Spring 2017

Spring 2017

IN THIS ISSUE: Celebrating Ofsted Success Les Miserables Stars in Our School Primary Transition Ben 401’s Motivational Visit Sports News Futures & Careers Religious Life of the School Plus much more!

Our Lady’s R.C. High School

Alworth Road, Higher Blackley, Manchester, M9 0RP T: 0161 795 9004 F: 0161 702 3923 E: admin@olsc.manchester.sch.uk

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@OlhsTweets

www.olhs-manchester.org.uk

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

On behalf of the staff and students of Our Lady’s R.C. High School it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the latest edition of our school magazine.

After what has been a very busy term, I am sure the staff and students of Our Lady’s are looking forward to a much-deserved rest. I wrote to all parents earlier this term with the fantastic news about our most recent Ofsted report. As I mentioned in my letter, the inspectors were very impressed by the educational provision offered at Our Lady’s but it was the strength of the relationships between staff, students and parents that really caught their eye. The full report is available on our website but I feel the following comments from the inspection team best summarise our school:

in July 2016, and some of the best GCSE outcomes in Manchester for the last two years are all signs of the high standard of education that is delivered at Our Lady’s and the significant improvements the school has made over the last few years.

Whilst the inspection may have been a distraction from our normal day-to-day activities in school, the staff and students still managed to deliver a significant number of memorable moments. There has been an abundance of notable events this term including our Lenten services and the funds raised for the Feast Day of

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The school environment is inspiring and reflective of the high standards school leaders promote. Pupils are courteous and confident and their behaviour is good. High standards and expectations, strong attitudes to learning and good and outstanding teaching have led to all pupils making very strong progress. This is a diverse, happy and outward looking community where pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs and activities outside of lessons.

Securing the ‘good’ judgement from Ofsted, a ‘good with many outstanding features’ judgement from the Diocese of Salford

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Our Lady of Lourdes. We have welcomed local primary school children in for CSI themed transition days, our Year 8 students

have chosen their options subjects and Year 10 students have been out on their work experience placements. My highlight, without question, has to be the performance of Les Misérables. I’ve been privileged enough to see this musical performed in London but the almost perfect singing, brilliant casting and clear passion of all involved made this performance even more special. I would like to thank all staff and students for making it such a spectacular event.

On the sports field, Sinead Brown has become the Greater Manchester badminton singles champion with an unbeaten record, the KS4 girls’ volleyball team are also unbeaten Manchester champions and the Year 9 boys have made it through to the semi-finals of the English schools championships.

I would like finish by thanking all parents for their continued and unwavering support, and to wish you a happy and Holy Easter.

L. Ormsby Headteacher

Editor’s Welcome Message Welcome to the Spring edition of Sharing the Vision. We’ve got all the news from the beginning of the year through to Easter including our fantastic Ofsted result.

So read on to discover everything that is ‘GOOD’ about Our Lady’s.

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Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

Contents Editor’s Welcome Message

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A New Domain

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Uniting for a Safer Internet

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It’s all GOOD at Our Lady’s!

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Ben 401 Inspires Year 8 to Be Proud and Say No to Bullying

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A Smooth Transition

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Stamping our Designs on Christmas 2017!

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Creating Community Stories at the Whitworth

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A Day in the Life of a Forensic Scientist with E-Act Academy

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Olympic Enterprise Inspires Sporting Souvenir Success!

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Robogal Primary Power!

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A New Domain We hope you have visited our new look website and have been enjoying the news and blogs as well as accessing useful information about Our Lady’s. Our domain has now changed. This simply means we have a new web address, but all the same fantastic content. Find us at www.olhs-manchester.org.uk

Our Lady’s present Les Miserables 8 Stars in Our School Shine in Support of The Christie

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Maria Edwards, Our Year 9 Sporting Star!

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Netball Dream Team Back in Play 12 Year 7s Blazing a Trail Through Junior NBA

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Taking Table Tennis to the Top

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Year 11 Take an Unforgettable Flight In a Wind Tunnel!

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Sharing the Joy of Reading

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Look at our Year 7s now!

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Staff Profile: Mrs. Slack

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Setting Students on the Right Career Path

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Careers Ambassadors

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Chaplaincy Team

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Lent

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Our Lady of Lourdes

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Peer-to-Peer Assemblies

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Total Wipeout

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Editor: Anna Barker Sub Editor: Adam Jones Designed and printed by Boss Direct Limited www.bossdirect.co.uk

Sharing The Vision

Uniting for a Safer Internet Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

This year, the UK Safer Internet Centre is showcasing the power of image in digital youth culture today.

activities have empowered our students to have a positive online experience and inspire everyone to ‘Be the change’.

At Our Lady’s the day offered an opportunity to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community.

By exploring themes such as privacy settings, cyber-bullying and not chatting online to strangers it is hoped the

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

It’s Official—

It’s all GOOD at Our Lady’s!

February was a somewhat busy month here at Our Lady’s. As rehearsals were in full flow for the school production of Les Miserables, we got the call…

Ofsted were on their way.

As a school community we knew we were ready for the inspectors to see the wonderful work that happens here on a daily basis and we’re pleased to report, all the hard work has paid off. We are now delighted to share with you our new Ofsted rating. We are officially a GOOD school, graded GOOD in all areas of the inspection.

Mr Ormsby joined Our Lady’s as Headteacher in September 2015 and has worked with the senior leadership team and staff to develop all students to achieve their potential, providing a good standard of education in a fully-supportive learning environment. Since his appointment the school has secured a strong Section 48 report; highlighting its outstanding catholic leadership, GCSE results have significantly improved with 99% of students achieving a qualification in Maths and English and now the school has secured a Good Ofsted rating. This has been a real team effort, reflecting the dedication, drive and commitment of all the staff here and the hard work and good attitude of our students.

The Ofsted Inspectors recognised the effective action taken by Our Lady’s staff to improve outcomes since the last inspection.

Ofsted noted good attitudes to learning throughout Our Lady’s with work being carefully presented. The report indicates spelling, punctuation and grammar in writing, as well as students’ use of Standard English when speaking, have improved significantly since the last inspection.

At Our Lady’s we are determined students will continue to succeed after year 11 and so we provide access to workshops, enterprise days and guidance about options in

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order to support students to make the best choices. This commitment is reflected by the Ofsted report which refers to the high standard of careers advice and broad range of subjects offered which result in large numbers of students continuing to appropriate education or training.

This is a fantastic achievement for our community and we would like to publicly thank everyone for helping to drive Our Lady’s High School to the rating we know we have deserved for a long time.

Mr Ormsby says: “As a community we are very proud to receive such an overwhelmingly positive report about our school. Whilst there are too many areas of good and outstanding practice to list, the recognition that we fully develop all pupils personally, academically and spiritually is particularly important to us.

The students, staff, parents and governors deserve significant credit for the part they have played in securing this judgement and for their contribution in ensuring the educational provision of Our Lady’s is the very best it can be.”

If you would like to read the full report, please visit our website: www.olhsmanchester.org.uk/our-school/ofsted/

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Pupils form positive relationships with their peers and staff

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The school is a diverse, happy and outward-looking community.

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Pupils of all abilities, including most able are challenged appropriately

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Outcomes are good… This is because of high standards and expectations, strong attitudes to learning and good or better teaching

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Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

Ben 401 Inspires Year 8 to Be Proud and Say No to Bullying On 16 March our year 8s were treated to a motivational visit from Ben 401. Ben may have appeared to be just an ordinary guy wearing sports gear, standing in front of 170 children in a school hall, but he has an extraordinary story to tell and by the time he’d finished talking they were left feeling inspired.

Ben Smith from Portishead was bullied both physically and mentally at school—between the ages of 10 and 18—and as a result attempted to take his own life. The bullying began when his parents sent him to boarding school to avoid disrupting his schooling while his father, who was in the army, was stationed in Germany. Ben explained how leaving his parents behind to start school in the UK “rocked my foundations.”

He said; “I didn’t have any confidence or self-esteem and so I became an easy target for the bullies.”

At 13, Ben realised he was gay, but he turned in on himself. At 18 things got so bad that he tried to take his own like. This was a turning point and he decided to change his life, going to university, getting married and settling into a career. Seemingly he had it all, but as he told the year 8s, appearances can be deceptive.

“I was a corporate monkey working 60-70 hours a week, thinking that you need the car, the house, the great job, the pension to be successful, but I wasn’t happy.”

Ben was overweight and suffered a stroke aged just 29. He described being in his hospital bed at the Bristol Royal Infirmary following the stroke as “My Hollywood kind of moment.”

He realised he had to figure out what made him happy. He quit his career, got divorced, came out as the person he really was and decided to raise awareness of the destructive nature of bullying in UK schools.

Having never run before, Ben became a member of the Southville Running Club and spent two and a half years preparing for an incredible challenge; to run 401 marathons in 401 consecutive days around the UK to raise money for anti-bullying charities Stonewall and Kidscape.

Using his own experiences, Ben now tours the country giving motivational talks based on his strong belief that every child has a

Sharing The Vision

right to feel happy and safe in school. As he says; “Every human being has the right to feel valued for who they are and to have what makes them unique celebrated.”

Ben understands that schools are one of the most influential places we attend in our lifetime—often defining the path we choose to take in life. Therefore, schools have a huge responsibility to develop and inspire future generations, instilling confidence and self-esteem in children. Ben’s talks are designed to show school children that anything is possible. In a world where social media and peer group pressures influence behaviour it may seem easier to say something horrible about someone than say something nice, but Ben wants people to stop and realise the devastating consequences such behaviour can have.

Ben’s marathon charity attempt began on 1 September 2015 when he set off from Millennium Square in Bristol for the first of 401 consecutive marathons. His determination and passion for his cause saw him run 284 consecutive marathons in 284 days. A hernia and serious back injury (he says his back is still broken) in June forced him to take ten days out for recovery, but then it was straight back out to make up his lost mileage. Rather than admit defeat, Ben and his team decided that in order to make up the time he would need to run supermarathons, adding distance to his daily 26.2 miles so he could still finish 401 marathons in 401 days.

He told the students; “Day 294 was tough. I went back to Inverness full of doubts. How could I run with a broken back? I ran 30 miles that day!”

Ben received the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show in December 2016; the award, for achievement in the face of adversity, is in memory of the BBC presenter who died of cancer in 1999. He also received a Pride of Britain award in recognition of his antibullying campaigning.

Ben’s 401 Challenge saw him cover just over 10,506 miles—the equivalent of running from London to Sydney—and ended back in Bristol on 5 October, where he was

greeted by cheering supporters and news teams from around the world.

He smashed his £25,000 target raising over £330,000 for Stonewall and Kidscape. The money is to support the charities to make sure that what happened to Ben doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Ben finished the talk by saying he’s happy now. His new partner Kyle helps him run the Ben 401 foundation and he is also CEO of an events company. As Ben has proved, the bullies never win.

Find out more about Ben’s work at: www. the401challenge.co.uk At the end of his talk, the year 8s had a chance to ask Ben questions: Q. “Do you still think back on what happened at school?”

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A. Yes, but not negatively.

I’m a big believer in things happening for a reason, so I’ve taken those experiences and turned them into something positive.

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Q. “If you ever met your bullies again what would you say to them?”

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A. There’s always a reason for bullying and it’s not because of you. It’s because of them. One bully was hiding something he wasn’t happy with and so he pushed the negative attention from himself to me.

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

PRIMARY TRANSITION

A Smooth Transition Our Transition Weeks are the ideal opportunity for local primary school children to experience high school life here at Our Lady’s. Each day during transition week we welcome a different local primary school through our doors and they take part in various activities and lessons to get an overview of what it’s like to be a student here. The day includes lunchtime in the school canteen sampling the delicious meals laid on by Mary’s wonderful catering team.

So far this year, pupils from St Chad’s, St Patrick’s, St Anne’s, St Malachy’s and St Clare’s have visited us to try out lessons including drama, technology and art. The pupils have enjoyed taking part in Miss Riaz’s science lessons covering themes ranging from what makes us sneeze to testing chemical reactions! Pizza making in Food Technology has been a bit hit, as has playing Samba on a range of instruments in Miss Durbin’s music classes.

Creating Community Stories at the Whitworth Miss Tkaczuk and pupils from St Patrick’s had to think creatively when they visited the Whitworth Art Gallery for a Visual Theatre and Creative Writing Masterclass on Monday 6 March.

Using model buildings and a variety of techniques including drawing, collage and shadow play, the children brought their written stories to life. Children were tasked to think of the locale, their surrounding communities and the characters that live there to create beautifully animated pictures of lives within our local communities.

Some pupils have even had a go with a Ukulele. It’s always lovely to receive the pupils’ feedback after they’ve spent the day with us—it helps us to continually improve our transition experience.

Steven Roper, Primary Co-ordinator at the Whitworth said; “Using Whitworth Park as a starting point, the children dreamt up narratives and stories of people that work in hospitals, schools, occupy shops and live in residential areas. Working alongside the Centre for New Writing and the Whalley Range All Stars, St Patricks told a story in a town where anything could, and does, happen! They were all brilliant.”

Stamping our Designs on Christmas 2017!

Our Lady’s have been supporting our local primary schools to produce designs for Royal Mail’s Christmas Stamp Design Competition 2017.

The competition—last held in 2013—gives school children across the country the chance to have their design turned into the official Christmas stamp. There is also £1000 prize money up for grabs. Despite the fact it was a little strange for the children to think about the theme ‘What Christmas means to me’ in January and February, they soon became inspired and

produced some delightful artwork. The first session we held was for Year 3 from St Malachy’s who joined us with their teacher Miss Hussain and her teaching assistant. They spent the afternoon working hard and the teachers chose some of their favourite designs and rewarded those children with chocolate treats at the end of the session. Year 6 from St Chad’s were our next group who were joined by Miss Smee and two of their lovely teaching assistants. We helped the children with their intricate and colourful Christmasthemed designs and were amazed by the creative talent in the room.

All the entries have been now been posted off and with a bit of luck you could be sticking them onto your 2017 Christmas cards!

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Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

A Day in the Life of a Forensic Scientist with E-Act Academy On 17 February we welcomed E-Act Academy to Our Lady’s for SPI Club.

Following the success of our first SPI Club we knew the Year 5 pupils had a special treat in store. The day started with pupil Stephanie getting to dress in the full crime scene investigation suit which she was very happy about!

The pupils had to find out which of three suspects—Miss Allee, Mr Ormsby and Mr Bell—had stolen a brand new mountain bike from school.

They examined fingerprints to see what patterns they made and got to make a special SPI souvenir keyring with their favourite fingerprint.

Emma McCarthy and Nicola Sharples from SPI Club explained that forensic science is all about finding things you can’t see and showed them ways to uncover that evidence. They had the chance to examine soil samples, pattern repetitions made from footprints and ink samples. By keeping a record of their findings they were able to uncover the culprit. It would appear Our Lady’s very own Miss Allee has been spotted riding around Blackley on a shiny new mountain bike recently!

Olympic Enterprise Inspires Sporting Souvenir Success!

Nicola said; “Having worked as a secondary Science teacher I believe the best way to promote students’ interest in science and scientific careers is through them carrying out investigations and discovering answers for themselves. I love seeing their confidence in practical work grow and how much they develop their critical thinking skills over the course of the day.”

Our junior forensic scientists certainly applied that critical thinking to crack the case and realised just how much fun science can be. We look forward to welcoming more primary schools to Our Lady’s to enjoy our future SPI events.

In November, all our year 8 students participated in an Olympic Enterprise Challenge. This day-long inter-school competition comprised activities on the theme of Olympics/sport in which the students were tasked in designing a product that would encourage teenagers to take up sport.

The theme set the students’ creative juices flowing resulting in some highlyimaginative and creative Olympic themed ideas including 3D goggles, glow gloves and clothing ranges to name but a few.

Many thanks to the staff assisting on the day and in particular to Dan, Sarah and Dave from our business partner ‘Quality Teachers’ who led the sessions.

Robogal Primary Power!

On 1 March, Miss Tkaczuk accompanied Year 5 girls from St Patrick’s and St Malachy’s Primary schools and their teachers to take part in a Robogirls Workshop at Manchester University.

Robogals was established to engage and empower young women into engineering and related fields. Their workshops aim to alleviate gender inequality in the workplace in the engineering, science and technology Sharing The Vision

sectors, enabling both girls and boys to learn how to code, program robots or make scientific experiments. Each workshop is tailored to the specific age group so that children from five to 18 years old can get the most out of them. The girls learnt a lot about how to program robotics and enjoyed getting hands-on playing with the robots and completing the practical challenges. Girl power!

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

A Musical Masterpiece…

Our Lady’s present Les Miserables I have never seen Les Miserables and wasn’t sure what to expect from a production set in revolutionary France which isn’t exactly renowned for its light moments. Given my misgivings I couldn’t believe how differently I felt by the end of the evening.

What an introduction to the longestrunning musical in the world! I was in awe of the standard of the production, the amount of work that had gone into it, the consideration to detail, clever casting and the professionalism of the performances.

Exploring the themes of religion, morality, law and poverty, it’s a challenging play to tackle even for the most seasoned professionals but the Our Lady’s students rose to the test. It was hard to appreciate this version of Les Miserables was performed by students ranging from 11 to 16 years old as this was no amateur production. Each cast member put their all into their performance showcasing some exceptional young talent as Victor Hugo’s classic novel was brought to life with sheer energy and dramatic aplomb.

The story follows Jean Valjean’s quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread.

Our protagonist, petty thief Valjean was

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beautifully portrayed by Year 8 student Abraham Oladapo.

His incredible execution of the leading role belied his age with his diminutive stature doing nothing to deflect from the prominence of his performance. Valjean’s arch adversary, the merciless police chief Javert, played by Sean Baker put in a sterling performance that went above and beyond (I’ll get back to that in due course!) Cast members as young as year 7 demonstrated a confidence and maturity beyond their years as they embraced the characterisation and captured the imagination of the audience transporting them back to nineteenth century revolutionary France.

Valjean’s fortunes are reversed as he becomes a wealthy manufacturer and is elected the Mayor of a small town.

He is forced to flee when Javert tracks him down is becomes suspicious of him.

Javert’s daughter, Cosette falls in love with a young revolutionary who is injured in a fight. Valjean carries him safely through the sewers but continues to be plagued by his past until his death.

The dialogue is entirely sung which was another reservation I had before I sat down to this theatrical masterpiece. From the opening lyrics of ‘Look Down’ to the finale, the action flowed seamlessly and with a momentum that made me forget the characters were communicating the story though song.

I was in awe of the professional quality of the singing—even those students whose singing wasn’t quite as polished overcame this with their strong and confident delivery. Rebecca Thomas gave a moving performance as the unfortunate Fantine

Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

with a fantastically controlled rendition of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ demonstrating an impressive range and conveying evocative expression befitting of her character’s feelings of despair.

Comedic moments lightened the otherwise bleak and intensely powerful story, thanks to the reprehensible innkeeper Monsieur Thenardier—the villain of the piece— alongside his disreputable wife Madame Thenadier. Kai Keogh and Emma McCall gave gloriously entertaining performances as the immoral couple; both embracing their characters and perfectly portraying the wicked spitefulness and cynicism captured

by Victor Hugo’s novel. Kai’s rendition of ‘Master of the House’ punctuated the desolation of the era providing a somewhat upbeat interlude.

With so many impeccable performances, I’m hard-pressed to express the credit each cast member deserves. Caitlin Lockwood was fully immersed in her character of Enjolras, the leader of the revolution and Maria Collins shone in her role as Eponine.

Leighton Currie gave an incredible portrayal as Marius whose life was changed when he unexpectedly falls in love giving Cossette—delightfully played by Keeley Lane—some happiness in the otherwise bleak proceedings. And a mention must go to Ciaran Lockwood who was fantastic in the role of the cheeky, street-wise urchin Gavroche.

Javert’s fall to death was a show-stealer that resulted in Sean Baker enduring a shoulder injury and having to do Friday evening’s show with a sling. It’s said you have to suffer

for your art and this is surely testament to the commitment of our students to their school production!

Thanks to Mr Banham, Miss Nicholson, Miss Jones, Miss Durbin and Miss Woosey and to everyone else who contributed to this incredible production. It’s a real team effort to pull together a polished production like this, let alone in the midst of a school inspection and the Our Lady’s team certainly pulled it out of the bag. Strong musical and theatrical direction, slick set changes, atmospheric lighting and the live orchestra further enriched the dramatic presentation of this musical extravaganza. Behind the scenes the technical team worked hard to ensure the action unfolded without interruption.

Some of these talented students are destined for a dazzling West-End career. We’re already looking forward to next year’s production—Mr Banham, you’ve set the bar incredibly high!

Review written by Anna Barker.

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It has been a privilege to work with such positive, bright and above all, talented students.

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What the Director said: “I am so proud of all the cast and crew of Les Mis. To say they rose to the challenge of a difficult musical is the understatement of the year! From start to finish this group of students has shown focus, energy, commitment, comradery, a strong work ethic and an invaluable sense of humour. To see them helping each other to achieve something great as a collective is massively rewarding as their director. And, as Head of Drama, it is wonderful to see how they have really raised the profile of Drama, Music and Art in school, shining a spotlight for all to see on how profoundly the Arts contribute to life at Our Lady’s.

It has been a privilege to work with such positive, bright and above all, talented students. From all the production team to the students; thankyou and WELL DONE!”

What the audience thought: “I was fortunate enough to attend the performance of Les Miserables on Friday 3 February this year; surely the best performance of the show I have experienced. I have seen the show performed professionally in London and Manchester but this was the first time I have been connected emotionally to the stage performance.

Your students are a credit to their community. To describe the actors as outstanding would be to understate their performances as they were beyond outstanding. Please pass on my thanks to the cast and the adults involved in the production. I know that all successful projects are based on hard work and commitment and your school has these in abundance. I am looking forward to your next show.”

Mr P.J. Cooper

Sharing The Vision

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

STARS in our SCHOOL

There are many stars at Our Lady’s, working together to make our school a friendly place in which to learn, work and build a bright future.

Stars in Our School Shine in Support of The Christie It’s a real team effort to ensure that a school runs efficiently and there are many stars within a school whose efforts and achievements should be celebrated. Our Lady’s is no different.

Our school cook, Mary Chadwick and her fabulous catering team, work tirelessly to ensure that all staff, students and visitors to our school are well fed with a range of fresh, healthy meal options. They go above and beyond, working long hours to cater for out-of-hours events and to provide refreshments as and when needed on top of the daily catering requirements. But that’s not all!

Out of school the team have many successes to their name and brought their medals into school. These have been achieved by participating in runs, half marathons and other events, raising money for many worthwhile charities.

Back in November, Unison—one of the UK’s largest trade unions—organised a ‘Stars in our Schools’ event in recognition of the wonderful work carried out by school support staff around the country.

The event celebrates committed individuals who are sometimes overlooked, highlighting how vital their work is to children’s education. We nominated Mary and her team and were delighted to hear they had been selected for 2nd Prize, winning £250 for school funds!

Unison asks that the money is set aside for something specific. Mary’s team chose to donate the money to the Christie Cancer hospital in Manchester, a cause close to their hearts. Olive, a member of the team is familiar with the invaluable support offered by The Christie as she is currently undergoing cancer treatment herself.

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Another member of the team Julie was recently at the wedding of her son John where the reception included some fun fundraising games that raised another £150 for The Christie. Howard Newhall, Community Fundraising Officer at the Christie visited Our Lady’s on 7 March to be presented with a cheque for £400 from Mary and the Catering Team.

Howard thanked the team saying; “The Christie rely on the kindness of donations like this to fund a variety of causes that are not funded by the NHS. These include complementary therapies such as massages, and reiki, the upkeep of the gardens, our art therapy room and some of our bigger equipment. Our information room provides resources for families on all aspects of dealing with cancer from the emotional side to financial matters. People are often frightened when they visit the

Christie but these extras add to their comfort, helping them feel reassured by their surroundings during a difficult time.”

Well done Mary and the team—not only does your work keep everyone here at Our Lady’s fuelled for success, you’ve also helped make a real difference to families affected by cancer. As the Stars in our School you certainly shine bright.

Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

Maria Edwards, Our Year 9 Sporting Star!

Maria Edwards is just one of many talented students at Our Lady’s. When the school bell sounds at the end of the day, Maria certainly packs a punch in her spare time!

And she’s a force to be reckoned with on the football field too.

Anna Barker caught up with her to discover just how this sporting prodigy finds the time to fit it all in…

Who do you box with?

Collyhurst and Moston Boxing in Moston.

Who do you play football for?

Manchester United Under 14s and England.

How did that come about?

I am naturally sporty and when I was little I always wanted to have a go in the ring. I won my first club fight when I was nine years old.

What about the football?

When I was 11 years old I went along to an Open Day trial which anyone could attend.

A few of the Manchester United Academy coaches were watching and after 20 minutes they started asking questions and said ‘Can I speak to your Dad?’ My Dad wanted to know what I’d done wrong! We couldn’t believe it when they said they wanted to sign me—the trial wasn’t even over!

How often do you have to train?

Every day. If you’re serious about sport it takes commitment. I have a football game every week—either at home or away. Last week (interview 9 Feb) I played City. We beat them 6-1 and I scored.

What position do you play?

I’m a striker. Last year at United I played in 26 games and scored over 50 goals.

In boxing I’m in the 48KG weight category.

How do you manage to balance it all with your school work?

Every month I have to miss a Friday at school to go to the England football camp at Loughborough University which is on Friday until Sunday. I have to catch up on my work if I have time away from school so I have to make time to do my homework in the evenings after training.

Next year the football camp is moving to the England International.

What accolades have you won?

I have taken part in 14 fights and take part in the national boxing championships in Sheffield every year. I have won twice and you win ‘Golden Gloves’ (photo bottom left—2nd time of winning in May 2016).

I’ve boxed for England in Ireland as part of an International tournament with 12 girls taking part. I won my fight.

Who have been your biggest motivators inside and outside of school?

My Dad is always there. He pushes me, but in a supportive way to get the best out of me. My school PE teachers are really supportive. They always ask me how I’m getting on and how I’ve done in my matches and fights.

Do you have time for other hobbies?

I’m dedicated to football and boxing, but I do go running with my brother. I’m very sporty.

What’s your favourite subject at school? (I think I can guess!)

PE! What would you like to achieve in the future?

If I take the boxing pathway, I want to be an Olympic Gold medallist and if I pursue the football I want to win the World Cup with the England women’s team. With football they can sign you as a pro at 16 so the boxing could have to take a back seat. I don’t know what will happen. I love them both!

What Maria’s Football Coach Says:

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Maria is a fantastic young player, who has an excellent attitude and commitment to learning and improving as a player. Not only has she progressed within the Manchester United regional talent centre, she has been selected for the National Performance camps which is a credit to the talent she possesses as well as the hard work and effort she puts into each training session and game in order to improve. Maria has a bright future ahead of her.

Sharing The Vision

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

SPORTS NEWS

Year 7s Blazing a Trail Through Junior NBA Netball Dream Team Back in Play Mrs Wray has brought competitive netball back to Our Lady’s after a short hiatus! The Year 8 Netball Team have so far played five games; enjoying their first victory against MCA. This is a great achievement considering the short amount of time these girls have been learning the sport and is testament to the effort they have been displaying in developing as a team. Keep up the good work!

In recent Inter-house Handball competitions, Carmel won both the Year 7 and Year 11 Girl’s tournaments.

A very good standard of play across the year groups resulted in some excellent games and some very close matches! Can Carmel be toppled in future year group Inter-house competitions?!

Our Lady’s have also been competitive in the Manchester Schools Cross Country League meetings, with some very good individual performances, but not quite enough to earn medals. The team is Maisie McCall, Grace Burgess, Thaila Morley, Ellie Prickett and Lois Scullion.

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In September, Mr Jones entered the Year 7 boys into this season’s Greater Manchester Schools Junior NBA. Our Lady’s were designated as the Portland Trailblazers and entered into the Western Conference— Northwest Division.

The team also competed in the Catholic Schools Basketball competition at St Peter’s RC High School, finishing joint first, narrowly missing out on gold by points scored. They actually beat the gold medal winners along the way to securing their silver medal.

After losing their first game by only two points, they never looked back winning all the remaining games and finishing top of the league to progress into the ‘Play-offs’ as Division Champions!

Well done to all the boys that have played so far for the commitment and effort shown.

Keep up the good work!

Taking Table Tennis to the Top This year has been very successful for the Our Lady’s Boys’ Table Tennis teams.

The Key Stage 3 team of Samuel OlayeEspada, Binyam Tesfladet, Glory Okundaye and Natnael Gerezgher won a silver medal in the Manchester Schools under-13 team tournament, but the greater achievement goes to Samuel Olaye-Espada who managed to win an excellent and hardfought bronze medal in the Manchester Schools Individual Tournament.

represent the borough in this county wide competition. The team is Kieran Mountford, Kevin Mannion, Vicente Kuong and Jesse Mbalie.

The Key Stage 4 Boys team have also performed brilliantly this year, doing one better than their younger counterparts, by winning gold in the Under-16 Team Competition and being crowned Manchester Champions. They now progress to the Manchester Schools Games to Sharing The Vision

It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

Year 11 Take an Unforgettable Flight In a Wind Tunnel!

Our year 11s visited iFly Indoor Skydiving in Manchester to take part in an incredible out-of-the classroom learning experience.

In a fun and interactive ‘Physics of Flight’ session the students discovered the science behind wind tunnel technology, human flight and skydiving.

Led by a dedicated iFly instructor, the year 11s were taken through a combination of video, verbal and action-based exercise to explain the ‘Physics of Flight’ and the workings of the vertical wind tunnels.

Exploring topics including terminal velocity, aerodynamics, friction and drag provided an informative overview of how the iFly wind tunnels operate, as well as giving the

students an understanding of how their own bodies would fly once they entered the high speed vertical column of air.

So enough with the preparation—what better way to bring the theory of flight to life than with an unforgettable flying session in the state-of-the-art vertical wind tunnel!

Everyone returned to school with a big grin on their face and a reinforced sense of how simple and fun science can be.

Sharing the Joy of Reading session explaining how literary ‘tropes’ are used to describe commonly recurring literary devices or clichés which are particularly common in fairy tales. Alicia used comedy to covey the fact that ‘living a fairy tale life’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; fairy tales are actually based on dark material and things rarely go to plan!

At Our Lady’s we are always looking for ways to encourage a passion for books.

As part of the 20th World Book Day celebrations, Comedy Fantasy author, Alicia L. Wright joined us on Wednesday 1 March to spark imaginations.

She held workshops throughout the day for each of our Year 7 forms where she spoke about her love for reading, the inspiration for her books and explained the publishing process—both via a publishing house and the self-publishing route. The students heard how you have to submit a synopsis rather than a covering letter and a brief chapter-by-chapter description of the book setting out the story with enough details for it to be evaluated by potential publishers.

Alicia was very honest about her dyslexia and how it went undetected for years, because her love of reading helped to disguise it. From a very early age Alicia wanted to become an author and her books are a labour of love. She began her

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Fantasy author and creator of the Discworld series, Terry Prachett and Philip Pullman, best-known for his His Dark Materials Trilogy, have both been huge inspirations to Alicia’s own fantasy work.

Despite being taught in school to plan a story, Alicia doesn’t work that way and relies on the support of her beta readers to ensure her story contains all the right elements for the reader. Her work is written in the comedy fantasy genre and she told the year 7s that she tried to write fantasy, but the comedy kept creeping back in!

She read extracts from Miss Prince and The Map is the Treasure and the students had the chance to ask questions about her books, writing as a career and how to get the ideas for stories. One student asked how her dyslexia affects her writing and Alicia said she can tend to over-use words or miss out a step in an explanation so this is where her beta readers come in.

When asked, “Do you make a lot of mistakes?” Alicia answered; “Writing is a series of mistakes and fixing them is how you get a book”.

She certainly inspired our year 7s with a few buying her books at the end of the session and others choosing to take out her trilogy of books that we bought for our school library.

Thursday 2 March marked the official World Book Day and the celebrations continued at Our Lady’s. To encourage reading for pleasure, the students started the day with a ‘Drop Everything and Read’ session. World Book Day book tokens were also distributed. The library was the venue for our Book Swap at lunch time.

Students kindly donated good-quality books they had enjoyed, but finished with, in exchange for a book swap token to take home a book donated by one of their peers. There was also an opportunity to design a book token for a competition sponsored by National Book Tokens. The winning design will receive £900 of book tokens and be turned into the next national book token.

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

Staff Profile: Mrs. Slack What is your role at Our Lady’s?

Office Manager. In this role I am responsible for overseeing the smooth day-to-day running of the admin offices within the school.

Look at our Year 7s Now! The Year 7 students have really settled into school life with a number of students now involved with the Chaplaincy Team and School Council. This is instrumental in ensuring that the students’ voice is heard and the school continues to improve, enabling all students to succeed.

So far, the year group have accrued 73,290 Positive Behaviour points, with our top three students Rozhina Eskandari, Callum Holt and Josh Doherty achieving 2,567 positive points between them!

We also have a new Form Captain team; Jess Pollard, Heidi Taylor, Ciaran Lockwood, Jemi Bello, Andreea Elisa Carmaz and Tanaiya Delaney-Shelton. These students lead their form and also produce a Year 7 newsletter each term.

The past term has been full of successes for Year 7. We had a number of students perform in the school production of Les Miserables; Ciaran Lockwood, Andreea-Elisa Carmaz, Rebecca Collins, Wisdom Udensi and Rozhina Eskandari.

They have also achieved academic success; 43% of students are working above their expected grade in Mathematics and 62% of students are working at or above their expected grade in English. Some notable students are Hannah Ayoola, Andreea Elisa-Carmaz, Rozhina Eskandari, Wesley Frimpong, Amenze Imafidon, Pharrell Johnson- Simmons and Mahnoor Siddique who are all above target by more than six levels across all subjects.

Keep up the good work Year 7!

Miss Allee

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What do you enjoy most about your job?

No two days are the same so it certainly isn’t a boring job but extremely diverse. Until I come into work in the morning apart from my routine duties I do not know what the day ahead is going to consist of. This is what I enjoy about my job and the reason why I have worked here for many years. The office is always a hive of activity. Although we can have calm(ish) periods—depending on the demands of the day—we are kept busy with plenty of variety. I always look forward to meeting the new Year 7 students when they visit the office on their first day and helping them to familiarise themselves with their new school life in the first few weeks. Before I know it they are in Year 11 having become fine young adults. Time flies.

chickens that had escaped from the chicken compound on the school premises—what a sight! I don’t know who was flapping more Gilly or the chickens!

What does a typical day in Mrs Slack’s look like?

Interests

Busy, busy, busy, making sure everything is running smoothly in the offices so staff, students and parents can be helped where necessary.

I like to go at least once a year on a city break—Rome being my favourite place followed by New York and Edinburgh.

Funniest moment in school?

There are far too many to mention but my funniest memory is when Baby Jesus was kidnapped from the stable and held to ransom. Many students will not remember the old building of Our Lady’s but many years ago a rather large Nativity Scene was always placed in the foyer. One day (shock horror) Baby Jesus had disappeared out of his crib. The Headmaster of that time was furious and started his investigation to bring the culprits to justice—quite a few students were under suspicion and questioned but all were innocent. Now this serious situation carried on for a few days with no sign of the baby being returned, it was so serious everybody looked and felt guilty. The baby was finally found—he had been placed in the Head of PE’s mailbox in the staffroom by non-other than the Deputy Headteacher of that time, who thought this was a rather funny practical joke (and if I’m honest it was very funny). He was dealt with accordingly. Baby Jesus was put safely back in his crib and went on to enjoy a very happy birthday.

Another funny moment was when (older) Mr Gill (Gilly) attempted to ‘round-up’ some

Spending time with my four grandchildren.

Favourite film or show?

It’s a Wonderful Life—a very old black and white feel good movie.

Favourite song this year?

I have lots from over the years but the one of the moment is by James Arthur ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’. Soppy I know, but he is a good artist and I like his ‘story’. It’s good to see someone succeed who once upon a time wasn’t exactly taking the correct route in life but managed to turn his life around for the better.

Fondest memory working here?

Having the privilege of being chosen, along with another colleague by Sister Philomena (ex teacher/governor) to go on a Pilgrimage to Lourdes. The experience and memories of this trip will live with me forever.

Person you would most like to meet and why?

Michelle Obama—an inspiration to young people who speaks from her life experiences and her heart…and she quotes “There is no magic to achievement; it’s really about hard work, choices and persistence”.

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

FUTURES & CAREERS

Setting Students on the Right Career Path

Careers Ambassadors The new role of Careers Ambassador has recently been developed within the school community.

A careers ambassador is a student who has been selected to represent the school and fellow students to champion careers opportunities and be a student voice to ensure a successful careers support network is in place by researching, developing and sharing information to support careers opportunities.

Senior team Anne Marie Pam—Senior Careers ambassador Ellie Warrender—Deputy Careers ambassador Ella Cooney—Assistant Deputy Careers ambassador Ambassadors

Our busy Careers Day in November was a huge success with students from years 8 to 11 taking part. Many students found this day very beneficial in terms of considering their future life choices as well as picking up the odd free pen!

Representatives from Oldham College, Manchester College, Xavarian, Hopwood Hall, Holy Cross, Bury College, Loreto and Tameside College attended. The Army, PwC, Brighter Beginnings, Access to Music, Royal London and the Co-op Bank also had stalls to represent the wide variety of paths available to our students after Year 11. The employers and Higher Education providers set up stalls in the foyer and main hall enabling year groups to spend an hour gaining valuable information and getting answers to important questions about their future choices after they leave school.

All aspects of the day were wellreceived and the professionals that visited commented on the warm welcome they received at Our Lady’s, praising our students for being wellmannered, well-presented, organised and confident throughout. It looks like our students are on the path to success!

Yr. 7: Keeley Lane, Agness Tambala, Sara Aghayere Yr. 8: Caitlyn Gatenby-Kelly & Samiel Bahta Yr. 9: Louise Flaherty & McKenzie Broderick Yr. 10: Joely Meara-Wilson & Lauren Harcourt Yr. 11: Destiny Ojomo, Grace Mapengu, Tracey Rock

Throughout the day, all Year 11 students participated in mock interviews with actual employers. 18 interviewers were in school to provide a real-life interview experience to our students and specific feedback on their interviewing technique. This is invaluable experience when it comes to guidance on pursuing future careers and excellent preparation for the process that awaits them when they leave school and start job hunting.

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It’s Official! Our Lady’s is delighted to report GOOD Ofsted rating!

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Chaplaincy Team

The Chaplaincy team have worked with some of our Primary Feeder school chaplains. They created a three week course of lessons to identify the role of a chaplaincy team in their school. A wide variety of activities ranged from team work to drama and primary pupils creating their own Chaplaincy team prayer and manifesto.

Lorraine Leonard from the Salford Diocese came in after Christmas to talk with some of the team about the activities they’ve been involved in. She was amazed by the level of work they have been doing and was so

Lent As we are now in the Season of Lent, we will be reflecting on helping those less fortunate. Fund raising during Lent will offer students the chance to come up with entrepreneurial ideas to ‘Grow a Fiver’ and we will also be raising money for St Joseph’s Penny. Students are busy preparing for their Easter liturgies too.

impressed by their commitment that she has invited them to speak to Bishop John Arnold and other chaplaincy teams at the Cathedral on 5 July. Well done Chaplaincy Team on this massive achievement!

Parents will be welcomed into school over the next few months to be led in a session from our Chaplaincy team, who will explain their roles and talk about the different activities they’ve been helping with in school.

This will be further developed for parents from different year groups to give everyone a chance to visit Our Lady’s to see their fabulous work.

Peer-to-Peer Assemblies Form groups have been leading assemblies for their peers. The standard has been superb and a lot of thought and effort has been put into them by both staff and students. Themes such as caring for others, forgiveness and community have provided plenty of scope for contemplation. It’s lovely to see the students presenting to each other in this way.

CHARITY

Our Lady of Lourdes 11 February is Our Lady of Lourde’s Feast Day so we marked the day in school in Friday 10 February by raising money for the NSPCC to support their invaluable work towards the ‘prevention of child abuse’. Blue ribbons were on sale during form time which students could buy to wear to show their support. During break time cakes and drinks were also available to buy to raise funds for this worthwhile cause. So not only did the students get to enjoy some Friday refreshment, but while they did so they were helping to prevent child abuse.

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Total Wipeout The British Heart Foundation is committed to fighting disease of the heart and circulation to reduce heart-related deaths and reverse the increase of childhood obesity.

To support their invaluable research, Our Lady’s host an annual event. This year, a Staff vs. Students ‘Total Wipeout’ was held on 15 February to raise awareness of the BHF’s work and promote the importance of exercise to help maintain a healthy heart.

Mrs Newey and Mr Mottershead organise and promote this charity event in and around the school community, coming up with adventurous new ideas each year. Based on the popular TV show of the same name, participants had to take on various obstacles

and assault courses generating much hilarity along the way! Peer mentors also supported this vital fundraising activity by selling red heart badges and collating sponsorship forms.

All staff and students that participated in the Total Wipeout thoroughly enjoy the event, raising £200. Well done to everyone for your kind-hearted contributions!

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