EDITORIAL: JUNE 2022
The Friends of Aylsham High School
By Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
Sometimes, friends stay by your side through the hardest of times. And sometimes, friends will simply buy you that thing you want. But sometimes big friends are invisible and the things they buy for us, we don’t even realise that they’ve bought for us. Take for instance, the Friends Of Aylsham High School. The microscopes sat in the corner of your science classroom and the rain-diverting tool for the eco garden was paid for by the Friends. They’ve donated a full £2000 to the Cat Cartwright memorial and recently, £600 to the eagles activity week, £500 to Mrs. Bates’s English trip and £100 simply for flowers in reception.
The Friends, we call them, are a group of people, mostly parents of children who go to/went to AHS. They raise money and fund for the school, such as the microscopes. They’ve raised money from things like the school disco's (just the 2 disco’s this year have raised £1342 and 2 more are scheduled for the 1st and 8th of July), the Christmas Market which raised £350 and had Mrs. Bates’s mum make Christmas cushions which raised £347. Another thing they have done is apply to Aviva insurance company as a part of the Aviva Community Fund whereby Aviva employees are able to donate their funds. They were able to get a whole £2700, which went to the school’s Green Power Project.
The Treasurer, Lee Robinson-Evans and the Chair, Aimee Robinson-Evans, husband and wife, have had two children go through Aylsham High School and two still to come. Lee has been apart of FOAHS for five years and Aimee seven years and because of their youngest child, they’re confident to say an incredible commitment of another minimum eight years with FOAHS. Becksy, the mother of Regan Jackson (who gave the most amazing performance as Bottom in Mrs. Mitton’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Jo Tuttle, the school’s representative at meetings and point of contact are, too, a part of the team.
Julii Swindells, a member of the Friends, sells uniform via e-bay and Facebook. She also leads pre-loved uniform sales which raised £2230 last academic year and this year, the Friends are currently at £770 from the sale with two more scheduled major sales to go. They call Julii the uniform queen. I think that’s a suitable title. There was a sale on the 11th June 2022 at the Aylsham Community Trust at 11am-1pm and the next is on the 27th June induction evening. At the moment, they are having a large pre-loved uniform collection Monday 6th June-Friday 17th June, however, they will take uniform anytime. If you have any unwanted uniform, leave it in the pre-loved uniform container outside the front door of the school.
If you’re a part of a club at the school and your club is in need of funding in any way or would like to know more, don’t hesitate to contact the FOAHS at friends@aylshamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk
By Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
Sometimes, friends stay by your side through the hardest of times. And sometimes, friends will simply buy you that thing you want. But sometimes big friends are invisible and the things they buy for us, we don’t even realise that they’ve bought for us. Take for instance, the Friends Of Aylsham High School. The microscopes sat in the corner of your science classroom and the rain-diverting tool for the eco garden was paid for by the Friends. They’ve donated a full £2000 to the Cat Cartwright memorial and recently, £600 to the eagles activity week, £500 to Mrs. Bates’s English trip and £100 simply for flowers in reception.
The Friends, we call them, are a group of people, mostly parents of children who go to/went to AHS. They raise money and fund for the school, such as the microscopes. They’ve raised money from things like the school disco's (just the 2 disco’s this year have raised £1342 and 2 more are scheduled for the 1st and 8th of July), the Christmas Market which raised £350 and had Mrs. Bates’s mum make Christmas cushions which raised £347. Another thing they have done is apply to Aviva insurance company as a part of the Aviva Community Fund whereby Aviva employees are able to donate their funds. They were able to get a whole £2700, which went to the school’s Green Power Project.
The Treasurer, Lee Robinson-Evans and the Chair, Aimee Robinson-Evans, husband and wife, have had two children go through Aylsham High School and two still to come. Lee has been apart of FOAHS for five years and Aimee seven years and because of their youngest child, they’re confident to say an incredible commitment of another minimum eight years with FOAHS. Becksy, the mother of Regan Jackson (who gave the most amazing performance as Bottom in Mrs. Mitton’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Jo Tuttle, the school’s representative at meetings and point of contact are, too, a part of the team.
Julii Swindells, a member of the Friends, sells uniform via e-bay and Facebook. She also leads pre-loved uniform sales which raised £2230 last academic year and this year, the Friends are currently at £770 from the sale with two more scheduled major sales to go. They call Julii the uniform queen. I think that’s a suitable title. There was a sale on the 11th June 2022 at the Aylsham Community Trust at 11am-1pm and the next is on the 27th June induction evening. At the moment, they are having a large pre-loved uniform collection Monday 6th June-Friday 17th June, however, they will take uniform anytime. If you have any unwanted uniform, leave it in the pre-loved uniform container outside the front door of the school.
If you’re a part of a club at the school and your club is in need of funding in any way or would like to know more, don’t hesitate to contact the FOAHS at friends@aylshamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk
EDITORIAL: MAY 2022
Aylsham Town Council Traffic Committee
by Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
by Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
COVID brought a lot of discomforting and irritating things but you know what it did bring? A rethink of the way in which cars, buses and people interact in the centre of our town. It goes by the fancy word of ‘traffic’ but really, it’s all about us.
There are people who care about us and they call themselves the ‘Aylsham Town Council Traffic Committee.' The people on this committee, a core of about 6 town councillors and a fluctuating number of interested residents but around 10 at each meeting, offer informed ideas and opinions that the Aylsham town council take into account.
During the beginning of COVID, there was a group of people who took interest in the way that cars and people moved around the town and how to improve it.
One thing that was done during lockdown - you may remember - was the placement of planters (large containers with plants in them) on Red Lion Street. It was made into a one way road and the pavements were also one way to ensure social distancing. This created a much safer road for pedestrians and drivers alike. However, this went the same way lockdown did - it was over sooner than some of us feared it would be. Some residents in that area objected and Red Lion St became two-way once again.
But a committee of concerned residents continue to lobby the district council to organise traffic and pedestrian arrangements of our town to make it safer and more pleasant. What do you think? Does this road present problems on your walk to or from school?
The committee's concerns about a better environment embraced further reaches of our town to include the new estate planned for the field currently used for car boot sales opposite the BP garage, where roughly 250 new houses are going to be built and another more than 250 nearby. Arthur Rope, who is a part of this committee, warns that there will be more traffic congestion in that area as a result. As this area is so near to our school, it is going to affect many of us.
Whether you are walking, your parents are driving you, or you’re on a bus, at the end of the school day Aylsham will be a different place to be in the future.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, they are best directed to the Town Clerk, Sue Lake, at the Town Council Offices.
There are people who care about us and they call themselves the ‘Aylsham Town Council Traffic Committee.' The people on this committee, a core of about 6 town councillors and a fluctuating number of interested residents but around 10 at each meeting, offer informed ideas and opinions that the Aylsham town council take into account.
During the beginning of COVID, there was a group of people who took interest in the way that cars and people moved around the town and how to improve it.
One thing that was done during lockdown - you may remember - was the placement of planters (large containers with plants in them) on Red Lion Street. It was made into a one way road and the pavements were also one way to ensure social distancing. This created a much safer road for pedestrians and drivers alike. However, this went the same way lockdown did - it was over sooner than some of us feared it would be. Some residents in that area objected and Red Lion St became two-way once again.
But a committee of concerned residents continue to lobby the district council to organise traffic and pedestrian arrangements of our town to make it safer and more pleasant. What do you think? Does this road present problems on your walk to or from school?
The committee's concerns about a better environment embraced further reaches of our town to include the new estate planned for the field currently used for car boot sales opposite the BP garage, where roughly 250 new houses are going to be built and another more than 250 nearby. Arthur Rope, who is a part of this committee, warns that there will be more traffic congestion in that area as a result. As this area is so near to our school, it is going to affect many of us.
Whether you are walking, your parents are driving you, or you’re on a bus, at the end of the school day Aylsham will be a different place to be in the future.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, they are best directed to the Town Clerk, Sue Lake, at the Town Council Offices.
Editorial: march 2022
The New Normal
by Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
by Maleeya Watts - chief editor, class of 2025
It didn’t occur to us what the ‘new normal’ was exactly when we adopted it as our theme for this issue. We’ve been stuck on it for quite a while now, trying to think of what exactly the ‘new normal’ is. Our first and main thought would be: COVID, wouldn’t you agree? However, come to think of it, the usual compulsories like masks, one-way systems and sticky hand sanitiser aren’t so necessary in public spaces anymore. Of course, some, if not most, still treat them as if they were still compulsory. Maybe they are our 'new normal.'
From my perspective as a year 8 student, I think it's important to acknowledge that school children exist in an environment of constant change. 'Normal' is 'new' all the time. From the price of Radnor fizzes, to the classroom that science lessons are in, to changes in the school curriculum. School children grow up with change all around us; continual change has become easier to adapt to. If you think of change that way, the ‘new normal’ is no longer 'new,' it is just simply: 'the norm’. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, ‘“Change is the only constant thing in life.” Change is important, it’s what keeps us going, even.
Just as after 9/11 and the changes that came with it (having to throw away your water and to take off your shoes at the airport, etc.), there most likely will be permanent changes due to COVID 19. For instance, recurring tests before flights and events. Likewise, people have suffered, young and old, with immense mental health issues and other predicaments. Isolation, fear, loss of income and so on have triggered mental health conditions or made existing ones worse. Losing a loved one has been the case for many. Lives have been changed irreparably.
There are positive new norms that have been built to counteract the bad. Here at Aylsham very few students have struggled to keep up during online learning. We have supported one another in our learning. Isolating has not been too much to cope with, we don’t see students hiding from public spaces because of COVID and things like tests haven’t been too much of a chore.
One very important thing, though, that COVID has emphasised must not change, is how we care for others. We’ve worn masks to protect others, we’ve taken tests to protect others, we’ve isolated ourselves to protect others. Now, and for the future, that constant care and thought for each other should be the new normal.
