Friday 27 September

Headmistress' Introduction

Dear Students, Parents and Carers

I hope this letter finds you well after a super wet week!

Last Saturday we hosted our second Annual Alumnae Tea Party, which was truly a lovely event.  With a hall full of Alumnae, some travelling from Poland, Switzerland and Canada for the reunion, we were delighted to support this growing community.   We received some wonderful emails over the next few days and here is a flavour of what was said

'I just wanted to drop you a line to say thank you so much for organising the AHS Alumnae Tea Party yesterday!  The young people serving the tea were fantastic...' 

'Please accept and extend my thanks to everyone involved in hosting the alumni who joined the AHS tea party on Saturday.  I appreciate how much effort was involved to make such a wonderful job of hosting the event. It was fantastic to see the hall so full and several attendees offered future support for the alumni network so I hope we will see positive growth as a result of the event.'

'I think you can safely say today was a great success....'

Huge thanks to Mrs Osgerby, Mrs Burt, Mrs Goodwin, Mrs Jeffreys, Mrs Knox, Mr Knox, Mr Leighton, Mrs Wilkes and Dara and Caitlin for their incredible help.

More detail about our Alumnae Society can be found here, please do have a look or pass on to others who might be interested. Thank you!

Careers Help for our students:

A key role for our Alumnae is to help with our Careers Strategy, with the aim of building confidence and relationships, developing character and resilience, and raising aspiration.   Whilst many of our students are very lucky in the contacts they have, for example, work experience, other students are less so, and we have been heartened and grateful for the way in which the Alumnae Society is stepping into this breach.   If you, as a parent or carer, would also be able to offer support in this area, please reach out to Hilary Osgerby, my PA, at hosgerby@ahs.bucks.sch.uk, your help would be also hugely appreciated.

Sports Presentation Evening

A brilliant evening, celebrating AHS' student success over the past year.  Thank you to all staff, particularly Mrs Carpenter, Miss Nicol and Alumna Gemma Collis who supported this event.  Well done!  More detail below.

Open Morning

Fifty or so families booked to visit AHS on Wednesday morning. All were super welcome and our thanks to Year 8 guides for the help. 

Our Home - School Agreement Autumn 2024

Aylesbury High School holds its staff, students and parents in the highest regard and thanks all in its community for the opportunity to work positively together. We believe that successful education is achieved through collective working relationships; relationships of mutual respect, ambition for our uniquely talented young adults and a clear desire to facilitate both the academic and personal development of our students.

What is the Home-School Agreement?

There are many important aspects to the relationship between home and School that lead to a student’s successful career in education.  Some of these are laid down in detailed rules and policies elsewhere in the school.

The Home-School Agreement is a way of recognising two important features of this relationship:

1. Success comes from School and home working together to value hard work, promote achievement and encourage participation and commitment. A list of dos and don’ts does not create successful learning, AHS will focus on building strong relationships with students and parents.

2. This relationship is a process of co-operation and participation - AHS will commit to doing all that it can to foster strong and positive relationships, through clear communication and discussion.

The greatest success comes from a partnership where everybody contributes and all learn.  It is hoped that this Agreement can be used to enhance that partnership and thereby enable all students to be successful.

SCHOOL Commitment

We will:

• Provide a safe, caring  and mutually respectful learning environment

• Provide a broad, balanced and high quality education 

• Recognise success and reward hard work

• Be aware of individual needs and provide pastoral, wellbeing and SEND support wherever required

• Set realistic and relevant homework

• Provide opportunities for all students to extend their learning outside the classroom and work with the local community  

• Give students feedback on their work, discuss progress with them and set targets for improvement

• Communicate regularly with parents and provide opportunities to discuss progress, welfare and targets

• Maintain high standards in behaviour and dress, and promote mutual respect in the school

• Work closely and supportively with parents and students when improvement is needed in behaviour

• Review this Agreement with students, staff and parents every year

STUDENT Commitment

I will:

• Work to the best of my ability

• Attend school and lessons on time and appropriately equipped

• Help to keep the school a safe and cooperative working environment and be willing to take an active role in keeping it clean and tidy

• Have consideration for the learning needs of other students

• Take responsibility for my learning – be organised, meet deadlines and work towards my targets

• Dress according to the school uniform policy

• Behave with respect and consideration for others and be aware of the need for safety in school.  Adhere to the Behaviour Policy and Matrix

• Make the school aware of any problems or concerns that affect me at school

• Make the best of opportunities offered

• Follow the IT Acceptable Use policy and the AI Guide for Students

PARENT/CARER Commitment (We ask you to agree to this in our admissions form)

I will:

• Work with my daughter and her teachers to enable her to fulfil her potential

• Encourage my daughter to manage books and equipment effectively

• Provide an area in the home where she can work in peace and quiet

• Take an interest in my child’s work and encourage them to maintain progress and achieve their targets in all subjects

• Commit to supporting the School in the delivery of the full AHS curriculum to my child

• Attend consultation evenings and meetings

• Encourage my daughter to be aware of and respect others’ needs and ideas in school

• Support the school’s high expectations for attendance by not taking my child out of school unnecessarily

• Reinforce and support School policies, such as our Behaviour Policy and Uniform Policy by encouraging accountability in my daughter and ensuring she attends sanctions as required

• Support the School in their commitment to providing trips by supporting behaviour expectations on trips, completing admin tasks promptly, attending trip meetings, dropping and collecting students promptly

• Alert the school early to changes in circumstances which may affect my child’s progress

• Encourage my child to use technology appropriately and responsibly

• Not discuss school matters outside official routes

AHS is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students and young people.  Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs H Queralt, Deputy Head Pastoral. For more details please see our full Safeguarding Statement here.

Biology at AHS

We are continuing our interviews with Heads of Department to help parents get a flavour of our different subject areas.  Today the focus is on Biology and we have a catch up with Lucy Sowah, the Head of Biology.  Please also take this opportunity to look at the subject content summary for Biology which can be found on our website.

Can you give us an overview of the Biology curriculum at AHS?

Students start Biology in Science lessons at KS3 where they cover fundamental concepts about living organisms and the environment.  They gain basic scientific skills for practical work: planning, data collection, analysis and evaluation.

At KS4 we follow the AQA specification and develop the learning gained at KS3 to secure understanding and skills.

At KS5 we follow the OCR A specification.  A Level Biology stretches students, covering the full range of topics in depth and giving broad factual and conceptual understanding of the subject.  Students develop a comprehensive set of learning and practical skills for both academic and career pathways.

Why do you think this curriculum suits students at AHS?

It is challenging, interesting, relevant and future-focussed.

The curriculum builds on fundamental knowledge and skills throughout the course; students are stretched to achieve the highest standards of understanding and competency.  Fundamental scientific skills and scientific literacy allow students to think critically about the world around them; they leave AHS able to evaluate information in the media, explore the potential for future developments and consider ethical decision-making in industry and government.

What are the recent developments in your curriculum and how have you decided on any changes you have made?

There is a whole school emphasis on using metacognition (learning how to learn). The Biology curriculum is packed with terminology, facts and concepts; students learn methods that help to organise and retain key information.  Thus, they can recall information easily and are able to make relevant connections and conclusions.  We support students' thinking and learning by using methods such as pre-reading, thinking routines and assessment for learning. 

How are students assessed in Biology?

For all Key Stages there are Standard Assessment Tasks and End of Topic Tests for each topic.  These give feedback on knowledge, understanding, skills and exam technique.  They allow students and staff to monitor progress and identify gaps for further learning. 

At the end of each year there is an End of Year Assessment to facilitate a review of the year’s content, highlight the learning secured and inform students and staff of gaps in learning; this information will direct students’ revision and teachers’ planning for the next year.

KS5 has two additional overarching assessment points where multiple topics are assessed.  These encourage regular review of topics, allow for formal practice of exam questions and simulate the challenging depth and breadth of A Level exam papers.

How does the Biology curriculum prepare our students for life beyond AHS?

Primarily the knowledge is interesting and relevant to life on a daily basis. 

In addition, students develop myriad transferable skills:

• Teamwork - regular group work 

• Confidence - presentations and articulation of complex ideas 

• Research - through experimentation, using academic texts and sources

• Problem solving - experimental design 

• Analysis - data analysis and independent analysis of research

• Organisation - practicals, workbooks, metacognition tasks

• Resilience - learning and understanding all the content

• Dexterity - safe and effective practical work

What are the features of the Biology curriculum that you are most proud of?

• Practical - development of independent and collaborative investigative skills

• Relevant research - keeping up to date with the latest discoveries

• Field trips - practical experience in the field to illustrate valuable concepts

• Pre reading - Independent learning outside the classroom

• Booklets - excellent reference resources for learning

• Staff - outstanding knowledge and practice in scientific education

How can parents help their daughter with Biology work?

• Engage with science documentaries, current science news, podcasts and publications

• Ask what they are learning and link topics to the world around them

• Practise key terminology

What co-curricular opportunities does the Biology department offer?

• Science Visitors and Online Talks: cutting edge science, education and career pathways

• On Demand Clinic

• Biology Symposiums

• Medic, Dentists and Veterinary Science applicant support

• Biology Field Trip - Y12, College Lake

• Molecular Biology Trip - Y13, Oxford University

What are you reading at the moment?

Shylock is my Name by Howard Jacobson

What do our students say about studying Biology at AHS?

Vacancies

Teacher of Mathematics (Maternity Cover)

Wishing all well for a lovely weekend and thank you, as ever, for your support.

Marieke Forster