TAHS Weekly Newsletter.
All Year 11 students have been given access to a Year 11 Sixth Form Applications Team. This is to support them in making their Post 16 choices. Access to the online application form for Sixth Form entry September 2022 is available in this team or by clicking the following link:
Year 11 Sixth Form Application
Any questions please email Mrs Walton via sixthform@tahs.org.uk
TUTOR TIME ACTIVITIES W/C 15th November 2021
Year 12
Choice of Future Intention tasks. Log into Unifrog and start filling in competencies which will form the basis of your personal statement. Or, log onto Unibuddy via UCAS hub: search for universities or courses and chat online to current students. Continue this at home, during enrichment and in your study periods and Sixth form 7. Or watch this Unifrog video on Moocs then log onto Future Learn to explore Moocs and continue future planning during enrichment periods/Sixth Form 7.
Year 13
Log into Unifrog and look at personal statement writing advice. Read some of their exemplars for different subjects. Go to ‘subjects library’, choose a subject and scroll down to ‘statement’. Remember not to plagiarise but to use this as a starting point for ideas for personal statements. Students can start to consider gaps in their competencies (eg leadership, wider reading, work experience) that they might wish to build on.
Sixth Form Signing In & Out
Could students please ensure that before they leave the school site during the school day they must sign out in the correct book which is currently outside Mrs Walton’s office.
Upon returning students must then sign back in. It is imperative that all students adhere to this request. This does include breaks and lunchtimes. We will be looking at an online version of this for the future.
Uniform – Reminder about the Sixth Form uniform policy.
Female students must be wearing a blouse and smart jumper over the top if needed and must be wearing a blazer. Sweatshirts and oversized jumpers are not part of our policy which is available for students to see on the school website and was part of their code of conduct which they signed at the start of the year.
We do not permit students to wear pleather.
School skirts must be of an appropriate length, they must not be micro mini as this would be not appropriate work wear.
Male students must be wearing a shirt and tie at all times of the school day unless completing practical work in some lessons. Again blazers must be worn during the school day and should be worn on top of a smart jumper not a branded sweatshirt. Jumpers are not a replacement for a blazer.
Coats are permitted at the moment to be worn over blazers but not instead of blazers, this is a temporary measure.
Hoodies are not permitted in school as they are not part of the Sixth Form uniform policy and should not be worn as an outer garment, to replace jumper, blazer or coat.
Copy of uniform policy is attached for your information.
SIXTH FORM FUNDRAISING FOR DOUGIE MAC & SCHOOL WALK – CHRISTMAS NON-UNIFORM DAY
On 10th December, Dougie Mac are holding their annual Christmas jumper day and we are hoping to raise funds for them. This will be a full non-uniform day for upper and lower school. Christmas attire is optional. Sixth Form prefects will be visiting form groups for donations which are suggested at £2 and above with 50% going to Dougie Mac and 50% to school walk funds.
Shoebox Collection
Reminder that we are collecting shoeboxes for local Salvation Army and also to North Staffordshire Women’s Aid for children of families experiencing domestic abuse. Shoeboxes have been provided to form groups, along with an information leaflet and labels. All you need to do is decide whether your shoebox is going to be for a girl or a boy and what age group, then fill it with age appropriate items like toys, hygiene items, pens, pencils etc. The leaflet tells you what cannot be included.
If students could bring in at least one item for your shoebox then we should be able to send some wonderful things to children less fortunate.
If you require more than one shoebox please let Mrs Bell or Mrs Walton know.
Virtual subject sessions with Newman University
Monday 6 – Thursday 16 December, 6-7pm
Newman University, Birmingham is hosting this series of virtual information sessions to introduce students to over 20 of its degrees. Each session will give students the chance to ask questions to academic staff.
Subjects include:
> Criminology
> Psychology
> Teacher Training
> Students can book here
Uniform
In light of the weather becoming colder we are advising that students ensure they dress appropriately. Students are requested to wear their blazer, a black v-necked jumper (school logo is optional) however there should be no branded jumpers. We would like to remind students, parents and carers that hoodies are not compliant with our uniform policy. Any student wearing a hoodie will be asked to remove this. From Monday 15h November any student continuing to wear a hoodie on the school site will have this confiscated.
Students are also encouraged to wear a coat to school. In instances of extreme cold weather and where classrooms are being ventilated, we have advised class teachers to allow students to wear their coats in lessons on the grounds of health and safety.
Data Collection Sheets
Data collection sheets have been distributed to all students. Many thanks to parents who have already returned sheets. If you have yet to do so, please check/update and sign the sheet and return it to the school office as soon as possible. This information helps us to safeguard your child and enables us to contact you in an emergency.
We politely request two emergency contacts
Talaxy Launch
Insight has been upgraded to Talaxy, it is the same system but looks better, works better and is hosted on Amazon Servers, thus a much more stable and secure connection.
Please see the attached for login instructions for students. Please can you support you child in ensuring they are logged into the system.
Parental logins are being sent out – keep an eye on your inbox / spam
Outlook Expeditions: Morocco 2023.
Dear parents and carers of year 10 students,
Miss Robinson and I are incredibly pleased and excited to announce the launch of an exciting opportunity that we are very pleased to be able to offer to the year 10 students of Thomas Alleyne’s High School. In previous years, we have been able to offer an expedition abroad, where students can experience diverse and contrasting cultures, challenging outdoor activities and meaningful community projects in developing countries.
It is our intention to offer an expedition through Outlook Expeditions, to Morocco in the Summer of 2023 (shortly after completion of your child’s GCSE exams. The expedition is likely to be around 14 days in length and will include a variety of phases including a trek, a community project as well as multiple opportunities for exploration, rest and relaxation and cultural experiences.
Students will be given the opportunity to watch a short video launch in form time next week, building up to our launch webinar, hosted by Francesca Gallone from Outlook Expeditions on Thursday the 25th of November at 7.00 p.m.
If you or your child would be interested in hearing more about this opportunity, already, you can register yourself for the webinar launch event by following the link below.
https://outlookexpeditions.com/schools/thomas-alleynes-high-school-2023
We hope that you will be able to join us and we look forward to seeing you.
Kind regards
Dr D. Squire and Miss S Robinson
Year 11 & 13 Parents Evening
Year 11 and 13 parents evenings are fast approaching, Y11 23rd November, Y13 2nd December.
Both events will be virtual via your child’s MS Teams account and further details will be sent out nearer the date.
Bookings are to be made via Talaxy, the Insight replacement, and login details have been sent to all Y11 & 13 parents to facilitate this.
Year 11 bookings will go live early next week and an email will be sent to confirm the time and day of bookings opening.
Senior Maths Challenge
Senior Maths Challenge – Promoting a love of problem solving
Well done to the 9 Year 12 and Year 13 students who took part in the Senior Maths Challenge on Thursday afternoon.
The Senior Mathematical Challenge is a 90-minute, multiple-choice Challenge.
It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.
Maths After-School Support Sessions
All Y11 students are invited to attend the maths after-school support sessions
Science News
Science Trial Exams
Year 11 and Year 13 Trial Exams will be taking place during the week beginning Monday 22nd November.
Please see the dates below:
Year 11
Biology
Triple (Sets 1-2) Tuesday 23rd November
Combined (Sets 3-5) Tuesday 30th November
Chemistry
Triple (Sets 1-2) Friday 26th November
Combined (Sets3-5) Tuesday 23rd November
Physics
Triple (Sets 1-2) Tuesday 30th November
Combined (Sets3-5) Friday 26th November
Year 13
Biology Monday 22nd November
Chemistry Wednesday 1st December
Physics Friday 3rd December
Applied Science Thursday 2nd December
Students must bring a pen, pencil, ruler and a calculator to the exams.
This week’s Science Students of the Week
Mrs Lambert would like nominate the following students in 9U1 – Emily L and Rowan S for securing full marks on their recent biology assessment. Well done!!
Mr Melland would like to nominate the following students from 10U3 – Amelia R, Jesse C, Libby L and Keira J for a strong set of results on their physics assessment.
Mr Milward would like to nominate Rory O in 9E1 for excellent effort in Biology and Ianthe R for excellent contributions and work.
Also, Sadie B in 10E1 for insightful contributions to class discussions and Isabelle G in 10O2 for consistent hard work and achieving excellent scores.
Well done!
Geography
Year 11
Well done to the 23 year 11 students who attended last weeks revision session! Special mention goes to Charles F, Owen M, Mia S, Millie H, Bethany S and Eloise P who have attended every week since after-school revision started, well done!
Next weeks revision session will be on Tropical Rainforests, in preparation for your Paper 1 mock assessment (which will be the following week). Please see the attached revision timetable to see what will be covered in each session in the run up to Christmas. These sessions will be in room 6a with Miss Robinson, between 3:15 and 4pm on Wednesdays.
We have also attached our ‘Geog your memory!’ revision resource. Each week we will upload a new revision resource that covers topics that we have studied to help with your revision. This week’s ‘Geog your memory’ has questions from the Changing Economic World, Urban (regeneration in London) and Coasts topics.
Year 13
Well done to the year 13 students who have been attending revision sessions after-school with Mrs Goodwin. Next weeks revision session will be on Globalisation and Superpowers, in preparation for your Paper 2 mock assessment. These sessions run on Wednesday’s after-school between 3:15 and 4pm in room 7.
Also, a reminder to all Year 13s – continue making progress on your NEAs. Deadline for these will be discussed with your class teacher in lesson.
English Stars
The English department would like to thank the following students for going the extra mile in some way in their English lessons this week. Well done to:
Year 9 Hurry G, Ellie C, Sebastian G, Millie A, Callum H, Scarlett C, Rowan S, Daisy C, Billie O
Year 10 Aileen L, Aimee S, Maisie L, Harriet K, Olivia Y, Amy H, Noah M, Sam L, Josh Boot, Abbie C, Karamarie G, Dylan H, Catharine M, Fearne W
Year 11 Dylan C, Tasha M, Katie D, Sadie O, Lucy M, Emma W, Yasmin L, Hannah W, Grace S, Daniel M
Year 12 Gabi S, Ella R, Elizabeth S
Year 13 Sadie B, Eve B, Sophie W
Robot Challenge First Robotics
Wednesday say the first get together for this coming years challenge. Next week we will be meeting on Tuesday and all interested parties are asked to come along.
For more information about the coming season see the videos here:
Netball
This week’s fixtures have seen success in both of the County Tournaments we have entered.
On Saturday morning the U16 tournament took place at St Joseph’s. This was the first school netball fixture for our students in Year 10. The team gelled together quite quickly and the first two games saw victories against King Edward Lichfield and Deferrers finished 6-4 and 9-2 respectively. Game of the day for Alleyne’s came in the semi-finals against St Joseph’s, a proper game with both teams being effective and scoring off their centre pass. The game went right to the wire with the winning goal being scored on the umpires whistle for a 9-8 victory for TAHS. With how the fixtures worked this left us with Newcastle Under Lyme, who were also unbeaten to play in the final. The standard of play was very high from both sides but Newcastle were victorious by 11-5. Both teams have qualified to represent Staffordshire in January.
Squad – Bella, Poppy, Aimee, Kiera, Martha, Jess, Lucy, Sophie
On Wednesday it was the turn of our sixth form team. The tournament had a different format with two pools. There were no easy games and it was evident that most teams were made up of club players. Our opening game was an 8-2 victory against Nether Stowe. We then had a couple of games off court to further warm up and watch the opposition. The squad were nervous but so motivated and focused to reach the knockout stage.
Two games back to back, St Joseph’s first, a tense affair where we were able to take a four goal lead and our players kept their composure while the opposition were forced to make changes, the game finished 7-4 to Alleyne’s. We had qualified for the semi-finals, the girls were confident that we could top the group.
Next up King Edwards, the whole team showed great leadership throughout the game, with lots of encouragement and clear instructions throughout. In all of the games the team set up brilliantly defensively causing a lot of turnovers and winning balls and rebounds in our defensive D. The game finished 11-9 to TAHS.
It was more of the same in the semi-final against Denstone, the game felt closer than the score line suggests but a 13-5 victory. A repeat of the U16 final with Alleyne’s facing Newcastle and the result also going in the oppositions favour. We finished runners up in the County tournament and TAHS will also be representing Staffordshire in the regionals in January.
We are very proud and pleased with the girls’ performances this week and for those students in Year 13 we are glad that Wednesday was not your last school fixture.
Squad – Jess, Freya, Evie W, Frankie, Eve, Harriet, Freya, Evie R
A massive thank you to the parents who have assisted in transporting the students this week and have been a valuable support courtside, also thank you to Ursula Smith who was our umpire.
We are looking to purchase some netball dresses for the Regionals if anybody is interested in sponsoring a kit, please get in contact with Miss Jones
Netball Clubs – next week Year 9/10 Tuesday, Year 10/11/sixth form Thursday
Cross Country
We have a cross country meet at Oldfields next Wednesday. We will leave school at 1:30 and return by 3:15. You will need boots/trainers to run in, warm clothes for when you are not racing and packed lunch water. Please reply to your teams chat message to confirm that you can run.
Grease Production News:
The first week of rehearsals have been underway for the upcoming school production of GREASE. Well done to all those who have committed to taking part and we will keep you updated as we progress. Below is a list of those currently involved. If you aren’t involved and you would like to be, or you can’t commit anymore please see Mrs Todd, Mrs Mood or Mrs Fletcher as soon as possible.
| Alfie Beard |
| Lucy Lowther |
| Evie Naylor |
| Kathryn Whetter |
| Lara Taylor-Caine |
| Emma Parker |
| Riley Smith |
| Josh Fowler |
| Henry McBride |
| Connor McGloughlin |
| Ella Russell |
| Liliana Kelsall |
| Michael Haynes |
| Kyle Williams |
| Savannah Omuso |
| Morgan Parkes |
| Heather Leech |
| Susie Catterall |
| Paige Harris |
| Isabell Draycott |
| Pip Bradley |
| Emily Parker |
| Rosie Haines |
| Harriet Ekins |
| Georgia Edwards |
| Sophie Willmott |
| Jess Punchard |
| Louie Ratcliffe |
| Dora Eccles |
| Colette Dale |
| Grace Atkin |
| Rhiannan Taylor |
| Jess Clay |
| Ebony Freeman |
| Verity Jankovskis |
| Ruby Hutchinson |
| Pat Tortonesi |
| Amy Kent |
| Clemmie Woods |
| Lani Neads |
| Sophie Chown |
| Nicholas Goodman-Carpenter |
| Catherine Mangan |
| Rebecca Baxter |
| Cicely Hall |
| Joe Bowers |
| Frankie Groom |
| Elliot Forrester |
| Freya Staley |
| Alyssa Whitehall |
| Zoe Hunter |
This week the career is ‘Marine Biologist’ click on link to see the My Path video which tells you more – > JOB OF THE WEEK – EPISODE #13 – MARINE BIOLOGIST – YouTube
| Job title: | Marine biology is the study of organisms and ecosystems in the oceans and other saltwater environments. This includes marine plants, animals and other organisms, both vertebrate and invertebrate, in deep oceans, shallow seas and the laboratory. The main aims of marine biology are to improve understanding of the marine world and to understand and predict changes in ecosystems affected by human and natural disturbances. Marine biology is a broad-ranging career. You could go into field work, academic research, laboratory work, consulting, charity, outreach or policy making. |
| How to become: | To become a marine biologist, you’ll need a marine-focused degree such as: marine biology marine biology and coastal ecology/oceanography marine science ocean and earth science oceanography. If your undergraduate degree is a broader-based science degree, you will probably need a postgraduate degree in a marine-related study. |
| Skills required: | accuracy and attention to detail, for recording observations and results excellent problem-solving skills to find solutions to problems research skills like collecting and analysing data as well as publishing results teamwork skills, whether working as part of a research team in a laboratory or an expedition team at sea observation skills for studying sea life for long periods of time a methodical and analytical mind for analysing and interpreting data strong communication skills for report writing, academic publications, press releases, grant applications, environmental impact assessments, conference presentations and standing out in job applications practical skills, such as diving, boat driving and first aid flexibility to deal with possible short-term work contracts, in other countries and in basic living conditions and all types of weather. |
| What you’ll earn: | Entry-level salaries start from £12,000 up to £14,000 for apprentice lab technicians and £30,000 for consultancy work. Experienced marine biologists working in the field are paid in accordance with local salaries. Salaries for PhD holders are between £26,000 and £35,000, although some marine laboratories and research organisations pay on a university lecturer scale between £28,000 and £45,000 a year (the scale for postdoctoral research positions). |
All information taken directly from Marine biologist job profile | Prospects.ac.uk
College Prospectuses
We have had a delivery of prospectuses for Stoke, Newcastle and Stafford College. If you want a copy then please contact featherstone@tahs.net and I will get them to you.
Balfour Beatty Degree Apprenticeships – Early release to schools in Staffordshire
We have gone live with several Apprenticeship roles and have ringfenced some just to be shared with schools we wish to work with in our local areas of Staffordshire, to give the chance to apply for before going public onto our website, which will be approx. mid November 2021.
Thomas Alleyne's high school 