SFXtra July 2009

Contents Summer 2009

Compact Graduation Evening . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award. . . . . . . . . 4 Year 7 Art Project . . . . 6 D.A.P.S.S. Round Up. . 8 History Trip to Normandy . . . . . . . . . 10 Plöermel . . . . . . . . . . 12 Liverpool Triathlon . . 15 Big School’s Birdwatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Leavers’ Party . . . . . . 21 Athletics Results. . . . 24

Dear Parents

Welcome again to our end of term newsletter which contains lots of details about the many and varied activities which have taken place during this term. I am very grateful to all of those staff and parents who have supported the various activities in order that the pupils and students at the College can actively experience our mission statement “life in all its fullness”.

We have a number of staff leaving the College at the end of term, mainly due to retirement. Mr O’Malley will be retiring after 43 years – he joined the College in 1966 as a Physics teacher and has held a number of roles including Head of Department, Head of Science and Assistant Headteacher. Mr Jeffries, Senior Laboratory Technician, also retires after 23 years service to the College. During this time the Science Department has moved location at least twice and Mr Jeffries was instrumental in the efficient organisation required. This summer also sees the retirement of Mr Browne, Head of Classics. Mr Browne has worked at the College for 17 years and was instrumental in the development of school visits to Greece and Italy from which so many pupils have benefited. Mr Shelvey is also retiring from the English Department having been at SFX for 26 years. We wish them all well in their retirement and thank them for their combined 109 years of service to the College.

Mr Dunne also leaves us at the end of term having taught at the College for 3 years. He is moving to an international school in Abu Dhabi. We are grateful for his contribution to the College and wish him every success in his new role. Thanks also go to Brother James who is moving to St Mary’s, Southampton at the end of term. He will be keeping close links with SFX and we look forward to his visits. Miss Hodgson will also be moving on in September having worked in the administration area of the College since 1995 – we send her best wishes in her new career in the medical profession.

The Newsletter Editing Team Senior Editors Joseph Irwin James Leyshon Michael Manville The Editing Team Dominic Sedley Andrew Brown Shea KcChrystal Liam Daly John Moffatt Sean Clugston Robert Crowney Ross Welsh Dominic Tague Christian Fitzsimmons Johnathan Latimer Christopher Starkey James Hesketh Joe Nicholson Daniel Heron Jack Thomas Josh Ezekiel Matthew Powell Patrick Back Alex Brown Jack Kenton Jack Taylor Jake Evason Reece Healy

9LE 9BR 9OW 9RI 9OW 9 KE 8RI 8OW 8CA 8BR 8BR 8RI 7RI 7RI 7OW 7OW 7OW 7MA 7MA 7KE 7KE 7CA 7CA 7CA 7CA 7CA 7BR

The summer holidays is a time for all to recharge their batteries and I hope that everyone associated with the College enjoys a well deserved rest. It is also of course the time when those who have worked so hard for GCSE and A Level examinations will receive their results – we will be thinking of them all at this important time and wish them every success in their next steps.

Finally, thank you to all those who have supported the College this year – parents, staff, governors and students.

Yours sincerely Mr Rippon, Headteacher

Dates for Diary:

End of Term: School will close at 12.20 pm on Friday July 17th 2009 Year 12/13 AS and A Level Results Day: Thursday August 20th - results available at 10.00 am Year 11 GCSE Results Day: Thursday August 27th - results available at 10.00 am Start of New Term and Academic Year: School will re-open after the summer holidays at 8.40 am on Tuesday September 8th for pupils in Years 8-11 and students in Year 12. Students in Years 8-10 will be dismissed at lunch time on this day. Year 11 will report to the English Department in the afternoon to hand in GCSE coursework and will then be dismissed. New Year 7 pupils should report to school at 9.45 am on Tuesday 8th September and will be dismissed at 2.30 pm. Year 13 students should report to school on Monday September 7th at 10.00 am (Year 13 remain at home on Tuesday September 8th). Normal timetable will operate for all from 8.40 am on Wednesday September 10th.

Thank you to all parents for striving so hard to ensure that pupils have the correct uniform. Could I please remind you that plain black shoes are required. It may be helpful to bear this in mind whilst choosing new school shoes. Please do not buy canvas or training style shoes.

Next School production - Bugsy Malone: First week back after October half term – Wednesday 4th - Friday 6th November.

In partnership with YOUTH PARTNER

Building Schools for the Future update Liverpool is part of the above programme which aims to replace and refurbish schools to make them suitable for the 21st Century.

There are plans for a £19m development at SFX which will see a completely new building to replace the existing Main Building, Science Laboratories, and Hall as well as the mobile classrooms. A new sports hall will be provided. It is expected that building work will begin in 2013 with a completion date of 2015. Pupils, parents, staff and governors will be

involved in the development of plans over the next year or so.

IT Diploma The IT diploma is a new form of education which offers students the resources to aim higher. Next Year the diploma will be introduced to a hand picked group of students wishing to participate in the course.

I am really looking forward to starting the course in September 2009 and hope it will introduce me to a more independent form of education. In unit 1 we will learn; how organisations use IT to help them achieve their objectives, find out more about how computers work and what they do, and will identify opportunities for organisations to improve their technology systems.

In subsequent units we will be educated on communication skills and how to get our message across. We will also be taught how to work in teams and how the behaviour and attitude of members of the team can affect the group’s performance.

For the following units the class will learn how to investigate and give presentations, how to assemble and create a simple computer network, as well as the skills needed to create multimedia; web pages, animations and video. The group will also complete units leading to planning and managing successful projects. I am particularly looking forward to this.

Shea McChrystal 9KE 2

Welcome to new members of staff The following will join the College in September: Mr A Brown Head of PE Mr I Green – History Teacher Mr A Murphy – PE Teacher Mrs Helsby– Maths Teacher Dr M Leach – Physics Teacher Staffing Changes Mr M Long has taken on the role of Behaviour Support Unit Manager, Mrs Cavanagh that of Head of ICT and Mr P Evans is now Assistant Headteacher (Pupil Data). Thanks must be recorded to both Mr Long and Mr Evans in their previous roles as Head of PE and ICT respectively.

The Pastoral team of Co-ordinators of Learning and their assistants will be strengthened by Pastoral Assistants from September. Pastoral assistants will be involved in supporting students through mentoring and will be able to contact parents if Co-ordinators of Learning are not available. They will also act as Cover Supervisors. The team of Pastoral Assistants will be led by Mr Russell.

Following Brother James’ move to Southampton, the chaplaincy will be led by Mrs Barker (Y10-13) and Miss Donlon (Y7-9). They will be supported with liturgical music by Miss Manning.

Compact Graduation Evening Year 11 completed their examinations and 64 students attended the Compact Graduation Evening on Tuesday 23rd June. The evening recognised pupils who have had excellent and very good attendance and punctuality and also completed a work related learning programme.

Eighty four pupils were awarded either a platinum, gold or silver certificate; these will go into their Records of Achievement. Entertainment during the evening was in the form of talented Year 11 pupils from local schools and the presentations were made by two young ladies from the cast of Hollyoaks. Miss Cain wishes all Year 11 pupils the best of luck with their examination results and in their further studies.

New minibus Many thanks to the PTA for providing a second minibus for pupils and students at the College. The minibus is the result of a lot of hard work – grateful thanks to all those who are members of the PTA for their hard work and of course to the many who have supported the fundraising events.

D.A.P.S.S. Round-up Catenian Association’s Intercollegiate Challenge Trophy for Public Speaking Congratulations are due to Louis Dowling for his performance in the Catenian Association’s Intercollegiate Challenge Trophy for Public Speaking. The event took place in April at Hope College and was contested by nine pupils from across Merseyside, each of whom delivered a speech of four minutes on a chosen subject. Though he did not win the competition, Louis gave a more than respectable showing. His speech – entitled “Why does the church seem increasingly irrelevant to adolescents today?” - reflected on the way in which popular culture, notably rock and roll, distracted teenagers from more spiritual matters. Louis is a boxing fan and, to borrow from the parlance of that sport, he bobbed and weaved impressively throughout, as well as landing some telling blows. It was a pithy and perceptive effort, interspersed with deft touches of humours.

Well done, Louis. We know that you’ll be the champ one day.

Sadly, the time has come for DAPSS to bid a fond farewell to Year 13 student Welwin Lobo, who is leaving SFX to enter higher education. A staunch member of the society for the past three years, Welwin is a mature and amiable character, whose even-tempered nature masks a fierce competitive spirit. Affectionately known as The Lobotomiser for his ability to incapacitate opponents with his devastating ‘Points of Information’, Welwin arguably saved the best until last with his performance in March at the Durham University Schools Debating Competition. This contest saw him team up with Daniel Keeley and progress to the semi-final stage in a field of around one hundred schools. It was a fine way to bow out.

Welwin is shortly to begin a degree in Maths at University College London, where he fully intends to join the debating society. Our loss is very much their gain. Good luck Welwin and don’t be a stranger!

Mathletics From Monday 15th June to Monday 22nd June, pupils from years 7, 8 and 9 took part in a challenge called Mathletics.

This competition was run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The pupils took part in two activities; the first was a 60 second mental arithmetic race against schools from all over the world and second was groups on questions based around a particular Mathematical topic.

The students collected points over the course of the week and 32 students collected Bronze certificates for scoring over 1000 points.

The highest scoring pupils from each year are: Year 7 Marc Cullen – 4574 points James Mellor – 4490 points Year 8 Louis Wheeler – 6105 points Daniel Dacre – 2012 points Year 9 Michael O’Hanlon - 2531 points Well done to all students who participated in the challenge, especially those who competed at home!

Miss Arends

Basic Skills Quality Mark The college has recently been awarded the Basic Skills Quality Mark.The Basic Skills Quality Mark is about recognising minimum standards in teaching literacy and numeracy. The Quality mark was brought about to provide a framework that would promote, support and celebrate the improvement of literacy and mathematics in schools.

The Secondary Quality Mark provides a framework for self evaluation and continuous improvement of the basic skills of all pupils in a school. This includes both those who underachive and those whose attainment is lower than would be expected of someone of their age.

The award of the Basic Skills Quality Mark reflects the college’s commitment to ensure that, regardless of ability, all of our students are catered for and their successes celebrated.

Ms Lucas 3

Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award Practice Expedition On the weekend of 27th to 28th June 2009 twenty five Year 12 students travelled to Castleton in the Peak District to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Silver Award Scheme.

This was their second outing as they had already been to Rivington on a day walk to practise their navigational skills and map reading. They will be venturing further afield in July as they pack a bag for a three day 30 mile assessment weekend.

For some of them the Castleton weekend was the first time they had spent a night under canvas and for almost all of them the it was certainly the first time they had made their own meals on a camp cooker.

We set off from SFX at 8:30 Saturday morning with both school minibuses full, it must be said at this point that if it was not for the PTA and their donations of the minibuses we would not be able to offer the Duke of Edinburgh's here at SFX to so many students – if at all!

We arrived at the start point for the day in good time and already the place seemed surprisingly busy. Mr Holden and I took one group on their anticlockwise route and Mr Rippon and Miss Cullen took the other half on their clockwise route around Mam Tor. Mam Tor stands above the valleys of Edale and Hope, the views from the summit of Mam Tor are superb, with a fine view of Edale and Kinder to the north and Hope valley to the east, and a splendid ridge leading from the summit down to Hollins Cross and along to Lose Hill. It has the nickname ‘the shivering mountain’ as Mr Holden attempted to explain to the students on our way around to the first stop point – I must state that their interest in Mr Holden’s Geography lesson was not great, I just don’t think he was putting the same amount of passion in his landscape talks as Mr Rippon undoubtedly was doing with the group walking with him – those poor boys and girls!

We all met at the top of Mam Tor and had some lunch, at this point Mr Holden left the group and took a short cut down the mountain, I must state he did not want to and put up a struggle, no really, no honestly, oh alright then he went to the nearest coffee shop and probably had the now famous meal of ‘soup and a roll’ but after all what would a weekend away with D of E be if Mr Holden didn’t do that?! The two groups then carried on their walk and met back at Castleton car park to head for their home for the evening – a field! On the descent the staff swapped groups and I had the pleasure of witnessing one of Mr Rippon’s chats about a cement factory that sits on the boundary of the National Park. Although it was extremely windy at times Mr Rippon persevered through and I think a valuable lesson was learnt by all about the limestone reserves and their location within the UK!

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The group of twenty five students then split into two groups and were shipped off to two different camp sites.

They set up camp and began to cook their evening meals.

The staff all agreed that the meals cooked looked lovely and seemed to be the best we have ever seen from a D of E group, dishes included chicken curry and rice, pasta and sauce, sausage and burgers and a pot noodle that would make Gordon Ramsey proud. They then settled down to get themselves changed and showered at the end of what was a long and hard day.

The students were awake by 7:00am (which was a shock to the system as some did not even realise there are two seven o’clocks in one day), to cook breakfast, take down the tents and get them all packed into the rucksacks ready for a days walking. Like giant snails they all moved off with their homes on their backs. They walked the day two route with great pace and little complaint.

The weather stayed nice all weekend and it only rained as we travelled home on the minibuses. We arrived back at SFX early Sunday evening and Brother Peter provided a welcome home committee, which is always nice!

Thanks to the students for being true ambassadors’ of the college, to the PTA for the new minibuses and to Mr Rippon, Mr ‘soup and a roll’ Holden and Miss Cullen.

Mr Evans 5

Year Seven Art Project Year Seven pupils have been completing a Mask project this term producing oil pastel drawings and 3D masks made with cardboard.

They have studied African and South American Masks and come up with their own Design.

“My mask is quite a scary mask; I started it by drawing African and South American Masks in my sketchbook. I then made a large oil pastel drawing of it. When I had finished I brought in some cardboard and cut out the shape of the mask. Then I cut out detailed parts like the mouth and marks on the face and stuck them on. I painted the whole mask brown and then finally painted the dots onto the mask to make it colourful. The best part for me was the painting.” Rory Yeoman “The part I enjoyed the most was comparing masks with other pupils.

When it was completed I thought my mask looked funny.” Liam Catling “My mask is a combination of African and South American Designs. I wanted my mask to look a bit crazy.” Joshua Smith.

Mrs Harris

Increased Flexibility Programme Annual Awards Ceremony Congratulations to Year 11 students who graduated from the Increased Flexibility Programme (IFP) on Friday 8th May. Fourteen students in total from SFX took part in the programme, completing courses such as Catering, Sports and Recreation and Construction at various Colleges in Liverpool. The awards ceremony took place in the Bill Shankly suite in Liverpool Football Club with special guest Clare Molyneux OBE who gave a very frank and hilarious account of her childhood in Liverpool and talked about the different career paths now open to young people.

In addition to graduating, awards were given out for Most Improved Learner of the Year and Learner of Year from each of the College providers. Neal Pritchard, Philip Williams and Adam Nolan were all awarded Most Improved Learner of the year from their College and Tom Ryan achieved the Learner of the Year award for Construction at Central Schools Training, congratulations to all boys involved.

Callum Ashcroft Sam Brindle Kevin Christian Connor Duffy Alex Edwards Craig Fitzgibbon Thomas Gibbs Josh Jones Adam Nolan Sam Pickett Neal Pritchard Tom Ryan Andrew Wade Philip Williams Mrs Hesketh

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Energy with 7G4 7G4 have recently been studying a topic on ‘Energy’. It was appropriate that Mr Hayhurst had discovered a way to investigate ‘Kinetic energy’ using cardboard rockets. The rockets are designed by the pupils in which they have to make the body, fins and ‘nose cone’. The rockets are launched using a high-pressure car tyre pump. The winners received prizes! This is an activity that the new Year7’s will be doing on Induction Day. Mr Fox says: “7G4 learnt alot about ‘Kinetic Energy’ (movement energy) as they certainly enjoy active Science lessons!”

The winners’ rockets are

launched

22 Designing Apollo

SFX Around the Web St Francis Xavier's College is constantly striving to make the best use of new technology. We would encourage all members of the college community to check the school website frequently to keep up to date with life at the college, the site shows how the students live up to the college mission statement ' ...LIFE in all its fullness'.

Make www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk your homepage today!

You can also follow SFXCollege on Twitter, Flickr, AudioBoo and YouTube.

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D.A.P.S.S. Round-up England National Final of the ESU Given the associated intellectual demands, it would be wrong to describe D.A.P.S.S. (Debating And Public Speaking Society) as the proverbial cushy number. However, it must be said that membership of the society can bring certain undeniable perks. There are the overnight stays in four star London hotels, for example. There are unusual trophies such as the replica 18th century drug jar that accompanied March’s win at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Great Pharmacy Debate. There are the team’s stylish white hoodies emblazoned with the motivational slogan: “Young, Gifted and Catholic”. And, of course, there will always be the unstinting support and tutelage of Mrs Boughey, the College’s foremost debating aficionado and supreme leader of DAPSS. More than all of this though, there is a precious, though somewhat less tangible, dividend to be reaped in terms of personal growth. As pre-eminent DAPSS member Matthew Handley observed of his team’s experience at the final of the English Speaking Union’s prestigious Mace competition: “We travelled down to London as boys, yet we returned as young men.” What could he mean by this exactly? Read on and you will understand.

The national final of the ESU’s Schools Mace was held at Dartmouth House on Friday March 27th. Proceedings were scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and so the DAPSS entourage left Liverpool at lunchtime, riding the express train from Lime Street in order to fulfil their date with destiny. The team of Matthew Handley and Matthew Oldham (both Year 11) spent the journey fine-tuning their arguments over an executive-style lunch of coke and blueberry muffins before going on to engage in their customary “Red Lorry; Yellow Lorry” vocal warm-ups.

The evening would comprise three debates, each one of which featured two schools. After all the debates had taken place, a panel of judges was set to determine which of the six finalists were most deserving of the title of English champions. SFX’s opponents in the final debate of the evening were representing St. Paul’s School, London. The motion – which SFX were proposing – ran thus: ‘This House believes that indigenous persons convicted of a crime should be sentenced by their community and not the court’.

It was a highly complex issue, the intricacies of which made it easily the most demanding of the three debates.

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St. Paul’s were strong favourites to win the competition, but in the run-up to the final there had been excited whispers among the ESU fraternity about the dark horses that would be galloping down from Merseyside.

This looked like the debate that would settle matters.

In taking on St Paul’s, the two Matthews really were pitting themselves against a true centre of excellence.

St Paul's is a boys' independent school, considered to be one of the top academic institutions in the country. The St Paul’s team, therefore, represented the crème de la crème of English schooling. Was there any chance that Handley and Oldham, SFX’s own elite, could turn their world sour? Could they whip St Paul’s into submission and make them look like clots? All around that warm debating chamber, stomachs churned as the two teams prepared to do battle.

SFX’s Matthew Oldham was the first to take the floor. Like Zac Efron with a multidisciplinary PhD, he rigorously outlined the merits of the motion, establishing a solid mechanism for its operation and answering the challenges of the St Paul’s team quite unflappably. If he did struggle in one area then it was that of hair control.

His fringe fell into his eyes throughout his speech and it was only with a periodic sideways flick of his head that he was able to remedy the situation. Hairstyle malfunction aside, this was a smooth and (somewhat ironically) clear-sighted performance from the young Oldham. It was also an encouraging start for SFX. Great expectations now inevitably attend any speech to be given by Matthew Handley. In less than two years this remarkable young man has gone from debate novice to one of the most feared and respected speakers in the country. Wherever he goes people marvel at his virtuoso

Schools Mace performances, all delivered in a breathless style that has led him to be dubbed, “The fastest gob in the NorthWest”. If you’ve got Handley in your corner then you’ve got more than just a chance.

And so it was that Matthew Handley went on to give one of the most penetrating and brilliant speeches of his career, buttressing the SFX case with verve and panache, slapping away any protest from St Paul’s, and also

the winning team as well as graciously accepting plaudits from staff and officials. As they circulated the room, undiminished by defeat, it seemed clear that this experience would act as powerful fuel for future successes. True, they had not won, but they had certainly gained in maturity and character and, as Teddy Roosevelt observed: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious

And so it was that Matthew Handley went on to give one of the most penetrating and brilliant speeches of his career, buttressing the SFX case with verve and panache… getting the biggest laugh of the night with one of his jokes. It was genuinely masterful.

During the interval that followed the boys and their supporters were on tenterhooks, as there was every chance that they had done enough to win. Unfortunately, the judges awarded the contest to St Paul’s with SFX as runners-up. Off-the-record comments confirmed that the margin of victory was a narrow one.

Though they were clearly disappointed with the result, the two Matthews showed great dignity, congratulating

triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

It is worth noting that in May 2009 St Paul’s went on to win the ESU International Schools Mace, defeating teams from Wales, Scotland and Ireland in the process. Ben Woolgar was also awarded the Kenneth Harris prize for the best speaker in the final.

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History Trip to Normandy On the 1st of June, forty two pupils from years seven, eight and nine set off for Portsmouth at about 1.15am from the school car park. The journey was quite lengthy; and we arrived at Portsmouth at 8.30am. We then boarded the ferry and arrived in Caen at 2.30pm local time, arriving at the hotel at around 4.30pm.

We visited Normandy to learn about the dramatic events of 6th June 1944, D Day and the beginning of the liberation of Europe during World War 2. On the second day, we visited the Pegasus Bridge and museum where we saw the actual bridge that was captured on D Day by British Paratroopers. We visited Juno beach (one of the five main landing sights of the Allied invasion of the coast of Normandy) of the coast of Normandy), and the British Bayeux cemetery.

On the Third Day, we visited the Arromanches Invasion Museum where we saw the landing stages and what was left of Mulberry Harbour. We also visited Omaha Beach, Point du Hoc and the American Military Cemetery. We were also privileged to see a 360Ëš film where you could walk around and look at multiple screens. Original footage from D Day was shown, giving a real insight into what it must have been like for the men who fought.

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On the fourth Day, we spent the whole day at Mont St Michel. The group divided up and spent several hours sightseeing and shopping for souvenirs and presents.

I would like to say how much I enjoyed the trip and I’m sure the rest of the pupils would agree. I would like to thank all of the staff who gave up their time to travel with us on this trip.

Dominic Sedley 9RI

Wonderful Ambassadors of SFX I would like to add that the boys were outstanding on the History trip. We were really proud of the way they conducted themselves and responded to what they learned about D-Day and World War 2. Members of the public stopped us on several occasions to remark how impressed they were by our pupils. Well done lads and thank you!

Miss Crickett

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Mennaisian Staff Pilgrimage: Plöermel Over the last few years, several groups of students have visited the Brothers’ Mother House in Brittany. This June, the first visit by a group of SFX teachers took place.

The purpose of the visit was an in-depth course in the form of a pilgrimage in the steps of the two founders of the Brothers’ order, John de La Mennais and Gabriel Deshayes.

St. Malo

The visit began with a Mennaisian Family Day at the Brothers’ centre in Plöermel. Anyone with a connection to the order - parents, students, teachers, brothers or their families - was welcome to attend. The teachers from Liverpool were made very welcome and had to choose from a number of workshops that included Bible Study, the History of The Order, Liturgical Mime and a number of stimulating, creative activities. au ontchate aire at P lv a C e h T e The Mother Hous

A relaxing picnic and barbecue followed in the pleasant, spacious grounds, before the highlight of the day, a moving Mass in the large chapel that houses the tomb of John de La Mennais.

The day whetted the appetite of the group to find out more about what the Mennaisian Family stood for, and why so many have been drawn to this new movement.

Increasing numbers of people from all walks of life have begun to focus on the thoughts and teaching of John de La Mennais.

In order to deepen their understanding, the group visited St Malo the following day. The picturesque, walled city, was the birth place of John in 1780, as well as being the city to which he returned as a young priest, fired with enthusiasm to help rebuild the Catholic Church after the French Revolution, and to do whatever he could to improve the pitiful conditions of young people, especially through education. lo community at St. Ma The group with the

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The pilgrims wend their way to Aura y

13 – 17 June 2009 After St Malo, the group called into St Brieuc which was where the Brothers began in 1819 whilst John was working at the Cathedral there.

The following day, Tuesday, enabled the group to discover more about the other co-founder of the order, Gabriel Deshayes. The sites included the house where he was born (now a museum) at Beigion and the chapel of Père Eternal in Auray where, as parish priest, he had joined forces with John de La Mennais to create the congregation of The Brothers of Christian Instruction.

The four days spent in Brittany were demanding but rewarding. They gave teachers the opportunity to study the lives of two inspiring men, wholly committed to God both of whom chose to serve him through young people.

That so much was covered in such a short time was mainly due to the skill of Brother Vincent Guillerm who guided the group from place to place and was a fund of information and insight. He was also a charming companion and a real inspiration to everyone through his love and admiration of these two great men and what drove them to make such a dramatic impact on their society.

born eshayes was re Gabriel D he w e us ho The

The group were also struck by the warm welcome they received from the different Brothers’ communities they visited along the way. Whether it was one of the smaller communities in St Malo or St Brieuc, or The Provincial House in Vannes, they were warmly received and nourished with the simple yet wholesome fare that is the hallmark of the Breton way of life. This was especially true at the Mother House where Brother Francois Milin proved to be a most genial host.

The chapel at the Mother House

Stained gla ss window of Gabriel Deshayes

at Beignon

A pilgrimage is necessarily a demanding journey or search, with penitential elements, but it is ultimately a journey inwards that brings untold rewards. Everyone seemed to feel that the visit to Brittany was a time of personal growth, principally through times of sharing, reflection and prayer. These blessings far outweighed the hardship of being deprived of everyday leisure activities such as television and shopping, or even swimming in the inviting coastal locations that we passed en route. helping th e poor

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Colomendy Trip

Congratulations to 11 IFP

During May five pupils from Year 8 went to Colomendy with Liverpool Hope University’s Maths PGCE students for a Maths master class.

Congratulations to the following year 11 students who achieved their Certificate of personal effectiveness (CoPE) Level 1 qualification this week.

CoPE is equivalent to one GCSE and the students have worked hard all year putting together a portfolio of evidence from topics such as Sport and Fitness, Vocational preparation and Expressive arts. Throughout the folder they had to provide evidence of wider key skills Problem solving, working with others, improving own learning, research, discussion and oral presentation.

Jack Peters, Jakeb Taylor-Byrne, Jack Kemp, Thomas Kemp and Thomas Lowry took part in many activities involving team work, problem solving and thinking skills.

All of the pupils enjoyed the trip and made lots of new friends with pupils from other schools. SFX pupils came 2nd in the maths quiz!

Kevin Christian Alex Edwards Joshua Jones Adam Nolan Tom Ryan Andrew Wade Sam Pickett Philip Williams Neal Pritchard Craig Fitzgibbon

Their favourite activity was one that required excellent team working skills. The group had to find a solution to prevent water leaking out of a pipe that had holes in it, and fill up the pipe with water so that the ball floated to the top. It was an excellent trip that allowed pupils to see how Maths can be brought to life through imaginative outdoor activities!

Miss Warwick

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PTA Update

Liverpool Triathlon

It’s always nice to end the year on a high note and this year the PTA have reached the top of the scale! We have been fortunate in our quest to purchase a second minibus for the College and have recently taken delivery of a 17 seater vehicle with an electronic tail lift which means we now have access for disabled passengers.

In June, Brother James took part in the Liverpool Triathlon. Out of the 316 participants in the "Sprint" distance (750m swim, 20km cycle, 5 km run) he came 87th overall and 16th on the cycle leg. See photo evidence.

We are delighted to be able to assist the school as we know how much the vehicles are used but could not have bought the minibus without the generous support of all who have helped us. This now means that we have been able to purchase 2 vehicles for the College which we know will make a great deal of difference.

Our last function was assisting at the Band Evening which was well attended and managed to raise funds for both the PTA and Bro. James’ Haiti Appeal Fund.

We have planned another full year of events, hopefully there will be something to appeal to all. We really do appreciate support in all respects especially in this current economic climate but rest assured any money we do raise goes directly back into the school for the benefit of all pupils.

The money Brother raised is going to Zöe's Place baby hospice. Zoë's Place relies on donations to keep going and they do truly marvellous work. Each year, our Year 11 pupils undertake various fund-raising activities for the Hospice and some get a chance to visit it and see how the money is put to good use.

In the meantime thank you all for your continued support.

Best Wishes Chairperson SFX PTA

Liverpool Unites The Choir were invited to sing alongside David Gest at The Adelphi Hotel Charity Gala Dinner organised by The North West Variety Club of Great Britain and Liverpool Unites. The boys were very excited to share a platform with Mark Lester - the original 'Oliver' actor and Matt Willis, the singer in a performance of Consider Yourself.

They followed this with an A Capella African song.

The boys were also treated to a trip to McDonalds before the show courtesy of Mr Gest.

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Greece Visit From 13th - 22nd of May 2009 a group of 33 students and 4 teachers had an adventure in Greece, the land of olives and all of those old rocks. It all started on Wednesday 13th, everyone hyped up waiting for 5th period to end, when we could all prepare to set off later

that night.

At around 11:30pm onwards, people started arriving at the school car park, waiting for the coach and the teachers to come. We all piled onto the coach, being counted on (the first of many times this would happen).

Everyone waved goodbye to their mums and the coach driver took us to Heathrow airport. We made one stop on the way. Up to that point everyone was awake and excited, just thinking about the plane, the weather etc accompanied by some strange tastes of music, oh and of course Dennis, the wooden spoon. After the stop, we all seemed to fall asleep for the rest of the journey, well most of us catching up on sleep we were currently missing. Four hours later, we arrived at Heathrow. Everyone got

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back out of the coach and we all grabbed our cases and set off to check in. We all got our boarding passes and, after a short wait, we boarded the plane.

There was some TV for us to watch, including The Simpsons. Others just slept, chatted or had their own entertainment and behaviour was good all round. We landed in Athens airport around 2pm local time. After we all found our cases, we set off to our hotel, taking a scenic ride through Athens.

The hotel was good. But that didn't really matter, as we'd be out of it for most of the time! The first day there, we walked to the Acropolis with the Parthenon on the top and on the way we went onto a tall rock which gave a great view of Athens. Then we were straight up to the Parthenon. The walk was worth it. The Parthenon was fantastic, in great condition considering

all psyched ourselves up to prepare for the big race in the stadium and to see who was an Olympic champion amongst us all. Afterwards we walked to a museum with the scale replica of Olympia. A coach ride then took us to Tolon and to our last hotel, where we had a good swim.

The following morning, we visited Mycenae, where King Agamemnon lived and we took on “Mini Munch”, as Mr Slattery calls it (the steps of the Palamede fortress in Naphlion), which really tired us out. We then had another swim and our last sleep in Greece. The final day was Monster Munch (Akrocorinth), from where we could see the narrow strip of land connecting mainland Greece to the Peloponnese, where boats used to be dragged across land to avoid the long trip by sea. On our way back to Athens, we stopped to look at a deep canal, cutting through the same strip of land mentioned above, which was fantastic. how old it actually was. We all went off in small groups to walk around the Parthenon and each side was overwhelming, especially when looking straight up at it.

Some had lunch and took in the view over the side, whilst others went around several times. Just past the Parthenon was a smaller temple and the columns were women (stone ones). We went down through a small park and up a hill which gave a really good view of the Parthenon and Athens. We later walked up Mount Lycabettos, a good wearing walk but every step worth it for the view.

The next day, we visited the ancient market place and a cemetery with tortoises. Then we were off to Kalambaka up north on a 6 hour coach journey with a stop mid-way.

In Kalambaka, the hotel was much better. The next day we went to Meteora, to visit some monasteries perched on top of tall rock formations.

This was where the climax of the James Bond 'For Your Eyes Only' was filmed. Then we were off to Delphi to visit the site of the Pythian games and treasuries and temples, but the running track was closed off. So we had to make our way down and into a museum which was very good and had good artifacts.

After we got to the airport and checked in, we had to leave and get on the plane. When we got to Heathrow, we jumped onto a coach bound for home (well, more like sluggishly dragged ourselves). The remainder of the journey was rather quiet. The grand finale of the quiz took place on this journey, where Zeus’ Thunder (Joe Irwin, Alex Hordern) took on The Killer Bass (Izaaki Wose, Marc Barlow). The quiz was heated, and Zeus’ Thunder took the title, Classics Trip Quiz Champions ’09. They each got a pizza delivered to them later on in the week. After that, the rest was just, home and sleep. But I can definitely say that the trip was the best one I had been on. I think it’s safe to say that everyone enjoyed it immensely.

Andrew Brown 9 OW

The next day was Olympia and we went to see the original Olympic village with the temple of Zeus. Then we 17

Big Schools Birdwatch Four Year 7 pupils took part in the Big Schools Birtdwatch last term with Mr Fox. They were Adam Conroy, Jack Thomas, Sam Matthews and Alex Dunn. The pupils recorded 4 Bluetits; 4 Starlings; 4 longtailed tits; 9 Wood pigeons and 22 Black-headed gulls. The sightings are recorded as the highest number of a species seen at any one time.

The nations ‘Top 10’ birds as a result of this National event are shown below.

1. House sparrow There were an average of 3.70 sparrows per garden. Although they stay at the top of the table, house sparrow numbers have fallen by 63% since 1979.

2. Starling An average of 3.21 starlings were seen per garden and they have suffered a decline of 79% since 1979. Starlings are noisy characters usually seen foraging in small flocks.

3. Blackbird An average of 2.84 seen per garden, the blackbird is a non-mover from 2008.

4. Blue tit Blue tits are another non-mover from 2008, with an average of 2.45 seen per garden. An agile bird, blue tits are most often seen flitting onto bird feeders.

In winter, family flocks are joined by great tits, long-tailed tits and other woodland species, as they search for food.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2009 full results Over the Big Garden Birdwatch 2009 weekend 73 different species were seen, but what were they? You can find out by going to the Big Garden Birdwatch 2009 full results to find out at the RSPB website.

Mr Fox 18

at SFX 5. Chaffinch With an average of 2.01 per garden, the chaffinch held its 5th position. Since 1979, numbers have fallen by 33%.

6. Woodpigeon An average of 1.85 seen per garden, the woodpigeon continues its success in the UK. It's increased by 825% since 1979. The largest of the pigeon family. In flight they have distinctive white wing patches and the tail has a dark band at the end.

7. Collared dove With an average of 1.44 seen per garden, the collared dove continues to increase in numbers with a rise of 414% since 1979. Collared doves originally came from southern Asia and spread from there to the extreme south-east of Europe. They were first recorded in Britain in 1953 and have since become a common garden bird throughout Great Britain and Ireland.

8. Great tit Great tits are another species continuing to enjoy an increase in numbers with a 56% increase since 1979, and an average of 1.40 seen per garden this year.

Great tits feed on seeds and scraps either left on the ground, or on bird tables and in nut feeders.

9. Robin An average of 1.36 per garden robins have dropped one place from last year.

Robins are the only garden birds to sing throughout the winter, with both males and females holding winter territories.

10. Long-tailed tit And sneaking in at number 10 is the long-tailed tit with an average of 1.34 seen per garden.

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TrackNav Competition The Design and Technology department are always trying to introduce extra curricular activities that will inspire students to consider career pathways in the design industry.

Year 10 Enterprise Day Year 10 Enterprise Day took place on Thursday 2nd April. This involved all pupils in Year 10. The day was a resounding success with some very positive feedback from pupils, staff and our guests from Business Dynamics. Pupils were involved in a variety of activities designed to develop their awareness of the world of business and enterprise and also develop skills such as team working and communication.

LandRover have been running a competition called TrackNav for a few years now and The Year 12 Product Design group decided to enter the competition. The competition involved designing and building a radiocontrolled all-terrain vehicle to be navigated around a purpose built circuit that was built by LandRover engineers.

In addition to the 'small' job of building a car to specific guidelines (size, weight, power source, electronic accessories to name a few) the team had to present to a board, deliver costing reports and present a design portfolio - easy!!!

As the competition was a nationally run programme for any school - there were regional qualification heats to deal with. Team XY consisting of Michael McGrath (team captain), Curtis Reekie, Daniel Jessop and John Clarke went to Land Rover in Halewood on 18th June with Mr Bowers and Mr Oyadiran to take part in the competition.

After a series of rounds, Team XY were leading the heat until the final round after lunch - the course race with the car. Unfortunately Team XY missed out on winning the heat, being beaten by a team that took part last year.

During the day Land Rover give all competitors the opportunity to go out in a real Land Rover around a real obstacle course which was amazing to say the least extremely impressive.

All involved had an excellent time and SFX look forward to competing next year. With a little more experience - maybe we’ll go on to the nationals.

Mr Bowers 20

Pupils applied themselves to a variety of team building exercises which included: Designing and marketing a product, planning and building a model housing development, building a model rollercoaster and looking at the social implications of business activity.

Prizes were awarded to pupils throughout the day with a final presentation in the hall. Special mention must go to Mr Pedder for all his hard work in helping to organise the event and to all in Year 10 for their efforts and excellent behaviour.

Mr Conroy.

Leavers’ Party The 16th May 2009 saw the annual sixth form leavers’ party at SFX. It was an excellent night everyone looked very smart and was difficult to recognise some of the students as they really had transformed themselves The event started at 7.00pm with a buck’s fizz reception, the school dining room was expertly transformed into a stunning and fitting venue for the event. The staff and students sat down together to enjoy a meal: The Menu Starters:

d pearls of dew melon an ry coulis A fan of honey b sp er on a bed of ra watermelon lentil soup getable and Or creamy ve Main Course: k au poivre Braised stea chicken Roast fillet of ut crepe om and waln ro sh u m , h Spinac Sweet: te Chocolate Tor secake ee h el C Orange Caram

For entertainment we had the delights of a table magician, he was really entertaining and kept each table amused with his acts of mystery and intrigue!! At one point he even managed to get Mr Evans to sign a £10 note and then proceeded to cut open a kiwi fruit only to find the signed note inside. Mr Evans wasn’t that happy with a soggy £10 note though!!

This year, as in most years, we were entertained by the Manic Street Teachers (although not the full ensemble due to other commitments – we were, however left with the more than capable duo of Mr Flowers and Brother James). Their music went down really well and the legendary singing of the happy song is a must on the play list!!

We danced on until the early hours of the morning. It was a chance to see teachers who the students hadn’t seen for a number of years as well as the chance to say a fitting goodbye to those teachers who have been an integral part of student’s Sixth Form experience The night was very successful and provided everyone with lasting memories of that night and their time at SFX. We wish them well for their future.

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IT Diploma News Preparations are well underway for the launch of the new IT Diploma course which will start in September.

This is going to be taught at the Sunflower Centre in Woolton village where a brand new ‘state of the art’ classroom has been designed. Work is due to start on the 7th July when the existing fittings will be ripped out and the new equipment and furniture will be installed over the summer holidays.

The course content is up-to-date and relevant, reflecting the blend of business, technical, interpersonal and project skills needed by someone who is thinking about a career in the IT sector. The IT Diploma is equivalent to 7 GCSEs (Grade A*-C) which reflects the demanding content and high expectations of this qualification.

Through completing the Principal Learning, learners will: • Investigate technology systems used in business • Explore the impact of technology on organisations, individuals and society • Produce small-scale technology systems, including databases and networks • Create effective multimedia products • Learn how to manage and deliver successful IT projects • Develop their team-working, communication and problem-solving skills.

The Diploma students will have the benefit of visiting numerous businesses and organisations and will no doubt be set some real life challenges by the employers involved! It is also hoped that there will be some exciting educational trips where they will see technology being used in amazing ways for example in Disneyland, Paris.

Watch this space!

Mrs Holmes

Catch a Star!

Thomas Hogan took part in the 'Catch a Star' event at Parklands CLC on Wednesday, 24th June organised by Miss Manning.

Pupils should watch out for future auditions.

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Year 7 Footballers: Merseyside Schools Champions In beating English Schools National Champions Archbishop Beck 3-1 in the Merseyside Final, the SFX Year 7 team produced one of the finest displays in the history of the school.

The manager of the side, Mr Harrison commented, “It was an excellent performance and a reward for their dedication throughout the season. We had hundreds of hours of training and matches and it paid off. The team showed ability, skill, tactical awareness and self-belief.

They outplayed a really strong side and I am very proud of them. I admire the players a great deal and hope they continue to progress as footballers. I would also like to pay tribute to a loyal group of parents and supporters who attended in numbers all season and who were respectful of decisions, recognising that there were many boys involved not just one.”

Back row standing: left to right.

Jordan Flynn ; James Tierney ; Mark Gill (goalie) ; Christian Haws ; Connor Martin ; Ben Jago (Capt) ; Matthew James ; Kieran Gilsenan ; Sean McEvoy ; Joe Coffey.

Front row: left to right.

Nathan Benjamin ; Patrick Graham ; Alex Speed ; Thomas Feeley ; Louis Robles ; Gavin Heard.

Year 10 Football Year 10 finished off a good season with a fantastic success in the Liverpool Cup final, winning the Martindale Trophy. A 3-0 victory over Cardinal Heenan meant that the boys were able to finish the season with a medal, their first one for SFX. Anthony Gallagher opened the scoring in the first half with an excellent volley from the clearance of a corner, an almost identical goal to the one he scored in the Merseyside Cup semi final against the same opposition. The second half again was tight but Cardinal Heenan were unable to get past the solid defence of O’Driscoll, Robertson, Gallagher and Durnan, with John Murphy doing a fine job in goal too when called upon. Kieron Kenny added a second, with credit to George Ferguson for the assist and then Jack Shaw completed the win with a fine solo goal.

Played 19

Won 15

Drawn 1

Lost 3

Goals + 53

Goals 19

Mr Glover would like to pass on a massive thank you to all the pupils who have been involved in the football team over the past few years and would also like to thank all of the parents for their support too.

Football 2008 - 2009 Roll of Honour 2nd X1 – League Winners Year 10 – Liverpool Champions Year 9 – Liverpool Champions and Merseyside Finalists Year 8 – Liverpool Champions Year 7– Merseyside Champions and Liverpool Finalists

A Year with the Schools’ Parliament This academic year has been very busy in the Schools’ parliament. After their initial training at Lace in October the MSP’s embarked on a series of interesting and engaging workshops.

Knife crime was the first and saw a very heated debate between students and the Police. This crime is taken very seriously on Merseyside and the Police are at pains to make sure that no child feels threatened to the point that they need to arm themselves for protection.

Further workshops followed addressing such topics as Healthy Eating, The Children and Young Peoples’ plan, Bully Busters and The Holocaust.

As a group we found the debate in the Council chambers on the motion ‘The Upper House of the Liverpool Schools’ Parliament proposes that Liverpool City Council should not cut the allocated budget for 6th Form bus passes’, most exciting. It provoked much argument and discussion but was eventually carried with a good majority. For one MSP, however, his visit to London to meet with real MP’s and discuss the Small Print Bill will stay in his memory for a long time. Tea, sandwiches and cake in one of the anti rooms of the Houses of Parliament also helped to feed the mind.

My thanks go to the following boys, Liam Markey, Patrick Gaul, Joseph Mosses and Jonathan Rigby who equipped themselves well in each situation and proved excellent ambassadors for the College.

Mrs Smith

Year Seven French Project The 7Y3 French class have been working on an Assessment for Learning (AfL) - led project to help build up their level of spoken French. The boys prepared and recorded their own mini-podcasts in French. Their final performance was video recorded to be used as a teacher-training tool by the Local Authority.

The boys said: "It was funny speaking through the microphone and then hearing yourself speaking French" "I was really proud of my work" "It made me fell really confident that I could be good at French" Mr Lloyd 23

National School Sports Week During the final half term the school signed up to be part of the exciting National School Sports Week. This involved a number of different inter form sports competitions for our year 7 and 8 pupils. It was a huge success with around 75 of our students competing in some form of activity on any given night. The sports included: dodgeball, squash, baseball and tennis. The events were signed off with a school sports day at Litherland Sports Centre in the final week. As it was an inter form event, the competition was fierce but no matter where each form group finished, all those involved had an enjoyable few weeks.

Next year we are aiming to increase the opportunities for our students to stay behind after school and take part in some form of physical activity or sport. It is a government initiative that by the time the Olympics happen in 2012 all students should be offered at least 5 hours of PE and sports each week. With the success of Sports Week I’m sure we can meet this target.

Mr Brown

Athletics Results Merseyside Catholic Schools Meeting (Division 1) at Wavertree 1st – SFX 2nd – Cardinal Heenan 3rd – Sacred Heart 4th - Maricourt Liverpool City Athletics Champions Year7 Joseph Rice (400m) Year 8 Thomas Searle (200m) Year 9 Tom Williams (100m and Long Jump) Alex Almond (High Jump and Triple Jump) James Cairns (200m and Hurdles) D Jones, T Williams, J Comer, P Stanton (Relay) Year 10 Michael Hartley (High Jump) Robert McLean (800m))

Athletics Results Merseyside Catholic Schools Meeting Wednesday 10th June at Wavertree (Division 1) 1st – SFX (712 points) 2nd – Maricourt (706 points) 3rd – Sacred Heart (641 points) Four SFX pupils have reached the English Schools Finals: Oliver Back (Year 12 – 100m) Craig Jones (Year 11 – Long Jump) Michael Hartley (Year 11 – High Jump) Thomas Williams (Year 9 – 100m) Richard Harrison (Year 9 – Hurdles) South District Results (Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 Combined) 1st – St Margarets (537 points) 2nd – SFX (468 points) 3rd – Calderstones (371 points) 4th – Gateacre (346 points) 5th – Shorefields (275 points) Boys who qualified for the city individual championships (by coming 1st or 2nd in the South District) Year7 Gavin Herd (100m) Louis Robles (200m) Joseph Rice (400m) Alex Speed (800m) Patrick Graham (800m) Ben Jago (Hurdles) Joseph College (High Jump) James Verberg (Javelin) G Herd, J Kenton, L Robles, S Trainer (Relay) Year 8 Thomas Searle (200m) Oliver Sharpe (1500m) Sam Kinley (Discus) Year 9 Tom Williams (100m and Long Jump) Declan Jones (Shot) Alex Almond (High Jump and Triple Jump) James Cairns (200m and Hurdles) Luke Towers (1500m) Nathan Quirk (1500m) S Kinsella, T Williams, J Comer, P Stanton (Relay) Year 10 James Shaw (100m) Michael Hartley (High Jump) Robert McLean (800m)

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