TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
Headteacher’s Blog
Outdoor Education Opportunity
We have a few places for Year 9 students on the Aberdovey Outdoor Education visit running from 6th – 10th January. This visit received fantastic feedback from students who went last year.
If you would like to know more about Outward Bound please go to https://www.outwardbound.org.uk/secondary-schools-and-colleges
If your son or daughter signed up but you have not made the first payment, please do so as soon as possible to secure a place. Please contact Mrs Julie Malbon who will support you on ParentPay if you have any difficulties. We are assuming that anyone who has not made a payment by Wednesday, no longer wishes to take up their place.
If you are interested in securing one of the remaining places on the trip, and have not been allocated a place as yet, please email headteacher@tahs.org.uk with Aberdovey in the subject heading. You will then be given the opportunity to purchase a place on ParentPay. This will be organised on a first come first served basis for the remaining places.
The price of the week-long residential is £250.00.
All students who are participating will need to complete a medical form. These will be sent home next week.
If any student receives PP funding, we will fund 50% of the £250.00.
There are just 7 days for Year 9 to take up these final places as we will then offer the places to Year 10 students.
Ofsted visit
Thank you to all parents who completed the parent survey during our Ofsted visit. We hope to receive the report before the end of term and will forward you a copy on receipt.
Parents’ evening
Thank you to all parents who attended Year 13 parents’ evening this week. We are looking forward to meeting parents of students in Year 11 next Thursday.
Finally, in assembly this week we talked Year 9 through the advice given to us by the government on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack. We do this each year. The video we shared with them is below as we understand some students may have found this difficult and may want to talk to you about the assembly. The students approached this difficult topic in a mature way.
https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/t/terrorism-in-the-uk/staying-safe-from-terrorism/
Assemblies week commencing 25th November
Assemblies next week will be led by The St John’s Ambulance and will be led by Heads of House.
Our thoughts for the week are:
“Healing through the mind can work harmoniously with medicine.” Rhonda Byrne
“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” Anthony J. D’Angel
This was such a busy week, unexpectedly so as well! Tuesday 19th November was Year 13 parents evening. Thank you to all that attended. It was a very successful evening with 86% of students being represented by parents and carers. If you were unable to attend or had further questions that you would like answered then please email Mrs Walton on sixthform@tahs.org.uk
11th – 18th November was Samaritans Christmas shoebox week and Sixth Form form groups decided to get involved with a challenge to see which form group could put together the best shoebox. We have had some amazing shoeboxes ensuring that children around the world will receive some wonderful gifts at Christmas. Mrs Dodd has chosen a winning form from both Year 12 and Year 13 as the standard was so high.
Well done to the winning form groups – Ms Thorley’s form 12D and Mrs Evans form 13D
We are always happy to receive positive feedback from outside organisations regarding our Sixth Formers and would like to share with you a message we have received from The Education and Learning Manager at Burton Albion Community Trust “Thank you for joining us yesterday at BBC Media City. Just to say that your students were a true credit to your school, they joined in all day and they were superbly polite”
Mrs Young sent information on Insight about Unifrog on Friday 15th November, some Year 12 students have registered but we still have many that have not. This is part of their tutorial programme and must be completed. I will resend the information to all students and parents. It is a great tool and will benefit all students over the next two years. It helps students navigate their way through the process on apprenticeships, universities and employment. Please contact Mrs Young at sixthform@tahs.org.uk for further help and support.
Sixth Form TAP activity w/c Mon 25th November.
Year 12
Visit the Bright Knowledge website and look at the tips on getting rid of stress.
https://www.brightknowledge.org/health-wellbeing/stress-busting-tips
Year 13
Watch this RAC video about safe winter driving. Take away the handout from ROSPA. Winter driving factsheet is attached.
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/winter-driving/winter-driving-how-to-drive-on-snow-and-ice1/
Free School Meals
Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:
- Income Support
- Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
- Income Related Employment and Support Allowance
- eligible for Child Tax Credit but not Working Tax Credit and the household income (as used by HMRC to assess tax credits) is not more that £16,190. Please note: anyone eligible for Working Tax Credit, or if you have a partner and they receive it, regardless of Income, you will not qualify
- The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
- Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- In receipt of the 4 week run on of working tax credit (this is where someone becomes unemployed or reduces their hours and so is no longer entitled to working tax credit but will continue to receive it for a further 4 weeks and is entitled to free meals during that time)
- Universal credit (provided you have an annual net earned household income of no more than £7,400 as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods). Your net earned income is your household income after taxes and deductions and does not include income from Universal Credit or any other benefits you may receive.
To apply for free school meals please use the online link below:
Revision Tips
Have you ever used / created Flash Cards to assist with your revision – well have a look at these hints and tips to help you prepare for your mock exams.
Year 11 Unifrog
Mrs Young sent information on Insight about Unifrog on Monday 18th November, some Year 11 students have registered but we still have many that have not. I will resend the information to all students and parents. It is a great tool and will benefit all students over the next four years. It helps students navigate their way through the process on apprenticeships, universities and employment. It is a great way to look at pathways needed for future employment. Please contact Mrs Young at sixthform@tahs.org.uk for further help and support.
December Mock Examinations
Please see below for the upcoming examinations to held in school:
Success for School Farm at the English Winter Fayre
Students at Thomas Alleynes High school have yet again achieved huge success at the prestigious winter fayre run by the Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural society.
Training of both students and animals begins in September when halters are first put on the lambs. The lambs are never initially very keen on being restrained, but with a lot of patient encouragement and cajoling by students, they soon get used to the feel of the rope and walk confidently around the farm. The pigs are always a bit trickier because they go into the ring without halters and so require skilful manoeuvring with a stick and board; however, the students often have to resort to a tasty treat as a bribe to keep them well behaved.
The week before the show is always incredibly busy; the sheep have to be trimmed and washed, the pigs bathed and this year students also plucked two turkeys to enter into the poultry class. The hard work didn’t stop there with the students arriving at the show ground at 8.30am on both Saturday and Sunday in order to feed the livestock and carry out last minute cleaning and grooming. Saturday started off well with two y10 students winning 3rd prize in the pair of cutter pigs class and one of our turkeys, plucked by the y11 students, winning 2nd prize. Despite all their other commitments, eight students also managed to take part in the sausage making competition which they found both educational and interesting and particularly enjoyed tasting the final products.
The main event of the day however, was the stock judging for our high quality Beltex cross lambs. At 3.30pm twenty very nervous students with their beautifully turned out animals entered the packed arena and led the lambs out in front of the judges. All the hard work and many hours of halter training paid off with the lambs behaving impeccably, even standing still in pairs when required. The judge started making his final decisions and we were thrilled when all six of the top pairs were chosen from Thomas Alleynes. The students showing the top four pairs all received rosettes and were justifiably proud of their achievement.
On the Sunday, it was the turn of young handlers in which the students were judged on how well they understood and handled the animals. Once again our students showcased the school, winning first, second and fifth prizes for their skills in showing the pigs and third and fourth with the lambs.
Our thanks and congratulations go out to all the students who took part in the competitions and in particular to the skill and dedication of Rosie Deakin-Gallimore the farm manager without whom this could not have been achieved.
Geography Star of the Week
This week’s stars are:
This week our winners are…
Year 9: Harry Pickering and Luke Norman for some fantastic subject knowledge and effort.
Year 10: Benjamin Edwards for great participation and showing eagerness to learn.
Well done stars.
Senior Maths Challenge
Thursday 7th November, ten Year 12 and Year 13 students took part in the UKMT’s Senior Mathematical Challenge. A national competition for all sixth form students. After a two week wait, the results are in…
Congratulations to the following award winners
Matthew Ockleton, Vicky Catterall and Euan Walsh – Bronze Award
Carl Hallam, William Taylor and Alfred Bednall – Silver Award
Alex Ford and Andrew Pye – Gold Award
Well done to all participants but especially to Alex and Andrew who have also qualified for the next round of the competition, the Senior Kangaroo which take places place Friday 29th November.
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
can be purchased from the online school (see link at the bottom of this Newsletter). Then send the receipt into school for collection of tickets and allocation of seats.
For the past few months we have started a project called IRIS run by year 12 students. It is a project where we are sent data from the SPITZER telescope to analyse and identify Galaxies and stars. So far, we have analysed a known sample set and currently we are analysing an unknown data set which we will eventually send to the project organisation to confirm whether the analysis is correct. Eventually we will get data that no one else has analysed which means we will be the first people to uncover this data and will play a pivotal role in helping physicists to decide what interstellar objects to observe with the James Webb telescope when it is launched. This is an incredible opportunity for us and we will keep you updated on our progress and research.
Jess & Libby
Order your Alleyne’s Turkey Now!!!
Christmas turkeys available- Fully cared and prepared by our year 10 students, £7 per kg. Email deakingallimore@tahs.org.uk to order yours now! Thankyou for your continued support to the school farm!
Sports News
Inclement Weather
As the weather becomes wetter and colder please ensure students bring suitable clothing for outdoor PE. We endeavour to carry on with normal curricular activities – students may wear skins or other tops under their PE top and may wear plain black tracksuit bottoms over their shorts. Students may also wear gloves. Reminder if you are injured you need a note explaining what is wrong and you must bring full PE Kit so you can be involved in the lesson. The pool is now fully operational and a major part of our curriculum. Students require plain black swimming costumes / black swimming shorts they may swim with a T-shirt if they wish.
6th Form BTEC Sport BBC Sport Media Trip
On Thursday we took 4 of our Year 13 sport students to Media City to work with BBC sport. The morning was spent having a tour of the BBC, meeting presenters, Editors, Producers and the news crew. The boys had tips on how to use social media and practiced making insta stories to deliver news content and made their own insta story on their county cup run. The afternoon we explored the docks area and then had some sessions on how to apply for jobs and talent ID at the BBC .
Science News
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Mrs North are:
Year 9
Joseph Hall and Abigail Rolph for an excellent start in Biology and high assessment scores.
Year 12
Georgia Fleeman and Alex Done for excellent practical work and write-ups in their Applied Science studies.
Year 13
Nick Jakes and Luke Langley for consistent commitment and effort in their Biology studies.
This week’s Animal Care Students of the Week selected by Mrs North are:
Year 10
Rebecca Wooliscroft for excellent work showing sheep and pigs at the Winter Fayre.
Emily Carrington for excellent work at the Winter Fayre and a brilliant piece of course work.
Year 11
Alex Pope and Saffron Forrester for excellent results in recent assessments and a superb attitude to learning.
Well done!
Maths Inspirations Trip
On Tuesday, 25 year 12 students along with Miss Wright and Mrs Rodi, travelled to Birmingham for a Maths Inspiration trip. The day was hosted by mathematician and stand up comedian Matt Parker, who we all agreed was extremely entertaining. We were also treated to talks by three guest speakers, including a talk on how maths can stop an AI apocalypse. Ben Sparks’ talk, ‘Windmills of your Mind’ was particularly interesting; looking at rational, irrational and complex numbers, their visual representations and the surprising places these crop up in the real world. Zoe Griffiths, gave a fascinating insight into the pitfalls of believing every headline or statistic you read in the media. Alex Ford (Year 12) says “It was a fascinating day which highlighted the enjoyment and surprising applications of different branches of Mathematics”
‘A Monster Calls’ at Nottingham Theatre Royal.
We have managed to secure a set of excellent seats to see the smash-hit play ‘A Monster Calls’ during February half-term. If your child would like a place, please return the form below. We are currently offering places to Y9 and Y10 students. Any questions, please email Mr Hollins (hollinst@tahs.org.uk). Full details of the trip are available on the letter.
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
World Challenge Christmas Gift Fair
Two Thomas Alleyne’s 6th form students are raising money to go to Malawi for a month in July 2020 with the prestigious World Challenge organisation. Archie Whitehead and Alfie Bednall are hosting a Christmas Gift Fair at Denstone Village Hall on November 30th from noon to 4pm.
The event is for all the family and includes hand picked gift stalls from organic skincare, hand made homewares to delicious home made treats and much more. There will also be a cafe serving home made soup, toasties, refreshments, cakes, mince pies and mulled wine. All this will be washed down with fun games for children of all ages, live music, a raffle and fun for everyone.
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.
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 