Weekly Information - Friday 4th October 2024
- Hot Chocolate with the Head 04/10/24
- Iceland Trip 2025: Book your place
- Learning Resource Centre Update
- Reminder: End of Term Arrangements
- Temporary Change to Bus Route 807
- Employability Skills Collaboration
- Year 7 Spotlight - Form 7L
- Wear It Yellow - Thursday 10th October
- Art Success at Alrewas Show
- Reminder: Year 10 Work Experience
- Walk to School Month
- Post 16 College Open Evenings
- Barton Fire Station Event & Recruitment
- Information provided by Staffordshire Police about e-scooters
- School Photographs
- Calendar Dates for your diary
- GCSE Religious Studies revision materials
- A Level Sociology: essential course materials.
Today Mr Blanchenot had the pleasure of meeting with Lexi (Y9), who'd been nominated by Mrs Clayton for participating in the Alrewas Show and coming away with some prestigious awards for her outstanding artwork.
Mrs Clayton said ‘We are incredibly proud of our pupils who won prizes. Congratulations to Lexi who won 1st prize and ‘Promising Artist Award’ for submitting a piece of work she did outside of school’.
Lexi told Mr Blanchenot that it had taken her two hours to produce the piece at her local Art Group that she attends weekly. Lexi cannot wait to be able to pursue her passion and take Art GCSE as one of her options next academic year. She talked about how she enjoys the entire process of creating artwork from initial sketches to the final product!
Well done Lexi, you should be really proud to be named as ‘Promising Artist’ and we’re excited to be able to watch you grow and open lots of opportunities as you achieve personal excellence in Art.
To see all our students entries, click here.
Miss Barker, Teacher of Geography, is excited to be launching the Iceland 2025 trip, for current Year 10 & Year 12 students.
The trip will take place on Saturday 25th October 2025 for 40 students.
Key points
- Students need to collect an Invite Letter from outside of the Geography Office
- Places are not offered on a first come first served basis – they will be offered via a random ballot
- Letters need to be returned to me by Friday 11th October so students haven’t got long
Please see the Invite Letter and Powerpoint Presentation below for more information:
If you would like any further info, please email [email protected]
1 The JTHS-Library Book Club celebrate National Poetry Day
On Thursday 4th October, our Library Book Club group celebrated National Poetry Day by sharing poems from some of our favourite writers, including John Agard, Michael Rosen and Leicester-based performance poet, Rob Gee. Poems were read aloud with great enthusiasm (and some interesting character voices!), highlighting the way poetry can capture the imagination and bring a little joy to our day.
More information on National Poetry Day can be found on the official website – www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk
Our Library Book Club is a group of over 25 KS3 pupils, who meet every Thursday lunchtime to discuss their current reads and explore new books and authors. A limited number of spaces are still available, so any pupils wishing to join the group are encouraged to see Mr Weighall and Mrs Stubbs in the library.
2 Accelerated Reader Worldwide Word Millionaires
Within days after the official launch of this year’s Accelerated Reader scheme, Year 7 pupils made a phenomenal start by successfully completing over 300 book quizzes. Scarlett (7H) and Thomas (7R) were the first to achieve the prestigious ‘British Word Millionaire’ honour, by earning a total word count score of over 1,000,000.
The Accelerated Reader scheme will run with all Year 7 pupils throughout the academic year, with regular reading challenges for them to get involved in. All Year 7 tutor groups are in direct competition to see who can earn the most Accelerated Reader book points.
Pupils can access the Accelerated Reader platform via our JTHS Intranet in school or at home. We hope that pupils will be encouraged to read for pleasure and attempt the online quizzes on the books they complete.
You can find out more details on Accelerated Reader in this guide for parents:
3 BookBuzz – a free book for all Year 7 pupils
We are delighted to announce that John Taylor High School is taking part in BookTrust’s annual BookBuzz scheme, which aims to get young people reading by offering them a free reading book. Every Year 7 pupil will be able to choose one of the sixteen BookBuzz titles that have been carefully selected by the BookTrust charity, showcasing both new and established writers across a range of genres.
To help our pupils within their selection, the BookTrust have made a short video providing details of all sixteen BookBuzz titles, along with each author championing their own book.
Click the following link to access the promotional video online - The Bookbuzz Film | BookTrust
We hope that Bookbuzz will encourage our Year pupils to read more frequently, helping to improve their wellbeing, spark interesting conversations and inspire creativity. For more information, go to the official BookBuzz website - Bookbuzz school reading programme for Year 7 and Year 8 | BookTrust
Early Closure for Open Evening: Thursday 24th October - School will close at 12:30pm to all pupils.
We are holding our Open Evening for parents of Year 6 children on Thursday 24th October – 6.00 pm-9.00 pm.
The school will close at 12.30 pm in order to provide time for staff to prepare rooms, displays and experiments. Bus companies have been notified and buses will be departing from school shortly after 12.30 pm.
Students travelling on the number 12 to Lichfield will need to catch the bus at 1:28 pm from Barton. We will provide supervision in L1A for these students until 1:15 pm unless parents are happy for their children to wait in the village or are being pick-up.
The canteen will not be open at lunchtime but will have a wider selection at breaktime for the students to purchase food. We will be extending break by 10 minutes to facilitate this on Thursday.
If your son or daughter has volunteered to help out on this evening, please ensure she/he has returned the appropriate permission slip (supplied by the teacher) and attends the evening in full school uniform. They should check with the teacher they are helping what times they are needed for; however, they can be collected from the front car park around 8:30 pm.
During the Open Evening, there will be a variety of charity events taking place where our visitors and students will be able to purchase a small selection of refreshments. These will be cash purchases only.
Friday 25th October is an INSET day.
The half term break is Monday, 28th October – Friday, 1st November
With best wishes
Mr A Reynolds
Deputy Headteacher
14th – 18th October - Road closure – notice of alternative pick up/drop off arrangements:
The 807 will still be running despite the road closure on Tatenhill Common Road , they will just be taking an alternative route.
They have advised that students wishing to use this service, should wait either where the 810/809 picks up (Rangemore Hill/Tatenhill Lane junction) or where the normal 807 picks up (via Main Street/Tatenhill Junction) this does not mean that they will need to board an alternative service. Please be aware that times may vary to normal service.
As communicated previously by Mrs Ball (Careers Lead), our Employability Skills focus for this half-term is: Time Management - Read more here
Thank you to Mr Weighall (LRC Manager) who has set Y7 some exciting homework, which incorporates our Accelerated Reader Program and Employability Skills. This type of collaboration between subject areas ensures that our Employability Skills are embedded across all elements of our pupils learning, not just one off sessions!
The pupils are required to read a non-fiction article on Time Management and complete a quiz - all the information is available to students on Go 4 Schools.
- Non-fiction Article from BBC Bitesize
Miss Wagstaff caught up with Jem and Jamie in her form this week to see how they have found their first month at JTHS. Whilst they have faced the usual challenges of moving to secondary school, it is great to see they are enjoying their lessons and striving to achieve their personal best. Well done and thank you to both of you for sharing your experience with us. Read more below:
What has been your experiences of JTHS in the First Month
Jem:
My first month at JTHS has naturally been full of ups and downs. I have made new friends which has been great and I love doing subjects like Computer Science, Drama, P.E and Art – they are really fun and it’s been good to try new subjects that we didn’t have in primary school! I feel really lucky to start the school when the Science Labs have just been refurbished. They are so different to how they were before and it will be great when they are all complete.
Being new to the school has its challenges and I have found it hard finding my way around the school, however everyone has been really helpful and guided me back in the right direction. I also use the bus to get to school every day, whilst this has been exciting, there was an occasion when the bus took the wrong route! After quickly realising, the driver was back on track!
Finally, I have to mention the food from canteen -it is really good, there are lots of options!
I am learning that you have to take the rough with the smooth and the rough will quickly get less and less as I get used to the school! The space and the freedom in high school is great and I’m excited to see what else my first year at JTHS brings.
Jamie:
My first month at JTHS was a rollercoaster of emotions at first. I was excited and ready for my new journey in JTHS but after coming face to face with the large gates I began to get nervous! But with the nice help and support from the teachers I made to form on time. I have already started making new friends, including Jem.
The lessons have been so fun but also challenging, in a good way! I have enjoyed my new timetable because I have been seeing different teachers and trying different subjects such as Drama and Computer Science, which we didn’t have at primary school.
My challenges include having to be very organised, which is really important at high school. I am managing to make it on time, but do struggle sometimes! When I get to school I still find it hard to find my way around, but I know this will get easier as time goes on.
Overall, I am excited be part of JTHS – thanks for listening to our experiences!
Jamie and Jem!
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Students can wear an item of yellow clothing. This could be socks, tie, hat, scarf, jumper, hair accessories.
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This must be worn with the normal school uniform. Students should still be wearing all of their uniform, including skirt/trousers, shirt, tie and blazer along with their yellow item.
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A minimum donation of £1 should be made to form tutors on the morning of Thursday 10th October.
Alrewas Show 2024
The annual Alrewas Show took place on the 20th July and we were delighted to be invited to submit a selection of our KS3 pupils work into the Art Exhibition.
We are incredibly proud of our pupils who won prizes:
Congratulations to Lexi C who won 1st prize and ‘Promising Artist Award’ who submitted a piece of work she did outside of school.
2nd prize and the ‘Best in Show’ trophy was awarded to Rebekah S-G for her outstanding painting of herself in the style of the artist Henri Rousseau
3rd prize went to Aisha S- The judges loved her interpretation of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’
Highly Commended were Adam C, Bethan P and Grace G
Prizes, certificates, and rosettes will be presented during assemblies.
Well done to all the pupils whose work was entered, and as always, we look forward to next year’s show!
We are encouraging pupils to take part in Walk to School Month this October. Walking is a healthy, active and non-polluting way of getting to school. For those that live too far away to walk the whole distance away try parking 5-10 minutes form the school and walking the rest of the way. Walking also promotes a less congested environment around the school gate making it safer for everyone.
Good morning,
I am contacting you from the local fire station to tell you about a couple of things.
Firstly, we are holding a charity car wash for the firefighter's charity on Sunday 13th October between 10:00 - 16:00 and would love for people to come along at Barton Fire Station.
We are also currently running a recruitment campaign for people to join the fire station as an on-call firefighter. Please see the flyer for more info.
Thank you,
Anthony Doolan
Crew Manager
Barton under Needwood Orange Watch
Please see the attached leaflet provided by Staffordshire Police to educate children and parents around the limitations of use of e-scooters across Staffordshire and the country.
Dear Parent or Carer
Your child has been provided with information about how you can order a copy of their school photograph this week. The company is called Jane Stapleton School Photography (JSSP) and they have asked us to share the following information with you.
Please note:
- You will receive the child's individual online proof a few days after the shoot and their online access code will be available at the point of being photographed. This was a card that all students were given and may be in your child's bag if they have not already given it to you.
- Please place all orders directly to Jane Stapleton School Photography (No orders or money should be sent to the school office). This can be done either:
- Online- visit photos.jssp.co.uk and create an online account (this is a straight forward process); or
- Phone- call the JSSP office on 01773 717984 and pay by card. (Office hours 9.30am-4.30pm)
- Orders made before the final order date of 3rd October will be delivered to school within two weeks after the order deadline
- Any late orders after 3rd Oct will incur a late charge (£3.99) and will be sent through to home addresses within 14 days of the order being placed.
Any queries, please contact JSSP directly and one of the team will be happy to help.
Please make yourself familiar with our School Calendar which includes key dates of Events, Parents Evenings, Trips, Reports, Exams, Holidays & Inset Days