Headteacher Update

Dear parents and carers,

It seems hard to believe that we have reached the final week of the Spring term and are nearly two thirds of the way through the academic year. I would like to thank families for their ongoing support for the school. Newsletter 432 sent home on Thursday highlights just how busy recent weeks have been and hopefully this parental bulletin will give further insight into all the exciting things that have been happening both inside and outside of school. A reminder that Friday 8th April is a Training Day so the last day in school for students will be Thursday 7th April.

We are very much looking forward to the Year 11 Revision Evening thus Tuesday as well as the Year 11 and Year 13 Group Photographs this week. I would also like to remind Year 10 families that Year 10 Parents Evening has moved to Wednesday 4th May. We look forward to seeing you at this event to discuss our child’s progress.

Wellbeing
Please find attached the edition 49 of our Wellbeing Newsletter. As ever, any feedback in terms of how we could further improve this resource is much appreciated.

Head of Year Awards
I am pleased that the Head of year Awards linked to our School and British Values continue to popular with students.

Head of Year Updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell, Miss Powell and Miss Cooper
We are so proud of how fantastic Year 7 have been again this term. We are looking forward to our final week and hope that you all have a lovely Easter break. Here are a few ideas of some free activities happening in York this Easter:

Chocolate Festival in York – Chocolate market on Parliament Street with over 40 stands. There are chocolate making workshops, activities and demonstrations everyday. https://www.visityork.org/events/york-chocolate-festival
National Railway Museum – The museum is running activities where you can make your own railway out of recyclable materials. https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/easter-2022
Cypher Coding Lessons – You can have a free one hour ‘trial’ lesson this Easter. https://www.cyphercoders.com/online-coding-lessons-for-kids?aid=eau698
HAF – Holiday Activities and Food – The Easter sessions, which all include a meal, are available to children who are eligible for free school meals. They include schemes run by clubs, charities, schools and organisations including York City Knights rugby club, York City Football Club and York Theatre Royal. https://www.york.gov.uk/HAF.

Well done to our Students of the Week:
ANn: Vidya Bhattacharya – For being so conscientious, hard working and polite. A fantastic member of 7ANN!
ASu: Tudor Zmarandoiu – For settling so well into school!
Bl: Oscar Duncan – always engaging in form time discussions with good ideas and sensible opinions on issues being discussed.
Cy: Iysia Sargent For always keeping up to date with work and having an organised planner.
Gr: Jonas Norman – Thank you for always being so kind and thoughtful, it doesn’t go unnoticed.
Hf: Scarlett Harrison – for improving her punctuality and being a positive, smiley member of the form.
Hv: Brooke Cooper- superb performance in Matilda
MLn: Jenson Chipman – For his maturity, organisation and work ethic!
MPe: Nicola Ciachla – For her persistent positivity and being a superb member of 7MPe
Mr: Grace Lister – for her hard work ethic and positive attitude
SMf: Connor North – For fantastic strength and resilience in starting at Archies! Very quickly a big part of our form!

Well done to our Head of Year Awards:
Teddy Fowler 7Cy – For being fantastic in all lessons – well done Teddy!
Florence Davis 7ASu – For always being polite and friendly to all students and staff and living out the School Values!

Library Newsletter:
Happy National Rainbow Day!
A double/twin rainbow is a wonderful sight where you get two spectacular natural displays for the price of one. The second rainbow is above the smaller one and is fainter and more ‘pastel’ in tone than the primary rainbow because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one. This is why some people don’t notice the second one, but next time you see a rainbow, look above it and you might be surprised to see the second one. A key feature of double rainbows is that the colour sequence in the second rainbow is reversed. So, now you know most rainbows have a twin!

Recommendations

The Twins at St Clare’s
The Twins at St Clare’s by Enid Blyton (Quiz 211194. Level 4.9. Colour Purple) is about twin sisters starting a new school. Only a handful of people can tell them apart. Will they use this fact to their advantage? The twins say,

“People are going to know who we are, and what we do. The O’Sullivan twins are going to be SOMEBODIES!” You can read the first three chapters of the book by clicking on the link below.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Twins_at_St_Clare_s/xMLOBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Goosebumps

Help! We have Strange Powers!
Help! We Have Strange Powers! By R. L. Stine (Quiz 221111. Level 3.2 Colour Black) is about twins who after a visit a fortune teller, realise they can read other people’s minds. This is part of the Goosebumps Horror Land series. Read it if you dare…

“Jillian and Jackson freak out when they suddenly can read people’s thoughts. But the trick turns to terror when the twins are stalked by a strange scientist who wants to know exactly what’s on their minds. Will the twins ever lead normal lives again?”

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Help_We_Have_Strange_Powers_Goosebumps_H/wYHCBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Competition Time
When I was at primary school we were taught the colours of the rainbow by using the acronym ROYGBIV. We remembered this using

Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain, or Rountree’s of York Give Best in Value.

So, can you come up with anything better? You know I’m a true Yorkie, so if you can come up with something York /Yorkshire themed I’d be delighted.

York Book Awards
Six lucky students attended the York Book Awards on Friday. We were greeted by the lady mayoress and seated at a table with a white cloth and a balloon centrepiece. We met, via Zoom, five out of the six shortlisted authors. We were lucky enough to have all of our questions answered, and find out what inspires authors to write. We were absolutely delighted to receive an award for the artwork we sent in, redesigning the book covers. This has now been taken to York Explore for everyone to see!

The winning book was Boy Everywhere by A.M Dassu (Quiz 240508. Level 4.8. Colour Purple) This delighted us yet again, as Boy Everywhere was the favourite of our book reviewers at AHS. You can read the first thirty pages by clicking in the link.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Boy_Everywhere/raMCEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Activities
Next week we will continue to make Easter cards and on Thursday we will have a mini pop-up Easter Fayre in the library where you will be able to purchase sweets, tasty treats and chance your luck on the chocolate tombola, where every ticket wins a prize. All treats and activities will be 50p.

Year 8 – Mrs Avey, Mrs Mennell and Mr Handley
We are pleased to say that, once again, attendance in Year 8 has been the best in the main school (this is a regular occurrence). We are really grateful for the support we receive from parents and cares in terms of attendance and that the importance of this is also emphasised at home. In order to keep highlighting the importance of attendance we will be running another attendance challenge for the second half of the school year. Form tutors have been getting weekly updates on their tutees’ attendance each week with the challenge being to improve on their attendance from the first half of the school year.

In our Year 8 Act Collective Worship this week, Mr Furniss took charge to update students on some key changes that will come into effect after the Easter holiday. Students have been updated on Classcharts, a new system the school will be introducing that will improve the way we are able to communicate with home and will give students and parents/carers more ownership in tracking positives and rewards but also with negatives such as detentions. There is an app that parents can download to also keep track of what is going on and it will be a key method of communication. We would encourage you to do so but more information will be provided about this soon. The link below is a guide to what the Classcharts Parent app will have to offer.

https://pages.classcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/Class_Charts_for_parents_guide.pdf

This week in the character and culture section of form time students have been looking at the Monty Hall problem. This is from a game show in America a few decades ago where contestants were offered the choice of three doors, with an expensive prize behind one door. Contestants would pick a door and the host, Monty Hall, would show them a door they didn’t pick, reveal it was empty and give them another chance to stick with their original pick or switch for the other. This ended up causing a lot of disagreement between mathematicians about what is the best option – stick or switch. The now accepted answer to this is to switch doors as it gives you the best probability of winning the big prize. The first person who proposed this idea was called Marylin Vos Savant. Her suggestion seemed far-fetched to many and she received 1000s of letters of hatemail, lots of which followed the same theme of her being incorrect because she was a woman. Students were asked to consider people’s bias against her. Do we hold on to any biases of our own that might affect how much credibility we give someone? As per usual the students offered insightful feedback to this question.

Bikeability training has continued this week and it is clear the students have been really well engaged with this and their behavior and conduct has been exemplary. Again, when discussing how they have managed with the instructors they have been really impressed with the students that have taken part.

We hope all the students and their families have an enjoyable and relaxing time over the Easter Holiday when we get there. As ever, thank you for your continued support. If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 8, please do contact school reception to get in touch with Mrs Avey (Head of Year 8), Mr Handley (Assistant Head of Year 8) or Mrs Mennell (Year 8 Pastoral Support Worker).

Year 9 – Mr Arthur, Mr Deamer and Mrs Deacon
So we have reached the final week of the term, and I find myself feeling an overwhelming sense of pride and joy that we have reached this marker. The end of this week marks the first time that students in Year 9 have completed two full terms at AHS back to back. This gives me so much joy that we are seemingly moving away from the restrictions that have limited our lives and the children’s education for the past two years. However, I also feel a great sense of pride as to how well students in Year 9 are coping with the demands of two full terms in school back to back. One more week to go. and then we have a well deserved break.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just wanted to remind parents about the upcoming Cultural Experience visits that will be taking place for Year 9 the second week back after the Easter holidays. As you will already know, the locations for these three trips are…

• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
• The National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
• The Royal Armouries, Leeds

The final rotation of these trips will take place on Thursday 5th May and all students in Year 9 will be out of school for the day. This is a mandatory visit as part of the student’s Silver Arts Award Qualification. Here is a reminder of the important things for students to remember in preparation for their final visit…

• Students must arrive to school in their uniform, however they can wear comfortable footwear (trainers) if they so wish.
• Students travelling to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park will need to ensure they wear boots/wellington boots or footwear they do not mind getting muddy as they will be outside on grass for most of the day. Students on this trip must also ensure they wear plenty of warm clothing (although I am very much hoping that for this rotation, the weather will be sunny and dry!).
• Students must bring their own packed lunches to school for the day. Students who are Free School Meals will have a packed lunch provided for them by school. Students must also not bring any food with them that contain nuts as some students on the trips do have allergies to nuts.
• Students arrive to school at the normal time, and they will register in their form rooms. Students will then be making their way to the Main Hall where we will head off to the buses for the different trips.
• Each coach will have a supply of face masks and we strongly encourage that students wear face masks on the coach and in crowded indoor spaces. However, the wearing of masks will not be mandatory on this trip in line with government guidance.
• Students must bring any medication/inhalers etc… they need with them – they will be their responsibility for the duration of the trip. If they need support from a member of staff, they should let the bus/trip leaders know as soon as possible.
• The buses will return to school for 3pm in time for students to make their usual way home from school.

Medical and consent forms have been posted home this week. As you can see, there is a very tight turnaround for these, so please ensure your child are returns there ASAP (preferably THIS WEEK, before we break up for Easter) to ensure your child can take part in these exciting cultural experience visits.

Finally, a big congratulations to the students winning the Head of Year Award last week…

Thank you for taking the time to read this parent bulletin. If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 9, then please do get in touch by emailing aarthur@ahs.pmat.academy (head of Year), mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy (Assistant Head of Year) and/or rdeamer@ahs.pmat.academy (Pastoral Support Worker); or alternatively, you can call Main School Reception and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Happy Easter, and thank you all.

Year 10 – Mr Avery, Miss Johstone and Miss Montagu
What a sudden change of weather we have had, from picnicking outside to snow showers. A real dusting of snow on the fields has kept most of our Yr 10s cooped up inside.

Matilda – The highlight of the past week was the school production of Matilda. We hope you managed to come. It was a real treat and very pleasing to see so many year 10s performing, singing and dancing in front of a large audience. The main actors got into the characters and all the hours spent rehearsing paid off.

Matilda, her parents, Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey are all in their different ways, for good or ill, memorable characters. The message of Roald Dahl’s book is simple: you can control your own story, and rebellion and protest can defeat the bullies.

Newcastle field trip – We took 14 year 10 students on a city cultural trip to Newcastle on Wednesday March 30th. All the students enjoyed the activities and were a credit to themselves and the school. I was proud of them. The activities included going to the interactive Life Science museum and a tour around St. James Park. The tour took us behind the scenes of the football club which was engaging even for those with little interest in football. The tour guide, a very passionate retired Geordie who had landed his dream job, made a point of commenting on how well the students behaved. Later on, it was heart-warming to receive this positive feedback from the Newcastle Football Club team:

Good afternoon, I hope this email finds you well.
We had some of your students on one of our public Classic Stadium Tours yesterday afternoon. I just wanted to drop you a short line to say how well behaved and courteous they were throughout the duration of the tour. The tour guide mentioned that they were a pleasure to take around. Please feel free to send any other groups our way for a tour.

English speaking exams – This past week we had the whole of Yr 10 sit part of their English speaking exam. Many teachers have told us how well they performed. They spoke in front of their classes, presenting information and responding to questions. They had all chosen such interesting and diverse topics. It was a delight to see so many students actively engaged in debating their ideas.

Important information

• For your diaries: the Yr 10 parents evening will be held on 4th May. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
• Thank you to all those parents who have helped in securing work placements for their child. Please can you continue to look if you have not yet been able to find one. We understand that there are added pressures this year with many potential places turning down students. Please get in contact if further help is needed.
• A reminder that students need to be coming into school in the correct uniform. Students will be picked up on this.

HOY awards – Our awards this week go to Martin Mogyorosy and Ben Pomfrett for outstanding support backstage in the school play.

Should you have any concerns please feel free to contact the Yr 10 team.

Year 11 – Miss Turvey, Miss Reeder and Miss Chambers
We have now completed our last full five-day week of the half term and it was a particularly enjoyable one this week with many memorable events.
We are very grateful for your engagement and support with Parents Evening. Being able to meet face-to-face was a great privilege for your child’s final Parents Evening and there were lots of positive and important conversations to be had. Please do get in touch if there is anything you would like to follow up from this evening.

This week also saw the success of our Prom Fundraiser events. The Netball match on Thursday was a fantastic event organised by Mrs Reeder and both the staff and student teams were impressive and formidable forces to be reckoned with! After a fast-paced game the final score was 16 – 11 to staff, however we will gracefully concede that owing to the pre-agreed rule that the ‘final shot takes all’, the student team did ‘technically’ win this… We were very pleased and grateful for the large number of students who opted to show their support by coming to watch the match in their own time after school.

On Friday, we held our Teacher Discomfort Assembly, led by Miss Turvey and co-ordinated by Mrs Reeder and myself (Miss Chambers). This was another great success and everyone had huge amounts of fun – except perhaps for Mr Bryan after eating his Scotch Bonnet chilli, and Mr Limbert who might need to hide his somewhat patchy leg-wax job for a while… Clearly though, Mr R Williams thoroughly enjoyed his chance to take the stage for his singing duet alongside Ms Dugdale. Both of these light-hearted events have helped to finish off the term on a high and our year group feels more tightly-knit than ever. Donations are still coming in, but we have raised over £110 and counting this week for our Prom fund. This money will go towards Prom ‘Extras’ including the Photo Booth, balloon arches and venue decorations.

This week, our most important event is the Year 11 Revision Skills Evening which will be taking place on Tuesday 5th April. The evening will run from 5.00pm to 7:00pm and students are invited to attend alone or, ideally, with their parents to access a plethora of helpful information and resources ahead of their GCSEs. The key focus of the evening is to gather revision resources and strategies: there will be a number of stalls running in different subject areas; presentations from core subjects; wellbeing, self-care and time management advice; and tailored resources for students of all abilities. This is an excellent opportunity to seek advice and training for the weeks ahead and we hope to see lots of students and parents in attendance. A further breakdown of events is below:

Also on Tuesday 5th April, Year 11 will be off timetable during Period 1 with their Form tutors to have their official Year Group Photo taken. This will be taken by a professional photographer and will be available to purchase after development. This is usually taken outdoors and we will be hoping to see more good weather to facilitate this.

By the end of this week, students will receive their individual Exam timetables for their GCSE exams and will be able to map out their remaining revision time according to when they will sit these. Over the Easter holiday, we want to encourage all of our students to enjoy a period of rest where they are able to ‘switch off’ from schoolwork and spend important time rejuvenating with friends and family. We should be mindful that this has been the first unbroken school year since 2019 and all of our children are feeling very tired, particularly given the exam pressure of Year 11. Equally though, we would also expect Year 11 students to dedicate part of their Easter holidays towards revision. We advise that all students begin by finalising their Revision plan for the upcoming 5-week half term to map out when they will attend Period 6s, revise particular subjects and where ‘days off’ will fall. All research shows that last-minute ‘cramming’ is largely ineffective and, ideally, any revision or homework completed should be chunked into shorter time slots and spread across a longer period of time. Your child is currently receiving lots of support on how to revise in school, but please do get in touch if you feel they need more guidance.

Thank you for the return of Boggle Hole reply slips for next half term’s residential. If your child has received an invitation, we would strongly encourage attendance. This is a FREE trip that provides an amazing Revision and enrichment opportunity for students to stay overnight by the sea accompanied by their teachers, the Y11 pastoral team and Mr Daly. Your child will access small group intervention, 1:1 tuition and a range of revision activities as well as trips down to the beach and opportunities to relax. All costs will be covered by school, including transport, accommodation and food and drink. The trip will depart school at approximately 3.30pm pm on Friday 13th May and will return to school at approximately 5:30pm Saturday 14th May (one night). We do have some places to be filled so if you/your child is interested please enquire with the Year 11 team (or find one of us on this week’s Revision Evening) to discuss the suitability of the trip for your child. If you have any questions or enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to our final four days of half term and hope that our Year 11s will continue to model the excellent behaviour and conduct we are accustomed to. If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 11, please do get in touch with Miss Turvey (Head of Year 11), Miss Chambers (Assistant Head of Year 11) or Mrs Reeder (Year 11 Pastoral Support Worker) or contact school reception. Thank you.

Post 16 – Mrs De Lashley, Mrs Walton, Miss Balmer and Mr Charlton
Sixth Form Dress Code – As you are aware from the communication sent home this week, I am pleased to say that our Student Leaders were successful in negotiating their preferred dress code for September. Minor changes will take place including the use of sportswear. Due to the warmer weather and a focus on dress code we felt it appropriate to reinforce the standards that are highlighted at the start of each academic year, and usually are adhered to. The reminders sent home and communicated with students last week are really important and students that choose not to continue not to follow these reasonable requests will face sanctions. We thank you for your support with this, including our successful Student Leaders.

BTEC Winter Exam Results – Meetings have taken place with those in Y13 that say exams in January and most have been receptive to the benefits of resitting where applicable. We continue to remind them that we cannot stand students down that are not yet on target when there is valuable lesson time to support them in meeting target. We thank you for your support.

Y13 Final Interim Data Report – These will be distributed on Monday 4th April with a most likely grade for the Summer results. Of course, there may be some change but these are based on previous performance, where they were in the most recent mocks/Jan BTEC results and the professional judgement of their teachers. They are very exciting in the most part but indicate that some may benefit from some gentle nudging on the home study.

Y13 Attendance – We continue to be concerned about the poor attendance of some in Y13. It had certainly impacted on predictions for the summer with some missing valuable lessons and support. We thank you for your support on this.

Shoutouts

Collective Worship
This week the theme of our Form Tutor Collective Worship is entitled Be Forgiving. This is part of the Way Maker series. It will take us on a journey through Lent, reflecting on Jesus’ ministry and his example of being a “way maker” and serving others.

Quotes
Monday: “He who forgives ends the quarrel.” – Author unknown
Tuesday: “He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.” – Thomas Fuller, 17th century English church man and historian
Wednesday: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” – Martin Luther King, American civil rights activist and Baptist Minister
Thursday: “I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note – torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.” – Henry Ward Beecher, 19th century American Christian leader
Friday: “Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.” – Billy Graham, 20th century American Christian leader and world wide preacher

The Wellbeing Newsletter Issue 49