Contents Easter 2010
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PTA Update . . . . . . . 3 Ofsted Inspection . . 5 Nightowl . . . . . . . . . . 6 Debating Update . . . 8 ICT Diploma News Update . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Easter Revision . . . 10 World Debating Championships . . . 12 SFX Online . . . . . . . 15 Durham Delight – Young Debators . 18 School Council. . . . 20 Football News . . . . 23 Out of Hours Sport Timetable . . . . . . . . 24
Dear Parents As you read this newsletter I hope that the cold weather of winter is in retreat and that we are seeing signs of spring emerging. The changes from one season to another are often very gradual and may pass unnoticed. We are now in the time of Lent when we reflect on the ways we have changed over the last year or so, a time when we ask ourselves questions about how we might have changed, what the effects of these changes have been on others and how these might fit in with Jesus’ teaching. The action of Jesus dying on the cross changed the whole of humanity and provided us all with the opportunity to achieve eternal life. It was no easy task for Jesus to die in this way – He was filled with fear and pain and needed tremendous courage. He knew it was necessary however in order to change things for us all. Perhaps during Lent we could reflect on our own needs for change be it healing in spirit, mind or body and turn to Jesus to ask for direction so that we can be brought closer to Him. On behalf of all at the College I wish you happiness at Easter, the most holy and important part of our liturgical year. Yours sincerely L D Rippon
The Newsletter Editing Team Gabriella Langton 13CA James Leyshon 10BR Declan Jones 10KE Tom Buck 10MA
Dominic McCaffrey 10KE Michael Manville10OW Matthew Powell 8KE
Important Dates: School closes for Easter holidays – at 12.20pm on Wednesday March 31 2010 School reopens after Easter holidays – at 8.40am on Monday April 19th 2010 Year 9 Options evening – Wednesday April 21st 2010 6.30pm - 8.30pm School closed – on Monday May 3rd 2010 – May Bank Holiday
In partnership with YOUTH PARTNER
Duke of Edinburgh's Silver Award On the evening of the 11th March 2010 several students from St Francis Xavier’s College attended an award ceremony at the BT Convention Centre / Echo Arena to collect their Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. As is tradition at these events the students collect their awards individually from a celebrity / dignitary and this year was no exception. The evening was compared by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Alan Jackson and the students collected their awards from Hollyoaks actor Anthony Quinlan. The venue really is suitable for such a celebration of achievement and the evening was focused very much on the hard work and dedication shown by the city’s young people to complete the award scheme’s rigorous requirements. The evening, like last year, was made even more special for SFX as the College choir was invited to perform for the second consecutive year and sang two songs based on the theme of inspiration namely; Swing Low Sweet Chariot and The Gospel Train. I cannot stress enough how appreciative the students receiving their award were of the support of the choir and many positive comments could be heard by young people from other schools sat in the rows in front and behind SFX regarding the choir’s performance.
undertaking a programme of personal fitness / physical recreation but most importantly a journey of self discovery as frequently the students were taken out of their comfort zone and pushed to physical limits they have probably never felt before. I cannot underestimate the importance of character when completing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and this group of students certainly showed that as they battled through inclement weather conditions, tiredness, their own cooking(!) and Mr Holden’s poor jokes. SFX students always seem to rise above the challenges and pull together as a team, this sense of community is as apparent ‘out in the field’ as it is within the corridors of our school! At the end of the awards evening a presentation was made to the staff and adult volunteers, without whom we could not offer the scheme to the young people across the city, the SFX staff myself and the students would like to thank for their time, commitment and expertise are Mr Rippon, Mr Holden, Miss Cullen and Mr Daniels - without whom the DofE award would not be operational in SFX.
The students from SFX who received their award on the night were; Josh Blakeway, Dominic Clarke, Nicholas Crowe, Iain Currie, Josh Evans, Jennifer Hui, James Melia-Jones, Thomas Sewell, James Smith, Nicholas Weeks, John Wright and Luke Scott-Harkins. This was the end of a twelve month process which involved over a total of fifty miles walked, a minimum of six months service to others, learning and developing a new skill,
Tesco Vouchers This year SFX will once again be collecting the Tesco for Schools vouchers, they are slightly different this year the vouchers cover more than just ICT equipment, they now include Sports and Health, Green Schools, Basic Skills and Creativity resources. In the past through the support of students, staff, parents and members of the community, the College has been able to swap the vouchers collected for cameras (which have been used to take many of the pictures you see in this and past editions of SFXtra), video cameras, headphones, memory cards and various
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other equipment that helps enrich the quality of learning here at SFX both inside and outside of normal curriculum time. We would very much appreciate it again if you collected the vouchers and passed them into the school office or to your son/daughter who should pass them onto Mr Evans. Sunday 9th of May 2010 is the last date that the vouchers will be issued at the superstores so the more we can collect before that date the better!
Early Entrants Catch The Examination Worm! Last November almost every pupil in Year 11 took part in an early entry initiative, sitting their GCSE English Language examinations a full seven months ahead of schedule. The arrangement intended to give students a better opportunity of achieving their target grade in English, providing them with two bites at the examination cherry rather than the customary single attempt during the busy summer exam period. The school would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts made by the pupils in the run-up to these examinations. It was an intensive period of work that made many demands upon their maturity and resolve. Thanks are also due to the English Department, who worked tirelessly to provide extra lessons and Nightowl sessions, and whose enthusiasm and expertise were vital in helping pupils rise to the challenge. The experience was, in many ways, a memorable one. On the morning of both examinations, pupils arrived early to school for a final, preparatory session with their English teacher. Breakfast bags containing fruit and non-fizzy drinks were made available, so that they could enter the examination hall fully hydrated and chock-full of nutrients. The scene quite undermined the notion that teenagers don’t take kindly to healthy eating, as around two hundred exam candidates heroically chomped their way through an orchard of apples. The arrival of the results in January brought gasps and cheers across the school, revealing as they did that a staggering 75% of entrants had obtained a Grade C or above. It was a fantastic achievement nay, a triumph - and represents the best set of English results that the school has ever seen. The situation is especially heartening given English Language’s status as a qualification of vital importance, one indeed that can play a decisive role in a pupil’s future. Pupils who have fulfilled their target are now free to concentrate on their GCSE English Literature course, whilst those who didn’t succeed at first can try again this summer.
PTA Update The PTA would like to thank everyone who supported them at the last function Murder Mystery Night. A great time was had by all and we were able to boost our funds by well over £200.00. For the adults there is a St George’s Day Dance to be held on Friday 23rd April in the Dining Hall. Tickets can be purchased via the school office at £10.00 each including hotpot supper and the evening promises to be enjoyable and lively! We are trying to raise funds for the Music Department at the moment to replenish stocks of musical instruments. Until full funds are raised please be aware that we are able to accept donations of unwanted instruments in good used condition. Please contact school office if you have anything to donate. Mr Mark Helme (Parent and School Governor) has agreed to run in the London Marathon in April and as such will be running to support the school. We are hoping to set up a sponsorship scheme to support him with all monies raised going directly to the school. Please visit the school website for more information relating to this event and other PTA functions. Please feel free to contact the PTA via the school office with any comments or items that you feel you would like us to discuss at future meetings. Thank you for your continued support Chairperson SFX PTA
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Community Classes 2010 Anticipated excitement greeted the ‘New Spring/Summer’ Community Classes which proved to be a huge hit with local learners. A variety of new courses were introduced ‘Genealogy/British Sign Language’. The latter was well supported; its value to learners and community at large will be an addition to the quality of life for those concerned. Salsasize and Computer courses were also very well attended. The adult learners expressed how much they had enjoyed the classes and how helpful staff and student volunteers were, which added to the ambience. It is considered that the new season, will benefit not only participants within the community at large, but the popularity of the school in remaining at the forefront of providers of learning to the local community A big thank you to Learners, volunteer helpers, and SFX staff, who all contributed to the smooth running of the Community Classes. Mrs Leong
Annual Civic Mass As Head Girl, I was invited to represent the school, which I did with the help of Mrs Barker, to the annual civic mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King. This was a special mass as Archbishop of Liverpool; Patrick Kelly had invited Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster to speak. Vincent Nichols was born in Crosby (and supports Liverpool!) and this was his first visit to the city since being appointed to Westminster last year. Along with Archbishop Patrick Kelly, councillors and church leaders he attended two services and joined worshippers for the Valentine’s service dedicated to celebrating marriage and family life in Liverpool. He was welcomed by a full Cathedral including many local politicians and representatives of schools in the congregation. In his introduction to the service, the Archbishop spoke of quality of public debate today, the genuine common good in society and he concluded his talk speaking of hope and value of truth and love. The mass was very well organised and ran smoothly with the congregation applauding Archbishop Nichols as the mass began. Even at the end of the service he greeted the congregation and spoke of his happiness to be back in Liverpool once again! Gabriella Langton
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Ofsted Inspection We had a visit from an Ofsted inspection team on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 February 2010. The inspection team concluded that the College was “A good school with outstanding features”. They identified outstanding levels of care, support and guidance and were very impressed by the pupils who they described as being “polite, respectful and articulate”. The team were very impressed by the “levels of their (students) work to support relief workers in Haiti” and described “fund raising activities as exemplary”. Inspectors concluded that pupils’ “commitment to the school and wider community is outstanding”. The hard work of staff and governors was also recognised by the Ofsted team who said that “…the
performance of the school is improving significantly in many aspects such as attainment and achievement” and that “the proportion of pupils who leave school not continuing in education, training or employment is commendably low”. The improvements in sixth form provision were recognised by the team grading this area of the College as “good” compared to the previous inspection in 2007 which described it as “satisfactory”.
The team concluded that “The school is a happy cohesive community”. A team of inspectors from the Archdiocese visited the College at the same time to look at the RE Department and the provision of Catholic education. They concluded that the College is a “good school with an increasing proportion of outstanding features”. Both inspections are testament to the hard work of students, staff and governors together with the outstanding support of parents.
Reducate Maths Revision On the 26th of February 2010 Miss Arends and Miss Cullen accompanied twenty four Year 10 boys to Anfield for a Maths revision day. The boys took part in a range of activities organised by Liverpool Authority’s Maths team and Liverpool football club. They completed revision exercises on computers in Anfield’s Reducate facility and took part in group activities and quizzes for LFC prizes. The boys had a tour of the Anfield stadium, had their photographs taken with the European cup and were given the chance to do some vital revision before their GCSE modular exam on the following Tuesday. All the boys had a great day out and even the Everton fans said they had enjoyed it! Miss Cullen
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Nightowl The NIGHTOWL sessions for Year 11 will continue to run until Thursday 6th May 2010. 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 techniques. 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. Please see the calendar for the remaining session dates and session availability. Miss Lindop
ASDAN Bronze Award Congratulations to the following boys who have achieved their ASDAN Bronze Award: Levi Dowridge Lewis Fay James Burrows Stuart I'Anson Matthew Kirby Gary Mills Michael Leamey Dylan Ellis ASDAN Award Programmes offer imaginative ways of developing, recording and certificating a wide range of young people’s personal qualities, abilities and achievements, as well as introducing them to new activities and challenges. As part of their Bronze Award Year 10 have reported back on a visit to Awesome Walls Climbing Centre, completed the Heartstart fist aid qualification and documented their Vocational placements on a Thursday at the Sunflower centre.
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They have also been successful in securing £750.00 worth of funding to provide equipment for a camping trip to the Peak District after Easter. Well done Year 10! Mrs Hesketh
Go Science! Live Text All pupils can now access the “Go Science!� text books on Moodle. The books are a live text version and include many interactive activities so that pupils can enhance their learning and understanding of science at Key Stage 3.
Go Science online Assessment The Science Department have purchased this resource for Years 7, 8 & 9. Pupils can log into the website to access resources that will enhance learning at KS3 in Science. The website is: www.goscienceonlineassessment.co.uk Pupils can get their username and password from their Science Teacher. If there are any queries about this please contact Mr Fox
Learning Resource Centre Donation This term the school Learning Resource Centre has been very fortunate in receiving a generous donation from an Old Xaverian. Mr Samuels who attended the college in the 1940s kindly made a donation and requested that the money be spent on books for the Learning Resource Centres.
External examinations next term Good luck to all of those in Years 9 to 13 involved in examinations next term. Let us hope that all of your hard work pays off!
We involved pupils in the selection process, and as you can see, the younger pupils in particular were delighted to delve into the boxes of books containing the titles they had requested. Mrs Grace
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Debating Update Four teams took part in Manchester University's School Competition on Saturday 6th February: SFX A Matthew Oldham and Daniel Keeley, SFX B Paul Wileman and Stephen O'Hare, SFX C Jack Wray and Dominic McCaffrey and SFX D Jonathan Mitchell and Natalie Casey. Despite not making the break to the Final, there were some creditable performances, notably from Daniel Keeley, who was placed 5th on the speaker tab out of 72 speakers and from Natalie and Jonathan, both novice debaters, who won 2 of their 4 debates. SFX Year 10 and 11 debate teams travelled to Cardiff on Saturday 30th January for their schools competition and performed admirably, SFX B (Phillip Devine, Dominic McCaffrey and Jack Wray) breaking to the Final , where they were narrowly beaten by The Howells School. Special mention must go to Phillip Devine who was placed 2nd on the speaker tab out of 24 speakers and Stephen O'Hare and James Leyshon who were 3rd. AS English Literature students Matthew Handley, Natalie Casey and Jonathan Mitchell were selected, based on their 4 minute video of a discussion centring around love in "King Lear", to take part in The Great Shakespeare Debate in Stratford. Whilst there, they were treated to a performance of The Royal Shakespeare Company's "King Lear", as well as a question and answer session with the actor who played Lear and a lecture from a Warwick University professor. Despite not breaking to the final, all 3 students gave fine 8
performances, particularly Matthew Handley who was judged to be 3rd best speaker of the competition. The Mace Debating Competition took place in SFX on 27th February with Matthew Handley and Matthew Oldham representing our school. The boys won their first round of debates and went through to the Northern Final, where they were unfortunately beaten by Royal Grammar School Newcastle for a place in the England Final. Matthew Oldham and Daniel Keeley qualified for Cambridge University Finals day, a particularly prestigious competition, where the boys not only enjoyed 4 rounds of debating but got the opportunity to attend two mathematics lectures and a medics comedy review. Phillip Devine and Dominic McCaffrey took part in Oxford University's Junior Debating Competition on Saturday 6th March and secured their place at Finals Day, being one of only 5 schools to be selected from this region. The final will be held in May in Oxford's famous Union, a fantastic experience for our Year 10 debaters.
ICT Diploma News Update The Level 2 ICT Diploma has been underway since September 2009. During that time students have completed Unit 1 Theory ‘The Potential of Technology’. Students have examined the use of technology in various organisations including the retail, banking, leisure and online industries. They have examined in detail hardware systems and software applications. The students have considered the role of technology in society today and have looked at the way technology has changed the way organisations operate.
National Business Game! On the 25th February 2010 a group of five Year 13 Business students took part in the Institute of Chartered Accountants National Business Game competition at Liverpool College. The team consisted of James Halligan, Shaun O’ Donnell, Sean Peppercorn, Nick Crowe and Sam Horner. They were competing against twelve other teams mostly made up of public schools.
For Unit 2, the students have to ‘Explore Organisations’ and in order to do this, they visited Bibby Distribution and QVC, Knowsley in order to compare business practice and procedure and to look at how technology is used within the organisations. The visits have been very successful and pupils have been able to compare the different culture, structures and roles of each company and the purpose of their business processes. One of our students commented: “The visit to QVC was brilliant, we got to take a tour of the whole site and learn all about the way ICT is used in their business. We saw the massive warehouse, the call centre and the video conferencing room which was really interesting. The staff there had really gone out of their way to help us and at the end we were given a bag of gifts – it was a really useful day!” Recently, the pupils set up a web cam in the Sunflower Centre classroom and we will soon be able to use video conferencing technology ourselves by holding ‘meetings’ with the North Liverpool ICT Diploma students. Future plans include setting up work placements for the students who are required to complete 10 days of work experience as part of the course and we are about to plan a trip to Disneyland Paris to investigate how ICT is put into practice within the theme park.
With the assistance of a representative from Grant Thornton the students analysed a very detailed business case study. After two hours the group fed their findings back to a panel made up of local chartered accountants. The boys enjoyed the experience and excelled in their presentation showing a maturity beyond their years. The event doubled up as a recruitment exercise for the institute of chartered accountants. Representatives from the industry outlined the academic requirements, different routes and financial rewards of a career in chartered accountancy. Some of the boys expressed an interest in such a career after university. The boys gave a great impression of our school and demonstrated why I am confident they all have fantastic Business careers ahead of them. Mr Conroy
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Easter Revision Easter Revision classes will be taking place on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 12th April. These are not drop in sessions; your son will be invited to attend by his subject teacher via a letter home. Each session is shown by the subject, the year group, the room number and the teacher taking the class.
Time
Wed 7th April
Thurs 8th April
Fri 9th April
Mon 12th April
9am - 10am
Art Art1/GDS Group 11E/A
RE RE3 SBR Year 11 revision
Performing Arts PSS E6 History IGN H2
10am - 11am
DT NPN - (DT1) SBD – (DT3) DBW – (DT2)
Maths Foundation: KAS M3 MMN M4 Higher: RCN M6 RE - RE3 Mrs Barker Year 11 revision
Performing art PSS E6 History IGN H2
11am - 12pm
DT NPN - (DT1) SBD – (DT3) DBW- (DT2) Music GCSE Mu1 KMG
Maths Foundation: KAS M3 MMN M4 Higher: RCN M6
Physics of GCSE Additional Science (Unit P2)LHT in P2
12pm - 1pm
Music GCSE Mu1 KMG
French CSH L3 MBG L4 Separate Physics (Unit P3) SCS in P3
IT LCH/PES/KLP/RRS IT Rooms
1pm - 2pm
Art Art1/GDS Group 11A/A
French CSH L3 MBG L4
IT LCH/PES/KLP/RRS IT Rooms
2pm - 3pm
Latin GSY CL1 English lit. AHS E5
Biology Higher SIN B1Geography Higher GFN G2
Chemistry ADS C3 AHM C2
English lang. AHS E5
3pm - 40pm
Latin GSY CL1 English lit. AHS E5
Biology Foundation SIN B1 Geography Foundation
Chemistry ADS C3 AHM C2
English lang. AHS E5
Performing Art PSS E6
Useful Websites AQA AQA AQA
English and Media Studies www.aqa.org.uk Maths www.mymaths.co.uk • www.aqa.org.uk Science www.gcsescience.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ http://lgfl.skoool.co.uk/keystage4.aspx?id=35 for Biology http://lgfl.skoool.co.uk/keystage4.aspx?id=36 for Chemistry http://lgfl.skoool.co.uk/keystage4.aspx?id=38 for Physics. AQA Psychology www.aqa.org.uk AQA, Edexcel ICT www.aqa.org.uk • www.edexcel.com • www.teach-ict.com AQA DT www.aqa.org.uk • www.technologystudent.com AQA Art www.tate.org.uk • www.nationalgallery.org.uk • www.moma.org OCR History www.ocr.org.uk • www.schoolhistory.co.uk • www.gcsebitesizerevision AQA Geography and Leisure and Tourism www.aqa.org.uk OCR, AQA Bus Studies www.ocr.org.uk • www.aqa.org.uk OCR, Edexcel PE www.ocr.org.uk • www.edexcel.com • SFX moodle Welsh board MFL www.e-studiaonline.com • www.languagesonline.org.uk • www.wjec.co.uk • www.itunes.com Edexcel RE www.edexcel.com OCR Classics www.ocr.org.uk Edexcel Music www.edexcel.com
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Revision Tips and Techniques 1.
Arrange a quiet space for revision, without distractions. 2. Make sure that the room is well lit; you have a pen, pencil, rubber, ruler, the books needed. 3. Have lots of water available and healthy food, including fruit and vegetables. 4. Establish a revision timetable/plan and stick to it. 5. Use active revision techniques (mind-maps, diagrams, revision postcards dealing with topics, lists of key words) – it’s faster, more effective and much more fun. 6. Break revision down into small manageable chunks. 7. Establish a good time to learn for example if you are no good until you’ve had your dinner leave it till later but if you work better straight from school revise at 4pm. 8. Learn/revise something every day – even if there are built in ‘lighter’ days e.g. Saturday is a ‘day’ 9. Make it multi sensory, use at least two senses: hear it, say it, see it and do it. 10. You can: 1) read the information you wish to learn, 2) write/draw some brief notes/diagrams/charts on what you have learned, 3) summarise the information by talking it through/drawing/writing down key ideas, 4) listen to someone else’s summary or look at someone else’s diagram. 11. Highlighter pens are good for making notes, charts and key words. 12. Use revision cards (plain postcards work well): write down a topic and five key words about that topic. Turn over the card. See if you can remember all the words on the card. Design a set of cards for each topic. 13. Routine is important e.g. go to your learning place, turn off the TV/radio/music, sit at your desk and get everything around you that you need. Structure is important, e.g. look at the last thing you did on this topic, read your work, work for 10 minutes, take a 5 minute break, work for 10 minutes, take a 15 minute break and revise for 5 minutes.
Six Simple Revision Techniques 1. CONDENSE Fitting notes onto one side of paper makes them easier to stomach, so rewrite and cut down as you go. 2. HIGHLIGHT Target key areas using colours and symbols. Visuals help you remember the facts. 3. RECORD Try putting important points, quotes and formulae on tape. If you hear them and read them, they're more likely to sink in. 4. TALK Read your notes out loud, it's one way of getting them to register. 5. TEST See what you can remember without notes, but avoid testing yourself on subjects you know already. 6. TIME Do past exam papers against the clock; it's an excellent way of getting up to speed.
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World Schools Debating Championships After 3 months of work, countless practice debates and a seemingly endless succession of 5:30am starts on Saturday mornings, on February 6th, myself, along with my team-mates Hasan, Ed and Greg and our coach Nick, Team England flew out of Heathrow Airport for the World Schools Debating Championships in Qatar. England’s flooding through global warming would at least prove that “every cloud had a silver lining”. However, 2-1 victories emerged from both of these contests, which served to not only show the Scots who were boss, but sent us into the last day of preliminaries with our place in the last 16 guaranteed. After taking all our judges in debates against Lebanon and South Africa respectively, we advanced to the octo-finals in 5th place, having won all 8 of our debates and dropping only 3 of our 24 judges in the process. Upon arrival, we spent the first few days taking advantage of the 5 Star hotel in which we were staying, and preparing our cases for the pre-released motions. The competition began on Wednesday, with a unanimous victory over Lithuania, followed by a split decision win against Indonesia. The next day northern Europe was claimed in one fell swoop- We took all our judges in 3-0 wins over Sweden (whose argument against nuclear weapons consisted of a 4-minute analysis of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme) and the Netherlands (who used their female team member as an example in favour of positive discrimination for women in government) ensured that we entered the weekend break unbeaten. Over the weekend, we visited the desert, an amazing experience, complete with manic drivers hurling us around the sand dunes in a Land Rover and camel riding.
We were to face India for a place in the QuarterFinals, and with the Indian team being coached by an Australian friend of the England team who assured us we’d never be allowed to forget it if we lost, we were determined to win. Fortunately, we won 4-1,
In what was our best performance of the tournament, we won a unanimous 9-0 victory and sent the Welsh crashing out. After the weekend off, the competition resumed, with debates against Sudan and Scotland; The first of these ended us with one of the Sudanese speakers screaming that the entire England team were “morally abhorrent people”, whilst the second included the claim from the Scottish team that 12
and went through to the next day of competition. The penultimate day of the tournament was an incredibly intense experience, containing both the quarter and semi final. In the morning, we faced Pakistan in what was to be a very closely run debate. Whilst we were awaiting adjudication, news filtered through that
in Qatar Wales had beaten Australia in a shock victory; we were now desperate to win in order to set up a Home Nations semi-final. To our delight we won 6-1, and advanced to take on the Welsh in a semi-final at the Museum of Islamic Art. The topic was “That the US should withdraw from the Middle East”, and we were in opposition, which we were delighted to argue as although it left little room for sheep-related jokes, we had experience in in the form of a lecture on the Middle East during our training process. In what was our best performance of the tournament, we won a unanimous 9-0 victory and sent the Welsh crashing
out. We’d reached the final, which was to be on the motion “That the government should never bail out big companies”. The next day we set to work on our opposition case, learning the ins and outs of bail outs, before travelling to the hotel for the final, which was to be against Canada. After both sides entering through the 500-strong audience, the debate began. Unfortunately, it became a messy debate about Canada’s definition (which discounted Nationalisation as a form of bail-out) and one which divided the audience, with speakers from both sides, unusually for debating, being interrupted by rounds of applause from the crowd. In what we were told was a very close debate, we lost out 8-3 on judges to the Canadian team, who took the gold medals home.
I flew back to London having had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’d got the chance to visit an amazing country and to meet people from all over the world (A year ago I never thought that I’d be able to count Indonesian, Qatari and Greek people amongst my friends). I’d also made some great friends in the form of Nick, Greg, Hasan and Ed, and reached a World Final with them. Whilst Ed and Hasan will be going to university next year, myself and Greg have the chance to travel to the admittedly less glamorous Dundee to represent England in WSDC 2011, and the opportunity to not only have another shot at Gold, but to fulfil the much more important task of putting Canada back in their place, and keeping Wales and Scotland in theirs. Matthew Handley
Obviously, we were disappointed that having won all our debates up until that point we had lost out at the final hurdle. However, we were immensely proud, of the way we spoke in the final, how we spoke throughout the tournament, and the progression we had made as a team.
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Year 8 Haiti Fundraising Mrs Walsh’s Year 8 RE class have been focusing on one world week and organising a campaign to raise money for Haiti. Some of the boys have been writing poetry and creating posters to advertise fundraising ideas.
Poem for Haiti A whole world comes together, That’s a memory that would last forever. There are millions of people dying, Yet nobody is trying. We act like we are so sympathetic, But the fact we do nothing is quite pathetic. People have lost their friends, But we only care about the new trends. One world together giving a helping hand, This is what we need to do, so come and join the band. Men and women on earth, rejoice at Jesus’ birth. He showed us how to care, he saved us from despair. By Ben Gilbert
UK Intermediate Maths Challenge February over one hundred and eighty pupils from Year 9, 10 and 11 took part in the Intermediate Mathematics Challenge. All students involved are in Set 1 for Mathematics. The challenge allows the pupils to test their logical thinking and their existing Mathematical knowledge. This year we have 13 students who achieved a Silver award and 24 who achieved a Bronze award. Kieran Grierson (Year 11) achieved the best mark in the school. He achieved a score of 68 which gave him a Silver award. He narrowly missed out on a Gold Award by 2 marks. Well done to all students involved.
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Moodle The college Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is going from strength to strength! Moodle (acronym for Modular Object Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment), has seen visits to its pages go through the roof! Students have taken an active role using their VLE to help with their studies. In every classroom banners have been put up with useful information and form tutors have been at hand to provide usernames and passwords for access. Due to this, February showed an increase in “hits” to the site at an all time high. There is great optimism for Moodle to go from strength to strength with the understanding that the students now have. Further into the summer term plans are afoot to broadcast further quizzes and forums to give feedback on how the college can improve the VLE.
Prize up for grabs in the Moodle “Sherlock Holmes” Through March, students had access to a quiz on the front page of Moodle to answer various types of questions showing how much they have explored their VLE. This certainly gave a fun approach to see what Moodle has to offer in all the subject areas. To answer some questions, students had to click on certain links to be able to answer correctly by retrieving names of resources and useful websites. Prize will be drawn out of a hat for all who answered correctly. Mr McKevitt VLE Co-ordinator
SFX Online The school website is used more frequently than ever before and we would encourage all parents, students (past and present) and members of the community to join us online! We are making the most of many new and developing online technologies and encourage you to use these to facilitate our communication with you and you with us. Please visit the college website at www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk and make it your homepage. It has lots of information relating to life at the college and is updated frequently. We also have our very own Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and AudioBoo pages and these can all be found by clicking on the relevant links at the base of our homepage.
For those parents who have ebook readers we currently can provide an email service to send letters and pdf’s (including SFXtra) to amazon kindle users and will look to make the most of this facility with the new iPad’s if this service will be made available by apple.
The site also makes use of an online calendar that can be added to your own calendars on computers, phones and other such deices. By syncing our calendar you can keep your own data and just add ours to it so you are fully aware of all events taking place here at the college. There is also a section of the site that has electronic versions of every letter sent home to parents - we hope this will let you free up the front of your fridge?
ALAN Testing Some Year 11 pupils have recently completed their Onscreen Examination for the Adult Literacy and Numeracy qualifications. This is an initiative which was implemented as part of Specialist Status in 2005 with an amazing success rate. Although they are not GCSE Qualifications, if a pupil passes both the Literacy and Numeracy tests they are worth a grade B GCSE at level 2 or a grade E GCSE at level 1 in addition to his Maths and English qualifications. The tests started early for some students on Monday 22nd March 2010. Resits have been scheduled in the weeks following the Easter Holidays. Pupils are provided with resit opportunities if it is felt they can improve their grade or attempt a higher level examination. Some Year 11 pupils have been given a test date and may re-sit the Numeracy Examination in the morning which will last for 75 minutes and/or the Literacy Examination in the afternoon which will
last for 60 minutes. If pupils are entitled to extra time it will be added on to the exam timing. Both of the tests are computer based and there are practice tests available on the Internet which pupils can try out at home or in school to help them to prepare for their resit test. The link is shown below. http://www1.edexcel.org.uk/onscreendemo/alante st/launch.htm Year 11 pupils must be in school at 8.40am on the day of the resit exam and must report to the Library and wait with Mr Grace where they will be registered by at 8.40am. The Afternoon Test will start at 1.00pm, it is vital that pupils are not late.
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Rousseau Returns Rousseau, the College Penguin, returned to School from his debut appearance in Liverpool 1 as part of the 2009 Penguin Trail. The Penguin, designed by David Jones Year 12, will remain in School now for posterity and joins the Lambanana in the College foyer. Mr Rippon is eagerly awaiting the next initiative to be undertaken by the Art Department as he hopes to add to the growing menagerie in the years to come!!
Microclimate Investigation 7Y1 recently investigated the microclimate of the school site. Working in groups the boys used digital anemometers to record the wind speed and direction. They also used digital thermometers to record the variations in temperature at the survey sites. The boys rotated the various different tasks so that everyone had some experience of collecting and recording data. When the boys returned to the classroom they transferred the data between groups and calculated the average wind speed and temperature at each survey site. The boys discovered that the coldest site was between the main building and the science block because this site was in the shade. The warmest site was in front of the Newman building because it was south facing and in direct sunshine.
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Building Schools for the Future Wave 6 Bidder’s Day On the 11th March 2010 Brother Peter and Mr Evans were accompanied by Dominic McCaffrey, Shae McChrystal, Izaki Wose and Luis Murray to St George’s Hall to attend the Local Authorities (BSF) ‘Building Schools for the Future’ event in which all schools in the city who will be benefiting from varying levels of financial investment over the next three to five years suggested ways in which they think their school could benefit from this development. SFX took some laptops and various other pieces of technology to showcase what we already do here and suggest what developments we think could enhance learning harnessing new technologies in the future. The students presented this vision articulately to managing directors, city councillors and various other business people who were present at the event. Brother Peter had liaised with those running the event beforehand and managed to secure us a nice location with some power for the laptops and free WiFi which allowed us to display the school website www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk throughout the day. The students involved certainly showed that SFX was forward thinking and realistic in their future expectations regarding the shift in technology within education and how classrooms may look in the future. We had a presentation running throughout the day which the students had created and designed. It contained SFX’s BSF vision and every edition of SFXtra in .pdf format on (also available on www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk). A buffet lunch was provided which gave the students the opportunity to discuss SFX’s vision informally with other students from across the city, and of course enjoy some very nice complimentary sandwiches! The setting of St George’s Hall was perfect as it is such a lovely building with a rich history and we were reminded how that building was created to stand the test of time and the BSF new school buildings should echo this thought process.
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The International Competition for Durham Delight for Devine & McCaffrey Our trip to Durham began at 6:00 am on Saturday 6th March. Most people still had hours of lovely sleep ahead of them, but Dominic McCaffrey and I, accompanied by Mr Cugley, were up bright and early for a big day of debating. We were set to participate in the northern regional round of the ICYD, a tournament open to pupils aged 14 and 15. The first train journey - to York – witnessed much reading of quality newspapers, as well as an in depth discussion of the films of Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands seemed to come out on top, which was quite appropriate given the intellectual cut-and-thrust that lay ahead of us. We disembarked at York at 8:40am and hopped straight onto the Durham train. It was time to focus on the challenge ahead, so this hour long journey consisted principally of discussion of the pre-release motion: 'This house would remove all coalition forces from Afghanistan immediately'. It was a complex issue, but we had done our homework and felt quietly confident. It’s a shame that that confidence didn’t extend to Mr Cugley’s sense of direction. We got off the train at Durham and had a lovely stroll, though it was possibly rather longer than it needed to be. Our ‘progress’ had its very own running commentary from Mr Cugley, who came out with various hopeful predictions: 'This is the way to go', 'I'm sure there’s a (insert shop name) around this corner' etc. Like a malfunctioning sat-nav, he burbled away politely before admitting defeat and asking a fund-raising student to set us on the right path, which the young man duly did. We finally made it to the place where it was all going to happen: the Elvet Riverside building. We sat in a large lecture theatre waiting for other schools to arrive and, in a steady trickle, they did so. With all competitors present, the first motion was projected onto a screen and the dramatic strains of Survivor’s ‘Eye of the Tiger’ flooded the auditorium. This pleased Dominic no end, as
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it’s one of his favourite air guitar numbers, whilst - in its taut, macho bassline and punchbag riff – I heard a distinct call to arms. The motion before us was, 'This house would ban boxing'. We had been placed in the role of First Proposition. Dominic and I looked at each other. We had done this motion before, but would we be able to land a knockout blow? The debate began with my speech about why boxing should be banned, which focused mainly upon the sport’s unhealthy promotion of violence. Dominic followed with some other good points, notably one that referred to the immorality of an industry that generates huge amounts of money from brutality. Whilst these ideas might read quite well, debating is all about effectively delivering your points in a five-minute
Young Debaters: speech and, to be quite frank, we neither floated like butterflies nor stung like bees. Unsurprisingly, SFX came fourth. It was a bad result, but we were determined to pick ourselves off the canvas. The second debate concerned the pre-release motion: 'This house would remove all coalition forces from Afghanistan immediately'. We were both confident about this one and our performance showed it. Speaking for the Opposition, I stood up and put forward a solid argument about the instability of President Karzai’s regime, whilst Dominic followed by summating our case very effectively. The standout comment from this round unquestionably belonged to Dominic, and it centred on the First Proposition speaker’s claim that he would remove all coalition forces from
who were obviously impressed by our adolescent nerve. The fourth and final motion was, 'This house would let mothers take their children into prison'. This was a tough debate and, fulfilling the role of First Opposition, we had to try to rip apart the case set out by the Proposition. Try as we might, neither of us felt that we did the necessary damage. Perhaps the sensitive nature of the debate had subdued our aggressive instincts. To our complete surprise however, we were actually awarded first place. This outcome, along with the other results, meant that we emerged in fourth place overall, with the top five teams going on to the next stage of the competition at Oxford University in May. Success!
We came second in this debate, topped only by an undergraduate swing team who were obviously impressed by our adolescent nerve. Afghanistan inside two weeks. Astonished by this optimistic time scale, Dominic replied, “How would this be possible? Do you have the technology of the Star Trek Enterprise?” With rapier wit like that, it was little surprise that we romped home in first place.
We swaggered back to the train station in the growing darkness, keen to get back to our family and friends on Merseyside. In the words of the Roger Whittaker song, we had to leave old Durham town but – with the glow of triumph about us - the leaving didn’t get us down.
The third debate was, 'This house would give extremist parties a media platform'. Given that we were now in the role of Second Proposition, our job was largely to recap the case for allowing parties like the BNP access to television, radio etc. I said that it was vital that media exposure be allowed, so that the general public see the true colours of these unsavoury groups and vote accordingly (i.e. against them). Once again, Dominic put in another good summation speech that clarified our position quite forcefully. We came second in this debate, topped only by an undergraduate swing team
Philip Devine (10 Lewis)
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The School Council
Scholarship Success
The School Council continues to work on behalf of the students, addressing issues that crop up through the Year Council Meetings. Meetings this Year have been chaired by the pupils themselves. They take it in turn so that no one year group is disadvantaged. A booklet of all the School Council achievements was presented at the recent OFSTED inspection, this made very impressive reading. Over 50 different points were mentioned touching on all areas of the every child matters agenda. Well done to all those pupils who have worked and who continue to work hard for their peers. The next meeting will be March 24th when the Chairman of Governors will be present.
Michael Jackson in Year 13 has gained a record number of scholarships to three of the most prestigious Music Conservatoires in the world. He auditioned successfully for places at The Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, The Royal College of Music, London and The Birmingham Conservatoire. Michael, who plays saxophone, piano and guitar, studies at the Junior RNCM every Saturday. His dedication has paid off and he is in the much sought after position of having to choose from three scholarships. In order to ensure continuity of tuition Michael has chosen Manchester and we all wish him great success in his studies and with his future career.
An Enigmatic Time
Traffic Calming It is with great pride that the School Council view the newly constructed speed bumps on Beaconsfield Road. This road has always been a hazard due to the slight bend creating a blind spot for cars gaining access to and coming away from the school. Pedestrians also have to be very mindful of the traffic as the pavements are indeed very narrow. Mornings and evenings see an increase in the traffic and it is hoped that the new calming devices will help to prevent any future accidents.
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On the 3rd of March the Year 12 Psychology class, accompanied by Ms Finlay and Miss Jones, took a trip to the Empire Theatre to see Derren Brown’s show “Enigma”. Whether you believe or don’t believe Derren Brown’s tricks and performances, the night was a complete success and it left the whole audience baffled and in continuous applause. The show had a huge impact on the Psychology group when one of the Psychology students, Joe Langton, caught a Frisbee Derren threw into the crowd and was invited onto the stage with another person, to participate in one of Derren Brown’s acts. At the end of the show Derren received a standing ovation from the crowd for his truly amazing show. Everyone had a very enjoyable evening and came out of the show very puzzled, amazed and full of admiration for such a gifted performer. The night won’t be forgotten by all who went, particularly Joe, the very gifted Frisbee catcher!
Employability Interviews 2010 The annual Employability Interviews took place from Tuesday 12th January to Thursday 14th January. This again provided all pupils in Year 11 with the opportunity to fill in an application form and be interviewed by a real industry representative. There was a wide variety of employers involved this year including; the RAF, the Army, Merseytravel, Customs and Excise and prestigious top accountancy firms KPMG / Price Waterhouse Coopers. Pupils gained a great deal from the experience and this process is ideal preparation for the real life interviews some of them will face very soon. The feedback from the employers was highly complimentary of the attitude and abilities shown by our pupils. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people from Compact, Mr Burke, Mr Pedder and the BTEC Year 12 group for their help and support in making the event a great success. Mr Conroy
Schools’ Parliament This year has been particularly hectic with workshops based around Bullying, E-tech bullying, 2010 year of Innovation, Health and Well being and the Young Citizen's Action Agenda. The discussions are invariably lively and many good ideas are raised as a result. Travel to school is always a hot topic and a motion was passed to be put forward to the City Council "The Upper House of Liverpool Schools' Parliament wishes Liverpool City Council to give its students in secondary schools the option of either a bike or a bus pass each 12 months". The next meeting takes place on 11th March and is to be a consultation exercise to determine the content of Liverpool's Children and Young People's Plan for 2010 - 2011. The MSPs can choose from one of three areas to work in and to determine how well the City Council met the provision requirements in 2009 - 2010.
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Indoor Sports Hall Athletics
New Pitch for SFX Lords, La Manga and now SFX will shortly have one thing in common. Could it be ‘outstanding features’?
Congratulations to the Year 7 indoor sports hall athletics team who competed at the South Liverpool championships finishing narrowly as runners up thus qualifying for the overall Merseyside County Championships in March. The boys competed in various events such as single races, relays, speed bouncing and standing jumps and throws and we had many winners of these individual events. Finishing 2nd behind Shorefields was a tremendous result and I would like to thank the following boys for their effort on the day and wish them well at the County Championships.
Well we all know about the outstanding teachers at SFX the outstanding facilities at La Manga and the outstanding cricketers who have graced Lords; soon SFX, like the other two, will be the proud owners of a top of the range ClubTurf International Match Pitch for their cricketers and coaches. Thanks to the hard work of all at Old Xaverians’ Cricket Club and a generous allocation from Mr. Brophy the financial package has been put in place. With luck the pitch should be installed over Easter and be ready for when the school returns.
Josef Yarni Ryan Miveld Lewis Wenton Luke Jones Matthew Bainbridge Daniel Abayomi Ifeanyi Emeka Anyakwo Fraser Hanlon
More details in the next edition. Mr Reynolds
Mr Kelly
Year 7 Football The Year 7 A team have kept up the good work. The A team went out against Wright Robinson College in the National Cup on penalties. In the inaugural season of the MSFA League they are through to the semi-final stage playoffs against St. Margaret's. Also looming is a quarter final game of the Liverpool Cup. They are awaiting more fixtures in the Merseyside Cup.
two evenings in Everton Sports Centre and Wavertree sports centre where they only lost one game, the final one at that! Hopefully the final part of the year we are moving towards will bring some more success for the rest of the boys and finish off what has been a very good year which has shown a lot of potential for the boys in the years to come in their time representing SFX for football.
The B Team have just won the LSFA Schools Development League 7 aside tournament held over
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Pos
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Points
1
SFX
6
5
0
1
17
5
12
15
2
Broadgreen
6
4
1
1
11
7
4
13
3
St Margaret’s
6
3
2
1
7
6
1
11
4
Archbishop Beck
6
2
3
1
7
6
1
9
5
King David
6
1
2
3
4
6
-2
5
6
Childwall
6
0
3
3
3
7
-4
3
7
Parklands
6
0
1
5
2
12
-10
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Football News As we enter the latter stages of the football season it is with great excitement that I can say we are strongly represented in various cup competitions at nearly all age groups. Enormous recognition should also go to Mr Glover and Mr Murphy’s Year 7 and 8 teams who have represented the school in the final stages of the prestigious English Schools National Cup. Both succumbed in away fixtures in the last 16 of the competition, the Year 7’s to Wright Robinson College on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate and the Year 8’s 4-1 to competition favourites Thomas Telford. Both years should be extremely proud of their achievement which has given the school an added reputation within English schools football locally and nationally. Congratulations must also go to the Year 7 B-team who have won the College’s first trophy of 2010, winning the LSFA B-team 7-a-side league losing only once in the competition and topping the table two points clear of runners up Broadgreen. In the regional Merseyside cup the SFX flag is still being flown by the Year 7’s and the 1st XI 6th form teams respectively. The Year 7’s face a tough tie to nearby Halewood who we defeated in a tightly contested fixture in the 4th round of the National Cup and the 6th form face the winners of De La Salle and St Benedicts. The 1st XI and 2nd XI are also proving to be very worthy opponents in the Wednesday College’s league, the 1st XI sitting in 5th position with games in hand to play, with the top eight teams qualifying for a cup playoff.
In the more local Liverpool Cup SFX are heavily represented at nearly every level. The Year 11 team were the first to book themselves into a semi final berth with a terrific result away to Archbishop Beck School their victors in last season’s national cup run. A tremendous away performance which produced some excellent attacking football ended with SFX running out comfortable 5-1 winners against a very strong opponent. We also have the Year 7, 8 and 10 teams waiting to play their quarter final ties. The Year 7’s vs Bluecoat, Year 8’s vs St Margaret’s and the Year 10’s vs De La Salle school. We wish them well and hope they can add to their already successful seasons by winning the Liverpool Cup. Finally March saw the end of the Saturday league fixtures as we now return to block friendly fixtures. The leagues were all very tightly contested with our Year 7’s being the standout team finishing 3rd and reaching the semi finals where they are due to play St Margaret’s. I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, players and parents in their every present commitment to the schools football teams your help enables us to give many boys the chance to play competitive football and we are very grateful. Thank you. Mr P Kelly
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Extra Curricular
Rugby League
On the extra curricular front the PE department is very pleased with the attendance and level of interest in it’s variety of after school clubs. The rugby, squash and tennis clubs have been very successful as have the recent dodgeball and after school swimming clubs. The department is also very pleased in the number of Year 10 and 11s attending LA fitness as part of the departments Health related fitness aims. All after school clubs are advertised on the notice boards by the swimming pool so keep an eye out for new sports and clubs which will be taking place in the summer term.
February saw us compete in our first Year 7 rugby league fixture of the school year in the emerging schools league. The boys have been training every Thursday since September and have grasped a solid knowledge of the rules of the game which was shown in a terrific victory away to North Liverpool Academy School. The final score of 25 tries to 7 to SFX tells the story of some of the terrific rugby which was played on the day with every player in the squad chipping in with a single try at least. After the standard set by this performance we have arranged further rugby league fixtures to be played within the emerging schools league and we look forward to further success.
Mr Kelly
Mr Kelly
Out of Hours Sport Timetable Monday Field After School
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Squash Club Year 7 Mr Farrington Table Tennis Club Year 11 Mr Kelly
Squash Club Year 8 Mr Platt Table Tennis Club Year 8 Mr Kelly
Rugby Union All Years Mr Kelly Basketball Year 9-10 Mr Murphy Dodgeball All Years Mr Brown Squash Year 11 Mr Long Squash Club Year 9 Mr Murphy Table Tennis Club Year 10 Mr Kelly Performing Arts – Dance Year 11 Miss Shinks
Rugby League Year 7 Mr Kelly
JSLA Year 10 Mr Murphy
Football - Squad Year 7/8 Mr Glover/Mr Murphy Basketball Year 8 Mr Brown CSLA Year 12 EFC
Tennis Year 7-9 Mr Brophy/Mr Brown
Sports Academy/ Change for Life Year 7 Mr Brown
Gaelic Football Year 7-9
Gym – Lunch Gym After School Squash Court Lunch Squash Court After School Hall – Lunch Hall/Dining Hall After School Cage After School Swimming Pool Woolton High After School LA Fitness After School
Canoeing Mr Daniels
HSLA Year 13 EFC
Squash Club Year 10/11 Mr Brown Table Tennis Club Year 9 Mr Kelly
Friday
Basketball Year 7 Mr Brown Cricket WC 23rd Feb Years 7+8 Mr Murphy Squash Squad 7-11 Andrew Breen
Table Tennis Club Year 7 Mr Kelly
Swimming Non Swimmers/Elite Mr Brown Badminton All Years Mr McKevitt HRE All Years Mr Kelly
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