Weekly Information - Thursday 7th April 2022

John Taylor Sporting Young Ambassadors delivered superb Easter bags to the local residents of Palmers Close and also another 30 new members of the Community in Barton.

Both Morrisons and the Co-op donated a number of items which were distributed by Young Ambassadors to the residents. The bags contained a lot of items not only donated by the supermarkets but also hand made by John Taylor students.

Some of Miss Dowler's year 7 pupils helped to paint jam jars, which could then be used as vases for the daffodils. Molli in yr 12 designed a beautiful bookmark, thanks go to Mrs Forden for arranging this. Mrs Smith baked shortbreads which also went into the bags along with other items such as hot cross buns, chocolates and letters from the Sporting Young Ambassadors. Mrs Oakley designed an Easter card and the bags were completed with a large Easter egg.

Our school value of Kindness was shown by a large number of people to make this Easter visit happen.

Thanks go to all those who helped to make this event run so smoothly.

Well done to our students who completed their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition on 26th - 28th March! Throughout the expedition they proved that perserverance and teamwork can help them to overcome any challenge they face. Well done!

Also, a 'thank you' from both myself, and the Silver participants, to parents and staff for their support. 

Miss Platts

Our U13 girls started their County journey back in September where they beat De Ferrers 1-0, a historical moment in itself as they are renowned for their Football teams. In February, we travelled over to Wolverhampton to play Perton Middle School where our girls thrashed them 5-0, top class goals and team performance by all students. 

More recently we travelled over to Landau Forte in Tamworth where the girls beat them an astounding 7-0, shout outs go to Seren who scored 6 of those goals and the seventh from Liv. We now play the finals after Easter against Blythe Bridge, venue & date TBC. I am so proud of these students, we really are making history as this is the first County football final I have been a part of in the 10 years I have been at JT. An amazing effort from a talented group, bring on the final.

Mrs Roberts

On Monday 7th March, 10 very excited Y7 and 8 students were selected to represent JT in their first ever indoor cricket competiton. We travelled to Stoke had our introduction and fixture list handed to us. There were 8 teams in total, split in to 2 leagues. We played 4 games in total and won every single one. The students were fantastic and enjoyed every single moment. The day ended finding out we had secured a County finalist spot later in the month where we would compete with schools from Staffordshire. 

The County final day had arrived and again we had 10 excited students ready to represent JT in Stoke. There were 8 teams in total, again split in to 2 leagues. We played 4 teams in total, our first 3 games were tough and we lost them but we ended on a positive note winning the last game. The students were an absolute credit to the school and learned alot over the competition. The standard of girls cricket is increasing and it was so fantastic to see so many enjoying playing with such a high skill level. There is a lot of talent in this team and I look forward to the summer competitions! Well done to all those involved. 

Our first project for year 8 was learning about the different purposes for drawing. We followed the theme of the international project of the BIG Draw, 'Make the change'.This allowed us not only to learn the different purposes for drawing but how we could learn about climate change within our art and design lessons.  

We have really loved taking part in this term's extended challenge. The creative art project involved designing and learning how to recycle and re-use unwanted items and rubbish, e.g. plastic bottles, tin cans and plastic bags. We had to use our imaginations and get really creative.

For the final project we were asked to find an artist we particularly liked that linked to the project and then create a page based on our research. Following this we started ‘mind-mapping’ and collecting materials for recycling.

For our end project we sketched out our final design and picked out our favourite and most creative pieces.

Thankyou Art department for an enjoyable and fun unit.

Phoebe, Emily & Charlotte

On Tuesday the 8th of March the Year 9 Netball team travelled to the De Ferrers academy to play in the District netball tournament. The teams we played were John Port, John Taylor free school, Pingle, Robert Sutton, Thomas Alleynes and De ferrers. In total we played 7 matches and we won all of them! Liv (our captain) and Phoebe were amazing at getting the shots in. Shauna, Amelia, Ruby & Amelie were fantastic at feeding the ball in to the D. Evelyn and Ellie were briiliant at defending and preventing the oppositions shots from going in. We all enjoyed it so much and had a great time. 

By Ruby 

This week the following students celebrated their achievements with Hot Chocolate with the Head. Congratulations!

Natalie, 12F

Ellie, 12H

Amelia, 10S

Imre, 10S

Zach, 10S

Zac, 10S

Emily, 10S

Faith, 10S

Florence, 10S

We have been informed that for all students who travel on the Midland Classic buses, fares will be increasing to £2.40 from April 11th.

We are pleased to share the results of our recent Student safety survey with you.

In registration this week students have been informed about Earth Day on April 22nd. Students have been asked about how we can be more environmentally conscious at school and at home. 

Some of the suggestions students have come up with at school include: 

Students are not permitted to wear airpods in lessons or around school site at any time, this includes during bus queues. Between now and Easter staff will remind students to remove them. After Easter they will be confiscated and handed in to the relevant school office. Students will then collect their airpods at the end of the day.

Sixth Form students are permitted to wear airpods in the Sixth Form centre and LRC but not around school site.

It is important that students are able to hear and are attentive to instructions from staff, bells and fire alarms.

Changes to Punctuality and consequences in effect from 25^th April 2022

Arriving at school on time for morning registration sets our students up for a positive start to the day. Morning registration time is an essential part of the school's wider offer of RSHE, Personal Development and assembly provision. Alongside the educational importance of morning registration, the daily check in with a form tutor and opportunity for key information to be shared is important for all of our students.

Therefore we are reinforcing that students must be on site by 8:55am to ensure they arrive with their form tutor by 9am. 

As of the 25^th April any students arriving on site after 8.55am must enter the school grounds via Palmer Close.

Students will then be registered at the gate by staff before proceeding on to Registration.

Students who arrive late on site will receive an L  mark on the register.

Students who arrive on time but fail to go to tutor and are missing from Registration without permission will receive an L mark on the register.

Where a student is late twice in a week parents will receive a message via schoolzine.

Where a student is late three times a week they will be issued with a 15minute detention to be served after school on the next Monday in U8. Parents will be notified via schoolzine. Students will be reminded in Monday Registration.

If a student is late due to public transport issues or attending an appointment please contact the absence line where you can leave a message and this will be reflected in their mark.

If a student is late six times in a half term a letter will be sent to parents, if they are late ten times a further letter will be sent and the student will undertake a punctuality intervention. If a student is late fifteen times in a half term parents will be required to attend a meeting in school.

Thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support regarding attendance and punctuality particularly over the last 2 years.

Primary Care Virtual Work Experience

25th - 29th April

Application Deadline: 20th April

Health and Care Careers in Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent

Primary care services provide the first point of contact in the healthcare system, acting as the ‘front door’ of the NHS.

The Integrated Care System People Programme and Staffordshire Training Hub are giving students the unique opportunity to discover what a career in primary care is like during this Virtual Work Experience programme.

The programme will give your son/daughter an insight into some major fields from nursing to GPs and mental health, and they will get to meet and ask questions to specialists from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.  They will hear from and learn what it takes to become:

• GPs
• Nurses
• Mental Health Practitioner
• Additional Primary Care Roles
• Administration and Management in the Primary Care Sector

To access this opportunity click on the link below:

Year 12 trial exams will take place between the 25th of April and Friday the 6th May (incl). Year 12 A Level students will have study leave and will therefore only need to attend school on the days when their exams will take place. If students are unable to arrange transport, they will be able to revise in the Sixth Form room or the LRC. The exam timetable is available on the Exams page of the school website. Click here to view.

All exams will be invigilated by a member of the Exams Team and will take place in the hall All students will be expected to return to school on Monday 9th May.

If your son/daughter is studying a vocational course e.g. BTEC or CTEC, they should attend their lessons as normal. If your son/daughter is studying a mix of A Levels and Vocational programmes, they are permitted to remain at home and revise for one day, prior to the exam. Please use the absence line to notify Miss Spurrier of this absence.

All students should use the Ipad system, in the sixth form reception area, to notify us that they have arrived or departed from the school site. This is essential to ensure that our evacuation registers are accurate.

Please remind your son/daughter that these exams are very important, as these will form part of the evidence used to create a reference predicted grade for future applications to university, employment or an apprenticeship. Students have been introduced to the most effective strategies to revise. Examples are included in the image below. Please remind your son/daughter about the best methods to use when revising and encourage them to reduce their reliance on highlighting text and summarising and re-reading their notes.

Further advice about supporting your son/daughter through this time can be found by clicking here. (Once the website has loaded, if you click on the image, the electronic booklet will open in a larger format)