SFXtra December 2006

Contents

Dear Parents

Skills for Life for Pupils ..................2 ICT Academy ..................3 Year 11 Army Visit ..................4 Field of Hope ..................5 Science Olympics ..................6 London Trip ..................7 PA Murder Mystery Night ..................8 New Facilities and Initiatives ..................9 School Parliament News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Time seems to pass so quickly. The last time I was writing my message for our termly newsletter pupils were sitting in the Hall on a very hot day taking their GCSE and A Level examinations. No sooner have we been able to congratulate them on their fantastic achievements which were a record for the College, than we now have the next group sitting their trial examinations in the Hall. Indeed some Year 10 pupils have already sat maths and science modules for their final GCSE examinations.

It is so easy these days to think of schools as examination factories.

However when you read about all of the other things which have been going on in school and are mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter, I can assure you that we are certainly not an examination factory. Our mission statement which is based on St John’s gospel (10,10), “Jesus came that we might have life,…..life in all its fullness” is a strong illustration of this. We firmly believe in providing opportunities for all our young people so that they may experience the richness of “….life in all its fullness”.

Let us all hope and pray that the Christmas season this year will be one where we are all able to experience an enrichment of family life.

Let us make it a time to remember and celebrate the fact that Jesus was born in order that we may have life.

On behalf of all staff and governors I would like to wish all parents, students and families a Happy and Holy Christmas. I hope that the peace and joy of this Christmas will continue throughout 2007.

With best wishes Yours sincerely Mr L D Rippon

Dates for Diary: Monday 18th December - School will close at 2:30pm in order for final preparations for the Advent Service to be completed. Everyone is invited to the Service which will take place in the Main Hall at 7:30pm. Students have prepared Music, Drama, and Readings. Mince Pies, Tea, Coffee, and Mulled Wine will be served at the conclusion of the service.

Tuesday 19th December - School will close at 2:30pm to allow final preparations to be put into place for Senior Proclamation which takes place at 7:30pm. All former Year 11 pupils and Year 13 students are invited to this event with parents. The event celebrates achievements in public examinations.

Thursday 21st December - School closes at 12:20pm for the Christmas holidays.

Tuesday 9th January 2007 - School reopens at 8:40am. A/S Modular examinations begin.

The Newspaper Editing Team Welcome to the new Editing Team and thank you to last year’s Year 10 Editors, who have passed the project over to our new team as they embark on GCSE study and revision. A special thank you must go to Adam Wing, who has offered to stay with the team in a management role. He will oversee the production and editing.

Adam Wing 11 WA Ben Roddy 11 CA Andrew Dunbar 10 CA John Hyland 10 KE Connor McCarthy 10 0W David Jones 10 RI

Josh Evans 10 BR James Smith 10 WA Iain Currie 10 CA Elliott Tunstall 10KE James Fazakerley 8 OW Callum Hutton 8 MA

Josh Donnelly 8 RI Elias Gallwey 7 WA Mark Farrell 7 WA Joseph Irwin 7 LE Jordan Roberts 7 WA Bradley Crompton 7 WA

In partnership with YOUTH PARTNER

Parklands Excellence in Liverpool

Specialist Status News Capital Build and Refurbishment Update The first phase of ICT and Mathematics refurbishment has been completed. Purchasing and implementation of hardware, infrastructure, redecoration, minor build work and furniture commenced June 12th 2006 and work continued throughout the summer term and into the summer holidays.

The building work resulted in the relocation of the 6th form Art room and the creation of a Maths/ICT suite and a suite of 5 ICT rooms with future proofing to enable the easy creation of another should one be required in the next academic year.

Sincere thanks to the ICT teaching staff who worked tirelessly throughout the summer holidays to ensure that the rooms were ready for a September start. Also thanks to the technical staff and site staff who also worked extremely hard to ensure that the environment and equipment was fully functioning.

The main Learning Resource Centre was also emptied, week commencing 19th June and new desks, flooring, and ICT equipment was installed. Thanks also to Mrs Grace and Mrs Cooney, who also worked extremely hard to ensure that the new environment was re-organised and ready for a September start.

Phase 2 of the build programme has started with the redecoration of MIT (Maths ICT room). The Maths department will benefit from new curtains, redecoration, interactive whiteboards and new furniture during the forthcoming months. The Art department, Technology department and Music department have also benefited from new suites of computer equipment in their rooms following ICT refurbishment.

Community Classes at SFX - Skills for Life Free courses from complete beginner up to Level 2 will be available at SFX in the Spring term.

The courses could help you to improve your maths, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, language and computer skills.

We will be offering courses at SFX to prepare you for the new National Tests at Level 1 and Level 2 as well as enrichment classes in a variety of areas including; French, Spanish, Craft, and of course, Maths and Computer related courses!

A A

prepare for a job interview feel more confident about your spelling

Would you like to improve your Language skills?

A A A

learn new words improve your grammar be able to speak to your children's teachers

Would you like to improve your Maths skills?

A A

check and manage your money understand fractions and percentages help children with their schoolwork

Would you like to improve your Literacy skills?

A

A A A A

Do you need a short course to refresh your skills in Literacy or Numeracy?

write a letter, report or CV fill in an application form read the newspaper better understand formal letters

Would you like to improve your Computer Skills?

Are you interested in exploring Christianity?

Would you like to explore your creative side with our free Craft classes?

Classes are free! – Enrolment Evening will take place on Wednesday 31st January from 6.30 pm – 8.30pm at SFX – Further details will follow.

Skills for Life for Pupils In December 2005 St Francis Xavier’s College became a National Test Centre for the delivery of Skills for Life national qualifications. The college offered Level 2 Literacy and Numeracy qualifications to over 150 Year 11 students last year with a success rate of over 85%.

The current Year 11 cohort will undertake Literacy and

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Numeracy Testing in January and February 2007. If students wish to try sample tests at home in preparation for these exams, log in to; http://www.edexcel.org.uk/sfc/onscreen/alan-test/

Specialist Status News Nightowl Out of Hours Learning The NIGHTOWL sessions were launched on Tuesday 14th November. The session runs from 3.30 – 8.30pm each Tuesday evening. Approximately 70 Year 11 students have attended the sessions each week which provide boys with an opportunity to complete coursework or revision, use the Internet for research or complete online learning using the SAM Learning package.

This is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on work missed, do a little extra work with your friends, or simply start revision early with teachers available to help you should you need it. The sessions are NOT taught lessons, they are relaxed drop–in sessions aimed at helping you to achieve your potential in all subjects.

Although most pupils stay for the duration of the session you can leave at whatever time suits you, but don’t forget to tell your parents you are staying late at school. Grab bags containing sandwiches, a drink and a piece of fruit are available at a small cost.

SAM Learning For the third year running the school has subscribed Years 9 and 11 to SAM learning, a top quality on-line learning service that can be used at home or in school. SAM stands for Self Assessment Method and encourages students to work on line both in and out of school, the majority of assessed subjects are available and online testing can help consolidate learning or introduce new topics.

For students, SAM Learning appears as a web based service accessible from any Internet enabled device at anytime, students can tackle a choice of revision, using drag and drop and test practice which essentially means that students do and mark their own work. In exam practice, every single mark is identified by the examiners who wrote the question so we see time and time again that student’s benefit from improving their technique, their confidence and as a result their results. It really isn’t rocket science, simply a great way to improve achievement.

Learners need three details to login: School ID

L25SF

User ID

Date of birth followed by two initials; first name then last name. Example: 010885DJ is the User ID for David Jones born 1st Aug 1985.

Password

Initially same as User ID, you should change your password as soon as you login.

ICT Academy Delivery of the new KS5 ICT Academy is well underway. Eight Option 3 students are following a vocational work related BTEC Level 2 qualification in ICT in school for 3 days per week and a work based NVQ Level 2 Qualification in ICT off site. This qualification is delivered in conjunction with Speke Training and Education Centre on Speke Boulevard and local employers.

The Academy curriculum provision has now been established and SFX is now an approved centre. Compact has organised the employer links for the NVQ programme and has also organised the extended 1 day per week work placement for placements. Work-placements will commence December 2006 involving a range of employers including; British Telecom, John Lewis, Liverpool John Moores University amongst others.

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School News Breaking News from the SFX Biology News-desk: ‘Y11 Pupils Successfully Clone Geraniums!’

Boys in 11K4 & 11IFP have successfully created ‘new’ Geranium plants in a ‘cutting edge, ground-breaking’ experiment it was announced today. The experiment, carried out in Biology Lab 1 under the close supervision of Mr Irwin (Head of Biology) was completed in October behind tight security.

Mr Irwin has reported an 80% success rate - incredibly high for this time of year and puts this achievement down to “excellent scientific technique by the boys…….. and plenty of TLC post-excision….” This included the use of “individual propagators,” artificial lighting, regular watering and a special rooting hormone preparation.

to take Lil’ Mikey to the match when he’s older. He’ll be a ‘blue’- defo.”

Fellow scientist, Sean Harrington (fourth left) had other ideas about his new arrival when interviewed earlier: “Haribo II is a ‘chip off the old block’ – I know it’s early yet but I feel sure he’ll have red flowers when he grows up.

And if he does, I’m gonna be so proud.”

Finally, we caught-up with Mr Irwin at his Huyton estate where he had this to say: “The high success rate was just the icing on the cake and we hope the geranium clones will grow up to be full, contributing members of plant society at SFX – the boys done good!”.

Proud GCSE scientist, Michael Hutton (second right) who took part in the experiment, had this to say: “I can’t wait

Links with Liverpool Hope University This term SFX has forged deeper links with Liverpool Hope University. The University are developing their role in Liverpool, and are keen to make links with SFX to promote Higher Education and to help our students fulfil their potential.

Year 11 Army Visit

Professor Pillay, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of Liverpool Hope University, came to talk to the Sixth Form in September to discuss the benefits of Higher Education. He spoke of his upbringing in South Africa, Nelson Mandela and the importance of Education in developing a new future for his country.

Liverpool Hope University prides itself on being the only ecumenical University in Europe and the pastoral care it provides for students. Professor Pillay is keen to see a family of schools in the region build a learning community that will benefit all members. We are keen to a part of such a community.

Since the first meeting, eleven members of staff from SFX went for an evening meeting with Professor Pillay and senior staff from the University and made links which will directly benefit our students. A further meeting took place on Friday 17th November at SFX where staff discussed research possibilities and projects which will be jointly run with the Liverpool Hope. Exciting possibilities are unfolding which will see the students and staff from both institutions working closely to enhance learning experiences for all.

Interview with Mr Flowers by Connor McCarthy and David Jones

The Army visited school in November to speak to Year 11 boys. The visit went really well and the Royal Parachute Regiment (Red Devils) spoke with the boys for the first hour.

After that they had the opportunity to try on some camouflage gear and look at the weapons.

The Army also brought an inflatable assault course which all the boys loved, they split Y11 into teams and the losers had to do press ups, all of the boys co-operated with this. They also had a tug-of-war and the losing teams had to do a circuit of the school.

I did have my worries about this event but it was great. In fact, some of the boys wanted to sign up at the end to do a parachute training course.

Miss Cain

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School News Field of Hope Earlier this term a group of Year 8 and 9 boys worked with Mrs Fay to plant 500 daffodil bulbs in the area around Our Lady's statue. Our aim was to improve the environment, but more importantly to create a visual reminder of family and friends who have suffered from cancer. Sadly this illness has touched many of our lives. We wanted to create our own mini "Field of Hope".

Marie Curie Hospice have offered to speak with each year group about their work with sufferers in our neighbourhood. We will be asking for a one off donation which will go directly to the Hospice. Year 9 boys have adopted this charity for their fundraising and will organise further fundraising events.

Interest in this project has grown and over the course of the next year Mr Mottram, along with a team of Year 10 students will create a more sophisticated "Garden of Hope".

We are not aware that any other school has embarked on such a venture. We look forward to your support!

6th Form University Links During the first half term 6th Form students had a visit from Vice Chancellor Pillay from Hope University speaking to the Year 12 and 13’s about Hope University and about University life in general.

In the second half of the term Linda Schwartz study skills group visited 6th formers and worked with the Year 12 and 13 students on how to tackle examination questions to get the most out of the marks. In addition to this, 6th formers have also been working with Mark Shotter from Aim Higher and have attended Year 12 sessions on making University choices and then preparing Year 13 for writing their personal statements.

Culinary Competition Year 7 and 8 boys had the opportunity to quiz two of Scolarest’s expert chefs at a Healthy Eating workshop which was held on Wednesday 27th September 2006.

Four teams of boys along with Miss Staunton, Mr Platt and Mrs Smith were pitched against each other.

Their mission was to create delicious, healthy meals using the ingredients provided, in only fifteen minutes! The heat was well and truly on.

Mark Beckett, Christopher Dixon, Phillip Sweeney and Brendan Patino, Year 8 tempted the taste buds with their creations. On the menu was: Salmon and Ginger, Chicken Salsa Wrap, SFX Curry and a mouth watering fish dish. The audience vote was energetic to say the least!

Stephen Lennon, Andrew Smith, Alexander Henshaw and Daniel O'Shea from Year 7 together with

Year 7 Inter-form Competitions Mr Platt has been planning an interform football tournament this term, and of course, more matches for the Year 7 football team. There will hopefully be a few chances to play cricket as well.

During this term there has been an inter-form competition where the winner is determined by credits, and then subtracting detentions and lates.

The winning form will receive a prize which is the opportunity to go home an hour earlier than anyone else. For a while it has been a close contest with Mayne and Lewis fighting it out at the top as they have won the weekly competition three times each. But who will the eventual winner be?

By Joseph Irwin 7KE

Y7 Inter-form Competition Table 27/11/06 Form Bryant Campion Kemble Lewis Mayne Owen Rigby Ward

Credits 119 195 107 175 78 106 42 106

Detentions 8 16 21 12 12 33 11 0

Lates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Year 7 Fundraising First of all, Year 7 have been involved with the Operation Christmas Child charity, where they had to fill shoeboxes with treats and wrap them in festive paper. The boxes will be delivered to the needy children in poor countries so that they too can experience the joy of opening a present on Christmas morning. We have actually collected over seventy

shoeboxes for Samaritans purse.

Ms Staunton was extremely pleased with the result.

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Out and About Science Olympics On Saturday 11th November Miss Thiery took four boys; Chris Rigby, James Mannion, Josh Evans and Tim Gregory to a competition called the Science Olympics. Altogether, twelve schools took part in the competition. The boys worked together as a team but Miss Thiery had her own group consisting of all the teachers who came with their schools, they had to carry out four experiments or activities in total.

The first activity was Marble Madness; the group had to build a device out of paper and use it to make a marble move above ground for as long as possible. The team who kept the marble above ground long enough won the first activity. The SFX team kept the marble up for an amazing fourteen seconds and obviously, with a great result like that they won the first activity. Miss Theiry and her team of teachers were able to keep it above ground for a good eleven seconds.

The second activity was Sweet Trader. In this activity the group were given sweets which were worth a certain amount of points, they had to make different combinations of sweets (points) and trade them to get the biggest amount of points

they possibly could. Thankfully, they won this challenge too.

The third activity was Code Breaker. They had to give instructions to a blindfolded person using bells and party blowers, unfortunately the SFX team did not win this challenge, but were still in the lead at this point.

The fourth and final activity was Windmill. For this task they had to make a windmill out of paper and wood and hopefully make it function as much as possible like a real windmill.

Again, they did not win the activity but still did very well.

Miss Thiery said that she enjoyed all the activities and so did the boys. The competition started at 10am and ended at 2:30pm. After a long day of Science experiments Miss Thiery and the boys were pleased to find out that they came joint first and would go on to compete in the final. The winner and the schools that came second or third will continue to the final to compete with schools from across Merseyside. Good luck to the boys, let’s hope they win it.

Joseph Irwin 7 LE

Success at Exhibition Two sixth form students, Richard Bell and Lois Morris, were awarded ‘Highly Commended’ certificates further to submission of their work to the Royal Society of British Artists National Children’s Exhibition. Richards work was also chosen to be exhibited at the Mall Galleries, London. The Art department is proud of their achievements as 2,381 schools were invited to submit work. Mrs Harris, Richard and Lois attended the private view and official opening of the exhibition at the Mall Galleries on the 18th May.

By Adam Wing

The Clipper Around the World Yacht Race On the 27th of June the Art department was involved in making a presentation to mark the last leg of the Clipper journey along with St. Julie’s and primary schools in the G10 network. The theme of the presentation was the Caribbean and Year 8 pupils made a visual backdrop for the events which took place. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by a delegation of students from Year 8 who attended the event along with two sixth formers. Mr Rippon, Mrs Douglass, and Mrs Harris also enjoyed the day.

Adam Wing 11 WA

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Swan Lake Theatre Trip 31st Jan 2007 A trip to the theatre has been organised for anyone wanting to see Swan Lake on 31st January 2007. Tickets cost £6.00 ! (These tickets are usually £30.00 each). Please see Miss Hayes if you want tickets.

Out and About F1 in Schools The ‘F1 in Schools’ project is an initiative which has been set up by Jaguar to try to encourage more young design engineers to study at university. There is currently a great need for young aspiring engineers and designers in the UK. The initiative spans across KS3, KS4 and KS5 and the aim of the project is for a team of designers and engineers to design, and then create, a balsa wood F1 style car, powered by gas, which is then raced against other cars from other schools.

The SFX group consisted of a selection of Year 12 and 13 students. The team successfully managed to design and make their car, and also managed to get their team sponsored. All involved really enjoyed the project, however they were unfortunately beaten by the National Champions in the finals. The project helped to develop their skills, not only as designers and engineers, but also as members of a team.

Liverpool Physics Olympics Team Lodge put on an excellent performance reaching 4th place in two out of six activities in this year’s Physics Olympics. Matthew Owens, Jason Carr, Daniel Guinness and Michael Gossage, all in year 13, caught the judge’s eye with their sharp thinking and creative problem solving skills which enabled them to complete the devious tasks assigned by the Professors at the University of Liverpool in the annual event.

The competition this year was stiffer than ever as team Lodge were up against 29 of the top schools from around the country. Captain, Matthew Owens said “it was the matter of just a few points which denied us the glory, but it was a great day, a lot of fun and it has made my mind up that Physics is the way forward.”

For anyone interested in taking part in next years Physics Olympics, Mr Hayhurst will be organising trials early next term.

(Taken From Interview with Mr. Bowers – John Hyland)

London Trip

Mr Harrison’s History News On October 19th Mr Harrison, accompanied

by Daniel Jessop and Liam Sweeney, visited St Gregory’s primary school during their African creative arts week. St Gregory’s is a feeder school to SFX and the History department have been actively involved in a Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 transition initiative with Y6 pupils.

There have also been lively and challenging History specific Year 9 Gifted and Talented group meetings after school, these will continue throughout the school year.

Mr Bowers organises an annual trip every year to London with a selection of A Level students, to get them enthused about design and art. This year the trip included a visit to a Design and Art museum, which also happened to be having an F1 exhibition; this was a great advantage for the students who were taking part in the “F1 in Schools” project. The trip also included a visit to the “Victoria and Albert” museum, which gave the students a perspective of how design has developed over time.

(Taken from interview with Mr Bowers – John Hyland)

In the future, Mr Harrison and his Sixteenth Century Year 12 class plan to attend a special lecture day on King Henry VII. It promises to be a very educational day and is on the 6th December at Manchester University.

Interview with Mr Harrison by Connor McCarthy

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Parents’ Association PA Murder Mystery Night What was the aim of the night?

The Parents association held a Murder Mystery Night event on 7th October 2006, Mr Roberts kindly spoke to us about the event.

What was the PA event?

The event was a fabulous Murder Mystery Night, which was held in SFX. How did the night go?

It was excellent, about 90 people turned up and we raised around £500 through admission fees and by selling refreshments. The money will go towards supporting SFX pupils.

The aim was to find out who killed the ‘Lord’ of the Manor. Everyone was dolled up in Victorian clothes. We even had actors who came in and acted the scenario out to perfection. It really was a fun night.

Would you do it again next year?

Most definitely! It was fun and successful I’ll look forward to it.

Interview with Mr. Roberts by Andrew Dunbar & Iain Currie

New Minibus for Pupils PA Bingo After two years of fundraising by the Parents’ Association involving; Race Nights, Christmas Dances, a Murder Mystery event and numerous other events, the school received delivery of a brand new minibus. The donation totalled £20,000.00 with Mr.Rippon accepting the minibus from Mrs Fullan and Mr.Sewell, Chairperson and Committee member.

The Parents Association held a Bingo Afternoon on 12th November 2006.

What can you tell us about the Bingo Afternoon?

It was a good day, over 100 Bingo fanatics turned up, which surpassed the figures we had initially expected.

The minibus made it’s maiden trip down to St.Mary’s College in Southampton, driven

by Brother James. The trip was very successful and the bus completed the trip without any problems.

Was it about serious bingo or just about fun?

Mr.Rippon would like to express his gratitude to the PA and everyone involved in raising the funds for the minibus.

Is it happening again next year?

Since I was calling the numbers, I guess it had to be fun!

How much money was raised and where is the money going?

We raised about £400.00 which will again go to supporting the pupils.

Hopefully, yes! I had a great time calling the numbers.

Interview with Mr. Roberts by Andrew Dunbar and Iain Currie

Parents’ Association Activities Past Events

SFX Christmas Dance 25th November

Murder Mystery Night 7th October

Excellent meal and disco for all the parents of SFX pupils. Around 100 people came to a lovely meal and had a dance, for an early Christmas celebration. The event raised about £1000.00 for the PA and will help support school pupils over the forthcoming year. Thanks to all those families and friends who attended.

This was a fantastic evening of fun, where around 100 family and friends tried to decide who killed the Lord of the Manor. The event raised over £700.00 for the PA. PA Bingo 12th November This was an afternoon of calling the numbers and winning prizes, the event raise over £400.00 for the PA.

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Next Events Race Night – Friday 2nd February This is one event you must attend… night at the races, lots of fun betting on the horses as they race across the hall, ridden by children and adults.

Book early as tickets sell quickly for this event. Contact the school office for tickets now!!!

St.Patrick’s Night – Sat 17th March Come along and celebrate St.Patrick’s night, with lots of fun and music for all.

Sport Mr Brophy’s Sporting News Football The First 11 team unfortunately lost the 3rd round of the National Cup but have won all of their league games this season. The Second 11 team are well in touch with the leaders. Under 14 and under 12 teams are also making good progress this season.

Squash Under 18 and Under 15 players have begun their season, however it is a big hill to climb in this new venture!

Sports Awards Sports Awards are being presented by Liverpool Schools Sports Federation in St George’s Hall on 6th December. The following boys have been nominated for outstanding sporting success in the last season: A Nick Blackburn and Sean Connolly for U14 Cricket

A Ian Carroll, Mark Dickey, Stephen Irwin, Craig McCauley and Peter Williams for Liverpool U15 Cricket

A Oliver Bradshaw for Dragon Boat Racing, interestingly, Oliver is also a member of the GB Junior Squad who won 2 Gold and 3 silver medals making them overall European Champions in Prague 2006. Oliver won 3 silver medals!

A Matthew Owens for Athletics, he is North of England Indoor High Jump Champion and is the National record holder for the U20 2.05 metre High Jump

A James Flaherty for representing Liverpool at Swimming A Paul Rawlings for football, he is a member of Liverpool U15 Team who won the English Schools trophy.

A Paul Pearson, Christopher Scott and Michael Deakin for Football. They are members of the Merseyside County Team who were National Champions. Both of the latter finals were played at Anfield.

New Facilities and Initiatives “Awards for All” funding has enabled us to create new Tennis Courts, Basketball facilities and Hockey Courts on the lower yard, the facilities are already being extensively used by our pupils and pupils from Palmerston and Lower Lea schools.

Future news An Outdoor Activities course is beginning soon for Y10.This extra curricular activity will be advertised within school during the Spring term. In addition to this, a Water Polo club started in school on 8th December for Y10 and Y11 pupils, other water sports such as Canoeing will begin very shortly. For those Y10 pupils interested in developing sporting leadership skills, planning for the Sports Leaders Award programme is well underway.

Dance News The Y10 and Y11 Break-dancing group continues to thrive; they meet in the Dining Room each Thursday after school

and are well supported by Mrs Jenkins. Mr Brophy has organised a Break-dancing coach for the group to assist their development. The pupils are not the only people in school interested in “strutting their stuff” on the dance floor! Staff Salsa classes started in October. The classes take place after school in the common room; this is yet another initiative funded through the SFX Sports fund.

South Liverpool Sports Partnership News The South Liverpool Sports Partnership have achieved all of their Public Service Agreement Targets. As part of this initiative , Mr Brophy works with local schools including; Our Lady of the Assumption, Our Lady Bishop Eaton, Palmerston, Abbots Lea and Lower Lea schools to increase activity in school sports within the curriculum and in extra curricular activities which include; Dance, Gymnastics, Multi-sports clubs, Cricket, Basketball and Football.

Year Seven Football The Year 7 football teams have made an excellent start to the season and at the time of writing remain unbeaten. There have been regular A team games as well as B1 and B2 fixtures and all of the boys have represented the school impeccably with both their standards of football and their behaviour.

The A team are currently in three cup competitions and have already progressed to the fourth round of the ESFA National Cup.

was had by all and the boys would like to thank Mr Hayhurst and Mr Long for accompanying us and making the trip possible.

We hope all the boys continue to enjoy their football and represent the college in such an excellent manner.

Mr Platt and Mr Bright P.S. You can check out the progress of all of our football teams by visiting; www.esfa.co.uk/competitions

Twenty-six of the boys recently enjoyed a trip to Wolverhampton to see Wolves versus Southend. A good day

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Chaplaincy De La Mennais Brothers Youth Gathering Southampton, Oct. 26th-29th 2006 After the success of 5 trips from Liverpool to youth gatherings in France run by the French Brothers with pupils from SFX and other young people from St. Austin’s Parish, this year the French decided to cross the channel and set up camp at our school in Southampton, St. Mary’s College. So on Oct. 26th a group of 7 students from Yrs. 10 + 13, together with a recent former pupil, a youth worker from St. Austin’s, Mr Borg and myself drove down to join 35 young French people from all over Brittany at St. Mary’s. Amongst the Yr. 10 pupils were some budding musicians who were willing to help me provide some modern Christian music to help enliven the event. They had never performed in public before so we had plenty of rehearsals before we left. I recorded our performances and have put them onto CD for them to keep as a souvenir. They did brilliantly and even managed to attract many adoring French female fans. Friendships were forged and communication has been kept up (over the internet) since we got back.

Sponsored Cycle 2006 - for a School in Mango, Togo (W. Africa) I completed my cycle as planned on Aug. 29th (1,481 miles to Santiago de Compostela in N.W. Spain, 15 + half days). This was a wonderful experience, made all the more special by the encounters with the many fellow pilgrims (cyclists and hikers) and native Spanish and French people.

A selection of photos from the ride can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bro_james/sets/721575942 65533715/ (click on an individual photo then "All sizes" to see it in large resolution).

Many thanks to all those who sponsored me. The total money raised came to £3,730. This will be transferred to a charity account held by our Brothers in France and from there the Head Teacher of our school in Mango (Brother Romain Somoko) will be able to use the money to buy equipment for his rapidly growing school.

Many of those who participated in the weekend (English and French) are hoping to meet up again in France in May at the largest annual Christian rock festival in France, where top British band Deliri-ous are due to be headlining.

Congratulations to all who came on the weekend for their excellent attitude, behaviour and good humour. They were a credit to the College.

Next summer, I will be taking 12 pupils from Yrs. 11-13 to Mango as part of an educational project run by my order and we will be able to see first hand how the money has been used.

Yr. 10 pupils; Josh Blakeway, Ben Macalindin, Patrick Coyle, Michael Boardman, Thomas Sewell and Curtis Reekie. Yr. 13 student Robert Haymes.

History of the De La Mennais Order

Bro. James (Chaplain)

In 1819, Father Jean-Marie De La Mennais, a French priest, founded a teaching order of Brothers to open and run schools in post-Revolution Brittany. They became know as the De La Mennais Brothers (or Brothers of Christian Instruction). Since then the order has spread to 25 countries including England.

Since the late 1970s SFX has been run by Brothers from this order. At present the order is represented in the College by Bro. Peter, Bro. Edmond and Bro. James. As well as being involved in teaching and school life the Brothers undertake various other activities outside of school that help young people to find their identity and develop spiritually. As we the Brothers in England are less numerous than our French counterparts, we try to allow some of our pupils to participate in events that they organise for young people in France.

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Student Voice United Nations Day When asked to take boys along to the Mock United Nations Day at the Liverpool Town Hall I did so with a little apprehension. We have never been involved in this before and the usual candidates are Yr 12/13.

Sean White, Sean Peppercorn, Richard Murphy and Sam Horner were invited to join a few Year 12 students and become the ‘Press Packets’ for the day. Armed with pens, notepads, video cameras and questions they steadily worked through the day.

By 3:30 they had listened to and questioned the various countries represented on their views on the “U.N. Millennium Goals”, joined working parties on “Global Warming” and “Child Labour” and attended an emergency U.N. meeting.

Their work was edited and formatted into a “MUNGA” newssheet.

All boys thought the day was most enjoyable and felt they had gained a lot of new experiences and skills. Teachers and students alike were equally impressed by the boys’ enthusiasm and hard work and thought they were a credit both to the school and their Yr 10 Group. Well done!

Interview with Mrs Smith by Connor McCarthy

Schools Parliament News The training days have now been completed and the ministers have been elected. Congratulations to Thomas Sewell, Joe Wall, Sean Walsh, and Ryan Woods who were all successful in being elected into Parliament. Cameron Patterson deserves a special mention as he was picked to go on the appointment panel for the new Assistant Executive Director for ‘Building Schools for the Future’.

All ministers met their counterparts in the Council over a working breakfast at the Town Hall and the proposals put forward

by Ryan Woods were so warmly received that they were to be put before Liverpool City Council as a motion for debate and voting. We eagerly await the outcome!

James Fazakerley

Year 7 Council News During the first few weeks of the year, the Year Council and School Council have met. Recently they have proposed that we and the rest of the school should use one staircase for going up and one for going down, in the Main and Warner buildings.

The Councils have also discussed reviewing the detention system. The Year Council are hoping to implement these rules sometime this year.

Joseph Irwin 7 LE

Debating and Public Speaking News A team from SFX competed in the Merseyside round of the Mace Debating Competition this term.

The team, Year 13 students Bryn Gough and Austin Coyle, were up against Liverpool College and opposed the motion, “This house would abolish trial by jury”.

The competition took place at St Mary’s College, Crosby on Monday 4th December 2006. Other competing schools included St Edward’s College and Archbishop Blanch High School.

Next term we hope to have a sixth former competing in the Catenian Association Public Speaking Competition for Catholic Schools. Look out for more details in the next newsletter.

D-MYST Direct Movement by the Youth Smokefree Team (D-MYST) is a group set up in Merseyside, not against smokers, but against the tobacco industry for using the Media to target young people. As a group we petitioned for a complete smoking ban in our sports stadiums, gathering over 10,000 signatures for a total ban.

Following this Everton F.C. made their family stands smokefree and hopefully will implement a total ban after the New Year. Liverpool F.C. will hopefully follow in the future.

After our campaign on smoking in the Media we contacted SONY who fully supported us. SONY had also ensured a total omission of smoking on screen in the new James Bond film Casino Royale and kindly donated tickets so that we could attend the World Premier of Casino Royale in Leicester Square, London.

Michael Molloy

School Council The School Council has met for the first time this academic year and the new members were warmly welcomed. Two issues were highlighted. As usual, the lunch menu and facilities were a topic for debate and we are hoping to invite the manager to attend one of our forthcoming meetings, in order to answer the questions posed by pupils.

Second on the agenda was, once again bike sheds. It was decided to carry out a survey to see why there was a need for this facility and how well it would be used. The results will be published at our next meeting and we are interested to see the outcomes.

James Fazakerley 8 OW

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Entertainment Christmas Quiz Enter our festive quiz to win an Apple iPod Nano 2GB 1. Which Christmas carol was written by Mendelssohn?

2. Apollo 8 was the first manned orbiter of the Moon. On Christmas Eve James Lovell read a passage from Genesis, which was broadcast throughout the world - in what year?

3. Arthur Wynne introduced a new fun item in the New York World Newspaper at Christmas in 1913 - the first one in the world - what was it?

4. Christmas coincides with which Jewish Festival?

5. For how many Christmases has there been a tree in Trafalgar Square?

6. If you're in Spain for New Year's Eve, you eat one lucky grape at each chime of the midnight bells. But, what is New Year's Eve called in Spanish?

7. According to the Bible, the little drummer boy met Jesus: a. When Jesus was in the manger b. At a house c. When Jesus was about two years old d. None of the above 8. December 25th has been celebrated as Christmas since the Bible was written. a. True b. False 9. Clement C. Moore's famous poem, "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled... a. "A Visit from St. Nick" b. "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" c. "A Night to Remember" d. "St. Nick and His Reindeer" 10. What significance is holly in celebrating Christmas? a. The pointed leaves represent the Star of Bethlehem b. It was mistaken for mistletoe c. The red berries are a Christmas colour d. The early church banned mistletoe, so holly was substituted

Entry Details Name Form Return your answer page to:

School Office, c/o Miss K. Lindop Deadline Friday 26th January 2007