TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
Headteacher’s Blog
I would like to thank all members of our community as we complete week 1 of learning from a distance. Your ongoing support, tolerance and patience is greatly appreciated.
There is a lot still for us as a school to learn and I am grateful for how much our community has pulled together.
I hope you enjoy Round up.
TAP for this Monday as follows:
Both Years:
Please keep an eye on Insight for some additional TAP activities to help make this current situation go by in a healthy and productive way. I would really like to hear from you with your uplifting playlists at bell@tahs.org.
Year 12
Continue to work on your CV’s on Unifrog or on a Word document. Good advice is available on this link from Barclays bank but remember to also utilise Unifrog. You can also spend some time updating your competencies on Unifrog:
https://barclayslifeskills.com/young-people/blog/the-12-most-common-cv-mistakes/
Year 13
Read this useful article about self esteem. You could also explore the Bright Knowledge website which has lots of great articles on education, health and wellbeing but also a careers library to explore
: https://www.brightknowledge.org/health-wellbeing/self-esteem
GCSE Pod Usage
Well done all we are currently 2nd in our category for usage.
Maths Puzzle
Please see the attached for all the details of the latest maths puzzle.
Rotary Young Writer Competition
A huge congratulations to Maddie Andrews, who has won the Rotary Young Writer competition- at both Local and District level. This is a fantastic achievement. Maddie will now go forward for consideration by the National panel and we wish her all the best of luck!
Auschwitz Visit
The Auschwitz trip was a once in a lifetime experience and one that I will never forget. After visiting the small town of Oświęcim, we visited the first Auschwitz camp. This was transformed from an old, unused Polish army settlement, so the barracks were brick and several stories high. Prisoners rooms were bare and harsh. It’s also interesting to note that many barracks had illusion windows; buildings had actually sealed up windows from the inside with wooden planks on a steel frame, meaning rooms inside had little to no light. This camp was mainly for political prisoners at the beginning, and later acted as the site of Dr. Mengele’s experiments. As we neared the end of the tour here, we visited the book of names. This book has over 4million names recorded in it. You can look through each individual page and find hundreds of names, next to which is their birthdate, where they were from and sometimes the exact day they died. It is a statement of both personal and societal impacts of the holocaust. The second camp was more similar to what most would imagine the camps to be like. It was quite a shock to me how large the camp really was, at 2 square miles. The wooden barracks were lined with bunk beds that would’ve been used by up to 5-10 people per bunk bed level. We also visited the toilet block which gave us a real impression of the lack of privacy prisoners were exposed to and reminded me of the ‘modern luxuries’ we now take for granted. At each stage we learnt about the personal implications of the holocaust while witnessing the enormous extent of its effects. Our tour leader was great and it was inspiring to see his commitment and passion for the cause, as he talked us through each site we visited. I’m overwhelmingly grateful to school for providing this as an opportunity for students and recommend it to anyone who wants to play their part in keeping the memories alive.
Science News
Our Science students are continuing their studies through a variety of distance learning methods.
This week’s Science Students of the Week selected by Miss Thorley are:
Polly Jones in Year 10 and Caitlyn Beardsley in Year 11 for exceptional hard work and positive attitude to learning.
Miss Macdonald selected Eleanor Webster and Surinder Mason for working hard through all of the Chemistry GCSEPods and producing extra work in preparation for taking A Level Chemistry.
Well done!
PE Department
Well done to all students who are staying active, at least we have been blessed with some nice weather. Last week we set students the task of creating a mile run and then timing it. If it is safe for you to do, keep trying to beat your time and send them into us on Office 365. We also set you a deck of cards challenge (see last week’s roundup)
We will set some progressions of these in the next few weeks. Some of you have been getting creative with you exercise-
E.g Jack has been doing this with his brother-
1. Run around garden 10 times
2. Come together in middle of garden and do a 1v1 scrum
3. 10 press ups
4. 10 sit ups
5. 2 laps of Garden
Roman has been been playing Wally, each player starts with 3 lives, you have to hit a wall with a ball with just one kick or lose a life. Last player to lose all lives wins.
Rhys- has been doing the woodwork challenge- 5 shots with football 10m away to hit crossbar and both posts, if you hit one you get an extra shot, if you miss cross bar 5press ups, if you miss post 5sit ups
Leighton has been playing Panna- a 1v1 football game first to 3goals or meg your opponent.
Lots of other complex back garden games involving pets and different equipment some of which I will share next week.
Please share your games, so others can have a go.
BTEC Sport Results
Well done to our Yr12 and 13 students on a great set of unit exam results from January.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations to a number of RS, Philosophy and Ethics students who have completed Open University Certificates as part of their learning from home this week to support their progress. To those Y10 students who completed the 1 hour ‘Do Prisons work?’ module and Y12 students who have completed the 12 hour ‘Rethinking religion’ module, very well done This is a great achievement and relates directly to your courses.
Art Update
Art staff have been impressed by the numbers of students that have been actively engaging with the art tasks set across all year groups and have been emailing photos of their work to staff for feedback. Could we please request that parents particularly of students in years 11 and 13 do this if it is possible, as this will help with the awarding of grades.
Geography Competitions
TAHS Geography Competitions
The competitions below are aimed to develop your skills in geography as well as reinforce the knowledge you have gained in lessons. Have fun, good luck, and I look forward to seeing your results!
RULES
Please enter all entries as either a word document, or as a photo (if you are doing a poster/leaflet based task). Entries must be submitted to geogcomp@tahs.net to be a valid entry. Please use the title of the competition with your name as the subject. I will be marking them and sending you feedback within a week of the closing date.
I will accept entries from the 30th March 2020. The final deadline for entries is 3pm on the following dates:
Year 9- Thursday 9th April
Year 10 and 11- Friday 10th April
year 12 and 13- Monday 13th April
Winners will be announced in the newsletter of that week.
Sources: you must include a list of where you got your information. The idea of these tasks is not to cut and paste, but effectively research a topic in a way that boosts your knowledge. Wikipedia is NOT a valid source!
THE COMPETITIONS
Year 9- Our Fascinating Planet
Using google Earth (or google maps satellite view if you cannot access Google Earth), you are to find the most fascinating landform you can in one of the following countries:
China
India
Russia
This land form must be natural (NOT man-made!). Once you have chosen, you are to produce a leaflet no more than 2 sides of A4 explaining what the feature is, how it was formed, and any local stories/legends that may surround it. Include maps and pictures, however these must not fill more than half a page. Word limit: 500 words.
Year 10 and 11- Earthquake Survival Guide
You are to produce a guide for residents on how to survive an earthquake. This is to be no more than two sides of A3 and needs to include the following information:
What an earthquake is, how they happen, and where they happen.
How you can prepare yourself and your home for an earthquake.
What to do during an earthquake.
You will get bonus marks if you include extra information about earthquakes and mitigating the impacts, but only if you also have the information above. Don’t forget diagrams and images to support your work, and a list of sources.
Year 12 and 13: Troubled Water
There is a documentary on Netflix called Rotten. Watch the episode entitled ‘Troubled Water’ and use this along with a minimum of 3 other sources to write an essay with the following title:
‘What are the global impacts of the bottled water industry?’
This task links to the water module in the A-Level scheme of work, and will encourage you to use your understanding of the topic to explore this aspect of the water issue. If you do not have access to Netflix, you can either find a suitable alternative documentary or a detailed article to use as your main reference. Word limit: 1000 words.
Something a Little Different
We are heading to an atypical holiday in education. We understand that some of you will want a rest from school; rightly so, but some of you may find that you want something different to do as your movement is limited.With that in mind we are sharing a range of ideas you may wish to consider. Some of these allow you to change your scenery virtually. Why not visit museums and galleries online? watch free productions from the National Theatre and Broadway, stream concerts, tackle James Dyson’s design challenges, learn a new language for future holidays all from your own home. These are just a few! These ideas are not compulsory but just an offering of some great stuff being shared beyond our own community. We would love to hear about anything you:
https://chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/list-of-online-resources-for-anyone-who-is-isolated-at-home?_pos=1&_sid=265869f03&_ss=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2020/national-theatre-launches-free-streaming-service/
https://www.duolingo.com/
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 