The Colet Chronicle

“Through hard work, inspiration, mutual respect and enjoyment, we will achieve success together.”

The JCS Update email on Fridays is keeping the school community up to date with operational matters day to day. The half term newsletter provides an opportunity for looking further ahead. Every time I let you know about the capital projects there seems to be a delay, but we now have (fairly) firm dates for the commencement of the Canteen (7 June), the 3G (21 June TBC) and refurbishments in Art and Technology (1 July). Given the delays the Canteen and 3G will not be ready for the start of term, but I hope that by the end of December students will be sitting down to have lunch after having played football on a surface that will have been available from the end of September. Planning applications have been submitted to the local authority (but not yet appearing on the website) for the next phase of building work - a Science/IT Block, Dance Studio and Sixth Form Block. Let's hope there are not so many delays this time and we can look forward to students having use of these areas by the end of 2021-22.

We have said farewell this week to some members of staff. Mr White (of Great Pottery Throwdown fame) is stepping down to concentrate on his booming pottery business; Mrs Macbeth (Teacher of Food) is retiring to spend more time with her growing family; Mr Ginger (Site Assistant) is branching out into another business; Mrs Gough (Admin Assistant) is relocating to another part of the country; and Mrs Kersey (LSA) is moving to a new role working with a charity. Mrs Parker (Teacher of Food) will be joining JCS after half term and Mr Rowland (Site Assistant) is already in post. Mr Richardson will be returning to stand in for Mr White next term and we hope to appoint Admin Assistant and LSA replacements this week.

Since September 2020 we introduced a range of measures to reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus, some of which we may wish to carry on with once the restrictions have been lifted. Members of staff have given their views and we will be consulting with students after half term. In the meantime I hope that all members of the JCS community have a good break over half term with better weather than we have had in the last two weeks.

It is with great sadness we say goodbye to Miss Donna Richardson - SEND Manager

Miss Donna Richardson started work as a Learning Support Assistant at John Colet School in 2011 and was the SEND Manager from 2016. She passed away on the afternoon of Saturday 10 April after a short battle with cancer. Her funeral took place on 10 May at which a book of condolence was presented to the family containing messages from students, members of staff, parents and SEND professionals in Bucks. Extracts from the book were read to staff at a gathering to remember Donna and, as you can see from the examples below, what came across consistently was her professionalism, humour and dedication to supporting John Colet students. She is a great loss to the school and we continue to miss her.

Donna was great to work with and helped me tremendously during my final year of teaching at John Colet, during which time we became close. It will be a great loss to the school as I know how much work Donna put into the SEN department and how passionately she wanted to help those children in need.

This is such sad news, Donna was lovely. A great sense of humour and a very supportive colleague.

She truly was a wonderful person. She has been supporting Ben since he joined John Colet and was a huge help to him but also us as a family.

Statutory Relationship and Sex Education from September 2021

RSE is lifelong learning about physical, sexual, moral and emotional development. It is about the understanding of the importance of stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care, for family life. Additionally, it involves acquiring information about to the physical aspects of growing up, having relationships, and learning about human sexuality and sexual health.

RSE is primarily taught through PSHE (known as Cit-Com), and the contents of the curriculum can be found on the curriculum page of the school’s website (https://www.johncolet.co.uk/learning/curriculum/pshe/). If you have any questions or would like any further clarification about the curriculum, please contact ahillwalker@johncolet.co.uk or your child's form tutor before the end of the summer term.

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 do a simple check for you.

Attendance Matters

We know that the last year has been a difficult time for many of our students, and for some of them the return to school has been a real challenge. It is not in your child’s best interests to miss any schooling, and we encourage you to send them in to school every day unless they are very unwell. Students are able to come in to school with minor illnesses such as headaches, colds, tummy aches, period pain, sore legs from playing sport and general tiredness. We often see students improve during the day, and will always contact you to collect them if necessary.

If your child is too unwell to attend school, we ask that you contact us before 8.30am on each day of absence to inform us of the nature of the illness. You can do this by leaving a telephone message on the absence line, or by email to the school office.

For medical appointments, we ask that these are made outside of school hours where possible. If students must attend a medical appointment during school time, we ask that you ensure students are absent from school for the shortest possible time and are returned to us straight after their appointment.

We know that students can sometimes be reluctant to attend school for a variety of reasons, and if this is the case please do get in touch to discuss your concerns rather than keeping your child at home as this can often make a situation more difficult. We are able to offer a wide range of support to reduce school avoidance and would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you and your child.

Here are my Top 10 Tips on how to help your child attend school regularly

Ensure they pack their bag the night before
Check they have everything they need, such as pencil cases, books, PE bag, bus/train pass etc.
Ensure that their uniform is ready, especially after the holidays or weekend
Make sure they go to bed at a reasonable time so they get a good night’s sleep – Don’t let them take their phone to bed!
Set the alarm clock early enough to allow plenty of time to get ready properly
Make sure they have some breakfast
Remind them to set off early enough so that they are not late: punctuality is important (students should be in school by 8.27am)
Ensure your child has completed any homework or revised for any tests to reduce undue anxiety, and encourage them to speak with their teacher if they have any concerns about their work
Set the expectation that your child will attend school every day, and support them in achieving this by making school a priority
Spend time talking to your child about their day and ensure they feel school is important

With the restrictions lifting, we ask that you use inset days and holidays to visit relatives, take long weekends and holidays, celebrate birthdays and other special events and go shopping. We are not able to authorise leave for occasions such as these and don’t expect students to miss school for these reasons. We also do not authorise absence to enable students to look after family members, where they are unable to attend school due to transport issues, for truancy and where a reason for absence is not provided.

Since returning from lockdown, we have seen an increase in the number of students arriving late to school in the mornings. A reminder that students should be onsite by 8.27am and in their form rooms by 8.30am for registration. Students arriving after 8.30am will be marked as late, and will receive a C3 after school detention if they are late twice in a week. Students arriving after 8.55am will be marked as absent for the morning session. Further sanctions may also be issued for persistent lateness.

There is a clear link between attendance and attainment, and if there is anything we can do to support your child in attending school more regularly, and therefore improving their chances of success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch,

Kind regards

Di Bull, Attendance Officer

New Minibus

The School would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you for all your kind donations which made it possible to upgrade our minibus fleet.

We would like to give the students a chance to name the minibus. Suggestions should be emailed to the School Office along with the Students name and form by Monday 14th June 2021. The lucky winner will be selected at random and join the other school minibuses Harvey and Wayne.

Head Students 2021/22

I am delighted to announce the new Head Student Team for 2021/22. Thank you for voting and engaging with the process online again this year.

The four successful applicants, from a high quality field, are Josh O'Mahoney and Lucy Histed (Head Students) and Liam Barker and Camiah Lendor (Deputy Head Students).

They will take up their new roles from next week, once the current Year 13 team have departed.

If you are a form tutor, please do share this photo with your form group so they can recognise their new Head Student Team around the school. Lucy, Josh and Liam have been at JCS since Year 7 and Camiah joined us for Sixth Form - they will lead a team of prefects who will be involved in different roles across the school. Hopefully this will provide inspiration for our younger students to continue their journey with us through to Sixth Form and they can aspire to be Head Students in the future!

Also look out for the students who will be featuring in upcoming editions of the Wendover News.

Recipe of the Term

Mini Meringues:

Our Year 9s and 10s have recently been learning how to make meringues. This is a great skill to have in your cooking repertoire for our GCSE students. This recipe makes mini meringues and can easily be adapted to make larger nests. The mini meringues will be crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.

Ingredients:

2 egg whites (split them into separate bowls and combine once you are sure there is no yolk in the mix at all)
100g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar/lemon juice/vinegar (the acid helps to stabilise the meringue, you won't taste the lemon or vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste (optional)

Method:

Heat oven to 100C/Gas mark 1. Line a baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Check all equipment if clean and grease free.
Separate egg whites from the yolks. Don’t let the yolk split at all as the meringues will not whisk if there is any yolk in them.
Beat/whisk egg whites until foamy. (So you have soft peaks and the mix looks a bit like bubble bath foam)
Slowly and gently start to add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time and keep whisking
Whisk until you have reached stiff peaks (the mix will look very smooth, glossy and won't slide from side to side in the bowl). Another way to check that the mix is ready is to rub a dab between your fingers. It should feel smooth. If it feels grainy whisk for a little longer.
Pipe/Spoon onto a baking tray lined with greased baking paper. Aim for roughly the size of a golf ball. You can use a large plain nozzle or a large star shaped one. Both create great effects. When piping, keep your bag vertical and the nozzle about one inch or 2 - 3cm away from the tray. (Make sure you have twisted the opening of your piping bag closed so no mix can escape). Squeeze out your golf ball size meringue and then to get the teardrop shape, keep the bag vertical, slowly go down 1cm/quarter inch and then pull up. Move on to the next meringue.
Place on the topshelf of the oven for 35 mins, then turn the oven off and leave to cool completely. (You can take them out earlier if you need to. Allowing them to cool before moving helps them to keep their structure and not crumble). The meringues should feel firm on the outside and easily peel away from the greaseproof paper when ready. If the meringue is still soft on the outside leave the oven on for a little longer

If you plan to colour your meringue, this is what we have found works in school:

1) Food colouring gels and pastes - better for colouring the whole meringue as putting regular food colouring in to your mix makes everything too watery and the mixture won't then whisk.

2) Regular food colouring can be used to paint stripes on the inside of your piping bag. Alternatively it can also be swirled around the inside of the bag. To do this, twist insert the nozzle into the bag as normal and twist the bag closed by the nozzle. Stand over the kitchen sink and pour in 1 - 2 teaspoons of food colouring and scrunch or swirl the bag around, taking care not to let any dye out of the opening of the bag. Whilst still over the sink, untwist the nozzle and allow any excess dye to run out. Fill your bag with meringue and pipe onto your tray. Sometimes it can be helpful to have a little practice by squeezing out some of the mix as the first few may not have picked up the full colour, or they can be very bright.

Below are some fabulous examples from our Year 9s

Car Parking

Please can all staff, parents and students who drive to school be more considerate when parking nearby. Please do not block our neighbours driveways or endanger lives by parking on the yellow lines.

Also, please be aware that the Memorial Hall Car Park is not to be used for dropping off and collecting students to and from school.

Additional Term Date Information

School finishes for Half Term on Friday 28th May 2021 - Years 7, 8 and 9 finish at 2:45pm and Years 10 and 12 finish at 2:50pm.

All pupils return on Monday 7th June 2021. This will be BLUE week.

Summer term ends on Friday 16th July 2021 at 12:15

Scholars 2021

During the winter term, 12 incredible Year 9 students began their Scholars Programme journey. After a delayed start from their Year 8 summer term, they finally began their virtual launch event and met with their Tutor Katie Faulkner from The Courtauld Institute of Art. Their topic, entitled ‘Power, Personality and Portraiture’ explored identity through paintings and taught skills of historical investigation. Taking part in 7 small group tutorials led by Katie, the students explored how power and prestige has been presented through imagery and what the purposes have been behind such representations. They discussed gender and what it meant to be a professional female artist from the 16th to the twentieth century and then looked at contemporary images of people from Ed Sheeran to Muttiah Muralitharan. Finally, their skills and knowledge were assessed through a 1500 word assignment entitled, “Is it possible for a portrait to show a real personality?”. What a challenge! These fantastic students rose to the task and all passed their assignments with flying colours - in fact, we had more ‘First Class Honours’ grades than ever before!

The pandemic brought a change to the programme with no in person university visits, but we did manage a virtual graduation, hosted by the University of Exeter which enabled the students and their parents to ask questions about university life.

The twelve impressive students to expect great things from in the future were: Harley LM, Kishi A, Jacob P, Theo I, Toby M, Eva A, Anna W, Megan W, Logan S, Prabin R, Ben P, Maddy H.

We have now started the new round of Scholars with current Year 8 and 10 students. Whilst Year 8 students are working with Katie once more, the Year 10s are investigating ‘From Genes to Jean Size’ - what an incredible investigation! Wishing luck to these amazing students:

Year 8: Katie C, Lucas F, Alfie-Lee H, Abbey S, Ethan W, Luke C, Will M, Ethan C, Maggie MO, Paide D, Emily G, Jessica R

Year 10: Samuel A, Alisha S, Alessandro S, Oliver C, Lily B, Evie P, Rebecca P, Darcey Y, Jesse S, Ella C, Davide I

Lost Property

We have numerous items of lost property including coats , odd shoes and trainers. If you are missing any items, please ask your son or daughter to visit Matron's office. All unclaimed items will be donated to charity at the end of term.

Hydration is vital!

Don't forget to bring your water bottle to school everyday. Keeping hydrated increases your focus, energy and relieves fatigue.

It also boosts your immune system and can also prevent headaches. Make sure you refill your bottle before school, during break and at lunchtime.

Mobile Phone Policy

At John Colet we have a 'no see, no hear' policy for mobile phones while students are on school site. Students are asked to turn off their phones and put them away after the morning bell and are only allowed to use their phones at the end of the day as they leave.

Students going to after school clubs and activities are permitted to use their phones on the school site after 4pm. Outside of lessons, time before school, at break and lunchtimes is important for socialising and meeting friends; we want to encourage students to talk to their friends rather than being attached to their mobile phones. if a student needs to contact their parent/carer they should go to student support where they will be allowed to ring home.

Should you need to contact your son or daughter please contact the School Office and we will get a message to the student. 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.

Students are in school to learn and should not be distracted from this so we do ask that you do not contact them directly during the school day.

Report abuse