Woman of the match was Eve Bednall for great batting.
Our last game of the day was against the undefeated team of Paget. We batted first against some very strong bowling and got out to a total of 64. We then bowled fantastically and got all of Paget for only 40 runs. Woman of the match was Freya Hadgett for being the last woman standing when batting and keeping the game alive.
The standard of cricket seen at the competition was so high and it was amazing to see 13 schools playing so well. Our girls should be very proud of their conduct and performance. Well done ladies.
Links
Follow the links to; School Website, Facebook, Twitter & our Online Shop
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. If there are any changes you would like to see please let us know.
Apologies for the late arrival of Round Up this week. I was fortunate on Friday and Saturday to be able to attend the Association of College and School Leaders National Conference where myself and Mrs Maingay listened to leaders in the field of education as well as meeting Headteachers from across the country. It was a very useful and informative experience but has meant that the Headteacher blog is slightly delayed.
This week, I wanted to draw your attention to the role of governors in our school. Our current governors come from a wide range of backgrounds and careers. They use their varied experience to support and challenge the school. Schools need governing boards that have a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills and experience to enable it to be effective and at the moment we are looking to welcome 2 new parent governor to our experienced board.
Election of Parent Governors
Currently two vacancies exist for parent governors on our governing board and I am therefore inviting you to stand for election. Parent Governors are appointed for a period of four years, irrespective of whether their children remain in school during that period.
Governors play a very valuable and important part in the life of the school and gain an interesting experience for themselves. There is no need to worry if you do not have any previous experience of such a role as there is plenty of training available. All that is required is a little time, commitment, the ability to question and analyse, and a willingness to learn. The Governing Body members have between them a range of skills and experience, and to add to this range we are particularly keen to recruit, if possible, a parent governor with knowledge of ICT, or a member of the business community.
The governing board provides strategic leadership and accountability in schools. It has three key functions:
Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent
Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
Governors or trustees set the aims and objectives for the school and set the policies and targets for achieving those aims and objectives. They monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher. In action, this means:
Appointing and performance reviewing the head teacher and senior leaders, including making decisions about pay
Managing budgets and deciding how money is spent
Engaging with pupils, staff, parents and the school community
Sitting on panels and making decisions about things like pupil exclusions and staff disciplinary
Addressing a range of education issues within the school including disadvantaged pupils, pupils with special needs, staff workload and teacher recruitment
Looking at data and evidence to ask questions and have challenging conversations about the school
Governors and trustees must be prepared to adopt the Nolan principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
The Governors usually have one full meeting a term and, in addition, each governor is a member of one of the two committees (Learning and Standards; Managing and resourcing) which meet once or twice a term. The full governing body meets at 4.00pm and the committees meet at 5.00pm.
Parents (for the purpose of this election includes step-parents, guardians and other persons having parental responsibility) of all children currently registered at the school are entitled to stand for election or nominate others who qualify.* Any parent or guardian wishing to stand for election must agree to being nominated. It would be helpful if each candidate could submit a brief statement about themselves (no more than 200 words) and this will be circulated with the ballot papers.
Nomination forms can either be posted to school or given in at the Main School Office – to be received no later than 3.30pm on Friday, 5th April 2019. Please mark the envelope as ‘Parent Governor Nomination’ for the attention of Russ Sheldon, clerk to governors.
Alternatively if you prefer to nominate by email please headteacher@tahs.org.uk and provide the information below.
If you wish to discuss this matter with myself or Mike Prescott, chair of governors, please do not hesitate to contact the school.
* Employees at the school who work more than 500 hours in a year are not eligible for nomination, but may vote in the election.
Nomination Form – Parent Governor
I wish to nominate Mr/Mrs/Other Title_____________________________________ (PRINT Name please)
Please enclose a brief statement of no more than 200 words.
All persons signing must be parents/guardians of a student at Thomas Alleyne’s High School, Uttoxeter.
6th Form Car Parking
We have come to an agreement with Bradley House that TAHS 6th form students can park there for a charge of £1 per day. This is the car park at the back of the bowling green NOT the car park at the front of Bradley House. Permits can be purchased from Mrs Walton during break which will display your registration number and the date that you have paid up to. Bradley House ask that you do not leave too much room between cars as local businesses also use their facilities.
You can use the side gate to access school. This is on a trial basis for a couple of weeks. The car park will be regularly patrolled and registration numbers will be taken of cars illegally parked there. If you do park without paying for a permit, you risk a fine of £10 (which will be given to a local charity) and possibly being wheel clamped.
Please treat the facilities with respect eg no loud music and driving considerately.
Assemblies
Next week Miss Wright will be leading assemblies on the theme of Managing Change.
Our thought for the week :
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, then change your attitude”
Assemblies until Easter are as follows:
World Book Day
This Monday, 26 Year 7 and Year 8 students from Oldfields and Windsor took part in a fun ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ quiz to celebrate World Book Day. They competed against each other answering 15 multiple choice questions to see who would be crowned champion and walk away with one million pounds (or a creme egg…). The level of the competitors was highly impressive, with 4 teams making it through the last question! 2 rounds of tie breaking later, we had our winners! Congratulations to Libby and Emily from Windsor Park! After the quiz, the students were treated to a tour around some of our school site led by Mrs Rudge, Mrs Maingay and Mr Hulme – they got to marvel at the amazing Art department and they even got the opportunity to meet some of our animals down on the farm with Mrs North!
A special thanks to our sixth form linguist volunteers Lorna and Harrison, as well as Mrs Hunt’s Year 12 English Language class!
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Intervention Timetable
The latest timetable for interventions and revision in linked below. Make sure you make the most of the opportunities that are presented to you.
Year 11 and 13 Student Progress Reports are now available in Insight.
History
Mrs Young and Mrs Johnson continue to be impressed with the vast majority of Year 11 students who have given up some of their lunchtime to enable them to complete a full 1 hour 20 minute practice GCSE examination on Germany (Paper 3). The results show students making significant improvements on their mock examination results.
Year 13 have also given up a large amount of time to enable them to sit a 2 hour 30 minute Russia practice examination paper. We are very impressed with the focus students are showing in this critical period of time before the real examinations start.
Countdown is on…
2 weeks until the French GCSE speaking exams. Intervention Tuesday room 10 foundation 3.05 Friday room 10 higher 3.05.
Hamilton Trip
Students are advised to return their Hamilton trip letters on Monday, as there are limited places. Forms can be handed to Mr Hollins directly in the library (from 8:30) or to the letterbox outside the staffroom.
Science Week
This week we celebrated British Science Week with a variety of spectacular and fascinating activities occurring each lunchtime.
The Chemistry Department produced a range of spectacular flames and explosions; including lighting methane bubbles, an ethanol ‘whoosh’ bottle and hydrogen and oxygen balloons.
The Physics Department looked into rocket science and launched a very impressive hydrogen rocket.
Students were engrossed by the rat dissection in the Biology Department.
The reptiles made an appearance on the School Farm; including the bearded dragon and the gecko. The students took the opportunity to feed the corn snake. The tarantula also made an impressive appearance!
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mr Milward are:
Year 9
Elizabeth Shaw and Harvey Stanton for continued hard work and excellent assessments.
Year 10
Scarlett Simister and Archie Fountain for making excellent progress.
Year 11
Carla Williams and Tara Wilkins for continued hard work and thorough revision.
Well done!
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Congratulations to students from Windsor Park who won the science millionaire quiz at Thomas Alleyne’s as part of National Science week.
Apprenticeships
Alongside useful information given out by 6th form registration tutors, please visit this link to a host of live apprenticeships both local and national:
On Wednesday 20 year 9 pupils started their ice skating programme. Pupils received skates, a 20 minute coaching session as well as 20 minutes free skating. All pupils thoroughly enjoyed the session and will continue for the next 4 weeks.
Thank you to Cinebowl for offering them this opportunity, it is excellent value for money.
BTEC SUCCESS
Well done to BTEC students in years 11, 12 and 13 who received their results from examinations this week. Students in Animal Care, Sport, Health & Social Care, IT and Applied Science studied hard over Christmas and took the exams in January. These results are added to their portfolio assignments to achieve their overall grade.
We were delighted to see so many distinction and merit grades which will help them towards their final qualifications.
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News from PE
U16 Boys Football
Great preparation for our county cup final this week with a 7-0 win in the Alleynes derby in the 2nd round of the Sentinel Schools Shield. Played in the face of storm Gareth, our boys managed to get the ball down and play some fantastic football. Lewie Thornton scored a hatrick, Charlie Martin 2 and Ethan Archer added a 7th from right back. Man of the match though was shared between Alex Shaw at left back and Lewis Dawson who ran the game from midfield. Next round of the Sentinel Cup is on Wednesday at home to Trentham High.
Our year 11 boys football team have done outstandingly well to reach the County Cup final. They will play Painsley on Monday 7.30 kick off at Stafford Town FC
Address Evans Park Fairway Stafford ST16 3TL
They would very much appreciate your support ( admission £2 adults, £1 concessions)
Trampoline Competition
Five students competed in the trampoline competition at Paulet. There were three levels of competition and TAHS celebrated success in the beginner, intermediate and elite categories. Evie led the way in the beginner routine competing in the fiercely contested 10 bounce routine with great control. Evie was awarded the silver medal for her performance. Eliya & Lily scored well in their first ever trampoline competition.
Caitlin was our entry for the intermediate competition, having competed in the event in year 9 & 10 she brought great composure to the event and performed two near perfect routines to win the gold medal.
Zoe excelled in the elite competition expertly executing some highly advanced moves, such as straight backs & tuck backs to also win this competition.
It would be great to have more performers at trampoline club, which is held after school on a Thursday.
Uttoxeter Cricket Club – Junior Training
Our junior training for this season will commence on Friday 19th April at 6:30pm at our new home of Jacks Lane, Marchington. Boys and Girls aged 5 to 14 are most welcome. Training will focus upon the key skills of batting, bowling and fielding. This will continue on Fridays throughout the summer and youngsters of any level of ability are most welcome.
All Stars Cricket (5 to 8 year olds)
For 5 to 8 year olds we offer All Stars Cricket. This is a national programme designed to introduce children to the game. Further details and registration can be found here: https://allstarscricket.co.uk/uttoxeter. £40 represents outstanding value as it includes: Personalised Playing Shirt, Cap, Cricket Bat, Cricket Bat, Activity Book and Training throughout the summer.
Junior Cricket Fixtures
We have an Under 8 Kwik cricket team plus Under 11 and Under 13 hard ball teams who all play regular fixtures.
Forthcoming Event
Friday 9th April will see us move to our new ground in Marchington. On this day we will be hosting a Natwest Cricket Force National Showcase which will see volunteers work on a series of projects. We anticipate that two current England international cricketers will be joining us on this day. Any volunteers are most welcome to be involved.
Contacting Uttoxeter Cricket Club
Please note that our new address is: Uttoxeter Cricket Club, Jacks Lane, Marchington, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, ST14 8DW. With regards to any of the above opportunities, the best way to contact us is via email: info@uttoxetercc.co.uk or calling James Burton on 07961208354. Further information can be found on: www.facebook.com/uttoxetercc.
NCS Update
NCS will be in school on Wednesday 27th March at lunch time to distribute t-shirts to those students who have signed up. There are still spaces available at the cost of £40, if you are interested please see Miss Jones
This week our school canteen was inspected. The team who run the canteen are a fantastic group of people who look after us day in, day out. If your son or daughter hasn’t tried the hot meals we recommend them to you! The inspection report reflects their commitment to serving us healthy and delicious food.
Comments from inspectors:
”Today’s visit to Thomas Alleyne’s High School was an absolute pleasure, First of all I must give praise to you (Lisa Lister canteen manager) and your team in creating a showcase venue. Thomas Alleyne is in the premiership of our canteens.
Food quality and presentation was of the highest I have experienced in all my years with Chartwells”
Our congratulations to the team.
It was my pleasure to bring the week to a close by meeting our ‘Stars of the Week’. Amongst the achievements this week, they had attained the Queen’s Scout Award; the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award; captained the school netball team and represented the county; taken on a new sport and within 2 months achieved their yellow Karate belt; achieved 130 credits since starting in Year 9; and finally, I had the chance to say thank you to one of our students who has stood out for her positivity and kindness throughout her time at the school.
I have enjoyed seeing the photographs of Year 9 students on their Outward bound residential trip in Aberdovey. It looks like they all relished the opportunity to try new sports and activities. Thank you to parents for your support, and to the staff who looked after them whilst away. Congratulations to all the students who took part.
There are not many schools able to offer the breadth of facilities we are fortunate to have. The unique school farm; Sports Hall including a gym and climbing wall; wonderful art rooms and Photography dark room; Drama Studios and well resourced Design Technology rooms; are just a few of the facilities accessed by students. It is my pleasure to be able to report that we have now raised sufficient money to refurbish our swimming pool.
Lane1 to set up a Swim School at Thomas Alleyne’s High School.
The decision comes just over a year after the school announced it would have to shut the swimming pool from January 2018 because it could not commit to the necessary funding to repair it.
The closure prompted the school, local swimmers, Dove Valley Swim Group, Lane1, members of the community, Tescos, Sport England, East Staffordshire Borough and Staffordshire County Council to work together to raise the funds to complete the repairs on the pool.
The final funds for completion were handed over on 1st March.
The School will continue to use the pool for swimming lessons during the day, to run life-saving courses and to offer schools within the Uttoxeter Learning Trust the opportunity to bring first school children to the pool to swim. In the evening Lane1 will be offering swim lessons to the community.
Headteacher Julie Rudge said: ”The pool was originally built utilising funds raised by the local community and it is fantastic to be able to start work on refurbishing the pool so that the opportunity to learn to swim will be available for generations to come.”
“Along with the re-building of our Pavillion which will provide a sports gym , new changing facilities and three new classrooms; the pool now has a strong future at the heart of Uttoxeter. ”
“I would like to thank all of those who have supported us in our campaign to save the pool, particularly Cllr. Atkins, Cllr Colin Whittaker, David Brookes, Graham Hunt, Phillip Hudson, Mark Rizk, Melina Greensmith, Lioncourt Homes, Ken Hardy and John Plant.
Pool sessions will commence in September please contact Lane1 Swimming school for details. http://lane1coaching.com
This week in TAHS Sixth Form has been a quiet week, apart from the Senior Prefects working hard to get the Year Book completed. If your son or daughter has not provided a comment for the year book or submitted photographs by today, Friday, then sadly they have missed the deadline. This is a wonderful keepsake, so much better than the scruffy notebook that I had when I left school!
As a community, we like to celebrate success and this week I would like to take the opportunity to share the success of Adam Burrows in Year 13. Adam is a hard working student who has participated in Auschwitz project and helped to put together the assembly to highlight to scale of Holocaust. As well as this commendable work Adam has working well as part of a team and also on an individual level and will be attending Buckingham Palace in May for his Gold Duke of Edinburgh presentation. This was not enough for Adam and he has also completed his Queen’s Scouts Award (the highest award you can get in scouting). He is only the fifth person in Staffordshire to get it this school year and the youngest by far. So Adam Burrows – Well done!
Adam will now be going to Windsor Castle where he will parade around the castle, meet Bear Grylls and a representative of the Queen or possibly the Queen herself before having a church service in St Georges Chapel inside the castle. This is a highly sought after accolade I’m sure you will agree.
Year 12 students have been given the tools, on paper and with the use of Unifrog, to start putting together their personal statements. On Unifrog they have seven competencies to complete, this will enable them to see the good, to see what they have achieved so far and how they have achieved it. By seeing this aspect of themselves they can start to piece together their statement. We don’t expect all students to know which courses, jobs or apprenticeships they want to apply for yet, but starting now makes it easier in September. The deadline for these personal statements to be handed to your form tutor is April 5th.
Year 9 Options
Thank you to all of those students who completed the options form by the deadline. We will now begin the process of creating the option groups based upon the options that students have chosen.
We hope to get confirmation of option subjects out to students by Easter. If parents/carers have any questions about the options process, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr Washbourne.
MOMO Safeguarding
You may be aware of a harmful po-up that appears during YouTube videos aimed at children, on Fortnite and other social media called Momo. It shows disturbing images and encourage viewers to hurt themselves.
A statement on the National Online Safety website said:
“There have been recent reports that some seemingly innocent videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids (such as ‘surprise eggs’, unboxing videos and Minecraft videos) have been edited by unknown sources to include violence provoking and/or other inappropriate content. Even though YouTube monitor and remove videos that include inappropriate content, clips can be uploaded and viewed thousands of times before they get reported and removed. As a parent, it’s difficult to spot these videos as the harmful content doesn’t appear until partway through the video.”
Please be aware if this and talk to your children about clicking on unidentified links.
Puzzle of the Month
For March the adventures of Ian and Chris continue and this month they are off on a coach trip:
Ian and Chris decided to run a coach trip to Windermere. Charges were –
All the way and back £15 and children half price.
For an extra payment of £13.25 (£11 for children) there was an extra additional attraction of a trip on a steamer to Bowness.
Chris said ‘ I have taken exactly £2000
One – quarter of the bookings for the steamer had been adults.
1. How many tickets did they sell for the steamer
2. How many adults and children went to Windermere
Answers and solutions to Mr. Askey
Year 11 Geography
This week’s knowledge organiser is focused upon the Physical landscapes of the UK. This topic involves understanding how there are a variety of upland and lowland areas of the UK and then focuses upon two specific landscapes – coasts and rivers. Students will need to understand how different processes result in different types of landforms in these two environments. Students will also need to understand the different ways in which we can manage these environments. This is an optional part of Paper 1 so there will also be a section in there that looks at glaciation but students DO NOT have to do this section.
Also just a reminder that Yr11 students will be completing their primary data collection in Uttoxeter next week. Students will be collecting river data and pedestrian counts for their Paper 3 exam. The letter regarding the trip is attached. Can students please make sure that they are in uniform but dressed appropriately for the weather and that you have completed the consent form. Students are to register first and then go to room 7.
As it stands we are planning for the status quo to maintain post Brexit day at the end of March. Thus the need for you all to still have a valid EHIC card, should we leave with a deal then these will still be valid. I have been in constant consultation with Interski and should we crash out with no deal the insurance policy already in place covers all participants on the trip for medical expenses.
English Evening
On Tuesday 5th March, from 6.30pm until 7.30pm, Mr Hulme will be delivering a presentation to parents about the content and structure of the two English GCSE examinations, GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature. The presentation will also include advice on how to help pupils best prepare for these examination. The presentation will take place in the school theatre.
All are welcome.
Business Studies Trip To Prague
This week we took 30 A level Business Studies students to Prague. It was a busy schedule!
We started with a walking tour of the city which enabled us to see the castle and many of the key attractions of the city. After a lunch break at Hard Rock Cafe we then made our way up to the Pietron watch out tower where some of our students climbed to the top to see the view across the city.
After a day of being tourists we then had two days of trips to see some Czech Businesses. We were given a tour around the Skoda Factory and Museum where we were able to see the cars in manufacture. We visited a Brewery, where we learnt about how the brand had been affected by nationalisation after the war and how it had grown since being privatised again in 1989. We saw the beer being bottled and met their brand mascot, a goat!
On the final day we visited the Rukl glass factory in Nizbor. This visit was my favourite! The students were able to watch glass being blown, cut and polished by hand into trophies, vases and ornaments. Our guide explained how the employees need to work as a team to ensure the quality of their piece, as one mistake means the item has to be destroyed and noone gets paid. We watched as one employee worked on a vase which only he is trained to make, it takes 50 hours in total and the final piece is sold for £6000! It was very beautiful.
The students also enjoyed a trip on a tour bus, a boat cruise and we successfully navigated the metro and tram lines!
Thank you to Mr Brunt and Miss Beevor for coming along too.
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Parents Evening to help support your son/daughter with revision
6th March 6.00pm. Tim Benton
It is with great delight that once again we have been able to secure the services of Tim Benton. Tim is a motivational speaker who delivers strategies to help young people go about learning, revising and more in an effective, purposeful and brain-friendly way, Tim has been regularly used by the school over a number of years and holds the philosophy “Whether you’re ten years old or ten years teaching, I want you to live at your best.” Through his disarming manner, his casual and entertaining style and his inarguable logic, Tim helps all those he works with – young and old – revaluate what they do, why they do it and whether they should be doing something else entirely.
Tim will be working with all year 11 pupils on revision techniques and strategies in the day and will run a workshop for parents in the evening. Please come along at 6.00pm on 6th March, to gain valuable insights into how you can best support your son or daughter as they approach their public exams.
Learning about the English Language in London
A Level English Language students attended the EMC Student Conference on Tuesday this week. The students travelled by coach to London, braving a 6am departure, and were treated to a range of talks by academics from all over the country.
Alongside 700 other students, they learned how analysis of someone’s text message style helped solve a murder in Stoke; how someone’s accent changes subtly according to the different functions within a conversation; and how online anti-social behaviour becomes normalised. After a quick lunch out in the city, they were then able to listen to the country’s pre-eminent linguist, David Crystal, explain how babies understand the rudiments of language from in the womb, to one year old. This talk was highly enjoyable, with Prof. Crystal being cheered by the auditorium.
There was a final presentation from a contemporary poet, Luke Wright, who demonstrated how words can be chosen to shape a voice and a mood in poetry, including an impressive demonstration of a “univocalic lipogram” – a poem which uses only one vowel (in this case, o). Although everyone was somewhat tired when we returned to school at 8pm, students have come away with a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted nature of language study, and some have even chosen coursework ideas based on what they learned during the day.
Fairtrade Fortnight
Fairtrade Fortnight takes place from 25 February to 10 March. The There will be many events during Fairtrade Fortnight to highlight the importance of Fairtrade as a way of supporting poorer people in the developing world. These will include:
Fairtrade Coffee Morning 27 February Friends Meeting House: This will take place at the Quaker Meeting House, 39 Carter Street on Wednesday 27th February and will run from 10.30 to 12.00. Fairtrade drinks and cakes will be served. All proceeds will go to charity.
Mayor’s FT coffee morning 8 March 10-12 noon – Uttoxeter Town Hall
Information Stalls at Tesco (25 February) and Waitrose (29 February)
Both Tesco and Waitrose will be running Spot the Fairtrade logo children’s competitions
There will be Fairtrade displays throughout Fairtrade Fortnight at Uttoxeter Library, the Town Hall and St Mary’s Parish Church
The Lenten Lunches. These will take place 12-2 pm at the United Reformed Church – Fridays in Lent from 8 March onwards offering FT refreshments.”
News from PE
Girls County Rugby Festival
Jess, Holly, and Lucy were all selected to represent the County at the U15 rugby festival held at Lichfield Rugby Club last Sunday. The girls enjoyed a fantastic day playing full sized games in the morning session and having their first experience of rugby 7’s in the afternoon. Courtney also played representing at Under 18 level. Well done!
U16 Football
Congratulations to our year 11 footballers beating Endon 5-2 with goals from McNair (2), Dawson, Thornton, Martin. Reaching 2 more finals!
Year 9 Football
Year 9 football won 8 – 4 in staffs cup to reach final.
Whilst Mr Godwin has been in Aberdovey, Mr Askey took temporary charge of the team, now will Mr Godwin get his position back after such a thumping victory!
Rugby Success
Fantastic to hear of the success of Lewie, Ben and Dan all of whom have made it to the final of The Staffordshire U16 rugby final this year. Great story here from Staffordshire Live.
Next Friday 8th March will be the start of our celebration of British Science Week. We begin with our Millionaire Quiz for our Year 9, 10 and 11 students.
The following week will feature a range of activities and demonstrations at lunchtime. Details will be revealed soon; look out for the Science Week posters around the School!
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mrs North are:
Year 10
Saffron Forrester, Ruby Taylor-Caine and Anna Adams
Year 11
Rachel Spence, Samantha Cotterill and Rachel Holloway
All of the students were selected for excellent recent results in biology assessments.
Well done!
MFL Revision
French intervention
Foundation room 10 Tuesday after school
Getting to a 9 room 23 Tuesday after school
Higher room 10 Friday after school
GCSE speaking exams are the week beginning 1st April.
Respect Spring Term 2
The in school respect programme followed every Friday registration moves onto the following topics from 1st March:
Year 9: Diversity
Year 10: Teenage Pregnancy
Year 11: Financial Capability
Year 11 Group Photograph
We are pleased to let you know that we now have a web collection for the school. We have password protected your image using your account number 380431.
Please note these images are available for viewing only, ordering takes place via the order forms available from your tutor.
Thomas Alleyne's high school 