“Every Student Thriving”

Headteacher's Welcome

Towards the end of this term I had the fabulous opportunity of watching our Year 7 Girls football team compete in the county cup at the Arbour Park Community Stadium in Slough against Chesham Grammar school. This was a historical moment for the school as this was our first girls football county cup final. I was delighted to see excellent levels of grit and determination on display and, although we did not win, the character demonstrated by the team was first class. They fought hard, were gracious in defeat and exuded excellent team spirit; all of the values associated with John Colet School.

Looking ahead the Easter holidays are , I believe, a critical time for our exam preparation and it is time that must be utilised effectively. Revision routine is part of effective exam preparation so if you are a parent/carer of a year 11/13 student please engage and support this process as much as possible - every ounce of positive support and encouragement will be time well spent in the run up the examination season.

Attendance

Being actively involved in your child's education is the best way to support them in achieving their full potential. Ensuring their attendance remains high ensures students can access learning, socialise with their friends, and take part in all the activities that we offer at school. Students who attend regularly report feeling part of the JCS community, and we aspire to this feeling of belonging for all our students. Parents and guardians can help in a number of ways -

Set the expectation at home that every day is a school day, and school is the main priority for your child.
Establish bedtimes and morning routines that focus on preparing your child for school. We often hear children are late for reasons which can be avoided and urge you to consider your own arrangements at home to avoid situations such as these -
- uniform is still in the washing machine
- another family member was dropped off at school/college/the train station/the airport
- parents stopped for petrol
- parents were taking a work call
- student had a late night as they went to the football/a concert/a family occasion
- parents overslept and the whole household was still in bed

Please ensure that you plan accordingly to ensure your child is not late, and prioritise their arrival at school.

Of course, there will be times when your child is too ill to attend school and it is important they stay at home to rest and recover. Often, however, there is no need to keep your child at home and the NHS guidance may help when making this decision https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/. Often, if your child feels unwell in the morning they will feel better as the day progresses, so please send them in with minor ailments and we can monitor them. Please be assured we will contact you if we feel your child is too unwell to remain in school.
Please make an appointment to see the GP if your child is regularly absent from school. It is quite unusual for a child to need to take days off on multiple occasions without there being an underlying reason, so please do speak with a medical professional if you are concerned. At 90% attendance, a child will have missed 19 days in a school year.
If your child is absent due to anxiety, friendship issues or an incident that has happened at school, please contact their form tutor or head of year in the first instance so we can offer support and resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Keeping your child at home does not help in these situations, and can make the situation worse.

Please make essential appointments outside of the school day where possible, and only take your child out of school for the shortest time. Parents/guardians often tell us it is 'inconvenient' for them to collect or return their child during the school day so will keep them off all day. If this is the case, please make the appointments during the school holidays or arrange for someone else to transport them. We would consider approximately 45 minutes either side of a local appointment to be ample.
Book holidays, celebration events and days out during the school holidays. We are often given reasons for absence that should not lead to term time absence such as -
- 'other relatives in the wider family can't take holiday in August so we are having to go away in July'. As your child is not available in term time, this should be considered equally when making plans.
- 'we are celebrating a special occasion'. Please do this at the weekends and in the school holidays.
- 'we have had a difficult year so need to have a holiday'. We understand that life can be challenging, and ask that you take well deserved breaks outside of term time.
- 'we are taking the opportunity to travel to Australia for three weeks'. Please do this in the long school holidays.

Together, we can support your child and encourage you to contact us if we can support in any way. We hope you all have a relaxing Easter break, and look forward to seeing everyone in school in the summer term

With kind regards

Di Bull and Natalie Preece, the Attendance Team

Mobile Phone Policy - 'no use, no see no hear' from gate to gate.

From September 2025 mobiles phones policy update: This is an area of interesting contention. Last year we moved to a ‘gate to gate’ system. The students responded to this incredibly well. Nearly all major issues were reduced. Next year we will go one step further and require that phones are off and in bags as well. Young people need to learn to be disciplined and the vast majority of our students are excellent. I therefore feel that those students who are self-disciplined should be acknowledged and respected as they will follow the rules. It is now about ensuring the very small percentage of students who are left learn to ‘switch off and bag up’.

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 School Office to ask them to contact home on the students behalf.

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.

Jewellery Policy

One small, single stud in each ear is permitted; the stud must be worn in the lower part of the earlobe and should be removed for PE; students wearing studs in their ears other than in their lobes will be expected to remove them.

Jewellery (except a watch) is not permitted; however, if there are religious or cultural reasons for wearing an item of jewellery then permission must be sought from the Head of Year. Jewellery is the responsibility of the owner and is worn at the owner’s own risk. Other visible body piercings are not permitted and the student will be expected to remove them. A small clear retainer can be worn for nose piercings.

Any jewellery that is not collected will be disposed of at the end of the school year.

Homework Club

Reminder that Homework club which runs everyday after school until 3:50pm

Year 10 Science Challenge Quiz

Year 10 students had an exciting opportunity to showcase their scientific knowledge in the inaugural Science Challenge Quiz! Students represented and supported their classes in a friendly yet competitive showdown, with X Band facing off against Y Band.

After three challenging rounds covering Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, Y Band emerged victorious with 40 points, while X Band earned 22 points.

The quiz was a fantastic experience for all participants, offering a fun and engaging way to build confidence, deepen scientific understanding, and foster a love for Science across the year group.

Art and Photography

Year 12 Art and Photography students have been investigating sculpture this term. Here are examples of their ceramics and photo sculpture pieces. They initially made these from card before experimenting with materials and glazes to produce their final sculptures. They are going on to develop these further into paintings or layered photographs.

Iceland

Pre flight visit

Here are some photographs of the Icland trip including pre flight trip into Reykjavik before flying home. We saw the cathedral. rainbow road and finished with the 4D fly over Iceland experience.

Day 1

Day 2

Forgotten items

Following on from Mr Brierly's notification in Parent Briefing on Friday 17th October, students will receive a C1 for not being fully equipped if they require the office to call home for, or for parents to drop off forgotten items to the school office for either in school or after school activities. This includes PE kit, Chromebooks, homework, pencil cases etc. Certain exceptions will be made.

Rewards and Consequences

Year 7
On completing the second full term at John Colet, the Year 7s have really been thriving and it is fantastic to see. They have built a fantastic community within the year group and consistently demonstrate that they follow our core values: Ready, Respectful, Responsible.

In total, Year 7 students have earned an incredible 41,026 reward points! If we break this down into form groups, the leaderboard is as follows:

7Z - 7669
7G - 7510
7C - 6796
7A - 6772
7J - 6539
7T - 5740

Well done, Year 7.

Our top R points for the entire year group are:

Hazel K - 408, Mattia B - 386, Chloe G - 381 and Ava D - 380.

This is a fantastic amount of reward points.

Keep up the great work, Year 7.

Year 8
Words cannot describe how lovely it has been to finally see the sun shining again!

A further 6,590 R-Points have been awarded to our Year 8 students since the last newsletter.

Whilst the overall rankings continue to remain almost the same, those figures are rising, and the Number 3 position remains a highly contested place - with 8T taking over from 8G once again!

8C - 6490
8Z - 6334
8T - 5448
8G - 5343
8A - 4981
8J - 4693

We’ll see next time whether Mr Cattle and his tutor group can retain the spot over Mr Brand and 8G.

Since the last newsletter, our Year 8 students have been thinking hard and making some important decisions for their futures. Options choices for Year 9 have now all been submitted, and Mrs Norris is working tirelessly in the background to make things work for next year. Watch this space!

Looking to attendance - it is amazing to see a number of Year 8 students who still have 100% attendance for the year. A HUGE well done to: Quentin F, Isabelle P, Emerae T, Sarayah A, Jake B, Dominic A, Jacob H, Jack B, Oliver C, Oscar C, Ben B, Max M, Mia M and Bradley W. These students really are giving themselves the best possible chance of achieving greatness; studies show that every 10% of attendance dropped leads to dropping one whole grade at GCSE level.

Year 9
Spring Success and the Road to Easter

As we approach the Easter break, it is the perfect time to reflect on another busy and productive term. Transitioning into GCSE content is no small feat, but the maturity and focus we have seen across the year group recently have been truly impressive. You are proving that you can handle the "Big Year" with grit and determination!

Celebrating Our Achievements

A huge highlight of this term has been the incredible surge in individual achievements. It is fantastic to see so many of you consistently embodying our values of being Ready, Respectful, and Responsible. This term, we are proud to announce an outstanding number of Recognition Badges awarded:

Bronze: 38
Silver: 26
Gold: 39
Platinum: 87

The R-Point Leaderboard

The competition remains fierce as we head into the holidays! Here is how the tutor groups currently stand:

Position Tutor Group Points

1st 9C 5,495

2nd 9A 4,814

3rd 9G 4,530

4th 9T 4,480

5th 9Z 4,353

6th 9J 3,952

9C continues to set a blistering pace at the top, but with 9A and 9G closing in, the final term of the year is going to be very exciting!

Happy Easter!

Whether you are revising, resting, or spending time with friends and family, we hope you have a wonderful and safe Easter break. You’ve earned this time to recharge. Let’s come back for the summer term with the same high standards of attendance and the drive to finish Year 9 on a high note.

Have a fantastic holiday, Year 9!

Year 10

Congratulations to Year 10 on completing their recent exams! We are very pleased and impressed with how well you conducted yourselves—from lining up and being scanned to your excellent behaviour in the exam hall.

As we begin returning papers, we encourage all students to carefully consider the feedback and advice provided by your teachers to help you continue improving.

As the half term comes to an end, it’s fantastic to see 10T at the top of the Reward Points leaderboard, closely followed by 10Z and 10A. Well done to everyone contributing, and remember—it’s never too late for other forms to make their way up the leaderboard!

Special congratulations go to the top three female students in the year group for Reward Points: Jessica G- G - 10T, Faith Mc - 10T, and Molly F - 10T, and to the top male students: Dylan N - 10T, Radley H - 10T, and Jaydan T - 10T.

We are overjoyed to welcome Harry G - 10A back to our school. It's wonderful to have you as part of our community again!

At the same time, we say goodbye with heavy hearts to Paige A-R - 10G , who will be returning to Australia with her family. Paige, we wish you a safe journey and every happiness, you will be greatly missed!

I hope that you all enjoy the Easter break and come back fresh for the final term.

Year 11

Year 11 have had a busy few weeks with their last set of mock exams and coursework deadlines pending. Well done for your conduct throughout.

While every student contributes to our success, I want to give a special shout out to those who have demonstrated exceptional consistency and excellence in earning recognition points this academic year:

Florence J (11C): Leading the year with a remarkable 245 R Points.
Isaac T(11C): Following closely with 227 R Points.
Tais de L (11G): Demonstrating fantastic commitment with 225 R Points.

The form standings are as follow:

11C with 4231 R points
11J with 3713 R points
11G with 3637 R points
11TB with 3574 R points
11Z with 3458 R points
11A with 3367 R points
11TA with 3574 R points

Congratulations on another successful half term and I am looking forward to seeing you knuckle down for the final stretch of hard work before the exams start!

Year 12 and 13
A fantastic end to the spring term with sixth form receiving lots of R points.

12GJ are the top with a total of 1456 R points being issued since the start of the school year.

12Z are following closely with 1350, followed by 12AC with 1252 points.

In Year 13, 13B have 1044 points, followed by 13A receiving 918 and 13C receiving 786 points.

Top R points for individuals have gone to Millie K (Year 12) with 166, closely followed by Ben D (Year 12) with 160. Catching them up is Aimee F (Year 12) with 141 points.

With just 1 R point it in, we see Oliver D in Year 13 receiving 106 points which currently makes him top of the year group. Followed by Joely B (Year 13) who has 105 points! Shayen P (Year 13) is not far behind with 101 R points.

Well done on a successful half a term. When we return after the Easter holidays, we wish both year groups all the best. Year 13s enter their last few weeks before study leave and their exams begin and Year 12 begin their mock exams at the end of April.

Hoping you all have a lovely Easter break.

World Book Day

We are incredibly proud of how our school community has embraced World Book Month. Following the National Year of Reading’s "Go All In" campaign, we moved beyond a single day of celebration to foster a deeper reading culture across the school.

Highlights from the month so far:

The Big Book Swap: On 5th March, the Library was transformed into a bustling exchange hub where students used their vouchers to "shop" for new titles, refreshing their home libraries at zero cost.
DEAR Week (Drop Everything And Read): For a whole week the entire school started every lesson with dedicated time for quiet reading. This initiative highlighted reading as a vital tool for focus and mental wellbeing.
Real Magic Books Pop-Up: We were delighted to host Real Magic Books from Wendover, on 4th March. It was a busy day, as every student in Year 7 & 8 exchanged their £1 World Book Day token for a special edition title.
World Book Day Celebrations: The school was abuzz with excitement on 5th March, as staff across all departments dressed up as iconic book characters. Our Guess the Character contest led to some fierce competition, with students vying to identify the greatest number of costumes! Winners will be announced in our Celebration Assemblies next week.
Bucks Book Awards: Several keen readers took part, by reading the shortlisted books and voting for their favourite title. The same day the winners were announced we kicked off our new book group, to shadow the Carnegie Medal for Writing. There’s still time for students to join in and discover outstanding new fiction for young people of all ages.
Author Visit: On Monday we were privileged to host local author Pam G. Howard, who delivered an inspiring talk to Year 7, sharing her creative process, and encouraging our students to find their own voices as writers. Her books are available to buy from her website.

While most events have now passed, the momentum continues. Students have until Monday, 23rd March to submit their entries for the "Cook a Book" competition, and until Wednesday 25th March to complete their Personal Reading Challenge. If they would like to join the Carnegies Shadowing Group, then please ask them to pop into the library.

We would like to thank you for supporting these initiatives at home. We have seen students across all year groups engaging with books on their own terms—be it Manga, non-fiction, or the latest YA trends. We hope the "Go All In" spirit continues into the Easter break and beyond.

Robotics Club

Thank you so much for your support and your donations - Robotics Club continues to look for donations of lego, specifically gears and wheels! The Robotics club also welcomed several new members and broadened our scope, we are a good space for anyone looking to build robots, explore ideas with digital games development or just plain coding. Our capable Sixth Formers, Ollie and Harry, have both been working hard this last half term to generate ideas for future robotics competitions. For our latest competition, we will be returning to the tried and trusted Robot Battles, with a Capture the Flag twist.

This half term will mark Ollie's final full half term of running the Robotics Club, as he is about to graduate from our Sixth Form. Please join me in thanking Ollie for all of his hard work, without his brave decision to re-launch Robotics Club after the last staff member to run it left, Robotics Club would not be running. He's worked hard and managed to pass the torch to a new generation of students who have developed their interest in robotics. We are so proud of Ollie's leadership in this, he has really done incredibly well.

Code Ninjas will be joining John Colet again this year for Enrichment week - Year 7s will have the exciting chance to build a complete computer game and learn some of the fundamentals to get them started on the lifelong skill of coding. Code Ninjas Coding and STEM Club in Aylesbury is inviting you to an exciting Easter Camps experience. These holiday camps give kids the chance to build games, learn coding skills and make new friends in a fun, small group environment. More information is available via: https://www.codeninjas.co.uk/aylesbury-bkm-uk/camps As Code Ninjas Aylesbury is OFSTED registered, you can request to pay by Childcare Vouchers or Tax Free Childcare by completing this form.

Careers Update

Visit by Dr Gillet

We were pleased to welcome Dr Jenna Gillet from the University of Buckingham who ran a very interesting workshop on research methods for our Psychology students.

Year 12 visit to Warner Brother Studios

Our Year 12 business and media students recently visited Warner Brother Studios where they attended a workshop on how films are marketed, learning the marketing behind recent film releases and then enjoying a tour of the Making of Harry Potter.

Buckinghamshire Skill Show

Our Year 12 students recently attended the annual Bucks Skills Show which provided them with a great opportunity to find out more about local employers, universities and work experience opportunities.

We were very pleased to welcome back Professor John Wass who came into school this time to present to some of our Year 11 students his work with hormones. There were some great questions from our students.

A big thank you to all the parents who came to speak with our students and share their career journey and insights, special thanks to those parents who came in twice.

Last year the school performed really well at the EKFB Carbon Heroes Competition winning 3 of the 4 categories. Our Year 12 students want to continue on this success and we will have 2 two teams representing the school this year - we wish them both every success and hopefully we can retain our title.

Work Experience

We have our Year 10 and 12 students out on work experience from 29th June to 3rd July, if you are able to offer a placement please email wex@johncolet.co.uk. We still have a number of Year 10 students looking for a placement.

We have activities and guest speakers already arranged for this year but we always like to hear from people outside of our school community. If you would like to come and speak to our students or know someone who would please email tsinacore@johncolet.co.uk. We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who has completed an apprenticeship or can talk about roles in construction, law, plumbing and heating, marketing and finance.

Gardening and Eco Update

Spring is finally here and the bulbs planted by the students are making an appearance.

If you are planning a summer makeover for your garden and have a spare parasol and/or base that needs a new home we are looking for parasols to provide some shade for the sixth form area, thank you.

We have begun to prepare our vegetable beds for planting after the holidays. The garden team has been busy painting ceramic butterflies to add the trees in the recycled planters. A huge thank you to Mrs Mengin for making the butterflies and leading the painting session.

Year 7 - Enrichment Week 2026 - Activities

Year 8 - Enrichment Week 2026 - Activities

Year 9 - Enrichment Week 2026 - Activities

Remember to sign up your child before the deadline passes. The letters for all trips have been emailed home.

PE Department

Year 7

The Year 7 boys football team finished off their league campaign with a tough home game vs Kingsbrook. Colet managed to see the game out and finish 3-2 winners. POTM was awarded to both Ernie for his solid defense and Hugo for his constant running.

Year 8

The Year 8 boys won 6-1 against Mandeville School. John Colet School took an early lead and dominated the first half scoring 6 unanswered goals. All players contributed to the game and deserved the success.

Year 9

The Year 9 football team continued their league games as they travelled to face Kingsbrook. Colet knew it would be a challenging game after a tough encounter between the two sides last year. However, Colet constantly looked to score whilst staying disciplined at the back ending with a well deserved 4-0 win. Player of The Match - Ruben

We had a full court of netball taking place at John Colet School last week against Royal Latin School. All 4 teams knew that their opponents were going to be tough but stayed focused from start to finish. Each team came away with 4 fantastic wins!! Player of The Match were awarded to Year7A - Florence, Year 7B - Lily, Year 9A - Adah and Year 9B - Nevaeh D

Design and Technology

At the end of February saw our GCSE and A Level students taking on something a little different to their normal lessons. Students worked in mixed teams to design and make a three dimensional boardgame that is accessible to a person with a visual impairment.

Bucks Vision came along and helped judge and give feedback on some of our really interesting designs. Well done to everyone involved and our winning teams!

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.

Go to www.tooledupeducation.com/register.
Fill in your name, email address and chosen password.
Add your unique school PIN. Our PIN is JCS2206

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.

If you ever need assistance, contact the Tooled Up team, who will be happy to help: support@tooledupeducation.com.

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

Chicken traybake

Easter egg brownie

Early Help

In Buckinghamshire, there is a wealth of support available for families within our community for a wide range of needs. Sometimes, it can be tricky knowing where to turn and what is available. The Family Centre Plus has a welcome desk where young people, families and parents can drop in and talk to someone between 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. Families will be supported to know what supports and services are available to help them with their needs as they emerge. The Family Centre is also contactable on 01296 383 293. If you would like any further information on Early Help support please do contact Mrs Pearcey- Student Engagement Coordinator on 01296623348.

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 accumulated numerous items of unnamed lost property including coats, shoes, trainers, water bottles and school uniform etc. If you are missing any items, please ask your child to visit the school office, before or after school, or during break or lunch. All unclaimed items will be donated to charity at the end of each term.

Please name all items as this ensures that we can get them back to their rightful owner. Thank you.

This is a quick and easy way to help with fundraising for
John Colet School.

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