Executive Headteacher's Report

It has been a brilliantly busy term again and so much has happened in school since Christmas.  It has been just wonderful to see the range and variety of activities taking place in class and through our extra-curricular life of the school.

We are still in a bit of a no-man’s land with Covid.  We have had peaks and troughs of infections amongst students which has obviously impacted on the continuity of their learning.  We have been very fortunate to be able to deal with any staff absence without having to close year groups or classes as some schools have unfortunately had to do.  Our teachers and cover supervisors have been amazing standing in for their colleagues.  Our excellent reputation with supply teachers in Norfolk has also meant we have always had a good pool of reliable colleagues to call upon.  We have worked hard to make our own luck in this respect thanks to our excellent school culture.  Our teachers love teaching our students.  The Covid guidance has changed, we will update parents about expectations later today.

The autumn term ended with the triumphant production of Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.  This represented our first major in-school event since lockdown.  Since Christmas we have had a wonderfully busy time in relation to events and activities.

Our trip to Iceland was a fabulous success.  It has restarted our ambitious programme of trips and residentials.  We have since begun our planning for our year 11 English visit to Derbyshire and the Lakes and our history trip to Berlin.  A ski trip is also in the pipeline.  It’s also going to be great to finish the year with activities week again.  All of these experiences run thanks to the dedicated generosity, and enthusiasm of our staff who love and value the power that these experiences have to change lives.

Our PE team have been amazing in ensuring we have had a really busy programme of fixtures, training sessions, clubs and competitions.  Our teams have enjoyed great success and have consistently represented the school in the right way and with a fabulous attitude.  Our amazing facilities often mean that we are a hub for much of the inter-school sport that takes place in this area.  We are making good progress towards securing the funding to making our new leisure building a reality.  This will provide the school and wider Aylsham community with access to a member’s gym, additional studio and new fitness spaces.  We have a number of teams in a number of finals.  Whatever happens they have done wonderfully well to get to where they have.  We are also looking forward to the return of our fabulous inter-house sports day next term.  The house colours, the passion, and mutual support are wonderful to behold.

Our careers advisor Mrs Durand led a brilliant week of activities as part of national careers’ week.  Our year 9s got to visit a careers fare at the Norfolk showground.  Our year 7s got to work with employers in a guess the job event.  The event did a brilliant job in helping to challenge career stereotypes, particularly in relation to gender.  Our Year 10s and 11s had some excellent sector best sessions in relation to the construction industry.  In addition, it is wonderful to have year 10 ready and raring to go with their work experience at the end of the summer term.

We had two wonderful visits from Norfolk dignitaries.  The Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk Lady Dannatt visited our ICE students and planted a tree for the Queen’s platinum jubilee.  She also got to see our fantastic allotment space and our new construction building.  We also had a visit from the High Sheriff of Norfolk who came to celebrate the work that our ICE students have done with our local RHS volunteers on renovating the paupers’ graves in Aylsham.  All of these projects illustrate the fabulous work that our nurture team do with some of our students across the school.

Our student newspaper The Present Tense has had a rebirth online thanks to Miss Bates and her team.  A link can be found here http://www.ahspresenttense.com/ much of their focus has been around hearing from voices in our community who have lived elsewhere in the world and subsequently settled in Norfolk.  This is particularly resonant at the moment as our community prepares to potentially welcome Ukrainian refugees.  Our Harbour Group is committed to helping AHS become a school of sanctuary.

We were able to hold our Inter-house Music Competition on the 11^th March.  It was an incredible success with wonderful solo and group performances.  The ultimate winners were Wolterton House.  Congratulations to them and all the students who made it such a wonderful evening.  It was brilliant to have so many parents there too.

These are just a flavour of the amazing work going on outside of the classroom.  To that list we can add the GreenPower Project, The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards, The Young Chamber, The Pencil Case Student shop, Diversity Club, play rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, theatre company visits to school and peripatetic music lessons.  We are an incredibly busy school.  It’s wonderful.  I do urge our students to take every opportunity they can.

I want to wish all students who are taking GCSE and equivalent exams the very best.  May and June will be busy months for our students as they take the first summer exams since June 2019.  I know that our teachers are working hard to ensure that they are as well-prepared as they can be.  The rest is up to the students.  Revision is obviously crucial.  Those that practise, prepare, and revise their learning stand the best chance of doing their very best in any exam.  Our subject teachers will help with the content, focus and methods of revision.  Our Pastoral and SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health) colleagues will help with stresses and worries.  Our brilliant exams officer Mrs Gilbert is happy to help with any questions and is always a wonderfully calming voice at times of challenge for our students.

I wish you all a very happy Easter Break.  I urge our students to balance any revision with taking time to properly rest and recharge.  Here’s to a great summer term and a wonderful end to a busy and important academic year where we have really began to rebuild and reconnect with all of the things that make our learning community so special.

Love and best wishes

Duncan Spalding

Executive Headteacher 

Chair of Governors Report

I am sure that students and staff alike will be looking forward to the Easter holiday, when hopefully Norfolk will continue to bask in the lovely Spring sunshine that we have all been enjoying.

Just as we hoped that the Covid situation was calming down, it seems to have come back with vengeance, disrupting our learning environment, but hopefully not causing too much severe illness.

Our schools have all had a productive term, with students and pupils preparing for Summer term exams, and at last we have been able to return to more extra-curricular activities too.

At the High School, some students went on their first overseas trip for two years, this time to Iceland, which I gather was extremely enjoyable and useful.  The high school has also welcomed two high profile county dignitaries this term – Lady Dannatt visited the school in early March and spent the morning looking at the work being done in the new construction building, as well as in the allotments and nurture centre.  She also planted a tree to mark Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee.  This can be found at the exit gate in the main front car park.  The High Sheriff also came to visit after his trip to the Paupers’ Graves in Aylsham. 

The under 16 rugby team is through to the Norfolk final on 30^th March, so good luck to them.

At Bure Valley, World Book Day was celebrated in style with all the pupils dressing up, and thanks to our parents and carers for helping with this activity.  I hope that the pupils are all enjoying the newly marked out play area, and many thanks to the parents and carers who have set up the new Friends of BVS.

At John of Gaunt pupils also enjoyed World Book Day, and the pupils there focussed on the work of Jill Murphy.

The Aylsham Learning Federation has had another very busy term and my thanks as always to our staff for all the hard work they put into the day to day running of our schools, and to our parents and carers, for supporting the children and schools throughout the term

I hope everyone is able to enjoy a relaxing and healthy much needed holiday

Jenny Youngs

Chair of Governors of Aylsham Learning Federation

GreenPower Project

As we edge closer to race day, we can finally say that we have a rolling chassis and working electronics! We still have some bodywork to fit on and our racecraft to hone, but it is, at last, looking like a race car. We have been running a Crowdfunder through Aviva and are very grateful for donations that have been received so far (https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/ahsgreenpower). We would also like to thank some local businesses that have generously donated: Tailored Solutions Wealth Management, Keys of Aylsham and BonBons of Aylsham. If you would like to donate please use the crowd funder link or email greenpower@aylshamhigh,norfolk.sch.uk

The easy way to make payments to Aylsham High School

Top up lunch money - Pay for trips and activities

ParentPay is an online shop.  Top up your account, choose what to purchase and then check out. It is a simple and secure way to pay for items using your credit or debit card.

Using ParentPay to keep lunch accounts topped up means students do not need to carry money to school or queue to use the cash loader. Using the reminder alert service will give you peace of mind that your student will always have enough money for their lunch.

If your student needs to pay for a particular trip, activity or uniform purchase, an extra item will be visible for you to purchase.  No more cheques to go missing in the bottom of a rucksack or tucked into a forgotten pocket.

If you need help logging on to ParentPay please contact us at the finance office:

Email finance@aylshamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk

Telephone 01263 733270 x153/107 

Visit /ahsparentpay on our website

Student Support and Attendance

Our school has many initiatives to promote the benefits of good attendance and to support those students and families with attendance difficulties. We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents/carers of absence reporting procedures to ensure that all absences are recorded accurately and to prevent unnecessary truancy Any absence is to be reported to the attendance office; this can be done in several ways:-

1.  Ring 01263 733270 and select option 2. This is a confidential answering service where you can leave a message with 24 hr access.

2.  Email attendance@aylshamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk. Your email will only be read by the attendance officer and is confidential.

3.  During school hours ring the attendance office on 01263 733270 ext.158.

4.  When leaving a message please give your child’s full name, tutor group, year group and a detailed/specific reason for absence.

5.  Absences are to be reported daily until your child returns to school.

6.  Absences should be reported before 9.30am whenever possible.

7.  A truancy call/text message will be sent for all students without a reason for absence. If we do not receive a response by the end of the school day the absence will be recorded as unauthorised (O).

8.  Medical evidence must be provided for any hospital/medical/dental appointments. This can be an appointment slip/card or referral letter. The attendance officer can take a copy if necessary.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs S Smith, Student Support & Attendance Officer, should you have any concerns about your child’s attendance or the information we have recorded for them. attendance@aylshamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk

Aylsham Sports Hub Swimming timetable Easter holidays 2022

For term dates of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 please click here to view