Parent Bulletin

Dear parents and carers,

Last week concluded with a magnificent Sports Day event, which showcased the efforts of the entire school community. The students and staff displayed a true sense of pride and camaraderie, supporting one another throughout the day. It served as a perfect ending to yet another outstanding week at Archbishop Holgate’s School. Additionally, our Year 12 students engaged in an enrichment week that focused on preparing them for their future endeavours after Sixth Form. They also participated in a philosophy and ethics day while also raising funds through a sponsored walk.

We were delighted to see our Year 10 students and families this week as part of the Sixth Form talk, which served as an introduction to their future academic journey. We sincerely hope that you found the event informative and beneficial. In case you were unable to attend, you can access the information handout for our Year 10 introduction to Sixth Form event held last Wednesday evening by clicking here.

This week holds much excitement as students and staff embark on various trips, and we extend our best wishes to all the students and staff involved. We are fortunate to have destinations like London, Paris, Barcelona, Naples, and Koblenz included in our itinerary. Additionally, our school-wide enrichment program offers an array of fantastic activities and trips to anticipate throughout the week. On Friday at 1:10pm school will close for the summer holiday. However, I would like to bring to your attention that following what I hope will be a splendid summer break, the first day back to school for students is scheduled for Tuesday, September 5. On this day, our new Year 7 and Year 12 students are expected to arrive at school by 8:45 am, while students in all other year groups should arrive slightly later at 10:30 am. We will communicate further details about the start of the next academic year in a forthcoming letter.

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a safe and joyful summer break when it arrives. May you thoroughly enjoy this well-deserved time off.

Enrichment week

The outline for the enrichment activities for each year group can be found below:

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

Key Dates:

• Y12 Work Experience (not in school) – wc 17th July: All placements should now be on Grofar platform
• Thursday 17th August
  • Yr13 A Level & BTEC Results – from 9am
  • Yr12 Results – from 11am
• Yr12 Progression Meetings – Thursday 17th and Friday 18th August (letters have been sent with timings)

Year 12 Enrichment Week
Last week we had our Year 12 Enrichment Week where students had the opportunity to learn about the UCAS process, apprenticeships, gap years and routes into employment. All resources are in the Year 12 Google Classroom and can be accessed by students from home over the summer.

A reminder that the first draft of personal statements are due on the first day back in September, Tuesday 5th. This is important so students can receive feedback and make corrections to place themselves in a strong position for an early UCAS application.

It is also important that students complete the necessary sections of their EPQ booklet over the summer so they are ready to hit the ground running in EPQ sessions in September. Any student who begins Yr13 on three subjects is automatically entered into EPQ for reasons detailed last week in Enrichment Week.

Year 12 Work Experience
We hope your child has an interesting and enjoyable work experience placement this week. If you have any concerns about it, please contact swalton1@ahs.pmat.academy or mcharlton@ahs.pmat.academy. For those students in sixth form for this week, please come to sixth form reception each morning at 8.45 for their daily timetable of activities.

Yr12 Parents Intro to UCAS Evening – Feedback
General Feedback
‘It was excellent’
‘Personal statements – excellent information’
‘The thorough nature of the presentations and practical advice was useful’
‘Understanding timings of applications was helpful’
‘Finance figures for the current year and projection for next year was useful’

PARENTAL QUESTIONS & AHS ANSWERS

Q: How does a student know their predicted grade prior to applying?
A: Students have a target grade from the beginning of Year 12 and will receive an End of Year 12 grade based on their End of Year Assessments in August on Results Day. Staff use this data, and in class performance to generate aspirational, yet achievable predicted grades. The Sixth Form Leadership team quality assures predicted grades to ensure offers are received from chosen universities whilst highlighting the importance of insurance choices.

Q: Are applicants able to see their reference prior to submitting their application?
A: Although rarely requested, students can ask to see their form tutor reference during the UCAS process. The reference is written following the completion of all stages of the UCAS process by students.

Q: Does the sixth form support former students applying following a GAP year?
A: Yes. If your child is considering a GAP year we still recommend applying during Year 13 whilst support and time is provided by form tutors. Offers can then be deferred for a year on A-Level/BTEC Results Day in August 2024. Occasionally, former students contact us and ask a former Form Tutor or Head of Year to be a referee on an application which we are more than happy to do.

A message from the Year 11 pastoral team

We look forward to catching up with parents properly at prom and on results day in August, where I am sure we will all be celebrating the success of the students. However, in the meantime if there are any questions you have or require assistance in any way, then please feel free to get in touch.

As parents may be aware, we operate a uniform shop at school and would gladly appreciate any and all donations of uniform that is no longer needed. Equally, if your child has revision guides/resources that they no longer need we would also gratefully receive any of these. Any donations families want to make can be dropped off in reception.

A message from the Year 10 pastoral team

So here it is the final bulletin of Year 10 and what a year it has been! From work experience, to mocks, to Fame and to some outstanding Sports achievements (cycling, volleyball and rugby to name a few!) It has been a real pleasure to work with the year group this year, and I am exceptionally proud of each and every one of them. The Year 10 team and I wish all our students and families the best for a restful summer.

Our Act of Collective Worship was our final one this week and focused on rewards for the year group, which I now have the pleasure of sharing with you.
I will start with form merits, however I wanted to congratulate the whole year group who got a staggering total of 113,002 merits, what an achievement! Forms as below:

11th 10KMd 7535
10th 10Ha 7887
9th 10Pl 8521
8th 10EWr 8565
7th 10JLi 8702
6th 10Di 8859
5th 10SLa 9898
4th 10MHe 11185
3rd 10RDn 11896
2nd 10KGn 14446
1st 10ABt 15508

Well done to 10ABt who have done a sterling job all year, it has consistently been a battle between them, 10KGn & 10RDn – well done all.

Also please see our individual merits for the whole year group, these students should be exceptionally proud of themselves, to be in the top 10 out of over 300 students in the year group is an outstanding achievement:

10th Lilly Mae Carrington 10Di 744
9th Toby Hassall 10MHe 754
8th Sharanyo Mazumdar 10RDn 758
7th Ed Candlin 10ABt 768
6th Oliver Bell 10KGn 774
5th Michael Wong 10KGn 787
4th Freya Curzon 10MHe 806
3rd Joseph Coyle 10ABt 832
2nd Poppy Hearld 10ABt 863
1st Ronnie Thompson 10KGn 871

Furthermore, I was so proud of the way Year 10 conducted themselves during mocks and a number of students committed hugely to mock revision, I’ve listed our top students, a huge well done to them:

Oscar Pearson 10MHe
Michael Wong 10KGn
Mia Bell 10KMd
Luke Richardson 10RDn
Imogen Dean 10ABt
Michael Ellisson 10Ha
Maks Makowski 10KGn
Liv Hardy 10KGn
Georgina Kitney 10KGn
India Illing-Ahmed 10KGn
Charlie Marron 10JLi
Ella-Mae Norman 10KMd
Ed Candlin 10ABt
Clementine Ensor 10ABt
Lewis Gray 10SLa
Emily Barber 10KMd
Mili Hood 10KGn
Arthur Kuba 10KGn
Madison Lees 10ABt
Harrison Moore 10KGn
Keira Sharp 10KMd
Ronnie Thompson 10KGn
Matthew Tse 10KGn
Joseph White 10KGn

Furthermore attendance has improved this year which is fantastic, and it needs to continue to do so in Year 11. I wanted to recognise the great improvement we have had in attendance: 10Di had the 3rd best attendance out of our forms and joint 1st best attendance goes to 10KMd & 10Ewr! All forms were over our target of 96%!

In addition I wanted to congratulate students who got 100% attendance, truly outstanding examples in the year group:

Emily Barber
Mia Bell
Harry Burt
Amelie Darwin
Alex Fowler
Miles Hall
George Hormer
Alfie Hornshaw
Will Martyn
Harrison Moore
Abigail Perring
Luke Richardson
Connor Smith
Reuben Stockdale
Katie-Anne Varga
Lexie Wallis

It really has been an exceptional year and students deserve their rewards trip of Alton Towers on Thursday which will be a great day. Just a polite reminder that students need to be at school for 6:45am and will need to be collected at 8pm, it will be a long but great day!

I truly am excited for Year 11 and the next steps it will bring, for now have a fantastic summer, thank you to families for all your continued support, it has been a pleasure working with you all. 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, have a lovely summer – Miss Deacon

A message from the Year 9 pastoral team.

We wanted to share how wonderful our sports day was, despite the rain showers. Our students displayed incredible enthusiasm, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout the day, making it a memorable event. Their resilience in the face of adverse weather conditions was truly commendable, and we couldn’t be prouder of their positive attitudes.

As we move forward into the next exciting week, we are eagerly looking forward to Enrichment Week! Monday will kick off with a day of sports, so please ensure your child brings their sports kit. We have an action-packed day planned to keep them active and engaged.

On Tuesday, the English department has prepared an engaging session on “Inspector Calls.” This will be a valuable opportunity for our students to delve into literature and develop their critical thinking skills.

Wednesday promises to be an exciting day as we embark on a reward trip to Drayton Manor. Our students have earned this special outing, and we anticipate a day filled with laughter, thrill, and unforgettable memories.

Thursday is Industry Day, meticulously organised by Mr. Hunt. We encourage all students to dress up smartly as they will have the opportunity to interact with professionals from various fields, gaining insights into potential career paths.

Finally, on Friday, we have planned a half-day of exciting activities to round off the week. It will be a fantastic opportunity for our students to explore their interests, engage in new experiences, and foster their creativity.

As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the year team.

A message from the Year 8 pastoral team

For many of our students, this has been the last week in school as they embark upon the Modern Foreign Languages trips abroad next week. We wish all of them a safe journey and hope they have a fantastic time away making new memories they will treasure forever. We look forward to hearing all about it when we see them in September!

For those in school, we are beginning our enrichment week next week. Our year 8s have a great range of activities on offer to them including the Vocational Day, Flamingoland on the Tuesday and their own choice of three activities on the Friday. We are sure it will be a good week with a range of different experiences to be had.

Friday saw our annual Sports Day and what a day it was! Unfortunately, the afternoon activities were rained off but we had a great time in the morning doing the track and field events and then an hour of either rounders or cricket. Everybody conducted themselves brilliantly and really represented our year group well. It was lovely to see everyone cheering one another on and being supportive. We are a very proud year team!

We cannot believe we are at the end of year 8 and are heading into year 9 imminently. I wanted to acknowledge the hard work and dedication our tutor team have shown throughout the year supporting our students day in and day out in ensuring they are set up for each day and cared for: they really are our students biggest advocates. We are sad to be losing two of our form tutors next year: Mrs Robertson is becoming Acting Head of RE during Mrs Wordsworth’s maternity leave and Mrs Dugdale is expected to be starting her own maternity leave in October. These two form tutors have been a huge asset to our team and whilst we are sad to lose them, we wish them all the best in their new roles!

We hope to start year 9 in a strong position and wish you and your families all the best for a safe and restful summer. As always, if you have any questions or queries in the meantime, please do get in touch with the school who will direct you to us.

A message from the Year 7 pastoral team

It is hard to believe that we are now in our final week of the year. We are very proud of how the year group has matured, gained independence and shown resilience throughout their transition to us from their primary schools. We know that starting a secondary school can be a huge challenge and the year group have taken all of these challenges in their stride. It has been a pleasure to work with the students and we are excited to see them thrive in the future. Miss Cooper, Mr Deamer and Miss Stevens are looking forward to leading the year group as they progress into Year 8.

Next week we have enrichment week and will bo doing the following:
Monday – Flamingoland
Tuesday – PE enrichment (students should wear PE kit)
Wednesday – STEM Day
Thursday – Creative Arts Day
Friday – Enrichment Choices Day. We will finish at 13:10.

We hope you all have a wonderful summer. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to email the Year 7 team via main school reception.

Well Done to our final HOY awards!
Vinny Scoreby 7ZBL – For showing compassion to others in the year group and always being polite to staff.
Kat Whitwell 7HV – for representing the school brilliantly at the Yorkshire Show!

Well Done to our students of the week:
7ASU – Ned Gladwin – for being an excellent co-presenter of the News!
7CMM – Kester Ravilious – On a brilliant year throughout. Well done on all your hard work!
7PI – Lorna Smith and Ryan Pang – for a fantastic first year at AHS. Well done on all your hard work this year.
7HV – Lily Robinson – for an excellent first year at AHS, well done!
7MPE – Verity Kearns – For amusing me (and torturing Jasper) every morning with facts about Taylor Swift
7CST – Hannah Lovett – For having an amazing first year at AHS and getting involved in lots of activities, this is great to see Hannah. Well done!
7MLN – Emily Chamberlain – for having an excellent first year at AHS. Well done for all your effort this year!
7JHE – Bethany Snowball – for living out the school values every day
7BL – Tia Farrar – for trying very hard to improve her attendance in Year 7!
7ZBL – Brodie Barrow – for making the most of every moment of her first year at AHS. She has worked hard every day to show kindness, be an active part of our school community and set an excellent example for others. Congratulations!
7CY – Katie Oxtoby, Francey Lilley, Maisie Smith – for being fanctastic form buddies last week. Well done

Word of the week

The word of the week for week commencing 17 July is:

Professional

Adjective: Engaged in a specific activity as one’s main paid occupation.

“He turned professional at 19”.

Collective Worship

Theme
This week, as we head into the summer holidays, our daily quotes are all inspired by the theme of selfless love. A goal worthy of our aspiration.

Quotes
Monday – “We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.” – Henri Nouwen, 20th century Dutch priest and writer

Tuesday – “Love by its very nature is not selfish, but generous. It seeks not its own, but the good of others.” – Fulton J Sheen, 20th century Catholic Bishop and broadcaster

Wednesday – “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa, Catholic nun and Indian charity worker & missionary

Thursday – “Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill in self-giving love.” – Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader, known as Mahatma meaning ‘Great Soul’

Friday – “Our greatest fulfilment lies in giving ourselves to others.” – Henri Nouwen, 20th century Dutch priest and writer