TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
Headteacher’s Blog – A Thank You!
Thank you to all the staff who have offered additional activities this week. It has been fantastic to hear recounts of students’ experiences watching Hamilton, The Woman in Black and at the Bodyworks visit.
Attendance at our Year 11 revision evening was the highest we have ever had. Mrs Peers will be following this up with an assembly preparing Year 11 for their trial examinations
Before Christmas, each Year 11 student will be meeting with one of our pastoral leads or senior staff to have a one-to-one guidance meeting to consider their next steps post GCSEs.
Thank you to parents who joined us for the workshop on mental health. The feedback has been very strong. If you would like a place we are continuing to fund parental places on the workshops for a limited amount of time. Please email headteacher@tahs.org.uk to reserve a place.
We would appreciate your support in ensuring that your children are dressed appropriately for school/ We encourage them to wear a plain black v-neck jumper under their blazers during the winter. However, they must not bring hooded tops or sweatshirts, of a different colour, into school. If they are seen in school wearing these they will be confiscated. Please also ensure that students are not wearing acrylic nails to school. These are not part of our school uniform.
Assemblies week commencing 11th November
Assemblies will be taken by Mrs Dodd on the theme of Actions for Happiness.
Our thoughts of the week are:
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” Dalai Lama
“In life everyone has a choice. The key is: make a right choice.” DJ Khaled
Year 13 Parents Evening
We would like to say how proud we were of our Year 13 English Literature group who delivered the Remembrance Assembly to all year groups this week. It was delivered with the high level of respect and many staff and students alike have since commented on how well the students composed themselves throughout the twenty minutes assembly.
It is also very clear that the students in Year 12 and Year 13 are making a huge effort with regards to attendance. We are very appreciative of the work that you as parents and carers are doing in ensure that students are in school and able to learn. If for any reason they are unable to attend then please let us know at your earliest opportunity.
Year 13 Parents’ Evening is on Tuesday 19th November, 2019. The evening will last from 4.00pm to 7.00pm. Letters have been posted home.
In order to prevent queuing please can you make appointments with your child’s respective subject teachers. This is done via Insight. Please log on to Insight and book your appointments. This will be live from 3.30pm on Friday 8th November. If you have a problem accessing Insight please email insight@tahs.org.uk for support. If you would like to speak to Mrs Dodd or another member of the Sixth Form Team on the evening then please let us know.
Charity Event
Well done to Amanda, one of our Year 13 students. On Wednesday 6th November 2019, at lunchtime in the school theatre Amanda had her head shaved to raise money for Brave the Shave in support of Macmillan Cancer. Staff and students had to give a donation if they wanted to watch. Amanda raised over £80.00 from donations at lunchtime and is currently well on track to smash her £600 goal. Amanda is also sending 8 plaits of her hair to the Little Princess Trust.
Mock
examination timetables will be issued soon to the Year 13 students, please
spend sometime looking at these with your child to ensure they are a fully
prepared for them as they can be. We want all our students to succeed and
supporting them at home is a great way to start on the path of success.
Students that are completing BTEC subjects will be completing external
examinations and these will count towards their final grade, this will Year 12
and 13 students. Students will receive a
timetable with these dates and times on.
6th Form Tutor Time Activities
Year 12
Watch the Unifrog video on Moocs. Log onto the Future Learn website and look at some Moocs you can start during your enrichment time. Once you have access to Unifrog, you should start filling in your competencies and researching universities and apprenticeships.
Year 13
Log into Unifrog and look at their personal statement writing advice. Read some of their exemplars to help you improve your own. Go to ‘subjects library’, choose a career area and scroll down to ‘statement’. Remember not to plagiarise but to use this as a starting point.
Unibuddy
Discover Unibuddy!Chat online with current university students and gain insight into what life is really like at specific universities or specific courses. Via UCAS, log onto the UCAS hub:
Year 11 Revision – Guidance for parents and students
Thank you to all students and parents who were able to join us for Y11 Revision Evening on Tuesday 5th November Materials and Powerpoints from the evening have been sent via insight – please let us know if you need any assistance.We are going to share additional strategies each week on round up to support your revision – with a handout for parents and students. Please see the attached parent and student information sheets on ‘chunking information’.
Start now to maximise your potential.
December Mock Examinations
Please see below for the upcoming examinations to held in school:
Learning Support Evening
Thank you to staff and parents who attended the evening on Thursday. It was an excellent opportunity to meet year 9 parents and catch up with them regarding their son or daughter’s progress at school over the last 8 weeks. The event held in Keeling House provided the opportunity for parents to meet the staff who were working closely with their child and visit the environment they work in . Thank you once again.
Staffordshire Winter Fayre
This will take place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November at the County Showground. A large number of students from the school will be taking part in the show with our pigs and sheep. Most of the competitions will be on Saturday, with pig showing from 10am onwards and the big schools sheep competition at approximately 2pm. Please come and support the students who have worked hard to prepare for the show.
History Year 11
If you are considering taking A level history next year or would like to know more about the subject then you may be interested in attending a short A level History taster lesson. If you would like more information about this then see Mrs Johnson or Mrs Young for details.
Production – The Tempest
Our school production, The Tempest by William Shakespeare will be
performed on the 26th and 27th November at 7pm. Tickets cost £4.00 and
will be available next week, details of how to buy the tickets will be
posted on Insight.
Woman in Black
Mrs Mood, Mr Hollins and Mrs Goodwin took the GCSE Drama and A Level
Drama and Theatre classes to see The Woman in Black at The Regent
Theatre, Stoke this week.
The students will be writing about live theatre in their final exams
and this longstanding hit production certainly provided enough
material with some screams and jumps along the way!
West End Visit
This week, Y9 and Y12 students got the chance to visit London to see the musical, Hamilton.
“Organised by Mr Hollins and accompanied by Mrs Hunt, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Mitchell, we boarded the coach at 7:30 in the morning – a very early start! After a long and tiring journey, we finally arrived in the busy, bustling city of London. Sites greeted us everywhere we looked, including: the Lord’s Cricket Ground, Hyde Park and the amazing Buckingham Palace.
We got off the bus and stretched our legs before taking photos outside of Buckingham Palace and then eating our much-wanted lunch. While eating, we caught sight of Prince William! What a place to have lunch!
Arriving at the Victoria Palace Theatre, we took our Grand Circle seats (with an incredible view), ready to watch the much-anticipated American Musical: ‘Hamilton’. Overall, it was amazing – everybody enjoyed it!
After the performance, the cast came back on stage to do a Q+A – one question of was asked from our school! The cast gave us valuable information which we all remember and treasure. It was a brilliant, fun-packed, amazing day!”
Joe H – Year 9
Bodyworlds Health & Social Visit
We went to the BodyWorlds exhibition in Piccadilly, London to see the anatomical specimens on display. This supports our work in Health & Social Care towards the Anatomy & Physiology exam we are taking in January and supports the curriculum in Biology, Psychology and Sport.
“It was an eye opening experience and it taught me a lot about the human body. I found it very interesting and insightful and enjoyed the interactive exhibits. We are grateful to the people who donated their bodies to science so that we could learn so much about the human body.”
Save the date
7th February
PTA Quiz
Sports News
Goal fest at John Port – Netball
Both our Year 9 & 10 teams enjoyed victories at John Port on Wednesday. The Year 9 team winning 38-5 & Year 10’s enjoying at 34-8 victory. The girls played some quick passing netball, quite direct providing our shooters with plenty of scoring opportunities.Both teams rotated players to unfamiliar positions in the second half of the fixture and looked to score from the edge of the D.
Year 9 – Hattie, Lucy O, Amelie, Flo, Lucy L, Kiera, Molly & Evie
POM – Amelie
Year 10 – Halle, Zoe, Teegan, Lydia, Evie, Lucy & Holly
POM – Evie
Cross Country
Thursday brought the heavy rain and strong winds associated with cross country. The competitors warmed up well for the races with the walk to Oldfields.The Year 9 girls raced first and Grace Ingram finished 6th, Georgie Fryatt 16th, Amelie Rastall 17th, Katie Schuk 23rd, Alice Morris 25th, Harriet Ekins 26th and Chloe Stockbridge 28th all completed the course. The girls finished 5th as a team.Bertie Ingram won the boys race or Year 9 and Lewis Bradley finished 3rd, Sam Pickup and Harry Irving also competed and as a team TAHS finished 3rd.In the senior girls we had two competitors Evie Bowers and Issy Punchard who both finished in the top 10.The senior boys had team success winning this category represented by Max Houghton, Josh Rogers, Duncan Craven, Ben Twynhamn and Harry Meredith – Wood.
Under 15 Football District Cup.
On a very wet Thursday afternoon the year ten side ventured over to De Ferrers in the first round of the cup. On a very wet pitch both teams played good football with De Ferrers dominating the first 15 minutes.despite a spirited comeback at the end of the half and having a goal disallowed Alleyne’s went into half time 2 nil down. At half time Harrvey clarke came on to central midfield and gained some decent possession for the team, unfortunately despite this they were unable to score and take chances, Alleyne’s even had a penalty saved it was not tp be their night. Chasing the game Alleyen’s lost 2 further goals, losing 4- 0.
Science News
Our Year 13 A-level Physics students have recently been on an extremely interesting visit to CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in Switzerland. The students had the opportunity to see some of the world’s most powerful particle accelerators; which aim to uncover what the Universe is made of and how it works.
The students also had the opportunity to visit the United Nations buildings in Geneva.
Below is a write-up from one of our students:
‘Our trip to Geneva began late on
Wednesday evening when we arrived in the city and made a short bus trip to
the tram station, from which we got the tram to our hostel. After a relatively
early start we rode the tram to CERN on Thursday morning, where we were
shown two exhibitions in the museums. The first was a fascinating overview
of the history, work and results of CERN since its formation in 1954. This
provided us with an insight into the scale of the project (with their
largest particle collider measuring at 27km long), what their experiments
consisted of and how they worked whilst simultaneously exhibiting some of
the equipment used in previous work. The second exhibition focused on
CERN`s work answering some of the biggest questions in science and gave simple
yet detailed explanations of everything from how there is energy in a vacuum to
timelines of the Big Bang and understanding time as another dimension.
The second day began with a tour of the UN buildings
after a walk through the greenhouses and groves of the Botanic gardens. We were
shown around the complex and given a guided tour, informing us of the history,
work and administration of the United Nations. In the afternoon we were taken
on a boat trip around the lake, with views of Mont Blanc, the cathedral and the
mountains across the lake.’
The visit has left a lasting impression on the students and enthused their Physics studies in school.
World Challenge Training Expedition Weekend
During the first weekend of half term, 27 Thomas Alleynes students made their way to the Peak District for their training expedition, in preparation for their trip to Malawi in summer 2020. Despite the cold temperatures and continuous rainfall, students spent their weekend with their teammates practising their roles and responsibilities that they will be expected to do whilst in Malawi.
This involved pitching their tents, preparing meals on trangeas and practise walks – with each team completing an 18km walk to the top of The Roaches. Students worked hard throughout the whole weekend, both individually and as a team, which resulted in a highly successful and enjoyable weekend.
Well done to all students (and staff!) who battled through the weather and for keeping morale high despite the poor weather conditions!
Star Geographer of The Week
This is a new scheme being brought in to the geography department, to showcase the students who have really shown great effort and achievement in their lessons.
Currently we are starting this scheme in Mr Harris and Miss Patrick’s classes and focusing on Year 9 and 10, but will be rolled out across the whole department and all year groups by the end of term.
This Week’s Stars are:
Year 9- Joshua Leyland- Amazing effort in lesson, and showing willing to push himself further.
Year 10- Bradley Marcroft- Fantastic work produced this week, with great answers to the activities in class.
Well done to our Star Geographers!
Maths Revision
Maths after-school support sessions start after half term for Year 11, 12 and 13. Come along if you need help with any topics or want to work on practice questions.
PTA Raffle
Tickets on sale soon…..
A level / GCSE Certification Collection Dates
Certificates are available for collection as follows:
- Monday December 2nd 2019 – 9am – 11am
- Thursday December 5th 2019 – 5pm – 6.45pm
If you are unable to collect your certificates please see the option below:
Nominate a friend/relative to collect them on your behalf. They must bring with them photo ID plus the completed Certificate Collection form that was given out with exam results OR a letter of permission written by you.
Data Collection/Photo Consent Reminder
If you have not yet returned data collection and photo consent sheets to the school office would you please do so as soon as possible.
Keeping Children Safe online.
Childnet have updated their parent and carer toolkit that will help parents have conversations about online safety.
Their booklet ‘Let’s talk about life online’ includes ten key messages that should be shared with children which we thought parents may find helpful.
- “You can always come to me if you need help.”
- “What would you do if this happened…?”
- “Remember that not everyone is who they say they are online.”
- “Keep your personal information safe, and other people’s too.”
- “Be respectful to others online.”
- “Think before you post.”
- “Remember to ask if it’s okay.”
- “Remember not everything is true online.”
- “The things other people post online might not always show what their life is really like.”
- “Recognise how going online makes you feel and take a break when you need to.”
The Parent and Carer Toolkit can be found here:
Workshop Available…..
If you are interested, and have not replied, please email headteacher@tahs.org.uk. For those parents who have expressed an interest you will be contacted by our office staff who will offer you dates that remain for the sessions.
Anxiety Workshop
We all experience anxiety at certain times in our life, when it reaches high levels it can cause us physical and psychological distress. As an experienced counsellor and trainer, I have developed this 3 hour workshop to help you understand anxiety and learn how to feel more in control, not to fear it.
· Understand what anxiety is
· Why and how anxiety works, biologically and psychologically
· The effects of high levels of anxiety and panic attacks
· Effective coping techniques to reduce your level of anxiety
· How to feel more in control and achieve your goals
· Helpful for anxiety at work and in your personal life
· Students preparing for exams and parents supporting them
This workshop is aimed at parents who would like to learn more about anxiety concerning their child. It is useful for those experiencing life events which may cause increased levels of anxiety or anyone with longer term anxiety issues. It is a psychological educational workshop aimed at helping you to feel more in control of your life again. Come and join me in a relaxed atmosphere and increase your sense of well being. Jane Differ
Vacancies
We require a number of exam invigilators for our exams in December. Please see the attached for full information.
We also have some vacancies in our Special Needs team.
YESS Drop in Sessions
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 