Winter 2017

Sharing the

Winter 2017

Our Lady’s R.C. High School Magazine

IN THIS ISSUE: Making the Grade with Outstanding Results Embracing Challenges and Making Friends at Langdale Congratulations Class of 2017!

A Taste of Digital Creativity Art Meets Science at The Whitworth Sports Round-Up Plus much more!

Our Lady’s R.C. High School Alworth Road, Higher Blackley, Manchester, M9 0RP T: 0161 507 9640 E: admin@olsc.manchester.sch.uk

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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.

As we approach the Christmas holidays it is so rewarding to reflect on what has been a very enjoyable, active and productive term.

On 5 September, we welcomed back all the students, and greeted the new Year 7s. We believe it is important for the new students to feel settled at Our Lady’s, so during the second week of October the whole year group went on a residential visit to the Lake District. The children spent three days in the Langdale valley; this gave them the opportunity to get to know one another a little better, spend some time in an idyllic setting, and get involved in outdoor activities and team building exercises. The feedback from students was resoundingly positive with one saying “I loved it and got to know other people in my form who I didn’t go to primary with.”

It was also a pleasure to welcome back our former Year 11 students for Certificate Evening in November. This was a very enjoyable and well-attended event. Our guest speakers offered their congratulations and some wise words. We celebrated the excellent exam results that the year group collectively achieved, and gave out some special awards to acknowledge exceptional individual contributions to Our Lady’s.

In September and October, I invited a significant number of prospective parents to visit Our Lady’s. As I walked with them around the building, all parents commented on the high standards of uniform and behaviour, the engagement of the children with their education, how polite and friendly the children were and, most importantly, how happy the children seemed. There is nothing more important than a child’s happiness and it is, in part, due to our excellent relationships and partnership work with our parents.

There have also been a number of opportunities for the students to participate in trips and extra-curricular activities. The expressive arts faculty led a variety of trips including a make-up artistry class, a taster day at a theatre school and a theatre visit to see the show, Legally Blonde. They also coordinated a battle of the bands event held here at Our Lady’s. Miss Ryan ran a festive overnight trip to London; students went to see the Lion King in the West End, visited the Winter Wonderland experience in Hyde Park and toured the Harry Potter Christmas experience. Our students also attended a Shakespeare festival at Loreto College and saw how the council operates with a guided tour of Manchester Town Hall; although not exhaustive this list reflects our commitment to delivering an enriching education to all our students.

It is also enjoyable to recommence our sporting activities with a new school year.

Our Year 10 and 11 boys’ athletics season made a promising start at the Manchester championships in October. Several students won silver and bronze medals in various disciplines. The new football season is going similarly well and I try to attend as many fixtures as I can to show my support for the boys and girls who represent us so well.

At this holy time of year, all children were given the opportunity to accept the sacrament of reconciliation and attend special advent services. Whole school charitable appeals collected donations for our local food banks and the children prepared and delivered hampers to the most vulnerable in the local area. As always our students were proactive and generous in supporting these worthy causes.

The technology department hosted our annual Christmas party for the St Clare’s

Over 60’s Social Club. All the food and entertainment is prepared and presented by the children to a very high standard. The event was enjoyed by students, staff and guests in equal measure.

It was lovely to see so many of you at the Christmas concert; I think you will agree that the array of talent presented was truly exceptional. In the last days of term before the break for Christmas, all the children attended a special liturgy prepared by the RE department to encourage reflection on the meaning behind the festivities.

Finally, I would like to request that during the festive period we all take some time to think about those less fortunate than ourselves.

At this time of year whilst we are enjoying the festivities, surrounded by family, we can often forget that there are many people who aren’t as fortunate as ourselves. As always, I am incredibly grateful to those of you have already made a contribution through our charity appeals and made Christmas that bit better for some of the most vulnerable people in Manchester.

Wishing you and your family the very best for the festive period.

God bless,

L. Ormsby Headteacher

Editor’s Welcome Message And so this is Christmas and what have you done? As our first full term draws to a close here at Our Lady’s we have already packed so much in. Read about our great academic and sporting success, charity work, fabulous school trips and extra-curricular activities.

We look forward to welcoming in a new year and seeing what 2018 holds in store.

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Sharing The Vision

Contents Headteacher’s Welcome Message

2

Editor’s Welcome Message

2

Making the Grade with Outstanding Results

3

Summer School Support for 7s Starters 4 Sterling Work from the School Council 4 Congratulations Class of 2017!

5

Careers Fair and Mock Interviews for Year 11s

6

Enabling Enterprise with PwC

7

Mr Mottershead’s Vision For Year 10

8

Important Times for Year 11

8

Big Ideas with DWF!

8

A Colourful Celebration of the World’s Languages

9

Embracing Challenges and Making Friends at Langdale

10

Staff Profile—Mr Schofield

12

Thirty Minutes of the Funny Side of Shakespeare

12

A Taste of Digital Creativity

13

Dress Up Your Career!

13

A Rollercoaster of an Engineering Challenge

13

Bright Sparks Shine at Our Electricity Workshops

14

Lily Lane’s Play in a Day

15

Art Meets Science at The Whitworth

16

Proud to be STEM Ambassadors

16

Sports Round-Up

17

Inter-form Competitions

17

Girls Enjoy Football Fun at the Festival 17 Our Lady’s Taste a Slice of Coffee Morning Success!

18

Supporting Charitable Causes

18

Religious Life of the School

19

Team Work Requires Great Cooperation!

19

Lost Property

20

Do you like us?

20

Parent Voice!

20

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

Sharing The Vision

Making the Grade with Outstanding Results The summer break heralded great success as our year 11 students arrived at school to collect the brown envelopes that revealed all their hard work over the last academic year had paid off. Continuing the tradition of outstanding GCSE results, staff, students and parents celebrated as once again we proved to be one of the top performing high schools in Manchester.

With a new GCSE grading system being phased in, it’s difficult to make direct comparisons with previous years, but our results speak for themselves. Casey Jarvis, Christiana Odusanya, Maria Collins and Rebecca Thomas all achieved eight A/A* grades or more with other students also obtaining the new 9 grade.

Amid a triumphant atmosphere there was genuine elation as the students realised their commitment to their studies had earned them excellent results. Emma McCall was one of the excited students; “I was expecting a C in English Literature, but got an 8. That’s like an A*! I didn’t expect that at all. I’m overwhelmed.”

Josh McCall achieved a 9 grade in English: “I’m going to Loretto to study Physics. I want to get a place at uni to do Theoretical Physics. I’m feeling great. I’m really happy with my 9 in English.”

Special recognition goes to Casey Jarvis who started our Lady’s a year early and

has now completed all her GCSEs in year 10. Casey was predicted a great outcome having already picked up an A grade in core science last year aged just 14. She said: “I want to go to Loretto to study Maths, Biology and Chemistry and then go on to university to do Veterinary Science. I’d like to pursue my dream of studying at Cambridge University to become a Vet.” Head of Year 11, Mr Vincent said: “I am so proud of the achievements of the year group. Having seen first-hand all the efforts and dedication gone into this year, it is really nice to see it all pay off.”

Mr Ormsby would like to thank all the staff, students and parents for their hard work and commitment over the past 12 months: “These exceptional results are a reflection of our crucial partnership proving that when we all work together we achieve great things.”

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Summer School Support for 7s Starters

Do you want to know one of our many secrets to a successful transition from year 6 to year 7? Summer School!

During the third week of August, year 6 leavers from our local primary schools joined us at Our Lady’s for five days of learning and fun activities. Designed to boost the children’s confidence as they made the sometimes daunting transition from primary to high school, they enjoyed a range of sports, arts and craft, technology, dance,

“

What a lovely opportunity it has been to meet the students in a relaxed atmosphere.

They have all benefitted academically and socially from the experience and will have a flying start as the new school year commences.

”

Mrs Winter, head of year 7

games and puzzles as well as benefitting from Maths and English booster classes.

Summer School provides a friendly setting in which children can familiarise themselves with Our Lady’s before the term starts. Coming into school ahead of the new academic year is a fantastic way of introducing newcomers to their peers, teacher and new school in a fun, positive environment. Primary schools are often much smaller than high schools and pupils can feel overwhelmed by the prospect of finding their way around a new building. Summer school gave our new year 7s the chance to explore their surroundings while it was nice and quiet.

The children were joined by Our Lady’s Sports Leaders and Health Champions from year 9 to 11 who did an exceptional job of managing the games at registration, assisting in lessons and supporting the lunchtime and afternoon activities. Voluntarily giving up their own time in the summer holidays these mentors were great role models.

“

It’s been eventful.

Everyone has met new friends. It’s been a good chance to experience school. We know them now so we’ll help them settle in September.

Lewis, Year 10 mentor

”

Sterling Work from the School Council Applications have been accepted and interviews taken place for new members to join the School Council. Their fabulous work last year gathering feedback and making suggestions for positive change has resulted in the outdoor servery now having opened offering a variety of new menus and the covered seating area is also being put to good use by students.

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Each School Council member is now allocated to a faculty to have continued discussions with faculty leaders about areas such as teaching and learning and homework and to share their ideas and opinions from the students’ perspective. This is an effective way of opening lines of communication between staff and students.

During November, the Council wrote a new Action Plan and continued their support of the Manchester Voicebox initiative in school to keep communication as strong as possible.

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Congratulations Class of 2017!

On Thursday 9 November some familiar faces arrived back through the doors of Our Lady’s as we welcomed back our year 11 summer leavers. Accompanied by friends and family they joined staff and students for our GCSE Certificate evening—a celebration of not only their excellent exam results, but of all their achievements during their years at our school.

The evening started with a special ‘Champagne’ reception in the foyer before families were shown to their seats by our prefects. They were welcomed to the hall by a beautiful piano rendition from Tracey Rock.

The room then applauded as the former students arrived into the hall for the evening’s ceremony.

Mr Ormsby greeted the room with a welcome speech. After highlighting the fact that some of the students had attained the elusive and much-coveted new 9 grade— equivalent to an A**—and referencing that Our Lady’s is once again one of the highestperforming high schools in Manchester, he spoke about the fact that it will not just be their academic attainments that our former students will be remembered for: “It is the fun and energy you brought to the classrooms and corridors, excelling on the sports field, taking part in productions like Les Miserables and contributing to the

Best Effort Award:

Joshua McCall

Contribution to School Life Award:

Maria Collins

The Bethany Riley Award for Attendance:

Mason Courtney Maria Collins Vicente Kuong Chuo

Headteacher’s Awards:

Casey Jarvis Christiana Odusanya

Sharing The Vision

catholicity of the school—that is what I will remember you for.”

the commitment the students had shown to their studies.

Our special guest speaker was Mr Campbell, Chair of Governors, who congratulated the students on their exam achievements on behalf of all the governors of Our Lady’s and thanked them for their outstanding example of catholic education.

After all the certificates had been handed out there were some special awards to present. Mr Vincent presented the Best Effort Award and the Contribution to School Life Award before Mr Ormsby announced the winners of The Bethany Riley Award for five years 100% attendance and finally presented his headteacher’s awards.

Last year’s Head of Year 11, Mr Vincent, then addressed his former protégés with a story about a man trying to dodge heaven’s gatekeeper and gain a couple of extra days on earth by slipping sleeping tablets in his tea. It backfired as the gatekeeper put the man at the top of the list; Mr Vincent’s moral being that there are no short cuts in life.

The year 11 leavers were able to celebrate because they had put the hard work in.

The GCSE certificates were then presented on stage to all the 2017 leavers by Mr Campbell and Mr Ormsby in reflection of

The school choir—The Voices of Our Lady’s— performed several times during the evening with a fitting tribute to the year 11 leavers.

Everyone then enjoyed refreshments and a buffet which provided a lovely opportunity to catch up with each other and chat to staff about what they’ve been up to since leaving us in the summer.

Well done Class of 2017. We wish you all the best for the future. Class of 2018, it’s over to you!

“

I am so proud of the fantastic academic results of my former year 11s. This evening has been the ideal chance to congratulate the students for all their hard work and to thank their families for the support they gave them throughout their final year at Our Lady’s. It is not just academic achievements that we have celebrated, but also the outstanding individual contributions they have made to school life. I wish them all every success as they move on to their chosen colleges and apprenticeships.

Mr Vincent

”

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YEAR GROUPS

Careers Fair and Mock Interviews for Year 11s Look to The Future and Shape it to Suit You! If you’d visited Our Lady’s on Friday 3 November you’d have been forgiven for thinking you were mixing with high-powered business executives when in fact it was our very own year 11s dressed to impress in their smartest outfits. They were ready to attend their mock interviews to prepare them for life after school when they will need to sell their skills to potential employers and colleges.

In preparation for academic interviews, internships or employment, the mock interviews offered our students the chance to develop effective communication skills in an interview situation and we were all so impressed by their confidence and professionalism.

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We also hosted a Careers event in the hall which every student from year 8 to year 11 was given the opportunity to attend.

With representatives from many of the local sixth form colleges as well as The Army, NHS, Royal Air Force and PwC, they also had the chance to discuss potential careers in dentistry with Ravat and Ray Dental Care and to find out more about apprenticeship opportunities at Mantra Learning in Middleton. With a careers trail to follow and diamonds to collect

by asking the different stalls the best questions about their careers, educational and training opportunities it was a successful networking event. And so the next group of year 11s are set on the path to success…

Sharing The Vision

YEAR GROUPS What the students said:

“

I’ve learnt a lot and it was really fun, although it was terrifying for me to stand in front of everyone.

”

Patrycja Wierkin

“

This programme was fantastic! As someone who isn’t as confident at integrating with people, particularly in groups, I really felt part of my group. This programme confirmed my friendship with some and reinforced my self-identity.

Angela Agbaji

Enabling Enterprise with PwC Our partnerships with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Enabling Enterprise have proved invaluable to our students over the last few years in terms of instilling important life skills such as presentation, team work and a strong work ethic.

This July some of our Year 9 students were lucky enough to visit Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s office in Manchester for a special Enterprise Day. They were selected as a result of their impressive performance at our Dragon’s Den competition which required them to research business ideas and then pitch to a team of ‘Dragons’ and an audience made up of their peers.

As part of the training at the PwC offices, the students discussed the process of recruitment and were given tips on ways to present their findings confidently to the room to enable them to deliver the ‘perfect pitches’.

Mr Bell who accompanied the students said: “The fun and informative activities really engaged every child and gave the whole group a real insight into working life.”

The day at PwC was followed up in school with another Enterprise Day. The year 9 students took part in ‘a Day in Politics’, creating their own political party, designing slogans, logos, rosettes and headline policies. They chose party names like the Opportunity Creators, Purity Party, Economy Land, The Goal and Wood St Democrats.

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Enabling Enterprise staff Claire, Kathryn and Mike led the sessions. The feedback from students was fabulous!

Claire’s feedback was also very positive; “the students all engaged with the enterprise challenge with a positive, inquisitive attitude.

They were a credit to Our Lady’s. Patrycja Wierkin stood out; she did particularly well, standing in front of class and holding her audience with a well prepared, confident speech. Patrycja was physically shaking for a good ten minutes after the lesson! She did well!”

You can read Enabling Enterprise’s review of the enterprise events here: http:// enablingenterprise.org/archives/22122

“

”

I was offered insightful knowledge into the world of politics, a topic I found hard to understand before.

I learnt the necessities and qualifications needed to pursue politics, how I should conduct myself and my mannerisms around people. The programme has made politics a path I might pursue.

Faith Agbaji

“

”

I worked with people I’ve never worked with. All I knew about politics was ‘who was who’. Now I know about the skills and what it takes to stand on stage, to achieve your goals.

We came second! ‘Just do it’ was our slogan.

Leon Scotti

“

”

It revealed the depth and sacrifice that politicians go through in order to make this a brighter nation. I interacted with people that I usually don’t. This gave me an insight and fresh perspective.

Victoria Adeleke

”

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YEAR GROUPS

Mr Mottershead’s Vision For Year 10 My vision for year ten is to ensure every pupil in the year group is fully equipped to take on their first GCSE exams later on in the year. I will offer support to provide them with the information and skills needed to benefit from their work experience placement, so they can gain as much knowledge and experience from their time away from school in March. By constantly reminding them of the importance of each and every subject I hope they’ll gain the Progress 8 score they truly deserve.

It is also my aim to keep providing them with positive thoughts and words through assemblies to help build their self-esteem and show them I believe in every single one of them. As a school we are here to help all the way through their journey. My vision is to show them the way of Jesus by ensuring all my own actions and words reflect this. I wish them all a very happy and positive year to come and I look forward to watching each and every one of them grown into wonderful individuals.

Mr Mottershead Head of Year

Important Times for Year 11 This is a very important year for the Year 11 students. They are not only preparing for their examinations but are also looking at what awaits them after they leave our school.

This is incredibly exciting but can also be a time when students need to start focusing and make sure they have their priorities in order. What is also different for this year group is that nationally we have converted to a new numerical system instead of the traditional awards of grades.

Head of Year—Mr Brandreth—recently selected a number of students who are to act as prefects for this year. Included were

two students, Louise Flaherty and Dean Hindmarsh, who have been selected as Head Girl and Head Boy respectively—a wonderful accolade for them both.

Year 11 also have the most successful football team in Our Lady’s RC High school history.

This success has been achieved because of the commitment and endeavour that these students show on a regular basis.

Big Ideas with DWF! In September, a group of 15 Year 10 boys attended the DWF Academy Business School with Mrs Newey to enable them to seek out potential career pathways. The students joined forces with professionals to learn new skills by devising ‘big ideas’.

Working in small teams with mentoring from experienced professionals, the oneday workshop aimed to build students’

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confidence and self-belief and introduce them to skills attractive to employers; such as teamwork, creativity and problemsolving.

All of the students had a fantastic time and developed their interpersonal skills, qualities and abilities in the world of business.

Sharing The Vision

LANGUAGES

A Colourful Celebration of the World’s Languages With over 6900 languages spoken around the world, we were excited to celebrate the European Day of Languages at Our Lady’s on 22 September.

At least 20 languages only have distinct terms to describe black, white, and red, but throughout Europe we have names for a whole range of colours and we also use those words to express moods, emotions and personal characteristics—‘feeling blue’, ‘seeing red’ etc.

on learning and mental well-being.

Learning a new language also opens doors to discovering new places and making new friends. Languages Day was

a great excuse to celebrate other cultures, promote language learning and have some multilingual fun!

Over 30 different languages are spoken within our school so in celebration staff wore an item of clothing in a colour from the flag of one of the countries associated with those languages. PE won the accolade of being the most colourful department, choosing yellow from the Zimbabwean flag to brighten up the day!

At lunchtime, we hosted biscuit decorating for the students. They decorated their biscuits in an array of colours to represent their favourite country/flag and it was a delicious success. The canteen took part in the celebrations serving a selection of international food, including Patatas Bravas and pizzas.

Speaking more languages can improve multi-tasking and have a positive effect Sharing The Vision

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TRIPS

Embracing Challenges and Making Friends at Langdale

“

Langdale was an incredible experience.

The shelters were amazing, building them was challenging. Learning how to use a flint and steel, making camp fires and roasting marshmallows was a blazing experience!

Corrin, Year 7

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”

“

In Langdale we had so much fun getting together as year 7’s. I enjoyed the fire making and the midnight walk when we got really scared! The food was amazing. We all really enjoyed it. I give the trip five stars.

Angel, Year 7

”

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TRIPS Once again our annual year 7 trip to Langdale in October was a huge success giving our new year 7s a chance to get to know each other and strengthen newly-forming friendships.

The first group went Monday to Wednesday before swapping with their peers on Wednesday afternoon so they could enjoy the same team-building experiences.

During a fabulous week exploring the great outdoors and appreciating some wonderful views of the Lake District, the students walked to Grasmere Lake, tried their hand at archery, team-building games, fire-building and shelter building in the woods. In different groups the students also put their skills to the test walking on skis attached to ropes and tested their concentration and coordination

“

It was a real opportunity for the students to gel as a group, make friends, form positive relationships with each other and the teachers.

Team building featured all the way through the trip and Our Lady’s students really rose to all the challenges.

Well done to all.

”

Mrs Winter, Head of Year 7

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in a toxic river game that required them to balance on circles of wood.

After exerting lots of energy there was also the change to relax a little back at the house. The less physical activities saw the children roasting marshmallows by the fire, flag-making and giving X-Factor style presentations to the group.

Each group returned to school feeling tired yet energised by their adventurous activities and both the memories made and some of the friendships formed are likely to last a lifetime. Langdale, we had a blast!

“

It was a good chance to see students away from school and academic study and to see how well they learnt to work in groups in the various challenges.

I know that this will have been a trip they’ll remember and will still be talking about in Year 11!

“

Miss O’Boyle

Miss Nicholson

”

The students started as individuals and grew and developed and became a team. Some individuals made massive leaps over a short space of time.

”

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TRIPS

Staff Profile—Mr Schofield shelter building, walking, archery and more.

We were outdoors all day and even had a midnight walk in the woods!

What were the highlights this year?

Walking to Grasmere Lake was great fun!

One or two even had a paddle. Miss Butler found out her wellies had a hole in them!

I enjoyed talking to all the Y7 students.

We had a great staff team and the year 9 student helpers—Lewis, Charlie, Leon, Caitlin and Mia—were fabulous sports leaders!

What is your role at Our Lady’s?

I develop PE and School Sport with all the Manchester Schools, getting more people physically active, coordinating the School Sport Competition Programme. I’ve been involved in lots of projects like raising over a million pounds for the 3G pitch and dance studio.

I teach a fabulous Year 11 class PSHCE and organise some exciting projects like the Y7 Langdale trip and various enterprise days.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Every day is interesting and has a different challenge—but the thing I love most is the people. Our Lady’s teachers are all so inspiring and determined to give students the very best opportunity. And Our Lady’s students have such great potential. I know that when I say ‘good morning’ I’m talking to future lawyers, doctors, politicians, business men and women and people who are and will be the heart and soul of the community.

What does a typical day for Mr Schofield look like?

Today I set up the Manchester Primary School Cross Country Finals in the rain.

200 children from 22 schools attended and all ran a wet and muddy race. There were some great athletes—maybe one will be an Olympic athlete! Tomorrow I’ll meet a group of headteachers and then train 20 Sports Leaders to umpire a mini tennis competition.

I usually start around 7.30am and finish around 6pm. Every day is different.

Tell us about the annual Langdale trip This year 140 Year 7 children attended—the most we’ve ever taken. The students were great fun and really enjoyed fire making, Page 12

Funniest moment in school?

Dancing ‘the jive’ at the Our Lady’s Strictly Come Dancing competition (and I did score more points than Miss Tkaczuk!)

What are your hobbies?

Training. I run, swim and cycle every week with Manchester Triathlon Club.

Greatest sporting achievement?

In Triathlon and Duathlon I’ve competed six times on the Great Britain team, best ranking 7th in GB with an all time World Ranking high of 16th. I’ve trained really hard for that!

Favourite film or show?

Star Wars, Gladiator and Captain Fantastic—but my favourites are always live performances and the Our Lady’s performances are the BEST. Seeing ‘Lil Bombs, Stars and Dynamite dance crews perform, the sports teams and the performing arts shows, make me want to shout and cheer. Such talent!

Favourite song?

As a teenager I listened to Blondie, Bowie, Queen, U2 and lots more. I like all sorts of music including Coldplay and Paul Weller, although I might sing along to the Three Tenors ‘Nessum Dorma’ every now and then.

Greatest moment?

Every day has a greatest moment; a smile and a ‘hello’, knowing you’ve created an opportunity for someone to show their talents.

Person you would most like to meet and why?

Nelson Mandela. Principled. Focussed.

Inspiring.

Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?

Run in a 100 mile race. Cycle round the world. Build a house.

Thirty Minutes of the Funny Side of Shakespeare The MANCEP Shakespeare Festival held at Loreto Sixth Form College is a collaborative annual event showcasing the talent of students from local Catholic high schools and sixth form colleges in Manchester.

Due to the success of the festival, it has grown to involve more schools and colleges and, as a result, took place over two days this year.

On Wednesday 8 November our expressive arts cohort shone as they put in a superb performance of Shakespeare’s Classic Comedy, Twelfth Night. Our students did us proud as they embraced the challenge of presenting the complexities of Shakespeare’s plot in a 30 minute abridged version. After a long final day of demanding rehearsals at Loreto, the cast of students kept the audience enthralled and thoroughly entertained from start to finish.

Head of Drama, Mr Banham said; “Every year the MANCEP Shakespeare festival seems to get better. We are always proud of our performers but young people coming together from all walks of life and areas of education to perform the classic works of Shakespeare is something very special. Performing to an audience of their peers, teachers, friends and family, they had the audience roaring with laughter! It was also lovely to see some of our former students still taking part in the festival as college students.”

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TRIPS

A Taste of Digital Creativity The Manchester College are running several events on campus to provide high school students with a taste of the different higher education courses they offer. On Wednesday 8 November Miss Tkaczuk and Miss Newey experienced the Creative and Digital Media Taster day with some of our year 10 students.

A carousel of media workshops led by higher education tutors offered an immersive and interactive experience of creative and digital media. With a taste of broadcast production, graphic design and advertising,

3D modelling and animation, contemporary photography and film and TV production, the students got a really comprehensive overview. The day definitely awakened the creative senses!

Dress Up Your Career!

Caroline Williams from Manchester College joined us on 14 November for a careers session with our year 7s.

They discussed their career ambitions and the paths they should pursue to get to where they want to be. Many of our youngest year group already have firm ideas of what they’d like to do when they leave school. This helped Caroline offer specific advice on A-Level routes and she also discussed the other post-16 options open to them.

With the theme being ‘Dress up your career and be amazing’ the session included the chance to dress as they may end up dressing to go out to work!

A Rollercoaster of an Engineering Challenge Four of our year 9 students attended the Engineering Challenge Event at The Museum of Science and Industry on Monday 16 October. Favour Osadiaye, Raphael Ehapa, Samuel Olaye Espada and Talha Mahmood attended with Mr Breen to represent the school with the challenge of designing and building a marble rollercoaster!

The aims of the day were to give students a taste of what it is like to work as an engineer and gain an appreciation of the challenges it presents. As well as working with their teammates, the students collaborated with teams from other schools to ensure the design brief was met. Using loops, funnels, corkscrews and jumps, there was plenty of opportunity for the students to get creative with their designs.

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The students also had to explore the museum to find the engineers who were in various locations, giving short presentations to highlight the diversity of careers within engineering and other STEM subjects.

An exciting and insightful day for everyone involved!

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PRIMARY TRANSITION

Bright Sparks Shine at Our Electricity Workshops Following on from the huge success of the SPI Club sessions we have been running at Our Lady’s, we are now offering Electricity Workshops. Run by SPI Club’s Emma and Nicky, the workshops are designed to encourage and inspire young people to embrace scientific discovery and question the world around them.

Our Lady’s has been recognised for our work as STEM ambassadors so we are fully committed to promoting science, technology, engineering and maths. Our transition programme successfully incorporates SPI Club and Electricity Workshops making science both exciting and relevant. Year 5 and 6 pupils from our local primary schools have been benefiting from experimenting with different equipment and materials to develop a greater understanding of how electricity works.

The fun, interactive workshops offer the children a chance to explore the workings of electrical circuits and to discover how different materials conduct electricity or act as insulators. Bringing science to life they stand together holding hands to form a human circuit. They have been discovering the pathway of wires that give a light bulb power and have even made their own switch. Enjoyable learning through simple hands-on investigations ensures the workshops are memorable and the children are encouraged to work together and record their findings as they go.

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The children are also taught important safety tips such as not leaving a mobile phone to charge on a bed. By explaining the consequences of such actions Emma and Nicky aim to increase awareness of how gadgets should be stored and used correctly.

The Van De Graaff Generator demonstration is always a highlight. The generator conducts electricity through your arm to make your hair stand on end! It does this by producing lots of static electricity. The electrons don’t like each other and are trying to get as far away from each other as possible resulting in your hair standing up because it is filled with electrons that are repelling each other.

The demonstration never fails to engage the children and is a great way to open up conversations about the power of electrical charges.

SPI Club’s Nicky said; “It has been very rewarding introducing the electricity workshops at Our Lady’s. The pupils have been eager, asking lots of good questions and taking on board the important safety messages we’ve shared. They are definitely worthy of being our Bright Sparks!”

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PRIMARY TRANSITION

Lily Lane’s Play in a Day What happened in 1914 and why? This is the question that pupils from Lily Lane Primary School set out to answer when they joined us for a special ‘Play in a Day’ workshop as part of our transition offering.

Robert Beckett from Konflux Theatre in Education led the children though a stimulating day-long rehearsal culminating in an interactive performance of ‘All the King’s Men’—a thought-provoking look at what happened during World War One. Robert had the children marching across muddy trenches, galloping across the desert with Lawrence of Arabia and storming the beaches at Gallipoli as they used their imaginations to re-enact the events of the war.

Exploring the global nature of the conflict and how it affected all the countries involved, the pupils enjoyed Robert’s special voice exercises and worked hard to remember their lines for the final performance of their play which included the famous Christmas ‘truce’ when troops from opposing sides put down their guns to celebrate Christmas together with a game of football.

The aim of Konflux Theatre in Education is to increase children’s subject knowledge and unlock their potential through creative learning. Professional directors run the workshops which encourage self-expression and public confidence as the children overcome any shyness and work as a team to practise and present their play. With their confidence growing in just a day, it was clear to see that Lily Lane Primary School has some budding young actors!

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Play in a Day is an accessible and incredibly fun way to learn using established theatre techniques to explore curriculum and issue based themes. Our WW1 project ‘All the Kings Men’ proved extremely popular and the Lily Lane pupils embraced the day with great enthusiasm. They demonstrated lots of natural ability in their drama skills and were committed to learning about the subject matter. Throughout the process the pupils were focused and fully engaged making the day very productive and culminating in a brilliant and highly enjoyable performance. A fabulous fun day was had by all.

Robert Beckett, Konflux Theatre in Education

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PRIMARY TRANSITION

Art Meets Science at The Whitworth Our Lady’s works in partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery to offer a variety of fantastic educational visits as part of our Primary Transition Programme.

On Friday 6 October Miss Tkaczuk accompanied year 5 pupils from St Chad’s Primary to the Art Meets Science Masterclass that certainly captured their imaginations. During a funpacked interactive day out the children investigated themes such as properties of materials, structure and how cells behave.

They also had the chance to explore how humans are built, considering the impact of human thoughts, emotions and behaviour.

There was the opportunity to explore the Raqs Media Collective exhibition, engage with scientists and artists and the children even produced their own artwork. Our days spent at the Whitworth are always creative and thought-provoking and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Make way for our future scientists and artists! www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Proud to be STEM Ambassadors The shortage of students pursuing STEM subjects once they leave school has received a lot of attention over the past few years.

STEM is an acronym, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It also encompasses design technology and computing.

As a school we have run lots of STEM activities and events with Mrs Wilson and the science department working hard to engage the students. We’re delighted that STEM has recognised this commitment and we have received our STEM Ambassadors Certificate for having a positive impact on learning in the STEM subjects.

Mrs Wilson has been instrumental in securing this recognition for the school.

It’s rewarding to be acknowledged for our dedicated approach to improving the students’ learning experiences, motivation, attitudes and enthusiasm. To secure the STEM ambassador status we had to participate in a number of activities organised by the

STEM network. This included days such as the light festival where pupils produced digital images using fluorescent lights, a range of engineering challenges, physics days and chemistry festivals. We also have utilised the resources provided by the STEM network such as the STEM Ambassadors and building and programming Lego robots.

These ambassadors are specialists that can be requested on any aspect of science, technology, engineering and maths to provide support.

us to introduce new and exciting areas of STEM to the pupils. There is also equipment available to loan from the STEM network that supports teaching and learning of STEM. Getting students enthused about STEM is an important step to sparking their curiosity and getting them to consider whether it is an area they want to pursue once they leave Our Lady’s. Let’s hope our dedication to inspiring young minds will see many of our students pursue post-16 STEM subjects and careers.

STEM Ambassadors are able to enhance and enrich the teaching and learning of STEM subjects by sharing their own interest, skills and experience in STEM. This allows

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STEM is important because it pervades every part of our lives. Science is everywhere in the world around us. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field, particularly girls who are under-represented within STEM.

Mrs Wilson

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SPORTS NEWS

Sports Round-Up As always, there’s been plenty of action in the sporting arena.

Our Football teams all had a good start to the new season with important victories in their opening games and none more so than in the Year 10 Manchester Cup tie against Wright Robinson (the current Manchester Champions). With Our Lady’s holding the Catholic Cup Champions title, it was a game befitting of the final and one in which we ran our 4-2 winners.

In Handball, our Under-15 boys and girls teams took part in the Manchester Championships with our girls finishing fourth and the boys gaining silver medals.

Elsewhere, our Cross Country teams competed in the league during September with our Year 8/9 girls finishing a creditable fourth and our Year 10/11 boys getting a silver medal for all their efforts in typical atrocious conditions. All participants were a credit to our school.

Our year 10/11 boys also got the Indoor Athletics season underway in the Manchester Championships in October.

There were some notable performances from Ibere Barumire (400metres), Josh Tchuoa (long jump), Josa Osa Oni (shot putt) and Emmanuel Ujahchuku (60 metres) who all won Bronze or Silver medals in their events.

After finishing fourth our team qualified for the County Championships held at Sportcity.

There were some excellent performances here with Daniel Lawal (200 metres) and Emmanuel Ujahchuku (60 metres) winning gold medals in their respective events and thereby becoming County Champions. Overall our team finished in ninth place but again all the athletes who competed put in a performance worthy of high praise..

Inter-form Competitions Our Inter-Form competitions started this term with our new look House system featuring the various places where Our Lady has appeared or is revered. All year groups have had the chance to win medals in a variety of competitions including Basketball, Cross Country and Muscular Endurance tests. It was great to see so many taking part to try and help their forms be successful. There will be more competitions throughout the year!

Also, massive congratulations to our Girls Basketball team who have made it through to the U14’s Manchester Schools Finals by beating MCA 18-4, Whalley Range 20-0 and drawing against Abraham Moss 6-6.

Unfortunately in Girl’s Football the Year 10s were knocked out of the English School’s competition losing to Flixton Girls School.

Our Year 9s were also knocked out of the English School’s competition losing to Hazel Grove High School. Defeat makes us more determined to come back stronger so we’re confident of better luck next time.

Girls Enjoy Football Fun at the Festival In October, a group of our Year 7s were among around 300 girls who attended the 2017 Manchester FA Girls Football Festival at the Platt Lane Complex.

The girls had a fantastic afternoon playing football and enjoyed the many fun activities on offer including a referee workshop, a goalkeeper workshop, speed cage, target shoot, batak boards and a freestyle workshop. Charlotte Lade, one of the world’s leading professional football freestylers was in attendance demonstrating her amazing tricks throughout the day.

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The girls even got to meet some Women’s Super League players! Four Manchester City Women players—Jane Ross, Ella Toone, Ellie Roebuck and Marie Hourihan—took part in a Q&A session at the end of the festival, offering inspirational advice on how to get involved in the game.

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CHARITIES

Our Lady’s Taste a Slice of Coffee Morning Success!

The first Macmillan Coffee Morning was held in 1990 when a local fundraising committee decided to donate the cost of their coffee to Macmillan.

This simple concept was taken up on a national level and in 1991 over 2,600 people registered to hold coffee mornings across the country. Last year, the national coffee mornings raised £29.7 million for Macmillan Cancer Support with Our Lady’s doing our bit to boost this total.

Following the success of our Macmillan Coffee Morning last year, Our Lady’s staff and students once again put their skills to the test making a variety of home-baked cakes to enter into the ‘Bake Off’. Year 8 students served tea and coffee and sold cakes, biscuits and sweets to their peers, staff, parents and guests from the local community.

Aside from the bake off entries, Tesco Blackley kindly donated cakes and biscuits to sell at the event.

Rose Tipton, Macmillan Fundraising Manager for Greater Manchester joined us to judge the ‘Bake Off’. Entries included flapjacks, salted caramel brownies, a glutenfree chocolate fudge cake and a Macmillan Kit Kat cake. Judging the entries Rose said; “What a fabulous selection of cakes. There’s a great variety and everyone has worked hard. It’s nice to encourage home baking and the results taste delicious.”

The winner was a chocolate cake with sparkly cupcakes baked by Miss Shannon’s daughters Oliva and Toni. Miss Shannon was delighted to accept the prize on their

behalf—‘Deliciously Decorated’—a cake decorating book donated by cake designer Charlotte White (who then appeared at the Manchester Cake and Bake Show in November). Raffle prizes donated by local businesses included a pair of tickets to the Manchester Cake and Bake Show, afternoon tea at Propertea at Manchester Cathedral, a box of cupcakes from Hey Little Cupcake and a box of cupcakes from Zara Cupcakes.

Explaining the importance of such events Rose Tipton said; “Not only are the coffee mornings a great excuse to get together but they allow us to heighten the profile of the charity and make sure people are aware of all the services that Macmillan offer. 99% of the money Macmillan receives comes from the public and last year that amounted to £245 million.”

We would like to extend our thanks to Tesco Blackley, Hey Little Cupcake, Zara Cupcakes, Propertea, Charlotte White and Jess at Rare Breed Publicity for supporting us in this worthwhile fundraising. A huge thank you to Rose Tipton too for being our very own Mary Berry for the morning!

Need to talk?

Call Macmillan free on

0808 808 00 00

Supporting Charitable Causes Raising money for charities remains a pivotal focus for our school community and we are always proud of the support everyone shows.

The generosity of staff and students meant we sent a cheque for £900 to Caritas for the St Joseph’s Penny Appeal, which was a fantastic achievement. This year each House has a linked charity to fundraise

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for with Walsingham House, paired with Macmillan to reflect their matching green colour. A total of £60 was raised on their House Feast Day to be added to the money raised at the Macmillan Coffee Morning. Thank you to Mrs Burke for arranging the sale of green ribbons and biscuits.

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RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Religious Life of the School As part of the Religious life of the school, we take great pride in a number of extra -curricular activities which support our school mission: “To Know, Love and Serve God”.

The year began with a staff reflection on the theme of ‘Teaching’ with Father Glover joining staff for a lovely service to celebrate mass. Year 7 started their time at Our Lady’s with a liturgy on the theme of ‘Community’ with parents joining in the afternoon to celebrate their mass with them.

the religious life of the school. Charlie O’Brien, Latipha Anusiem and Andreja Bielskyte were fantastic, receiving a huge round of applause from all in attendance.

The student chaplains have also led assemblies and morning reflections in the Chapel for each year group.

The new House system was introduced to students with information on each of the named Marian shrines and House banners were introduced. They look fantastic and give each year group a real sense of identity.

In October, year groups again visited St Clare’s Church to gain an understanding of a place of worship and the significance of the Eucharist. Students have really enjoyed the sessions and taking part in them. Many Thanks to Fr Dariusz for his time and support in leading these sessions.

The Chaplaincy Team were invited to speak to other school Chaplaincy Teams about the work that they have been doing to support

Follow our Chaplaincy Twitter page: OurLadysChaplains@OLChaplains

Team Work Requires Great Cooperation!

On 19 October St Chad’s year 6 primary chaplains visited us for a special workshop run by some of the Our Lady’s school chaplains.

It was a wonderful opportunity for both sets of school chaplains to get together and for the children of St Chad’s to see what is expected in the role of school chaplain at Our Lady’s. Charlie, Lewis and Beverlyn encouraged the children to think about working together and charity work.

Exploring these themes, the pupils were directed by the Our Lady’s chaplains to stand together to form the word ‘Teamwork.’ The children had great fun in a task which in itself required great cooperation!

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Parent Voice!

Do you like us?

We love sharing all our school news and events with our supportive Facebook community and we want to reach an even wider audience. Lots of you like and share our posts but have you liked our page?

Simply click on the ‘like’ on the left just below our cover photo. Your continued support means the world to us. We like you, so please like us!

Lost Property How annoyed do you feel when your property goes missing? It’s so expensive to replace!

Our new Lost Property system aims to reunite all those mislaid coats, bags and PE kits with their owners. Visit our website for more details: www.olhs-manchester.org.uk/ parents/lost-property/

At Our Lady’s it is always so rewarding to receive positive feedback from parents and carers so it’s lovely to share the good news.

Dear Our Lady’s Team, My name is Agnieszka Molik and I am the proud parent of an Our Lady’s High School Year 10 student, Filip Debal. I would like to express how I feel about my son’s progression over the past few years.

Filip is a hard working student who has been inspired by many good examples from the teaching staff in the school which I believe has contributed to him achieving his good grades.

The school’s education is delivered to a high standard and Filip is proud to be a part of the school community. I am happy with Filip’s achievements and more than happy with the support which the school has been able to provide when needed.

On Tuesday 26th September, Filip had the opportunity to attend a business trip to the DWF Academy.

This enabled my son to learn so much more about different career prospects and it helped him with his confidence when publicly speaking in front of an audience.

The school is very advanced in technology and has the necessary resources to help students with their research for class and homework.

Furthermore the school have a great reputation and results.

Filip is also full of praise for Our Lady’s, keep up the good work!

Thank you.

Regards, Agnieszka Molik

Coming up in the next issue…

For ticket sales and enquiries call 0161 507 9640 Page 20

Read about the students’ exciting school trip to London to see the Lion King, visit Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and the Harry Potter Christmas Experience.

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