TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
I hope all our wonderful Year 12 and 13 students have had a restful break over half term! It may have been needed if you or they have felt anxious about our current working situation.
We now are working on plans for our Year 12 students to have an opportunity to have face to face teaching sessions with their subject specialist. Mrs Rudge will be communicating this to you and your child over the next week. If you have any queries once you have received this letter then please contact us.
We hope that you have had the opportunity to view the video that Mrs Rudge has sent out to show you how the school currently looks and what the Year 12’s are likely to see upon attending school for their session. Again if you have any questions regarding the video then please contact us.
We are aware that there are a few anxieties from our Year 13 students about what will happen with their university place, we encourage them to contact their university in the first instance and if they still have questions then we will see if we can find an answer.
I would like to encourage all parents and students to respond to our communication, we have a duty of care for our students and while we are not at school we still need to know how they are. The Year 13 students are still on our responsibility so we will continue to contact until July.
If you have any questions that you think we can help with then please contact us on the following email. sixthform@tahs.org.uk
Mental Health Awareness For Men
https://www.thecalmzone.net/ Please visit the calm zone for support with mental health if you wish.
Brunel University
I thought you might like to know a little bit more about what it’s like to be a psychology student at Brunel. I’ve asked a few of my fellow students about their experience here, so I’d like to pass on some of their comments to you.
Let me start by telling you how varied the course is. You’ll grow your understanding about people, the mind and behaviour relevant to every workplace setting.
Juwairiya aims to become a clinical psychologist. “There is a wide range of optional modules to choose from in the final year of the degree, so that the course is more personal to individual interests.”
Another exciting part of the course, if you choose the sandwich option, is the flexibility of placements. Many of us choose to do the four-year think sandwich course which offers two six-month placements or you can carry out a one year single placement. Like me, Mariam Adeniji opted to do two six-month placements. “For my first placement I went to the International School of London to work with students who have learning disabilities. The second placement was at a victim support group. The fact that these placements were so different allowed me to get a range of experience and gave me clearer understanding as to what type of work I enjoy the most within the field of psychology.”
Brunel students have shared even more about their experiences here on our profile page. Why not take a look to find out what it’s really like at Brunel from the students who are already here.
Amazing Apprenticeships Website
https://amazingapprenticeships.com/
Year 8 Transition
By now all Year 8 students who have selected to come to Thomas Alleyne’s High School will have had their House and Form Group letter, If you have not received yours then please contact us.
The Transition Team are working hard to provide you with an array of information in a variety of styles over the next few weeks to enable you to feel confident about your move to us. We do not know what September will be like as we must rely on government guidance to allow us to plan but we do know that you will receive a power point where you will see each member of the team. We want all students to be able to have a feel for the school site so I will film a small tour of the school, only in the areas that we are currently allowed access to, to let you see where our main teaching blocks are, where or new gym facilities are and how you will gain access to the main school site. We have also arranged for some current Year 9 students to record their own transition and a for a Year 11 Leaver who wants share his journey through all three years, and this again will be shared with you.
Each Head of House has prepared an assembly for you and this will be communicated to you through your Middle School, there are activities on there that you may choose to engage with and you will be able to send your thoughts through to your new Form Tutor.
Mrs Ibbs and her team are currently working on creating your teaching classes and we expect this information to be shared with you at the beginning of July.
If you have read the last two weeks of our Round Up you will have now have been introduced to me, Mrs Young, to Mr Godwin, Mr Brassington and Mrs Moore. This week is the turn of Elkes House.
Mr Parker, Head of Elkes and Miss Attwood, Student Support Assistant for Elkes.
Hello, I’m Mr Parker, and I’m the Head of Elkes House. I teach English and English literature, and have worked at Thomas Alleyne’s since 2007. Miss Attwood and I are very lucky to have a fantastic team of experienced form tutors working with us, and we all work closely to make sure that you and your parents have lots of support during transition and throughout your time with us. I look forward to meeting you as soon as we are able.
Hi
My name’s Miss Attwood and I have worked at Thomas Alleyne’s for 7 years as a Student Support Assistant. Being part of the pastoral team means I get to know students and parents pretty well and over the years I have built up some lovely relationships with both. Watching students go through all of their years in high school, when they first arrive in Year 9 and see them develop into lovely, polite, caring individuals, makes me feel very proud to be part of a community that enables students to successfully move onto the next stage of their life.
I work with Mr Parker as part of Elkes House and together we make sure our students have a successful, safe and happy time at Thomas Alleyne’s. The office door is always open and no problem is too big or too small for us to work out together.
I look forward to meeting you all in the near future.
Take care, stay safe and have a lovely summer.
Final thought:
Once again I feel the need to reiterate the following message.
‘There is no doubt that this year’s transition will different but we are working to ensure that we meet the needs of all students. We will keep you informed of activities and events, let you know when we will be sending communication and endeavour for your child to know who their Head of House, Student Support Assistant and in time who their Form Tutor will be. At this time, we cannot guarantee that your child will meet their pastoral support team in person before the end of this academic year, but we will ensure that they will have the opportunity to put a face to a name and listen to their team and how we can support them.
We are working collaboratively with your Middle School to ensure that we know as much about your son or daughter as possible, that we answer all the queries that come to us and that we help to make all the Year 8 students feel part of the Thomas Alleyne’s community.’
If you have a query about the transition process at Alleyne’s then please contact me on younge@tahs.net.
Uniform
We are aware that some of our current students will need to purchase specific uniform for when they return to school. We have been working closely with our supplier, Trutex in Meir, to find the best way for you to do this. Due to current government guidance we are unable to have our normal ‘pop-up’ shops. We have therefore secured an opportunity for you to get free delivery for your purchases during June.
`https://www.schoolsinuniform.co.uk/
Free delivery code BTS20SHIP that can be used throughout June.
If social distancing restrictions should reduce, meaning they can increase their capacity and still be safe within store, then we will inform us and we will share this with you. They are doing everything possible to keep parents, students and their staff safe when in store.
Family Hubs
Coronavirus has changed the way families live, work and learn which has made life harder for local people to keep their families happy, healthy and safe. To help with this the local authority have created eight new hubs of help.
The eight Family Hubs are virtual spaces where local people can find information, advice and guidance, as well as connect with others in their area.
The hubs will answer questions, help families find support and share ideas for coping with the changes coronavirus is making to our lives.
https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Coronavirus/Family-Hubs.aspx
Contact info for East Staffordshire Family Hub:
Mary Hutchinson Early Years Co-ordinator Tel: 07704798133 email: mary.hutchinson@staffordshire.gov.uk Facebook: @Eaststaffordshirefamilyhub
Maths Puzzle
Thank you to everyone who submitted a solution to the number chain problem.Here is the solution…
Please email your answers with workings / pictures to ibbs@tahs.net. The correct solution will be put in round-up next week.
RE Students of the Week
Year 10
Two students have been nominated by Mrs Clemett and Miss Arrowsmith this week for consistently great work in the last few weeks. Congratulations to Arthur and Madison in Year 10.
Year 9
Students have been nominated by Mrs Lindsay. These go to Amy, Joe, Beth Taylor, Zita and Sam for great work on the changing nature of families in the UK.
Y12 Student of the Week is Alice
Science News
This week Mrs Pavey has selected Tom in Year 9 for his great story showing the digestion of enchiladas!
Mrs Pavey gave her year 10 Physics group the task of designing and making a pinhole camera – Liberty has been selected for making a brilliant camera.
William, also in Year 10, has been selected for being the only person to spot (and query!) a mistake in a mark scheme sent out!
Mr Melland has selected Eva and Conner in Year 9 for excellent effort.
Mrs Maingay has selected Emma in her Year 12 A Level Biology group for exemplary work and mindmaps on vaccination programmes.
Well done!
Elkes News
As mentioned when I sent out this week’s assembly on Monday, I hope everyone had a restful half-term, and has been able to get back into their routines now we’ve resumed lessons. I’d love to hear more about how Elkes students are getting on generally, and how we’re finding the respect activities from the assemblies, so please get in touch using parker@tahs.net to email me.
Our learning curves continue this week, as we had some excellent training from Mr Pollitt and Mr Cartwright on using Microsoft Teams to communicate with our classes and teach lessons in different ways, so if you haven’t started looking at it yet, get in touch, as it’s going to be crucial in moving forward.
This week it’s been great to hear about some of our Year 11s leading from the front and really engaging with their bridging work, preparing for their sixth form studies – special mentions to Holly, Izzy and Scarlett! I also wanted to say huge thanks to Sam P in year 9 for helping us with some really important work supporting the middle school year 8s in transition. Well done everyone!
We will be back soon, so the more of the work we can stay on top of now, the easier it will be when this does happen. Well done!
As always, stay safe, and I look forward to seeing you soon, however it works out.
Mr Parker
Orme News
Hello Students of Orme,
Good news! I have purchased a new Breville, it is the VST41 deep fill model in case you were wondering. This has been the undoubted highlight of my half term and lifted my spirits and has left me reflecting on how small things can actually help to change our moods. But how can such a small change can have such a big impact on mood. The answer is gratitude, don’t just take my word for it, research conducted by the University of California has shown that practicing gratitude can reduce the stress hormone cortisol by a whopping 23%, being grateful for small things can result in improved mood, an increase in energy and lower anxiety because of these lowered cortisol levels, we can’t argue with that because it’s science! You can cultivate a more positive outlook just by focusing on something you are grateful for each day, what are you grateful for today?
As always, I am impressed with the way Orme students are helping, supporting and working during this period. The sense of community and achievement I see in your responses and the feedback I am getting from your tutors, Mrs Moore and the wider school are another thing I am grateful for today.
I have had a number of requests for the return of the toastie of the week recipe (well one response but I’m going with it). As we are now aware a toastie is like a superior pastie, and transcends class and cultural boundaries, this was reinforced to me when I received the wonderful gift below through the post. After waiting three days to open the parcel I was excited to try some of the recipes therein. One recipe I can recommend is a balsamic goat’s cheese and avocado toastie, very on trend and quite delicious with green tea apparently (I ate mine with a mug of Yorkshire tea, which is pretty much the same).
Balsamic Goat’s Cheese & Avocado Toastie
Ingredients
2 slices of seeded brown bread
50g of goat’s cheese
½ a ripe avocado
Small handful of spinach leaves
1tbsp of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Sunflower oil for brushing
First brush your sandwich maker with a little sunflower oil to prevent sticking and make your toastie nice and crisp.
Spread the goat’s cheese over one piece of bread and drizzle over the balsamic vinegar. Sit the avocado slices and spinach over the top and place the second slice of bread over the top. Place in your toastie machine.
Close the lid and secure leaving for 3-4 minutes or until it becomes crispy and golden brown.
Feta cheese also works well for this recipie.
As ever if either I or Mrs Moore can help in any way please get in touch (brassington@tahs.net / Moore@tahs.net )
Mr Brassington
Torrance News
I’m finding it hard to believe that I’m writing this post at the end of the 11th week of our virtual school. It seems so long now since we were altogether in school and I know that for many people it has taken a long time to adjust to our new ‘normal’. Perhaps for some of you, you are still adjusting.
As you are probably aware, I am responsible for the RESPECT programme in school and I took some time over the last couple of weeks to reflect on what I thought it was important for us to look at during RESPECT sessions over the next half term. Last half term, we focussed on resilience and developing this skill to support us in ‘lockdown’ as we all faced many different and difficult challenges. I decided that this half term, I wanted to continue to focus on things that would help you during this time and thought it important that we looked at staying Healthy during this time, in particular looking at ways of trying to stay mentally healthy. The first session this week was looking at ‘Recharging’ and I would love to hear some of the ideas that you have come up with for how you are going to help yourself ‘recharge’ over the next week.
As always, remember your house teams are here if you need us, even if it’s just to check in. My email is wrightl@tahs.net and Mrs Collier’s is collier@tahs.net
Whitmore
This week’s assembly has been set on insight and has covered the topic of communication. We have had to alter our normal practices of communication recently with less face to face contact. It was great to see the most of the teachers and support staff in our zoom briefing on Tuesday having enjoyed a break at half term. The week has also be spent trying to improve my computer skills with some Microsoft Teams training also on zoom delivered by Mr Cartwright and Mr Pollitt.
It is great to hear from you either directly on the phone or e-mail or via our form tutors
Students of the week – Reuben for improving his cardiovascular fitness by running everyday, averaging 8.5km a day. Eve for voluntarily improving a test and improving her score considerably, Tiff for completing a work out a day and Blake researching colleges for the future, hatching chicks, motivated with school work.
Well done, please stay in touch jones@tahs.net & arbery@tahs.net.
PE Department
Our students continue to do a wide range of physical activity. This is vital for our physical and mental health, Please share what you are doing so we can try and inspire others.
This week we have set students the challenge of designing a play list to work out to. We have had a wide range of music styles, if you haven’t done one have a go at it as music is a great exercise motivator.
In last weeks Staffordshire Moorlands Plank competition we came 3rd overall. The Staffordshire Virtual School Games has begun this week the first activity is Dance and All students have been sent an invite to take part.
PE student of the week this week is Will Gregory for outstanding Sports Injuries presentation and practical treatment videos.
We have received some brilliant half term projects on all kinds of activities – e.g Jack planned what the effects of sleep would be, Connor looked at how a Gym could cater for all, Charlie has looked at motivating people to run.
Congratulations to Jemima Pope and Thomas Page who have completed their L2 Fitness Instructors course along with the Training Initiative and are now working on their L3 course.
Year 10 and 12 BTEC Sport classes have been set assignments on Teams.
2.6 Challenge
Mr Barrow is continuing to do the 2.6 challenge to support the schools fundraising efforts. If you would like to sponsor him please email malbon@tahs.org.uk or https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mr-quigleys-covid-response-fund
So far he has –
26th April 2.6km run in 15min 53sec
27th April 26 press ups in 26 sec
28th April 2.6 mile run in 26.20
29th April 2.6 min plank
30th April 26 sec plank with 26kg on back and 2.6 min crusifix with 2.6kg hand weights
1st May 26 squats with wife on back
2nd May 26 times to top of stairs 5 min.47 sec
3rd May 26 alternate hand catches with tennis ball in 27 sec
4th May 26 kick ups with a rugby ball
5th May 26 min yoga challenge
6th May 26kg bench press 61 reps (continuous to failure)
7th May Connor in Yr9 challenged me to his work out 26 press ups, 26 squats, 26 bicep curls, 26 sit ups. Connor did it in 1min 45 , Mr Barrow did it in 1 min 54 (not sure if weights were the same)
8th May 14 reps shoulder press with 26kg barbell
9th May 13 reps bicep curl with 26kg barbell
10th May 26 min run = 4.52km
11th May 260 press ups in 17 min
12th May 26 Malcolms in 9min 37 (A Malcolm: lie on your front, getting up running back 10m, doing a burpee, then running forward 20m doing a burpee and then returning to the start – that is one Malcolm)
13th May 26 successful basketball free throws in 48 shots
14th May 26 successful rugby drop goals 10 m away in 48 shots
15th May 26 min exercise bike – 10.3 miles on Level 3
16th May 26 cricket bowls hitting stumps 9 times
17th May 26 successful rugby penalties out of 38 attempts
18th May 260 skips
19th May 260 runs to top of stairs
20th May 260 star jumps
21st May 6.2 mile run in 58 mins
22nd May 26 burpees
23rd May 26 KM exercise bike ride
24th May 260m Sprint
25th May 26 km bike ride
26th May 62 kick ups
27th May 260 sit ups
28th May Hula Hoop 26 times
29th May Hop on each leg 26 times
30th May 26 hits on edge of a cricket bat
31st May 26,000 steps in a day
1st June 26 length of the garden bear crawls
2nd June 620 table tennis bounces
3rd June 260 bounces on trampoline
4th June 2.6 min Wall sit
Why not see if you can beat Mr Barrow on any of his challenges or send in a 2.6 challenge for him to try.
Art Department
Please check out INSIGHT for the weekly art theme.
BE IMAGINATIVE BE CREATIVE HAVE FUN
Remember all the best work will be featured in a virtual exhibition at the end of term.
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 