Weekly Information - Thursday 3rd March 2022

School Organisation – Parent Survey

At this time of year we begin to look at our curriculum for September and plan for our new timetables. Last year we conducted a survey to collate some feedback on the structure of the school day as part of our COVID response curriculum. We would, again, like to ask for the view of parents and students. With this in mind, please could you complete the short MS Forms survey using the link below by Sunday 6^th March? We will be sending a similar survey to the students and would appreciate it if you could encourage your children to complete this by the deadline. They will be emailed the survey directly.

School Organisation – Parent Survey

School Curriculum

Our website is full of useful information that we are often asked about. We would like to draw your attention to the Curriculum pages where you will find curriculum maps for each of the subjects we teach in school. These maps detail the topics that are going to be delivered throughout the year. We would like to encourage you to visit the website and look at this information. We have added in the topics that are being delivered for our Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) programme which is delivered through the tutor programme. This is particularly useful to help with some of the conversations that you may have with your children at home about our curriculum. The information can be found on this link:

John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

We hope that you find this information useful. We are adding to this information on a regular basis.

This 'Kind Minds’ newsletter has been produced by several partner organisations across Staffordshire with the aim of pulling together useful information about children & young people's mental health and emotional wellbeing.

SEN Dept 

Online Grooming - A Guide for Parents

With the scale of online grooming getting worse every year it is important that parents are empowered with good information. The Internet Watch Foundation have put together a brilliant guide which is split into 3 sections. The first describes what online CSE is, the second answers questions and gives practical advice, and the third informs parents what to do if they are suspicious.

The downloadable PDF can be found HERE.

On Wednesday 16^th March we will be holding Year 9 Parents’ Evening. This will be a virtual event with all appointments taking place via video call. We will be using an electronic system called ‘SchoolCloud’.

Appointments will be set at 5 minutes and will finish when this time has elapsed. This will sit in a time slot of 6 minutes which is designed to allow teachers to quickly prepare for their next appointment. If you feel that you need a longer discussion with either the Head of Year or a subject teacher, this should be arranged by contacting school directly. The 5-minute slot will give enough time for a brief discussion around progress for all subjects. Video calls will automatically end at 5 minutes, this is part of the system and please do not think that the teacher has ended it abruptly if this happens, they have no control over this.

Please ensure that you have logged in at least 10 minutes prior to your first appointment to take into account the time required to check sound and your camera. You will also need to ensure that you have a good WiFi connection to avoid any technical issues. It may not be possible to book an appointment with all of your child's teachers, if this is the case and you wish to discuss your child's progress, you may contact [email protected] after Parents' evening to request that you are contacted by your child's teacher.

Please use the e-mail address and your child's preferred name that you have provided to school, otherwise the system will not recognise you when you login. Instructions on how to use the system are included on the following links:

Parent guide to booking appointments

Parent guide to video appointments

The system will be open for parental bookings on Tuesday 8th March at 6pm until Tuesday 15th March at 6pm.

Whilst we do not envisage you having any problems making appointments, if you do experience difficulties please contact the Staff Office team on the following email. If after reading the guide to video calls you believe this may be problematic, you may also use this email: [email protected]

A trip was organised by the PE department for 14 Year 9 pupils to attend Derby County Football club training ground recently. A number of activities were arranged for the pupils at the ground, along side a chat with ex John Taylor pupil Max Bird, who plays for the Derby first team.

Below are some of the quotes that the students wrote about the trip.

 “Today we went to Derby County football clubs training ground for a tour to see pitches, facilities and speak to a couple of players. First, we went to a classroom where we met Max Bird the Derby County first team player. We asked a couple of questions to him, and he told us about his journey of how he became a professional footballer. The head of Derby County Recruitment Josh Butler, told us all about academies and how they work. This included talking about games, catching up on schoolwork and what other jobs are involved in football.

Then the Head of Analysis, Peter Shuttleworth talked about how analysis works and what it does. Simon Ord the head of Education and Welfare took us around the site to see areas like the gym, pool, the indoor Astro and even a couple of the 17 pitches on the site. As an extra we went to see the first team training and even met Wayne Rooney for a picture.”

“Today we went to Derby County football club training ground for a tour around the facilities. We went into a classroom where we met Max Bird, an ex-student of John Taylor High School. He told us about his life at John Taylor and what is was like being in the academy for Derby County. We were able to ask him questions such as who was the toughest player he had played against, his worst injury, his favourite player and what club he supports.”

“After that Josh Butler came in to talk about recruitment and the pre- academy, he talked about recruitment and scouting. Josh showed us some of the players who had been at the club since they were very young. Pete Shutterworth and Ben Warner talked to us about analysis drones and said that the drones were used to record the training of the first team and used to help analyse the games and help with tactics for the following weekend.”

 “Then we had a tour around the place and got to see the pitches and the gym , indoor Astro pitch  and a pool then we watched the first team train and Wayne Rooney came over to talk to us” 

A message from Simon Ord, Head of Education and Welfare said about the John Taylor students who went,

“The group were a credit to you and the school. Asked some great questions and really engaged with all parts of the workshop. They also got to meet the manager and watch first team training which was a real bonus.”

Year 9 Booster Vaccinations

Thursday 10^th March 2022

Polite Reminder to Parents/Carers from the School Age Immunisation Team.

We shall be visiting school on 10.03.2022 to deliver the MenACWY/DTP vaccines to Year 9 students

Thank you to those who have returned an on-line consent form, if you have not yet completed a consent form use the following link : https://forms.mpft.nhs.uk/

Your School Code is AD136323

THE CLOSING DATE FOR THE LINK IS 07:30am on 07.03.2022 FORMS CANNOT BE SUBMITTED AFTER THIS TIME/DATE

Thank you

School Age Immunisation Team

Tel: 0300 124 0366

Email: [email protected]

All students in Year 11 & 12 will have the opportunity to take part in the 'National Citizen Service' programme this summer. 

The video below gives you a brief introduction to this programme. At some point next half term students will have an assembly to give more details of this programme. 

What is NCS?

Designed specially for 16 and 17 year olds, the NCS experience will give you a clearer idea of what you want from your future turning all those ‘No You Cant’s’ into No We Can.

We exist to engage, unite and empower young people, building your confidence so you can go out there and achieve your dreams, no matter where you’re from or what your background is.

You’ll spend a few weeks in the summer or autumn mixing with a new crowd, and taking on fresh challenges together. Before you know it, you’ll be rooting for each other, as you all tackle your own little hurdles.

Along the way, you’ll also get a taste for independence and pick up skills that’ll help you smash your future goals. And if that’s not enough for you, you’ll also be given a platform to get your voice heard and pursue a passion project to create a positive, lasting impact in your local community.

How can I get involved?

NCS is designed for 16 and 17 year olds. However, you can go on programme as a 15-year-old, as long as you turn 16 on or by 31 August of the year you apply for. If you have already turned 18 by this date, you unfortunately won’t be eligible.

Find out more and sign up today at the NCS site.

Thank you to those parents who responded to our request for parent feedback following the Year 13 parent's evening. The feedback is available to view here and also on our school website.