Blog

World Book Day 2023

World Book Day is approaching! On Thursday 2nd March, each department will be dressing up based around a book theme and it would be great to see students getting involved and dressing up too! Students are invited to vote for their favourite department. Visit the library to cast your vote! Book tokens are digital this year and are available to download from My Child At School.

Oxford College University Day

Recently, we arranged an all day trip to Oxford University within the Oxford College Campus. Mr Giles and Mrs Graham accompanied 15 students from Year 10 or 11 for a full day in Oxford where a lecture was given about the University, various subjects offered, entry requirements, student finance, grants, bursaries and general student life for students that studied at Oxford University.

The students had a tour of the campus and all it has to offer from its vast library to the beautiful chapel. This was delivered by current students studying at Oxford and they then sat in on a question and answer session with the students also.

Finally, after a very delicious lunch in the great hall which was simply breathtakingly beautiful to sit in the CTA students were invited to do a problem-solving session and partake in a philosophy and Ethics lecture. The CTA students did us proud by answering questions with great thought and solving the various issues thrown at them. It was a day enjoyed by all.

John Taylor Multi-Academy Trust (JTMAT) History Subject Excellence Event

On the afternoon of Thursday 9th February 23, we hosted a History Subject Excellence Event that saw ourselves compete against four other high schools within the JTMAT; Kingsmead High School, John Taylor High School, John Taylor Free School and Paulet High School.

Each school was tasked with gathering a group of pupils from any key stage to create a creative, engaging historical accurate presentation representing a walking history tour of their schools local and surrounding areas.

The presentation was judged by three representatives from the newly opened Staffordshire Historical Centre, who kindly offered the winners the opportunity to visit their historical archives and help plan how they will display these archives in the Staffordshire Historical Centre. Each participating student and the winners also gained a subject excellence certificate and winners got badges.

Kingsmead High School were the overall winners with their easy-going video about the History of Cannock Chase and were also asked if their video could be used on the Staffordshire History Centre which was excellent. However, as well as this, the judges were so impressed by all the schools that all students were offered the opportunity to collaborate on the display of the Staffordshire Historical Centre.

Alongside this the judges also judged variety of Propaganda that was created by some of the students from KS1 and KS2 from the JTMAT Primary Schools, we had many entrees, winning pupils will also receive certificates and badges.

Miss S Lindsey, Teacher of History (and the Organiser for this event) commented, “It was a lovely afternoon learning about other schools’ local areas and getting to work alongside other schools within the MAT. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to do something like this again. “

Ask A Justice – Supreme Court 2023

As a part of our ‘National Apprenticeship Week’, students from Year 11 and 13 were invited for a virtual session with a member of the Supreme Court, Lord Leggatt. This was a motivational and educational session with Lord Leggatt who was engaging whilst speaking to our students. The ten pupils who had been selected to ask personal interest questions were comprised from the Year 13 debating club and the remaining students from Year 11 with a known interest in Law.

These pupils felt immensely privileged to have this direct audience with a Lord of such high esteem. The rest of the 35 strong audience were captivated by the session and the insights gained from Lord Leggatt and his extensive experience at all levels of the judiciary.

We had applied for this opportunity through a LinkedIn recommendation from an ex Chase Terrace Academy student Jack Hollingworth who is currently a third year undergraduate practicing Law at Jesus College, Cambridge. Jack contacted Luke Matheson, one of our current Year 13 pupils who is an aspiring lawyer, and made him aware of this prestigious opportunity. We were thrilled to secure the opportunity and feel like we made the most of the chance.

Mrs Cowley, Head of the English Department commented: “This was one of the proudest moments of my teaching career to date. Our pupils were so slick and well prepared due to the extensive preparation that they had put in with Mr Lloyd at their weekly Debating Club sessions. We have well read pupils with such initiative and attention to detail which stands them in good stead for careers in Law.”

Mr Cain, Deputy Head of CTA, commented: “I was impressed with the sophistication of the questions, in particular the one from Luke Matheson which lord Leggatt said was high quality.”

Mrs Poppleton, Director of Careers, commented: “I was blown away by the poise and maturity of our Years 11, 12 and 13 students who were excellent ambassadors for our school. Each and every one of them should be so proud to put that they participated in this amazing opportunity on their CV.