Weekly Information - Thursday 17th February 2022

Last week the following students celebrated their achievements by having Hot Chocolate with Mrs Cochrane. Congratulations!!

Great fun was had by all at our recent Harry Potter Book Night.  Around 30 students attended the evening in the LRC where they were sorted into houses, listened to a reading, made house banners, played Harry Potter Bingo, tried Bertie Bots Bean Boozle and sampled some of our special concocted potions.  There were some great fancy dress outfits and huge congratulations to Hettie in Year 7 who won our best costume prize.  Hufflepuff were our house winners on the night. 

Lower school Students enjoyed practising their crochet skills on Tuesday - creating slip knots, chain stitch and changing over rows. Some students even made friendship bracelets.

Crochet club is every Tuesday in U17 12:10 - 12:50.

World Book Day Celebrations 

World Book Day will be celebrated at JTHS and across JTMAT on Thursday 3 March 2022.  A number of competitions have been organised to celebrate the event across school, including Book on A Door Form Competition, Loo Roll Book Character or Diorama Craft Activity, a Short Story Writing Competition, Drop Everything and Read in registration on World Book Day,  plus distribution of World Book Day Tokens.  

In line with our Accelerated Reader programme for Year 7s we are allowing that year group to dress up as a book character on World Book Day.  Year 7 students can come in costume if they so wish, but they need to be identifiable as a book character and have a copy of the book on which their character is based.  It is not a non-uniform day, so Year 7s not wishing to dress up should come in their normal school uniform.

We look forward to celebrating World Book Day with our students after half term.

During the darker evenings, many sports fixtures are taking place during the school day. We are unable to allow parents onto the school site during the day due to our safeguarding requirements, and so you will not be able to watch during these fixtures. Once they start to take place after the students have left the site, you will be allowed onsite after 4pm to watch. This is usually after February half term. Thank you for your understanding.

Please be reminded that Year 7 Parents Evening will take place after half-term on Tuesday March 1st. The evening will be held remotely via a system called Schoolcloud. Booking closes this evening at 6pm.

A guide for how to book and how to access video calls on the evening is attached for your reference. Please ensure you check your connection, microphone and camera prior to your appointments starting.

Parent Booking Guide.pdf

Parents - How to attend appointments over video call.pdf

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]

After half term, many of our subjects will be offering revision sessions during lunchtimes and after school. It is important to note the following:

1. These sessions should not be seen as the main source of revision for students. The most important aspect of revision for all students will be what they plan and complete outside of school. These sessions are extra.

2. Not all subjects believe they need to ask students to attend additional sessions. Certain subjects will manage to finish their curriculum in plenty of time to allow them to plan revision into the final weeks of their teaching.

3. This timetable may change periodically and will be updated on this page. It is worth checking regularly or asking subject teachers.

English 'Countdown' Revision timetable

Maths 'Countdown' Revision timetable

Science Revision timetable

Options Subjects Revision Timetable

After half term, many of our subjects will be offering revision sessions during lunchtimes and after school. It is important to note the following:

1. These sessions should not be seen as the main source of revision for students. The most important aspect of revision for all students will be what they plan and complete outside of school. These sessions are extra.

2. Not all subjects believe they need to ask students to attend additional sessions. Certain subjects will manage to finish their curriculum in plenty of time to allow them to plan revision into the final weeks of their teaching.

3. This timetable may change periodically and will be updated on this page. It is worth checking regularly or asking subject teachers.

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.

Exploring the subjects you love outside of school is both fun and rewarding - and it can help you make a great uni application as well! In this session we will look at different ways you can develop your knowledge of a subject and develop loads of other skills at the same time. We will break down the benefits of super-curricular activities and go through places to find free and accessible resources so you can get cracking - we'll explore all this and more!!

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a9EUnZmgSUS2-dpn3MMciQ

With over a hundred unis and tens of thousands of different course options in the UK alone, making the right choices for your future can be daunting! In this session we will look at different factors that will help you narrow it all down and get to grips with the big decisions over uni and course choice - different types of university, subtle differences in course content and assessment, and financial factors - we'll explore all this and more!!

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_noKCYN5XQBSEp5YVXxBonA

Full Time Apprentice Chef - Suitable for a school leaver age 16 - 18

We are interviewing now with the job starting after your GCSE's or A Levels are complete

Wages £11,255 - £15,982 depending on age and experience + Tips (average 75p per hour worked) for a 45 Hour Week with Paid Overtime

What Will You Be Doing?

As our Apprentice Chef you'll be working alongside our busy team helping to prepare, cook and present our fresh food dishes on The Red Carpet Menu. Working with our Head Chef and Sous Chef with their passionate, excellent (good fun) team, you can learn so much. We believe in training our chefs in-house and with apprenticeships, which are available for the right candidate. You will need to be prepared to work hard and keen to learn – fresh food experience would be great, but not necessary

Key responsibilities

• Learning to prepare, cook and present fresh food dishes to a consistently high standard, with a desire to progress in your career
• Ensuring you have high standards of food hygiene and follow the rules of health and safety
• Willingness to work in any area of the kitchen, from prep to pot wash

What sort of hours will you work?

45 hours per week between the hours of 9am & 10pm with no 12 hour or split shifts, and you will, of course, have to be available weekends and evenings

To apply call Rich, our Head Chef, on 01283 714982 to arrange popping in for a chat or download the attached application form, complete it and email it to us. Alternatively you could pop in and personally deliver a completed application form to a member of staff. We will keep this position for you until you finish school this summer but you need to apply now.

Red_Carpet_Application_Form.pdf