Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

I hope that this bulletin finds you and your families well. As we begin this week, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past few weeks and highlight some of the exciting events and activities that have taken place in our school community.

First and foremost, I am delighted to say that we are finally able to have a full week in school with our students. We are pleased to have a more typical working week and we are really keen to make the most of our time with all students.

Last week was particularly eventful for our school community. It was great to be able to welcome families of Year 10 students as part of the Progress evening that took place on Wednesday. The evening was productive and enjoyable as our Year 10 teachers discussed the progress and next steps for each student. This was an especially important evening as our Year 10 students are half way through their GCSE journey and are beginning the process of preparing for their mock exams. The students are doing well in all aspects of their school life and it was a great way to be able to share this with families.

Our Year 13 students had their leavers celebration on Thursday ahead of their A Level stand down that took place on Friday. It was great to be able to celebrate and thank the students for their achievements throughout their time at Archbishop Holgate’s School. The students have demonstrated themselves to be excellent role models for the younger students in our school community and are a superb cohort of young people. Our Year 13 students have contributed so much to our school community over the last year and we thank them for making our school a special place to be part of. We wish them all the best of luck for their upcoming examinations that commence later this week.

This week, our Year 11 students also start their formal GCSE examinations. We wish them the very best of luck and we are incredibly proud of them. Their hard work and commitment in preparing for these examinations has really shone through. We have a number of key examinations taking place for all students this week and we are making sure that they are well supported during this time. We would welcome any Year 11 student to the early breakfast that takes place each morning in the Courtyard cafe at 8:15am. Students can have a drink and something to eat prior to their examinations and the room is staffed by the year team and senior colleagues who are on hand to help support and offer reassurance to any student.

The Year 11 exam week has been carefully mapped to include taught subject-specific revision sessions ahead of key examinations. Each day, form tutors will ensure that all students are aware of when and where their examinations take place, the taught subject-specific revision sessions taking place during the school day and the time of their break and lunch. If you have any questions regarding your child’s examinations then please feel free to contact the year team who will be delighted to help.

This week is also a busy time for students in Year 8 who have their in-class assessment weeks taking place. Students have been preparing for these assessments during lessons recently. It is great to see how committed the students have been ahead of these assessments as it will hold them in good stead for the future. Towards the end of the week our Year 8 students have their pizza and disco rewards evening which will be a great way to mark the end of the assessments.

Our Year 10 students are out of school as they take part in their work experience visits. There are some fantastic placements that have been organised for our students. We hope that they find this opportunity both enjoyable and incredibly rewarding as they gain skills and understanding of potential career sectors.

I want to thank you all for your continued support and commitment to our school community. We are proud of all our students and we are committed to providing them with the best possible learning environment.

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

Farewell to Y13
Year 13 stood-down from A Level study on Friday and are ready for the upcoming examinations. They will only come into school for pre-arranged support or for their exams. We were delighted to host a little celebration with them on Thursday and the farewell messages from staff can be found on the Year 13 Google Classroom.

For our Year 13 BTEC students that have not yet completed their coursework and been signed -off, they must attend school each day to their timetable BTEC lessons and when not in a timetabled lesson we have a planned study space for them to continue working on their coursework to meet our very tight deadlines before we submit final marks.

REMINDER Y13 Leavers’ Key Dates:

• Prom – Friday 23rd June Hilton, York
• A Level Results – Thursday 17th August (invites sent last week)

REMINDER A Level Exam Timetable
Please find below the first two weeks of exams leading up to the May half-term break. The rest of the timetable will follow each week. Students have individual timetables also.

• Students to arrive 15mins before the exam start time
• All students to go to Black Square to check the seating plans and then go to their location

Possible locations:

1. Sports Hall
2. Drama Studio
3. SFS
4. SF Library
5. SF Café

Competitive Admissions Tests

Competitive Admissions refer to applications for Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, or any course of study at the University of Oxford or Cambridge. The competitive nature of these applications is due to the level of academic ability required to be made an offer, alongside other measures. As part of the admissions process students may be required to take admissions tests as part of the application process. This is an independent process where students should study independently alongside their A Level study. We do advise on the process and host paper-based exams, but we are also offering a small amount of tuition to help guide students with their independent approach to preparing for these exams. We are only able to offer tuition for BMAT, MAT and UCAT this year. If applicable your son/daughter has been guided by Dr King and Mr Charlton on which tests they are required to take.

The tuition will be conducted remotely in small groups of a maximum of four students. The tuition will be held during the school day under supervision. The tutors have been recruited via Bespoke Tuition.

Please complete your reply slip by Monday 15th May to confirm you are happy for your son/daughter to participate in the tuition. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team

I hope the students of year 11 are having a productive weekend, getting the last minute revision done before the exams kick off next week. Despite the obvious nerves, the mood around school has been really calm, and I have been very proud of the hard work that has been on display. The week finished with a special Year 11 assembly on Friday, where students were reminded of the plans for the week and the expectations we have during the exam period. Mr Daly made an appearance to wish the students the very best of luck, and to praise them for their work toward the exams in recent weeks.

Parents should have received a letter with the arrangements for the school day while students are not in exams. The Year 11 students are timetabled so they can attend revision sessions with their subject teachers the day before their next exam, therefore it is expected students remain in school when they are not in their exams. This time with the teacher immediately before their next exam is invaluable, and has made a very positive impact on students’ grades in the past. Students have also been given their exam timetables which list their full exams including dates and times. As parents, if you have not received either document please let the year team know and we will rectify this.

Last but not least, we are busy preparing to make Prom a wonderful experience and the Prom committee have made a decision on the theme ‘Under the Night Stars’. As a reminder, Prom will be taking place on Friday 30th June at York Racecourse. Students have indicated whether they will be attending or not and we will be making the final arrangements in the coming weeks.Thank you for keeping up with the payments on ParentPay and if you need support, contact our Finance Team (swillsden@ahs.pmat.academy ).

As always, thank you for the support in ensuring your child’s success in the coming weeks. Please do not hesitate in contacting the year team if we can support you further in any way.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team

I am delighted to be able to begin by saying that year 10 have had a fantastic week once again! An important event this week was the Year 10 progress evening. It was so amazing to hear such positive messages going home to parents, but for me it was really special to see the positive relationships that our lovely young people in year 10 have with their teachers. Well done Year 10!

This week, year 10 pupils were awarded 12062 merits. This is a little lower than normal, however we have had a four day week, which will have had a big impact. When we return to school on a five day week, year 10 will be challenged with a target of hitting 4500 merits in one week!

Well done to 10KMd for the highest attendance for last week

Our top 5 forms for merits for last week:
1st – 10RDn – 285
2nd – 10KGn – 256
3rd – 10MHe – 132
4th – 10ABt – 129
5th – 10Ha – 116

Our top 5 students for merits for last week:
1st – Lexi Gray-Richardson (10RDn) – 24
2nd – Mathew Tse (10KGn) – 20
2nd – Noah Maude (10KGn) – 20
2nd – Joe Coyle (10ABt) – 20
3rd – Milli Hood (10KGn) – 20
3rd – Sharanyo Mazumdar (10Ha) – 20

The pupils who have won the Head of Year Award this week are Sharanyo Mazumdar and Benedict Barrington for their amazing return to school! Congratulations to both of you!

As parents will be aware, our year 10 students will begin their work experience placements on Monday 15th May. This is a valuable opportunity for them to gain insight into the working world and develop new skills. We hope that by immersing themselves in various industries, they will gain a better understanding of what career paths they may wish to pursue. The members of the year team are encouraging our students to approach this experience with an open mind, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. They will be required to apply themselves creatively, think critically and demonstrate initiative towards achieving their goals. We’re confident that these skills will prove invaluable not only during their week-long placements, but also in their future careers. Ultimately, we want our students to enjoy themselves, make new connections and develop new interests along the way. Thank you for your support in this endeavour.

Students who did not secure a placement will be expected to attend school as normal and we are excited to welcome them into school at 8:45 on Monday morning as usual! Their form room this week will be En11.

Correct uniform is becoming a key focus of the year team when pupils return from work experience. I would like to thank all the students and families who adhere to the uniform policy and also thank the students and families who are working with us to help rectify and issues. It is much appreciated! I would like to highlight a few things to provide some clarity in this area:

• All students should have the AHS blue jumper every day. They may remove it if they choose to.
• Skirts should be plain black, knee length skirts. Tights should be black or natural in colour.
• Heavy make up is not allowed.
• Nail varnish is not allowed. Gel, acrylic and false nails are also not allowed.
• False eyelashes are not allowed.

If you need any help with this or require further information, please contact the year team.

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 for Year 9 after the coronation. We are delighted to report that Year 9 has had an excellent week! Their behaviour has been brilliant and the standard of their uniform has been excellent.

After the coronation this weekend the students have also been looking at the Coronation of King Charles III in form time collective worship and in the news and we are looking forward to collective worship next week that has been prepared by 9JDl. They again will be looking at the coronation, but from a different viewpoint. Next week will also see a collective worship lead by the deaf awareness group which should be excellent.

We understand the importance of school attendance for the academic and social development of our students. Regular attendance helps to ensure that students are able to keep up with their studies, build relationships with their peers, and develop a sense of responsibility.

We encourage you to make sure your child attends school regularly. If there is ever an issue that prevents your child from attending school, please contact us so we can work together to find a solution. It is important that if your child is not well enough to be in school, that we know and we can offer as much support as possible on return to school.

Thank you for your continued support. As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the year team.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team

It has been lovely to see our year 8s back in school after the bank holiday. We hope you and your families enjoyed the long weekend whether you chose to mark the King’s coronation or not.

We are looking forward to two full, undisrupted weeks until the May half term holiday where students can get back into proper routines and hard work. As part of this, we remind parents and students alike the importance of our school’s five fundamentals: coming to school fully prepares with the correct equipment and uniform each day; arriving on time to school and lessons; speaking kindly and appropriately to staff and peers; trying our hardest in lessons; and caring for our school and the people in it. These five core principles underpin everything we do at the school to ensure the best outcomes for our students.

We have a busy final week coming up. The final week before half-term will be year 8 assessment week. Students have been spoken to in assembly about how they will be prepared in lessons and some tips on how they could revise at home. At this point in the school journey, we are not expecting students to be doing lots of revision at home but the purpose of the assessment revision booklets students have been given is to get them into good habits of looking at any key material and considering it ahead of their exams. There was also a section in the assembly about how to look after their own mental wellbeing during exams and some of the pages in the assessment booklets do refer to this as well. Please do get in touch with us if you think your child is struggling with any of this.

In this final week, we also look forward to our long awaited year 8 only reward treat of the pizza and disco party. This will take place on Thursday 18th and will run from 5pm-6.30pm and students will need to make their own way to and from the disco. This will take place in the school gym. The theme as voted by the students is 90’s neon – if your child wishes to wear some clothing or accessories in line with this then they are welcome to, however we are not encouraging the buying of new items to reduce our environmental impact. We apologise that there was a mistake with the ParentPay permission this week – please can you ensure (if you haven’t already since the students got this message in form time) that you go back on ParentPay and click the permissions for your child to be allowed to the event. If you have kindly donated the £2 to the event, this will have gone through, but the permission may not have done. We apologise for this inconvenience. We really look forward to seeing all our year 8 students there!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the school who will put you in touch with our team.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team

We are so impressed with the resilience and determination of the year group this week during their assessments. They have worked hard and supported each other along the way. They have learnt and shown valuable skills that will support them throughout all of their assessments and exams during their school career. On Thursday we had an exciting assembly, listening to some Y11 speakers who talked to us about what they were passionate about and in the chapel our students learned about endurance. Students discussed how endurance was important particularly during their assessments and it was fantastic to hear them share such great ideas. A few reminders for the summer term, please ensure students have a red jumper with them every day as well as all of their equipment, including planners and reading books. If you have any concerns please don’t hesitate to contact the year 7 team via main school reception.

This week we had some Primary School Trainee teachers visiting Year 7 to learn about transition. A huge thank you to the students who supported this. We are very proud of you and how you represented the year group and school. Well done and thank you to:

Ethan Day
Charlie rose
Oliver Gray
Morgan Smith
Dora Escombe
Aurelia Smy
Iris Oswald
Anna Davies
Eve Bate

Well Done to our Heads of Year Awards:
Safeea Lalowski-Cumberland 7ASU – For working hard, amazing attendance and great resilience. Well Done!
Rebecca Wood 7BL – For always working hard, trying her best and for living our school values every day. Well Done!

Well Done to our Students of the Week this Week:
7ASU – Lily Lobley – for being well organised all week!
7CMM – Isla Hudson – for being so friendly, approachable, and participative in form.
7PI – Sam Hussan – an improved effort in form time this week
7HV – Evie Rycraft – Always enthusiastic to share her thoughts and take part in form time activities, well done!
7MPE – Anna Davies – For helping out with the ITT visitors and being a really good ambassador for the school.
7CST – Aurelia Smy – For always being smiley and friendly and being amazing with the ITT training teacher day. Well done Aurelia!
7MLN – Leela Lamb – for persevering and working hard. Well Done!
7JHE – Edward Freeman – for a strong answer in form time when put on the spot!
7BL – Imogen Hall – for being a delightful member of the form who always follows the school values and is always willing to take part in form discussions. Well done! Keep it up.
7ZBL – Oliver Eaton – for being well-organised this week – keep it up!
7CY – Elvis Callum – for being a positive role model for others in form and always doing the right thing!

Word of the week

The word of the week for week commencing 15 May is:

Desultory

Adjective: lacking a plan or purpose.

The team continued to operate in a desultory fashion.

Collective Worship

Theme
Our form tutor collective worship this week is entitled Ascension. It explores the Feast of Ascension and how we can look forward to future plans. The quotes this week include biblical verses and thoughts about this Christian celebration.

Quotes
Monday – “Out of compassion for us… he ascended alone; we also ascend because we are in him by grace.” – St Augustine

Tuesday – “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” – The book of Acts ch1:v3, The Bible

Wednesday – “At his ascension our Lord entered heaven, and he keeps the door open for humanity to enter.” – Oswald Chambers, Scottish evangelist

Thursday – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – The book of Jeremiah ch29:v11, The Bible

Friday – “When in doubt, take the next step .” – Regina Brett, American writer