Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

I hope that you have had a safe and happy half term break. 

This half term is especially important for our students who are working towards being exam ready ahead of the summer examination season. With only 6 school weeks until the Easter break it is important that these students in Year 11 and 13 get off to a good start. Students in both of these year groups should be encouraged to attend the additional after school taught P6 revision sessions run by subject teachers. These sessions are a good way in helping students to gain confidence, skills and subject knowledge to help supplement their own independent revision. 

I’d also like to highlight the extra-curricular activities available to students within AHS. No matter what stage of their school journey it is important that students find a balance with their studies and taking part in the opportunities available to them will help with this.

This half term our morning form time arrangements return to those seen pre-COVID. This includes a structured 10 minute tutor session which starts at 8:45am. The doors to school will officially open at 8:40am to allow students good time to be punctual for this timetabled tutor session. This does mean that the drift-in time that has run on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday so far this academic year will stop. I would like to remind families that the resource centre is available for students to use should they arrive early in the morning.  

In terms of this week, our Yr13 Geography students take part in a trip to London on Tuesday, whilst students in Year 10 will engage in oracy workshops on Wednesday. Whilst the Year 11 GCSE PE students get involved in a series of outdoor activities at Allerthorpe lake on Friday.

Finally, linked to the NEU industrial action, we will write to you to confirm the arrangements ahead of the planned strike day which takes place on Tuesday 28 February.

Inclusion corner
Each half-term, our new Inclusion Corner newsletter will aim to share important information and links to inform parents/carers on Special Educational Needs, shining a spotlight on a different area of need; celebrate our students’ achievements, both in and out of school; publicise news and events that may be of interest to our SEND parents/carers; and finally, introduce parents/carers to each member of our inclusion team here at AHS. To access the latest newsletter 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

BTEC External Assessment Results
These will be issued on Thursday 23rd March (amendment on previous communication). Each Year 13 student will receive a 1-2-1 on results day to discuss current position, likely end point and second sitting requirements. Year 12 students will be spoken to in departments about the same information but over the following week.

Year 12 Parents Evening
Students will receive appointment sheets this week for the upcoming parents evening on Wednesday 15th March. These appointments will provide opportunity to discuss Full Report data issued Monday 13th March as well as next steps to aid progress moving towards the summer assessments. Over the next two weeks the Sixth Form team will meet some students with their families to implement intervention plans following their mock exam results.

Y13 Leavers’ Key Dates:
(amended since letter sent home Friday 10th Feb) Leavers’ Celebration Service – Thursday 11th May (6:30-7:30pm in the Main Hall)
(amended since letter sent home Friday 10th Feb) A Level Stand-down – Friday 12th May
Prom – Friday 23rd June Hilton, York

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 – TEFL
We are excited to be hosting a two-day certification TEFL course on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th April (first two days of the Easter break). We have hoped to offer this opportunity for a number of years but there is a min requirement for student numbers that have never reached before now. The course is open to all Year 12 and Year 13 students and targeted at those keen to travel or gain employment teaching English as a Foreign Language. There is a fee which is set by TEFL but if the certification is utilised this will be a small amount compared to the earning potential. Students that have shown interest have been issued letters requiring a response. If there are any other students interested, there is still time to collect a letter detailing more information.

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team

I have been reflecting over the half term and found that there has been lots to celebrate. In particular, the students were superb in their conduct and effort toward their mock exams. I hope they have enjoyed a well earned rest over the half term break.

Another success story this half term has been the students who completed their BTEC exams in Health and Social Care, Engineering, IT, Business and Travel and Tourism. These were real examinations that counted toward their final grades. The students conducted themselves impeccably throughout and it was lovely to see some smiling faces after the exams were over. I have also been really impressed with the students who have spent the half term completing their controlled assessments in Food Technology. I have been in lessons to see the students writing away and making the most of gaining all the marks on offer before their practical cooking exam at the end of February. A huge well done to all our students involved in any form of exam this half term, we are very proud of you all.

After February half term the focus will be on the 5 fundamentals to GCSE exam success:

1. Attending School Everyday
2. Attending lessons on time
3. Working Hard in every lesson
4. Attending period 6 regularly
5. Completing high quality revision at home

These basic principles will become vital when GCSE subjects finish their courses and revision toward the exams starts. In most subjects, this will be from February half term onwards. We appreciate in advance your support with this, in order to maximise the opportunity for success of the students in their exams this summer.

As I am sure you are aware, there is now opportunity to pay for your child’s end of year hoodie and Prom ticket via parent pay online. We have launched this early to give opportunity for the cost to be spread over a long period of time to try and ease the burden of it. We will also be providing each of the students with a yearbook at the end of the academic year, with pictures of their journey through school and some messages from students, teachers and even the headteacher! We are determined the cost of these events will not stop students from attending, and therefore should there be an issue with paying for these events then please contact the school finance team and we will look to help in any way we can.

As always, 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 11 pastoral team are always available to help with any questions or queries you may have.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team

Another half term begins at Archbishop Holgate’s School, and I’m looking forward to welcoming Year 10 back after our break. I hope they are feeling well rested and I am certainly looking forward to us seeing lighter nights and mornings!

In our last Act of Collective Worship before we broke up we had a guest speaker talking about apprenticeships, as it was National Apprenticeship week! One element I was surprised to learn is apprenticeships can now get sponsorship up to degree level, where students work (including getting paid) and study from 16 but they can also do them from 18 and get a degree at the same time which the company they work for pays for! Here is a link to the website if you’d like any further details: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/ it is great to know our young people have so many opportunities ahead of them.

However with our guest speaker we didn’t get a chance to celebrate a number of achievements in the year group including us delivering prizes to forms and individuals on the last day of term. Therefore students will be receiving prizes this week in school. Well done to 10EWh for the highest attendance for the last half term! That’s two in a row – well done!

Our top 5 forms for merits for the half term:

1st – 10ABt – 2594
2nd – 10KGn – 2443
3rd – 10MHe – 2146
4th – 10RDn – 2126
5th – 10SLa – 2071

Our top 5 students for merits for the half term:

1st – Ruby Watson (10Ha) – 191
2nd – Poppy Hearld (10ABt) – 184
3rd – Ronnie Thompson (10KGn) – 163
4th – Jimmy Hendon (10KGn) – 159
Freya Curzon (10MHe) 159

The year group as a whole got a staggering 21,243 just in one half term!
Can I just say a massive well done to these individuals they consistently live the school values and are dedicated hard working lovely young people. Worth shouting out only two of these were in the top 5 last half term – well done to Poppy & Ronnie, but shows it is anyone’s game if our young people work hard! I am also proud of the whole year group and the consistently positive attitude they have, that is 21,243 staff have actively praised our young people, what an achievement.

I just wanted to highlight by this point next year our Year 10s will have sat two sets of mocks in preparation for their real GCSE exams, we will continue to encourage them in school, but I would also encourage you to discuss school with your young person at home, what do students think they need to focus on to do and the importance of their GCSEs, they truly all deserve to succeed and if we start prepping them now it will make a difference. I also wanted to highlight for some of our BTEC students after half term they are starting their coursework in lesson so it is crucial they are in school and engaging. These subjects include:

• Enterprise
• Travel & Tourism (Nurture)
• Media
• Health & Social
• Digital Information Studies (IT)
• Media – already started and ongoing

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch. It really has been great to see the positive start they have made and I look forward to seeing this continue.

We will continue to be consistent as always as a Year Team and I will be speaking to students in our Act of Collective Worship on Tuesday about ensuring that we all get the fundamentals of school right in order to ensure we are all successful. This includes ensuring students maintain the highest standards of attendance and punctuality, as well as working hard in lessons and ensuring homework is completed to the best of their ability.

Further to this, the school uniform is also a key part of our Archbishop Holgate’s School community. Students must also ensure they maintain high standards with regards to footwear, jewellery, nails, appropriate trousers and skirts, and that they are wearing an Archbishop Holgate’s School tie. We very much want to work with families to make sure that students meet the uniform expectations of the school so please get in touch if you have any concerns.

If you have any queries regarding your young person in Year 10, then please do get in touch by emailing myself (mdeacon@ahs.pmat.academy), Mr McPaul (cmcpaul@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 – Miss Deacon

A message from the Year 9 pastoral team

We would like to congratulate Year 9 on an absolutely fantastic half term in the dark and gloomy days of January and February. We hope they are all looking forward to a well deserved week off with friends and family.

We would also like to thank you all for your support throughout the year so far. This was shown at the progress evening on Wednesday with so many people attending. There was a lovely atmosphere with many positive conversations being held around the hall.

Friday prior to half term saw the deadline for options forms for GCSE choices pass. If there have been any issues about completing these forms please get in contact with either ourselves or Mr Williams and we will do our best to resolve any problems.

A handful of Year 9 students last week had the opportunity to be guides for the Anne Frank exhibition in the School Chapel. Groups of students were able to talk to Year 7 students about the trials and tribulations of Anne Frank in WW2. Feedback from staff and students alike has been overwhelmingly positive and anyone involved in this can be very proud of themselves.

Last week in our full year group act of collective worship, the Year 9 students were introduced to our new school captains. They spoke to the Year group about the different paths they have taken through school, with emphasis on the options they had taken for GCSE and A-Level. The overall message to the year group was that if you do or do not know right now what you want to do in future, there will be people to support you on whatever path you chose to take.

This week students learnt about the dangers of grooming and catfishing by being introduced to Brek’s story. It is important that students are aware of who they are talking to online and through social media. If you have any concerns about this please get in contact with us.

Looking further ahead, March sees the return of the cultural trips to the Yorkshire Sculpture park in Wakefield. The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the Royal Armories in Leeds. Consent for these trips can be filled in on parent pay.

We hope you have a restful half term and as always if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the Year Team.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team

We hope you and your families had a restful break this holiday. We are very much looking forward to seeing your child for the first day back tomorrow and for all the exciting opportunities we have coming up over the next half term.

Please could you spend some time ensuring your child is fully prepared for the first week back with their bag, pencil case and uniform in order. A reminder that students are allowed to wear an AHS hoodie in lessons and around school whilst the weather is still quite cold. Any other hoodie is not permitted. If students are in a non-AHS hoodie or trainers, they will be asked to change them. We were still seeing lots of cold, wet days at the end of last half term so a suitable waterproof coat is also required. If you need help sourcing any of these things, please do let us know.

At the end of last half-term and into the beginning of this half-term, students in year 8 have been taking part in a swimming challenge in their PE lessons. Each student set themselves a goal for how many widths or lengths they thought they would be able to achieve in a 10 minute time slot in PE lessons. We have then asked for donations if students have achieved their goal which is raising money for our Easter reward of a pizza party and disco. It has been fantastic to see students responding really well to this and coming together to work towards something that is unique to our year group. This reward treat will be happening at the end of next half-term.

We continue to be one of the strongest year groups in terms of merits and attendance. One form group last term achieved the golden 100% attendance for a whole week from every student and so they are receiving a reward in PM registration the first week back. As we have mentioned in previous parent bulletins, attendance is very important in ensuring a student’s success in school and therefore increasing their life chances. The amount of merits in our year group confirms to our team what we already know: that we have a fantastic year group who are working hard consistently.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do get in touch with the school and we will get back to you.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team

We hope you have had a restful break. We are really looking forward to welcoming Year 7 back on Monday for another exciting half term. This half term there are lots of fantastic opportunities for our students to join in with, including Science week and the School Show which some of our Year 7s are involved in this year. Year 7 students also have the opportunity to take part in Bikabilty. Pupils are still able to take part if they would like to, they just need to bring in their reply slips this week.

This half term we will be focusing on the British Value of Individual Liberty which links to our School Values of Trust and Compassion. At AHS we trust everyone to believe, act and express themselves freely as unique individuals, whilst showing compassion towards others. We are looking forward to learning more about this in Form Time and our Year group Assemblies.

Well done to our Students of the Week
7ASu – Josiah Bourne for presenting the news brilliantly in form
7CMm – Thomas Allen for being such a fine solver of the TaskMasterEducation puzzles!
7Pi – Lissia Horwell – a constant happy, smiling presence who is a joy to have in the form
7Hv – Roshna Mustafa- A very organised and neat planner, well done!
7MPe – Jake Regan – for a positive start in a new form. Well Done!
7CSt – Marley Dambrauskas- for being a great member of the form who always particaptes in form time discussions in a mature and sensible way. Well Done!
7MLn – Della Collins – For having the highest number of merits in the form, by far, and for always striving to be your best!
7JHe – Rachel Cardy for great resilience throughout the last week of hlaf term. Well Done!
7Bl – Rebecca Ulliott – being a kind and caring member of the form who always trys to engage in form time discussions with good ideas. Keep it up!
7ZBl – Mohammed Dana – for making a great start at AHS this week, well done!
7Cy – Bethan Candlin – For creating a beautiful Good Luck letter to the year 11s in the lead up to their mock exams. excellent work Bethan

Well done to our Head of Year Awards
Evie Rycraft 7Hv – For being there for those in need and showing compassion. Well Done!
Jude Kennedy 7MLn – For showing great interest in all his subjects and living the school values. Well Done!

Word of the week

The word of the week for week commencing 20 February is:

Initiate
Verb: Cause (a process or action) to being
“He proposes to initiate discussions on planning procedures.”

Collective Worship

Theme
Our form tutor collective worship is linked to LGBT+ History Month. Together we are going to spend some time thinking about Mpho Tutu van Furth (daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu), a person of faith from the LGBT+ community

Quotes
Monday 20th February – “The Christian response should always be: if it affects my sibling then it affects me” – Mpho Tutu van Furth

Tuesday 21st February – “There is not fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear” – The Bible, 1 John 4:18

Wednesday 22nd February- “Faith was in the water I drank, in the air I breathed” – Mpho Tutu van Furth

Thursday 23rd February – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you” – The Bible, John 13:34

Friday 24th February – “The Spirit keeps blasting through our prejudice and throwing flowers in our path in every shade of the rainbow” – Mpho Tutu van Furth