“Every Child Thriving”
Headteacher's Welcome
As we reach the end of the Autumn term and , indeed, 2023, it is worth reflecting on quite a troubled year. Abroad, we have seen terrible acts of conflict between countries that have contributed to a great deal of innocent human suffering; compassion has, seemingly, been in short supply. At home finances have been strained and stretched to breaking point which is putting people under huge pressure, and when people are under pressure they feel ground-down and sometimes bitter; under such circumstances finding the space for compassion in our hearts can be challenging and we may 'lash out' against the world in our actions on-line and off. Yet, as I reflect on my own change of circumstances the very thing that has stoked my optimism has been the kindness and, yes, compassion shown by the community served by the John Colet School. Students, staff, parents, carers and local community representatives have all been incredibly generous in making me feel welcome and understanding of the turbulence that a new job can cause. But equally I see around me small but significant acts of kindness between students and staff that spark a smile or act as a 'pick me up'. Compassion can 'go large' or be found in the smallest of acts and many small acts can lead to a sea change. So, as we all enter the Christmas season let's focus on the small acts of compassion that we have control of: a small charitable contribution, helping parents with the cooking, holding a door open in a busy shopping centre for someone in need, checking in on a friend or simply making a cup of tea for mum or dad. Let's remember that compassion in itself is an act of giving - like the giving of a gift. On that reflective note I wish you all a peaceful and joyous festive break, and if you want a quick joyous 'pick me up' just read on to find out what wonderful activities and experiences our students have been involved in this half-term.
Vehicles on school grounds
Remember that vehicles should not be driven onto campus unless you are authorised to do so by the school office. Please park and walk. Unauthorised drivers are increasing the risk of accident by significantly adding to the volume of traffic.
If authorised to do so, parents should drop-off directly in front of reception. Please do not use the parking bays for drop-off. The car-park directly in front of school is for staff vehicles only.
Please also be reminded that vehicle engines should be switched off when dropping off, or waiting for students to come out of school. Idling causes air pollution which is harmful to the school community.
Mobile Phone Policy - 'no see, no hear'
At John Colet we have a 'no see, no hear' policy for mobile phones while students are on school site. In a community of over 1000 people it would be disruptive to learning for phones to be used by students. Insisting that a parent or carer collects the phone acts as a deterrent to phones being used.
During school hours, should you need to contact your child please telephone the School Office and we will get a message to them. Alternatively if a student needs to contact their parent/carer they should go to the Student Support office or Reception where they can request to ring home.
Unfortunately, at times parents try to contact students directly which causes their phone to go off during lessons - this results in the student having their phone confiscated as per our school policy and it will be a parent/carer that will have to pick the mobile phone up from the School Office. If you are unable to collect the phone please arrange for a family member, or responsible adult to collect it on your behalf. Students will not be able to pick up their phone themselves under any circumstance. A number of students have raised the issue of having to use their phone to pay for transport home. If this is the case the student needs to come and speak to the school office. We will arrange for a loan which will need to be reimbursed the next day.
School Attendance
As we near the end of the Autumn term, we will be taking the opportunity to congratulate 220 students who have achieved 100% attendance so far this year. We know that good attendance gives students the best opportunity to learn, take part in extra-curricular activities, make friends and be an active part of the John Colet community so students who come in to school every day have the best chance of success. Well done!
There are only a few days left of term, and we encourage all students to attend every day for the rest of the week. We know from our data that, historically, the last two days of this term are the lowest attended days in the whole school year and remind you that every day counts. Even though students leave at 12.15pm on Friday, this is still considered a full school day so please do ensure your child attends and remind them to wear their Christmas jumpers!
We have been disappointed this term to see so many families choosing to take term time holiday. Although we understand the importance of spending quality time with friends and relatives, we kindly ask that you ensure any arrangements are made during the extensive holiday periods. So far this term we have lost 108 school days, that's over 500 lessons, to unauthorised holiday and this not only causes significant disruption to a student's learning but also impacts on their teachers and peers as they try to catch up on missed work when they return.
There is also no need to keep your child at home if they have mild illnesses such as a sore throat, headache, cold or tummy ache. Often, these symptoms subside during the day and students are able to continue their learning at school. Students who menstruate should also not miss school due to their periods and if your child's menstrual cycle is preventing them from coming to school you should consult your GP as a matter of urgency.
We hope you all enjoy the Christmas break, and look forward to seeing everyone in school in the New Year!
With best wishes for the festive season,
Mrs Di Bull and Mrs Natalie Preece, the Attendance Team
Winter Door Competition
This year to brighten up the school we decided to run a winter door decorating competition. Students and staff were encouraged to decorate their class/office door in any winter/Christmas theme.
The winner is:
Runner up 1
Runner up 2
Runner up 3
Runner up 4
Careers Update
It has been a busy term for careers learning in school with more activities and events already planned for next term.
Some of our Year 10 Food Tech students got to take part in a ready steady cook competition organised by The Royal Navy. Two chefs from the Navy Logistics team came to talk to students about roles in the Royal Navy and set the groups a challenge of producing lasagne and brownies within 90 minutes.
We were fortunate to get tickets for the Pinewood Futures Festival and took a small group of our GCSE Drama students along. The students got to find out more about the different roles in film and television as well as meeting some familiar faces.
In November we had 167 of our Year 11 students take part in mock interviews. The students were interviewed by a team of friendly and supportive interviewers to help them prepare for their next step. We are grateful to all the interviewers who gave up their time.
We welcomed Dr Beth Healey who came to speak to our sixth form biology students about her work in emergency medicine and trauma in some of the world’s remotest locations including Antarctica. We also welcomed Dr Denis Alexander who spoke to some of our Year 11 and Year 13 students about his work on molecular immunology and genetics.
During Year 11 assemblies guest speakers have spoken to students about various local post 16 offers including Aylesbury UTC, Bucks College Group and Next Phase Academy. We also had a speaker from Apprentice Support and Knowledge (ASK) to talk about apprenticeships. I have held next step meetings for nearly half the year group and these meetings will continue when we return in January. We would stress the importance of making sure applications to colleges and sixth forms are made ahead of deadlines and for students to have a back up plan.
More information about events and activities can be found on our careers website Future Focus. Parents and carers can also log onto Unifrog, the careers platform that our students use Unifrog log in. We also send out Classroom to Careers, the monthly newsletter from Bucks Skills Hub which contains information about local events and opportunities.
We are on countdown for Work Experience for our Year 10 and Year 12 students who will be out on placements from 24th-28th June. Our students are struggling to find placements in IT and Legal sectors so if anyone can offer a placement please email careers@johncolet.co.uk
We are always keen to hear from parents, ex-students and employers that would like to come and talk to our students, please contact careers@johncolet.co.uk in the first instance.
Mrs Sinacore
Careers Adviser
The Grove Theatre
Shakespeare School Festival
Dan:
The Shakespeare festival was a very fun and exciting process from auditions, to creating the first scene and performing at The Grove Theatre on Monday the 13th of November. For the festival I was playing Dromio of Syracuse, a servant to Antipholus. Playing Dromio was so much fun as I got to find out about the character's background in the first read through and then develop the character in every rehearsal until the performance. We also had a professional director who came into school and really helped to develop our characterisation and chorus scenes. On the day of the performance doing a tech run was enjoyable as I could get used to the size of the stage (it was very big) and practise all my entrances and exits with the larger wing space before the actual performance in the evening.
The actual performance in the evening was AMAZING as we got to do a warm up with the other school which meant we could be role models to them and show them what being a GCSE drama student is like. The actual performance was really good as we could show the other students our hard work and they could show us theirs. Having the proper stage, dressing rooms and everything else was very fun as we felt professional and like all our work had created this massive performance.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and experience and will definitely do it again in the future.
Darcey:
Being part of the Shakespeare School Festival was a brilliant experience for me to work and collaborate with other students who are passionate about drama, help make informed decisions regarding choices for our performance and to fully immerse myself in being in such a wonderful creative and energetic performance.
In terms of the performance day itself, the tech rehearsal in the morning gave a useful insight into what the life of a performer would be like; figuring out our cues, working on lighting and adding in music really demonstrated everything that goes on behind the scenes to make performances really special. Furthermore, the ability to have a dress rehearsal was valuable to the whole group, as we learned how to properly position ourselves so that we used all of the space that was available to us and we managed to grasp a feel for what our final performance would be like. We also got to see another school’s performance, which was very rewarding, as we got to see how other individuals interpreted Shakespeare’s work and it highlighted the strong sense of community and creativity that is fundamental to the event.
When we did our actual performance, I had an incredible time; everyone’s hard work paid off and everyone’s passion was evident on stage. The rush of adrenaline and excitement everyone had made the whole day really special! Playing Antipholus of Ephesus in one of my last performances at John Colet School, alongside working with such an amazing cast, was an absolute joy; it is an experience that I will never forget and one that I will cherish forever.
HW Dance
From Harriet Wise who runs HW Dance, a local cheerleading and dance school in Tring.
Harriet informed us about the success of a student in our school.
Izzy Ward has recently taken part in the "Be You Project" online Halloween dance competition, it was her first dance competition, and she did incredible, scoring 67 - a very respectable score!
She also performed her solo at the Tring Christmas Carnival in-front of thousands of Tring residents this weekend!
Scary story writing contest
1st place went to Finley Cleaver in Year 7, 2nd place went to Dylan Maclachlan also in Year 7. We then had a joint third place for Rhydian French in Year 11 and Meredith Knight in Year 7.
eLibrary
The school eLibrary has had an update! Log in to check out what is new. New titles added every month.
Pinewood Futures Festival
On Friday 24th November, we took a number of Year 10 Drama students on a trip to Pinewood Studios for their Futures Day festival. After braving a hair-raising journey through some narrow country roads in our minibus, traversing floods and hairpin bends, we arrived safely in the bitter cold at the world-famous film studio. Once there, the students were greeted by characters from several of the blockbusters filmed there; including R2D2 from Star Wars, Deadpool and Batman.
After taking several photographs with these film icons, we were able to peruse the various stalls demonstrating the different and varied professions that one can venture into in the film industry. We looked at prop-making, prosthetics, 3D digital rendering for special effects, and more. The students learnt a lot about the different areas of the industry, and hopefully have been given some further inspiration for their future careers. On top of this, Mrs Sinacore is now a certified Jedi warrior, following her intensive lightsabre lessons, and Mr Devine is traumatised following an up-close experience with Darth Vadar!
It was a great day, and a fantastic time was had by students and staff alike.
Our Nearly New Uniform Shop will be opening next term. We have a selection of second hand blazers, jumpers, trousers, skirts, white shirts and PE kit items.
The shop will be open to students before and after school. (These times will be confirmed once we have a rota of volunteers.) Parents/carers and students can also request items via uniformshop@johncolet.co.uk and if in stock, students can come by the shop to collect them.
There will be no charge for any items, but if parents/carers would like to make a voluntary contribution this can be made via ParentMail, please see "Uniform Donation 2024" under the Payments/Shop section. Please wait until you have received the items before making any payments. This money will help cover the running costs of the shop.
We are also accepting donations of unwanted uniform. Please leave any clean items in a bag in the Nearly New Uniform Shop box in the school reception area.
John Colet Talent Show
Our year 9 magician was given first place, with 2nd place going to our amazing year 8 drummer, followed closely in third by our year 11 who played the guitar while singing a beautiful love song in Ukrainian. Well done again to all those involved.
Year 7 - House competitions
Here are a few photographs of the students. Well done.
Year 8 - House competitions
A few photographs from Year 8 House Games Competitions. Despite the freezing cold weather and harsh winds, the students did well to maintain motivation and determination.
Year 9 - House competitions
Lots of sports action on 22nd November with Year 9 House Games. What a brilliant start to the House Competitions, well done to all who participated.
Year 10 - House competitions
Another day of House Game Competitions. Well done to all Year 10s that participated, there was great sportsmanship and engagement all round.
Tooled Up
If you haven’t signed up to ‘tooled up’ yet I urge you to. We subscribe to a library of resources for parents designed to boost children’s resilience, self-esteem and mental health to help them thrive throughout their educational journey and beyond.
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If you already have an account, simply log in here using your email address and password. If you forget your details, use the reset password function to reset your account.
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Once you are logged in, click on the Resources button in the top left corner to discover the vast library of evidence-based support at your fingertips
Mocktails for Christmas
Current Job Vacancies - with flexible working patterns
Do you know of any one who would like to join the John Colet School. We have vacancies for a Cover Supervisor, Learning Support Assistants, a teacher of Humanities (full or part-time) and Casual Invigilators.
Full Job Descriptions are available on the John Colet School website. These can be found under 'About' tab on the 'Vacancies' section of the website.
Free School Meals
If your circumstances have changed recently and you think you are eligible for free school meals please get in touch via pupilpremium@johncolet.co.uk and we can complete a simple check for you.
Lost Property
We have numerous items of lost property including coats, shoes, trainers, water bottles and food tech containers/equipment. If you are missing any items, please ask your child to visit Student Welfare Officer's office. All unclaimed items will be donated to charity at the end of term.
Please can I ask that your child's name is put on everything. Thank you.
