Headteacher Update

Dear parents and carers,

I hope families have had an enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend. Thank you for the ongoing support in terms of ensuring that students are in the correct school uniform, this is much appreciated. A reminder that from this week the AHS Hoodie will no longer be allowed to be worn in lessons but can continue to act in the same way as a coat in terms of coming to and from school and at break and lunchtimes. We also appreciate all the helpful comments we have received in terms of the new ClassChart system we have started to use. This feedback will help us to fine tune the system to ensure that it works as effectively as possible for all families.

Merits on ClassCharts – Week 28
Whilst we hope that there will be numerous benefits to this educational tool, one in particular that we are very excited about is how easy it is for staff to reward students and recognise their accomplishments. This is something that students really wanted to see in recent Student Voice Surveys we have conducted.

Staff have taken to the new system extremely well, and 3,026 merits have already been awarded across the school in the first week alone!

Here is an interesting breakdown of the average merits awarded to students in each year group, and the names of some exceptional performers…

Well done to Year 7 for achieving the highest average merit score last week, and a very well done to those individuals who achieved the highest number of merits in each year group!

Just a reminder – in September we will be launching the Archbishop Holgate’s School ‘Rewards Store’, where students can exchange their merits for prizes, and even make charitable donations in their name if they so wish. We will also have a new systems of letters and certificates ranging from the ‘Bronze Award’ to a ‘Special Commendation’ based on how many merits students achieve. For this first term of Merits on Classcharts, you will receive a notification when your child crosses certain merit thresholds, as well as letters home as recognition for their achievements. We very much look forward to seeing how this develops over the weeks and months – roll on Week 2!

Head of Year Awards

Head of Year Updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell, Miss Powell and Miss Cooper
We have had a lovely first week back and are so proud of the start Year 7 has made. We hope that the transition to Class Charts has been successful overall and that you are enjoying seeing all of the merits and positive comments your children are receiving. We are really encouraging all parents to ensure they have signed up for Class Charts so they can keep up with each child’s achievement, behaviour and attendance. We are running a competition, the first form with all parents signed up will get a chocolate bar each. Please let us know if we can support with log on codes or anything else.

Well done to our Students of the Week this week:
7Ann – Vidya Bhattacharya – for always living out the School Values.
7ASu – Sydney Bates – for doing an excellent job presenting the news this week!
7Bl – Joe Limbert – for always trying his best.
7Cy – Misty Haworth for having excellent attendance.
7Gr – Baker, James, Well done for showing how well you can listen and respond to your teachers, thank you.
7Hf – James Mellows for extra effort with joining in form time discussions
7Hv – Imogen Monks -Always helpful and polite during form time
7MLn – George Sellars – for standing up for others and showing compassion.
7MPe – Calum Lister – for always being a positive member of the form
7Mr – Malachy Bennett – Great start and fantastic resilience with homework
7SMf – All of SMf – for fantastic History lessons

Well done to our Head of Year Awards:
Jiwon Shin – for outstanding effort in all that you do. We are so proud of!
Lily Speak – for your outstanding cycling accolades! Well done!

Library Newsletter
April is National Pet Month. I’m sure many of you have pets, and I know that a lot of you like to read about them. We have an animal story section in the library. The colours range from Black through to Blue, so there is defiantly something for everyone. Have a look at the recommendations below, and read the excerpts to see if an animal story might be something you’d like to read.

One Dog and His Boy – One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson (Quiz 220213. Level 5.6. Colour Green). Hal has wanted a dog for as long as he can remember. His very house-proud mother claims that dogs make too much mess. Hal’s parents rent a dog, Fleck, for the weekend, but how will Hal feel when the time comes to give him back?

Albina was on her hands and knees looking for dog hairs. She could see a hair on the half landing, possibly a speck of mud on the bottom stair. Thank goodness this was the last day of having a messy animal in the house. Tomorrow, Fleck was going back to where he came from.

Imagine being able to rent a dog! I’m sure it would be very difficult to hand it back. Or maybe, you get to realize how much hard work they can be and you are happy to wave them off at the end of the weekend. I wonder what happens to Fleck? You can read the start of this book by clicking on the link below. https://www.banburystmarysschool.co.uk/uploads/9/5/4/0/95408552/page_1-7_one_dog_and_his_boy_extract.pdf

The Chocolate Dog – The Chocolate Dog by Holly Webb (Quiz 224881. Level.4.6. Colour Purple). Choc is a dog the colour of chocolate with large soulful Malteser eyes. What will happen to the family with a third child and a dog in the house?

Amy and Laura aren’t looking forward to the arrival of their new brother or sister. There doesn’t seem to be any room for them anymore. But at least they still have their gorgeous dog Choc – he always knows how to make them feel better.

You can read the first couple of pages by opening the link. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Chocolate_Dog/vr9oBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Another Good Reason to Read – You might nor realise it, but the more you read your better your vocabulary gets, as does your use of punctuation. One small grammatical error can give a simple sentence a very different meaning. Such as

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

If you are reading out loud, maybe in class, take note of the punctuation to slow you down, making sure your audience understand the correct meaning. Had you rushed the sentence above, ignoring the punctuation, what you read and what they hear could be,

A woman without her man is nothing.

Fund Raising – A massive thanks to all of you who helped out with and bought tickets for the chocolate tombola. We managed to raise just over £100 during a lunchtime in the library. The money has been given to the Unity Fund. We were delighted with the result, and with ticket prices at just 50p, we won and ate a lot of chocolate!

Please Return Your Library Books – Again, we have 500 overdue books. This number doesn’t include books that are currently on loan within their due date. Books can be returned to either library and remember, we will always be pleased to see both you and the book.

Year 8 – Mrs Avey, Mrs Mennell and Mr Handley
Well done to our Year 8s who have had a successful start to this term – the first week back has gone well. Year 8 have again had the best attendance in the main school with just over 95%. As ever we are grateful for the support in terms of encouraging good attendance. We’d like to say well done to 8Ap who won this week’s Attendance Trophy with an impressive 99.1% attendance. Uniform is still a key focus at the moment and as a year team we will be challenging those who are not in the correct uniform.

This week in out Act’s of Collective worship we look at discrimination as a Year Group and the history of the civil rights movement in America. They key message is that an individual can make a difference and that in our Year Group we will not accept discrimination in any form. Students are also reminded of the importance of not being a bystander and making sure they report things if they see bullying or discrimination. They are able to do this by speaking to their form tutor, the Year 8 pastoral team or by using the school’s ‘Report it’ form which they can access on the Student Hub.

In form time Students looked at the history of the United Kingdom in accepting migrants. This covered past instances of how we have supported others but also where we have made mistakes, such as the Windrush Scandal. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine it is important that everyone within our community are mindful of offering a welcoming and supportive environment – something we believe our Year 8 students will be excellent at.

We have had some parents/carers get in touch to ask about Classcharts. If you have any issues or need any support with using ClassCharts please do get in touch and we will be happy to help. If the code that was sent home does not work please let us know and we will ensure that you can access the profile for your child. The link below also provides some useful information on how to use the parent version of the Classcharts website/phone app. We strongly encourage you to use ClassCharts as it is a really effective way of monitoring how your child is getting on and will be used as a way of communicating by the school and Year Team.

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

In our assembly this week on Friday we celebrated many students who have achieved an Award from the PE department for their involvement in Football, Rugby and Netball. The list of students involved was very long and is a credit to the many students in Year 8 involving themselves fully into the extra-curricular side of school life – well done to those who won an award listed below:

Football:

• Sasha Crosby
• Caitlin Moffatt
• Ava Gane
• Aela Moore
• Sophie Beard
• Maya Holmes
• Scarlett Shaw

Rugby:

• Aela Moore
• Hannah Birkenshaw
• Ruby Holland
• Lily-Jo Hemmings
• Sophie Beard
• Jessie King

Netball:

• Tamara Alahendrage
• Danuli Jayawardena
• Angela Hettiarachchige
• Emma Guarino
• Kate Weatherall
• Evie Simpson
• Elisabetta Micheli
• Anna Roberts
• Hannah Birkenshaw
• Millie Robinson
• Ava Gane
• Poppy Sullivan
• Aela Moore
• Sophie Beard
• Lily Matthews
• Ruby Holland
• Cream Suntansawet
• Evie price
• Annie Wedgewood
• Poppy Keogh
• Erin Smithson

The newsletter this week will feature the Year 8 section for this half term and there will be additional useful updates and key information included in that.

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
It has been lovely to see Year 9 back in school after the Easter break, and they have done well settling back into the school routine. We hope you have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, whatever you may be doing!

I just wanted to remind parents (for the final time, as this is the last of these visits) 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. Please ensure your child are returns there ASAP to ensure your child can take part in these exciting cultural experience visits.

As I have done in this bulletin previously, I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the issue of attendance. 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.

Further to this, punctuality is also a key contributor to the success of students . It is important that students are sat in their form rooms ready to start the day before 8:45. This means that students must ensure they arrive on school site well before then – form rooms will be open from 8:30 for them to ‘drift in’ on a morning, and there are wellbeing resources available for when they arrive. This will also ensure that any important messages that are relayed to students during morning Tutor Time are given to all of the students. Furthermore, it is also vitally important that students arrive to lessons on time. Studies have shown that re-capping on old content through low-stakes testing is crucial to consolidating their learning. The first few minutes of a lesson is where most recaps take place. It is therefore vitally important that students arrive to lessons promptly and ready to learn to ensure they maximise the input that is given to them by teachers across all subjects. If students are persistently late to lessons, they will be placed in a lunch detention on ClassCharts.

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. Thank you!

Year 10 – Mr Avery, Miss Johstone and Miss Montagu
It has been good to welcome everyone back from what turned out to be a well deserved rest. We always enjoy hearing about what students have got up to during their two weeks off – a great time to relax with friends and family. Now it’s encouraging to see them well rested and keen to get stuck into lessons. Yr 10 students returned to improved outdoor eating facilities, with more outdoor benches available, and everything ready to take advantage of the better weather. They are also looking forward to the extra bank holiday!

In Assembly this week we looked at ‘Multi-culturalism’: what is it and how can the UK become more integrated? Students learnt that multi-culturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures and ethnic groups in one place. Britain has become increasingly multi-cultural ever since the 1948 Immigration Act. At that time all members of the British Commonwealth were granted British citizenship and so could come to Britain to live and work. As a result of immigration Britain has become a much more diverse nation. But have we become a truly multi-cultural society and what does that mean in practice?

People have also come to the UK as refugees. Last term we looked at the 1930s, when Britain accepted 60,000 Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany. As time went on, it became harder for Jews to leave Germany, and so the government looked to focus on transporting children. Parliament removed the requirement to have a passport, allowing over 8,000 Jewish children to come to Britain without their parents on the Kindertransport. As a result, they were saved from the horrors of the Holocaust during the 1940s.

More recently, the UK has welcomed refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and many other places. It has been heart warming to see people opening their homes to give shelter to women and children fleeing from the war in the Ukraine. Many factors have contributed to our becoming a multi-cultural society.

Work experience is fast approaching, with students out of school between the 9th and 20th May to complete this. The students have done very well to secure their placements, as I know they have faced many rejections post Covid. I hope the resilience they have shown in finding work experience adds to their experience. Currently we have 270 students placed and ready to go on their work placements. Despite the deadline being long passed, If your child is still without a work experience placement, there is still time to secure one. Please feel free to get in touch with me to discuss this further should you feel the need to do so. Due to the unique circumstances of work experience this year, we will be running a curriculum in school for those students who have not managed to secure a placement.

Important information:
A reminder that the Yr 10 parents evening on 4th of May is fast approaching. Please let us know if this is something your child has not yet made appointments for. The Yr 10 team will happily let teachers know if this is the case. We are really looking forward to seeing many of you there.

HOY awards
Our awards this week go to Melissa Montgomery and to Oliver Archibald for upholding the school values and always working hard in lessons.

Year 11 – Miss Turvey, Miss Reeder and Miss Chambers
It has been lovely to welcome our Year 11s back into school this week and they continue to impress us with their resilience and hard work.

Many students this week have been busily preparing for and completing their GCSE Speaking Exams which will continue until the 10th May. These have certainly been a source of nerves, however students are managing this impressively with some excellent performances so far. Well done and good luck to all of our French, German and Spanish students!

Students in Food Technology have also completed their controlled assessment cooks this week and the standard of the final pieces has been truly phenomenal this year – all of these students should be feeling incredibly proud of their amazing talents!

Throughout the year, the Year 11 team have continued to feel very proud (and a little smug too) of how fantastically our Year 11 students work in lessons and this trend continues. For all students, we know that continuing to regularly revisit learning to embed knowledge ahead of exams is crucial. The combination of regular revision in lessons at school, during Period 6s and at home is so important in the remaining weeks and could still make all the difference to exam outcomes. We will continue to have high expectations for the quality and amount of revision being completed and will do all we can to facilitate and support this.

For the remaining weeks, we do also continue to expect high standards of uniform, behaviour and punctuality and would like to say a big thank you to parents for their efforts in ensuring students wear their uniform and avoid any prohibited piercings and hair colouring until exams have ended. As outlined to our students this week, they are currently the focal point of our school community and very visible to our younger students which makes the standards they set as role models incredibly important. The act of following our school rules is also helpful preparation for following codes of conduct that will be in place at Sixth Form, College and in the world of work, even if these may look a little different. We very much appreciate your support with this.

Our Act of Collective worship this week focused on some ‘back to basics’ self-care advice promoting the importance of getting 8 hours of sleep each night, eating a balanced diet and looking for opportunities to stay active and exercise over the exam period. We know that our students want to be independent, however sometimes they also need our support to ensure they are getting enough sleep, eating breakfast before school and exams, getting outdoors and turning mobile phones off in the evening. As always, please let us know if you feel your child is struggling during the exam period so that we can offer support. Students are always welcome to talk through any worries twice a day with their Form tutors, as well as coming to seek pastoral or medical help before school, after school and during break and lunchtime.

The week ahead will see a final push in securing 300 merits for free Prom tickets with the cut off being this Friday and students will be notified by letter if they are required to pay for the prom by the beginning of the week commencing 9th May. A huge thank you to Mrs Reeder and the Prom Committee who will be meeting to determine some final details (including Prom Awards students wish to see) this week.

If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 11, please contact school reception who will alert the Year 11 team: Miss Turvey (Head of Year 11), Miss Chambers (Assistant Head of Year 11) Mrs Reeder (Year 11 Pastoral Support Worker) or Miss Short (SLT). Thank you.

Post 16 – Mrs De Lashley, Mrs Walton, Miss Balmer and Mr Charlton
Upcoming exams – We are entering a very busy period in the Sixth Form and we have attached a copy of the exams that commence shortly. The exams concern some Y12 and all Y13 students. There are BTEC external assessments for some Y12 students and Y13 students, GCSE resits for some Y12 and some Y13 students and A Level exams for most Y13 students. Your sons/daughters will have received personalised copies of their exams timetables with a small minority experiencing clashes that have been resolved and communicated clearly with them. Please see the attached for your reference. Students are expected to attend 20 minutes before exam start times to allow them time to ensure they are at the right location. Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Punctuality – We are pleased with how many of our Post-16 parents have downloaded and are using Class Charts since the migration over Easter. It allows prompt communication and you can track your son/daughters attendance and punctuality amongst other things. Since ‘Lates’ to school are communicated home via Class Charts it is important to highlight that if a student is not in their form room on the morning registration bell (08:45), they will be entered on the register as late which will trigger the related sanction if no good reason is given. Students cannot just be in the building, they must be in form.

REMINDER
Y12 – BTEC students will have real exams this May. Personalised timetables have been distributed.
Y12 – A Level mock exams are wc 4th July for one week prior to Work Experience in the final week of the summer term.
Y12 – Competitive Admissions support will become more focused as we return this term with tuition being offered from June for those sitting admissions tests. More information to follow.
Y12 – Progression Planning information for all will follow after the May half-term break including a UCAS evening for parents.
Y13 – stand down reminders are below. BTEC and A Level exams commence in May. Personalised timetables have been distributed.

REMINDER: Y13 Leavers

• Y13 Leavers Celebration Thursday 19th May (Main Hall 7pm)
• A Level stand down Friday 20th May
• Prom Friday 24th June (Hilton, York)

REMINDER: Sixth Form Dress Code
We continue to appreciate your support with maintaining dress code standards across the Sixth Form. Below is a reminder of what is expected and those that will be challenged and asked to address their apparel immediately.

• Cover midriff
• Cover tops of thighs including if wearing leggings
• Cover cleavage
• Remove hats indoors
• Remove coats/jackets in classrooms

Y13 Attendance Challenge Recognition – The below students were exemplary in their attendance last half-term and have been rewarded. We hope they continue their efforts and that others follow their example. Well-done to them!

Collective Worship
This week our Form Tutor Collective Worship is entitled Dealing with Injustice. It reflects back to the events of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, and how this might speak into injustice in our own lives and the world around us.

Quotes

Monday – “In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.” Albert Einstein, German-born physicist

Tuesday – “Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in.” Martin Luther King Jnr; Christian leader and civil rights campaigner

Wednesday – “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Albert Einstein, German-born physicist

Thursday – “Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jnr; Christian leader and civil rights campaigner

Friday – “Believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Believe that you might be that light for someone else.” Kobi Yamada, US author

The Wellbeing Newsletter Issue 51

Summer Post-16 Timetable 2022