Welcome from the Year Team
The Year 7 Team’s role is to make sure your child is happy, settled and confident. We aim to ensure that every child thrives and flourishes during their first year here at Archbishop Holgate’s School. It is an exciting time, but also an opportunity for a ‘fresh start’; an opportunity to create a positive impression; an opportunity to embark on a new adventure and to be a successful individual within our community.
Form Tutors will help your child to feel secure and to make new friends within their form groups and across the year group. They will encourage your child to take advantage of the many clubs, activities and social events over the course of the year. As a pastoral team, we will also be there to guide your child and solve any problems they encounter. This is an important time in your child’s life and we will strive to ensure it is positive and memorable.
We will communicate with all primary school teachers and will have made contact with all students before they join us to ensure we have all the necessary information needed about your son or daughter and can ensure their transition is as smooth as possible.
Form Groups and Setting
Friendships
In order to ensure a reassuring transition process, we give each child the opportunity to choose who they would like to be in a form group with.
- We ask that children keep these choices confidential so that other children may not feel upset.
- We can only guarantee your child is placed with one child from their friendship list. Please ensure you put the surnames of friends.
- Students will also have an opportunity to provide a language preference, however please note that this may impact friendship choices if it is chosen as a priority and therefore a child may not be with any named children on their friendship card.
- Discussions with primary school around cognition and learning and behaviour also influence our form group allocations and, on some occasions, these may mean we cannot meet the requests on a friendship card.
- We will inform you of your child’s form tutor on the transition evening.
Singletons
Every year, several students are the only students coming from their primary school and might not know anyone else coming to AHS. This is nothing to worry about! We will arrange a special day in the summer for these students to come into school and meet other students who are “singletons” to get to know each other. If, in the meantime, you know students from other schools who you would like to be with in form time, please indicate this on your friendship form.
Year 7 School Meals
Break and lunchtime are very popular at AHS and we know that having the opportunity to buy your own food for the first time in Year 7 can be very exciting. On our induction day in July, all our students will have an opportunity to get their own lunch for the first time and staff members will explain how you can purchase items. We don’t use money in school and all payments are made using students’ thumbprints which are linked to the ParentPay account. Families can add money to this online and will receive activation codes from us. At school, students can buy snacks at break time such as muffins, croissants, breakfast bars, sausage rolls and milk. At lunch time, there are a variety of options and each day a different hot meal is on offer. Fish and chip Friday is always popular. As well as the hot meals, students can purchase sandwiches and take away food trays such as jacket potatoes. There are always lots of staff around during social times so if you are struggling with getting food please speak to them for assistance.
AHS Transition Challenge
Here are some useful challenges that will make your transition into year 7 a bit easier. How many can you complete before September?
Frequently Asked Questions
We work tirelessly to ensure you feel excited and confident to begin your journey with us. The Year 7 Team will communicate with all primary school teachers and will have made contact with all students before they join us to ensure we have all the necessary information needed about your son or daughter and can ensure their transition is as smooth as possible.
We will also ensure there is additional transition for all students arriving from a school on their own or with just a couple of children. You may also email the team any questions you have directly and we will ensure you receive a personal and supportive response which will hopefully begin to give an insight into the support, knowledge and management of Year 7 and the transition process.
Your first week will be full of excitement, fun and butterflies in your tummy! We understand the transition to secondary is such a significant moment in your life and we are utterly committed to ensuring it is full of joy, fun and maps out the stepping stones for your journey. How will we do this?
Your first day is slightly different to the rest of the week, giving you time to settle into your surroundings.
Your first activity is an Act of Collective Worship as a year group. During this Act of Collective Worship we will remind you of our expectations, values and behaviour. You can begin your journey with us knowing exactly what is expected of you and be confident about what your day-to-day life in school will look like.
Then you will spend the majority of your day with your form group and tutor. During this time you will:
- Meet your form buddies (Y8 responsible students who will help you around for the first two weeks)
- Play games to get to know each other and make new friends
- Be able to ask as any many questions as you like
- Go on a tour of the school
- Go through your planner and learn how to use it
The rest of the week will continue as normal. You will follow your timetable and go to all of your classes. Each lesson you will leave 5 minutes early and will be collected by your form buddies who will take you to your next lesson. At break, you will leave lesson earlier than the rest of the children in school and be taken to the main hall by your teachers, this is the same at lunch time. At lunch time you will arrive 15 minutes before the rest of the school and have an extended break until you have got used to your new routine.
Every day the Year 7 team will be available at break and lunch time to chat with you and make sure you are happy and feel safe. But all day every day you can speak to The Year 7 team or your form tutor to discuss any concerns you may have.
You will follow your timetabled lessons for the rest of the week, and start to meet all of your teachers. Although it is daunting at first, after a while, most students love the variety of different classrooms and different teachers. It really gives you the opportunity for five fresh starts, five days a week.
In Year 7 you will have 25 lessons a week. In some subjects you will have up to 4 hours of lessons each week, others you may only have 1 hour. The subject you will study in Year 7 are:
English
Maths
RE
PSCHE
Science
History
Geography
A Modern Foreign Language (Spanish, French or German)
Art
Design and Technology
ICT
Music
PE
Food or Textiles (you will complete one of these in Year 7 and one in Year 8)
The uniform is exactly the same for everyone in school but there is a different sweatshirt for Year 7 to 9 (claret) and Year 10 to 11 (navy).
CLICK HERE for a guide to help you buy the correct uniform. For all other equipment, you will receive a comprehensive guide at our transition evening in July. You will need basic stationary to get started, including a pen, pencil, pencil sharpener, ruler, rubber, scientific calculator, compass and a protractor. All students will also need a reading book with them every day.
Buses and walking to school information will be provided in the school’s transition booklet in June. We cannot confirm bus schedules at this time. However CLICK HERE to find out more about travel to and from school.
Every single year we have students who either arrive on their own, have had a tricky time in primary school or are just ready for a fresh start with a new group of friends. And every year it is successful. We ensure this through the following strategies:
- There are around 300 students in Year 7 each year; the year group is much bigger than lots of primary schools! This may be daunting to some but think of this a huge opportunity to meet so many different people.
- Form groupings are created on a student by student basis by the Year 7 team. Lots of thought goes into ensuring you have people in your group you have chosen but also a wide range of students from different schools and different classes. This will mean it is very likely you will get along with lots of students in your form group. In the summer term, we will ask you to recommend friends you would like to be in your form.
- Each student in Year 7 must go to at least one club per week. This can be a different club every week if you like. This means every single day you can go to meet other like-minded people who are not in your form. Clubs range from sports such as basketball and swimming, to subject clubs like science club and history film club and then interest groups such as debate or feminist book club. This means there are always opportunities for you to meet new people and learn new skills. Clubs take place at lunch or after school.
- Lastly and most importantly- you really aren’t alone in this feeling. There are lots of students feeling just as nervous as you are, all ready and waiting to be your friends.
Students should be in full uniform. It’s important you wear your uniform exactly as shown on our uniform section of the website. Everything you bring to school should be named (Write your name on the label).You will need a practical school bag (not a handbag) , pencil case (pen, pencil, ruler, rubber, pencil sharpener) and packed lunch (if required). Alternatively, you may choose to have school dinners. We will set up your cashless catering account when you first arrive.
On your first day you will receive a planner. The Planner is a students’ most important piece of equipment. It will tell you where you are going, when your work is due, who you teachers are– everything! It is really important you use this to organise yourself and your work.
You will receive your new timetable. You will have 5 lessons per day in 5 different classrooms. Whilst this may seem worrying at first, you are supported with additional times to get from lesson to lesson. You will get to leave before all other students and for the first two weeks the Y8 buddies will walk you to your classes.
You will spend most of the day with your form group and form tutor, spending time getting to know each other and understand the school expectations.
Year 7 is all about joining in!
Your Form Group
Students will see their form group and tutor once a day, every day. This is a great place for you to meet new friends and get to know each other. The form time activities encourage you to voice your opinion and see your peers’ interests and opinions.
Extra-Curricular and Clubs
Students can join over 50 clubs. This is an excellent opportunity to make new friends, learn new skills or just have fun. It is expected that each student attends at least one extra-curricular club per week, this is signed in their planners so this may be monitored by their form tutors. Students may attend a different club each week, meaning students could be at trampolining one week and MFL film club the next. It our aim that each student can flourish and live their life to the full. In order to fulfil this, the range of extra-curricular clubs is extensive. There are curriculum-based clubs such as science experiments and history film club, a very varied and accessible physical education program as well as recreational clubs such as retro gaming or Warhammer. There really is something for everyone, and a place to meet likeminded students. We encourage students to attend as many clubs as possible, students who have attended the most clubs each term will be rewarded. You can find out more about our extra-curricular opportunities here.
Rewards
Our favourite thing to do is reward students. We have certificates for ‘Students of the Week’ in each form, we have two ‘Gold Award’ winners who receive a £5 voucher. We have pizza party rewards, a Christmas Party and even a trip to a theme park.
Homework will be set by all the subjects that you study at AHS. Homework should take between 20 and 30 minutes per subject in Year 7. If you find it taking much longer or shorter than this speak to your Form Tutor. Make sure you have a safe place to store your books at home – even if this is just a strong cardboard box under your bed. When doing homework ensure you are away from distrac
tions and always complete homework early to allow for time to ask for help at school if you need it. Homework club runs after school, if you struggle to complete work at home then you can do it in homework club after school or during lunchtime.
Make sure you write all homework into your planner as soon as it is set, parents are expected to sign the planner each week to confirm that work has been completed.
We will be in regular contact over the coming weeks and months about different transition opportunities.
You will find even more detailed information about settling into Year 7 in our transition booklet which you will receive in late June.
In the meantime, have a look around the rest of our website, starting with ‘School Life’ which has pages on the following topics:
- The AHS Journey
- Meet the pastoral team
- The School Day
- Lessons
- Homework
- Extra-curricular
- Rewards
- School Uniform
- School Meals
- Travel
- Attendance
- Behaviour
- Support for our students and parents
Find out more about AHS
Our School Values
