Weekly Information - Thursday 7th December 2023

Mrs Cochrane is ending her week on a high after spending break time with ten deserving students who have all been nominated by staff, students and parents for going above and beyond this week. What better way to find out more about their inspirational stories than enjoying a hot chocolate with a very proud Mrs Cochrane.

As the students entered the office, the room instantly began to fill with smiles and pride. Eleanor (Y7) and Ewan (Y7) opened the conversation as the rest of the room learnt how fantastic they’d been at the Open Evening. They were nominated by a parent who described them as ‘lovely, friendly, helpful and adapted for their son’s needs to cope’. It’s great to see both Eleanor and Ewan demonstrating one of the school’s core values of kindness, one which Mrs Cochrane highly regards. Eleanor and Ewan both agreed that helping at the Open Evening was lots of fun, especially getting to see all the amazing projects happening in DT!

Next Adiel (Y8) told the group about her incredible dance achievements at the National Finals. Not only did her outfit sparkle during the competition, but her skills shone through as she finished in the Top 20 in the junior category, where she performed her tap dance routine. Adiel is also a budding ballerina but tap dance is what got her the well-deserved achievement. There was no doubt in Mrs Ellis’ mind that Adiel had to be recognised when she put forward her nomination. Mrs Cochrane is extremely proud of your achievements Adiel!

It was an absolute pleasure to hear Chloe’s (Y9) story as she told the group about her story. Chloe was invited to be one of five young flag bearers at the Remembrance Parade in London with the Navy Cadets, of which she has been part of for 2 years. Chloe described how nervous she felt at the Cenotaph but was bursting with pride and felt privileged to be chosen. Chloe would love to pursue a career in the Navy aspiring to become a Logistics Officer. We wish you all the best Chloe, watch this space!

The next student who shared their story was Zoe (Y9) who was nominated by Mrs Thompson and Mr Markwell for her success at the Burton Photographic Society competition. Zoe entered 3 of her spectacular photos in the competition, one of which made it to Judges Choice. Zoe then shared one of her winning photos with Mrs Cochrane who was amazed and could immediately see why Zoe’s photos were given the award they deserved. It’s clear to see that Zoe is naturally gifted and has a real eye for detail, well done Zoe!

Eva (Y10) was our next student to share her story as she told the group how she’d paraded with the Army Cadets in the Remembrance parade in Burton. Eva has been part of the Army Cadets for 1.5 years and in her words ‘loves it’. Representing the wider community is incredibly important to us as a school so we are extremely proud of Eva. Eva spoke with real passion about being part of the Army Cadets and has big aspirations to pursue a career in the Army. We wish you all the success Eva!

Our final nominees this week were Evie (Y7), Jacob (Y7), Rebekah (Y7) and Fatimah (Y7) who have achieved some fantastic titles in the wonderful world of Literacy. Mrs Collier was bursting with pride and couldn’t resist nominating them to join Mrs Cochrane for a hot chocolate. Evie has become our 11^th Accelerated Reader word millionaire, Jacob our 12^th Accelerated Reader word millionaire and Rebekah our 13^th Accelerated Reader word millionaire. Fatimah has been awarded our second double Accelerated Reader word millionaire of the year. What fantastic achievements! It was lovely to hear the students talk about their favourite authors, genres and what books they were currently reading. The Hunger Games was a popular choice amongst the children, along with adventure, crime & mystery being their go-to genres. Rebekah couldn’t choose a favourite, as ‘there are just too many to pick’; the signs of a true book lover! Mrs Cochrane explained how literacy runs through the core of school and how inspiring our students are to talk so passionately about reading. Well done to you all!

As the group began to finish their hot chocolates, we took the opportunity to take a group picture (see below). We hope you all had a lovely time sharing your stories and wish you all the success for the future in the skills you have demonstrated!

If you’d like to nominate a student who has demonstrated one of our core values or has gone above and beyond in both their school or home life, please contact [email protected].

The following students have been nominated for their achievements with Mrs Cochrane this week, congratulations to them all! 

Available to purchase through parent pay 

Year 5 and 6 Indoor Athletics festival at John Taylor School. 

On Wednesday 29^th November, six local Primary schools came to John Taylor Sports hall to participate in an Indoor Athletics festival. 

This event was being run by the Sporting Young Ambassadors and Mrs Roberts', Year 12 Sports Leaders. For many of the Ambassadors and Leaders it was their first experience of leading a sporting activity.  

The schools that participated were Moseley, All Saints Rangemore, Needwood, Walton, Shobnall and Thomas Russell Primary schools and the pupils were from Year 5 and 6. The schools brought 4 boys and 4 girls to participate in a variety of events. They started of with a boys then girls obstacle course which involved running, jumping, going through steppers and tunnels in teams of 4. 

After this the boys stayed on the track and did running races against other schools, whilst the girls competed in field events of Standing Long Jump, Triple jump, Speed bounce and steppers, aiming to jump the furthest or do the most speed bounce. When this was completed they then swopped over and the girls did the track events and the boys the field events. 

The sport leaders were amazing and grew in confidence as the event progressed, the Sporting Young ambassadors encouraged and supported the Primary pupils in both track and field through out the festival. 

Congratulations and thanks go to the Sports Leaders, Sporting Young Ambassadors and also to all the Primary pupils for having a go and doing their very best in every event. 

At the end of the session the Sports Leaders thanked the schools for coming and handed out certificates for the students to take home. 

We now look forward to hosting the same event for Year 3 and 4 in February. 

Mrs Berry  

As we begin to see the weather turning colder, please can we ask you to ensure students are dressed appropriately for the weather and you are aware and support the following points from the Uniform Policy and Guidance:

• Students are encouraged to wear a coat during the cold weather - the school jacket/blazer must be worn underneath coats when in school and coats should not act as a replacement to the school jacket/blazer.
• As the evenings become darker much sooner please consider how visible coats are when students are walking home/alighting buses. 
• Students are welcome to wear smart boots rather than shoes during Autumn 2 and Spring 1 half terms (Oct-Feb) but these must be worn under school trousers and not with the school skirt. 
• Jumpers worn under the school jacket/blazer should be knitted, V neck grey. Any other style of jumper is not permitted.

We are extremely proud of our school uniform and the sense of belonging it gives to our student community. Thank you for your ongoing support. 

The JTHS Uniform Policy and Procedure is available on the school website:

https://jths.co.uk/uniform-y7-11-

E_Bike_Scooter.pdf

CSF_Christmas_Safety_Tips.pdf

The 16–19 Discretinary Bursary Fund is a government-provided, means-tested fund available to support students who have difficulty in meeting costs relating to their studies. To qualify, you must be under 19 years of age on 31st August in the academic year in which you start your programme of study, and you will be expected to provide evidence of personal and/or financial hardship. Each case will be assessed individually, however, usually this would be based on a household income of £27,000 or less, plus any benefits you are in receipt of at this point in time.  

For further information, please see the guidance and application form using the following link John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk).

If you have queries please do not hesitate to get in touch [email protected]

Thank you

The Sixth Form Team

Our Virtual Routes into STEM Course is still open for applications.  This course is an excellent opportunity for students in Years 9 & 10 who would like to find out about the various educational pathways into a STEM career and will run until 2 August 2024.  Students can join and complete this course flexibly (approx. time to fully complete is 20 hours). We have some exciting live sessions coming up this month for students who are registered on this course which includes – A STEM Professionals panel and Careers Skills session – to view the full timetable click here - Live Sessions Timetable.  

There is a fee to attend our courses, but we do have a number of bursary places available so please do encourage interested students to make an application.