Headteacher Update

I know that the discussion and lack of clarity in the press over the weekend about when students will or won’t return to school is not ideal for families. As a school we are of course extremely keen to have our students back as soon as the situation improves and it is safe to do so. In the meantime we remain completely committed to ensuring that our online offer and the support around this is strong as it can possibly be. We will continue to review and refine this provision and will provide ongoing updates in this bulletin.

Online AHS Spring Music Concert
As we would normally be preparing for our annual AHS Musical Show around this time, I thought it would be wonderful if we could put together a video of performances and compositions from students in years 7-13 performing at home during this second ‘lockdown’ period.

Please send Mrs Morrison an audio and video version (landscape is preferable) of the performance and an audio recording from a composition if your son or daughter would like to be involved. It can be any style (it doesn’t have to be a song from a musical – although it could be) and any instrument, including voice. It should be no more than 3 minutes long. We would also like to include some student artwork/images to accompany the video recording so if there are any AHS artists who would like to be involved in this project, please send those to Mrs Morrison as well.

‘We Transfer’ is the best way to send a recording and very easy. Select the free option and you just need to enter Mrs Morrison’s email and your own email and add the file.

Please contact Mrs Morrison for further information: Cmorrison@archbishopholgates.org

Head of Year Awards
The following have been nominated for the Head of Year Award this week. Amazon gift cards can either be posted home, or saved until students return into school.

Student Wellbeing – Thought-Provoking Tuesday

Art – ‘artist of the week’
Each week we will use this slot to showcase some of the fab work that students are doing at home in Art lessons.  This first one is by Natasha Pugh in Year 11. Natasha is developing ideas for a final portrait piece and has drawn this striking pen portrait based on her own photographs that were taken in school before we broke up. It’s quite ‘of the moment’ and demonstrates how using line and contrast can create visual interest.

Head of Year update – It’s Mr Arthur and Year 8…
It is hard to believe that we are about to embark on our fourth full week of online learning. I have been so impressed with the adaptability and resilience of students in Year 8 who’s second year at Archbishop Holgate’s has been disrupted by another period of school closure. I completely understand that times are difficult at the moment, but please be assured that we are working tirelessly within school to limit the impact all this has on your child’s education and general wellbeing.

With regards to wellbeing, we are embarking on a new pastoral system this week which we very much hope will provided some much needed face-to-face contact that will be greatly appreciated in these difficult times. You child in Year 8 should have received an invitation from their form tutor to a Google Meet on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday this week. This will contain a small group from the form, and will take place on your Tutor Group Google Classroom when your child would normally have been in form time. On Friday, the entire form are invited to a Google Meet Quiz with their forms, and notice will have gone out via form tutors about this also. We do really feel this time with friends and form tutors will reignite a sense of school and tutor group community, and we strongly encourage students to attend these sessions which will be at the same each week.

Further to this, we are beginning to adapt our systems with regards to monitoring the work completed by students in Year 8. Here are some of the key points regarding this…

• We are encouraging students to work as closely to their normal timetable as possible from home. This is because their teachers are available on Google Classroom to message and support your child with their work during this period of time. As a result, each lesson will have a register posted with it that will appear around the time of the start of the lesson. This register works essentially the same as the morning register on the Year Group Google Classroom. Please encourage your child to register at the start of each lesson. I, as Head of Year, will be monitoring the registers and contacting if a pattern emerges of a student consistently not registering at the start of their lessons.
• When students complete their work, they must ensure that they click the ‘Turn in’ button on Google Classroom when they have finished. This will allow the teacher to look at their work and provide recognition that they have seen it. If a students is completing work on paper, a guide has been uploaded onto the year group Google Classroom explaining how to upload a picture of their paper work before they turn it in. If your child is having to work on paper due to not having access to a device that allows them to complete the work directly on Google Classroom, please do get in touch and we will see what we can do about getting a Chromebook to you. Teachers will be in touch either by phone or email if work is not being completed or submitted.

I hope this makes sense – as always, if there are any questions please contact us via the email addresses at the bottom of this bulletin.

Finally, this week sees two new recipients of the Head of Year Award to recognise student’s achievements at this time. Congratulations to the following students in Year 8 for last week…

• Molly Anderson (8MHe) – For working really hard in Science and completing excellent work – well done Molly!
• Brogan Dunne (8JHe) – For doing exceptionally well with his English literacy work – even completing the Bright Sparks tasks. Well done Brogan!

Keep an eye out each week in the bulletin and the Form Time Act of Collective Worship to see who wins the Head of Year Award each week. On their return to school, students will receive their £5 Amazon Gift Card!

As I did last week, let me finish with a quote that provides me with motivation during these times…

“An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great.”

If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 8 that you wish for me to be aware of, particularly if there are any issues surrounding access to our online learning provision, please do get in contact with me at aarthur@archbishopholgates.org, or Mr Deamer (Pastoral Support Worker for Year 8) at rdeamer@archbishopholgates.org.

Weekly Science updates from Miss Gray – It’s a busy one…
– Finley Saunders (10d3) and Noah Hill (10d3) working really well in Biology lessons this week. All tasks completed including extension work, well done! Mrs Freeman
– Grace Morris, Jack Farrow, Imogen Bradbury, Summer Dixon, Faith Burrows in y10 Science – all of you have been making excellent contributions during live lessons. I’m really pleased that you are confidently offering to read parts of the lesson, completing work to a high standard and always engaging well for the lessons. Very impressive work and you should be very proud. Mrs Freeman.
– Well done to all my students on S3 and C3 this week for amazing contributions and patience in the lessons.  Great answers and an excellent atmosphere.  Mr Lever.
– A huge shout out to Miss Gray’s/Miss Day’s year 10 Science group for working so hard over the last for weeks. Thank you!
– Isabel Collinson, Leah Grimes, Gemma Gowland and Tayor Gray-Richardson in Year 10 all working hard and really getting to grips with “The Mole” in Chemistry.  Dr Osman
– Cole Stockwell is producing some diligent work and rigorous answers in Year 12 Chemistry.  Dr Osman
– Yr 13 biologists showing great interest and enthusiasm for Topic 8a – Mutations and gene expressions. Some great questions have been asked!
– Yr 10 Mr Evans/Mr Handley Science group – some great work being produced!
– Yr 10 Mr Evans/Mr Thompson – showing great engagement with the lessons
– Year 9 Mr Evans in their recent cells assessment – Lenda Moharrk, Georgia Owen, Elliot McNulty, Thomas Ellis and Kelsy Wheatland are great examples of scoring very good results. Well done!
– Harley Atkinson for his positive approach to work during lockdown..  Dr Osman
– Thanks to my year 12 Biology group with the understanding and good humour when I managed to teach them for 8 minutes on mute last Wednesday. They continue to work well and engage in lessons. Mr Williams
– Big congratulations to all students in 11B3 Combined Science. They are working brilliantly and special mention this week to Lewis Godliman, Alessandra Hough, George-Gareth White and Leoni Hinchliffe for some fabulous contributions. Mr Green-Harding and I are extremely proud of you all! Mr Williams
– I‘d like to praise Theo Beattie and Jai Valluri for an excellent piece of collaborative revision on the Earth topic in Year 7WNo. Mr Williams
– Continued fantastic work from all students in 10c1 and 10d1 Triple Science and special mention this week to Laura Wilkie for her tenacity at grappling with ionic bonding and balancing equations and to Ben Middleton who has the fastest typing into the chat I have ever seen. Great stuff! Mr Williams
– I’d like to give a special mention to Brooke Osborne in my Year 9 Science class for quietly getting on and producing some good work on Google classroom. Well done. Mr Williams
– Continued brilliant work from 11S1 Triple Science and this week’s special mentions are to Jess Machen and Sophie Warburton for faultless pieces of work on plant and animal adaptations. well done to all. Mr Williams
– Thank you to my year 9 groups for stepping up to a challenge and working hard this week. Particular mention goes to Harrison Kershaw Year 9 , Emily-Sue Toye Year 9 , Hannah Commins Year 9 , Alisha Langhorn Year 9 , Jorja Geesing Year 9 , Jackson Bennett Year 9 , Verity McDonald Year 9 , Sophie Green Year 9 and Ruben Wood Year 9
– Josiah Finn Y8 has been outstanding at engaging on google classrooms and handing all his work in and acting on the feedback given. Worthy of a shout out this week! Mr Williams
– A huge shout out to our Year 11’s for there persistent hard work, thank you – Mr Green-harding and Miss Gray
– Thank you to all our year 11 students in 11b1 GCSE Science, you are all amazing. Well done! – Miss Gray and Mr Thompson

Art & Design – A message from Mr Nicholson
This week in Key stage 3 Art & Design our students will complete their assessments for this half term.

Year 7 – Tonal Rendering of a 2D image
Year 8 – Repeat Pop Art design

We would like to draw attention to the ‘4 Steps 2 Success’ method that the Art Department has been using with our students this year. The method has been a real success in helping students understand the journey they need to go through in order to complete a task successfully. The process breaks tasks down into smaller chunks and reminds students what they should be doing at each stage.

All of the resources created during this current lockdown signpost our students to the different stages as their work progresses. Bespoke demonstration videos, created by our team to accompany G-Slide presentations, also guide students through the process. Students are prompted to pause and complete tasks at appropriate times but Mr Nicholson would like to remind students that they can pause and re-watch the video at any moment so that they can complete tasks at a pace appropriate to themselves.

We would encourage all parents/guardians to look at these resources and to encourage their child to fully utilise the support materials provided and check that they are working through the ‘4 Steps 2 Success’ method.

English home learning certificates for excellent work this week
Georgia Handley Year 11 (Miss Brown)
Rhys O’Dowd Year 11 (Miss Brown)
Katie Hillyard Year 11 (Miss Brown)
Cowen Mason Year 7 (Mr Shaw)
Tyler Bedford – Year 10 (Mr Morrell)
Adrian Beat Year 10 (Mrs Edmondson)
Juwon Lee Year 7 (Miss Barrett)
Ellie-Anne Scott in Year 11 (Ms Metcalf)
Klaudia Romanska – Year 11 (Miss Balmer)
Josh Roe – Year 11 (Ms Evans)
Thomas Collett Year 10 (Miss Adams)
Katie Richardson – Year 11 (Miss Darlington)
Robyn Darwin – Year 11 (Mr Willliams)
Ash Lightfoot – Year 10 (Miss Chambers)
Imogen Bradbury Year 10 (Miss Cooper)

Collective Worship
This week our Form Tutor Collective Worship is on the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day which falls on Wednesday 27th. Our collective worship has been created by students at Alsop High School in Liverpool. It explains what Holocaust Memorial Day is and explains some of the events of the Holocaust. It contains a moving speech by Holocaust survivor Ziggy Shipper. Our daily quotes are on the theme of Living Together.

Tuesday – “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main, any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” – John Donne 16th century English poet and Church of England vicar