Weekly Information - Friday 13th December 2024

The following students celebrated their achievements with Mr Blanchenot this week, congratulations to them all!

The week at Hot Chocolate with the Head, Mr Blanchenot celebrated a number of our star students who had displayed the school’s core values.

The first group included; Lily, Huw and James who had been nominated by Mrs Nurse for their entry and successful completion of the KS3 activities created for Parliament Week 2024.

UK Parliament Week (UKPW) is an annual event, spreading the word about what Parliament is, what it does and how you can get involved. It’s a great way to find out new things about UK Parliament and make an impact on the issues you care about. During the week, teachers were given a role within parliament, it was then the students responsibility to ask questions and come to conclusions about which teacher was who. Well done Lily Mae, Huw & James for contributing to the debates, petitions and votes, you showed so much perseverance and integrity. Read more here about UK Parliament Week: Home | UK Parliament Week

The second group included; Evie, William, Mollie, Brodie, Elsie, Jude, Lucy, Sonya, Scarlett, Evie, Holly, Avi and Viktoria who had all been nominated by Mrs Berry for helping at the Community Afternoon Tea.

The Community Afternoon Tea takes place every term and welcomes over 30 local elderly residents to join our pupils for afternoon of delicious cake, hot drinks and Christmas fun. The students took an active role in welcoming, signing in, serving refreshments and creating a relaxed atmosphere for everyone. Mrs Berry said ‘it was a joy to watch our students interact with our local elderly residents. I always say this, I honestly could not manage the event without the help of our students, they are an integral part of the Community Afternoon Tea’. Well done to you all for demonstrating our core values of respect, kindness and integrity and representing the school wonderfully. Here are some photos of the Community Afternoon Tea: John Taylor High School eNewsletter

Finally, well done to Erin for being the winner in the Geography Department’s Year 7 Antarctica Flag Competition. Erin and her peers were asked to help raise awareness of the threats facing Antarctica by designing a flag which would be taken out to Antarctica and photographed by scientists. Take a look Erin’s winning design here: John Taylor High School eNewsletter

To make a nomination for next term, please email [email protected]

It was a privilege for Mr Blanchenot to celebrate the achievement of Milo, Tegan & Lily at the prestigious JTMAT Exceptional Achievement Award celebration this morning.

The JTMAT Exceptional Achievement Award is an initiative led by Mr Donoghue, JTMAT CEO, to showcase all the remarkable individuals that we have across all the schools within the JTMAT.  Students can be nominated for; achieving ‘National or International status in any given activity’, ‘Grade 8/Diploma in music/performing’, ‘Fundraising over £5000 for charity’ and ‘Success in overcoming adversity’. Nominations can be made by parents, carers, peers or teachers and go through a rigorous selection process to ensure all criteria are met.

Read more below about our inspirational young people at JTHS who have won the Exceptional Achievement Award:

Tegan (Year 13) – Performing in televised programme/film & Overcoming Adversity: Tegan has raised awareness of Haemophilia through speaking out at conferences, assisted with providing information and personal experiences for bleeding disorder booklets for schools and participating in videos. Tegan has most recently participated in a video of her experience of living with a Bleeding Disorder the video was released on 06th April 2023. The video has been distributed worldwide and is used to raise awareness to within health, medical, educational organisations: Watch it here - Women with Bleeding disorders: A lifelong journey on Vimeo

Tegan was formally diagnosed with haemophilia C, Factor X1 deficiency when she was 5 years old. The condition is an inherited rare bleeding disorder. Like many lifelong medical conditions, it can be challenging and can have a negative impact on individuals’ daily life and in particular exclude participation in activities, events and work roles and placements. In the past there has been limited knowledge and education surrounding bleeding disorders and assumptions made around only males experience bleeding disorders. Research supports for years females have been suffering with bleeding problems and have gone undiagnosed or diagnosed after suffering a significant bleed such as through, surgical procedures, dental treatments, pregnancy and child birth.

Tegan has been a member of the Haemophilia Society from a young age and continues to support other peers diagnosed with bleeding disorders and raise awareness, knowledge and support to medical professionals and community member that females have bleeding disorder too.

Milo (Year 9) - National or International status in any given activity: Milo has been selected to be part of the England Karate team and attended the World Karate Union World Championships in Rhodes, Greece. Milo did fantastic and won all his fights in his age category getting Gold and becoming World Champion. Milo trains relentlessly about 4 times a week and shows commitment and passion when he is competing. He is very proud of his achievement!

Lily (Year 10) – Success in overcoming adversity: Lily has overcome her adversity and difficulties throughout her treatment after her diagnosis of Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. She has been brave and is a role model to everyone that knows her. Those that come to know her story in the future will also feel inspired by her story. When the family has cried she has always said something positive, she always knew that she would get through the treatment although there were plenty of testing times and further illnesses that came.

Well done to all the pupils across the MAT at today’s celebration. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by so many inspirational pupils have proven to show their remarkable resilience, compassion and hard work. This accolade was much-deserved and we hope you wear your gold pin with pride!

Following the recent advertisement for a parent governor, we received just two applications and the Governing Body thought both individuals would bring valuable experience and expertise to the board.  Please therefore join us in welcoming our new Parent Governors, Mrs Sarah Ermoyenous and Mrs Lorraine Bamblett, who will be joining the local governing body at John Taylor High School. 

For your information, we have also recently recruited a ‘co-opted’ governor onto the LGB, Mr Neil Wagstaff and re-appointed a co-opted governor, Mrs Vanessa Lewis to serve a further term on the board.  These two new members and our re-appointed governor and co-opted governor (previously a parent governor whose term came to an end) bring with them a wealth of skills and experience from a variety of backgrounds, and we believe they will be a terrific asset to our existing team.

Across three days this week, our BTEC Business Students have successfully organised a variety of events and activities, as part of their event management topic, with all profits going to charity.

The students were tasked with managing, from start to finish, a business idea that would generate profit. The students came up with a number of ideas to see which would be the most viable and would attract their peers and teachers to attend at lunchtime. The group of students had to take into consideration logistical challenges, budgets, marketing to their demogrpahic and promoting the event across the school.

It was great to see so many people getting involved. Sam, Lydia, Sam, Oliver & Alex chose to do a cinema style event, where they projected Home Alone onto the big screen in the hall and sell cake, drinks and popcorn. Over 70 pupils attended on both days and there was great feedback. Oliver explained that the profits would be going to Save the Children which was voted by year 7 pupils.

Tyrese and Dean’s group organised a dodgeball event in the gym. There was a great atmosphere as teams took each other on to be crowned the champions. The group were also selling drinks and cake to increase their profits which would be donated to Cancer Research. Well done to you all.

The final event was a water balloon game, where pupils got the chance to buy a ticket to throw water balloons at the Business students. As well as the water balloons, the students were also selling refreshments to make additional money which would again be going to Cancer Research. As the event went on, the energy and excitement built with crowds of pupils gathering to watch. Well done Luis, Max, George & Zaki.

To read more about studying BTEC Business at Joh Taylor High School, visit our curriculum map here: PowerPoint Presentation

Mrs Berry was excited to welcome local primary school pupils to our Dance Workshop, led by our Dance Club Ambassadors.

The workshop began with a warm-up and the primary pupils got the chance to watch our extremely talented students perform the routine they were about to do. As the primary school pupils watched the ambassadors demonstrate the routines, it was great to see that the pupils were keen to get involved and begin learning the routines, which they all picked up quickly.

The energy and enthusiasm was commendable and it was great for the JTHS Dance Club Ambassadors to not only teach the primary pupils the routines, but also talk to them about the importance of their formation and their spatial awareness which the children listened and adapted to perfectly.

As the workshop came to an end, each group performed their routine to their peers. The primary pupils were so proud to receive their certificates. Well done to everyone involved and to our Dance Club Ambassadors who showed kindness, integrity and respect throughout the workshop.

Thank you to our Sporting Young Ambassadors who have underpinned our core values of kindness and respect by volunteering to deliver Christmas gifts to our local elderly residents in the community.

The initiative led by Mrs Berry, aims to show our school’s One Community ethos and put a smile on the faces of those who may feel lonely this Christmas. The group of students set off on Thursday 12^th afternoon and delivered over 30 gift packs, festive treats and Christmas cards that they themselves had created and hand-written. Thank you to Mrs Smith and Mrs Gee in Food tech for baking all the delicious Christmas biscuits!

The residents were blown away with the kindness of our students and were grateful to be thought of at this time of year. Even spending a couple of minutes chatting with them at their doorstep made their day.

It was wonderful to see our pupils interact so lovely with the elderly residents which in turn gave our pupils that real feel-good-factor. Well done to everyone involved, you should be really proud of yourself for making a difference this Christmas time.

Thank you to everyone who took part in Festive Wear Day for Save the Children UK. It added a wave of colour, fun & festivity across the entire school.

We will be counting the donations soon, thank you for your generosity!

Miss Arif would like to give a heartfelt thank you for all the donations for the food bank. Burton Hope were extremely grateful, the donations will make a real difference to families this Christmas.

*Please note, this article has been edited on 16/12/24 due to some event changes*

Miss Crutchley, Head of Lower School, is asking all Year 7, 8 & 9 students to get involved in the annual Rudolph Run in aid of St.Giles Hospice.

To take part students can buy some antlers & a red nose (£1 each) from lower school office now.

Please make a note that this year's Christmas Dinner will be served on Wednesday 18th December!

We are delighted to share the details for our upcoming Christmas Concert in the main school hall, on Thursday 19th December, 6pm-8pm.

Tickets are available on Parentpay, or at Reception for those who do not have a Parentpay account/not associated directly with the school.

Please note: if you purchase your ticket on Parentpay you won't receive a physical ticket. All you will be required to do is provide your name when you arrive on the evening.

We've been recognised once again in the FFT Education National School Attendance Awards for being in the 'Top 10% of all FFT Secondary Schools in England'. Thank you to all our dedicated pupils & staff!

To read more about Attendance at John Taylor High School, click here: Attendance - John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

Consultation on Admissions to Y9 from September 2026

The JCB Academy is currently consulting on its admissions arrangements for the 2026/27 academic year.

The consultation period runs from 2 December 2024 until 31 January 2025. 

Further details regarding the proposed changes can be accessed here and you can view the proposed Admissions Policy for September 2026 entry here.

If you wish to provide feedback or require any additional information, please contact us by email to [email protected] or by post to:

Admissions Consultation, The JCB Academy, Mill Street, Rocester, Staffordshire,ST14 5JX

Please make yourself familiar with our School Calendar which includes key dates of Events, Parents Evenings, Trips, Reports, Exams, Holidays & Inset Days 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CALENDAR