Embedded Files
“Through hard work, inspiration, mutual respect and enjoyment, we will achieve success together.”
Headteacher's Welcome
Headteacher's Welcome
With Bank Holidays, industrial action and INSET days it has been difficult to build momentum this half term and now it is over! Well done to students in Years 11 and 13 for their celebration assemblies and the manner in which they have settled into the external exams. There have been exams and assessments for most other year groups as well, but for all there is much to look forward when we return in June. For Years 7-9 Focus Week is on the horizon with the opportunity for a residential experience as well as day trips and in-school activities. Years 10 and 12 have their work experience in the same week, which is always an excellent opportunity to try out something new and get an idea of what there is to come further into the future.
My online assembly for students after the half term break is about Terms and Conditions (T&C) and the contracts that we enter into throughout our lives. This may be agreements ticked before starting to use social media platforms or, later in life, employment or lettings contracts. At JCS our T&C are summed up in the 3Rs - Ready, Respectful and Responsible, by which we ask students to develop their characters to leave us as confident young people ready to play their part in society. It is with great pride that I see the vast majority our students practise these values on a daily basis and sadness that so much time is spent with those find accepting the T&C, sometimes including parents.
Still, the weather is improving at last and I hope that you have a good, restful break over the May half term and that students return refreshed for the 6 weeks and 2 days of lessons, trips, visits and events that follow before the summer holiday.
Vehicles on school grounds
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, especially whilst the building work is on-going.
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.
Mobile Phone Policy - 'no see, no hear'
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.
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 student support office where they will be allowed 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 it 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.
School Attendance
School Attendance
We would like to remind parents and carers that the school day begins at 8.27am and students should be on site by this time. We know that the roadworks in the surrounding area have been challenging, and are likely to continue to present issues for a little while to come, and ask that you plan your journey accordingly. Students also tell us that they get up late which causes them to arrive late to school and this can be easily avoided. Should a student arrive to school after the second bell at 8.30am they will receive a C1, and will receive a C3 if they are late twice or more in a week. We see upwards of 25 students late each day, which is unacceptable, and this can often be avoided.
We have also seen an increase in the number of people taking holidays during term time and ask that you make arrangements to take breaks in the school holidays.
If your child is worried about coming in to school, please do contact us so we can discuss how we can best support them. Keeping them at home can feel like the best solution, but can make a situation more difficult. Also, if your child has a minor illness such as a headache or mild cold, or they are tired from weekend or evening activities then they should still come in to school. When children are absent from school they can fall behind with work, miss out on extracurricular activities and lose touch with their friends, all of which can make engaging with school more difficult. We want all our students to have the best outcomes at the end of year 11, and coming in to school every day gives them the very best opportunity to achieve,
We hope you have an enjoyable half term,
With kind regards
Di Bull and Natalie Preece, Attendance Office
Careers Update
Careers Update
At the start of this term a group of Year 9 students visited Buckinghamshire New University to see the facilities and options available at university. They got to tour the campus and work with student
ambassadors.
The 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 a lasagne and apple pie within 90 minutes.
A group of Year 10 drama students visited the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield to find out more about the different careers available in Film, Television and Gaming. Students got a tour of the campus and to see students working on animation, production, set design, composition and game design. Some students even tried out games currently being developed by the NFTS students.
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 are on countdown for Work Experience for our Year 10 and Year 12 students who will be out on placements from 26th-30th June. Sadly placements are no longer available for a few of our students so if anyone can offer a placement particularly in the IT and Legal sectors 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 Coordinator
School Garden
Our recent plant sale for the school garden raised £110 which will be used to support gardening activities throughout the year. We are also grateful to J and S Scapes who very kindly donated a collection of shrubs and perennial plants for our garden.
Phase 3 Building Work
Phase 3 Building Work
The building work across the school has significantly progressed over this term. The Fitness Suite & Dance studio has undergone first and partial second fit electrical and mechanical works, ready for the specialist flooring and equipment installation after the exam period. The Sixth Form centre now has a roof and is awaiting the installation of windows before the internal works start, and the Science & IT Block has reached roof level with work being conducted so as to avoid any disruption to the exams. We remain on plan to bring the building into use starting with the Fitness Suite & Dance Studio and Sixth Form from September, and the Science & IT Block early in 2024.
Year 9 District Finalists
Year 9 District Finalists
What a great start to the summer term, having our Year 9s in the District Football Final against Buckingham. Despite the 4-3 defeat, the Year 9 Boys reflected great team work composure during their match on Wednesday 19th May. Each player strived in greatness and excellence throughout their entire football season. Overall, the Year 9s represented John Colet School in a positive and hard-working manner.
Sports Leadership
Sports Leadership
It has been another busy year with sports leadership events and qualifications at JCS. Last week I was very proud to present our previous cohort with their Level 1 Qualification in Sports Leadership. A total of 65 students across years 9 and 10 achieved their awards. I would like to say well done to these students for their commitment to the early morning sessions and extra homeworks that they have completed in order to achieve their award. I hope that you will go on to use your qualification or some of the skills you have learnt in the future.
Our Year 13s have been busy completing their level 3 qualification in time to receive the 16 UCAS points to help support their applications to university and we eagerly await the arrival of their qualifications.
We continue to work closely with local primary schools and the local school games organiser to provide lots of leadership opportunities for our students as we feel they take great benefit from supporting such events.
Over the past two weeks we have delivered years 7/8 and 9/10 girls football tournaments on our new 3g. These were very successful events with over 22 teams attending across the two days. It was so pleasing to see almost 200 girls playing football across the two days. In the 9/10 tournament John Colet even came out victorious. In addition to this we have been hosting. Thank you to the sports leaders for assisting with these events. We have had some very positive feedback from the schools and they said that the student leaders were a ‘credit to themselves and the school.’
In addition to this over the past two weeks we have delivered two primary cricket festivals to over 400 primary school children. Again we received such lovely feedback about our students which was so lovely to hear.
We have a busy final term with a number of sports leadership events below;
Sports Tour Barcelona 2023
Sports Tour Barcelona 2023
The Barcelona sports tour 2023 was one of the best weeks of my life. The beautiful views, playing in the pool, swimming in the pool and gaining some of the most amazing football experiences ever. The weather topped it all off too, every day being sunny and warm, like we were on a propper holiday abroad. I was playing football throughout the week, and I enjoyed it a lot. We had some really amazing coaching sessions from some Spanish academy coaches. We were also lucky enough to play two football games against different Spanish teams. It was a really great experience to see how everyone played their own football and interact with all the Spanish players.
On Monday, we all ventured down to the beach which was only a five minute walk away from our hotel. It was so beautiful. We played lots of games on the beach and relaxed in the sun. We also spent lots of free time in the swimming pool, playing volleyball. Even though it was so cold we didn’t notice as we were having too much fun.
On Thursday, we went to Port Aventura theme park. We spent the entire day there!. The rides were absolutely epic too. I went on a really high and fast one that only had a lap bar to secure me down! Our teachers also let us walk down to the local shop with them to get food and things to do in our rooms.
I remember the teachers set up a little camp at night time after our lights went out to make sure nobody came out of their room at night. Their little camp worked quite well to be fair. On our last day we went and visited Barcelona football stadium and had a tour of it. This was probably one of the best things from the week. The tour took about an hour but it was so worth it. We also got to look around in the shop afterwards to see what they had in there which was really cool too.
We then went into Barcelona town and had some lunch, walked around it and got some ice cream. On our way to the airport the teachers presented tour awards for things like best tourist, best team player etc… They had also gathered a list over the week of loads of silly comments people had made which had us all in fits of laughter. We had a tour guide called Nacho (his nickname). He was so lovely and made our week extra special. I don’t think I will ever experience anything the same as I did in Barcelona. Thank you to all the teachers who made that week possible, it was genuinely one of the best weeks of mine and others lives!
Faith Trustram 9A
Sports Tour Results
Years 8/9/10 Netball Tournament- Team 1= 2nd place
Team 2- 5th place
Year 8 Football- JCS vs Mountras- Lost 3-2
JCS vs Atheltic Riels- Won 9-0
Year 9 Football- JCS vs Mountras- Won 3-0
JCS vs Atheltic Reils- Won 13-1
Year 10 Football-JCS vs Athletic Pals- Drew 2-2
JCS vs Athetic Reils- Won 7-2
Tour Award Winners
Netball most valuable player Team 1- Josie Robinson
Netball most valuable player Team 2- Isabella Parker
Year 8 football most valuable player- Rocco Shakespeare-Lynch
Year 9 football most valuable player- Lucas Garner
Year 10 football most valuable player- Abbey Syphas
Best tourist- George Grace
Contribution to tour awards- James Gooden, Kiya Thomson, Grace Babbington and Philippa Hare
Art and Photography
Art and Photography
Art and photography teachers Sally Bulteel and Sarah Dridi have both been selected to show their artwork at Discover Bucks Museum - Open Art Exhibition. This is being held now until July 8th 2023.
“In all 140 artists are taking part and almost 200 pieces are on show in the exhibition. The show is a rich and varied feast of art which showcases the great creative talent in the county and includes paintings, prints, ceramics, photography, sculpture and glass. Many artists on show are taking part in Bucks Art Weeks so a visit to the exhibition is a great opportunity to get a taste of a variety of artists’ work before visiting them in their studios. There is also work on display from artists who are exhibiting for the very first time”.
Please find the link here with further details about the exhibition, including the location.
https://www.discoverbucksmuseum.org/whats-on/open-art-exhibition2023/
Sarah Dridi is also showing her artwork at Kingsey Church in Kingsey, Buckinghamshire, as part of Bucks Art Weeks. This is open every weekend 11am to 5pm for the last three weekends of June.
Tooled Up
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.
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
Car Parking
Car Parking
Please can all visitors, staff, parents and students who drive to school be considerate when parking nearby. Please do not block our neighbours driveways, park directly opposite them or endanger lives by parking on the yellow lines.
Whilst parked and waiting would you kindly turn off your engine so this does not pollute the atmosphere or have future health implications for your child or the public.
Also, please be aware that the Memorial Hall Car Park and the Wendover Health Centre are not to be used for dropping off and collecting students to and from school.
Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
My experience of DofE
On the 21st April 2023 Year 10 Silver Duke of Edinburgh candidates took part in their practice expedition. My experience of this was full of walking, cooking and camping. On DofE, the main skill I acquired and adjusted to was the navigation. This was important if you wanted to get back in time to put up tents and cook dinner. Putting up the tents initially took a lot longer than towards the end of the trip as we got quicker and quicker.
Another key idea that helped us throughout the trip was organisation. The big bags that we carried contained all our food and clothes for three days. This ended up being difficult to sort on top of any provisionaries that we needed. By the end of the trip the bags were all slightly messy however, attempting to keep them organised had a big impact on the trip.
The main issues presented when we completed our expedition was the food requirements. It had to stay fresh, be as light as possible and cater to any food allergies or intolerances individuals had. This made it difficult to find meals that were suitable, however, it was possible and meant that we had a great meal in the evening.
Personally, I recommend bringing lots of snacks to keep you going throughout the day as walking (with a substantially larger backpack on) can require much energy.
Joely - Year 10
Spring Salmon with Minty Vegetable
Spring Salmon with Minty Vegetable
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Current Job Vacancies
Current Job Vacancies
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
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
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.
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