Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

I trust that you and your family have had a safe and enjoyable half term break. We have a busy half term ahead in the lead up to the Christmas break, which culminates with the wonderful Minster carol service on Wednesday 7 December. Over the next three weeks, our Year 7 students will embark on their residential trip at Bewerley Park, whilst towards the end of this half term, the students in Year 9 will start to find out more about the GCSE pathway process. Meanwhile, our Year 11 and Year 13 students will be working hard as part of their mock examinations that take place this half term.

In terms of this week, our first group of Year 7 students will be getting involved in team building activities at Bewerley Park during Wednesday to Friday. We look forward to updating you on this shortly. We are hosting the ski trip information evening on Tuesday, where families who are booked onto this trip can find out further information about this event alongside having the opportunity to ask questions. We wish our Year 12 students the very best of luck for the school captain interviews which take place on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Year 13 students will be busy preparing for their mock examinations that take place next week. Finally, as a reminder to families in Year 11, we are hosting our Sixth Form Open Evening on Tuesday 8 October at 6pm. We look forward to welcoming families of Year 11 students as they find out more about our Post-16 options.

In the remainder of the bulletin this week you will find information from: the wellbeing team, each Year team and the Chaplaincy team alongside other key messages to be aware of.

Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing is an important part of life at Archbishop Holgate’s School, in order to read the wellbeing newsletter for this week – please click here.

Head of Year Awards

Year team messages to parents and carers

Each week, the pastoral year teams will communicate any key messages, successes and upcoming dates to be aware of in this section of the parent bulletin.

A message from the Sixth Form pastoral team

Year 11 Sixth Form Open Evening
Sixth Form Open Evening is Tuesday 8th November 6-8pm. You will be welcomed by the Sixth Form subjects and their teachers where you can receive all the information you need to support an informed decision about post-16 options. Prospectuses will be distributed and there are three talks throughout the evening with the Director of Sixth Form and Head of school. We will be introducing our new T Level that commences in September 2023 in Hair and Beauty!

Year 11 IAG Meetings
Each Year 11 student will be having a one-to-one meeting with a member of the Sixth Form/Senior leadership team across a three-week period starting 7th November in the run-up to their mock exams. This is an opportunity for Year 11 to discuss their aspirations and for us to ascertain best routes for these students. Appointments will be distributed in the coming week.

Year 12 Student Captains
Out of our 51 new Student Leaders we have 14 of them that wish to be School Captain. Both staff and students have voted on their eligibility, and they have all fared well. We are interviewing all applicants on Weds 2nd Nov. Very exciting!

Y12 and Y13 Exams:
We have further admissions tests and the start of GCSE resit exams this week. All students with exams have timetables.

• Admission exams: Wednesday 2nd November
• GCSE resit exams: Monday 31st October, Tuesday 1st November, Wednesday 2nd November, Thursday 3rd November & Monday 7th November

Year 13 Mock Weeks (inc. Y12 BTEC)
Year 13 will have A Level mock exams wc 7th November and BTEC exams wc 14th November. For the final week prior to mocks student will have guided revision in class and as homework. Results will be shared wc 12th December and Parents Evening will take place that week (Wednesday 14th December). Please note that the BTEC mocks include some Year 12 classes. These students are aware.

Sixth Form Dress
As the cold weather sets in, it is worth reminding both students and parents that coats/jackets/hats are not permitted to be worn inside classrooms. Students should consider what they are wearing underneath their outerwear to ensure they remain comfortable when it is removed in class. We appreciate your support.

REMINDER: Year 12 Form Tutor Evening
We will be hosting an evening on Weds 16th November for families of Year 12 to meet their son/daughter’s form tutor by appointment. Interim data will be shared alongside behaviour and attendance. We hope this will be an informative evening in advance of the January A Level mock exams and formal external BTEC assessments. Letters have been sent home with details and appointments will be made this week.

REMINDER: Upcoming Key Dates

• Post-16 Open Evening Tues 8th November
• Y13 A Level Mock Week 7th Nov
• Y12 & 13 BTEC Mock Week 14th Nov
• Y12 Form Tutor Evening Weds 16th November

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team
I hope all the students in Year 11 had a relaxing week off and are raring to go for the first week back. I was really impressed with the students in the first half term, and many have given themselves an excellent platform to build on as we head toward Christmas.

To start I am delighted to announce the details for Archbishop Holgate’s School Year 11 Leavers celebrations 2023. The rewards aim to provide the students of Year 11 with an opportunity to celebrate eleven years of education, hard work and the end to their GCSEs, before starting the next chapter in their lives.

This academic year, the rewards package will include:

• Year 11 prom – this will be held at York Racecourse, Friday 30th June
• Class of ‘23’ leaver’s hoodies
• Class of ‘23’ leaver’s books

A letter from Miss Stocks will be coming home next week with more information regarding costs, dates etc. Following this should you have any questions please feel free to ask.

This next half term presents an exciting opportunity for our students to put all their hard work this year to good use through the mock exams between Monday 28th November to Friday 9th December. The purpose of these exams are:

• To allow students to re-cap and revise their knowledge from the beginning of Year 10.
• To allow our students to experience a more rigorous exam period than they had in year 10, to prepare them for their exams in the summer.
• To assess the current progress the students are making in their subjects, and action any intervention needed following the mock examinations.

The students will be well prepared by revising key content in their lessons in the build up to the exams. The content they revise will be linked to what will appear on their papers during the exam period. Students will also be taught key revision skills during form time, in order to aid them with preparation for the exams. Finally, students will have the opportunity to access Period 6 in certain subjects, that will be welcomed additional time with a teacher to secure the best outcome possible. I will be sending more information to parents about the exams, revision resources and the period 6 timetable in the near future.

Recently I have written to parents regarding the importance of attendance at school, and the impact having the odd day off across the year can have on a student’s education and outcomes at GCSE. Academic research carried out by the DFE, shows that attendance that drops below 95% can have a significant impact on a Year 11 students’ outcomes in their GCSE examinations. A reminder that a student achieving 95% attendance will not miss more than 10 school days throughout the academic year. In the coming weeks it is more important than ever that attendance of the students is high. Please be aware that we have a large pastoral team and a qualified school nurse to aid any student who is feeling unwell while they are in school. 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.

We know that the quantity of exams and the importance of this academic year can be difficult for some of our students. We are working very hard as a pastoral team to support all of our students and help raise their resilience and confidence. As part of this we have focussed our act of collective worship toward important messages regarding success, using failure as a means of learning and improving, and looking after our own mental health through regular exercise, breaks and communication. By doing this we hope to give our students the tools to cope with this demanding year, emotionally as well as academically. We keep reiterating the message to students that the year team is here for them when they need us, and we are always welcoming students to the year team office who want to have a chat and a cup of tea from time to time.

Thank you for your continued support and should you have any concerns or questions please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the Year 11 team.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team
I very much hope everyone has had a wonderful, relaxing half-term. We are very much looking forward to welcoming back Year 10 students into school; hopefully feeling revitalised and reinvigorated after a relaxing break! Year 10 had a great start to their year and a successful first half term, I am sure this will continue.

In these initial weeks of the half-term, there will very much be a feeling of ‘back to basics’. As a team, we talk to students in Year 10 a lot about ‘focussing on the fundamentals’ to ensure that we can be successful in school. Year 10 did a great job of achieving these in the first half term, so we will continue to praise and continue to focus on the following. This includes…

• Turning up to school every day – ‘Every day matters’ and attendance needs to be as high as possible, we are aiming for 96%
• Arriving to school and lessons on time
• Engaging and working hard in lessons
• Having the correct uniform every day
• Making sure homework is completed on time and to a good standard – we will be doing some work on homework this half term with the year group on what good homework looks like and why it is important to complete it, more details to follow.

We are here for students to make sure they are successful in all these areas, please let any of the team know if there is anything we can do to support your young person in school to ensure their success.

Our last Act of Collective Worship before half term focused on celebrating all the successes the year group had in their first half term, recognising the top five forms for merits on ClassCharts:

5th – 10JLi – 1499
4th – 10MHe – 1624
3rd – 10RDn – 1708
2nd – 10KGn – 1860
1st – 10ABt – 2489 – well done!

Top 10 Students for merits on ClassCharts:

10th Place – Russell Broadbent (10ABt)
9th Place – Joseph Coyle (10ABt)
8th Place – Mishi Vida (10SLa)
7th Place – Freya Curzon (10MHe)
6th Place – Lola Keogh (10Abt)
5th Place – Michael Wong (10KGn)
4th Place – Ed Candlin (10ABt)
3rd Place – Jasmine Lowe (10ABt)
2nd Place – Poppy Hearld (10ABt)
1st Place – Finley Evans (10ABt)

Overall as a year group they achieved a whopping 17,567 merits, what an amazing achievement!

I also asked staff members for shout outs for students and classes and was overwhelmed by the amount received. We really do have an amazing year group who I know are consistently working hard! They should be proud of themselves. I look forward to seeing how the forms as well as individuals do this half term for merits (students always ask me before our Act of Collective Worship which form is winning that week! It is lovely to see their interest and want to do well)!

Furthermore the school show has been announced and it is Fame. I know a number of our year group will be auditioning and it is a great opportunity for our young people, in a range of different roles from leads to ensemble to the band or part of the backstage team. Last year Matilda was a smash with many of the roles within our year group and I am sure it’ll be the same this year, I cannot wait to see the show and watch it unfold this half term.

Thank you for taking the time to read this parent bulletin. If you have any queries regarding your child in Year 10, then please do get in touch by emailing myself – mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy, Miss Clark sclark@ahs.pmat.academy and/or Mr McPaul at cmcpaul@ahs.pmat.academy or calling main school reception and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you – Miss Deacon

A message from the Year 9 pastoral team
A huge well done to Year 9 as they have had an excellent first half term. We are proud of how they have conducted themselves both in the classroom and around school. We inevitably begin this half term ensuring that we are getting the basics right, making sure we are in school, on time, in the correct uniform, and behaviour is excellent in lessons. This will be no problem for the vast majority of our students and we hope that everyone will keep to the high standards that they have set themselves so far this year. If there are any issues with uniform please get in contact us and we will help to make sure that all uniform needs are met.

Prior to half term, we had another week of good attendance, with a figure of 95.4% attendance across the year group. We of course would like to see this increase every week and are hoping to see this good attendance continue for the rest of the year. Well done to 9Ap and 9Ev who both had excellent attendance figures for the week.

For any students wanting to start homework straight away after school, homework club is fully up and running Monday to Thursday straight after school in BS1. It is a relaxed and friendly environment with staff on hand to help with problems or enquiries about homework. Any student is free to go along any night and be welcomed by Mr Stabler.

The Year 8/9 continued their winning ways. Miss Wheater reported back “The girls are through to the next round!! Massive 10-1 win, played really well as a team and worked hard to get the result they deserved. Well played all!. Girl of the game – Aela Moore.” Congratulations and well played Aela.

Once again just a huge well done to all the students in Year 9 who have worked hard all the way up to half term. We are all proud of you individually and as a Year group as a whole. Keep up the good work.

As always, if you require any assistance about anything, please get in contact with us and we will resolve any problems that you may have.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team
As we embark on our second half term of Year 8, we wish to say a huge thank you to all students and parents for their efforts and support with what was an immensely successful first half term. The vast majority of students in Year 8 have settled into the new academic year beautifully and distinguished themselves with their excellent behaviour and fabulous individual accomplishments.

We have already enjoyed many highlights in Year 8 so far: a fantastic day out at Flamingo Land, great group spirit shown by all students during the Y8 Trading Day games, an enriching Y8 Culture Trip to York for those involved, an exemplary student-led Assembly delivered by 8SMF, the first meeting of the Year 8 Student Council, and lots of individual achievements at extra-curricular clubs, in Y8 Football, Rugby and Netball and Rookie Lifeguards. It has also been our privilege to see the Bright Sparks challenges being launched again which some of our students will lead on this year, and it’s been great to see Year 8 taking advantage of the PE equipment we now have available for the year group to use during their social times. All in all, we are incredibly proud of all that Year 8 has achieved and are immensely looking forward to what this half term will bring.

This half term, we will be excitedly looking forward to all things Christmas including the Christmas Fayre, Christmas Rewards event, Minster Service and Form decorating competition. We will also look forward to our next student-led Act of Collective Worship to be delivered by 8BDU. Notably, this will also be the half term where students will receive their first academic report in Year 8 which will go home to parents shortly before Year 8 Parent’s evening to be held on Wednesday 30th November.

After a strong start for Year 8, we are very keen to capitalise on this and will continue to uphold high standards of all students’ behaviour, attendance, uniform and punctuality.

Attendance will be a key priority this half term: research published in 2022 has highlighted the concern that schools across the country – including ours – have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic attendance figures. Statistics published by The Sutton Trust suggest that 35% of secondary pupils have missed at least 10% of in-person sessions nationally since schools have re-opened. This is a very worrying figure given that all of the research available to us points to the positive correlation between student attendance and outcomes – both academically and socially – therefore it is vital that students are in school as much as possible. In school, we will continue to celebrate and promote high attendance through our welcoming environment, supportive pastoral presence and rewards initiatives in Year 8. At home, you can help by supporting your child in their positive outlook towards school and encourage good resilience by ensuring your child comes into school even if they are feeling tired or have a minor ailment such as a headache or a cold. If your child is feeling slightly unwell, we are fortunate to have our school nurse and quiet intervention space to support them if needed. We do appreciate that some members of our year group face significant barriers to attendance, and we also know that missing school is sometimes unavoidable. If your child is struggling with their attendance, the Year 8 team are on hand to offer individual support and will always welcome an open dialogue with you on this matter.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any queries or concerns about your child in Year 8, please contact school reception to speak to someone in the Year 8 team, or you can email reception@ahs.pmat.academy.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team
Year 7 have completed a full half-term and are now fully fledged secondary school students! They have really impressed us with their resilience and positive attitude in all areas of the school; this will now stand them in an excellent position to move forward through the year successfully and really get involved with life at AHS.

We hope you found feedback at our recent Form Tutor Parent’s Evening useful; it was great to see everyone in school again. Please continue to let the Year 7 team know if there are any additional questions or issues so that we can fully support you and your child.

This first week back sees our first Bewerley Park visit (dates below); please remember to label any medication clearly and give this to staff on the morning of drop off. Also a reminder that no mobile phones are allowed on the trips.

Band A/B (7ASu, 7CMm, 7Pi, 7Hv) 2-4 November
Band C (7MPe, 7CSt, 7MLn) 9-11 November
Band D (7JHe, 7Bl, 7ZBl, 7Cy) 16-18 November

Students who are not going on the trip will be in school and will be given a bespoke timetable with enjoyable and engaging lessons in a variety of subjects.

A huge well done to our Head of Year Award students this week:

Head of Year Awards:
Chantelle Dear 7CST – For an outstanding half term, living our school values and for commitment to our school community. You were great in the football fixture – well done!
Will Horner 7Bl – For outstanding commitment to languages and achievement in the MFl department – Well done!

Students of the Week:
7ASU – Lilly Lobley – for having a brilliant report and always being a polite member of the form.
7CMM – Eloise Niven- For a sensational first half-term. Leads by example in our form group, and always willing to throw herself into new challenges. Well done!
7PI – Dimi Weerasinghe – for being so friendly, polite and enthusiastic in all she does
7HV – Roxana Karczewska- Superb contributions to thought for the day and news discussions
7MPE – Louie Stannard – For being superb every day. A fantastic first half term
7CST – Henry Bonarius- Well done for an amazing start to the year, you always have a smile on your face. You have some great ideas that you share in our form time activities, which is lovely to see. Well done Henry, keep it up!
7MLN – Isaac Tyson – Well done for a great start of the year and for joining in so well in Year 7!
7JHE – Eden Whitehead – for trying her best in lots of different subjects!
7BL – Joseph Bastow – being a delightful member of the form who always engages in class discussions during form time.
7ZBL – Brodie Barrow – for 100% attendance this half term, plus commitment to our school values and ‘joining in’. Well done!
7CY – William Nelson for 100% attendance this half term.

Word of the week
The word of the week for week commencing 31 October is:

Word of the week: coherent
Adjective: logical and consistent
They failed to develop a coherent economic strategy.

Collective Worship
Theme
The theme for our form tutor collective worship this week is considering that we often have big decisions to make in life and that God, faith and our school values can guide us. Our daily quotes continue this theme.

Quotes
Monday – “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell – British philosopher, mathematician, historian. Died 1970
Tuesday – “When you advise any person you should be guided by the fear of God.” – Abu Bakr – 6th century, father-in-law and trusted advisor to the Prophet Muhammad
Wednesday – “The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all of life.” – Noah Webster – 18th century writer of the first American Dictionary
Thursday – “There are always uncertainties ahead, but there is always one certainty – God’s will is good.” – Vernon Paterson – 20th century Christian writer
Friday – “Keep praying, but be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your prayers!” – William Culbertson – 20th century American pastor, bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church