Weekly Information - Friday 17th March 2023

As we near the summer exam period, please consider reviewing the follow information that has been produced by Ofqual specifically for students. It explains in clear terms how exams in 2023 will run including scheduling, marking (including grade boudaries) and dates of the results days. It can be viewed on this link:

Ofqual Student Guide 2023

Exam contingency days

Ofqual’s Student Guide 2023 (above) reminds students that all GCSE, A level and VTQ candidates sitting exams this summer must keep the following contingency days available, in case exams have to be moved nationally:

• 8 June (pm)
• 15 June (pm)
• 28 June (am and pm).

Students should be reminded not to book holidays before the final contingency day.

JTHS Exams information

The school website has a dedicated exams section which includes all of our exams information including policies and procedures. It will contain most information that students and parents will need with regards to exams here at John Taylor.

JTHS Exams information

We have recently reinforced the importance of attendance and punctuality through an assembly shown to all students in years 7 to 11. It highlights the potential impact of low attendance using research conducted by the Department for Education.The basic slides used can be seen on the link below:

Year 7 – 11 = 94.2%

Year 7 = 95.1%                                             

Year 8 = 94.7%                                             

Year 9 = 93.8%

Year 10 = 93.5%

Year 11 = 93.8%

Sixth form = 92.5%

Year 12 = 94.7%

Year 13 = 90.1%

We would encourage you to check Go4Schools in order to see up to date attendance data for your child and thank you in advance for supporting their attendance at school. If you are not sure how to access Go4Schools please see the links below:

How to access Go4Schools

NEW Leave of Absence request form

If you do need to apply for a leave of absence then we have a new form which must be completed, ideally at least 2 weeks before the absence in question. This is part of new MAT guidance in response to national updates and as such, these requests cannot be considered unless this form is used:

Year 7 – 11 Leave of Absence request form.

Sixth form Leave of Absence request form.

Absences from school

Should your child be absent from school, we request that the absence line – 01283 247853 is contacted each day to give a reason for your child’s absence. For instances of prolonged absences of over 5 days, it is the MAT policy to request further medical documentation to support the ongoing need for absence from school.

Lateness

Please could we remind all our parents about the importance of students arriving to school on time. We ask that all our students are on school site be 8.55am for registration which begins at 9am. Remember – ‘be on time, its 5 to 9.’

At any point, should you wish to discuss your child’s attendance or punctuality at school, please feel free to contact their form tutor or our Attendance Intervention Manager.

The following students celebrate their achievements with Mrs Cochrane this week, congratulations to them all!

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY/ FOOD NUTRITION

 

This year, the D&T department has been working on pupil recognition to celebrate hard work and progress. 

Recognition is a positive reinforcement to pupils’ engagement, encouraging perseverance and positive behaviour. It creates a positive ethos in the classroom environment and provides pupils with a well-deserved praise. 

Key Stage 3 pupils received  prizes for demonstrating personal excellence in the subject. 

The prizes  included personalised utensils and aprons for our star chefs, sketch pads and rendering markers for our designers and trinket boxes for our makers.

MUSIC/ DRAMA

The Department hosted a marvelous Christmas concert supported with a performance from the keystage 3 drama club.

We are looking forward to a summer concert showcasing the musical talents of our students.

A whole school production is now being planned with details to follow. It will be great to see John Taylor's drama department walk the boards once again.

ART and Design

The Creative Arts faculty prides itself on the enrichment opportuities we offer. Here is a small taster.

On Monday lunchtimes a group of Key Stage 3 students meet in the art room to create mindful art drawings using zentangle drawing patterns. The work that is being created will be used to create poster outcomes that give positive messages about wellbeing. 

On Wednesday lunchtimes a group of students meet to create hand crafted gifts for Mrs Berry’s community events throughout the year. They have been working on paper wreaths with paper flowers and messages of positivity. Other gifts that have been created by our talented students include hand stitched lavender bags, bookmarks and hand painted coasters.

The girls football teams have been very busy over the last two weeks!

Firstly, our U12s girls team played in their County Cup Final at Stafford Football Club and narrowly lost 1-0 to Kingsmead. It was a closely contested match and our girls pushed for a goal right up to the final whistle. This was the first time the U12s have reached the County Cup Final so it is a brilliant achievement, and the girls should be so proud of themselves! A big shout out to all the girls who played, Isla, Belle, Tallulah, Amillie, Emilia, Emily, Sara, Erin, Hannah, and Florence.

Our U13s girls team are currently taking part in a tournament run by Burton Albion and won and drew their first two fixtures. Also, our U15s are competing in the same tournament for their age group and won and lost one in their first round of fixtures. These are ongoing tournaments, and the teams will play more fixtures over the next few weeks. Both teams are off to a good start so hopefully they can maintain their form going into the next round of games.

Finally, congratulations to our U14s girls team who are through to the County Cup Semi-Final after beating Madeley Academy 9-0! The snow and freezing conditions did not stop the girls who put on a great display and scored some excellent goals. We now await confirmation of who and when we will be playing for the Semi-Final.

Next up our U15s will be playing their Semi-final so it is back to the training pitch to get prepared. All years girls football training is on Tuesdays at lunch.

Well done to all our girls teams, Miss Senior, Mrs Roberts, and Miss Joyce.

Firstly, congratulations to our U12s girls team who are through to the County Cup Final after beating De Ferrers 3-2. It was a closely contested match with both teams having chances in the final stages to score. But it was our girls who persevered through the pressure to stay on top of the match. Next stop the final!!!

Congratulations to both teams, all players should be very proud of themselves. We now await confirmation of who and when we will be playing so it is back to the training pitch to get prepared!

All years girls football training is on Tuesdays at lunch.

Well Done, Miss Joyce, Miss Senior and Mrs Roberts

A squad of eight U13 girls from JTHS represented Burton Albion in the EFL Regional Tournament at Sheffield Hallam on Thursday 12th January 2023. The girls had dominated the previous round of the tournament, coming first and not losing a game against the other Staffordhshire Schools.

The 6 a-side tournament was played in Sheffield and in our tough group we faced: Derby County, Lincoln City and Hull City. The girls did JTHS and Burton Albion proud, they continued to fight to the end and showed imense personal excellence throughout the tournament. It was a fantastic achievement from all the girls involved and here's hoping we manage to get there again next year. 

A big well done to: 

• Beth 
• Belle 
• Martha 
• Chloe 
• Bella 
• Isla 
• Tallulah 
• Florence 

We continue our girls football success with every year group still competing in the County Cup tournament!

Well done again, 

Miss Senior and Mrs Roberts 

The JTHS U13's Girls's Indoor Cricket Team put up an outstanding performance at the County Qualifying Competition at Fenton Manor Sports Complex last week. The team were undeafeated the whole competition with some amazing batting performances and some superb wickets being taken.

We finished top of our group beating Painsley Catholic College, Blythe Bridge High, St Edward's Academy and Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy. We then went on to beat St Joesph's College in our finals match.

As a result of our excellent performance it means we are in the County Finals on Tuesday 21st March. Fingers crossed the girls put up another amazing performance. 

A big well done to: Beth, Bella, Isabel, Isabelle, Laura, Emily, Isla and Violet

Yet again out U16 Netball team soared to victory this week in a convincing win against Deferrers. We took 2 teams across and won both games convincingly. Our first game, we won 9-3, with some excellent performances by Ellie, Evelyn & Amelie. Our second game started extremely fast with some great interceptions from both sides. Once we settled down, the goals started flowing and our confidence grew. The end result being a huge 25-7 to JT. Congratulations to Liv who was nominated as player of the match. Well done to all involved. 

TikTok - New Screentime Settings

Instagram has introduced new age verification technology. This will work for the following scenarios:

• You will need to prove your age if you are signing up for a new account.
• You will need to prove your age if you attempt to change your date of birth to appear over 18.

There is no age verification on current accounts, so we continue to advise that parents/carers monitor the use of Instagram closely. 

Please find a link below to a local project supporting students and families with Mental Health and Wellbeing. 

The project provides parents with access to workshops and support sessions, both in the day and during the evenings. Parents and families can also be allocated a parent support worker who is able to support them with supporting their child's mental health. 

Parent Support - The Burden Basket

An assembly has been delivered to Year 10 and Year 11 this week covering sexual violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment. Information has been taken from Keeping Children Safe in Education in order to educate students on different classifications of violence and assault. The presentation has also covered consent and capacity to consent. 

In addition to this, a case study example from Emily Atack has been shared with students about the impact of online sexual harassment and unsolicited indecent images. There is a full documentary available on BBC iPlayer called Emily Atack: Asking for it? We have not shown the documentary in school but have used media articles to share with students the impact that this online abuse has had on her. We have also shared the legal information relating to the Malicious Communications Act and The Protection from Harassment Act, both of which are discussed by Police in the documentary. We have explained how the law is there to protect victims as well as using the legalities to educate students on making good choices.

This is a very important part of our Personal Development curriculum, we hope that by sharing this information with you, parents and families can engage in positive conversations about protecting young people from sexual violence and sexual harassment.

If students have concerns and would like to seek specialist support please use the link below to access SARAC (Sexual Abuse Rape Advice Centre).

Home - Sarac (Sexual Abuse Rape Advice Centre)

If students have concerns in school, all staff are safeguarding trained and know how to handle a disclosure; our students can speak to anyone in school. In addition to this we have a number of Safeguarding staff.

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Dean 

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads

Mrs Harrison

Mrs Hickey

Mrs Heathcote

Mr Tywnham

Mrs Spencer

Ms Crutchley

Calling all work experience and apprenticeships seekers! This is an exciting opportunity for you with KPMG! Business, Tech, Accepting & Law!

Have you ever wondered how major business leaders make some of the most important strategic decisions? 

Does working on some of the world's most high-profile mergers and acquisitions sound exciting? Who do you think provides them with professional services and advice to be able to execute these deals? 

KPMG is one of the most prestigious professional services and accounting firms in the world. They offer audit, tax, legal and advisory services to enable brands to grow, succeed and maintain their global status. Forming one of the Big 4, KPMG has some huge profile clients, such as PepsiCo, Barclays and Pfizer. KPMG operates in over 150 countries, with over 200,000 employees, with revenues in excess of £30 Billion a year. 

On Thursday 23rd March 5pm - 6pm we will be hosting an insight event with KPMG to showcase all of their work experience and school leaver opportunities. This virtual webinar will be held via Zoom so you can join us from anywhere in the country! It will be a fantastic evening that will give you an insight into what KMPG do and what a career at such a huge global firm can look like. They will be sharing tips on how you can succeed in the future, and we will be hearing from top professionals who will be sharing their personal insights to a Big 4 firm. 

If you’re interested in a high-flying career at one of the Big 4 - you don’t want to miss this event! To find out more on how you could begin your career at KMPG… 

Click here to sign up now:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TDNFCQS <https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TDNFCQS>

Feel free to share this opportunity with any of your friends who may be interested too. As a reminder this is also work experience focused and we will be sharing all the details on this call on how you can apply and sign up!