Headteacher Update

Dear parents and carers,

This half term has flown by with only one week remaining of what has been a very busy five weeks.

It was a real pleasure to welcome the Archbishop of York to our Year 13 Leavers Service on Thursday evening and to share in the celebrations of what students have achieved during their time at Archbishop’s. We wish Year 13 the very best of luck as they begin their A Level examinations on Monday and I feel certain that their hard work and determination will help them succeed in the weeks ahead.

As we reflect on the first week of GCSE examinations I would like to congratulate Year 11 on the mature way that they have approached these examinations both in terms of their preparation and conduct and the way in which they continue to make the most of the bespoke revision timetable that is in place each day. We look forward to more of the same this week.

We are also looking forward to welcoming Year 10 back to school on Monday after their two weeks of Work Experience, I know that Mr Avery and his team have been very pleased to hear lots of positive feedback about how students have conducted themselves during this time. A reminder that we expect Year 10 to return in full school uniform on Monday.

We hope that those students (and staff) involved in the Duke of Edinburgh expedition this weekend had a good time, I know a great deal of hard work has gone into preparing for this endeavour.

Weekly Update – ClassCharts Merits for Week 31
Another excellent (and record!) week for merits on ClassCharts – this seems to be working very well and we have had ‘buy-in’ from staff and students across the school which is brilliant. Merits have taken on a much greater value since we started issuing them on ClassCharts, and we very much hope that this will go to another level when all the rewards initiatives begin in September, including the AHS Rewards Store!

Here is the data from this week (Week 31)…

*This Year 9 total was helped by bonus merits added for a positive Interim Report!

Congratulations to all the students on this list of top performers this week. We may yet have another record week next week when we welcome Year 10 back from Work Experience!

Head of Year Awards

Head of Year Updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell, Miss Powell and Miss Cooper
We are now approaching our final week of our penultimate half term, and it is incredible to think about the progress which has been made since we joined back after Easter.

We are having a big focus upon kindness at the moment and looking at how everyone in our school community should be treated. An element of this was our assembly this week based on Women’s Rights, a series which will develop over each year. We talked about Women’s Rights before 1800 and lots of our students were really surprised. Year 7 were really grateful for the development of Women’s rights.

7ANn – Layla Calvert – For being a supportive and reliable friend to others.
7ASu – Asir Alwafi – For consistently showing kindness to all around him.
7Bl – Tiffany Hardcastle – Improved attendance this half term
7Cy – Edith Hardy – For being more organised in form time at the start of the day
7Gr – Darcey Brown – Well done on working hard over this last term Darcey, you have been a great example to others.
7Hf – Joe Molloy – Always smiling, polite and friendly to all.
7Hv – Reuben O’Donovan – Great work in Textiles
7MLn – Isabella Baumann – Great contributions in form time, well done for following the news so well!
7MPe – Isabelle Wayman – For always contributing to class discussions not matter the topic.
7Mr – Ryan Walker for his great start in 7MR
7SMf – Simeon Dean – For being so welcoming to our guests, particularly Mr Inskip. You really embodied our school values!

Well done to our Head of Year Awards:
Oscar Duncan – Well done and thank you for taking your role supporting our guests in school so seriously.
Amie Shaw – Well done for consistently living the school alue of justice with integrity.

Library Newsletter:
Well, we are about to live through a historic event. The queen has reigned for 75 years. So, us, our parents and most of our grandparents will not remember a time when Queen Elizabeth wasn’t on the throne. I don’t think you have to be a royalist to get caught up in an historic event. I was in London when Charles and Diana got married. It was a scorching hot day and I jumped in the fountain in Trafalgar Square to cool down. Bad move, as I caught the coach back to York not long after, and sat like a wet dog all the way home.

We have been getting into the swing of things in the library, as this week we have been making bunting, crowns, bookmarks and having a go at crosswords and colouring pages. All with a jubilee theme.

We have lots of books about royals, in many different genres, from Historical Fiction and Young Adult Read through to Fantasy.

Recommendations
The Beast of Buckingham Palace – The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams (Quiz 237462. Level 4.3. Colour Purple) is one of many books you are currently enjoying. He is one of our most popular authors, and we can supply several titles as part of our ongoing Book Club. London is in ruins, the people are hungry, and darkness has fallen across the land. Prince Alfred, a poorly and bookish child, has never left the safety of Buckingham Palace. But now there are strange goings on inside the palace walls – and Alfred’s life is about to change forever.

In the dead of night something terrible stalks the corridors. When Alfred’s beloved mother the queen is dragged off to the Tower of London, the boy must summon all his courage to embark on an epic quest to save her… and the entire world. You can read about the characters and read up to chapter three by opening the following link and clicking on ‘open preview’. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/48735076-the-beast-of-buckingham-palace

The Red Queen – The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (Quiz 230560. Level 5.2. Colour Green) is the first book in a series of four. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite who have god-like superpowers. Mere, is a Red girl living in poverty who assumes that her life will never change. But Mare possesses a deadly talent of her own, one that could destroy the balance of power. The Silvers hide Mare in plain view, claiming she is a long-lost Silver princess. However, one false move could lead to her death.You can read the first five chapters by opening the following link. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Red_Queen/EPO9BQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Handwriting
It’s the time of year when you will be completing end of year assessments, and writing a lot more than usual. Do you think we should be handwriting in this digital age? Most phones now have an option to dictate a message/note/email, so some people don’t even type messages and emails any more. I think writing has its place. I know that I can remember things if I write them down, really enjoy sending and receiving handwritten notes, and leave myself post-it notes.

If you would like to improve your handwriting, we have some sheets in the library that can help you. You could also try writing out the sentence ‘The quick sly fox jumps over the lazy brown dog’. This sentence contains every letter of the alphabet and was used by secretaries to help them type faster. You can listen to a podcast titled ‘Does Hand Writing Have a Future?’ by opening the following link. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/does-handwriting-have-a-future/7574590

Year 8 – Mrs Avey, Mrs Mennell and Mr Handley
Although it has been a short half term we are really pleased with how Year 8 have been conducting themselves. We have seen lots of examples of students living the school values into being and are proud of them. With only one week to go before the half term break we’d like to wish families of our Year 8 students a peaceful and relaxing break when it comes.

Attendance has once again been really strong for Year 8 this week – well done. The year group has averaged just above 95% which is an improvement on the last couple of weeks. As we said last week, we’d love to see another form manage to get up to 100% for the whole week and earn a Pizza Party.

This coming week is the Year 8 revision week in preparation for the assessment week in the first week back after half term. All students should have received a revision booklet that includes for all their subjects, the topics that will be covered in their assessment as well as revision-based homework and strategies to help them revise. This will be a really helpful resource that students can use. We understand that the assessment week will be stressful for some but teachers will do all they can to support students in the buildup and during the week itself. If you have any questions please get in touch.

This week our Act of Collective Worship was about friendship and the role that students have in supporting their friends and vice versa. Students were asked to think about what it looks like to be a good friend and what they value in their friendships. Following on from this 8KCe have set themselves the challenge doing a random act of kindness for another person. The aim is to spread joy through little gestures. Some of the acts of kindness include paying someone a compliment, holding a door open or even just smiling at someone. Hopefully this will prove what a big difference small acts can make to another person.

We’d also like to give a special mention to Jonathon Middleton in 8KCe. Jonathon decided to forgo getting birthday gifts recently for his birthday instead opting to raise money for York’s Environmental Centre and Nature Reserve. This is a really selfless act that shows compassion and we wanted to recognise this in our Bulletin. Jonathon managed to raise over £300, a brilliant achievement and an ultimate act of kindness.

We’d also like to remind parents again about getting logged on and using their ClassCharts account. If you have any issues or need any support with using ClassCharts please do get in touch and we will be happy to help.

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), Mrs Mennell (Year 8 Pastoral Support Worker) or Miss Clarke (Year 8 Pastoral Support Worker on Friday).

Year 9 – Mr Arthur, Mr Deamer and Mrs Deacon
I cannot believe we are beginning the last week of the first summer half term, it really has flown by and I have been really proud of year 9s efforts, a lot of our young people are excellent exemplary students. I hope the lovely weather continues for their well deserved week off!

ClassCharts has had a really positive impact on the year group and it is great to hear the students debating how many merits they’ve got and when they tell me about the positive praise they receive at home due to the app. Please get in touch if you haven’t downloaded it already and if you are having any issues logging in and we can help resolve them. Form tutors are chatting with students to just check their access at home as well as for themselves. I’ve heard reports from a number of households that it’s encouraging positive conversations at home which is fantastic and some have even put their own rewards in place! Well done to 9RPr who got the most merits in one week in the whole school as well as year 9 with staggering 1518 merits between them! I know the other forms are on their heels though with the merits they are achieving also!

In Collective Worship this week Mr Williams will be talking to our young people about their end of year Assessments, more information will follow after half term but I wanted to make home aware they are coming up and it is a great opportunity for our students to show off what they have learnt this year as well as prepare for their GCSE work in Year 10, any queries please get in touch.

Furthermore after half term we will be talking to our students about enrichment week, the last week of the year, and I am excited for the opportunities available this year, more details to follow (which I’m finding hard to keep to myself!) with the amazing activities staff have planned.

Just a reminder on uniform as the weather is getting warmer and Year 9’s uniform has been excellent, and I really want to see this continue as we progress throughout the rest of the year, if you need any support in acquiring a uniform please let the pastoral team know and we are more than happy to help. School jumpers need to be worn in Collective Worship and Chapel, therefore students need to be bringing them with them everyday even if the weather is warm so they have them ready to go for our time together as a year group. Any queries please let me know.

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 Mr Arthur aarthur@ahs.pmat.academy (Head of Year), myself; mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy (Assistant Head of Year) and/or Mr Deamer rdeamer@ahs.pmat.academy (Pastoral Support Worker) and/or Miss Clark sclark@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 – Miss Deacon.

Year 10 – Mr Avery, Mrs Johstone and Miss Montagu
This week we welcomed back the year 10 students from work experience. From speaking with them I am delighted that they took so much from their time in the world of work. Many have grown in confidence and self-esteem, and developed new skills they can use in the future. I am very proud of the resilience they have shown toward their new environments, with many students finding the early starts and long hours very tiresome – a nice reminder that school is not always that bad! During the two week period of work experience, my colleagues and I enjoyed visiting the students in their place of work, and speaking with employers on the phone about how well the students were doing. I believe following the difficult two years we have had; the year group should be very proud of taking themselves out of their comfort zone and putting themselves into an environment of which they have no experience. As Martin Luther King once said “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just climb the first step”.

Over the two weeks I have received nothing but positive praise from employers, who stated how well the students represented themselves and the school impeccably. It would take me too long to single out all the students I received praise for, but I know many have secured part time jobs either now or in the future, and some being accepted back in the summer to complete internships that will look fantastic on student records. Even the very few students that did not enjoy their placements left with more clarity about the future, key work-related skills and a new appreciation for alternative opportunities that lay before them. I know how difficult many of our students found securing two weeks work experience and I hope the vast majority feel the effort was worth it in the end. On that note I would like to mention the students that joined us in school over the two weeks. For some, securing a full two weeks work experience was not an option, so they were in school following a collapsed timetable and being taught engaging one off lessons from a variety of teachers. They were hard working, cheery and a pleasure to have in school. This was not easy while some of their peers were out at work, so I am just as proud of their achievements.

The recent parents evening we had was a really positive experience, and I hope parents found it both informative and useful. With Year 11 very close to completing their exams, I want to stress to year 10 that they now have become the main focus of the school with their exams only twelve months away. With this in mind over the next few weeks I will begin to address they very important mock exams that are approaching at the end of June. These mock exams will last one week, with students completing at least one full paper (in each of their subjects) in exam conditions in the sports hall. This time is invaluable in getting students ready for the formal examinations they will be sitting in Year 11, and gently introduces them to what a week of exams feels like. The students will complete revision in lessons prior to the mock exams taking place, and will be given excellent revision resources to complete at home in order to give them the best opportunity for success. I will stress to all the students in the build up to mocks that there is no pressure on them, and all we require is for them to do their best. I will make it clear to them that the mocks allow us to assess where they currently are in terms of their progress, and put any necessary support in place in Year 11. The mock period will begin on Monday 27th June to Friday 1st July, and more detailed information will be sent to parents in the coming weeks, including any specific access arrangements your child is entitled to. Should you have

As we welcome back students from Work experience, I wanted to remind parents and carers of the expectations around uniform. Our goal is simply that students should feel confident, look smart and be safe. With this in mind, we will continue to focus on the following areas:

• Trousers/Skirts: Jeans and Leggings will be a particular focus.
• Jewellery: two plain studs in each ear and a single plain nose stud are allowed, but nothing more.
• Makeup: any obvious signs of make up will be removed.
• Trainers: these will be swapped at reception for school shoes.
• Hoodies: no hoodies should be worn around school in the summer term, including AHS hoodies.
• Ties: these will be issued to students if necessary, but any that are not returned will be charged.

The improvement in uniform standards has been excellent, with the vast majority of our students being compliant toward this. Your support has been greatly appreciated and we thank you in advance for your continued support. Your help in this area is making our job very much easier!

I am delighted to see an uptake in attendance this half term, with many of our students attending school on a more regular basis. Prior to work experience, we are tracking attendance at an average of 93%, a significant increase from the winter and spring term. However, we still have some work to do if we are to reach the all important 95% mark I set as a minimum for our students. Studies have shown that attendance below this can significantly impact on student progress. With Year 11 just around the corner, I want to get all our students into good habits with attendance before the hard work starts next year.

Thank you for all the hard work you are doing at home to continue to support your child, this is having a very significant impact toward their success at school. The Year 10 pastoral team are always available to help with any questions or queries you may have.

Year 11 – Miss Turvey, Miss Reeder and Miss Chambers
Our first week of GCSE exams is now complete and we would like to say an enormous well done to our Year 11s for overcoming this hurdle. The conduct of Year 11 has been exemplary and we couldn’t be more impressed with the way in which students have approached their exams and revision sessions. It has been gratifying to see so many individuals coming out of exams feeling proud and confident of their performance after working so hard. Hopefully, everyone has been able to enjoy a well-deserved rest this weekend. Well done Year 11!

This week, students will continue to be in school at the usual times to follow their bespoke timetable of exams and revision sessions. Students should remain vigilant to ensure they are in school on time every day, punctual to all of their exams and keeping mobile phones switched off in their bags.

We understand that, following exams, students will be feeling tired and some may be tempted by the prospect of going home. As a school, we cannot authorise this and will continue to recommend that students remain in school. Given our outstanding exam results (best in the city and in the top 4% nationally in the last exam season) we feel confident the revision package we offer in school is the best option for your child. This approach is in line with Government guidance which states that ‘study leave should not be granted by default’ given that ‘some pupils do not have the skills, or are not inclined, to make the best use of unsupervised and unstructured revision time’ (DofE School Attendance guidelines, 2022). Increasingly, there are statistics to suggest that year 11s who are given prolonged periods of study leave do not perform as well as those who are kept under the more formal tutorage of a school environment (One Education, 2017). This is something that has been strongly advocated by the Government since 2004, when it was published that ‘study leave may be a very positive experience for some students but it can be lost time for others. Successful preparation for examinations needs to be a deliberate and carefully planned experience for students’. A case study was cited in support of this whereby Year 11s were 21% more likely to achieve 5+ A*-C grades when they did not go on study leave (Beyond Study Leave, DofE/SSAT, 2004). If you would like to hold a further discussion about this or the revision sessions in school, the Year 11 team would be happy to speak to you.

We will continue to offer breakfast in the Courtyard Café each morning where there will be a selection of breakfast pastries, fresh fruit, cereal bars, hot chocolate and fruit juices. Students may also look forward to a Friday bacon sandwich at the end of the week. The atmosphere in the café each morning has been really uplifting and once again has left us feeling very privileged to have such lovely and well-mannered individuals in our year group. The Year 11 team will continue to be on hand at the start of each day from 8:15am and at the start and end of exams to offer support.

Please find this week’s timetable overview below. Outside of exam time, Tuesday and Wednesday will be particularly important given the RE and English bespoke revision sessions taking place:

Thank you for your continued support. 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
Y13 Farewell – Last week was a lovely occasion to mark the journey and effort that Year 13 have put in over the last two years. The celebration evening was packed with happy faces and an engaging, moving, and thought-provoking sermon from the Archbishop of York. A true honour. We look forward to seeing them over the coming weeks taking exams and completing coursework.

Exams commence on Monday and students are required to be in black Square 20mins before the start time to ensure that they have time to check the seating plans in Black Square and get to their exam location in good time to prevent delayed starts.

Exams this week – A Level

Exams this week – BTEC exams

Sixth Form Rewards

Collective Worship
This week our Form Tutor Collective Worship is about the idea that how we treat creation reflects how we feel about the creator. Our daily quotes look at the theme of Creativity.

Quotes
Monday “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein, Nobel prize winning scientist
Tuesday “Creativity is hardwired into our DNA by God himself. All of us were made to be creative people.” – Stephen Altrogge, Christian writer and blogger
Wednesday “Creativity is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.” – Bob Moawad, American author and motivational speaker
Thursday “Creativity is not simply a property of exceptional people but an exceptional property of all people.” – Ron Carter, Professor of Modern English Language at the University of Nottingham
Friday “The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship.” – The Bible – Psalm 19:1

The Wellbeing Newsletter Issue 54