TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
Mrs Walton and Mrs Dodd have been working very hard ensuring that all students in year 12 are able to have face to face sessions with their subject specialists. You should have received information from School Comms stating when your son or daughter’s sessions are, what rooms they will be in, what zone that is in and where they are to wait to be given access to these rooms. Please can I reiterate how important it is that each student has watched the video that has been placed on the school website that shows what the school will look like from next week and our expectations.
It is also necessary for me to remind you that each student coming on to the school site brings with them their own pen, paper, water and food. Students will not be able to buy any food or drink from school.
For Year 11 students who have accepted a place in the Sixth Form and current year 12 (soon to be year 13 students)
We have received information about the Mock Trial Competition and would ideally like to put a TAHS team together for a 2021 entry. To do this we will need to register names by the 8th of July 2020. In order to participate we will need to have a team of 15 students who will undertake training in school and then possibly complete against other schools.
Whilst this new and exciting opportunity is available to the whole Sixth from 2020 onwards it is imperative that those who volunteer to participate are willing to dedicate some time to this. If we get more than 15 volunteers then we may need to prioritise those who have career aspirations or a genuine interest in this field.
What is it?
The Bar Mock Trial Competition helps young people understand how the law touches every aspect of their lives, gaining an insight into how the legal justice system works.
Schools will be given access to resources, including specially written criminal cases, to help teams prepare legal arguments. After preparation, your team will take part in a regional heat and go head-to-head with other schools to prosecute and defend the cases. Winning teams will then compete in a National Final.
The Bar Mock Trial Competition helps young people understand how the law touches every aspect of their lives. By taking part in the competition, young people can improve their life skills – such as critical thinking and public speaking – whilst also gaining an insight into how the legal justice system works. Through enabling students to interact with legal professionals, the competition helps develop employability skills and boosts social mobility.
The competition involves students taking on the main roles found in a criminal trial – such as prosecutor, defendant and witness– with the cases specially written by legal experts. They compete against opposing teams from other schools, in real courthouses, with the support of judges and practising barristers. The competition is the largest and longest running of its kind, involving hundreds of schools and thousands of students each year
How will students benefit?
For most students it is their first experience of the law. Students who take part are encouraged to think critically, build arguments and boost their confidence. Through enabling students to interact with legal professionals, the competition helps develop employability skills. The experience will help students develop a sound knowledge and understanding of the role of law and the justice system in our society.
How do I register my interest?
Simply email stating you name and a line to explain why you are interested.
Any questions – please ask
Mrs Dodd Dodd@tahs.net
I do recommend that all students start using Unifrog in preparation for next year. It is a great tool that we have purchased for our students. All Year 12 will need to have written a personal statement in order to apply for universities through UCAS, if students are thinking about apprenticeships or employment then they will also need to apply often providing a covering letter. Unifrog has tools on their platform that guide each student through this process. They also have a wide range of information that is useful for all student to get ahead. Unifrog is also now on Instagram and often post about updates and useful areas that they have updated.
If you have any questions that you think we can help with then please contact us on the following email. sixthform@tahs.org.uk
6th Form Personal Statements
For extra support and advice on your personal statements, in addition to the resources put onto Insight by Mrs Bell, please see this link to Brunel University’s personal statement writing section:
https://www.brunel.ac.uk/study/how-to-write-a-personal-statement,
Statements should be no longer than 4000 characters (which is UCAS’s limit). You have a window of around September – December, depending on whether or not you are applying for competitive courses, so have time to start drafting and sending these to your form tutors to check.Any queries, please email Mrs Bell – bell@tahs.net.
Wolverhampton University BURTON Campus Virtual Open Day
Year 8 Transition
As we move into the last few weeks of this term and the academic year, we know that your child will not be able to visit TAHS as part of their transition process. To support this I have put together a schedule of events for you and your child to provide you with an array of information and activities to look forward to.
All of the communication has been created so that we can provide as much information and offer the best virtual transition that we can. I will be emailing all Middle Schools weekly and this will then be sent to you.
In the past weeks you will have been sent a letter stating which House and Form your child is in. I am just finishing a presentation which incorporates videos of all the pastoral staff and some current students which will be shared with you. To further support the pastoral work an assembly will be distributed to Year 8 students and there will be some activities which they may choose to participate with. When we have finalised the form tutors we will be communicating this and will encourage all feedback from the assemblies and the ‘introduce yourself’ worksheet to be sent to their new form tutor. Additionally Mrs Rudge will be communicating with the Year 8 students via two assemblies.
In order for all our new students to become familiar with their Heads of House we will be sending a presentation from them which we recommend you watch and possibly look again at the pastoral presentation that you will have already received.
Lastly, Mr Godwin has sent a ‘Who am I?’ worksheet to all students that require educational support and he will also be sending a presentation to provide further information on his team of Teaching Assistants and his Assistant Senco, Mrs Oliver.
To clarify:
| Week Commencing | Event |
| 14/06/2020 | Pastoral Transition Presentation |
| 22/06/2020 | Mrs Rudge Assembly |
| 22/06/2020 | 4 week programme of LORIC Assemblies sent by Mrs Young |
| 29/06/2020 | Mr Godwin SEN Presentation |
| 06/07/2020 | Head of House Assembly |
| 06/07/2020 | Two day timetable of lessons |
| 06/07/2020 | Mrs Rudge Assembly 07/07/2020 |
This week I would like to introduce Miss Keeling, Torrance Head of House and Mrs Collier who is the Student Support Assistant.
Hi I am Miss Keeling, and like you, will be starting Thomas Alleyne’s High School in September. I am very excited to start my new role and to get to know all of you and the Torrance Form Tutors! As well as being Torrance Head of House I am also a teacher of science and hopefully will be teaching some of you. I am know that I am going to enjoy celebrating your successes and working closely with Mrs Collier supporting all of your needs.
My name is Mrs Collier, I am the Student Support Assistant attached to Torrance House, Go Blue!
I am very excited at the prospect of meeting you all when you start your amazing journey at TAHS. This September with be the start of my fifth year working with the amazing pastoral team. My job role is to offer support and help to students at TAHS and also to be the first port of call for your Parents /Carers if they need to speak with the school regarding a pastoral issue.
You will see me all around the site helping with any issues that may arise during the school day my office door is always open to students to discuss any worries, concerns or indeed my favourite part of my job celebrating successes.
Please don’t hesitate to seek me out if you need any support.
See you in September
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.
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.
Online Learning
Staff have been working hard on supporting your learning remotely since the school shut to the majority of pupils. As we move to the next stage of delivery and the leading of live lessons via Microsoft Teams it is essential that you are ‘up to speed’ with accessing and using the platform. Staff have been in training this week on delivery and you should start to see live sessions being planned into your week.
The linked document here has been put together to help you through the process – I am sure that for all of you this will become as second nature as accessing you favourite game or Netflix!
English Students of the Week
Science News
Mrs Maingay has selected Jason in Year 9 for his dedication to using GCSE Pod to support online learning.
Miss Thorley has selected Duncan and Daisy in Year 10 for not missing one piece of online work and always completing it to their usual high standard.
Mr Mitchell has selected Ollie in Year 10 for great work with online learning, good resilience and completion.
Ms Macdonald has selected Charlie and Katie for dedication to advanced chemistry online learning using Seneca Learning, Teams and exam papers.
Well done!
Elkes News
Another week, another few steps closer to getting back into school! Again, we’ve had some great training from Mr Cartwright on how we can get better at communicating and creating online sessions to meet and work with our groups, and while it feels good to get our live lessons happening, I’m also really looking forward to seeing my year 10 groups in school in the next two weeks. I know some of them have been taking to the remote learning like ducks to water, while others have found it more challenging, so getting some face to face time in school will definitely help us get things moving in the right direction. The way that students like Gabby, Joely, Selina and Corvo have been working in school, while others like Holly I (former Elkes!) have been contributing to the wider community outside of school, have made Miss Attwood and I really proud to work with such tremendous students. I hope you’re all safe and well, look forward to our small steps towards normality, and as always, hope to hear from you about how you’re getting on – parker@tahs.net
Mr Parker
Orme News
Much like Mr Parker mentioned in his message last week the current situation challenges us with new experiences and new skills to learn. The first-rate training from Mr Pollitt and Mr Cartwright continues as they teach Luddites such as myself how to use Microsoft Teams to communicate with our classes and teach lessons in different ways, please ensure you take a look at the tutorial
to help you start navigating this platform as your teachers start to use it for more interactive lessons.
This left me reflecting on why I sometimes I avoid trying new things and why I feel so good when I do try them. Dr. Kathryn Papp, neuropsychologist and instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School (very clever person) explains “Until the mid-1990s, we thought that people were born with however many brain cells they would die with. We now know that the growth of new cells—a process called neurogenesis—occurs throughout life, even in older age,”. And it appears one key way for this to happen is through mental stimulation, challenge, having a go at that new thing we didn’t know we could do can make your brain bigger (not physically bigger, it won’t spill out of your ears or anything, just more storage space, like an external hard drive on your Playstation. With that in mind I thought I share my all-time top 3 benefits of trying something new.
- Trying something new opens the possibility for you to enjoy something new. I have seen careers carved out by people after dipping their toes into the small pond of challenge, suddenly discovering a talent and interest for something they had no idea would capture their imagination.
- Trying something new keeps you from becoming bored. I am one of the most routine-loving people I know, yet outside of work I become bored if I’m not frequently challenged by new experiences. And it is not challenges I’m eager to take on (finding new toastie recipes) that result in the most growth and feeling of achievement—it’s the ones I don’t want to do at all (putting down the bread and going for a run).
- Trying something new forces you to grow. We don’t ever grow and learn from the same challenges we’ve always faced (the growth from a repeated challenge has already occurred). Growth seems to require we take new action first, whether it’s adopting a new attitude or a new way of thinking, or literally taking new action.
Thrusting yourself into new situations often forces beneficial change. Constant self-challenge keeps you humble and open to new ideas that very well may be better than the ones you currently hold dear (this happens to me all the time). So think about the challenges you face, could you approach them in a different way to create that growth, of thought, spirit and new brain cells!
I look forward to hearing how Orme students are facing and responding to the challenges you face each day; you are an inspiration to me and force me to face my own challenges.
Special mention to Ella this week for her service to the Orme team, an example of how doing something in a new way can create fantastic results.
Torrance News
I was so pleased to hear from so many students following the RESPECT programme activity set last week to think about what you are doing to ‘Recharge’. There were some fabulous suggestions of practicing musical instruments, reading, taking a nap, watching Netflix, doing an online yoga class and many more. I think by far the most popular activity though was going for a walk. This really resonated with me, as it’s one thing I’ve also been doing to try and recharge a bit over lockdown. I think like many people, I had a list of lots of things I wanted to achieve or change during these past few months. Sadly many of those new skills I wanted to acquire remain untouched and the rooms I wanted to decorate are still not painted, but I’m proud of myself for getting out for a walk (pretty much!) every day. I hope that you are also proud of whatever you have achieved during lockdown, no matter how big or small an achievement.
As I have now told students in Torrance House, it feels only right that I let the wider school community know that I will be leaving Thomas Alleyne’s at the end of this academic year. I will be so sorry to leave you all and have thoroughly enjoyed working with and getting to know you all. I am sure you will get to know more about the new Head of Torrance as Transition activities for Year 8 students continue.
As always, myself and Mrs Collier are only at the end of an email if you need us and we hope you are staying safe and well. Our email addresses are: wrightl@tahs.net and collier@tahs.net
Whitmore
This week has been a busy and exciting week. Today I have completed the staff training led by Mrs Rudge ahead of the school reopening on Monday. The one way system around the school will not only aid us to stay safe but to also keep our step count high. I have spoken to many Year 10’s during the week and I have been pleased to hear how you have been progressing with your online learning. Also, that many of you are able to come into school for your timetable sessions. The ICT skills are slowly progressing with the virtual training, which is really good.
Please stay in touch, we are only an e-mail or phone call away – jones@tahs.net, arbery@tahs.net
Students of the week
Owen has started reading the Harry Potter books for the first time and is currently on the fifth book. Becca has been helping her Grandma in the garden and is completing a sponsored gaming event to raise money for the British Red Cross and Tess has been going on a daily bike ride.
PE Department
Fundraising for the NHS
Zoe is completing sporting challenges in June to raise money for the NHS. She is aiming to travel 100km on foot over the course of the June. This is from the ladies section of Checkley Cricket Club #walkonthewagside. Zoe also completed a mile run through her village in her full cricket kit for #smashthetash. Great job Zoe!
Reminder BTEC work and resources for Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 are on Microsoft Teams. Well done to Year 11 and 9 students who are completing bridging work for their courses in preparation for September.
While you have a little more time available why not get a qualification to benefit you in the long run – see the links below for free Football and Cricket Courses available online.
http://www.thefa.com/learning/courses/fa-playmaker
https://www.ecb.co.uk/be-involved/officials/find-a-course/scorers-count
https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/911c7453-1d2a-45d1-9ab3-6ccd86e666b8
https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/f34d46f4-afe5-4459-94d7-4ab66ab0235c
See attached some at home challenges for the whole family.
National School Sport Week at Home: Thomas Alleyne’s High School backs campaign to ensure no child misses out
Thomas Alleyne’s High School is preparing to join the Youth Sport Trust and Sky Sports to help young people and families up and down the country engage in a week of virtual sporting challenges.
With young people set to miss out on a school sport day this summer, the Youth Sport Trust’s annual National School Sport Week campaign is this year being opened up to parents and families and reinvented as National School Sport Week at Home.
Taking place from 20 to 26 June 2020, the UK-wide campaign will give families, communities, schools and sports clubs the chance to capture the enjoyment, competition and camaraderie they have been missing out on during weeks of school closures and social distancing.
Thomas Alleyne’s High School will be taking part in the week by sending out information on how you can take part and challenge yourself at home!
Miss Arrowsmith said:
In previous years National School Sport Week has seen thousands of schools join in a week-long celebration of school sport and Physical Education, and their important role enhancing young people’s wellbeing.
This year, Sky Sports has teamed up with the Youth Sport Trust to supercharge the campaign, helping to inspire families across the country to take part. This builds on a long-term relationship between the broadcaster and charity.
Youth Sport Trust Chief Executive Ali Oliver said:
“The Youth Sport Trust is thrilled to see supporters like Thomas Alleyne’s High School backing National School Sport Week at Home to ensure no child misses out on their school sports day this summer.
“Right now, young people are missing their friends and missing the sense of connection they get through sport. Sport has such a crucial role to play in promoting young people’s well being and this has never been more apparent than it is now. After weeks of isolation we hope that YST National School Sport Week at Home 2020 can help bring families, communities, schools and sports clubs back together.”
Anyone can register to take part and will receive videos and activity cards to help them plan a series of challenges across the week for their families, neighbours, friends or colleagues.
Statutory RSE Policy
You may or may not be aware that from September 2020, all schools are required to teach Relationships and Sex Education, as set out in the Department for Education guidance ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education’.
Schools are required to consult with parents when developing and reviewing their policies for Relationships Education and RSE, which will inform schools’ decisions on when and how certain content is covered. Please find a link to the proposed policy attached, along with a letter explaining the changes. The two documents are under the title Relationships and Sex Education Policy on the linked page. If you have any concerns or queries about this policy or content of the lessons please contact Miss Wright, RESPECT programme lead, on wrightl@tahs.net by Friday 19th June.
Drama
Star Performers: Tyler Benton and Lily Williams in year 10 for excellent effort with their remote learning.
Free theatre streaming available this week on Youtube:https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/nt-at-home-the-madness-of-george-iiiThe National Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse production of The Madness of King George III starring Mark Gatiss BBFC
Age Rating 12A
History
Year 10 have been learning to answer new style exam questions. Learning how to do this outside of the classroom isn’t easy but many pupils have had a go and produced answers which they can be proud of and are at their target grades. Well done and keep going!
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 