Weekly Information - Friday 11th November 2022

Remembrance Day 2022 

In the lead up to Remembrance Day, Friday 11th November 2022, the school community at John Taylor High School have been remembering those who have sacrificed so much.  

As part of our acts of reflection, all year group assemblies have focused on remembrance and why it is so important for all to play a role in this. Stories of World War One service men and women were shared, including those of Private William Coltman and Private Valentine Joe Strudwick. Reflections and discussions continued in registration activities and donations to support the Poppy Appeal 2022 have been raised with the sale of Poppies in school. 

As a final mark of respect, on Friday 11th November at 11am the whole school community took part in a two-minute silence. We were honoured to have the opportunity to lay a memorial wreath in the local community with students Isla, Callum, Joe, Imogen, Harley, Phoebe and Lily representing our school.

To support Anti Bullying Week 14^th - 18^th November staff and students are encouraged to wear odd socks to school on Monday 14^th November

This week the following students will celebrate their achievements with Mrs Cochrane. Congratulations!

A new school year has brought with it new STRIPE opportunities. So far this year, students have had the opportunity to develop their Self Manager, Team Player and Reflective and Resilience skills.

Year 7 STRIPE – An introduction to STRIPE

Last half term, Year 7 students were introduced to STRIPE and the key skills that are needed to achieve both inside and outside of school. We are starting to provide students with the foundations they need to succeed in life following their time at John Taylor.

Students started the year off by looking at their Self Manager skills and setting them up for their time at John Taylor. Students were asked to decide which items would be important to pack for school and to prepare their daily routine so they can make the most of their time each day. This enabled students to understand the importance of being organised for school and making sure they have completed everything they need to, whilst also having some all-important down time after school.

It was then time for students to put their teamwork skills to the test. Students were asked to work as a group to come up with a strategy to try and remember as many items as possible that were shown on the board. Students were asked to consider what they would do if someone in their team had a different strategy to them and how to compromise to come to a resolution.

Finally, last half term, students were asked to focus on their reflective and resilience skills. Students were asked to make origami penguins. They were asked to think about their mindsets and whether they had a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. They were asked to reflect on how well they followed the instructions to make the origami penguin and how to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

Year 8 STRIPE – Building on skills from Year 7

At the start of this term, students were looking at different types of emotions and how to manage them effectively. As a group, they were asked why it was important to manage emotions and what the consequences would be if some emotions are not managed. As a class, students then created a top tip guide to managing emotions which are now located on their form boards.

Team player skills were next and form groups put these to the test by facing different challenges. Initially students had to line up in alphabetical order and reflect on how effective their strategy was. They then looked at the key roles of a team and allocated leaders, challengers, doers and thinkers to improve their team player skills. These were then put to the test when students had to line up in the order of their birthdays.

To finish off the half term, students were asked to reflect on how year 8 was going so far. Students were asked to identify their top 5 achievements so far and what they would like to improve on. Students were asked to identify how they were going to improve moving forward into the next half term.

Year 9 STRIPE – Real life skills in real life scenarios

So far this year, Year 9 students have been putting their STRIPE skills to the test and applying them to everyday scenarios. During registration last half term, year 9 students had the opportunity to use their self-manager skills to budget their monthly salary allowing them to pay their rent or mortgage as well as budget for bills and food shops. Students have also been discussing the important of saving money when they can do so.

Following this, students have been putting their Team Player skills to good use to create a pitch to sell… a PEN! Students had to assess the importance of working as a team and the key roles that are involved with teamwork. After 5 minutes to plan their pitch, which included the brand name, USP and price, students had 30 seconds to present their pen to their tutor group and reflect on the key skills they used to become successful in business.

Finally, this half term, Year 9 students focused on their reflective and resilience skills. Students took part in a mock interview during registration. This involved students in their form asking each other questions which included explaining a time when they had displayed excellent team player skills, assessed their strengths and weaknesses and they were also asked to explain a time where they showed resilience. Students were then asked to reflect on how well they believed the interview went and what they would do to improve on this next time.

Coming up for STRIPE…

Coming up in STRIPE this half term includes a focus on students Innovate and Create Skills, Participator skills and finally their Effective Enquiry skills. Year 7, look out for the Antarctica flag competition and for Year 9 students, there is an exciting STRIPE Day on the horizon!

It has been a busy week for our U16 Netball team, starting the week off playing away at Thomas Alleynes high school. We started extremely well against a challenging opposition, chasing down loose balls and trying to get each interception. We went in to the first quarter drawing 7-7. Soon in to the seocnd quarter, TA were edging away but we unfortunately had to stop play due to a head injury with one of our players. The team were disappointed not to be able to continue and we left the game at 14-9 to Thomas Alleynes. We will be able to reaarange this game in the future and hopefully we will bounce back. Well done to Caitlyn on player of the match. 

Our U16 team then went to Deferrers and played in a tournament. There were 10 teams there in total which provided lots of compeition. Overall we lost 3 games, won 2 and drew one. We didn't get to play all teams due to the light. However, the team put on excellent display of skills and worked really well as a team together! Well done. 

Instructions for Year 10 Parents Evening have been sent out via email and Szapp this week.

Booking will open on Monday 21st November at 6pm and close on Monday 28th November at 6pm. Appointments will be conducted via schoolcloud, and will be on a first come first served basis. 

Thank you

Year 11 Dates

Please use the link below to access the school calendar and information on key dates for Year 11. This includes information on trial exams, reports and parents' evenings. 

- John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

St James’ Church in Barton have been working to provide young people in the village a space to meet on a regular basis. Please see attached flyer for details

We have been asked to share the following with parents/ carers by Chartwells:

We’re recruiting for catering assistants!

We’re looking for enthusiastic catering assistants to come and join the team!

Hours to suit and fits in with parents who want to work around school hours.

No experience necessary but great if you have worked in a catering environment before.

Please see contact details below to find out more:

Victoria Naylor – catering Manager

Phone – 01283 247811

[email protected]

Please see the latest newsletter from Midlands Families' Health and Wellbeing Service