Whilst we would of course much prefer to have all our students in school and are very much looking forward to further information about a potential return from 8th March we have as ever been busy trying to further improve the school learning environment. Following the massive programme of works last year we are currently busy completing a new outside eating area at the front of school and a renovation of the boys toilets in main school. It is really important to us that we continue to ensure that the learning environment is as welcoming as possible for all students.
SEND Support
Please find attached a document from Miss Holmes containing SEND support links for parents. Whilst not an exhaustive list this is concise and useful.
SEND Support for Parental Bulletin
Parent Pay
Please could I ask all families to remember to activate your new ParentPay account; if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact main reception. We believe this new facility will provide a more interactive and user friendly resource. Thank you.
Opportunity for any of the Arts Award @ home students (Bronze and Silver)
Any students working towards the Arts Award might like to take part in this opportunity from Friends of Rowntree Park.
They are asking for short story and poetry submissions on the theme of nature/outdoors/the park or escape. Some of the stories and poems will be chosen to go on display around the park. The work should be MAX 1000 words. The closing date is 15/02/21. Any submissions should be emailed to
hello@rowntreepark.org.uk and cc’d to Mrs Newton – mnewton@archbishopholgates.org
Please include your name and age in the body of the email. Your submissions can be counted as your Arts Experience (Bronze) or Arts Challenge (Silver). Please get in touch if you have any questions. Good luck!
Week 3 of our art challenge
Recommended Reads from Miss Short….
Y7 – Team Awkward by Katy Birchall (Quiz 230154. Level 4.6. Purple)
When your dad gets engaged to the most famous actress in the world, everything you do might end up on social media. What could go wrong?
If everything Anna does is going to be seen by more than 10 million people, then she’s determined to find something that she’s really good at. Everyone else seems to have a ‘thing’ – especially the new girl at school, who’s been distracting Connor with their shared love of art. Luckily the school sports day is looming, and Anna is limbering up! The first chapter of the book is written as a series of short emails. This is a really clever way of giving the reader a lot of backstory before the story starts in chapter two. Think about your own creative writing, maybe this is a technique you could use.
Y8 – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Quiz 223636 Level 5.5 Green)
We learn from the start that this book is about illness, but don’t think that it is a depressing read. Add romance into the story and you’ll laugh and possibly cry, but won’t want to put it down. You can watch the trailer by opening the link below. (Please note the film for this book is rated age 13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuVjGbncgQE
You can read the first chapter of the book by clicking on the link below. There are also notes on the chapter which are really useful not just to understand the chapter, but you can use the knowledge to improve your creative writing.https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-fault-in-our-stars/section1/
Y9 Pea’s Book of Best Friends by Suzie Day (Quiz 228077 Level 6.3 Blue)
Pea is easy to relate to and shows that good friends can be found wherever you are. When Pea Llewellyn’s dizzy but dazzling single mum becomes Marina Cove, author of the bestselling Mermaid Girls books, everything changes. It’s time to leave their tiny flat in Tenby for a proper house in London, and a whole new life. Pea likes the red front door, and the attic bedroom all to herself. She even likes her hideous new school uniform, in a Malory Towers sort of way. But there’s an empty chair beside her in every lesson, and no one seems to want to fill it. In the absence of volunteers, Pea is going to have to acquire herself a best friend .
You can read chapter one by clicking on the link below: http://rhwidget.randomhouse.co.uk/flash-widget/widget_lg.do?isbn=9781849415224&menu=0&mode=1&cf=336699&cb=FFFFFF&newsletter=1
KS4 – The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
A deeply affecting coming of age story that spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up. Charlie is a freshman. And while not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and run away from it But Charlie can’t stay on the sidelines forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.
You can read a summary here: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/section1/
Watch the trailer for the film here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vb2qrcPEEs
KS5 – Captain Sir Tom Moore
This week saw the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore, a British Army Officer and businessman known for raising money for charity in the run up to his 100th birthday during the Covid 19 pandemic. Here you can read an article from the Independent about his outstanding efforts: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/captain-tom-moore-piers-morgan-life-stories-b434698.html
The interview he gave on Piers Morgan’s life stories is available on the ITV hub and is well worth a watch!
Bag of Books to Borrow scheme from Miss Murphy and the Library team.
This week we will be trialling a ‘Bag of Books to Borrow’ scheme. If you would like to borrow up to five books, and have them by half term, just follow the steps below.
- Decide what you would like to read, or think of a couple of authors/genres.
- Email me your choices smurphy@archbishopholgates.org
- Please do this by Wednesday lunchtime at the latest.
- Miss Murphy, Mrs Breare or Miss York will pick a selection of books for you.
- Your choices will be processed through the library system under your name.
- Hopefully one of our staff volunteers will deliver a book bag to your door.
Think about the genres we have in the library. Young Adult Read, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and Suspense, Dark Romance, Romance, Easy Reads, Apollo Readers, Mystery, Classics and Poetry. Also, remember when we talked about how much people love it when you read to them? Why not pick something that your younger sister/brother might like to listen to, and you can read to them. Don’t forget that adults like to be read to too. If there are a couple of you in your family that you can ‘popcorn’ read with, just ask us for two or more of the same book so you can have a copy each.
Head of Year updates – Miss Turvey and Year 10…
Recognising and celebrating the end of Key stage 4.
Next week, a letter will be sent outlining our plans to celebrate our students coming to the end of their time in Key Stage 4. It will outline procedures for placing an order for a hoodie, the year book and our aspirational prom. Once you have received the information, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Support for students and parents
We were really pleased with the feedback from our online parent’s evening this week and hope that parents and students found the feedback helpful and supportive. As students continue to work hard and engage with their remote learning, we are pleased that we can offer details of a webinar that is available for parents run through a company called ‘Elevate’. The focus will be on Stress and Well-being and cover the following:
- How parents can support and stabilise their children through tougher periods,
- Strategies to manage exam and study-related stress,
- How establish and maintain a routine that protects wellbeing in lockdown.
The webinar is on Tuesday 9th February 6-7pm and registration is completely free for all parents at AHS. The registration link is: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/uk/register
Shout outs
Happily, there has been a predominance of shout outs this week for whole groups as well as individual students this week: My Y11 Re class are brilliant ~ they answer questions in the chat, read out loud, look up things we are discussing on google to make the lesson flow better ~ and they encourage me to teach by telling me they are still there…fabulous group of children; GCSE Computer Science are doing fantastic, all on time, completing work and enjoying live lessons , well done – Mr Appleyard; 11c1 Triple Science – for their continued hard work and engagement with online learning. What a brilliant class you are! Mrs Freeman; I absolutely love teaching 11b1 for their English lessons; they are amazing! Thank you – Mrs Edmondson; Can I shout out to my English group (11e1) who have been working solidly all half term and doing a really great job – Mr Clements; Most of the maths group, 11C4, are working and trying really hard – Miss Bhogal; 11b2 are a fab class !- Miss Harper; Sports Studies- a big shout out for full class attendance and nearly everyone completing LO1 to a really good standard! Mrs Avey; 11C3 History – marvellous group as always –Mr Knox; The maths group (11b2) are doing really well as a whole class. Well done – Miss Milner; Year 11 Health and Social Care have been brilliant during their online lessons! Completing their work to a high standard and showing a great understanding of why health and wellbeing plans are important. Miss Gavin is really proud of all of you. Keep up the fantastic work! Ms Ramsay’s Yr 11 geography class – I absolutely love teaching Yr 11, it is honestly the highlight of my week, they are always so polite and say hello. In fact they are a bit too polite. When I tried to show a video, no one told me that my screen wasn’t sharing so we just had an awkward 4 minutes where I was watching the video, but all Yr 11 could see was me staring at the screen. Please unmute and tell me in future Yr 11! 11bMe1 – Media, 11cMe1 – Media- Have been doing some excellent work on their Task 3 magazine reports. Well done – Mr Shaw; 11b3 in English – loads of hard work across the board! Acting on feedback and asking questions to help improve their answers. Really impressed! – Miss Balmer; 11b/Ma1 – I’m in awe with how they’ve taken to online learning. Keep up the good work! – Mrs Crabtree; 11d1 Maths group have been fantastic in our live lessons! Answering lots of questions and trying really hard! Miss Cooper; My 11a3 group have been great during our live lessons – Miss Cooper; 11b3 – amazing 100% attendance on test day and working hard on it – Mr McBride; My Y11 class are fantastic, whether it is in the classroom or at home they have given it 100%, which has resulted in many of them doing very well in their mock exams. There are far too many to mention individually, but they have been a real pleasure to teach this year. Well done! Mr Avery and finally; most of year 11 Travel and Tourism nurture group doing a great job in their live lessons – Mr Bryan.
Student Wellbeing – Feel-Good Friday
Being Kind online
The image below is a useful guide to students around being kind online. Please can you make sure your child has read it? If your child is suffering from any online bullying please speak to your child’s Head of Year.
Collective Worship
This week our form tutor collective worship focuses on the question of Does our behaviour really matter? This is considered in the context of working against injustice in society and our local communities, especially racial injustice. It includes an interview with Daniel Eduardo sharing his experience of growing up mixed race. Our daily quotes are on the theme of Justice.
Friday – “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” – The Bible, the Prophet Amos 5:24