Weekly Information - Friday 15th March 2024

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

Friday 15^th March 2024

Hot Chocolate with the Head is always a wonderful way to end the week for Mrs Cochrane, who welcomed seven pupils to her office this morning to enjoy a hot chocolate and talk about why they had been put forward for the nomination.

Mrs Cochrane began by congratulating four Year 7 students, who have been nominated by Mrs Collier at the LRC, for their outstanding literacy achievements. Noah has become our 2^nd triple Accelerated Word Millionaire, Sadie our 20^th Accelerated Word Millionaire, Emilia our 21^st Accelerated Word Millionaire and Fatimah our first quadruple Accelerated Word Millionaire of the year. It was wonderful to hear what the students have been reading and there was a real mix of genres including Fantasy, War, Historical and Reflective stories. Sadie told the group how she enjoys reading her books collaboratively with her brother so they can enjoy the story together which is a wonderful idea. Well done to you all, we hope your passion and commitment to reading continues into the future.

The next student who had been nominated was Rebekah (Y7), by Mrs Ball, for her amazing summary of the trip to Lichfield Cathedral titled ‘A spiritual adventure of wonders and awe’. Rebekah told the group how she thoroughly enjoyed the trip and loved learning about the Cathedral. It’s clear to see that Rebekah has a natural talent for writing. You can read her summary article here: John Taylor High School eNewsletter (jths.co.uk) Well done Rebekah, it’s wonderful to see your experience of the day come alive in your writing.

Jeffrey (Y8) was the next pupil to talk about his nomination from his head of Year, Mrs Bale. Mrs Bale wanted Jeffrey to be recognised for demonstrating kindness, integrity and maturity at school and how he is a role model for JTHS and other pupils. Mrs Cochrane was very proud of Jeffrey for carrying out the school’s core values in his day-to-day life and wanted to say a great big thank you for helping with the charity raffle, assisting in the science labs and everything else he gets involved in. Well done Jeffrey, you are an asset to the school.

Nathaniel (Y11) was the final student to tell the group about his nomination where he raised rasied £153 for The Bobby Moore fund by completing 100 ‘keepy uppys’ every single day in February. Nathaniel explained how he was excited to complete the task he’d set himself despite finding some days a challenge. To Nathaniel’s surprise he was awarded with a ‘Headteacher’s Commendation’ from Mrs Cochrane for his outstanding contribution and for representing the school so wonderfully throughout his time at JTHS. Nathaniel isn’t a stranger to being nominated for Hot Chocolate with the Head and Mrs Cochrane felt like now was the right time to present Nathaniel with this prestigious award. We hope you wear your pin badge with pride, as it is much deserved!

Well done to everyone who has been nominated this week. Mrs Cochrane found it a real pleasure to be able to listen to you all. Thank you to all those involved.

To nominate a student, please email [email protected]

On Wednesday 13^th March John Taylor High School welcomed over thirty local elderly residents to join our school community for the much anticipated Community Afternoon Tea event.

The local residents got the opportunity to enjoy some delicious homemade cakes and hot drinks, play games such as dominoes, curling, chess and table tennis, listen to our student pianist and get the chance to chat with students and other residents. 

The event, co-ordinated by Mrs Berry, PE & SSCO, is a legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games where we have held a termly afternoon tea for the local residents to enjoy.

Our school’s Young Sporting Ambassadors played an integral part on the day and did an outstanding job of welcoming, signing in, serving cakes and simply creating a lovely relaxed atmosphere for everyone. Thank you to each and every one of them, they demonstrated our core values of respect, kindness and integrity throughout the event and represented the school wonderfully.

Local primary Year 6 pupils from Shobnall and Thomas Russell Juniors also attended and joined in with the various activities on offer. They were an absolute credit to their primary schools, mixing well and enjoying the activities on offer.

It was great to see former John Taylor High School teachers, Mr Evans & Mrs Warriner, who said 'I had an absolutely brilliant time, fantastic company and wonderful children' and 'it was a lovely afternoon and what lovely children. I thoroughly enjoyed it, many thanks for inviting me.'

Thank you to Meg, a local resident who attended who wrote, 'Please pass my thanks on to Mrs Berry for organising the Community afternoon tea today, it is very much appreciated. Please thank everyone involved –, the Sporting Ambassadors, the volunteers, the attention of many young people circulating to chat, bring drinks and ensure cakes were in good supply – (they were delicious), and the musician who did a sterling period.  Please thank everybody involved.  Also thank Amelie and Ellisia for their letters which makes it more personalised, and the surprise of daffodils with cakes to take home. Many older people, myself included, live on our own and it is very welcome to meet up with others in a social situation for a chat in a lovely relaxed atmosphere and, of course, the tea.  I am sure it did everyone good – the young and the old (and all those in between!). I look forward to the next one.'

To leave a lasting memory for the local residents, they were presented with handmade crafts, a bunch of daffodils and a letter written by our Young Sporting Ambassadors. It’s safe to say the residents were completely blown away with the kindness they recieved at the event.

We all look forward to hosting more of these events in the future. A special thank you goes to Barton Co-op for donating the flowers and John Taylor High School staff for baking the cakes.

On 5^th, 6^th and 7^th March forty students from across the school were selected to perform in School of Rock The Musical, John Taylor High School’s first spring term production since 2020.

Based on the 2003 hit movie starring Jack Black, ‘the musical adaptation features an electrifying score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a witty script by Julian Fellowes.’

Jed in Year 13 took the starring role of Dewey Finn and executed a phenomenal performance with the help of the cast. Along with the actors and actresses, there was a real sense of team work behind the scenes. The live band consisted of both students and teachers who played a sensational set throughout the production and the Stage Crew provided an impeccable scene changes.

Mrs Cotterill, Staging Director, said ‘I am incredibly proud of all the students and team involved in helping make the spring production come to life. Their talent is unmatched, and their performances were outstanding.’

The success of the show has given the teachers and students a real desire for performing and look forward to future shows. The process of producing and performing to over 500 people not only encompasses the One Community ethos within the school, but it is great to see residents from within the local community enjoying the shows.

A huge well done to all involved, you are a credit to the school.

British Science Week

To celebrate British Science Week our science faculty put together the ultimate science quiz together for not only John Taylor High School pupils, but for primary and secondary students from local schools in the JTMAT who were invited to get involved in the fun.

The initiative behind the national event is to celebrate the diverse people within science, engineering and technology. Many of the activities identify fun yet educational ways to get real-life experience of how science is all around us.

Mrs Jordan, Teacher of Science, led the quiz which included a variety of Biology, Chemistry & Physics experiments. Each round lasted 20 minutes with practical’s, worksheets and identifying different science equipment. Mrs Jordan said ‘We do it to get students interested in science and allow primary schools an opportunity to get involved with science experiments in a fun and relaxing atmosphere.’

The primary quiz took place on Monday 11^th March with The Mosely Academy being crowned the champions. The secondary quiz then took place on Friday 15^th March and the winners were The Chase Terrace Academy. It was great to see the enthusiasm and teamwork amongst the pupils as they decided who within their team would take on each task. Thank you to Mike Donoghue, JTMAT CEO, for presenting the winners with their trophies!

To find out more visit the British Science Week website: Activity packs - British Science Week

Mrs Findon, Subject Leader for Geography and her team of teachers took 180 Year 10 students to the wonderful city of Birmingham, over 3 days, as part of their paper 3 exam whereby students are required to collect fieldwork data.

If you have visited Birmingham recently you’ll know there has been a huge upgrade to many areas of the city, making it a real visitors' destination. The students were tasked with investigating to what extent has the regeneration of Birmingham been successful.

They visited some key locations to carry out their investigations including Brindley Place, The Mailbox, Grand Central and the Bull Ring. They conducted pedestrian counts, environmental quality surveys and particularly enjoyed carrying out the questionnaires with the general public. 

The group were really lucky with the weather and are now back in the classroom analysing the results. Well done and thank you to all the students who were extremely professional and represented the school wonderfully.

We are excited to go on our next fieldtrip to Carding Mill Valley in July with Year 10 to look at ‘Rivers’, a much different landscape to our city trip. 

Well done to our Year 12 students who have completed their Mock Interviews this week. We hope it’s been an eye-opening experience which will hopefully be beneficial for life after school!

The interviews were conducted by ex-business people in industry who challenged the students with classic interview questions, whilst in a relaxed and informal environment. As part of the process the student’s were required to put together their CV  and a covering letter, and give the interviewers an idea of the type of job they are interested in as a career.

The initiative is led by Miss Spurrier, Sixth Form Administrator & Work Related Learning Coordinator, who said ‘at the end of the interview the students all receive feedback which is invaluable for improving certain areas of their interview technique or their CV. Well done to all the Year 12 students, we hope you enjoyed the process and got an insight into interviewing.’

To find out more about Sixth Form at John Taylor visit: Welcome to Sixth Form - John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

Thank you to those who donated to our Red Nose Day fund today. Our PE pupils dressed up in red with Mrs.Berry and Mrs Bonnett organised a bake sale at lunchtime with the House Leaders.

Our sports students raised £83.05 which will go direct to Comic Relief. 

Many thanks to all of those involved.

The UKMT is an organisation that promotes maths across the country.  Amongst other things it runs maths challenges where students are given a series of maths problems to solve.  Students at John Taylor have entered these challenges and done extremely well.  Some year 10 students have recently entered the intermediate maths challenge.  Dylan achieved Gold and the following students received silver: Daniel, Millie, Edward, Jenson, Sarah, Anah-Rabia, Ellisia, Krystal and Ethan.  The following students achieved bronze: Tilly, Orla, Ben, Oliver, Ella, Dylan and Scarlet.  Well done to all those students who took part.

Earlier in the year students from year 12 and 13 took part in the senior maths challenge. The following students achieved gold: Jacob, Harry, Malissa, Edward, Domnik, Tom and Ella. Jacob got the highest mark in the school and Ella went on to achieve a merit in the next round. The following students achieved a silver: Maryam, Niamh, Fern, Isaac, Josh, William and Lilia.  Alex, Ben, Kian, Muhammad Taha and Jasper achieved a bronze.  Malissa and Viktorija also achieved a merit in the Girls Olympiad competition. Again, well done to all who took part.

Look out for the results to the junior maths challenge which some of year 8 will take part in next month.

Many thanks for the fabulous donations for the Chocolate Hampers and a special thank you to Red Carpet Cinema who donated eight cinema tickets. In total £186 was raised - this has been donated to the local charity Miles For Smiles who support families in the local community. A special thank you to the year 8 Charity Leader who donated two evenings of their time to support the sale of the tickets at the School Production.

As part of JTHS’s ongoing focus on our school values, lower and upper school have been holding assemblies and registration themes around how we interact with each other. An important aspect of this has focused on horseplay and tomfoolery, which although not intentional, can lead to people being unnecessarily hurt or impacted by behaviors such as this. These sessions have been linked to 3 of our school values in the following ways:

Respect - Respect all members of the school community through the way we behave towards them and by how our actions may impact them.

Kindness – Ensure we are showing kindness to everyone in the school community. Any physical contact with friends or others should not be regarded as fun and is not kind.

Integrity – Doing the right thing may be difficult, but it is important to recognise that being physical with others is not playful and can cause injury to you or others in the school community.

We would appreciate parents and carers reiterating this message at home and having a conversation about the negative impact being physical towards each other can have on those involved and others around them.

You may have seen reports in the media around fines for parents choosing to take their children on term time holidays. This is actually linked to any unauthorised request for leave of absence. We felt it may be useful to clarify both this as well as the position of all schools in John Taylor MAT.

At John Taylor MAT, all schools are required to follow a common Pupil Attendance and Punctuality Policy in order to ensure fairness and consistency. With regards to legal intervention, all schools are expected to follow current local authority ‘Penalty Notice Codes of Conduct’ and thresholds for issuing penalty notice fines. For term time holidays, the Staffordshire County Council threshold for these fines is from 1 day or more. The full policy can be found in the policies and procedures section of the school website.

A new ‘national framework for penalty notices’ will be introduced from 19^th August 2024 as detailed in the recent update to the DfE’s ‘Working together to improve attendance’ guidance. This has been reported in the media but will not become active until next academic year, 2024-25.

The Staffordshire Sexual Health Charity (SSHC) a local charity which focuses on the LGBTQ+ community. 

They are offering JTHS pupils the opportunity to participate in their annual design a Pride T-shirt competition - the winning design will be used on our 2024 limited edition Pride T-Shirts! Last years winning entry can be seen below. 

The theme for this year’s T-Shirt is “Loud and Proud!”. We’re asking that all designs are created on an A4 sheet, which can then be printed on an A4 area on the T-shirt. Students can use paint, felt-tip pens or digitally create a design. Please avoid using pencil and wax crayons.  

Students wishing to enter their designs should scan and email their designs over to [email protected]  using the subject heading of “Pride T-shirt competition 2024”. All T-Shirt designs will be posted on our website for students to see, and we’ll announce the winner on the 17th of May.

The winner will receive a free T-Shirt and £20 in Amazon gift vouchers. 

The winning design will be available to purchase at Pride events throughout Staffordshire and you are also able to order directly from our charity.

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am delighted to inform you that John Taylor High School has signed up for a new initiative to support families and schools called Six4Schools introduced by the Birmingham Bears.

What is Six4Schools?

Six4Schools is an initiative by Birmingham Bears which offers adult tickets starting at £13 (normally £25) for their T20 matches this summer when using a discount code unique to the school. U5s are always free and 5-15 year olds £5.

Our school will benefit because for every adult ticket sold, the school will receive £6 back. As an example, if we sell 200 adult tickets, we will receive £1200! This is meant to be used to reinvest in the education of the pupils (for e.g., for: computer equipment, playground equipment, or cricket coaching sessions).

It’s a great opportunity for the school and hopefully a chance for you to enjoy the incredible T20 atmosphere at Edgbaston this summer.

To purchase your tickets, follow the instructions below:

1. visit: Tickets.Edgbaston.com

2. At the top of the page enter this promotional code: JTHS24

3. Select the Birmingham Bears fixture you would like to attend this summer (please note the discount only applies to Saturday 8 June and Sunday 14 July fixtures). If you did not enter the promotional code before this can also be done here on the right-hand side of the page.

4. Select the stand in which you would like to purchase your tickets. U16s must be accompanied by an adult and for every 1 adult ticket sold, 5 U16 tickets may be selected.

5. Make your payment using your credit/debit card

You will receive your tickets via email.

It would be fantastic to see as many parents as possible take advantage of this offer to head to Edgbaston this summer to watch some exciting cricket and in the process help us win the interactive board!

Yours Sincerely,

Miss Dean

Calling all female and non-binary students who are interested in studying a science subject at University

What is it?

The Enigma Summer School is an exciting three-day programme aimed at female and non-binary students who are interested in studying a science subject at University. Named after the original Enigma machine gifted to Sidney Sussex (which they can interact with at the end of the residential!), the programme provides a great opportunity to find out more about what it is like to study sciences further and be a student at university.

Date and Place

In 2024, Enigma will take place between the 13th and the 15th of September (so two nights and three days) in Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. Accommodation and meals will be covered for all participants. Additionally, all transport costs will be reimbursed. As a school. we will authorise the absence for Friday 13th September in support of this programme.

Content

The residential will feature a series of science academic taster lectures which will provide the participants with an idea of what it is like to attend university teaching. These sessions will be delivered by Cambridge academics who will be happy to answer any questions and share more information about their subject. 

Additionally, participants will attend sessions on university applications (including Cambridge and Oxford), student life at university, and exploring super-curricular activities in preparation for university.

There will also be plenty of time in the evenings to socialise, meet other participants, and explore the College!

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for this programme, the student must:

-Be entering Year 12 in September of 2024

-Self-identify as female or non-binary

-Attend a non-independent (non-fee-paying) school

-Be interested in studying a STEM subject at University

Applying

https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d11bnYMuZkVcokK

The deadline to submit applications is June 1^st 2024.

This is a wonderful opportunity for female and non-binary students to experience studying sciences in a top university and learn more about the Oxbridge application process-we would love to see many of your students partake!

We want to inform all parents/carers that there is a planned price increase on School Meals to £2.95, which will take effect from the summer term, Monday 8th April.

Here are our menus and new prices:Canteen Information - John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

We thank you for continued support and endeavour to provide healthy and nutritious options for all pupils at all our eating outlets. 

Are you interested in pursuing a career in engineering, science, or anything to do with STEM? Would you like to gain some rare and invaluable work experience with multiple global FTSE companies? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you!

We are excited to announce that on Wednesday, 3rd of April from 9am - 3:30pm, we will be hosting a virtual work experience day with Spectris, Malvern Panalytical, HBK and Servomex! Spectris are a FTSE company and own all the other science and engineering-based companies mentioned above. Collectively they operate in over 30 countries, employ over 7,500 people globally, and have generated a revenue of over a billion pounds as of 2024! Each of the companies Spectris owns specialises in a very specific areas of science and engineering and during this work experience day you will get the opportunity to take part in workshops and network with each of their companies.

Participating in an event such as this will not only allow you to learn more about industry, but it will also give you a unique opportunity to gain valuable experience that will be beneficial for adding value to your CV and LinkedIn profile. This will show employers (including Spectris) that you are proactive and looking to develop your skillset before entering the workplace, which can help you to be recognised as an ambitious and motivated individual as well as allowing you to stand out from other students.

Please sign up for this incredible opportunity, by using the registration link below. After the event you will receive a certificate that you can use on your CV’s and any job applications that you make.

Registration Link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VCP9NZS

Leading Education runs a free programme every year to support Year 12s entering the application process for top UK universities. We have supported over 2000 students with this programme over the last 2 years that we have run it, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from our students. The free programme this year begins with a lecture on March 25th. 

I have attached the flyer again here for reference. If this link does not work, do let me know and I can send over the PDF version. If you could distribute it to relevant students to sign up, we would greatly appreciate it.  

In addition to the free programme, we will also be launching our free access programme for students from underrepresented backgrounds at university in order to access this continuous support through the application process. Students can register for this through signing up for the free programme via the flyer. 

For you to also have a better idea of what students think of the support we offer, I wanted to share with you one of the reviews we received last year for a student applying to Law at Cambridge: 

"Taking part in the Leading Education Programme proved to be an invaluable resource in the process of applying to university. Would I recommend this programme? Without hesitation. I have no doubt in my mind that every A-Level student navigating the complexities of university applications needs an extra hand with organising and developing the skills needed for a successful application. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone aspiring to reach their full potential in higher education and beyond."

Are you interested in kick-starting your career and gaining work-experience with a world-renowned professional services firm? If so, you do not want to miss this opportunity!

Did you know that KPMG is one of the largest professional services companies in the world? With over 227,000 employees across 146 countries, their work spans five major areas of Finance and Personal Services. They Audit some of the UK’s biggest companies and their people in Consulting, Deal Advisory, Tax, Law, and Technology. With clients from the smallest of start-ups to international mega corporations across every industry imaginable. One of the ‘Big 4’, KPMG are one of the places to be when working in the world of business and accounting!

KPMG are hosting a work-experience day on Thursday 4^th April from 10am – 4pm in the Easter Holidays and we would love for you to attend. During the day, you will have the opportunity to learn key employability skills, such as how to communicate your message and build your personal brand, you will also have the chance to meet KPMG colleagues to hear about their career journeys and even complete a business pitch challenge!

If you are unsure what you want to do when you finish school, college or university and you would like to explore more options, then this work experience event is perfect for you. The KPMG Student recruitment team will also explain the different career paths into their firm and how you can gain a leg up into their prestigious company.

This work-experience day is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain valuable insights into the world of work and build your professional network, not to mention a great addition to your CV. Plus, you can join us from anywhere in the country, as the event will be held on Zoom. You will also get a professional reference for your CV’s as well as a certificate of compilation at the end of the day. This goes a very long way for your own personal career development and prospective opportunities.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today and take the first step towards your future career with KPMG!

Registration Link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3T68P5M

We would like to remind parents that social media platforms have specified age ratings. Students below these thresholds should not be accessing these platforms. 

13+

Facebook

Snapchat

Twitter/X

Instagram

TikTok

16+

WhatsApp

Further information on Online Safety can be found on the school's website.

Safeguarding - Online Safety - John Taylor High School (jths.co.uk)

For Parents - What is Y99 chat?

After many years of concern, earlier this year the anonymous chat website Omegle was forced off the internet. But just because Omegle has gone, there are many more sites and apps to take its place. One of these sites is Y99 it's one to keep your eyes and ears open for. 

 Internet Matters has written a good article about Y99. You can find the article HERE.