Headteacher’s Bulletin – Monday 6th June

Dear parents and carers,

I hope families have had a safe and enjoyable half term break. We are very much looking forward to welcoming all students back on Monday for the final seven week half term of this academic year. I would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support, this important partnership working remains incredibly helpful in ensuring that as a school community we can continue to provide the best possible care for all our students. Families are aware that as a school we work hard to prioritise additional capacity within our extended pastoral team and I am delighted to say that prior to half term we were able to appoint a second School Counsellor who will work alongside existing colleagues on a part time basis.

As we return from half term many students will continue to have important external examinations. Please do not hesitate to contact the Y11 or Post 16 team if you require any additional support. We hope that the timetabled programme of specific revision lessons will continue to prove beneficial in the weeks to come. To date we could not be more proud of the effort, conduct and determination of students.

Pre-loved uniform shop
We are really pleased to share that we now have an online shop for good condition second hand uniform which we hope will prove helpful for families. I would like to thank Mrs Robinson, Mrs Willsden and the team who make up the Unity Fund for their efforts in getting this endeavour up and running. Details of our ‘UNIFORMD’ store can be accessed via the link below:

https://app.uniformd.co.uk/items/172

All purchases through the shop will be available to collect from reception within a few days. Whilst we encourage all families to make use of this service, please note in the interest of fairness items will be limited to one per child in the first instance.

Unity Fund
Over the last few weeks we have been busy creating our new Unity Fund Hub where we keep the uniform for the new online shop along with a small food and toiletries bank. If we can help support you and your family please email either gstainsby@ahs.pmat.academy or krobinson@ahs.pmat.academy for more information.

Building work over half term
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the ongoing contributions to the school that Mr Stone and his team make in continually updating and maintaining the school environment. They work tirelessly to ensure that the school facilities are always there every best. Work over this half term has included:

• Installing a canopy over the Corner Cafe entrance
• Moving the bike racks from the side of the English block to the side of the front field in preparation for the installation of a new Geography block over the summer break
• Additional shelving to support new ‘Unity Hub Store’.
• Improvements to the schools allotment
• On going decoration of classrooms throughout school

This is on top of the usual deep clean that Mrs Smith and her team complete every holiday of the whole school. I look forward to sharing all our plans for summer improvements to the site in the weeks to come.

Head of Year Updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell, Miss Powell and Miss Cooper
I hope you have had a restful break and enjoyed our final half term break. As we approach our final half term, we are so proud of the students and all of the positives we receive regarding this outstanding year group. An example of this was on the last Friday when three of our forms attended chapel and we received this message:

“I just wanted to send an email to say how impressed I was with the Year 7 forms in chapel this morning. Some of them were waiting a while, and waited in silence. They were focused and listening. Even when the form tutors had to leave, they still sat excellently listening. I told them I would email you to let you know I was impressed with them. They were a real credit”

Our focus as a year group at the moment is encouraging kindness and using kind words to one another. We focused in our assembly this week on protected characteristics with a focus on racism. It is really clear to students how they should speak to one another. We want to ensure everyone in our school community is treated with kindness.

Well done to our Students of the Week

7ANn – Lucas Allitt – For always being so polite and a wonderful member of the form.
7ASu – Riley Brooksbank – for always beating me at Noughts and Crosses!
7Bl – Jules Clarke – A delightful member of the form Always polite and considerate.
7Cy – Daffa Muhammad – For being the top merit scorer for the form so far
7Gr – Lilly Draper – Thank you Lilly for helping out other students and showing compassion!
7Hf – Hugo Mander – for being organised with planner signing and for excellent contributions to discussions.
7Hv – Gracjan Malecki- Always considerate and very helpful during form time
7MLn – Sewnaz Timur – For volunteering to read the prayer so often and for getting the most merits this half-term.
7MPe – Sonny Love – For being a fantastic member of 7MPe and living the school values through his actions
7Mr – Sid Smith for his incredible punctuality and politeness
7SMf – Allen Alex – Excellent extra-curricular commitment, brilliant effort in lessons and a very welcoming personality in form time. Well done.

Well done to our Head of Year Awards:
Tiffany Hardcastle 7BL – For much improved attendance! Well done, we are so proud of you!
Oscar Dawson 7MLn – Outstanding bravery performing his history song in class but also in front of an external visit. You represented us well, well done

Year 8 – Mrs Avey, Mrs Mennell and Mr Handley
The Year 8 team hope that our Year 8 students and their families have had an enjoyable half term break. With one more half term to go we are getting closer now to the end of the school year and to the exciting final week of term that will offer excellent enrichment opportunities to all students in Year 8.

Attendance has once again been good for Year 8 again in the last week and for the half term with an average of just below 95%. Year 8 have the best average attendance for the whole main school for the academic year so far. Thank you for all the support in ensuring that your children’s attendance is high – it does make a difference. You can use Classcharts to track attendance day by day as well as other positives/negatives. We’d also like to remind parents again that if you need any help getting logged on and using their ClassCharts account please do get in touch and we will be happy to help.

Assessment week and homework – although homework may have been set by subject teachers in the final week of last half term in preparation for assessment week, students will not be sanctioned if they have not completed it. This message was given to form tutors, teachers and students of Year 8 before the holiday. KS3 students are not normally set homework over holidays except the optional reading (DEAR) homework. Please get in touch if you have any questions about this.

In the final week of half term our Act of Collective Worship was delivered by 8Lp. Their theme was something they love as a form – football. They focused on several examples of acts of kindness of footballers and within the football community. This included many humbling stories of where football and footballers have helped their own communities or done something to give back. As a year team we really appreciated the strong links to our school values. The Act of Collective Worship was excellent and 8Lp should be really proud – each member of the form contributed in some way.

The next half term includes some important events for the whole year group and for the whole school. We wanted to update parents/carers on some of the key dates. More information (if needed) will be provided shortly for the following.

• Assessment Week (Monday-Friday 6-10th June) – all of year 8 students will be completing their end of year assessments across this week.
• The Trading Game (Thursday 14th July) – this is a day off timetable for all of Year 8 to take part in the trading game. The trading game is an exciting opportunity for the students of Year 8 to experience a fast paced, interactive game themed on the stock market and is part of the school’s careers enrichment.
• Sports Day (15th July) – This involves all students in school. It is a fantastic day in the school calendar and we look forward to seeing Year 8 students getting involved and trying their best.
• Trips to France/Germany/Spain (Monday-Friday 18-22nd July) – For the students going, these trips will offer an enriching cultural experience and a great opportunity to practice the language they have been learning in school. Students should have all the information they need for these trips but please do get in touch if you need anything additional. There are information evenings for two of these trips on the following dates at 5pm – Barcelona on 21st June and Paris on the 23rd June.

Year 9 – Mr Arthur, Mr Deamer and Mrs Deacon
And just like that, we are set to embark upon the final half term of the academic year. This has been an incredibly successful time for Year 9, and we hope the final seven weeks are as successful as the previous thirty-two!

It is important that standards in Year 9 remain as high throughout the final half term as they were in the first. I therefore want to take this opportunity to highlight the issue of uniform. It is vitally important that, as members of the AHS community, students are wearing the correct uniform each and every day they attend school. With this in mind, I have itemised some key points regarding uniform below…

• Students must be wearing an AHS tie when they come to school and throughout the day. Whilst we do have spare ties that we can lend to students if they lose their tie or the clasp breaks, an increasing number of students are borrowing ties and then not returning them. Please can you ensure your child comes to school with a tie, and returns their borrowed tie to Mrs Christian in the Inclusion Centre. Unfortunately, with the volume of ties that we are giving out that are not being returned, we will need to charge for ties that are not returned.
• Students should be wearing an AHS jumper to school each day. As we progress into the summer term and temperatures increase, we understand that students may not wish to wear their jumper throughout the entire school day. However, students must ensure they bring their jumper to school with them each day. This is particularly for if we have Act of Collective Worship or Chapel where students need to be wearing their jumpers. Further to this, students should not be wearing any other jumper or hoodie other than the AHS school jumper, and this includes the AHS hoodie which students are no longer permitted to wear in lessons. If a student is wearing a non-school jumper or hoodie around the building, they will be asked to remove it.
• In terms of jewellery, students are permitted to wear one plain stud earring in each ear, and a small plain studded nose piercing. If a member of staff sees a student wearing other earrings, nose studs or bracelets/rings, students will be asked to place these items in an envelope and then they will be taken to reception for students to collect at the end of the school day.
• Students must be wearing correct school shoes each day. If a student is not wearing correct school shoes, we have a stock of shoes in reception and they will be asked to change their shoes so they are complying with the school’s uniform policy. If a student needs to wear trainers for medical reasons, please send your child into school with a note explaining the situation. Alternatively, please email the Year 9 Pastoral Team – the email address’ have been added to the bottom of this letter.
• Students must be wearing correct school trousers. Like with school shoes, we have an extensive store of trousers and skirts in school for students to borrow if there are any issues. If a student is wearing incorrect school trousers (e.g. leggings) they will be asked to go to Intervention where they will be given some school trousers to wear.

Many thanks for your support – it is very much appreciated. As you will appreciate, we want to maintain the highest of standards when it comes to uniform and we hope this bulletin provides some clarity on how we wish to achieve this.

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
I hope the students and families of Y10 have had a well earned rest over half term. The period between Easter and breaking up may have only been 5 weeks, but there has been so much packed into it I don’t blame any of our students for needing a rest!

This week we welcomed back the year 10 students from work experience. From speaking with themI 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 needs to 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 students are 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.

I also want to commend our Year 10 students who took part in the recent Duke of Edinburgh expedition working toward their Bronze award qualification. Mr Goldsmith was quick to praise all who took part, showing a determined spirit and resilience toward aches, pains and getting lost along the way! I Know many came back to school proud of their own achievements, and it’s another important step on their own journey.

I hope all our parents received the letters home regarding the upcoming mock exams on the 27th June and the exam timetable for the week. 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.

As always should you have any questions please feel free to contact a member of the Year 10 team.

Year 11 – Miss Turvey, Miss Reeder and Miss Chambers
We are very much looking forward to welcoming back Year 11 for their remaining weeks at school and hope everyone has managed to enjoy a well-earned break. We are so incredibly proud of our students after their outstanding conduct during the first part of the exam period. A huge well done and a big thank you to all of our students for acting as responsible role models and for all of their hard work. It has been pleasing to see students leaving their exams feeling resolved and confident and we are looking forward to a smooth three weeks ahead.

On Friday before half term, we were fortunate to spend Period 5 off-timetable in the sun as a “half-way there” celebration. This was organised as a pleasant surprise for students and we all felt fortunate to enjoy a blissful period outside playing games, eating ice-cream and socialising in the sun. It was a great reminder of how fantastic our Year 11 cohort is and we will truly miss them when it is time for them to leave. Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Year 11!

This week, we will continue to expect students to be in school at the usual times. In the next five days there are several high-profile exams and revision sessions taking place in school and we strongly advise that the best place for students to be is in their teacher-led sessions following the bespoke timetable tailored to their exams. As a school, we cannot give authorisation for students to go home after exams. This is in line with government guidance from the DofE and supported by an increasing body of research suggesting 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 (DofE School Attendance guidelines, 2022; One Education, 2017). 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 request that, if your child has a valid reason to leave after their exam (e.g. a medical appointment), this is communicated via a signed note in your child’s planner or a phone call into school before 9am in the morning. We very much appreciate your support with this.

We will continue to offer breakfast for Year 11 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 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. A huge thank you to our regular breakfast attendees for their ongoing camaraderie, politeness and positivity each morning.

By Wednesday 15th June, students will have completed the majority of their full-cohort exams and it is at this point that we will recommend students stay at home for private revision for their remaining exams (with the exception of a small number of teacher-led revision sessions left to take place in school). Students who choose to stay in school for private study will be able to access quiet spaces to do so. For the vast majority of students, their final exam will take place on Thursday 23rd June.

On Thursday 23rd June, there will be an ice-cream van and celebrations on the front field during Period 3 after the exam ends where students will be invited to sign shirts and say goodbye to their Form tutors and teachers. The Prom will take place on the same day at the York Racecourse, with students invited to arrive from 6:30pm for a 7pm start. The evening will end around 10:30pm.

The deadline for handing in medical forms and photograph permission for the Prom has now passed; if your child wishes to attend prom but hasn’t handed in their slips, they should hand these to their Form tutor and Year 11 team as a matter of urgency so we can inform the venue. Thank you for your support with this.

Please find this week’s timetable overview below. Please note: there are several important exams and bespoke revision sessions taking place this week, including full cohort, teacher-led English, Maths and Science revision:

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
Welcome back! – A busy half-term ahead with the remainder of the summer exam series and the lead up to Year 12 mock exams wc 4th July. We will revise in class with Year 12 for the two weeks prior to the mocks to support their ongoing independent revision. Results will be issued in August alongside invites to 1-2-1 meetings with parents and students prior to the start of the Autumn term – letters detailing this will be issued shortly. Year 12 parents should have received a letter introducing them to the next steps in progression for Year 12 and an invite to our Parent Introduction to UCAS Evening being held Tuesday 12th July. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Exams this week – A Level exams

Exams this week – BTEC exams

Sixth Form Rewards

Collective Worship
This week our Form Tutor Collective Worship is inspired by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and what lessons we can learn from her life. Our daily quotes are her thoughts on God and faith.

Quotes
Monday – “I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad… I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right… to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God!” – The Queen
Tuesday – “God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.” – The Queen
Wednesday – “For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example.” – The Queen
Thursday – “The life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role-model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing.” – The Queen
Friday – “Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none… God’s love is for everyone. There is no one beyond its reach.” – The Queen

The Wellbeing Newsletter Issue 54