Weekly Information - Friday 29th September 2023

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

We have received the proofs of the individual school photographs that were taken of the students at the start of term. These will be coming home with the students over then next few days. Please check with your child that they have them. If not, please can they check with their form tutor in the first instance. The deadline for placing any order with JSSP is 9^th October 2023.

Please find updated information regarding student attendance and absence at John Taylor High School:

Reporting a student’s absence: Please can we ask that all absences for all students are reported to our dedicated absence line: 01283 247858.

Please ensure you tell us:

• Your child’s name
• Your name
• Their tutor group
• The reason for absence.

Absences must be reported each day the child is absent.

Medical appointments in a school day:

Appointments should where possible, be arranged outside of the school day. If they are unable to be scheduled at any other time, please provide us with details about the appointment before the absence is taken.

Should your child have an ongoing medical illness please do let the school know so that a medical health care plan can be completed.

Students in Years 7-11 who are leaving site for appointments during the day must be collected by a parent / carer. Students should present themselves at the Data Hub where they will sign out and wait for a parent / carer to arrive, before meeting the parent / carer in the main reception area.

If the student is being collected by another adult, parents / carers must inform the school in advance who will be collecting the child. For safeguarding reasons, we will not allow any student to leave school premises with another adult without prior consent. Attempting to gain consent at the time the student is being collected may result in a delay in the student being permitted to leave site.

Students will not be permitted to leave in a taxi alone even if this is pre-booked by a parent.

Request for leave of absence:

All requests for Leave of Absence must be submitted via the following form:

JTHS Leave of Absence request form

You must provide documents to support the reason for absence e.g. proof of travel, exam or competition confirmation.

Headteachers are unable to authorise leave of absence in term time unless the reasons for this are deemed to be exceptional.

Leave of absence which is deemed not to be exceptional, or is not applied for prior to the absence being taken, is classed as unauthorised leave of absence.

Any period of unauthorised leave of absence may result in a parent receiving a penalty notice fine. Should a fixed penalty notice be issued, the fine applies to ‘per parent/carer and per child’. This is regardless of who applied for the leave. Currently the parent has 3 choices:

• A fine of £60 if paid within 21 days
• A fine of £120 is paid after 21 days but within 28 days
• In the case of a non-payment of the fine then notice will be withdrawn and will trigger the fast-track prosecution process under the provisions of section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996. If found ‘guilty’ then this would result in a criminal record for that parent.

Late arrivals:

We kindly request that all students are on site, ready for registration, at 8.55am. Students arriving after 9am will be recorded as late arriving to school. An accumulation of late arrivals may lead to behaviour sanctions. Should a student arrive late due to dedicated school transport issues, their late arrival will not be recorded as late.

Attendance expectations:

At John Taylor High School, we believe that students need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education and to fulfil their potential. Missing school leaves students vulnerable to falling behind.

The reason which is most often provided for a student to be absent from school, is that they are too unwell. At John Taylor High School, during the academic year 2022-23, 19099 sessions or 9549.5 days, were lost due to students being too unwell to attend. We ask that as far as possible, parents and carers encourage their children to be up early enough to have a healthy breakfast before they come to school and ensure they follow a healthy lifestyle including the appropriate amount of sleep, exercise, relaxation and study.

The following text is taken from a recent letter to school leaders from the Government’s Chief Medical Officer and gives some useful advice to parents:

“We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused some parents to feel less confident with assessing whether their child is well enough to be in school so we have laid out some information which we hope you will find helpful.

There is wide agreement among health professionals and educational professionals that school attendance is vital to the life chances of children and young people. Being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation throughout the life course. The greatest benefits come from children and young people attending school regularly.

It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses. This would include general cold symptoms: a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. However, children should not be sent to school if they have a temperature of 38°C or above. We would encourage you to share the NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance with parents and carers in your schools and communities which has further information.

In addition to respiratory illnesses, we are aware that more children may be absent from school due to symptoms of anxiety than before the pandemic. Worry and mild or moderate anxiety, whilst sometimes difficult emotions, can be a normal part of growing up for many children and young people. Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues. A prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it.”

Absences of more than 5 days

Should a student be absent for more than 5 consecutive school days due to illness, additional documentation is requested to support and validate this prolonged absence from school. This can be emailed into school at [email protected] Should your child have any ongoing medical issues, please do let the school know as a Medical Health Care Plan may need to be completed.

At John Taylor High School, we are proud of our high expectations and the positive collaboration with our students, parents, carers and other key stake holders, which enables us to achieve high attendance levels. We believe that students need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education and to fulfil their potential.

Parents/Carers of our Year 7 students are warmly invited to our annual Service of Welcome on Friday 6th October at 9.10am at St James' Church, Barton.

Please see details in the letter below.

John Taylor High School’s Sixth Form Open Evening & Resources

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to attend our Sixth Form Open Evening on Thursday 12^th October. You will need to book tickets (via Eventbrite or our website) to attend subject specific presentations at the times outlined below, therefore, the maximum number of subject presentations you will be able to attend is 5: 

• 6.00pm to 6.15pm
• 6.25pm to 6.40pm
• 6.50pm to 7.05pm
• 7.15pm to 7.30pm
• 7.40pm to 7.55pm

Please ensure that you book a ticket for each person attending the evening so that there is a seat for each person. This will ensure that rooms are not overcrowded. If a presentation slot is full or you are unable to attend, we have provided a copy of all presentations on our website. These will also be available throughout the year to support the decision-making process.

Over the next few weeks, please take your time to read about the full range of courses that we offer and the entry requirements for each course. You may want to review your son/daughter’s projected grades on www.go4schools.com when making decisions about how suitable a course is to pursue in the sixth form. Students have also been advised to think about their Post 18 opportunities when making subject choices, for example, if they have a particular university course in mind, I would suggest that you log on to www.ucas.com to search for the course and review their entry requirements, as they may stipulate that a certain subject is taken at A Level. Universities will also accept vocational courses as an equivalent qualification to A Level. If you require any advice, please do not hesitate to contact the Sixth Form office by e-mailing [email protected].

The application process:

As your son/daughter is currently a student at John Taylor High School, they are not required to complete an application form to join our sixth form. However, they will need to inform their form tutor that they require a place. The sixth form application process is as follows: 

Students will need to select a minimum of three subjects to study in the Sixth Form. Below is a table called ‘Y12 Option Blocks 2024-2024’ which includes the subject combinations that can be selected. It is important that students select only one subject per column (minimum of three subjects in total). Vocational courses are listed in the bottom section of the table. Students can select a mixture of A Level and Vocational courses. If a vocational course is selected which is equivalent to more than one A Level, it will have a number after its name e.g. 2. This will mean that the same subject will need to be selected in the other column, for example, if a student selected BTEC Sport 2 in Block C, they would also need to select BTEC Sport 2 in Block D. This would mean that the student would then be able to select their third or fourth subject from Blocks A and B.

Students who are projected to achieve mainly grade 3s and below would be best suited to a Level 2 course for their next pathway. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer these courses at John Taylor High School, however other local providers do offer them. You may want to explore the following local providers for Level 2 courses:

Burton and South Derbyshire College https://www.bsdc.ac.uk/

Paget High School Sixth Form https://www.paget.staffs.sch.uk/sixth-form - Business, IT and Health & Social Care

South Staffs College Lichfield Campus https://www.southstaffs.ac.uk/courses/

Miss Spurrier ([email protected]) as the Work-Related Learning Coordinator, will be ensuring that all Year 11 students are also provided with a 30-minute Career Guidance interview with a Level 6 trained Advisor to further support Post 16 decisions.

I hope that the information provided supports you through this process and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself via e-mail [email protected].

Yours faithfully

Mrs A Spencer

Assistant Headteacher: Director of Post 16 & Careers Lead

When: 17, 19 and 23/10/2023 (Webinars) and 30/10/2023 (Q and A)

Where: Online

What: A series of monthly webinars about the different stages of the application process, accompanied by a Q and A session which is dedicated to answering questions from the audience. This month, we will be discussing post-16 choices with focus on the qualification combinations which are beneficial when applying to highly selective universities.

More information and how to apply:  https://www.sid.cam.ac.uk/apply/undergraduate-study/access-sidney

Fitzwilliam College Y11 BME Taster Programme

When: throughout 2023 and 2024

Where: Online and In person in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

What: A taster programme for BME students with virtual sessions in 2023 and an in-person visit in 2024.

More information and how to apply: https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/opportunities-prospective-applicants/year-11-bme-taster

Are you undecided about the subjects that you want to study after school? If so, why not register for a subject taster session with Cambridge University?

Magdalene College Subject Taster Series 2024

When: 16/01/2024-31/01/2024

Where: Online

What: Academic taster sessions providing an insight into the range of subjects offered at the University of Cambridge.

More information and how to apply: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/events/magdalene-college-subject-taster-sessions-2024

In recent years, Health Education England conducted a comprehensive discovery report on virtual work experience programmes, underscoring their significant value as complementary to traditional in-person experiences, particularly in situations where in-person opportunities are severely restricted.

At Allied Healthcare Mentor, we are proud to have mentored over 15,000 students during the past two academic years. This achievement solidifies our position as the largest and most comprehensive programme dedicated to students with a keen interest in pursuing careers in the following fields:

Nursing
Midwifery
Paramedicine
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Dietetics
Radiography
Prosthetics and Orthotics
Speech and Language Therapy
Pharmacy

We currently have limited spaces available for the upcoming session on Sunday 1st October, 9am - 5pm, focused on ‘Communication and Fractures’.

Students can register using the link below:
https://alliedhealthmentor.org/product/live-virtual-work-experience-programme/

Please forward these details to your interested students so they can participate in the monthly virtual work experience days. It is suitable for students in year groups 10/S3/NI11- Year 13/S6/NI 14.

During the work experience day, students will follow 2 patients from their initial presentation to recovery. Students will observe the healthcare professionals as they interact with the patients and each other. Students will have an opportunity to ask questions and gain knowledge through teaching.

This will help students to make an informed career decision as well as learn about how healthcare professionals work together as part of a multidisciplinary team. Each work experience day is completely different, and students will be able to build on their knowledge of NHS careers as they see different patient cases and healthcare professionals work in a variety of settings, such as hospital and community.

Students will also receive certificates as evidence of having participated in the work experience programme. Those that complete the entire 5-month programme will be awarded with Highly Commended References too. Students can register individually through the website link below. Places are £10 a day to cover administrative costs and run the tech on the day. Schools can also register groups online.

You can learn more and your students can register for the programme here: https://alliedhealthmentor.org/nhs-healthcare-careers-virtual-work-experience/

We'd like to invite you to join us for our new Discover Durham Live virtual series. This is a virtual opportunity for them to learn more about what Durham has to offer. 

Our current students will share their own experiences with them, our future students! We're covering everything from colleges to sports and societies to how to start preparing for university. They'll also have the chance to ask all your questions. 

Sessions include: Applying to Durham, My Experience at Durham and Durham Colleges. 

Your students can explore and book the ones that work for them through our form below

Watch out for the zombies!

This term at STEAM club we are considering ways we can use our STEAM skills to help us survive in a zombie apocalypse. 

Last week we looked at how to create a pressure pad to help detect movement when stepped on, and this week we built our own parabolic solar cookers to toast marshmellows!

STEAM club meets every Thursday in L17, and is open to all KS3. Pop along to get involved, or speak to Mr McFarlane for more information!