House Dance and Drama
This week we were proud to present our first House Drama and Dance in 4 years. The competition was judged by former Drama student, Holly Wilson, A Level Drama student Lara TC and Miss Horobin who, as well as being one of our geography teachers, has a wealth of experience in the world of dance.
Performers across the TAHS houses created and performed choreography and drama on themes relating to the THOMAS character curriculum.
The show included scenes from Kes, A Monster Calls and poetry by Manchester Poet, Matt Goodfellow. There were a variety of dance pieces ranging from Toxic by Britney Spears to Come What May from Moulin Rouge.
The students performed with confidence, sensitivity and flair to an audience of year 9 and we cannot wait to do it all again next year.
Please speak to Mrs Mood if you wish to join performing arts club after half term.
The points were so close, but the winning house were Elkes, well done to them and to all of the performers and technicians.
Opportunities in Sport
Rugby
Uttoxeter Rugby Club still require more players at all age groups Sunday Mornings- see club facebook page.
Football
Boys Football
U14 Boys Moorlands League Thomas Alleyne’s 3 – Moorside 2
Great result by our Year 9 Boys on Thursday afternoon. First half goals from Filip, with a lovely, guided header and Freddie with a drive into the bottom corner. Moorside fought back in the 2nd half and equalised with 3 minutes to go. With a quick reshuffle captain Freddie moved up front and scored the winner after dribbling past 6 players and finishing in the bottom corner!
Girls Football
Well done to our year 9 Girls who represented the school in their first match this week against Trentham Acadamy. Your performance was amazing, and I would say a well-deserved 9-2 win!
The first week back our U15 Girls will be playing Endon High School on Wednesday 2nd November after school. Good luck Girls!
House Netball and Rugby
House Netball
Wednesday saw the return of House netball. It was a fantastic turnout from all year groups. Especially Year 9, where each team had three or more subs. The games were all played with lots of enthusiasm. The competitive spirit was really high, and it was the perfect occasion to showcase the skills which have been developed this half term.
Many thanks to Skye, Louie, Hattie, Martha, Alisha ad Rachel who were officiating matches
Year 9 Netball
1st Orme
2nd Torrance
3rd Elkes
4th Whitmore
Year 10
1st Whitmore
2nd Elkes
3rd Torrance
4th Orme
Year 11
1st Whitmore
2nd Elkes
3rd Orme
4th Torrance
House Rugby
On Wednesday we had our boys house rugby competitions. The participation and standard of play was outstanding in all age groups.
Placings as follows-
Year 9 – 1st Whitmore, 2nd Elkes, 3rd Orme, 4th Torrance
Year 10 – 1st Whitmore, 2nd Torrance, 3rd Elkes, 4th Orme
Year 11 – 1st Torrance, 2nd Whitmore, 3rd Orme, 4th Elkes
Data collection sheets
Thank you to those parents who have returned data collection sheets.
If you have yet to do so, please check the contact data we have for your child, amend where necessary and return the signed data collection sheet to school as soon as possible. We politely request at least two contacts; this information helps us to contact you in an emergency.
Badminton Club
Extra-curricular: Badminton club will be starting up again on Friday afterschool after half term and is open to all years 3.15-4pm. All students taking part require a PE kit and trainers.
School Newspaper
If you are interested in the school newspaper or would like to have your writing or art published, please come along to A6 on Friday lunchtimes. Feel free to bring your lunch.
Allies Club
Allies club is a place to come and explore issues around equality. If you are interested in making the school and wider community more inclusive and want to help celebrate our diverse communities, please come along to A6 on Tuesdays after school.
Department News
English
BookBuzz
Students have selected their books and their choices have been submitted to Bedrock. It will be a couple of months before the books arrive in school, so watch this space!
Bedrock
Many of our Year 9 students are getting into excellent Bedrock habits, and we *acclaim* their progress. Whilst we don’t like to *dwell* on the negatives, it seems some students are becoming a little more forgetful… please remember Bedrock homework is as important as other types of homework, and must be completed in the same manner. It’s also really tricky to integrate this week’s words: however *idiosyncratic* our style, our efforts could be seen as *feeble*… Our final word is *astute* – bonus Bedrock points for the first person to find a way to link it to the other words this week!
At the end of the first term of our Bedrock journey, two students have completed more units than any other. Congratulations to Leah K and George B: prizes are on their way.
Work of the Week
There’s nothing visual to show today as books have been taken home to revise from, but Mrs Hunt would like to acknowledge the amazing analysis of “Bayonet Charge” by her Year 11 students today, particularly Elin L, Kai H and James L (although there were at least 8 other names that could be singled out). There were some superbly insightful comments made, and excellent links to other poems, making for a really effective revision lesson. Well done!
After-school revision
We’re running weekly sessions after half term – timetables will be published in English classrooms each half term. Sessions will run on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, so check the timetable carefully.
The first session is Mr Hulme on An Inspector Calls – plot and character basics. Thursday 3rd November, 3:15-4:00 in A6.
Revising over half term?
Our top tip for this week is to remember that almost everything you see, read or watch can be analysed (#sorrynotsorry). Keep a look out in particular for uses of imagery (similes and metaphors abound in adverts), interesting verbs (facebook and twitter can be fascinating for these) and other interesting language features. Watching a film? Think about the structure of the story. Going for a walk? How is a film poster using a slogan? Where there’s words, there’s revision…
More formal revision should be focusing on Literature texts (An Inspector Calls; Power and conflict poetry); Unseen Poetry skills; and the English Language question types. Search AQA on YouTube for advice direct from the people who write the paper, especially their “Spotlight on…” series (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBhgvcteMltjp11wShXfB91rxWv_MNrox).Wider Reading
With half term ahead of us, and the prospect of darker nights and cosy evenings curled up on the sofa, the English Department thought it would be good to offer some suggested reads. Each of the suggestions below links to different areas of our curriculum next half term. They are designed to complement – not replace – texts and concepts studied in school. Uttoxeter Library can order in any books they don’t have in stock – so pop up and see them.
Y9 – Heroes
Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo
Wonder – RJ Palacio
Y9 – Power and Conflict
The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
The Diary of A Young Girl – Anne Frank (non fiction)
Y10 – Powerful places, dangerous spaces
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
The Door That Led to Where – Sally Gardner (Mrs Hunt’s current read – it’s awesome!)
Y10 – Romeo and Juliet
Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
Saving Juliet – Suzanne Selfors
Y11 – People and Poverty
The Salt Path – Raynor Winn (non-fiction)
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens (19th century)
Y11 – A Christmas Carol
At the End of the Passage – Rudyard Kipling
The Nether World – George Gissing (19th century)
Bonus topic: Spooky Stories and Terrifying Tales
The Haunting of Tyrese Walker – JP Rose
The Clockwork Crow – Catherine Fisher
Bedrock – half term challenge
The English Department are challenging you to get onto Bedrock over half term… prizes are at stake for a range of Bedrock related activities. The more you log on – the higher your chances!
History
Year 11 History
After school revision session reminders:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after school – see Mrs Johnson / Mrs Young for details
American-West end of unit exam
All groups need to be revising for this exam which will be in the first week back after half-term. Ask your teacher for help if you feel you need it.
RE
Year 11 and 13
As we approach half term – this is a good time to get organised with a plan to revise for the trial exams. Please remember the key tips you learnt from the Inner Drive session:
- If accuracy is vital, do one thing first, finish it, then do another.
- A weak note is better than a strong memory
- Use acronyms, simplify and chunk information
- Space out the revision and practice by testing yourself.
- Write to do lists – do the hard things first and early.
- Don’t make the 9 mistakes of sleep.
- Don’t assume the worst – be positive but work to achieve good results.
Please speak to your teachers if you want any support or guidance with revision.
BTEC Tech Award Sport Activity & Fitness
Year 13 – All should be revising training methods and planning for Mock exam
Year 12 – Learn labels for all body systems
Year 11 – Coursework for Body Systems, Injuries and Technology needs uploading to Teams by end of half term. Use Online text book (Active Learn) to revise for mock exam.
Year 10 – Complete equipment and technology power point and plan warm up.
Geography
All year 11 students are encouraged to join us for the following revision sessions which will be held from 3:05 – 4pm Wednesday in the Geography classrooms.
2nd November – Urban Environments
9th November – Rivers
16th November – Coasts
23rd November – Economic World
MFL
MFL MUSINGS
REVISION SESSIONS
Grade 7 – 9, Wednesday after school in room A5
Grade 3 – 6, Thursday after school in room A4
A Level conversation practice, Thursday lunchtime in A4
DUOLINGO CLUB
We will be running a Duolingo club for students who want to practice any foreign language. Full details to follow ASAP, ready for a November start.
Art
Yr12 artists are currently working on some large scale paintings of collections of objects personal to them. It is fantastic to see them utilising skills and knowledge learnt in their painting and colour workshops into this work. Excellent progress this week from Molly D, Nell W, Odette H and Gemma B particularly. Well done guys! We can’t wait to see these finished!
Yr10 artists have been working hard on their Sea themed coursework unit and are utilising past student examples of tasks to inspire their own ideas for presentation of work. Keep up the excellent work guys!
Yr11 artists have been exploring traditional and non-traditional materials and techniques in a range of samples this half term with Mrs Cornell with some very intriguing results. We are looking forward to seeing these ideas progress towards final outcome designs after the half term break in preparation for their 10hour mock exam in the final week of term.’
Science
The 2022 visit to CERN started in the dark and rain of an early morning Uttoxeter before more of the same, this time inside a minibus, on the first leg of the journey to Manchester airport.
The process through the airport was relatively hassle free though a few of us were delayed by bag checks after trying to smuggle books though security. At least it wasn’t a 12″ kitchen knife like a fellow traveller had packed.
After a short flight we arrived in Geneva to be greeted by 24⁰C weather and bright sunshine in sharp contrast to the British rain we’d left behind. After a couple of tram rides we arrived at our hostel, home for the next two nights, and settled in.
We unpacked and headed for the local park, on the shore of Lake Geneva and explored the sculptures and buildings on the park and took in the beautiful view of the Alps just beyond the lake, including catching the moon rising behind Mont Blanc. We headed back to the hotel for dinner and an early night, or in the case of a few of our more enterprising students, convincing Uber to deliver a pizza.
Thursday began with a continental breakfast and two tram rides to CERN. We began with the obligatory group photo and then headed over to the Particles exhibition inside a giant sphere where we learned about space, the origins of particles from the Big Bang and how CERN detects them.
Then we were off to our first activity of the day: cloud chambers. We split into small teams and collected dry ice, propanol, a metal plate and a plastic chamber and assembled our cloud chambers. The propanol vapour condensed in the cold and formed a cloud. As a variety of charged particles passed through the chamber they would leave a vapour trail in their wake. We were watching the movement of invisible subatomic particles in real-time. We then identified the different subatomic particles (electrons, muons, alpha particles etc) from the different trails they made and looked at some of the decay processes occurring in the room that led to their creation. It was a fascinating experience!
After a delicious lunch, we had a guided tour round the syncrocyclotron (the first particle accelerator at CERN) and an explanation into the science and engineering of accelerating particles to near the speed of light. This was followed by a visit to ATLAS, the enormous detector that is used to measure the properties of the many subatomic particles produced by smashing protons into each other after travelling at mindbendingly high speeds through an underground loop 24 kilometres in diameter. The scale of engineering and the sensitivity of the apparatus was incredible.
By the end of this tour the group was feeling a little footsore (especially the student who had a soldier drop his assault rifle on her foot) and it was a weary bunch on the tram home.
We rested for an hour or so before heading back into the city for dinner followed by a stroll alongside the lake.
On Friday we were old campaigners on the tram system and hopped on number 15 to the United Nations ready for our tour. Everyone was looking a little bleary-eyed at this point and the energy levels had waned a little so it was safe to say that enthusiasm levels were not as high as they could have been. This quickly changed when the tour began. Our guide showed us round the various parts of the building and inside a couple of the council chambers. She described the structure of the various organs that fall under the UN umbrella and showed us some of the incredible art work donated by member states over the years.
We were then allowed to sit in the viewing chamber and observe the 51st session of the Human Rights council, listening in to the translators on our earpieces. We were lucky enough to hear some impassioned speeches and observe the council members vote (something our guide had never seen before in ten years of working there) including a vote on a resolution to downgrade the word “atrocity” to the word “crime” in the Human Rights documentation. We were all shocked to hear that the proposer was Russia and relieved that the proposal was rejected with a massive majority.
The visit concluded with an exhibition on nuclear weapons and the UNs work in promoting disarmament.
We hopped back on a tram to grab lunch at a boulangerie and followed by a visit to the museum of the history of science. The amassed antique scientific instruments and displays were fascinating but we were all beginning to fade and the clock was ticking on our return flight. Yet another tram ride and a short hop on a double-decker train got us to the airport. We left Geneva with a bird’s-eye view of CERN for one final time before returning to Birmingham, Greggs and rain.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip and a unique learning experience for us all.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WQ5kUmGoSUZhgW8y6
Head of House updates
Overall standings from the first half term!!
Whitmore – Miss Jones
A really enjoyable week. A big thank you to everyone who has represented Whitmore House or the School in our first seven weeks. It was great to finally see some 1st place finishes in the rugby and netball competitions but more importantly it was great seeing everyone having fan and trying their best. Enjoy your half term break
Elkes – Mrs Brooks
Well done to Elkes so far this half term. We are currently joint first with Torrance on the leader board. Let’s see if we can hit top spot by Christmas.
Just a reminder that our Mental health club will continue after half term on Wednesday. For more information, please speak to Mrs Brooks.
Enjoy your half term break.
Torrance – Miss Arrowsmith
we made it! Our first half term is complete, and we held celebration assemblies this week to highlight just how amazing some of our students are. Students had a special mention for 100% attendance, bronze and silver awards linked to our credit system as well as students being recongnised by their Head of House for outstanding achievements so far this year. Well done to everyone who saw their name on the PowerPoint. In total over 250 students achieved their bronze award and 4 students achieved their Silver. Well done and keep up all your hard work.
Well done to hundreds of students who took part in Netball, rugby or house drama/dance this week. Your efforts and commitments have been seen across the school and particularly by your head of house. We finished Joint First overall this half term – Dream team I’d say.
Targets for w/c 31st October
100% Attendance
Bronze, Silver or Gold Award
Thomas character points – through your Tutor lessons
How can you impress your Head of house in preparations for the next celebration assembly
Enjoy your half term everyone
Orme – Mr Brassington
Well done to all of the students who achieved 100% attendance this half term.
Students who manage to get to Christmas with 100% attendance will receive a certificate and be entered into the attendance raffle – Make sure you keep coming to school, working hard and being the best student, you can be!
Sixth Form updates
Sixth Form entry September 2023 – online application
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 2023 is available in this team or by clicking the following link:
Sixth Form Application September 2023
Any questions please email Mrs Walton via sixthform@tahs.org.uk
Year 12 Work Experience week – Monday 28th November to Friday 2nd December
All Year 12 students are to undertake a week’s work experience. You need to be actively looking for a placement. You will need to register your placement via your Unifrog account. Mrs Young will be going into more detail regarding this during a Year 12 assembly. If you are having trouble accessing your Unifrog account please contact Mrs Walton on walton@tahs.net
Sixth Form Finance:
The school has been allocated a Discretional Bursary Fund (DBF) which students are able bid into throughout the academic year providing they meet the financial criteria set by the school and outlined in our DBF policy.
For the academic year 2022-2023 students are eligible for funding of up to £400 if their parental income is below £27,000 (proof required) or if they were designated as pupil premium. If a student is a looked after child (LAC) they may be entitled to up to £1,200 of financial support. Students must use this funding to support their Post-16 education. For example, Sixth Form uniform, transport costs to and from school, textbooks, revision guides, course materials, IT equipment (up to £150), educational visits, UCAS application Fee, University entrance tests etc.
More detailed information will be available in the DBF booklet which students can be obtain from Mrs Walton in the Sixth Form office or by emailing sixthform@tahs.org.uk
TUTOR TIME ACTIVITIES W/C 31st October 2022
Year 12
Monday:
Students continue to arrange work experience and/or tidy up their files and revise. Thomas Character: self fulfilled, tenacity
Tuesday:
Debate day – watch a TED talk or debate current affairs
Wednesday:
Wider reading, revision or wellbeing activity
Thursday:
Future intentions – university myth busting with Derby Uni Student myths about coming to uni – YouTube
Year 13
Monday:
Personal statements – work on personal statements with tutors. Are students being realistic with their university applications or do they need to add a foundation course? Thomas character: ambition, tenacity
Tuesday:
Debate day – watch a TED talk or debate current affairs
Wednesday:
Wider reading, revision or wellbeing activity
Thursday:
Future intentions – discover Derby uni halls on a 360 tour University of Derby: 360 degree tours of halls – Bing video
Amazing Apprenticeships
NEW Rapid Reads!
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Including straight-talking advice, clear explanation of current legislation, ‘how tos’ and ‘where tos’ the six new downloads join the Amazing Apprenticeships free resource library.
Check them all out now!
TERM DATES ACADEMIC YEAR 2022 – 2023
Holiday: Monday 24 October – Friday 28 October
Term ends: Friday 16 December
Holiday: Monday 19 December – Monday 2 January
Spring Term 2023
Inset day: Tuesday 3 January
Inset day: Wednesday 4 January
Term starts: Thursday 5 January
Holiday: Monday 20 February – Friday 24 February
Term ends: Friday 31 March
Holiday: Monday 3 April – Friday 14 April
Easter Sunday: Sunday 9 April
Summer Term 2023
Inset day: Monday 17th April
Term starts: Tuesday 18 April
May Day: Monday 1 May
Holiday: Monday 29 May – Friday 2 June
Term ends: Tuesday 25 July
Holiday: Wednesday 26 July – Friday 1 September
Thomas Alleyne's high school 