SFXtra December 2009

Contents Winter 2009

Liverpool at the Shanghai Expo. . . . . . . 2 Go Penguins. . . . . . . . . 4 Summer Workshop . . 6 UK Senior Maths Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Lourdes 2010 . . . . . . . . 9 SFX Band Night . . . . . . 9 SEAL Detectives . . . . 10 DAPSS Round Up . . . 12 Physics Olynpics . . . . 14 Maths Paris Trip . . . . 15 Bugsy Malone . . . . . . 16 Heartstart. . . . . . . . . . 18 Remembrance Day. . 20 Sports Round up . . . . 22

Dear Parents Welcome to our Christmas newsletter which contains lots of information about the many and varied activities which have taken place this term.

We began the term with the news of excellent examination results for the students who had completed GCSE and A Level examinations before the summer holidays. Congratulations to them and thanks to all those who worked hard to support them.

Lewis Walsh was one of the students who had been rewarded for his hard work with an excellent set of GCSE results and it was a great shock to all at the College to learn of his tragic death during the second week of term. Our thoughts are with Lewis’ family and his close friends as we approach Christmas.

Christmas is a very important time in the liturgical year; a time to remember that Jesus was born in order to lead us along the journey to eternal life. His life on earth wasn’t easy at times and neither is ours but we can take comfort from the fact that He is always there to support us. It is a time of the year to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and how we may be able to support them in a positive way.

On behalf of all at the College I wish you a Happy and Holy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Yours sincerely L D Rippon

The Newsletter Editing Team Senior Editor James Leyshon The Editing Team Declan Jones Tom Buck Dominic McCaffrey Michael Manville

10BR 10KE 10MA 10KE 10OW

Jakeb Taylor-Byrne Sean McCorkindale Sean Lamb Matthew Spreadbury Christopher Starkey Matthew Powell

9 LE 9LE 9RI 9WA 8OW 8KE

Dates for your Diary: Feast of St Francis Xavier: Thursday 3rd December 2009 – School closes at 12:25pm College Carol Service: Monday 14th December 2009 – 7.30pm in the Chapel. Please join us in this important celebration. Light refreshments will be served after the service in the dining room. School will close at 2.30pm on this day.

Senior Proclamation: Tuesday 15th December 2009 at 7.30pm.

This is a very important occasion when we recognise the achievements of students who completed GCSE and A Level and other sixth form courses at the end of last year. School will close at 2.30pm on this day.

Christmas lunch for students and staff: Wednesday 16th December 2009 6th Form Mass: Thursday 17th December 2009 – period 2 followed by tea, coffee and mince pies at break. 6th Form dismissal 11.20pm.

School closes for Christmas holidays: Friday 18th December 2009 – school closes at 12.25pm.

School reopens for new term: Tuesday 5th January 2010 – school reopens at 08.40am.

In partnership with YOUTH PARTNER

The 8G1 Petri-Plate Experiment Recently 8G1 have been using Petri Dishes in science lessons with Mr Higham. The dishes are filled with bacteria nutrient (Agar) to find out just how much bacteria lurks on our bodies.

The class tried finger prints, including the index finger we use on the system in the dining hall, we tried hair & even swabs of saliva, all of these revealed shocking results!

Colonies and individual germs grew from where we had placed anything from our bodies! Some of them had mould or fungi growing out from the original spot. A network of bacteria had grown in just two days! The class had in depth discussions about the dangers of this and if this meant our cashless fingerprint system was a health hazard.

The good news is it is in fact perfectly natural for microbes to be lurking in and around our bodies. So there is no need to worry about picking up anything from the previous person to touch a surface.

Opening Minds The new electronic notebooks for Year 7 are now in use in the Geography and History departments. The pupils are enjoying learning how to use the notebooks and how to overcome the teething problems that always exist when any new system is introduced. The pupils are actively engaged in investigating the themes being studied and are becoming more aware of the links between subjects.

Mr Finn

Staff Changes We must say a big thank you to Mr Golden who retires at the end of term. Mr Golden has worked at the College since 1988 and has been Head of Year 8 (Co-ordinator of Learning) since 1990. Many pupils have benefited from Mr Golden’s Science lessons, his camping trips both in the UK and abroad and outdoor education visits to Lyme Park. Special thanks are also due for his very active support for the RNLI, the charity adopted by Year 8 pupils over the past few years.

We wish him well in his retirement.

Mr Glover will be taking over as Co-ordinator of Learning of Year 8 from January 2010.

Liverpool at the Shanghai Expo SFX Pupils to Represent the City Next year, Shanghai in China will host a World Expo on the theme "Better City, Better Life," representing the common wish of the whole of humankind for a better lifestyle in future urban environments. The Expo will last from May to October with 200 exhibitors (nearly all of the countries in the world will be represented) and is expected to receive 70 million visitors.

Liverpool and London are the only British cities to have won the right to exhibit at Shanghai, so it is a very important stage in the regeneration of the city. As part of the city’s plan, two Year 10 pupils from SFX will travel out to China to represent the city at the Liverpool pavilion and have an opportunity to visit one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

In order to select our representatives, we organised a competition. The pupils had to produce a 1-3 minute video selling Liverpool to people from another country and a piece of writing to show their skills as communicators, team workers and positive representatives for Liverpool and our school.

We received excellent entries both in terms of content and imagination, as well as the technical skills displayed in the making of the films. The selection panel, including the Headteacher, teachers and pupils, had a very difficult time picking out the work of just two students. Eventually, after much deliberation, we were able to propose James Sharples and Steven Lennon to the City Council to represent our school. We can’t wait to hear the tales of their journeys next year!

You can see some of the final entries via the SFX youtube channel.

If you want to find out more about the Shanghai Expo, visit: http://en.expo2010.cn/ or http://www.liverpoolshanghai2010.com/index.cfm/page/H ome

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Nightowl The NIGHTOWL sessions were launched on Monday 28th September. The sessions run from 4.00 – 6.00pm each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. Many Year 11 pupils have attended the sessions each week which provide boys with an opportunity to; complete coursework or revision, attend targeted intervention and booster sessions or brush up on study skills and exam technique.

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. The sessions are aimed at helping you to achieve your potential in all subjects.

The sessions run in one hour blocks from 4pm – 5pm and from 5pm – 6pm, so if you are attending NIGHTOWL don’t forget to tell your parents you are staying late at school. Hot evening snacks are available between 3.30 and 4pm at a small cost.

Miss Lindop

Big Bang Exhibition The Maths department have organised a visit for Year 10 pupils to the big bang exhibition in Manchester Central on Saturday 13th March 2010. The pupils can get in involved in experiments and workshops, and activities range from solving a murder, to modelling how meteors destroyed the dinosaurs. The Big Bang Exhibition will provide pupils with the opportunity to experience really amazing Science, Mathematics and Technology in action and they will also be able to take part in the experiments and simulations.

There are also theatre shows taking place at the exhibition.

Sky One’s award winning Brainiac arrives (live on stage).

Pupils can watch Brainiac Joe escape from Brainiac HQ and dive fearlessly into the world of science. Joe will experience a heart stopping ride through the wild world of the explosive.

The Big Bang is also host to some other impressive competitions including; the National Science & Engineering Competition, Young Engineers, CREST and many more. The National Science & Engineering Competition requires a team of students to complete a project or activity in any field of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics.

Last year people who went to the Big Bang exhibits chatted with robots at BAE Systems stand, met a giant tortoise who guided visitors through Darwin Today and took part in live TV studios where they filmed and broadcasted themselves and discussed careers available to them. This year will be even bigger and better with stands from huge companies like Shell, Airbus, National Grid and many more.

The main objective of the trip is to inspire young people to open their eyes to the world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Places are very limited so if you would like to know more about this trip please see Miss Warwick as soon as possible.

By Jakeb Taylor-Byrne

7 Campion Five-a-sid e Football Competition

or the Ugandan Orpha nage Charity

7 Campion have recen tly hosted a fundraising five-aside football competi tion for the Ugandan orphanage, which Mr Harrison an d 7 Campion thought would be a worthy charity. There were four teams in the competition, and Team C won. Altogether, the five a side football competi tion and the 10 pin bo wling activity undertaken earlier in the year raised a total of £104.72. The form als o plans to continue fun draising by taking part in a sp onsored silence, which the y hope will raise £500.00.

The form have now ha ve set themselves a tar get of raising £1000.00 by the end of the year.

When interviewed by the newsletter editing team Mr Harrison said that he is very proud of the ge nerosity of his new form and hope s they emulate the achievements of his pr evious form (now in six th form) who raised approximate ly £1,500.00 for the Ye ar 8 charity R.N.L.I. (Royal National Lifeboat Institu tion) fund. By Sean Lamb

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Go Penguins Go Penguins‌ is the new celebratory public art event currently debuting in Liverpool this winter and taking inspiration from the Year of the Environment Programme. Ms Douglass & Mr Kelly attended the preview of Penguins at the Maritime Museum where a portfolio of artists designs was on exhibition. The college is participating in this event and our penguin is currently on display in the centre of Liverpool. The Art Department ran an in-school design competition for all Key stages.

The Competition Mr Kelly designed the poster for the competition and some interesting designs were submitted. The design brief included suggestions upon which designs could be based: e.g. global warming, endangered species and artists’ styles.

Penguin's Progress: This is Number 3: Winners and painting of winning design The entries for the penguin design were judged and the results were as follows: KS3 Category: Oliver Irving, 7 Ward KS4 Category: Michael Sweetman, 10 Bryant KS5 Category: David Jones, 12 Campion Each winner will be presented with a small penguin statue.The overall winner was David Jones's design and this was painted on the penguin which has now joined lots of others on display in Liverpool.

The design was influenced by the style of primitive Artist: Henri Rousseau and features several endangered species in the jungle scene. The penguin was aptly named 'Rousseau' and was collected from school to join the penguin parade.

Thanks to all pupils who took the time and thought to submit designs.

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School Penguin Spotting SFX's Rousseau joins the Winter Trail SFX's David Jones joins The Penguin designed by and if you fancy a little the Liverpool Winter Trail go and follow the trail Penguin Spotting why not to see them all. and see if you can manage named Rousseau and Details of the SFX Penguin e: her many others can be found /site/schools.php .uk http://www.gopenguins.co

The free Go Penguins trail map is available from Friday, November 20 at Tourist Information Centres, the Merseytravel Rail Network and other major outlets and downloadable online at www.gopenguins.co.uk The Winters Trail brochure can also be downloaded at www.liverpool.gov.uk/culture Go Penguins is a Liverpool City Council Commission for the Year of the Environment.

Web Links Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artinliverpool/sets/7215762 1052712224/ Go Penguins Main Site: http://www.gopenguins.co.uk/site/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/go_penguins

Go Penguins Presenting Partners are: Merseytravel Liverpool One NWDA Home Bargains Environment Agency

SFX Waves Goodbye to Rousseau The winner David Jones is congratulated by Headteacher Mr. Rippon. The design now finished ‘Rousseau’ is packaged up ready for collection and the journey to join the colonies of penguins as part of the Winter trail.

Look out for ‘Rousseau’ in Colony 3, College Lane, Liverpool 1.

Penguin: Rousseau

Happy penguin spotting and Happy Christmas!

Location: Colony 3 - College Lane, Liverpool ONE This interesting design is based on the work and style of Henri Rousseau featuring the jungle environment and includes endangered species such as the red squirrel, panda and common carp.

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What is the Role of the The School Governing Body at SFX? Council

The governing body has a range of duties some of which are listed below.

• Is accountable for the performance of the school • Plans for the future direction of the school • Appoints the Headteacher and has responsibility for all appointments • Makes decisions on the schools’ budget and staffing • Monitors and evaluates the curriculum • Decides how the school can encourage pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development • Ensures that the school provides for every pupil The Governing Body:

At SFX we have a large governing body. It consists of five foundation governors (appointed by the trustees) seven parent governors (elected by parents of students) one Local Authority governor, three community governors, three staff governors(elected by the school staff) the Headteacher, two sponsor governors and one associate governor.

To assist and advise governors the Clerk to governors, Mrs Banks, deals with all the business that comes to governors eg correspondence, minutes, organisation of meetings etc. In addition the Business Manager, Mrs Black advises and informs governors regarding the financial position of the school.

The Council has met to discuss the issues to be raised for this academic year. We welcomed the new members from Year 7 and set the agenda for the meeting. It was decided to set out a rota for chairing the meetings and also to appoint a publicity officer. Joseph Mosses Year 11 will chair the next meeting and Joseph Irwin Year 10 has agreed to be Publicity Officer.

Summer Workshop: Activities Week July 2009 Julie Robson, Artist/Educator, provided 3 full day work shops with G.C.S.E and A Level groups.

The thrust of the day long session for the 6th form was geared towards the more academic and contextual element of the subject and included a session on writing a critical essay and an analysis of art in Liverpool.

Contextual studies underpin the course and there is a written element in Unit 3.

Up to date lists of the present governing body are to be found in school, and a full list of Governors 2009-2010 is available from Mrs Banks upon request.

How does the governing body discharge its duties?

The governing body meets regularly to discuss and make decisions on school policy. The full governing body meets at least once a term. The standing committees are Education, Building and Resources, these meet also once a term. In addition there are a number of statutory committees eg Admissions, Discipline, Appeals, grievance etc that meet as required. In addition there may ad hoc committees that meet to work on a particular aspect of school business. They will research an area and report back their findings to the full governing body.

In addition to making decisions governors may be involved in activities in school eg at prize night, at assemblies, at meetings of staff, at in-service days, in school visits to gain a better understanding of the school etc The position of a governor is not an easy one but there is great support from the school, from the trustees, from the Archdiocese, from the Local Authority from local and national Governor Associations and from government departments etc Governors also have access to advice from legal teams and human resources advisers as and when necessary.

We are fortunate at SFX to have student representation on the building committee as the Head Girl and Boy serve on this committee.

If you would like to know more about the work of a governing body there are many websites that can provide detailed information. If you would like to be a governor consider putting your name forward at the next election of parent governors.

Chair of Governors

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Traffic Calming Scheme After some delay, eventually, there is good news. Last year the School Council worked with Mrs Smith to improve the School Travel Plan. Pupils and staff had voiced their concerns about the dangers of the Beaconsfield Road entrance due to poor visibility and high vehicle speeds. Plans are now underway to introduce a traffic calming scheme to assist entry and exit from the site.

Beaconsfield Road also forms part of a cycle route. The traffic calming will improve safety and make the route more attractive to cyclists.

The proposal will include speed cushions and traffic signs to indicate a 20 mph zone around the college. We are now waiting to hear if plans for a barrier at the kerb opposite the entrance/exit on Woolton Hill Road have also been activated.

Schools’ Parliament Schools’ Parliament has opened with a flurry of activity.

This year it was decided to take mainly Year 8 pupils as their exam/coursework commitments would not interfere with Parliament sessions.

Jack Taylor, Jake Evason, Adam Crosbie, Matthew Powell and Patrick Back have attended three sessions, discussing a variety of issues including Creativity in Schools, the Children and Young People’s Plan, bus fares, safety on the streets and bullying.

The bullying workshop was most informative and gave the MSP’s many ideas and points of information on technological bullying. These will be useful in our own anti-bullying strategies and feed nicely into the next phase of the Anti-Bullying Campaign in school.

Junior Proclamation 2009 On 13th October one hundred and fifty four boys in years 710 received prizes from Mr King, Chair of Governors, for achievement and endeavour at the College’s Annual Junior Proclamation. We are very grateful for the support offered by the trustees of the Margaret Bryce Scholarship Fund in providing funding for some of the awards.

The evening was opened by a musical performance involving both orchestra and choir along with the Samba band. Mr Rippon extolled the virtues of all those who had contributed to the life of the College during the past year; those who had worked hard and achieved academically, those who had brought honour to themselves and the school through their participation in sporting activities, the many who supported the sustained and remarkable contributions to local, national and international charities and those whose musical and acting talents were enjoyed by many. Special awards were given to students who had lived out the College’s Mission Statement: James Sharples: Student Voice Jonathan Rigby: Citizen of the Year Callum Veach: The Connor Bryson Trophy Jack and James Stanton: The Liam Costello Trophy

Schools Fantasy League Success for SFX! This years Schools Fantasy League competition was a real success for the school as it finished 1st in the country, a fantastic achievement considering the hundreds of schools that entered. The school competition was won by Joseph Mosses (Year 10) and the staff league was won by Mr Bright.

James Leyshon 9BR

PTA Update As you will be aware we finished the school year with the purchase of a second minibus for the College. This has obviously left “a dent in our wallet” so to speak so we have started back in September with the intention of raising more funds this time for the Music Department who are in need of musical instruments and associated equipment.

Many thanks to all those who responded to our recent request for Gift Aid donations. We have had £500.00 donated to date from parents and further amounts can still be accepted via the school office.

Recently, the PTA supported the school at the Bugsy Malone productions and Band Night which were both well attended. We also held our annual Christmas Bingo recently and would like to thank all who attended. A good afternoon was had by all and funds raised will go towards the designated target. A Christmas raffle was also held in school for all pupils with the chance of winning a Nintendo WII. Future functions for the PTA can be viewed on the school website and committee members can be contacted via the school office.

On behalf of the PTA Committee I would like to wish you all a peaceful and enjoyable festive season and thank you for your continued support.

Best Wishes, Chairperson, SFX PTA

Art Department Study Day On the 20th October the 6th Form Art cohort accompanied

by Mr. Kelly spent a study day at the Walker Art Gallery and the Liverpool Museum in the morning. At the Museum students took part in a drawing workshop and were able to access skulls, butterflies, insects and shells as primary source. At the Tate Gallery students engaged with Contemporary Art exhibits and will use their findings to support their A Level studies.

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UK Senior Maths Challenge On Thursday 5th November over 80 students took part in the UK Senior Maths Challenge. All students who took part in the challenge are studying Maths at AS or A2 Level. The challenge is run by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust and it is designed to challenge the students and test their Mathematical ability. We are currently awaiting the results to see if any students have achieved a Gold, Silver or Bronze certificate.

Miss Arends

Year Road Safety Play Year 7 watched a Road Safety performance on Thursday 12th November. The theme of the play was an important one as for many of our boys travelling to SFX may be the first time they have used public transport alone or walked some distance to school. The performance was humorous and thought provoking in equal measures and certainly made the boys think about their own safety.

Year 7 student Billy Payne reviewed the play “The road safety play was to warn us about how dangerous crossing the road can be particularly if you are distracted. The most common distractions are: listening to your iPod, chatting with your mates or when you are texting or phoning someone.”

Sound advice Billy!

Mrs Fay

Table Tennis News The Table Tennis season started off very positively for both the KS3 team and the KS4 team. With the team picked and raring to go, there was some time left for the players to get some helpful training tips in before the tournament began. After a tense and challenging pre tournament regime by Mr. Taylor, the boys were now all prepared and ready to go. Both teams were excited and eager to perform well.

The layout of the tournament is a mini league system, where a team from each year group plays different schools once a month, playing two different schools per meeting. The matches consist of two legs, first to 7 points, with all four players having a singles match and a doubles match. This means that there are 6 games played, with a maximum of 12 game points on offer per match.

The KS3 team consisted of: T. Mooney J. Payne O. Sharp L. Flloyd The 1st game versus SFA was a tough game, with some excellent table tennis being played by both teams. Unfortunately SFX went down to a 2-10 defeat. The score line was very flattering however, and after some advice and a motivational chat, the boys picked themselves up and enjoyed an excellent 9-3 victory over Childwall.

The KS4 team consisted of: M. Thompson J. Foley K. Kenny S. Lennon The KS4 team also had an excellent start to the competition. Against a strong Childwall side, the boys showed some excellent skills, with some superb shots being played.

Four excellent singles performances, topped off with two well constructed doubles games led to the team romping to a 10-2 victory.

Howarth Trip

In July, seven Year 12 students currently studying "Wuthering Heights" with Miss McDonald, went to Howarth in Yorkshire for the day. The students gained a better understanding of the novel by going to the Bronte house. Firstly, they had a talk in the cellars of the house and the guide gave an in depth presentation about the Bronte's life at Howarth, and how it might have influenced their works. From there they took a tour of the house and museum. The museum was especially interesting; full of drawings and sketches made by the sisters and also a locket belonging to Emily Bronte which is reminiscent of the fictional locket in the novel. Then the students visited the nearby church. Its exterior was covered in bullet holes made by Bronte's father, Patrick.

The class would like to thank Miss McDonald and Mr Wignall for taking us there. The trip has given us an insight into the author's background in preparation for the forthcoming A2 course ahead.

By Jamie Stewart and Thomas Manning

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Futures Lifestyles Week During a week in November representatives from Liverpool City Council Lifestyles Futures programme delivered a number of fun and interesting sports activity sessions, including Futsol and X Biking. This was to promote the activities they have available at the city’s leisure centres. As a healthy school we promote our pupils taking part in physical activity and all children under the age of 17, who are Liverpool City Council boundary residents or children who attend Liverpool Schools (within LCC boundary), are eligible for a FREE Future Lifestyles Membership which provides FREE access to all Lifestyles centres.

Mr Brown

SFX Band Night It took a few weeks of selling tickets and band auditions to ensure a full house and recruit outstanding bands to perform. The band line up included James Sharples, Tom Hogan, myself (in peculiar ways), For The Memory and Off Target, just to name a few, all magnificent.

The night started with a sound check after school, which continued all the way through to the start of band night. The singer for the band “For The Memory� had sadly fallen ill due to a throat infection, and at last minute notice, both myself and Tom Hogan had to fill in for separate songs. But even though we were a tiny bit behind schedule everything was looking good and all the performers were ready to put on a very entertaining and interactive show.

The first band was a hit, received with cheers after every song! Clearly we had a warm and welcoming crowd. All bands and performers received a fantastic welcome; it was like a lightening bolt of noise, applause and appraisal for every single person who walked onto the stage.

It was a fantastic night which everyone enjoyed. The night took a lot of organisation from Miss Manning and the site staff, but I am sure anyone who was there will agree it was a resounding success.

Matthew Powell, 8 Kemble

Soon, the hall was full of people eagerly awaiting the first performance. The blue light then descended on the stage as both James Sharples and Tom Hogan walked on the stage to open the evening. No sooner had James picked up his guitar than the crowd had rushed up to the front of the stage.

Classics Department Chester Trip On Wednesday 25th November forty seven Year 7 boys visited the Grosvenor Museum in Chester. They spent some time studying exhibits in the two galleries there.

They also had a "hands-on" session, led by the Education Officer on site, where they viewed original artefacts and discussed their use. The highlight was a tour around Roman Chester, led by someone dressed as a Roman Centurion. This last session was both informative and amusing, especially the details concerning the Amphitheatre. The visit lasted for the whole day and is an annual event; it was thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils.

Mr Slattery

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Shop Direct In November 2009 a group of 15 year 11 BTEC Business Studies pupils spent the day at Shop Direct in Speke. The company is the number one on-line shopping business in the country, and trades under names such as; Woolworths, Littlewoods and Very.

The pupils spent the morning visiting a variety of departments including; Branding and Merchandising, Sourcing and Quality, Sales and Marketing and E-commerce. They met employees from all areas of the business including one of the Directors.

After a very pleasant lunch the pupils took part in an enterprise challenge. They were divided into teams alongside pupils from Notre Dame School. The brief was to design and market a new fashion line and the team, led by Liam Fletcher were runners up.

This was a great experience for our pupils. It allowed them to get an insight into the business world which will be of tremendous value when applied to their academic studies.

Mr Conroy would like to thank the staff at Shop Direct for making us feel very welcome.

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning SEAL St Francis Xavier’s College believes that every child matters. To be able to learn effectively students need to be happy, confident, understand themselves, understand their feelings and know how to get on with each other.

SEAL aims to develop the pupils in our school in five key areas: Self -awareness Self-awareness enables the pupils to have some understanding of themselves. They know how they learn, how they relate to others, what they are thinking and what they are feeling. They use this understanding to organise themselves and plan their learning.

Managing feelings In managing feelings, pupils use a range of strategies to recognise and accept their feelings. They can use this to help their learning and behaviour-for example managing anxiety or anger, or demonstrating resilience in the face of difficulty.

Motivation Motivation enables learners to take an active and enthusiastic part in learning. Intrinsically motivated learners recognise and derive pleasure from learning. Motivation enables learners to set themselves goals and work towards them, to focus and concentrate on learning, to persist when learning is difficult and to develop independence, resourcefulness and personal organisation.

Empathy

SEAL Detectives’ We are the ‘SEAL Detectives’ and are currently investigating the College to find the good ‘SEAL’ areas and maybe see if we can help to improve any areas too.

We will let you know how we are getting on in the New Year.

In the meantime Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Yours Sincerely, ‘The SEAL Detectives’

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Being able to empathise involves understanding others; anticipating and predicting their likely thoughts, feelings and perceptions. It involves seeing things from another's point of view and modifying one's own response, if appropriate, in the light of this understanding.

Social skills Social skills enable children to relate to others, take an active part in a group, communicate with different audiences, negotiate, resolve differences and support the learning of others.

As part of this development pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 will be focusing on various SEAL based themes during form time and in their assemblies. They will also be targeting specific SEAL objectives in a variety of the lessons. Pupils should keep their eye out for SEAL focuses and targets at various points around the school. Look out for the ‘SEAL Detectives’ in future issues of the school newsletter as they seek to find good SEAL practice throughout the school.

Keele University Trip Last term a Group of 13 pupils went to Keele University with Mrs Grace and Mr Daniels. The group met at SFX on a Monday morning and travelled by coach to Keele University. Many schools participated and the SFX team enjoyed a fun day of science-based activities.

The Students stayed overnight and were woken up at 8.00am for breakfast and another day of activities. They visited the Star Dome (an inflatable planetarium) and the boys impressed the instructor with their in-depth knowledge of the Milky Way and constellation.

The groups were treated to many lectures including Music, a lecture about earthquakes entitled “Earthquakes don’t kill people, Buildings do.” and an American Studies lecture about how campus life relates, and doesn’t relate to shows like High School Musical.

The teams then participated in sporting activities and had the choice of archery, football, tennis and badminton.

They then had a tour around the University (Mrs Grace lagged behind with her twisted ankle!).

They boys were also treated to a lecture on sustainable energy, which Mrs Grace particularly enjoyed, followed by the opportunity to take part in a session about forensic science where they took latency fingerprints (fingerprints off surfaces) and learned what it is like to be a forensic scientist. The boys also took place in a discussion about medical ethics; Liam Murray participated particularly well in a debate about donating organs.

The Groups then had tea and a shower before a disco, where they were treated to a ‘Dance off’ between SFX’s own Izaki Wose and a student from Broadgreen School.

Izaki, usually a quiet student, showed off his fast moving feet and left us all in awe of his moves on the dance floor.

Sam Learning At school we are always looking for ways to extend our students’ learning. Part of our improvement programme involves the use of SAM Learning, a unique online service that covers all subjects.

SAM has a proven track record; studies have shown that using the service leads to better exam results.

Students are able to access the service at anytime and anywhere.

It is available to them in school, but also at home, in the library and community centre. All they need to do is visit the website and enter their unique login details.

Website address: www.samlearning.com Centre ID:

L25SF

User ID:

Date of birth followed by two initials: first name then last name. Example: 010896DJ is the User ID for David Jones born 1st Aug 1996.

Password:

Initially same as the User ID, Learners are encouraged to change this to something difficult to guess.

It is advised that students keep a record of the access details in their homework book.

The 10 hour task Challenge is back!

Independent research has shown that students who use SAM learning secondary for 10+ hours across all subjects do better in their exams. Please see the website for a revision planner and more information.

After a final get together the group returned to SFX. Mrs Grace said “The boys were polite with a good sense of humour and Mr Daniels and I thoroughly enjoyed their company. They were a credit to the school.”

James Leyshon 10BR

Anchors Away Psychology Trip Year 12 Psychology students attended a revision conference at the Liner Hotel in Liverpool. This proved to be a wonderful venue that had all the earmarks of the Titanic. Students will certainly have to steer around a few icebergs in preparation for their examinations!

The day involved listening to a range of speakers from a variety of Universities; Dr Graham Wagstaff from the University of Liverpool talked about crime scene investigations including factors that effect eye witness testimony including police work using the cognitive interview to gain information from eye witnesses.

Students also had the opportunity to meet with senior examiners who gave invaluable advice as to how to prepare for their examinations and how to steer their course across turbulent seas.

The day culminated with a talk from arguably Britain’s most famous psychologist, Professor Alan Baddeley from Cambridge University. Professor Baddeley stood to talk about his ‘working memory’ model of memory to rapturous applause. This was the highlight of the day for all students, many queuing to get his autograph.

The day ended with students sailing home with lots of information and advice.

Miss Finlay

We hope that your child is able to take full advantage of SAM Learning and thank you in advance for supporting the initiative.

Mrs Hesketh

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DAPSS Round-Up In urban lingo ‘Daps’ apparently refers to the knocking together of fists as a greeting, or form of respect. This seems a particularly appropriate bit of terminology given the recent achievements of SFX’s Debating And Public Speaking Society (DAPSS). A series of outstanding performances has resulted in society members knocking fists and slapping backs with a frequency that is almost painful. Yes, we’re only in November, but DAPSS has already savoured some of the sweetest victories in its history, none more historic than . . .

In this particular tournament, the ‘B’ Team of Daniel Keeley and Paul Wileman put in some muscular performances throughout the day and emerged in a none-too-shabby 7th place. However, the ‘A’ Team of Handley/Oldham rampaged all the way to the final and can consider themselves unfortunate to have emerged only as runners-up, losing out on a narrow majority decision.

Nevertheless, boasting a phenomenal points tally, Matthew Handley was declared the best speaker of the forty-eight participants, whilst Matthew Oldham and Daniel Keeley were tied in third place.

It is with great pleasure that DAPSS can announce Year 12 student Matthew Handley’s selection for the England Debate Team. He will represent his country with three other students in the World Schools Debating Championships to be held in Qatar in February 2010.

The occasion was also notable for the plucky debuts of some of the society’s newer members, who all performed creditably and sharpened their debating skills in the process. They were not overawed by the stiff competition and can all feel pleased with their final rankings: Paul Wileman (15th), Steven O’Hare (26th), Adam Gilbert (30th), Dominic McCaffrey (31st) and Jack Wray (33rd).

Matthew was invited to trial for England along with 35 other young hopefuls and underwent a rigorous series of tests, including: 5 debates, a general knowledge quiz and, finally, an interview.

Garston Rotary Club Public Speaking Competition

Three Lions On His Shirt

It is not possible to overstate this achievement. It is something special. Then again, everyone at DAPSS has known for a long time that Matthew Handley is a young man of exceptional ability, indeed, somebody whose talents deserve a world stage. We are very pleased that he has this opportunity and wish him the best of luck in Qatar. Congratulations are also due to Matthew Oldham (Year 12), who attended the England trial as well, performing with great distinction. Whilst he missed out on selection, Matthew did progress onto the final shortlist of twelve, and he has an excellent opportunity to claim a place in next year’s team.

Another success for SFX, this annual event was won convincingly

by Matthew Oldham, whose sharp speech advocating the virtues of a carnivorous diet rightly dazzled the judges. He well deserved his £50 prize. Dominic McCaffrey (Year 10) also gave an

Debating Glory Matthew Makes England Debate Team Matthew Handley (Yr 12) has been selected for the England Debate Team and will represent his country with 3 other students in the World Schools Debating Championships to be held in Qatar in Feb 2010.

Matthew was invited to trial for England along with 35 other young hopefuls and underwent a rigorous series of tests, including: 5 debates, a general knowledge quiz and, finally, an interview.

Birmingham University Schools Debating Competition On 7th November, eight pupils from SFX travelled down to the Midlands to take part in this tournament, which comprised a total of twenty-four two-man teams. These ‘away days’ form a wonderful part of the DAPSS experience: the early train from Lime Street; the chitchat about pop groups and comedians; the earnest grappling with current affairs; the anticipation of the challenge ahead; and, almost always, ‘Sleepy Dan’ Keeley falling asleep against whoever is sat next to him. All of this takes place under the watchful eye of Mrs Boughey, who masterminds each of these forays into the competitive sphere with Napoleonic precision.

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SFX Debating Society is extremely proud of his achievement and we wish him the best of luck in Qatar.

Upcoming Events The society has the usual assortment of upcoming commitments. For example, the first round of the Cambridge University Schools Debating Competition takes place on 25th November, and there will be a trip to the Welsh capital on 30th June for the Cardiff University Schools Debating Competition.

SFX teams will also participate this year in events organised by Oxford University and Durham University. encouraging performance, reflecting upon society’s perception of young people in what was a provocative speech. Well done to both pupils for representing the college so admirably.

Schools MACE Competition 2009/10: Round One

As well as commanding the stage at these hotly contested tournaments, DAPSS members will continue to attend the society’s weekly sessions (E1 - Monday, 3:45 pm), where their hard graft lays the foundation of all future glories. If you’re a pupil at SFX and you have a passion for discussion then you should think seriously about attending.

On 16th November the college was the venue for the local stage of this prestigious national competition, which attracted teams from St Edward’s, Liverpool College, Birkenhead Grammar, Archbishop Blanche and St. Mary’s, Crosby. A special mention must go to Daniel Keeley, who chaired the event with no little aplomb. Congratulations are also due to the SFX ‘A’ Team of Handley/Oldham, who cruised through proceedings and will go on to represent SFX in the north-west final. This takes place on February 27th and will, once more, be hosted by the college. Why not come along and see their fine, young minds in action?

The English-Speaking Union The following is an extract from a letter which was received from The English Speaking Union in October 2009 in recognition of SFX’s Debating and Public Speaking success.

Dear Mr Rippon

, I am writing to offer congratula tions to St Fran having Matthew cis Xavier’s Colle Handley selected ge on to represent his School Debatin country at the W g Championship orlds s in Qatar in Fe bruary 2010 The selectors w ere very impres sed by Matthew and ability to co ’s style, level of nstruct sophistic knowledge ated arguments subtle and matur , and to deliver e manner. He w them in a ill play a key ro we have extrem le in the team fo ely high hopes. r which England has a su championships perlative record and we are anxi at the ous to ensure th combination with at this continue his own natural s. In talents I know th outstanding coac at Matthew has hing from Clare had Boughey and th with Matthew Ol is achievement, dham’s very high along rankings at the the efforts you trials are a test and your staff ha imony to ve put in.

I hope that the school is proud of their achievem what is an extrao ent and will supp rdinary opportun ort ity for a young pe rson…..

Yours sincerely James Probert Head of the Cent re for Speech an d Debate The English-Sp eaking Union

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Year 8 Charity Update Year 8 continue their support of the RNLI this term. Viv Featherstone of the RNLI delivered an assembly to Year 8 on Wednesday 18th November, dressing two Year 8 boys Adam Conroy and Scott Robinson up as Lifeboat crew. The current Year 8 has raised £200.00 to date.

Mr P. Golden

Physics Olympics On Saturday 17th October 2009, four members of Year 13 who study Physics volunteered to take part in the 2009 Physics Olympics at the University of Liverpool; Jennifer Hui, Neil Kennedy, John Wright and Phil Davies (also known as ‘Team Planck’). During this event the four members needed to use teamwork, problem solving and apply just a little Physics too! In the morning we had to arrive early and meet up with Mr Hayhurst, our Physics teacher, then when all schools had arrived we were all directed to the Lecture Theatre and were given information about what was going to happen on the day.

During the day we had to complete five different tests plus a Fermi Quiz, and the scores of each test and quiz produced an overall result.

We were really pleased to win Test Five: - Longitude and Latitude. For this challenge we were given a map with a tree marked in the middle and three crosses around it (this was the layout of the field outside the Physics Department). Our task was to estimate the latitude and the longitude of the tree, using any method of working out (but not walking off the grass.) In this test, we were placed 1st and won a Physics Olympics 2009 T-Shirt.

Sixth Form Study Zone Sixth Form students returned after the summer holidays to discover that the Sixth Form Common Room had been refurbished and also had a name change. The Common Room is now a Study Zone for Years 12 and 13. Eighteen private booths with computers have been installed in the common room, which now also has WiFi access. These complement the 18 computers in the Sixth Form LRC. This means there are now 180 hours of PC access available to Sixth Form students on a daily basis. There are also twenty four individual work stations for students who wish to complete independent, silent study, as well as two group work areas. Mr Gardiner, the Sixth Form Study Supervisor is also based in the Learning Zone. He is available if students need additional help or support when they are working during their free lessons or study periods.

Miss Durnin

Junior Lord Mayor The vote is in and Jonathan Rigby has been elected a Junior Lord Mayor for one month. It will be chosen so as not to coincide with his exams, preferably after the said event. His speech was very genuine and he equipped himself well, as always.

Mrs Smith

As the day went by, all participants met up in the Lecture Theatre and waited anxiously for the overall results and ranks.

Every team who came 1st in an event won a Physics Olympics 2009 T-Shirt, which we all wore on the way home! The winning teams for the overall result also won either Bronze, Silver or Gold medals. Team Planck (SFX) were placed 6th overall and we were really proud to be in the top 10 of the 35 participating schools.

Jennifer Hui

Spanish visit to Manchester University On the third of November a group of twelve 6th Form students visited Manchester Metropolitan University for a series of lectures / workshops as part of their Spanish studies. They had the opportunity to use their language skills in an Internet forum and also to try their hand at the difficult skill of interpreting for two businessmen. It was a good opportunity to see at first hand what a University language course has to offer.

Mr Higham

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Maths Paris Trip The Maths department have organised a Mathematics trip to Paris for Year 8 and 9 pupils next summer. The objective of the trip is enable pupils from SFX to participate in Maths activities linked to “real world activities”. The group, including Miss Warwick, Miss Arends, Mr Glover and Miss Cullen will be touring Paris, learning about Maths in the real world and completing worksheets on the various places the group will visit.

The group of SFX pupils and teachers will also visit Euro Disney where they will be able to solve mathematical problems involving the rides and shops. The group will also visit the Paris Science Museum to learn about how Maths and Science are linked, and the famous Eiffel Tower. The trip is taking place from Wednesday 14th July to Saturday 17th July 2010. If you would like to know more about the trip, please speak with Miss Warwick.

Languages Week In September, we held our first SFX Languages Week to promote lifelong language learning and intercultural understanding. Events took place throughout the school, both in and out of lessons. The dining room menus were based on language themes with French, Italian, Spanish, Mexican and Greek days.

Year 9 pupils designed and produced bilingual menus for the dining room which was decorated with flags from around the world.

Competitions also took place and pupils had to work out which languages teachers around the school spoke, with some surprises (Russian, Czech, Arabic and Mandarin!).

There were also language themed activities in Geography, History, Maths, English, ICT and RE as well as assemblies on the themes of the week. Thanks to everyone, staff and pupils who made it all such a success!

By Jakeb Taylor-Byrne & Sean Mccorkindale

Year 10 – 13 at Priorité à Gauche In October, as part of Langauges Week, a group of boys from Years 10 – 13 attended an afternoon special concert by spoof French supergroup Priorité à Gauche, kindly hosted by St Margaret’s High School Languages Department.

With songs in French like “J’ai un animal à la maison” and “Bonjour”, we were entertained for an hour of silliness with a Gallic flavour. Thanks to St Margaret’s for our invitation!

Citizenship Ceremony Liverpool Town Hall On Monday 12th October 2009 the Choir was invited to the Town Hall to sing at the Citizenship Ceremony organised by The Home Office. The ceremony was attended by The Lord and Lady Mayoress of Liverpool who presented our new citizens with their certificates.

The choir sang during the reception and ceremony finishing with The National Anthem.

Afterwards there was a reception for all the participants.

An Extra Special Thank You We are extremely grateful for two very generous donations to the College this term. The first from Mr Samuels a former student, in memory of his wife, and the second from Mr Fred Devereux’s family, in memory of Fred who was a former student, teacher, Head of History, Deputy Headmaster and Governor at the College.

The gift from Mr Samuels is being used to purchase a new Consecration paten, lectern and Chalice for the Chapel together with some resources for the Learning Resource Centre. The History Department are working with Mrs Grace in the Learning Resource Centre to find some fitting and suitable materials to support students using the donation from Mr Devereux’s family.

Bike Sheds Boys have been making use of the new bike sheds, enabling them to cycle to school. This initiative was first raised by pupils through the School Council and is certainly encouraged as part of a healthier lifestyle.

The pupils have to complete an application for a permit and hand this in to Bro Peter. If the pupils meet the criteria regarding safety and cycling proficiency, they are then given permission to cycle to school The bike sheds are locked for security during the day.

Matthew Spreadbury 9 Ward

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Bugsy Malone Bugsy… the Story New York , 1929. Dandy Dan’s hoodlums terrorise the district, exterminating undesirables with their new weapons-splurge guns (Once splurged, a kid is "all washed up" and his career in crime is over). His rival is Fat Sam Stacetto, who runs the Grand Slam Speakeasy, but Fat Sam’s gang still use old fashioned pies. Fat Sam engages the help of Bugsy Malone, a smooth city slicker who hitherto has been more occupied in sweet talking Blousey Brown, a would-be girl singer.

With Bugsy’s help, Fat Sam escapes from a frame up but he learns later that Dandy Dan’s mob have splurged nearly all his gang. They’ve also destroyed his sarsaparilla and grocery rackets – the whole empire’s gone! There’s only one hope left. Fat Sam pays Bugsy 400 dollars in exchange for more help. Bugsy, who has promised to take Blousey to Hollywood, has to break his date with her. Is she mad!

Meanwhile Bugsy and Leroy Smith, a guy with an awesome punch, witness a secret delivery of splurge guns at Dock 17. With a bunch of down and outs, they help themselves from the crates. Then the police arrive, led by Captain Smoky and Lieutenant O’Dreary. Bugsy and the gang escape. Finally Dandy Dan prepares for a shutdown at Fat Sam’s speakeasy.

When his mob burst in, Busgy and the guys let’em have it, splurge , custard pies, flour bombs… Out of gooey pandemonium it emerges that Bugsy and Blousey have made it up. Peace has broken out at last.

Bugsy Malone The Bugsy Malone Production was a resounding success following much effort and hard work from the cast and the stage crew. Despite the busy schedule and stress we all enjoyed the experience. However, none of this would have happened without the efforts of Miss Anderson and Miss Manning.

We all loved performing and will all certainly be auditioning for future school plays, we are already looking forward to future productions! Word has already spread regarding how good SFX plays are and we are sure that our success with Bugsy Malone will not be forgotten.

We would also like to say a special thank you to the girls from St. Julie’s, Stephanie Scrutton, Mr. Rogers, John Hyland and Patrick Coyle for helping us with the show Jamie Pye, Joseph O’Neill, Chris Starkey, Daniel Healey, Reece Healy, Jack Thomas, Joe Nicholson.

‘The play was so much fun to perform, the storyline was really funny. I loved doing the Finale, especially because the crowd were always great.’ Reece Healy

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Bugsy Malone Mystery Guests The play was a resounding success and with two new actors it was even more entertaining, particularly for the cast!

Mr Evans and Miss Lindop surprised the cast with their last minute contribution to the show and arrived at rehearsals unannounced the day before the first show, much to the amusement of the rest of the cast who thought it was hilarious to see their teachers on stage and we were all surprised as they were quite nervous.

Miss Lindop and Mr Evans knew their parts well but they both needed a helping hand and lots of reassurance (particularly when it was time for them to actually go on stage as neither of them could remember their cue).

Luckily I was also in both of their scenes and helped them along (pushed them on stage!). I was the violinist in both scenes so it was easy for me to show them the ropes.

Mr Evans seemed to really enjoy his stage debut and really got into character as the Undertaker. Thanks to him the “bodies” of the splurged gangsters were removed from stage smoothly and quickly except for one little hiccup when one of the “bodies” nearly lost his trousers!

Christopher Starkey 8OW

Bugsy Cake A big thank you must go to Mrs Starkey, who made the most wonderful celebration cake for the cast of Bugsy Malone. The cast clambered to have their photographs taken with the cake before it was cut. I think they will all agree it certainly tasted as good as it looked!

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Year 10 Fundraising Year 10 launched their fundraising for Charity Zoe's Place about three weeks ago, so far the boys have been collecting in form period, but are also thinking of ideas how to go beyond this.

Mr Farrington is hoping to take a group to visit very soon so that they can report back to the year group.

Ms Cain.

Y9 Badminton Chris Evans, Connor Bowan, and Owen Sharp recently represented the school in the Liverpool South Sports Partnership Badminton Competition at Greenbank Sports Centre. The tournament was played in great spirit yet fiercely contested by each school involved, which made for excellent entertainment.

As each game went by Chris, Connor and Owen produced a growing level of quality and performance. Considering this was the first time any of them had played badminton in a competitive situation the team work, effort and skill shown by the boys in a new sport was beyond expectation.

As a result of the tournament, a partnership has been established with Woolton High School. This will enable our boys to use their fantastic new sports hall to train. We now all look forward to the next tournament and hope it can be as enjoyable and competitive as the first.

Mr Murphy

The New IT Diploma The new IT Diploma began in September 2009 and is being delivered in a brand new purpose built classroom in the Sunflower Centre in Woolton Village. This qualification is delivered as part of collaboration with other South Liverpool schools and currently provides for both SFX and Gateacre students.

So far, the pupils have been learning about the potential of technology and have been exploring organisations. This course is related to real-life businesses and pupils recently visited Bibby Distribution to find out all about the technology they use as an organisation and to have lunch with some members of the management team. Another visit took place in December and the students visited the QVC call centre in Knowsley to see how this large company operates and how technology features in the different areas of the business.

A Diploma student, Michael Manville says: “This course has been great so far and is in a pleasant learning environment. The trip to Bibby Distribution was very useful and relevant to the course and we were given some free gifts as well!”

Mrs Holmes

Bronze Award Year 11

Heartstart

Congratulations to six Year 11 pupils who have achieved their ASDAN Bronze Award this term, moderators were extremely impressed with the quality of their folders.

Heartstart UK is an initiative coordinated by the British Heart Foundation to teach members of the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency: simple skills that can save lives.

Mark Deveraux Ian Brumskill Nicholas Hadley Nicolas McDonald Jordan Fearns Rian Patino

It provides opportunities for people to learn the vital skills of Emergency Life Support. Through Heartstart UK the BHF aims to strengthen the chain of survival by promoting and supporting ELS training in the community.

Athletics Results

The benefit of CPR performed by a bystander in an out-ofhospital cardiac arrest is significant.

Congratulations to Owen Sharp - Year 9 on his results over the summer term in the 1500m:

The most important factor determining survival after a cardiac arrest is the time from collapse of the casualty to defibrillation performing CPR buys time and more than doubles the chances of survival.

South District Meeting – 3rd place (5minutes 3 seconds).

Liverpool City Individual Championships – 2nd place (4 minutes 58 seconds).

Merseyside Catholic Schools (Division 1 Meeting) – 2nd place (5 minutes 1 second).

Congratulations to the following Year 10 students who have completed the British Heart Foundations Heartstart award: James Burrows Levi Dowridge Lewis Fay Stuart I’Anson Matthew Kirby Michael Leamey Gary Mills

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Enterprise Day SFX win competition Some Year 10 pupils took part in an Enterprise Event at Jaguar on the 23rd October. The boys won the competition their prize being a Land Rover Experience Trip. The boys performed excellently and their behaviour was outstanding. The competitors were:

Year 7 Fitness Tests On Friday 23rd October all Year 7 pupils took part in a series of fitness tests, designed to assess each pupil’s current level of general fitness and swimming ability. This took the shape of an all day exercise programme, in which pupils carried out a number of fun activities targeting: • • • • • •

Speed Endurance Strength Agility Power Swimming

• • • • • •

Paul Murray Matthew North Adam Sefton Sean Stamper Philip Walsh Alywn Yu

The boys took part in three challenges, which required them to use team work and communication skills throughout each task. The first task required them to produce a tent made out of newspaper that could hold 2 men. The second challenge required them to build a tower that could support two bricks and for the third challenge they had to make a lamp stand out of paper that had to support and balance a bulb which had to light when it was switched on.

Mr Conroy

The whole day was planned and delivered by members of the Year 13 BTEC Sport group. This entire group carried out the activities with a great deal of enthusiasm and professionalism.

Watching the students in action I am sure they could all have promising careers within the sports industry in the future. I was extremely proud of the reaction of the boys and it was very pleasing to see all our Year 7 students trying their best to gain the quickest time or furthest jump possible.

In the PE department we understand that we have a duty of care to inform and educate our students about the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle. Before the tests were carried out myself and Mr Taylor gave a presentation on diet and nutrition, focusing on calories, energy input and energy output. So if your son has arrived home telling you how many calories are in the evening meal you have so carefully prepared; yes it’s our fault!

To further focus on this national issue, we have added a seven week unit of work dedicated to health related exercise.

Mr A Brown

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Remembrance Day 9 Bryant Remembrance Day Assembly Report During the week of 9th November 2009 all assemblies focused on National Remembrance Day. This year being a special one as the last three veterans of WW1 died during the year.

Our assembly was to talk about Remembrance Day. Miss Helsby helped us to assemble the PowerPoint presentation and a lot of work was also put into the presentation by Adam Kinsey. We wanted to highlight in the speech that on Remembrance Day we shouldn’t just remember the soldiers that had died in the previous wars, we should also be thinking of the servicemen and women who are fighting now in Afghanistan.

We also incorporated two poems into the speech one of them was called ‘In Flanders Fields’ and was written by Major John McCrae which was inspired by poppy fields.

The other poem was written by Rudyard Kipling who was inspired to write this by the death of his son in World War One. We asked all Year 8 to join in with our own 2 minute silence to help us remember all of the servicemen and women who have given their lives for our country or have put their life on the line, to help countries. We also needed the silence to remember the people who are currently serving.

By Jack Devine & Sam Maher

This is our prayer that was read out at the end, we all thought about the prayer deeply, and prayed for the service men and women of Great Britain. We also prayed for any country in conflict and all of the people who have been affected by war.

Lord our God, We pray for all those who have been affected by conflict, whether directly or indirectly, no matter what side they were on.

We pray that the different nations will find more peaceful solutions to their problems and that the world will finally be free of conflict.

Help us to be more tolerant of others, more caring and compassionate and to make the most of the freedoms and opportunities available to us.

Amen.

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The poem which brought us the poppy: In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Poppies Throughout the world the Poppy is associated with remembrance of those who died in order that we may be free, but how many of us are aware of why the Poppy became a symbol of remembrance?

The Poppies are worn because in World War One the soil on the Western Front contained thousands of Poppy seeds, all lying dormant. The battles being fought there churned up the soil so much that the Poppies bloomed like never before.

Lourdes 2010 The Lourdes youth pilgrimage has been running for over 35 years.

Next summer from Friday 23rd July to Saturday 31st July a group of around twenty teenagers will make the journey to Lourdes. The trip is for 15-18 year olds and costs about ÂŁ400.00 but is an extremely worthwhile experience as you have opportunities to help the elderly, disabled and sick. Father Steven Pritchard organises the trip for 400 young people, who travel on seven coaches and one plane. The young people come from various schools and parishes across the Liverpool Archdiocese.

In the months leading up to the trip the young people are provided with lots of opportunities to meet up with other students attending the trip at a chosen parish for a disco. If you would like to attend please visit Mrs Leong at the print room or have a look at the website http://www.animateyouth.org to find out more.

We hope as many people as possible can benefit from the pilgrimage to Lourdes!

Tom Buck 10MA

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Yr 7 Rugby Union Congratulations to the Year 7 Rugby Union team who reached the semi final of the Merseyside emerging schools tournament, losing out narrowly 2 tries to nil in a tightly contested semi final against Childwall School. After winning our first two group games convincingly we lost out in the remaining two games to more experienced rugby playing schools Birkdale and Park High school.

Qualifying to the quarter finals was a great achievement in itself considering the majority of the team only began playing rugby at the start of the September term. Drawn against Park High School in the quarter final, who had beaten us 4 tries to nil in the final group game, our team were the underdogs.Against all odds the team put in a magnificent performance, winning every scrum and tackling as if their lives depended on it. A great try from Ifeanyi Emeka-Anyakwo late on in the game won it in dramatic style for SFX. The semi finals against a very strong and experienced Childwall side, saw the team perform superbly once again, proving that they were one of the stronger teams in the tournament. The game was deadlocked at 0-0 for most of the game until a strong Childwall scrum led to a try out wide. Pushing hard for an equalizing try the team showed great passing skills and were nearly rewarded but for last ditch tackles. With the game almost up and SFX pushing forward strongly Childwall counter attacked and scored with the final action of the game.

All in all it was a tremendous effort from the 18 players in the squad and considering that it was a lot of the players first taste of competitive rugby they can be very proud of their achievement. After performing so superbly in their first tournament we now have very high hopes for the future for the Year 7 Rugby team.

Mr P Kelly

Football Results The first term for the school’s football teams has begun very successfully with all the teams sitting in strong positions in their respective leagues. We are also progressing well in local competitions with each Year Group having progressed into the second or third round of either the Merseyside Cup or Liverpool Cup. Congratulations must go to in particular to the Year 7, 8 and 10 teams who have progressed to round four of the English Schools National Cup. All have been drawn at home in round 4, the Year 7’s facing Bishop Heber of Cheshire, the Year 8’s facing Grange High School from mid Cheshire and the Year 10’s facing Wilmslow High school from Macclesfield.

We wish them the best of luck for the remainder of the competition.

YEAR 7 LEAGUE St. Margaret’s won 14-3 All Saints won 4-1 Archbishop Beck won 2-0 Sacred Heart won 3-2 Huyton College won 7-2 NATIONAL CUP Meols Cop won 15-0 Haslingdon High School won 7-4 Rainhill won 7-2 LIVERPOOL CUP Shorefields won 6-1 MERSEYSIDE CUP Knows Park won 7-3 B-TEAM Childwall won 14-0 All Saints won 12-0 Cardinal Heenan lost 3-2

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This term has also seen us play a number of B-Team fixtures for Years 7, 8 and 9 against Cardinal Heenan, Childwall and All Saints. From the success of this we decided to enter Year 7 and 8 B and C Teams in a 7-a-side league which began on the 24th November. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all staff and parents involved in any of the schools football teams. Our aim is to give as many of the pupils a chance to play competitive football and without your help and support it would not be possible.

Mr P Kelly

YEAR 8 LEAGUE St. Margaret’s won 4-2 All Saints won 5-1 Sacred Heart lost 4-2 Bluecoat won 9-1

YEAR 9 LEAGUE St. Maragret’s won 5-0 All Saints won 5-3 Knows Hey won 18-3 Bluecoat drew 0-0

NATIONAL CUP St. Nics won 3-1 Salford Academy won 7-2 St. Edmunds won 4-0

NATIONAL CUP Manchester Grammer lost 6-3

LIVERPOOL CUP De la Salle lost 5-4

LIVERPOOL CUP De La Salle lost 2-0 YEAR 10 NATIONAL CUP Audenshaw School won 5-3 Helsby High School won 3-0 MERSEYSIDE CUP Childwall won 8-0

YEAR 11 LIVERPOOL CUP Shorefields won 3-0 MERSEYSIDE CUP West Derby lost 4-3 1ST XI LEAGUE Gateacre won 2-1 Halewood lost 4-0 Hugh Baird won 6-0 Community College won 2-0 NATIONAL CUP Trinity CE lost 2-1 2ND XI Myerscough College won 9-0 Bebington lost 6-0 Hugh Baird won 6-0 Childwall drew 1-1

Year 9 Football The Liverpool Echo Shield final (last term) A repeat of the 2008 U13’s Liverpool Schools cup final saw SFX up against their old rivals Cardinal Heenan in the 2009 Liverpool Echo Challenge Shield. A strong Heenan side emerged 2-0 victors last year and the SFX boys were determined not to suffer a similar fate this time around. From the very first minute it was obvious that the team had grown during the past twelve months, both physically and mentally, as they imposed themselves on the game. Sustained early pressure from midfield put Heenan on the back foot and it was this early spell which led to a corner on the left hand side. Thomas Williams drilled the ball in and the cross caught the Cardinal Heenan defence on their heels. Liam Wainwright was on hand to take advantage and guided the ball over the line with the slightest of touches (1-0 ). Their opponents were never going to allow SFX to have it all their own way however, and when the SFX defence failed to clear from a throw in on the left, the ball was slipped to a Heenan forward who finished well (1-1). At this point it would have been easy to panic, but SFX once again demonstrated their poise and mental strength. Maintaining possession and pushing their opponents back it was not long before SFX regained their lead. Thomas Williams skipping past the full back and hitting an unstoppable drive into the bottom right hand corner (2-1 Half Time).

The second half began just as the first had ended and after the tireless Steven Lennon pressured the Cardinal Heenan defence, he forced a costly error from the full back.

James Doig took advantage of the bad pass and his cross found Thomas Williams who made no mistake in front of goal (3-1). Once again, Heenan made a fight back and after a superb free kick had made it 3-2 they opened up the SFX defence once more. With their left midfielder one on one with Daniel Rossiter in goal, an equalizer looked inevitable. The Heenan player’s shot looked goal-bound but Rossiter was out bravely to push the ball wide of the post.

Minutes later Thomas Williams put the result beyond any doubt. Demonstrating his electric pace, he raced clear of the Heenan back line and completed his hat-trick, capping a fantastic team performance and ensuring that SFX emerged as champions of the city. (Full Time 4-2).

Enterprising Bubbly Science!

Pupils from last year’s 8G2 had lots of fun making soap from a kit kindly donated by Mr Conroy. The task was to safely make, colour and perfume the soap in saleable blocks. This was SFX’s version of “The Apprentice”.

These two enterprising young men won the task with their marketing of ‘Scouser’s Soap’.

The science part of this task was to make soap that cleaned dirty skin safely. Soap is traditionally made from animal fat (however, plant oils could also be used) and Caustic Sodium Hydroxide.

This is the reason why soaps are alkaline in nature. The two pupils certainly ‘cleaned up’ in this task and commented that “it was our best science lesson ever!”

Thanks to Mr Daniels and the Student Teacher for their guidance.

Mr Fox

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Year 9 Football – The Liverpool Echo Cup Final (last term) Having defeated Cardinal Heenan in the Liverpool Echo Challenge Shield, SFX u14’s represented Liverpool Schools in the prestigious Liverpool Echo cup final against Maricourt Catholic High School. The game was played in front of an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd at Prenton Park, the home of Tranmere Rovers Football Club and kept the spectators entertained throughout. The game got off to a frantic start, with SFX gaining the early momentum. It was just a few moments in, when, under pressure in his own penalty area, a member of Maricourt’s defence used his arm to push the ball away from the on-rushing Steven Lennon. The referee’s assistant wasted no time in playing his flag across his chest, signalling that SFX had an early penalty. Liam Wainwright bravely stepped up to take it, but the Maricourt goalkeeper beat his strike away. Fortunately, Thomas Williams reacted quickest and was on hand to smash the rebound beyond the stranded keeper and into the net. (1-0).

Maricourt reacted quickly and began to bombard the SFX penalty area with deep in-swinging crosses and, it was from one such centre, that they drew level a few minutes later. (1-1). Having struggled to deal with some of the balls that were coming in, it was no surprise that Maricourt took the lead, with a similar cross, midway through the first period. (1-2). SFX responded well, but found it hard to establish the rhythm and tempo that had seen off Cardinal Heenan the week before and they went into the break a goal down. (Half Time 1-2).

Half time was productive and, with a few tactical changes, SFX began the second half with renewed vigour, putting Maricourt onto the back foot. James Doig went close with a diving header as the SFX side looked composed and in control. However, the

search for an equaliser left them a little exposed and in their first break-away of the half Maricourt found the back of the SFX net once more. (1-3). Once again this SFX team demonstrated how it had grown and, instead of buckling, as many may well have thought they would, went on to produce the best spell of football in the game. All over the pitch, players stepped up their game and, led by the ‘never say die’ spirit of their captain James Doig, went on to produce a string of chances, as they pushed Maricourt deeper and deeper into their own half. Doig, Wainwright and Joseph Davies all had chances turned away by the resilient Maricourt defence before Thomas Williams finally forced the ball over the line with just a few minutes remaining.

(2-3). With time running out Doig cut inside the full back once more and for a fleeting moment the game looked like it could be heading for a draw. Alas, the Maricourt goalkeeper was equal to the shot and in that moment the dream of lifting the Echo Cup faded away. (Full Time 2-3).

The SFX players were visibly drained as the final whistle blew, but in time I am sure that they will reflect positively upon the occasion and their disappointment will be replaced with pride.

They can be extremely proud of what they have achieved and the fact that they produced such a fantastic footballing display. After the game, the players and staff enjoyed a meal with their Maricourt counterparts, reminding everyone of the friendly spirit in which the game and post match celebrations had been conducted. The boys should always remember this as a special occasion in their school lives. After all, many great footballers have come out of the city of Liverpool, yet few of them, though not for the lack of trying, have graced the stage of an Echo Cup final.

Everton in the Community Year 10 Sports Leaders On Tuesday 10th November 2009 SFX played host to a Year 4 Primary School Football Festival in partnership with Liverpool South Sports Partnership and Everton in the Community. The tournament involved 15 primary schools from our local community. All of the football matches were refereed by our Year 10 GCSE PE students. These pupils are currently working towards their Junior Sports Leader Award as part of their GCSE PE course and gaining practical experience is crucial to their success.

On the day SFX students were a credit to the school, acting as excellent role models for our future pupils. All the staff from the primary schools gave positive feedback on the behaviour, attitude and capability of the sports leaders.

The tournament itself was played with a good level of sportsmanship and endeavour, resulting in a hard fought victory for Booker Avenue.

Beaconsfield Road, Liverpool L25 6EG • Tel: 0151 288 1000 Fax: 0151 288 1001 • Email: admin@sfx.liverpool.sch.uk www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk 24