Dear Parents of Year 6 Students

Thank you for your interest in John Taylor Free School.  I am sorry that we are not able to offfer our usual Open Evening or host a tour of the school at the moment.  The information in this newsletter, the videos and the virtual tour should help you to find out all about our school.

We are in the fortuante position of being over subscribed for the first 3 years of opening and we feel this reflects the value our community places on a John Taylor Free School education. We develop both the academic success which enables students to continue their educational journey, in addition to those characteristics which enable them to thrive personally and in society –  JTFS students will “succeed and thrive”.

Our students are confident and articulate; they are rightly proud of their school.  They are excited to explore the world around them with a curious and open mind, they know when to lead and when to be led; they are prepared to try, fail and learn so that they can be even more successful next time around. Team work, resilience, respect and a passion for excellence are all central to our culture and climate. Students, staff and the community around the Free School are prepared to support each other to live and learn together.

I know this is an important decision and it is even more challenging at the moment. I do hope that the information here has helped you make that decision and we would be delighted to hear from you. 

Details on how to apply can be found here. 

Please contact admissions@johntaylorfreeschool.co.uk  if you have any questions at all and we will do our best to help you.  

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Sue Plant

Head of School

How do I apply for a place at John Taylor Free School?

Please read our admissions policy

All our admissions go through the Local Authority:

Staffordshire Local Authority

Derbyshire Local Authority

How are places allocated?

Places are allocated according to our admissions criteria:

If the total number of preferences for admission to school exceeds the Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan, that names John Taylor Free School, must be admitted. This will reduce the number of places available:

1. Children in Care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangement order or special guardianship order). This includes children who have ever been in state care outside of England.
2. Children who have a sibling in attendance at the school at the time of application; (For admission purposes, a sibling is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners).
3. Children who live within the catchment area of the school which constitutes the housing development including the Lawn’s Farm (Branston Locks) site, the development on Forest Road, Red House Farm and Beamhill Road sites.
4. Children of John Taylor Free School employees where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage or has worked at the Free School for a minimum of two years.
5. Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement, as calculated by the local authority’s Geographical Information System.

We have been oversubscribed for the first three years. The application window opened on 1st September and closes on 31st October. You must apply for a secondary school place for your child during this time.

It is very simple. John Taylor Free School has the highest expectations of students in all aspects of life including behaviour, uniform, attendance and punctuality. We have a firm, but fair approach to student conduct at all times.

Students have two questions to consider at JTFS:

Does my behaviour allow me/others to succeed?

Does my behaviour allow me/others to thrive?

These are the basic expectations for all students. Going above and beyond the expectations will be recognised via our reward system. Falling short of these expectations will lead to our positive behaviour management strategy being implemented.

Turn up, work hard, be nice - it is that simple!

As we are not able to host our open evening in person - you can watch Mrs Plant's presentation here:

We have a distinctive approach to curriculum at JTFS.  Driving questions such as 

How do we conquer terrain? and Who creates my image? underpin learning in year 7 and 8.  These questions enable students to make genuine links across the curriclum and understand the links subjects have  to the real world.  Learning organisers are used regularly to support curriculum content and in lessons students can expect to complete retrieveal quizzes, extended learning and develop their subject specific vocabulary.

STRIPE is an integral part of life at JTFS - we develop these learning behaviours alongisde the subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding to ensure that everyone can succeed and thrive.

You can read more about our curriculum in Key Stage 3 here:

What is the best thing about being a student at JTFS?

Did you have any worries when you joined us?

Are you pleased that you chose to join JTFS?

Do you have any advice for future students?

We encourage the use of walking and cycling as much as possible. Where students can, they should walk or cycle to school. We have large bike racks where students can store their bikes during the day. If they are cycling to school, the bike must be roadworthy, with lights and a cycle helmet must be worn.

There is currently a public bus service from the centre of Burton and the closest stop is at Branston Church – a 10 minute walk away. The school operates 4 buses which primarily serve the villages further away. There are no plans to change the routes, add further stops or routes.

Costs

As a Free School, the Local Authority does not pay for transport for students to the school. Therefore, should a parent choose to use the bus service, there is a cost to the family. For the academic year 2020/21 this was £700 per annum, which is an average of £3.68 per day. This is calculated per seat, and costs are the same for all stops. This is because as a school we do not have the administrative resources to manage a varied cost per distance option. Students who qualify for the Pupil Premium will continue to be eligible for £380 of costs to be covered by the allocated Pupil Premium funds, regardless of their year group.

The school operates the transport service at zero cost to the school. This means that all income received from parents is expected to equal the costs paid to the transport provider. No costs are allocated for the substantial administration undertaken within the school for setting up of the service, allocation of passes, daily management etc. Discounts Any discount for any reason would lead to an increased cost for other bus users and therefore:

• We are not in a position to offer a discount for annual or termly payments.
• We cannot offer places for part of the week – a seat is to be paid for and allocated for every school day and the full academic year.
• We are not able to offer a sibling discount, as the cost is calculated per seat, and costs for other students would have to rise to accommodate this.

Payment options

We offer 3 payment options of Monthly, Termly or Annually

Have a look around our school:

Introducing the staff at JTFS

The Senior Leadership Team - Mrs Barnby Deputy Head, Miss O'Mara Deputy Head, Mrs Broughton Assistant Head:

The Middle Leadership Team introduce their subjects:

The Individual Needs Team:

Pluto is an 2 year old labrador.  He lives with Mrs Plant and comes to school most days. You will find him in reception most mornings as you arrive at school - he likes to "meet and greet" the students as they arrive.  Pluto will hear some of you read, he may come to Guided Learning or OWL lessons and he is sometimes out at lunchtime enjoying a walk.  He is always on the lead in school and you don't have to come near him if you don't want to.  

When we are able to, we will have canine club again as part of our enrichment programme.  If you come to this club, you will learn about his training and how to look after him.

At the heart of our school is our STRIPE curriculum: our students are taught to identify, explore and improve core learning behaviours to enhance their understanding of how they learn and behave.  STRIPE is taught and developed in all that we do, through our subject curriculum, personal tutor time, roles within school and enrichment.  Our young people are self-managers, team-players, they reflect and are resilience, they are innovative and creative, participators and enquirers, and as such they develop excitement about their learning.

In year 7 and 8 our driving questions underpin the subject curriculum to inspire students to think independently and creatively, to forge links across subjects and with the wider world in which they live.  

At JTFS, we educate in a way that means that learn is not merely for lessons, but for life. 

Interested in sport and PE? Here is a tour of our amazing facilities:

There have been several changes to the Progress Team this academic year – this is very exciting and will provide targeted support as required.

At JTFS vertical tutoring is at the heart of what we do.  At the moment due to Covid,we have made some changes and each Progress Leader has responsibility for a year group. This helps due to the requirement to zone our students.

Each student has a Personal Tutor who is the first point of contact for the student and their family.  The PT is supported by a Progress Leader and a member of the Senior Leadership Team.  This means that we can ensure a personalised approach to support for our students.

Here we are introducing the team so you can put a face to the name and know a little bit more about them:

Year 7: Progress Leader Mr A Warner 

I am delighted to be part of the JTFS school community and to be welcoming our new Year 7 cohort.  It is my role to give them the pastoral and academic support they will need to succeed and thrive over the next seven years. My journey within the education sector has been varied and I have spent time working as a classroom teacher and also as a pastoral lead.  Recently I have been involved in setting up a SEMH and behaviour hub on the site of a mainstream school, using my skills and expertise to develop an alternative provision for students who found it difficult to access the main curriculum. I am extremely excited about seeing how all the students grow and excel as part of our unique JTFS community.

SLT link: Mrs H Barnby, Deputy Head of School

Year 8: Progress Leader Mr G Barker

I have had the pleasure to work in education in a variety of settings for 23 years. Over the last 8 years I have managed year 11 so have a thorough understanding of the pressure students feel around GCSE revision and exams. In addition to this, I have had the responsibility to ensure successful and appropriate Post 16 destinations and the wider remit of whole school careers. I wholly believe that students understanding of the opportunities the working world has to offer, is integral to engagement and attainment in school. I am delighted and excited to be part of the JTFS journey as the school grows year on year.

SLT link: Miss E O’Mara, Deputy Head of School

Year 9: Progress Leader Mr C Vardy

I am an experienced teacher within the John Taylor Multi Academy Trust, specialising in Physical Education. I joined John Taylor Free School in September 2018 as I firmly believe in the power of education to improve lives and the word. I am passionate about delivering high quality teaching, learning and enrichment activities in order to ensure that all students can succeed and thrive both within the classroom beyond. I am delighted to have been appointed as a Progress Leader, and very much look forward to supporting all of our students and their families to ensure students achieve their full potential during their time at John Taylor Free School. It is my role support, encourage and monitor students to ensure student progress is made, and that all students have every opportunity to succeed and thrive.

SLT link: Mrs C Broughton, Assistant Head of School

Following a successful promotion for Mrs Kiteley and maternity leave for Mrs Spence, we have also appointed 4 new Assistant Progress Leaders.

The staff have a range of previous employment backgrounds and all have different areas of expertise:

Mrs W Burton

I have worked with children and families throughout my working life both in the educational setting and more recently within the School Nursing and 0-19 service for the NHS. I worked within the School Nursing Team for 14 years and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. This was where my interest in adolescent mental health began. My area of specialism is with Health & Wellbeing. It is a privilege to be able to support children offering help, guidance, and reassurance to enable them to reach their potential. Emotional wellbeing is a crucial part of growing up and I look forward to working alongside your children to make school a happy and fulfilling place to learn.

I have previously been employed as a children’s social worker, so I have a broad range of experience ranging from supporting parents, domestic abuse, safeguarding, substance misuse and ensuring every child is safe and supported. I really enjoy working with children and my aims are to ensure I am empowering students to achieve their best by working with them and not for them. I am really looking forward to working one to one with students and really getting to know them and ensuring that all students are well supported and happy within school.

Mrs M Hassell

For the last fifteen years I have worked in many fields within the education sector: these include teaching, SEN, intervention, and planning, teaching, and evaluating various family learning workshops. I am extremely passionate about treating parents as partners in the journey to success for young people. Parents are the ongoing and most important educators of their own children. Parents as partners is proven to improve schools, strengthen families and improve all round academic achievement.

Miss R Taylor-Eaton

My aim is to work with young people to enable them to achieve the best they can socially, emotionally, and academically. I have previous experience working as a Deputy Head of Year which enabled me to develop a good understanding of the different circumstance’s students can experience. My degree in Youth Work and Community Development ensured I could develop skills in working with young people and families. I have specialised in Mental Health and Autism Spectrum Disorder as a result of past work. I am looking forward to continuing to build on the work I have started with some of the students and progress this throughout the school.

At JTFS, we ensure our students have opportunities outside of the classroom.  Thrive enables students to develop as people, as members of their community and society as a whole.  Our enrichment programme offers activities such as Debate Club, Choir, Model Railway, Board Games, Calligraphy, Product Design, and much more.  We ask students to take part in at least one activity a week; we believe this allows our students to nurture relationships, explore new skills build confidence and further enjoy their day at JTFS.

A typical programme for a half term might include: