Headteacher Update

I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable weekend. I am looking forward to meeting Year 6 families who will be joining us in September on Monday and Tuesday evening. These Zoom sessions will then be complemented the following week with similar meetings with form tutors and members of the leadership team. Whilst as a city we had hoped to be able carry out transition activities in person the current situation with the Delta variant means that this is not possible. We realise that this will be disappointing for families, especially as the Open Evenings were also cancelled earlier in the year. As such we think that it is important that the first day of the next academic year is set aside for the new Year 7 (and new Year 12) students to give them a chance to begin to feel comfortable in school before other students return. We are also planning (subject to restrictions) to have an evening early in September where families of the new Year 7 students can visit school.

I do also need to take this opportunity to praise the efforts of Year 10 students this week in terms of their conduct and attitude towards their summer exams. I have been present outside the exam venue to wish students the best of luck at all but one exam this week and I have been thoroughly impressed with each and every student. This is the first time they have been in the Sports Hall to sit exams and to date they have been a credit to themselves and the school. Year 10 have also had to manage the additional disruption of some of them needing to self isolate during the course of the week. The key message in the letter I sent home and which applies equally to all of Year 10, is that they should try not to worry about these exams and simply do their best – this is the only important thing at this stage.

Please find attached the latest Wellbeing Newsletter. As ever I hope it is helpful.

WB. 28th June Wellbeing Newsletter 19 (1)

Head of Year Awards

Head of Year updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell
We have had the pleasure this week of finally being able to allow our Sixth Form Student Leaders to host our assembly and focused upon well-being. It was great to see students being able to engage with other young people, who can understand their current worries and concerns. This is part of our ongoing AHS ‘Four Steps to Well-Being’. 

Well done to our Students of the Week:
7CAd – Faisal Almohimeed
7Hv – Chloe Slater
7Bl – Bradley Sircer
7CMp – Morgan Foster
7WNo – Lincoln Keith
7Cy – Liam Molloy
7Gr – Shannon Smith
7Cm – Joah Rhodes
7Nth – Josh Binns
7Hf- David Wood
7Mr – Noah Smee-Brown

Well done to our Gold Award Winners:
Callum Miller 7CMp: Well done for writing poems for the newsletter two weeks in a row.
Sky Farrar 7CMp: Well done to Sky for improved attendance and punctuality.

Virtual Parents evening
Wednesday 30th is our Virtual Parents evening, students should be making appointments themselves via Google Classroom, those who have not yet started to make appointments should have received a text message on Friday. If you need any support in making appointments, please call main reception and ask to speak with The Year 7 Team. Just to politely highlight, teachers who teach several Year 7 classes may not be able to meet all students, if you are unable to make an appointment and you are concerned about anything in their full report please contact main reception and ask to speak with Miss Kincell and I will support in co-ordinating feedback. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Year 8 – Mr Arthur
I hope this bulletin finds you all safe and well. As we approach the final weeks of the year of the summer, I wanted to take this opportunity to again highlight the issue of attendance as I have previously. Attendance at school is crucial to the success of students. Recent studies have shown that absence from school has a significant impact on the success of students, and can have a long-term impact through to their GCSEs. In one of these studies, it has shown that of those students that have 100% attendance, 79% of them achieve 5+ good GCSEs. At 95%, this figure falls to 69%. At 90%, this falls even further to 53%, and by 85% attendance, this figure for success becomes 36%. When considering that 5% attendance is around 7 days absence, it really is crucial that students are in school every single day. To put this into further context, if your child has lower than 95% attendance, this means that they are attending school less than the average child across the country.

As a school, we fully understand that there are appointments that cannot be moved, or emergencies that mean a child may have to take some time off school. However, wherever possible, please can non-emergency appointments be made outside of school time, or ensure that students return to school in the afternoon if their appointment is in the morning (or vice versa). With regards to illness, the message that has been given to students is that if they are feeling unwell, the question they should be asking themselves is not “Do I want to come into school?” Of course, if you’re feeling unwell the answer will be no! However, what they should be asking is, “Can I be in school?” In this instance, the answer is almost always “Yes”. We do have the Intervention Room for students that are feeling unwell, but we would very much appreciate your support in ensure your child is in school as much as possible to give them the best chance of success in the future.

This week’s Act of Collective Worship focuses on the idea of ‘failure’ – a word that can carry with it a certain sense of fear and dread. My aim with this collective worship was to change the narrative around the word ‘failure’, and help students to understand that ‘failure is not the opposite of success, it is part of it.’ We considered different characters such as J K Rowling, Richard Branson and Walt Disney, who underwent significant adversity and failure before they reached the dizzying heights of their success. We then considered what we can do in our own lives to turn success into failure – including being resilient, not taking failure personally, viewing failure as part of the process of being successful, and seeking support where necessary. There is plenty of support in school for students to help them to be successful, but failure along the way is certainly not the end of the journey – we must all view ‘failure as a teacher’ on the road to success. Finally, we drew inspiration from the Bible and its message on the value of resilience in James 1:12 “Those who stand firm during testing are blessed. They are tried and true. They will receive the life God has promised to those who love him as their reward”.

Congratulations to the winners of the Head of Year Award this week – they are…

Declan Childs (8NAm) – For his dedication to the school show rehearsals – he has a major part and is clocking up a lot of rehearsal hours currently for this. Well done!
Bethan Williams (8MDn) – For doing exceptionally well in RE of late. Really well done!
Well done – a £5 Amazon Gift Card will be on its way as soon as possible!

Thank You for taking the time to read this bulletin. If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 8, please contact me on aarthur.ahs.pmat.academy, or Mr Deamer (PSW For Year 8) on rdeamer@ahs.pmat.academy

Mr Avery and Year 9
I can’t quite believe we have reached the final weeks of the school year, and what a year it has been! Twelve months ago things looked pretty bleak, and despite an interrupted year, the students of Year 9 have built an excellent foundation to progress and develop into Year 10. Their resilience, engagement in lives lessons, hard work and positive attitude has meant the impact of COVID has been less intrusive on their education. Walking around the classrooms, speaking to teachers and teaching Year 9 myself, I can see that they are ready to make the step toward Year 10, and to begin their GCSEs.

Next year the focus of the AHS ‘journey’ is on ‘Responsibility and Resilience’ and is full of enrichment possibilities that will hopefully make up for some of the experiences they missed out on this year. Students will have the opportunity to experience a range of academic trips, take part in education enrichment days and take a foray into the world of work, through two weeks work experience in the summer term.  I am proud to say that the students of Year 9 have already begun to show ‘responsibility and resilience’ in abundance this year, therefore the transition to focussing on this should be a smooth one. As former US president Barack Obama said ‘ Being responsible is a privilege…it’s what marks anyone as a fully grown human’.

We have a big push this half-term regarding standards across the school – we really want to make sure student finish the year strongly, ready for the summer break. They key focus is fourfold in terms of focus…

1. Timekeeping – students must ensure that they are getting to school on time, and making their way to lessons on time. Students that are not on school site before 8:45 will receive a HOY Detention after school the following day. Students that arrive to lessons or form time late will receive an ‘L’ code in their planner – Three ‘L’ codes would result in a HOY Detention after school the following day.
2. Staying in lessons – Students must ensure they do things like go to the toilet, or fill up their water bottles, at breaks and lunchtimes. Only in exceptional circumstances will students be allowed to go to the toilet during a lesson.
3. Uniform – Students must make sure they are wearing the correct uniform. Reminders of the school uniform policy can be found on the school website. Students must accept when they are challenged on incorrect uniform, and work with us to help correct the issue.
4. Accepting when things go wrong, and learning from mistakes – we have explained to the students that we understand nobody is perfect! Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. The key thing we wish to stress is that students learn from the mistakes they make, accept any sanction that comes as a result, and endeavour to not make the same mistake again.

We very much hope with an emphasis on these things in the coming weeks, that students will finish the half-term and the year strongly.

If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 9, please do get in contact with me at navery@ahs.pmat.academy, or Miss Clark (Pastoral Support Worker for Year 9) at sclark@ahs.pmat.academy

Miss Turvey and Year 10
Wow, what a week. It has been a nerve wracking adrenalin fuelled first week of the Y10 exams ~ and we have all survived, the world is still turning and the students have adapted to circumstances exceptionally well. I empathise with the frustration of those who are having to isolate and would ask for your patience at this time; if there is a need for a chromebook to enable your child to access the exam papers online please telephone school and let reception know. If the internet goes down or someone is digging up the cable down the street (both issues which occurred during lockdown 3) then please do not worry as, with the exam papers online, your child can choose to do them at the convenience of your family circumstances. For the remaining five sixths of the year group who are in school, the Head Invigilator would like me to share some of the words she has used to describe the first week: “hard-working and organised year group, polite and respectful who have listened well and been accommodating, shown great self-control (very few toilet breaks needed) and should be very proud of their outstandingly excellent behaviour”.

Thank you to those of you who have moved hospital appointments and the like in order to ensure your child’s attendance; for the first time this academic year Y10 has the best attendance in the school. Well done. There is a second week of exams next week and I am confident that having had a well earned rest over the weekend your children will dig deep into their reserves and face the coming exams with the same focus and resilience. 

As ever, any problems or issues please do contact the Y10 Pastoral Team. 

Mrs Avey and Year 11
Last Friday marked the official stand down of our present year 11. Following numerous conversations we have had with students – and some  parents – either when they have returned for transition sessions or over the phone, it is clear that they are relaxing and enjoying the long awaited freedom away from the constraints of a school timetable. We hope that they continue to unwind, relax and stay safe.

We  look forward to seeing them all  on results day, in their timeslot, on Thursday 12th August as per the details in the June 2021 letter. Obviously the letter explains the alternative arrangements should the student be unable to make that day. Those of our students intending on enrolling into 6th have all been offered an appointment to discuss transition plans. May we remind you if they are unable to make the meeting, to please let Mrs Walton know by Monday 19th July at swalton@ahs.pmat.academy.

Miss De Lashley and Post 16
Y12 Mock Prep – This is the final week of Summer Mock prep before they commence next week. This week our BTEC ICT students are undergoing their mock task in their timetabled lessons.  

Y13 Transition – This week’s Y13 Transition Workshops are listed below. If your son/daughter would like to join, please get in touch fde.lashley@ahs.pmat.academy 

• Student cooking class – Tuesday 29^th June (all day)
• Student storage solutions – Wednesday 30^th June (am)
• Higher Education Talk – Thursday 1^st July (10-11am

Year 13 Student Voice: Exit Interviews May 20201
Our Year 13 students formally stood down before May half term after a unique and challenging two academic years. They currently await their Teacher Assessed Grades this August. Mrs De Lashley and Mr Charlton conducted exit interviews with each student to help support the transition process whilst gathering further student voice which we can use to further improve both the school and the sixth form. Here is a selection of the ideas offered:

What are the aspirations of the current Year 13?
 Students offered a range of dreams and aspirations, including the following:

• Travel (a popular one)
• Have families
• Secure enriching and fulfilling jobs
• Succeed in HE
• Cure cancer!

What have students loved about AHS?

• Relationships with staff and teachers especially over lockdown
• Support to succeed and the structure of the school day
• The strength of friendships, particularly in-light of COVID
• Developing real passions for subjects
• Learning to manage time effectively

What are the worries of students leaving AHS?
Students naturally have some concerns as they leave the Sixth Form. These include the following:

• The aftermath of the pandemic on their economic future
• The pressures of living independently and making new relationships 
• The uncertainty of the job market and future employability
• Money and finances  – securing mortgages

What suggestions did the Sixth Form offer?

• More structured support with academic pressure and wellbeing
• Further expansion of the social areas

We wish all of Year 13 the best of luck next year and welcome any further feedback from students and their families.

Y12 Shout Outs

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Collective Worship
We are continuing to watch some reflection videos from the Christian charities Thy Kingdom Come and the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust. This week in our Collective worship we’ll listen to Joe Winterschladen, who works for The Message Trust, speak about offering Jesus his life and musician & artist Elle Limebar talk about the value of saying sorry.

Quotes
“An apology is the superglue of life! It can repair just about anything!” – Lynn Johnston; Canadian cartoonist
“An apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift.” – Margaret Lee Runbeck; 20th C. US author
“Never forget the nine most important words of any family – I love you. You are beautiful. Please forgive me.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr; American inspirational writer
“The art of a sincere and heartfelt apology is one of the greatest skills you will ever learn.” – Jeanette LeBlanc,
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” – The Bible, Matthew ch5: v9