Headteacher Update

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend, enjoying the sun and the opportunity to get outside. As we start this final half term of the year a reminder that each Thursday we send home the Weekly Newsletter, packed with much more detail about school life. Last week was the 400th Newsletter since I became Headteacher eleven years ago, which does now seem like a very long time ago! It was great to welcome students back on Monday for a successful first week back, categorised by ongoing excellent compliance in terms of masks and an excellent attitude to learning as I visited classrooms around school. I was also really heartened to see so many Y11 students back in school, attending subject and extra curricular based transition lessons.

The latest Student Wellbeing Newsletter can be accessed as usual via the link below. This links to the work that we do in form time each day. I hope you find it useful.
WB. 14th June Wellbeing Newsletter 17

STUDENT VOICE – Extra-Curricular Activities
At Archbishop Holgate’s School, we are constantly striving to improve what we offer to our students. With this in mind, we understand that the views of students are a crucial part of understanding where improvements can be made, and to what extent students understand initiatives that have already been introduced. We are therefore looking to expand our use of Student Voice within the school community through the use of digital Student Voice surveys. The responses we receive from students will help us to…

– Understand the views of students in light of proposed changes we wish to make
– Understand the impact, in the minds of students, of initiatives that have already been introduced

With this in mind, each week students will be emailed to their school GMail Account (which is linked to their Google Classroom and ends in @archbishopholgates.org) with a survey that we would like them to complete. This is the student’s opportunity to have their say, and will help to inform decisions made going forward.

This first week of Student Voice will be centred around ‘Extra-curricular Activities’ – we are looking to further enhance our Extra-curricular offer both for the remaining weeks of this year, and from September, and the views of the students themselves would be very much appreciated to inform any decisions made. Extra-curricular enrichment is something that sits at the heart of what we do and is now more important than ever.

As an incentive, we will also be introducing a Student Voice raffle, where a respondent will be selected at random and win a prize (to be revealed shortly!)

Students will be receiving an email to their Gmail account with this survey on the morning of Monday 14th June. Please encourage students to take the survey, and we look forward to hearing what the students think!

Head of Year updates
Year 7 – Miss Kincell
I hope students have had a lovely first week back in school, it has been great seeing them coming back ready and eager to learn. Please await the Year 7 section in the newsletter, outlining some of our key messages for this half term.

A key date for your diaries: Wednesday 30 June – Virtual Parent’s Evening. We understand that this is unusual, please get in touch if we can support with this in any way. 

Well done to our Students of the Week this week:
7Cy: Aiden Strangeways
7CAd: Haydn Toye
7Bl: Summer Taylor
7Hv: Kiki Braidley
7Hf: Amelia Jarasunas
7Gr: Gaius Sherwood
7Cmp: Poppy Keogh
7Mr: Megan O Hare
7Nth: Maddie Bailey
7Wno: Josie Shutt

Well done to our Gold Award Students this week:
Well done to Lucy Gilbertson for your excellent extra-curricular running beating other cities in the county.
Well done to Nathan Smith for your excellent delivery of the News in form time. It was great to see this being student led. 

The Year 7 Library Newsletter
We will be celebrating refugee week in the library. There will be competitions, poetry writing and hopefully we’ll make a display of welcoming hands. The hands will either have a short poem on them, or the word hello in a different language. We might even have some readings if anyone is brave enough to read out aloud.

In refugee week we spend time thinking about others, and what it would be like to move to a different country, perhaps with only one small bag of belongings. This makes us think about what is really important to us and why.

Details of what to expect from the library in refugee week are outlined on the poster in your form room.

Nonsense Poetry
A lot of you have been writing nonsense poems in your English lessons. Thank you to everyone who brought me a copy. Callum’s entitled Green really stood out as you can absolutely visualise the garden. The art of writing a nonsense poem is when you can substitute a real word with a nonsense word, but you can still tell what the poem is about. The nonsense words are highlighted and decoded below, but because of the quality of the writing you don’t really need them! 

A Nonsense Poem by Callum Miller 7CMp

Green
Green layers everywhere,
every direction for miles awere.
Fences guarding the garden,
taller than you egpet.
Space to play around,
plants that drouk buqout. 

Tremendous tall trees planted in the soil.
Bird feeders hang from the troil,
full of prsont seeds and nuts.
Blue, brown, blekom filter round the garden.
Green layers everywhere.

 (Key to the nonsense words)

Awere=around
Egpet=expect
Drouk=look
Buqout=beautiful
Troil=branches
Prsont=different
Blekon=purple
Please do not hesitate if there is anything we can do to support, please get in touch and ask to speak with a member of the Year Team

Year 8 – Mr Arthur
It has been great to welcome back Year 8 students for the final half term of this academic year. I cannot quite believe how quickly the time has gone – before we know it, it will be September and students in Year 8 will be embarking upon the next stage of the Archbishop Holgate’s School ‘Journey’. As mentioned previously, in their current phase of the ‘Journey’, students in Year 8 focus on ‘Opportunities’. As always, there should be a key focus for students in Year 8, to take as many opportunities as they possibly can. The extra-curricular timetable has been updated for the final half-term of the year, and I would strongly encourage as many Year 8 students to get involved as possible. 

With extra-curricular activities in mind, there will also be a Student Voice Survey that will be emailed out to students on their Gmail accounts (ending in @archbishopholgates.org). Please read the items specifically pertaining to this elsewhere in the Parent Bulletin. It would be great if as many Year 8 students as possible contributed to this Student Voice, to ensure that the ‘opportunities’ that we as a school offer appeal to the widest variety of students possible across the year group and across the school. Furthermore, submitting a response to the Student Voice Survey will also put your child in the running to win a prize! If you have any questions regarding this survey, please feel free to get in touch.

A big focus for this half term will be on students making sure they are back into good routines. This includes ensuring that students are on time for school, on time for their lessons, wearing the correct uniform, and making sure that homework is completed on time and to a good standard. Students that fail to meet expectations will be given a cod in their planner, and 3-codes will result in a Head of Year Detention the following afternoon after school. This message has been strongly re-iterated with students, and I am confident that students in Year 8 will work to a make sure they are in good habits and routines.

Congratulations to the winners of the Head of Year Award this week – they are…

Matthew Lilley (8WBn) – For continuing to be a great example to follow anda real leader in the form. Matthew has modelled our school values consistently since September. Well done!
Aidan Fewlass (8JHe) – For showing great compassion in helping a new student settle into the AHS community. Well done!

Well done – a £5 Amazon Gift Card will be on its way as soon as possible!

Thank You for taking the time to read this bulletin. If you have any issues regarding your child in Year 8, please contact me on aarthur.ahs.pmat.academy, or Mr Deamer (PSW For Year 8) on rdeamer@ahs.pmat.academy

Miss Turvey and Year 10
Thank you for your support over the past week in improving attendance; this is still our area of focus for this term. Our curriculum focus is on the Y10 exams and students have been asked to attend lessons, complete some revision as homework for each subject, and try their best. In the exam room it has been suggested that they wage WAR on the question papers: Write something, Attempt each question, Read the paper.  Form tutors, subject teachers and pastoral staff are all available to allay any anxieties, provide support and guidance and answer any questions. Please contact us through the usual channels.

Mrs Avey and Year 11
So good to see so many year 11’s attending the transition programme last week in their ‘civies,’ relaxed, familiarising themselves with the 6th form  and enjoying the programme on offer. It is especially lovely when they pop into the office for a quick, ‘hello, ‘ or do so in passing. We really enjoy reconnecting. We look forward to seeing them again, and hopefully others, this week too.  

A big thank you to the very many students and parents who donated their PE kit to the PE department who have been blown away by the response. 

Many of you will see that Project Prom was in the press on Friday as we have opened it up to all the other York secondary schools. We hope that it will be well used. We are, however,  waiting with baited breath to hear what the government announcement regarding lockdown is gong to be on Monday night. We will be in touch with more details about our Prom when we have that clarity.

Miss De Lashley and Post 16
Year 10 ‘next steps’
As Year 10 reach the end of this academic year we turn their attention to their next steps in progression and what they want from post-16. You will receive a letter this week highlighting an opportunity to receive information on post-16 options and the post-16 offer at AHS. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Year 11 Transition
Year 11 have joined us this week in their Post-16 transition lessons and they have delighted us with their enthusiasm, focused approach and mature questions. We can’t wait to welcome them into Year 12 shortly. You will receive a letter this week detailing GCSE results day in August and the enrolment process for Sixth Form. The letter will have a specific appointment to sit-down post-results to finalise subject choices and appropriate progression routes. Please get in touch if you have any questions.

 Year 11 Transition Shout Outs

Y12 Summer Exam Prep
The full subject support timetable started last week but not all students took the opportunity to participate and prepare for their pending exams. We expect full attendance for those students that are able to attend. Please encourage your son/daughter to utilise this invaluable support

Y12 Transition
Your son/daughter will receive a letter this week containing a lot of detail about the year ahead including the assessment timeline, the Extended Qualification Project and when to come in for a progression meeting this summer. Please do read it carefully and contact us should you have any questions.

A Level Results Day
Your son/daughter will receive a letter this week detailing when to come in and collect their results. We will continue to observe social distancing and certain time slots have been assigned to keep everyone safe and comfortable.

Year 12 Shout Outs

Year 13 Shout Outs

Collective Worship
Over the next few weeks we are going to watch some reflection videos from the Christian charities Thy Kingdom Come and the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust. Each week we will watch two short videos from young influential Christians across different spheres of influence. This week we’ll listen to Poet and producer Joshua Luke Smith share his love for Jesus and ex-Leeds Rhinos player Jamie Jones-Buchanan share his thoughts on the importance of silence.

“Listen to silence. It has so much to say.” Rumi; 13th-century Persian poet and Muslim writer
“A fool is known by his speech; and a wise man by silence.” Pythagoras; 5th Century BC Greek philosopher and Mathematician
“It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” Mahatma Gandhi; 20th C. Indian lawyer and campaigner for Indian independence
“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” Mother Teresa; Catholic nun and Indian missionary
“Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.” The Bible – Book of Proverbs 21: 23