Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

Last week concluded the Year 7 trips to Bewerley Park – it was great to hear that students have thoroughly enjoyed their time there. Alongside this, we welcomed families of Year 10 and Year 12 students into school to share information about the future work experience placements that take place later this year. If you couldn’t make the event and you wish to find out more, we will be uploading a recording of the event as well as providing key information on our website. Last week students also became more informed about key topics linking to bullying and politics as part of the Anti-Bullying and Parliament week.

This week starts with an extended form tutor session in which students in KS3 are looking at Talking about Emotions and Feelings; KS4 are considering Digital Minimalism; KS5 are learning about Blood, Organ, and Stem Cell Donation. In terms of other key things happening this week, our Year 11 students continue to prepare for their mock examinations which start the week commencing 28th November. The exception to this is the Year 11 GCSE Art and Textile mock exam which takes place Monday 21st November. Alongside focussed lessons tailored to their revision we continue to run period 6 sessions to further help support students. I’d also like to highlight that the Sixth Form application deadline for our Year 11 students is Friday 25th November. Should any student have any concerns or queries our Sixth Form team would be happy to support them during this transition period.

I would like to flag up that all students will be working towards the roller disco that takes place in the final week of term as part of our rewards programme. If you haven’t it would be great if you could please complete this short consent form for your child so that they can take part in the event by clicking here.

Finally, we would like to extend a very warm invitation to everyone connected with our school community to join us for our Christmas Fayre on Friday 2 December and the school’s Carol Service in York Minster on Wednesday 7 December.

Work experience launch – Year 10 and Year 12
Thank you to everyone who came to the Work Experience Launch on the evening of Thursday 17th November. A video recording of the event will be going on the school’s website in the first half of the upcoming week, along with all the information needed for students to help them find a Work Experience placement, and register this with us with our new system, GroFar.

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 Applications:
Please be reminded that the deadline for applications is this Friday (25th). This is so that we can gauge subject numbers. It does not mean that applicants are obligated to take up their place if they are still undecided and applicants can change their subject choices if, and when they wish.

Mock Results:
Please be reminded that those students in Year 12 and Year 13 that take BTEC mock exams will receive these promptly to allow preparation for the real external assessments in January. Year 13 students that sat A Level mock exams will receive results on Monday 12th December followed by Year 12 Parents Evening on Wednesday 14th December.

Year 12 Form Tutor Evening:
Thank you for your attendance and I hope you found the opportunity informative. Parents Evening is in March following Winter mock exams where you will meet your son/daughters’ subject teachers. If you were unable to attend last week and hope to have an update, please get in touch.

Year 12 Work Experience:
Year 12 all take part in compulsory Work Experience for a week from Monday 17th July 2023 (last week of the Summer Term). There was an information evening last week for the launch of a new system we will be using for Year 10 and Year 12 Work Experience. This was primarily targeted at Year 10, we will be having our usual launch assembly with Year 12 students prior to Christmas. Followed by information being sent home.

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team
World Cup fever seems to have gripped the year group this week, and it has been lovely to chat with the students about their sporting predictions for the next few weeks (I am more pessimistic than most of the students having experienced over 30 years of disappointment!). It has also been really interesting to hear their views on the decision to host the tournament in Qatar, with many of our students articulating their concerns over human rights records and LGBTQ rights. This has led to some really engaging discussion in form time, with many students expressing their views really well.

I have been really pleased with the students’ engagement in the IAG meetings that have been held with SLT (which will continue over the coming weeks). The feedback has been encouraging, with many colleagues telling me how mature and focussed the students have been while discussing their next steps. I hope the students have found it useful and have cleared up some questions they may have about their options post GCSE. Linked to this it was lovely to see so many students and families attending the 6th form open evening last week. I hope those in attendance found the information useful, and that the discussion with the subject teachers led to more informed choices regarding next year. If you were unable to make the evening, or require more support about your child’s post Year 11 options, please don’t hesitate to contact either myself or a member of the 6th form team.

Next week the students will continue to focus on revision in the build up to mock exams. By now the students have received their revision folders that they continue to work through in form time, and I hope they have found them useful. I have really encouraged students to use their resources to build a revision timetable, as this is vital in keeping them organised and allows for even coverage of all their subjects (as well as building in rest breaks and wellbeing time.) In lessons it has been good to see the students working hard and covering the knowledge they will need to perform well in the mock exams next week. It has also been excellent to see so many students accepting the additional support in period 6. We had over 200 students access at least one P6 last week, and I hope this continues as we approach mock week. I know that some students have found the clash of subjects on certain nights frustrating, however I can re-assure them that period 6 will continue after Christmas as we build toward summer exams, allowing for students to spread their time evenly between their subjects. I am confident that the professionalism and focus the vast majority have shown will mean they will do very well in these exams, and lay a strong foundation for achievement next summer.

As always, should you have concerns or questions for the Year 11 team, please feel free to get in touch with a member of the Year 11 team.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team
It is lovely to walk round Year 10 classrooms at the moment and see the focus coming from students to their studies, it is clear to see they are now well underway with their GCSE learning and this is reflected in conversations I am having with staff, including emails I get every week about how individuals are progressing. I am always so proud to be the Head of Year 10 and I love seeing how our young people are progressing well already, keep it up Year 10!

First a brief announcement that Miss Clark our non-teaching Assistant Head of Year has gone to pastures new outside of AHS, the students have all taken this news well and were extremely kind to Miss Clark in her last week, which I know she was so grateful for. In the meantime we have recruited someone who will be starting with us in January so therefore Mr Deamer has returned to us temporarily until then as our non-teaching Assistant Head of Year, therefore we have a fully staffed Year Team. Again, the students have been excellent welcoming back Mr Deamer who has worked with the year group since Year 8 and knows the students well.

A very busy week this week in Year 10, one example of this is a number of students partook in the ‘Speak Out Challenge’ where an expert came in and did some training on how to speak well in public. So many students took this opportunity and really pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to gain new skills and it was clear to see this paid off with many students standing up in front of 30 others at the end of the day who were adamant in the morning they wouldn’t, well done to all those who took part.

In addition, the work experience launch meeting happened this week, led by Mr Arthur on Thursday after school, please don’t worry if you missed it. A full video recording of the evening will be put on the school’s website by the end of this week and in the upcoming weeks we will launch it to the students in our Act of Collective Worship also. We are encouraging students to start looking now and organising their own work experience placements. Work experience will be one full week and is the week commencing the 15th May 2023 for Year 10. Any queries please just contact myself or Mr Arthur.

Furthermore, this week in our Act of Collective Worship it has been anti-bullying week, we therefore discussed the differences between ‘banter’ and bullying. Often we hear that ‘I didn’t mean it like that’ and that ‘What I said wasn’t meant to upset anyone’, but actually we have to remember that what we say or do can make people feel differently about it.

We discussed that there is often 3 types of banter:

1. Friendly Banter – no intention to hurt or upset anyone, everyone knows the limits
2. Ignorant Banter – ‘Crosses the line’ with no intent to hurt or upset, people often say sorry.
3. Malicious Banter – Done to humiliate a person, often in public, picking up on insecurities or worries of someone. This is often where it can cross into bullying.

We discussed the importance that just because our young people may not find it offensive, doesn’t mean others will feel the same and they have to be conscious of the words they are using. I do think our Year 10s are switched on to this and will often report unkindness or come for advice which I would continue to encourage them to do. We also have the Report It form that students are reminded of regularly to report any issues: https://forms.gle/ioWaoMYPuFPfGAKi8

Finally, the Big Talk was meant to start this week for Year 10, where our young people have some health care experts come and talk to them about sexual health, we have decided due to a clash in activities to move these to February as it is so crucial all of them attend, I will remind parents closer to the time.

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 (Head of Year) at mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy, Mr Deamer (Assistant Head of Year) at rdeamer@ahs.pmat.academy, and/or Mr McPaul (Assistant Head of Year) 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
Another excellent week from Year 9 despite the cold and wet weather restricting the amount of running about at break and lunch time. Definitely time to dig out the winter jacket. It has been lovely to see so many well settled and enthusiastic classes when walking around the school and dropping in on lessons. They can be proud about how they have started this new half term and we hope to see this level of conduct and dedication continue until Christmas. With the increasing level as we work towards GCSE there is homework club on Monday to Thursday after school until 4pm with Mr Stabler.

As always we would like to see as many students in school as possible, but we are well aware that there are some illnesses going around at the moment which mean it could be difficult for students to attend. If this is the case please inform school on the days when attendance isn’t possible.

Attendance this week was 91% which we hope will improve in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas. Well done to 9Cr and 9Ap for their attendance this week.

This week has seen form tutors exploring the role of the Government in Parliament week. Throughout form time students have been learning about how Parliament and the Government work and why voting is an important part of our British Values. Collective worship this week focussed on how we can make a change together and the news has been looking at stories related to Government and politics.

Alongside Parliament week it has also been anti bullying week. Staff were wearing odd socks on Monday to highlight that there are differences in everybody and students were encouraged to do the same. The roles around bullying have also been explored in form time as well as the differences between bullying and friendship issues. If you have any concerns around this, students can use the ReportIT form on the student hub to alert staff, or alternatively can speak to any member of staff.

Next Monday sees an extended form time for our half-term PSHE lesson. This time the focus will be on consent and how this can affect any conversations about tricky subjects we might have to hold.

As always, if you have any issues you would like to discuss, please do not hesitate to contact the pastoral team.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team
We are nearly halfway through our busy half-term and what a half-term it has been so far! Whilst the sun has not exactly shone bright this week, our students have remained sunshiney and positive when we have seen them around school. However, there are many of our students who have been without a suitable waterproof jacket this week and as a result, have got very wet! Please can you ensure your child has a good waterproof jacket; we can help provide one if you are unable to get one.

A polite reminder that Year 8 parents evening will take place from 3.45pm-7.15pm on Wednesday 30th November. Your child will have received an appointment booking form for parents evening this week in form time. Please have a conversation with your child about which times would be most suitable for you to come to this and keep asking them and reminding them about making appointments; the year team and form tutors will also be on hand to support as well.

On the subject of parents’ evening, we would love it if you could bring £1 along to take part in a Christmas quiz that our student council have made. All proceeds will be going towards our year 8 rewards day at Easter with the lucky winner of the quiz receiving a Christmas hamper to enjoy over the holidays! This rewards day is something additional to the usual rewards days we have at Christmas and in summer and something that we as a year team really feel we want to do to acknowledge the hard work and good behaviour from our students. Therefore we would really appreciate your help in supporting this.

Along with the quiz, there will also be a year 8 games stall at the Christmas fayre. Students have already started working on designing these games with their form tutors and many of the games have links with each form tutor so it will be a nice way for you to get to know our form tutors as well! Again, we would love to see you there.

Overall, we have been really pleased with the way our year 8s have conducted themselves this term. We are beginning to see some friendships changing slightly as everyone begins to find their feet after starting a new school in year 7. We kindly ask that you continue to have positive conversations with your child around maintaining healthy friendships reiterating key messages we give in assemblies and PSHCE sessions such as being kind to one another and coming and reporting anything of a serious matter to the year team.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team
It has been another great week for Year 7, we are delighted that many of our students are adjusting to their new routines and have settled in. It has been great to drop into many lessons and see our students working hard, and living our school values. Our final trip to Bewerley Park took place and it was fantastic to see our final 4 form groups joining in, getting into their stretch zone and making new friends in the year group.

In school there have also been lots of things to celebrate this week. We have been promoting Anti-Bullying Week, thinking about all of the different roles we play to combat bullying in school and beyond. It was lovely to see so many odd socks on Monday! Many of our students also attended the auditions for our school musical, Fame. They showed such courage and we are very proud of all those that auditioned, well done. Two of our year 7’s were voted to be the Year 7 representatives on the student council this week. This is a fantastic achievement and was voted for by staff. A HUGE congratulations to Rowan Sharp 7ZBl and Jo Sola Farrus 7MPe. We are sure you will represent the year group brilliantly.

Further celebrations are in order for some of our students who excelled brilliantly in cross country. Well done to Hannah Lovett 7CST for coming first and breaking not only her house record but the Year 7 school record too. Well done to Brodie Barrow who came second and also broke the Foss house record and Florence Kitney who came third and broke the Ouse house record. Finally, well done to J Ferreira for coming 1st for the boys.

There are many exciting events coming up in the run up to Christmas that our year 7 students can get involved in. We have our Christmas Fayre after school on the 2nd December from 5pm onwards, the Christmas Carol Concert will take place in the Minster on the 7th December and we will have Christmas Dinner in the hall for lunch on the 8th December.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any queries or concerns about your child in year 7, please contact school reception (reception@ahs.pmat.academy) and ask for the year 7 team. You can also see what our year 7 students are up to on twitter, please follow our account @AHS_Year7.

Well done to our Head of Year Awards this week:
Caden King 7CMM – for supporting other students in the year group. Well Done, you have made an excellent start to AHS!
Hannah Lovett 7CST – for amazing success in cross country and breaking the school record. Well Done!

Well done to our Students of the Week this week:
7ASU – Douglas Tasker – for leading discussions on The News – well done!
7CMM – Charlotte Crowe- so supportive in form, so enthusiastic around school, and just generally being a positive influence on everyone’s day!
7PI – Ryan Pang – for his thoughtful contribution to the news discussion. I was really impressed with your idea Ryan
7HV – Sofia Boudjema- An excellent, well organised planner
7MPE – India Duffy – For smashing on even when she was massively ill. Well done. Great dedication.
7CST – Jennifer Abernethy for always making such an effort talking to new people and really reaching that stretch zone at Bewerley Park. Well Done!
7MLN – Blossom Barrow – I have enjoyed seeing you contribute more and more in form, well done and keep going!
7JHE – Hannah Wray – for her honesty and friendly attitude in form time and amazing work in swimming in PE!
7BL – Archie Harris for showing such resilience and positive attitude at Bewerley Park and Rebecca Ulliott for helping others when they needed it at Bewerley Park. Well Done both of you!
7ZBL – Mohammad Araba – for getting stuck in at Bewerley park and showing excellent team spirit!

Word of the week.
The word of the week for week commencing 21 November is:

Enable
Verb: To give someone the authority or means to do something; make something possible
The teacher is leading the class to enable the students to progress

Collective Worship
Theme
Our form tutor collective worship this week uses material produced by the Archbishops’ Young Leaders Award to be used in the Advent journey to Christmas. This first week is called an Invitation to Hope.

Quotes
Monday – “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie
Tuesday – “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” The Bible, the Gospel of Luke 1:37
Wednesday – “Life with Christ is an endless hope, without Him a hopeless end.” Anonymous
Thursday – “The word advent means “expectation.” What advent can do for us is create a sense of hope.” – Louie Giglio
Friday – “It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope” – Pope Benedict XVI