TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
Another week of online and face to face lessons draws to a close, however the learning and progress does not stop just because it is Friday.
We are dedicated to ensure that all our students in Year 12 and 13 are ready for their next chapter! Year 12 students always feel that the end of Year 13 is such a long way off but I can assure them that it isn’t. At this time of year Mrs Dodd hosts her Future Intentions week and we would ordinarily have guest speakers come to the school and help advise and support. We even look at budgeting as a student!
This year it has to be different so we have turned to Unifrog for support.
I hope that you followed the instructions on how to log into Unifrog and have had time to look at all it’s great features. Last week I introduced the idea that each student in Year 12 should have started their personal statements and should be sending it to their form tutor via their Unifrog account, we have not had many come in to us so please can I ask you to encourage your child to do this. They will have been reminded of this on Insight today.
I attended a webinar this week on how we write their tutor and subject references so I will be disseminating this to my team. We will start to write these for our students in September. A lovely thing about writing these references is that we know that we are helping universities, apprenticeship providers and employers see all your child’s strengths and attributes and hopefully get that place or job that they desire.
The point of the personal statement is for these same institutes to learn about how your child has prepared for their next step, what they have done that they are so proud of and what they may have had to overcome to get there. There are lots of examples if you click on this link
To enhance this further Mrs Dodd provided the following information which has also been shared via our parent news letter.
Unifrog Higher Education Week 2020
At TAHS we are proud of our Sixth Form Future Intentions programme which is designed to support our sixth form students in making the next step in their lives after they leave our Sixth Form Community. As part of this, we are pleased to share that we are partnered with Unifrog to help further support our students to make informed decisions about their future intentions. All year groups and their parent(s)/carer(s) have been given instructions about how to register their Unifrog account by Mrs Young who leads Unifrog in school.
During Higher Education week, the Sixth Form team will be guiding the current year 12 in registering with UCAS as part of the ongoing Future Intentions programme and will be sharing instructions on how to do so via INSIGHT. In the last two weeks, Mrs Bell has shared several resources via insight designed to support students in writing their personal statement. We ask that all year 12 students register on UCAS and write a personal statement as it can easily be adapted as a covering letter for an apprenticeship or employment.
To support Higher Education Week 2020 Unifrog are sharing several resources via their twitter account. The latest guide is designed to support year 12 in deciding what route to take after they leave the sixth form and can be found here: bit.ly/315CCIw – it is definitely worth a read.
For more information please visit Unifrog: unifrog.org
If you have any questions about Unifrog, please email Mrs Young at younge@tahs.net who would be happy to help.
To add to this, I would also suggest that they follow Unifrog and UCAS on their social media accounts. These last few weeks Unifrog have been posting some great information on how it can help them.
PERSONAL STATEMENTS
All Y12 students should have begun their personal statements ready to include them on their UCAS applications or to form part of an application for an apprenticeship or job opportunity. Students should send a draft of their personal statement to their form tutor before they include this on their UCAS application. UCAS commend TAHS on the quality of their students’ personal statements so please make use of the expertise on offer. 2021 is liable to be a competitive year for university places so having a great personal statement is more important than ever. Students can revisit Insight for resources or email bell@tahs.net for further support.
UNIVERSITY INFORMATION
Students in Y12 and Y13 understandably have many questions about university and how everything will work due to social distancing. Swansea University have some useful online events such as webinars, podcasts and subject specific taster sessions which can be found at the link below. For instance, on Mondays at 3pm there is a session on ‘Why Higher Education’ thinking about the university experience and what courses to choose along with an opportunity to question the university staff. On Tuesdays at 3pm, there are sessions about the UCAS application process. Wednesdays at 3pm there is personal statement advice.
There is subject specific advice in areas such as engineering, law, medicine and management which include fun activities, blogs, wider reading and how to prepare for a course in these subjects.
These sessions are available to parents as well as students. If there is a particular University your child is interested in, please take a look at their websites as they may be offering similar online sessions.
SCHOLARSHIPS
If your child is thinking of applying to university, please check individual websites for scholarship opportunities. Here is a link to Brunel’s as an example:https://www.brunel.ac.uk/scholarships
DISABLED STUDENT ALLOWANCE
If your child has a medical condition such as arthritis, epilepsy, diabetes or mental health condition, they may be able to receive a disabled student allowance at university. Please check individual websites for information but here is an example from Brunel university:
https://www.brunel.ac.uk/life/supporting-you/disability-and-dyslexia/disabled-students-allowances
Year 8 Transition
I am so pleased by how many views we had of our transition presentation by Monday morning. 120 of you had watched it and I am so grateful for the positive feedback that has been received.
If you visit our school website and click on the Parents and carers tab you will see on the left of the screen a section that we have just for you. Please see the screen shots below.
Mrs Rudge has added an assembly which is available for you to view now.
The Pastoral Team have been working hard this week creating four assemblies for your child to participate in. They are all based on a theme and the first one is about Leadership. There are activities for them to complete which, when they have completed them, they can send their evidence to their new Form Tutor who will send them an online certificate. There are four to collect.
Along with this and to enable our form tutors to get to know your son or daughter we have also sent a document that can be completed and returned to the respective form tutor. If you have already filled on out for our Special Educational Needs Team then this is very similar, you may choose to send your one rather than completing a new one.
Email addresses of the Year 9 Form Tutors will be sent to you next week.
As stated last week in our section we have now completed our class settings, we have our wonderful administration team in at the end of next week who will process all these letters for you.
Your Middle School will have shared, via their website, information on how you can purchase aspects of our school uniform via our suppliers ‘pop up shops’, please ensure that you follow all guidelines that Schools in have stated. There is also an option for you to purchase online if needed.
We are closely following government guidance and it is clear that our uniform policy will need an amendment for September. When students arrive at TAHS they will not need to be wearing their blazer. If they need to wear a jumper over their shirt then it must be a plain black jumper, no logo’s please – this is not permitted, and V-neck. When government guidance changes we will provide you with four weeks notice before blazers once again become a mandatory part of our school uniform, this will hopefully provide time for you to purchase one if needed.
| Week Commencing | Event |
| 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 |
Over the last five weeks you have met every member of the team, I hope their faces were familiar when you watched the presentation.
We are currently looking at hosting a Summer School for our Year 8 students so please keep a look out for information on this. This will be different to what we have done in previous years, this will be open to all students who are transitioning to Alleyne’s, it will meet with all government guidance and will allow your child to experience TAHS before they start their Year 9 journey.
If you haven’t already completed our Google form linked to our Summer School then please click on this link.
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.
Live Lessons Update
Microsoft have updated the way the live lessons work in Teams and this means that from no on no student will be able to join a live feed unless the teacher has started the lesson. This is an essential update that further strengthens the safeguarding and controls within the lessons and is greatly welcomed.
If a student attempts to join a lesson that has not yet been started by the teacher they will see the following screen and will have to try again in a minute or so.
English Students of the Week
Well done to Year 10! There are so many names, I’ve had to make the box bigger to fit you all in. Keep up the good work.
We are receiving some fantastic bridging work from Year 11s- it’s wonderful to see you so engaged with your new courses. What a brilliant start!
Science News
Sylvia in Year 9 has been selected by Mrs Pavey for producing an excellent poster on non-renewable energy. Mrs Pavey would like to share the poster with the wider school community.
Cole and Philippa in Year 10 have both been selected by Mrs Gwynne for continuing with their high standard of work.
Tyler in Year 10 has been selected by Miss Thorley for maintaining enthusiasm and motivation in her online work.
Matthew, Grace, Katie and Aaron in Year 12 have been selected by Mrs Gwynne for a very good first attempt at an essay.
Well done!
PE Update
Students have continued to take part in a wide range of physical activity on their own and in small groups. Keep sending in your ideas.Well done to all those who have taken part in National School Sport Week.It was great this week to see half of our Yr12 Sport Class in school and we look forward to seeing the other half next week.
This week our Yr 10 and 12’s have been submitting assignments for their BTEC sport courses. We have also received lot of bridging work from our Yr 9 and 11 students.
Reminder BTEC Sport work for Years 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 is on Teams.
Elkes News
As last time, I was lucky enough to be back in school for four days this week, spending time with my 10U3 English class. We discussed how they’re feeling about school work, talked around some questions they have about how their year 11 might look and they shared their own stories of how they’ve been coping during the lockdown (special mention to Toby for being part of a house move and renovation in the middle of all this!). To see so many of them together again was absolutely fantastic, and as 10H3a did last week, they took all the changes in their stride with maturity and consideration of others, and I’m so glad I was able to enjoy their company again. Also, noting how much some of us have changed in the last three months, I’m putting on record that I’m confident Charlie and Liam will be taller than me by the time we reach the end of year 11.
Orme News
In the assembly this week I asked you to think about how helping others, as this not only feels good but also does us good. Helping others promotes a sense of meaning and purpose that can affect the brain and reduce feelings of low mood and anxiety. Neuroscientists (smart folk) have also found evidence from MRI scans that suggest a link between generosity and activity in the same (mesolimbic if you are curious) region of the brain that responds to a cash reward. So, giving really is better than receiving, it makes you happier and healthier, it’s official as science has told us so.
I would love to hear more from Orme students about how you help each other and the community we are part of.
As always I and Mrs Moore are here to help so we can get the mesolimbic area of our brains firing, please get in touch at brassington@tahs.net or moore@tahs.net and let us know how we can support you.
Torrance News
I’ve been so pleased to hear so many wonderful things about our students attending both keyworker school and their in school sessions for students in Years 10 and 12. I know that school probably feels very different right now, but I’m so pleased to hear how well you have all adapted and are working to get the most out of being in school.
We’ve been continuing to work on the topic of health in RESPECT and again I’ve been really pleased to receive work back from students outlining their routines, seeing them reflect on what is helpful and unhelpful within their daily routines and reflect on how they can improve them. This week I’m asking students to think about Rest and Recovery and how this can help improve mental health, hopefully you will find it useful.
As always, me and Mrs Collier are always at the end of an email if you need us: wrightl@tahs.net or collier@tahs.net
Whitmore
This week I was taken out of my comfort zone by delivering my first live lesson. Those of you who have been taught by me will know that I am a bit of a technophobe.
I was nervous about the live lesson, it was in the back of my mind all week but I can relate to the picture below which I took from the YESS facebook page. I was anxious about setting up the lesson but I was capable as I could follow the online video help Mr Pollit had provided. It did feel awkward talking to the computer screen and not hearing voices or seeing facial expressions but I did feel braver towards the end of the lesson. The next lesson will not be as daunting and the confidence will keep growing.
Keep communicating with the Whitmore team jones@tahs.net and arbery@tahs.net
Drama
Year 9 are studying Macbeth in Drama and have created some performance poetry based on the themes in the play. They were tasked with creating writing that would work effectively as performance.
These poems are by Joseph Hall in year 9, who is our Drama Star of the Week.
Peering down on my country below, I take in the vast area which I own
Obedient followers surround me, asking what they should do next, what I want now.
Waving them away with a flick of my gold- encrusted hand, I give them another job. Leaving me and my Kingdom together in perfect peace.
Everyone bows for me as I look down on them checking they are obeying me, their Highness.
Ruling can be very tiring sometimes, especially when you have to sit in your luxurious, plush throne all day watching your slaves work away.
A Haiku on Guilt
It turns my mind numb
Makes me think ‘what happens next?’
Regret fills me full.
Links
Thomas Alleyne's high school 