Weekly Information - Friday 17th May 2024

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

Today’s Hot Chocolate with the Head was firstly all about the fantastic contribution our students made to the JTMAT Subject Excellence Business Project.

The aim of the business project was to design a safe and environmentally friendly HGV for Hawkins Logistics who had partnered with the Miss Quirk to run the project. There were over 100 entries from primary and secondary schools within the JTMAT which made the judging exceptionally difficult.

The winner from John Taylor High School was named as Harry (Y7) who not only received a certificate and pin badge from Mrs Cochrane, but was presented with a goody bag from Hawkins Logistics and the chance to tour their depot, plus tickets to see a show at The Lichfield Garrick from Matthew Clay. The participator also received a certificate for their fantastic efforts. Well done to Mia (Y7), Alice (Y7), Alice (Y7), Ella (Y7), Logan (Y7) and Oliver (Y7).

During Hot Chocolate with the Head, Miss Quirk shared Harry’s winning design with the group and it was clear to see why he had won! His attention to detail, ideas, thought-process and explanation about his environmentally friendly HGV were great to hear. Here is the winning entry:

As well as celebrating the JTMAT Subject Excellence pupils, Mrs Cochrane was also joined by Alex (Y7) who had been nominated for his contribution in the community. Alex was chosen as a flag bearer at the St George’s Day Parade in Burton town centre with his scout group. Alex said ‘he has been in the scouts since he was 6 and thoroughly enjoys being part of the group.’ Well done Alex!

Mrs Cochrane said ‘I am incredibly proud of our students this week. It was great to spend time with them and find out more about their achievements. The JTMAT subject excellence initiative is a fantastic enrichment programme that challenges our students and gives them the chance to get involved in additional projects within school. It is also wonderful to know that our students are achieving great things outside the classroom too, like Alex’s contribution within the scouts. Well done to everyone!’

As we come to the end of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024, John Taylor High School are delighted to have been accredited The Wellbeing Award for Schools, which is awarded to those who promote emotional wellbeing and mental health across the school. Miss Senior & Miss Crutchley who led the project, have worked incredibly hard to ensure that mental health is a priority and is seamlessly woven into the everyday culture of the school.

The Award Place, who facilitate the process said, ‘this award focuses on changing the long-term culture of the whole school. The presentation delivered was comprehensive, focused and clearly demonstrated how the school’s vision and its emphasis on the importance of staff, pupil and parent emotional wellbeing and mental health has positively impacted the school’s best practice. It was particularly clear to me during my meeting with a large cohort of pupils that the school places huge emphasis on the importance of pupil voice!’

Mindfulness events & workshops, weekly newsletter updates, regular assemblies, external speakers, pastoral support, social media awareness and external links are just a few of the strategies John Taylor implement for staff and pupils.

Miss Senior said ‘whilst the process for the accreditation was rigorous, Miss Crutchley & I were confident that John Taylor met the requirements for the award. We were keen to share our examples, strategies and outcomes with the assessor and want to thank our staff, parent and pupil panels for their valuable input on the assessment day. It is our priority to continue improving staff morale, pupil wellbeing, and mental health support. We are thrilled to be recognised for this award, but more importantly we are reassured that our mental health provisions are in place and benefitting staff and pupils.

The full report will be available to access on the website in the near future.

Well done to our students who took part in the JTMAT Subject Excellence Drama Project this week at The Garrick in Lichfield. 

The group wrote, rehearsed and performed a 2-minute monologue infront of other schools from the John Taylor Multi-Academy Trust.

We'll share more once the results are out! 

On Tuesday 14^th and Wednesday 15^th May, 67 Year 10 history pupils got the opportunity to visit Kenilworth Castle in the beautiful Warwickshire countryside.

The visit has been mapped out to support their ‘All Around Us’ GCSE History topic which is worth 20% of their final GCSE. The exam is based entirely on Kenilworth Castle as their chosen historical site therefore should help enrich their experiences and understanding of life in a castle through the ages.

As part of the trip the students received a personal guided tour to ensure all areas of the castle were covered. This tour was led by one of the castle’s experts and was a great way for students to ask any questions they may have and receive instant in-depth answers! Key highlights of the trip included; The Great Hall, the Castle Keep, Elizabethan Garden, Leicester’s Gatehouse and the interactive exhibition which brings Kenilworth’s past to life.

Mr Knight, trip lead said that ‘nothing beats visiting a site of historical importance especially one that that they will be examined on in the summer of 2025. They were able to see with their own eyes how Kenilworth Castle has evolved throughout the ages and listen to the intriguing stories that are interwoven into the fabric of the site. The weather was lovely and on both days students behaved impeccably and were even complimented by members of the public on how they conducted themselves around the castle.’

Thank you to all the staff who helped on the day, and the students who represented the school impeccably.

For the attention of parents/ carers of current Year 12 Geography Students

Please read through the letter attached regarding additional information in preparation for the fieldtrip to Scarborough. Please pay particular attention to the forms quiz which is linked within the letter. This needs to be completed by Friday 24th May 2024.

If you have any questions then please contact me on [email protected]

Many thanks, 

Miss Barker

Parent’s Evening Consultation

 Dear Parents and Carers

Our plan at the start of the academic year was to conduct a parental survey regarding our provision for Parent’s Evenings.

Our current provision is that parents have the opportunity, once per academic year, to have a ‘face-to-face’ consultation with their child’s subject teachers. We have now completed this cycle for this academic year.

In addition to these evenings, we conduct a number of in-person school events such as, Year 7 and 12 Meet the Tutor, KS4 and Post 16 Options evening, and Core Subject Exam Prparation Information Evenings.

During the pandemic, the school moved to online Parent’s Evenings using a platform called SchoolCloud. Online has benefits in that parents can attend from the comfort of their own homes, though we have seen a few issues with connectivity.

Prior to the pandemic, all of our Parent’s Evenings were conducted in person where parents came into school to meet with their child’s subject teachers. This method presents some logistical challenges of onsite parking and queues for appointments but there can be a feeling of greater connection between parents and the school/teachers.

We recognise that both online and in-person Parent’s Evenings have their challenges and benefits. As such, we would like to canvass your opinion on which type of Parent’s Evening you prefer. Please could you complete the very short MS Forms survey, using the link below, by Thursday 23^rd May 2024.

The school will then use this information to plan for next year’s parent’s evening provision.

Thank you in advance for your input on this consultation.

https://forms.office.com/e/bRq6R2h8mv

With best wishes

Mr J Twynham

Deputy Headteacher

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.  Earlier in the year students took part in both the Senior and Intermediate mathematics challenge and in the Girls Olympiad.  Well done to all who took part.

This term some students in year 8 took part in the junior mathematics challenge. Oscar and Isaac both achieved Gold with Isaac getting through to the next round. Wilfred, Will, Caius, Ethan, Mia, Holly and Amelia all achieved Silver.  Ollie, Jessica, Oliver, Isaac, Harriet, Suhavi, Vienna, William and Emily all achieved Bronze.  Congratulations go to all who took part.

Look out for results in October after we take part in the Girls Olympiad and the Senior maths challenge.

Dear Parents/Carers

Please can we ask you to remind your sons/daughters that T5 is our designated Reflection Room.

The Reflection Room is a safe, warm and staffed space for our students who wish to spend some of their lunch break praying, meditating and/or reflecting. It is open to ALL students and will run from 1.25 - 1.45pm every lunch time. Thank you very much to those staff who have volunteered their time to supervise and observe our students who have asked for this space to be made available. There is a clear code of conduct for students to follow which will be shared during tutor time.

In line with our JTHS vision and values as 'One Community' that shows kindness, respect, perseverance and integrity towards each other, we look forward to welcoming our students to this quiet, reflective space.

Please spread the word & share with anyone who may like to attend our summer Community Afternoon Tea, on Thursday 27th June from 1.15pm-3.00pm ?☕?

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

We have a school crossing patrol vacancy for the Main Street/Dunstall Road crossing point, this would be a job share with the current patrol, the times and days to be discussed with applicant. 

More details can be found here: School Crossing Patrol (Burton, Uttoxeter and Tamworth) | No Expiry Date | Jobs and careers with Staffordshire County Council

Or call Caroline Pegg on 07773 791 502 

Work Experience Opportunities with 

Young Professionals

FAO Careers & Head of Y11/S4, 6th Form (S5/6)

Work Experience Opportunities:  

Get into Engineering Work Experience Evening with Mott MacDonald:

• Thursday 30th May, 5pm - 7:30pm, Reading Town Hall 
• Open to all students in Y11, 12 &13 looking to get into Engineering and STEM related careers 
• Mott MacDonald are one of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies operating in over 150 countries employing 18,000+people 
• Application Link and more information on this opportunity is here—-> https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/37WN9D9

PwC Summer Work Experience 

• Taking place at the end of July the PwC Summer Work Experience has reopened for applications for Y11 and Y12 students 
• Application deadline is Friday 24th May and will not re open after this date 
• PwC are one of the big 4 specialising in Business, Accounting, Technology and Consulting 
• Application Link and more on this opportunity is here —-> https://pwcukcareers.com/3HtCqqv

University of Law Business Virtual Work Experience 

• Wednesday 29th May, 10am - 3:30pm, taking place on Zoom 
• The university of Law’s Business School will be running interactive workshops and mock lectures on all things business, marketing and ESG 
• Open to all students in Y10,Y11,12 &13 looking to get into Business careers 
• UBS and KPMG will also be joining this event to share insights to the corporate world as well as taking students through business simulations
• Application Link and more information on this opportunity is here —-> https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ULawBusinessVWEX

All students will receive certificates which can be used on LinkedIn, job and any further education applications.

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Join our webinar in June to find out more

Join our webinar on 18th June at 3.30pm to learn more about the range of apprenticeship opportunities available within the Royal Signals and to hear from inspiring Soldiers about their career journey, what their apprenticeships involve and why they chose an apprenticeship with the Army.