Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

Last week we had the pleasure of the WaterBear University delivering Music careers workshops to our Year 9 students alongside GCSE and A Level Music students. Our Key Stage 3 students took part in the Inter House Swimming Gala and it was great to see them getting involved. All students were off timetable for an extended form tutor PSHCE session which centred on friendships, relationships and marriage. Finally, on Thursday evening it was brilliant to see our Year 9 families at the Pathway Evening. Should you have any questions regarding the process for selecting your child’s subject choices then please do not hesitate to get in touch. Mr Williams, our Curriculum Deputy Head, would be delighted to help answer any queries that you may have.

We have a busy week ahead, especially in terms of Year 11 as there are a number of BTEC examinations running throughout the course of the week. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that the Year 11 ICT BTEC examination that takes place at 9am on Wednesday 1 February will go ahead regardless of the Industrial Action.

Year 7 students will be off timetable on Tuesday 31 January as they take part in the Big Talk where students will explore themes including proactive safeguarding, reproduction, puberty, relationships, body image, gender and reliable sources of information.

Industrial Action – Wednesday 1 February

Last week, we wrote to inform you of the arrangements that we are putting in place to cover the Industrial Action on Wednesday 1 February. I thought it important to reiterate some of the key messages below:

Unfortunately, the school will only be open for Vulnerable and EHCP students, and for those students in Year 11.

Year 12 and 13 students will be at home accessing live lessons via Google Classroom.

Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students will be at home and will have work to complete on Google Classroom.

Further detailed information for each year group is provided below:

Year 11 students
Year 11 students will follow their timetable as normal, this includes arriving promptly for morning registration in full school uniform. Lessons unaffected by the industrial action will be taught by the student’s usual teacher and where possible in their normal timetabled room. In the case that a student’s teacher is absent due to the industrial action they will take part in one or more of the following sessions which will be staffed by the Senior Leadership Team:

• Study skills
• English revision
• RE revision (all students will need to bring their RE revision materials)
• Independent revision (all students will need to bring revision materials)

It is important that students in Year 11 bring private revision resources with them to school.

Food and refreshments will be available to purchase in the main hall at break and lunchtimes.

Vulnerable and EHCP students on site
Vulnerable and EHCP students who are accessing education on site should arrive promptly for morning registration in full school uniform. On arrival, they will be guided into the main hall for morning registration. After students have been registered they will be taken to computer rooms to access their online learning. Students meeting this criteria will be contacted by school in advance of the industrial action.

Food and refreshments will be available to purchase in the Courtyard Cafe at break and lunchtimes.

Students in Year 12 and 13
Students in Year 12 and 13 will work from home but will follow the lesson timings for their normal timetable. At the start of each lesson they should log into their subject Google Classroom to access ‘live’ teaching from their teachers who are not taking part in the Industrial Action. If their teacher is not present then they will need to complete independent work or work that has been set in advance by their teachers.

Students in Years 7-10
Students in Years 7-10 will work from home and have access to resources through their Google Classroom. Students should first log in to their subject Google Classroom. If their teacher is not on strike there will be work posted and their teacher will be there to support them with completion. If there is no work in a student’s subject Google Classroom, they can log into their year group classroom which will contain resources students may wish to access. Students in Years 7-10 will follow the lesson timings for their usual school day.

Additional information
Please note, these arrangements are for the industrial action taking place on Wednesday 1 February only. We will contact parents and carers regarding arrangements for the other strike days nearer the time.
Children in receipt of free school meals who will not be in school on Wednesday will be able to collect a packed lunch at the end of the day on Tuesday. We will contact families by text message to ask if lunch is required. Please respond to this message if you would like a lunch to be made for your child.

Buses will run as normal.

Technically the school is closed for all year groups other than Y11 and therefore there will be no formal attendance on that day. We are providing work because we think it’s the right thing to do but individual families will decide how this is engaged with.

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

REMINDER Year 12 Mock Exams
Data will not be sent specifically home as we are currently collating data for Full Reports due beginning of February. The Sixth Form team will collate the raw mock results and plan intervention for each student requiring intervention. This will result in some parental meetings to communicate those plans. Parent’s Evening is in March following the release of the Full Report.

REMINDER Year 13 March Mocks
These take place wc 6th March and will be the final chance to have exams in exam conditions before the summer exam series. Students will be directed to focus their attention on specific topics/units in the coming weeks but independent revision should be ongoing.

REMINDER Year 13 Subject Support
Please continue to encourage your son/daughter to attend P6 for their subjects. This is an invaluable opportunity to get guided tuition in their ongoing revision. All opportunities should be seized whilst still in school for the short-term remaining.

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team

I would first of all like to start by saying how lovely it was to meet you all at the Y11 Progress Evening. It was an excellent opportunity to hold those very important conversations, give praise where praise is due and to generally gain some feedback. It has been a pleasure and I look forward to seeing you all again at the end of March.

It has filled me with joy to see the vast majority of the year group at period 6 last week; with a significant number of students attending all three sessions! As a reminder, we still have another set of period 6s happening this week: English (Monday), Science (Tuesday) and Maths (Thursday), in preparation for the Y11 mocks. Every bit of information gained has a significant impact on future progress.

Additionally, we have a quiet study space open to all Y11s on Thursdays afterschool, until 5pm, where they can engage in some private revision (and eat some fresh snacks made specially by our wonderful catering team).

Next week sees a full week of formal BTEC examinations. We start the week with Health and Social Care on Monday. Tuesday we are doubling up in Business and Engineering. Wednesday it is IT. On Thursday our Applied Pathways students will be sitting their Maths Functional Skills exam; and then we finally finish off the week with Travel and Tourism, as well as another Engineering exam.

We wish all of our students, sitting the exams, the best of luck. They may feel a mix of emotions, and that is absolutely normal at this moment in time. A combination of purposeful revision and rest, a healthy diet and plenty of water should support their wellbeing during this intense week.

As always, thank you for your support in the busy but crucial period for Year 11 students. If you have any questions or require further information, please feel free to contact the Year 11 team.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team

This week year 10 have had another great week! As a year group they have raked up an outstanding 3891 merits this week, the vast majority of which were from a positive attitude towards their studies. As a year team Miss Deacon, Mrs Robinson and myself have been so impressed by students going above and beyond in commitment to their studies. It’s amazing to see the year group flourish as a collective group, but also shine as the lovely individuals that they are.

Our top 5 students for merits:
5th – Catlin Casey (10KGn) – 38
3rd – Poppy Hearld (10KMd) – 42
3rd – Carter Sanderson (10MHe) – 42
2nd – Toby Hassall (10MHe) – 47
1st – Thomas Smith (10MHe) – 49

Congratulations to them all. You can track your young person’s individual progress on ClassCharts, please do contact us if you haven’t downloaded the app to do so.

Continuing the half term’s theme of the British Value of tolerance, the year 10 collective worship was addressing racism. I was so impressed at the maturity shown by the year group when addressing a topic which is so important but must be dealt with sensitively. I am sure that year 10 will continue to show this compassion and maturity this week when we discuss the holocaust in the Collective Worship. As a school we have a zero tolerance regarding all forms of discrimination. If your young person witnesses or is a victim of discrimination we ask that you encourage them to complete a ‘REPORT IT’ form. Please see the link below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSQIjR3XhWprrujQIRdqalduVl1kkgGYvc8qEoZGmOY6xh-Q/viewform

Just a reminder that students will also be completing work experience, in May, which will bring breadth and diversity to their curriculum as they work to learn exam skills and new knowledge, as previously mentioned students should be trying to arrange their work experience placements now for one week commencing on Monday 15th May and will run until Friday 19th May. This is hopefully now sorted for every pupil. Please can you make sure you are arranging this with your young person at home and they must log all their details on the work experience website of GroFar. There are drop in sessions in the careers office on Monday and Friday this week during lunchtime.

Any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with myself or Mr Arthur (who is organising the work experience), I know a number of students have approached me and asked questions about it which is great to see. Mr Arthur’s email is aarthur@ahs.pmat.academy

If you have any queries regarding your young person in Year 10, then please do get in touch by emailing myself (cmcpaul@ahs.pmat.academy), Miss Deacon (mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy) and/or Mrs Robinson (jrobinson@ahs.pmat.academy) or calling main school reception and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you – Mr McPaul

A message from the Year 9 pastoral team

Another fantastic week at school for Year 9. With four weeks of the half term completed it has been great to drop into lessons and see so many motivated students who are working hard despite the dark cold days and being so far through the half term.

It was a big week for Year 9 students as options evening was held on Thursday 26th January. This was an opportunity to be able to talk to teachers of option subjects more about the subjects, including the structure of the course, the difference between a BTEC and a GCSE and the future opportunities that these subjects could lead to. It is hoped that this helped you to make informed decisions about the choices that students may be deliberating about, especially after the taster sessions. If any questions have arisen from this evening, please contact us or Mr Williams for further information. If there are any subject specific questions it would be a great opportunity for students to talk to the heads of department around school and maybe build some confidence about approaching unusual situations.

Options evening will be followed by full reports being sent home and then a delayed progress evening. Reports will arrive home with students, although if they are absent from school on the day they are given out they will be posted.

Progress evening has been delayed until the 8th of February because of the industrial action. As it is such an important evening to talk to subject teachers about how students are progressing in lessons and any further questions about options, it was decided to postpone it by a week so that all teachers will be present for the evening. Students have been given a letter and sign up sheet in form time to seek out teachers and arrange appointments. The evening runs from 15:45 – 19:15. If you would like to speak to any of the pastoral team please get in contact and we can arrange to see you on the day.

Friday saw students remembering the Holocaust in their act of Collective Worship. Students listened respectfully and had many moments to ponder the wider repercussions of this huge historical event and why it shouldn’t ever be forgotten.

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team

This week has seen us recognising and reflecting on Holocaust Memorial Day. Year 8 students had the opportunity to learn about this important day in our Act of Collective Worship on Tuesday and watch videos of testimonial accounts of victims’ experiences. We reflected on how hatred can easily spread and looked at some ways in which we can prevent this from taking place in our school community, linked with our school values of compassion and justice. I hope students found this interesting and took away the important key messages from it.

On this note, we are beginning to see some tired faces in our year group as the end of the half-term approaches. This can then sometimes lead to disengagement and poor behaviour in lessons and also some unkindness amongst the students as well. It is important that students are getting the recommended eight hours of sleep at home and are in good routines before bedtime: minimising access to phones and computers an hour before bed; going to bed at consistently the same time each night and having softer lighting in the hours leading up to bedtime as well.

As always, we promote acts of kindness within school and you may see your child receiving ‘values merits’ linked to our school values of compassion, justice, trust and forgiveness. We also ask that you speak to your child about kindness at home and encourage them to speak kindly to others and be helpful. Miss Waines asks form tutors to nominate students each week who have performed an act of kindness and we have a celebration of this in PM registration on Fridays. We hope to see your child being nominated in the near future!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do email or phone reception who will put you in touch with the Year 8 team.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team

We continue to be impressed with our year 7 students, and have had another great week. The year group have shown excellent behaviour, attitude to learning and are building resilience every day. It was a pleasure to watch them all getting involved in our swimming galas on Tuesday and fantastic to see them cheering, supporting one another and getting to know new students in their house (Ouse, Esk, Derwent of Foss). Well done to all those who took part and a huge well done to the house captains who were superb at organising their teams and making sure everyone was involved.

In assembly on Thursday we had an exciting visit from our Sixth Form School Captains, Ethan and Milly. They spoke about their vision for the school and encouraged our Year 7’s to complete their student voice surveys to make a difference to our school community. We also looked at all of the available clubs for year 7 and encouraged our students to attend one club (at least) a week.

Next week is also full of excitement for Year 7. On Tuesday we will be having some visitors in school who will be completing The Big Talk with each year 7 form group. This is an introduction to Secondary RSE (Relationship Education). The basis of knowledge of year 7 pupils can vary considerably depending on the quality of their primary RSE provision or lack thereof. This lesson is designed to establish knowledge levels, ensure consistent accurate knowledge of core topics and back fill gaps. Themes covered include proactive safeguarding, reproduction, puberty, relationships, body image, gender and reliable sources of information. Students will be told when this is taking place for their form in the notices on Monday.

A polite reminder that all students are expected to wear school shoes that are leather or leather look. Trainers are not suitable school shoes and students can swap these at reception should they need to. If you need any support with uniform please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Please remember that you can contact main reception if you have any queries regarding your child in year 7 or email the year team directly: Miss Cooper (acooper2@ahs.pmat.academy), Miss Powell (hpowell@ahs.pmat.acdemy) and Mrs Halifax (jhalifax@ahs.pmat.academy).

Well Done to our Students of the Week:
7ASU – Alex Dunlop-Gibson for winning girl of the game in her netball match!
7CMM – Eloise Niven – for representing the school in a netball match and playing WD to help the team secure a win! Well Done!
7PI – Brody Holmes – for some excellent contributions to PSCHE!
7HV – Esme Robson – Excellent contributions to PSHCE, well done!
7MPE – Isaac Smith – for always putting his hand up and making some excellent contributions to PSCHE.
7CST – Hannah Lovett- For being a great member of the form who works really well with Aaishah and interacts in form time discussions. Hannah has settled really well into form. Well done Hannah!
7MLN – Charley Ayre – For you thoughtful contributions and reflections about friendships during our PSHCE session.
7JHE – Charlie Summers – for brilliant contributions to form time PSHCE!
7BL – Lola Rooke – a delightful member of the form who is now beginning to engage in form time discussions with some good ideas. Well done. Keep it up.
7ZBL – Aiden Marsh – Being such a responsible and reliable student following routines. Well Done!
7CY – Lexi Glancy-Bennett – Provided brilliant answers in group discussions during the PSHCE lesson and created a stunning piece of work. Well Done Lexi.

Well Done to our Head of Year Awards:
Phoebe Beard 7JHE – for super organisation and being a fantastic house captain in the swimming gala!
Arlo Gane 7ASu – for super organisation and being a fantastic house captain in the swimming gala

Word of the week

The word of the week for week commencing 30 January is:

Harmony
Noun: The quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole
Despite their viewpoints, they existed in harmony.

Collective Worship

Theme
Our form tutor collective worship this week is entitled Unique. It encourages us to consider how God created each of us uniquely and equally, and that he loves us just as we are. We will look at the story of Nick Vujicic and also Psalm 139. Our daily quotes continue this theme.

Quotes

Monday: “You are God’s masterpiece” – Ephesians 2:10

Tuesday: “An original is worth more than a copy.” – Suzy Kassem, American writer, poet, philosopher, and multi-faceted artist of Egyptian origin

Wednesday: “The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” – Walt Disney

Thursday: “We are all born originals – why is it so many of us die copies?” – Edward Young, 17th Century English poet

Friday: “Isn’t it amazing that we are all made in God’s image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people?” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu