Weekly Information Friday 19th January 2024

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

Molly 10J

Hot Chocolate with the Head

Friday 19^th January 2024

We’ve had another wonderful week here at John Taylor High School and it’s been a pleasure to finish it with seven students who have all been nominated by staff, students and parents for a hot chocolate with Mrs Cochrane.

The group arrived into Mrs Cochrane’s very bright and sunny office, which matched our students bright and excited faces, as they saw a table of chocolate bars and mugs of hot chocolate to help themselves to.

Mrs Cochrane opened the conversation by highlighting that out of 1545 pupils across the school, this group of seven were the ones nominated this week and for that they should be very pleased and proud of themselves.

Ethan (Y7) began by explaining to the group how he’d been nominated for participating in the Geography Subject Excellence Award, an initiative run across the schools in the JTMAT. Ethan talked about how the project was linked to what he had learnt in his lessons and what challenges he had to consider in his proposal. Because of Ethan’s brilliant effort and contribution, he was presented his well-deserved certificate from his tutor. Well done Ethan!

Next, we spoke to Liam (Y8), who has clearly demonstrated one of our core values of ‘perseverance’ after completing 55 miles of running for Alzheimer’s Research. Liam explained how he decided to do a few miles each day to reach his target throughout October - he was absolutely thrilled to have achieved this and raised over £200 for the charity which is a cause very close to his family. We are very proud of Liam’s charitable efforts and wish him the best for any future events!

Our next group of students from Year 8; Charlotte, Matilda, Antony and Daria were introduced by Mrs Cochrane as the school’s 2023 Christmas card illustrators, which with the help of Mrs Whiting were selected as the best designs to be printed and made into Christmas cards. Mrs Cochrane said it was a hard decision, but she thoroughly enjoyed selecting the designs and distributing them to other schools across the Trust and the school contacts & governors. Well done to all involved, we have some budding artists amongst our pupils!

Finally, it was a pleasure to hear from Molly (Y10) who was nominated for being an absolute star in supporting Year 7 pupils with the school’s Buddy Reading Invention scheme. Molly enjoys volunteering in the LRC and helping the students develop their reading skills and become more confident with their literacy. Not only does Molly have a passion for reading, but she also plays the flute and piano and is thoroughly enjoying her Drama and Music lessons in school. Well done Molly, you have demonstrated our core value of ‘kindness’.  

As the session came to an end and the group finished their chocolate goodies, we took the opportunity to take a group picture (see below). Mrs Cochrane wishes them all the success for the future in the skills they 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].

Last weekend, four budding scientists from John Taylor High School took part in the RSC (Royal Society for Chemistry) ‘Top of the Bench’ competition. This was held at the University of Birmingham. Our team of two Year 9 students; Sam and Alice and a KS4 team; Ellie and George had to complete a quiz and practical activity.

The quiz was very challenging with questions from the next key stage for each team and our young Chemists performed extremely well against the competing schools across the Midlands. John Taylor High School was 1 of a few comprehensive schools to even get in the final! It was a great achievement and our pupils and staff were so proud of this. 

The practical activity was completed in the new inspiring wet labs of the Collaborative Teaching Laboratory at the University of Birmingham which was such a fantastic environment to work in. The four Chemists completed a Thermo-chemical reaction between citric acid and sodium hydrogen carbonate. It was fabulous to see the students work together as a team of 4, all taking different readings and measurements to complete the investigation in the allotted time.

The team were brilliant on the day! They completed the practical, obtaining good results, presenting correct graphs, in a logical and well-organised manner. The teachers were immensely proud of how the young Chemists worked, and hope they are now inspired to be the next generation of Chemists (at least to A-level with us!).

It’s the official launch of ‘Geog to success’ on Monday 22^nd January 2024. The Geography department are pleased to inform you that weekly revision videos will be released to Year 11 GCSE students starting from Monday. The department have identified key gaps in students’ knowledge and have collated this information to create weekly revision videos. Students can access these via the link that will be uploaded onto Go4Schools on Monday.

Following the revision video, students will have a 'Geog Your Memory' starter in lesson which will recap key areas within the video. Students’ homework will include past paper exam questions which will need to be returned the following lesson. This will help to improve students understanding of key content whilst also developing their exam technique further in preparation for the exams starting in May.

The first video will focus on UK extreme weather and can be accessed on Go4Schools and via this link. Students will need to use their school account to access the video -  KS4 

Should you have any questions regarding the revision videos, please contact your child’s Geography teacher.

Tutor2u have produced student workbooks for each topic area, and they are a fantastic resource to support you with your learning in A Level Sociology.

In addition to the course textbook for Year One of this course, I have placed the details of each workbook linked to your Year 12 topic areas on ParentPay.  They are £5.95 each and can be purchased through the school at any time.  I would highly recommend purchasing these workbooks as they will be very useful for organising your revision notes and give useful tips for answering the different types of exam questions.

Thanks,

Miss Broderick

With winter now in full swing, the New Year is a prime opportunity for parents to familiarise themselves with some of the common illnesses that could disrupt children's studies or even cause more serious illness in coming weeks.

Click on the link below to read the UK Health Security Agency blog for more information:

A parent’s guide to keeping kids healthy this school term - UK Health Security Agency (blog.gov.uk)

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