ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Catholic Technology College Advent Newsletter 2014
UPDATES REVIEWS SPORTS SPECIAL
‘Nil satis optimum’ A LETTER FROM OUR HEAD TEACHER
Dear Parents and Carers, Thank you all so much for your support and kindness during this term. School life is increasingly busy and our staff appreciate the positive feedback you have given them via emails and telephone calls. It is very rewarding when parents and carers take the time and trouble to thank us for our work. We greatly value your appreciation. Advent is a very special time in our Catholic community. Our students show their tremendous generosity of spirit in the variety of good deeds they carry out during this holy season. They are always so willing to support the vulnerable in our world. As always, they have responded generously to the Shoe Box Appeal and provided wonderful food parcels for the Glebe Centre to support the homeless in Walsall. We have had a variety of Advent services in school and are following the Diocesan “Walk With Me” prayer programme for Advent. Our young people certainly show their understanding of the true spirit of Christmas and I am immensely proud of them. Despite how busy we are during the festive season, I hope you and your families will have at least a few days‟ rest and time together during the Christmas period. Spare a thought for those who are ill or struggling in our school community or suffering recent bereavement and please offer a prayer for them. Some staff are leaving us this term. Mr Howes has been appointed Assistant Headteacher in a Staffordshire school and Mr Skrakowski is taking up a post in further education. They have both given great service to our school and will be missed. I wish them every success in their new posts. I look forward to seeing all our students again in the New Year and wish all of you a very holy and happy Christmas.
Yours sincerely,
P. Mullins.
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Newsletter Advent 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ CHARITY APPEAL
Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Appeal
At St Francis of Assisi we have supported Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Appeal for over 10 years. Our pupils are extremely generous and this year once again they have filled shoe boxes with a variety of items that will bring a lot of happiness to children less fortunate than themselves. On Friday 28th November a van came to collect the boxes that had been wrapped in festive paper. Friends, form groups and individuals donated a grand total of 118 shoe boxes. This year the event was promoted by the Year 11 Foundation Learning Group who delivered two assemblies to pupils. They helped to check and sort the boxes that were handed in, then counted the boxes and stacked them in the school reception to await collection.
Newsletter Advent 2014
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‘Nil satis optimum’ YOUTH ACTION
A box of joy The Youth St Vincent de Paul group at St Francis of Assisi have truly turned concern into action. These young students have wrapped and delivered boxes of joy to form rooms in the school, each with a tick list, ready to start this year‟s collection. The response from students so far has been so inspiring. The S.V.P group wanted to spread joy this Christmas, listening to the inspirational talks of our Pope Francis; they recognised that actions of joy spread the word of Jesus. The group have ditched the boring brown food boxes and replaced them with bright red Christmas colours. These boxes will be delivered to the Glebe Centre in Walsall on Monday 15th December 2014. We are looking to make our meetings more fun by ordering some pizzas and other treats. As the coordinator of this group, I wish to say well done for volunteering and giving up your lunchtimes to lead a charitable life and remember those beautiful words of our Lord,
“ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 35-36) We are appealing for more members for our school group. If you know someone who might like to join, please contact dservice@stfrancis.cc . Please pray for our group. Miss D Service
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Newsletter Advent 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ SCIENCE DEPT
West Midlands Chemistry quiz 2014-2015 On Thursday 11th December a team of GCSE chemists from SFA met Highclare School at home in the first round of the annual West Midlands Chemistry quiz. Presided over by Mrs Ward and staff from the rival school, the competition was tough, and the questions even tougher, but the team were eventually triumphant, with a secure victory over our first opponents. Our team worked well together in the group rounds, and showed exceptional knowledge and confidence with the individual questions. The winning team was comprised of Chelsea Jones and Ryan Conway (Year 10), and Katie Horton and Samuel Dettmer (Year 11). Congratulations to all who were involved, and wish us luck for our next round early in the New Year!
Key stage 3 Science Aspire Group Following on from the success of the History Key Stage 3 aspire group, Mrs Ward has set up a science aspire group too. The group is comprised of students from Key Stage 3 who show a particular interest and aptitude in science, and has been created to add a new element of challenge to their science curriculum. Activities undertaken so far have included „CSI Aldridge - who stole the puppy?‟ - a chemistry and forensic investigation, and „Reindeer-less rocket sleighs‟ - a physics and engineering challenge. The group focusses on investigation and practical skills, and combines elements from science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects. The photograph shows some of the students using forensic techniques to identify the culprit in the forensic activity.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ THINK PINK
Think Pink Our Story We collaborated as a team and wanted to show that we care about such a worthwhile cause. Luke came up with the idea of selling pink wristbands for „Think Pink‟ because we had done something similar before in memory of a dear friend. Our idea was then agreed with Mrs Strawford who really wanted to support us. Our goal was to get everyone in the school to wear a Think Pink wristband on Think Pink Friday to raise awareness
amongst
pupils
and staff. We managed to purchase 1500
wristbands
in
two
shades of pink, „Hot‟ and „Baby‟ pink. We then began selling the week of Think Pink for a £1 donation for a wristband. trend
This with
recognising
us
began
a
students as
the
„Wristband Boys‟ and when it came
to
the
Friday
we
managed to raise £900 for the Breast Cancer charities from the wristband sales. We managed to raise a total of £2800 for Breast Cancer, £1400 going to Breast friends who assist those who are going through the traumatic experience of chemo therapy. The remaining £1400 going to cancer research.Other fantastic ideas to help raise money were Aaron Mas Griffin shaving his head raising just over £300, and Pink Ice Cream sales reaching the £150 mark… As a school we massively support „Think Pink‟ and what it stands for and we hope to raise even more next year!
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Newsletter Advent 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ STUDENT VOICE
Our Thoughts Jacob “We had an idea about selling wrist bands for think pink as we wanted to do our bit. We decided to go ahead with the idea and ordered some within the week, they arrived in school and we began to sell around school. We were very happy with the amount we raised.Next year we wish to raise £1000” Luke “Overall, I think that think pink was a great success knowing we raised £3000 to donate to breast friends and breast cancer Research. It wasn‟t just about the money, it was knowing we all contributed to help beat breast cancer! Can‟t wait for next year!” Callum “This began as just a thought and then just to see the massive support during the week of Think Pink was amazing… I hope we can return next year with the wristbands and reach the £1000 mark!”
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‘Nil satis optimum’ P.E. NEWS
PE Department update As we approach Christmas it is important to reflect upon our achievements of the past year, do I deserve to be on Father Christmas‟ good list? Have I been a good student? Have I been a good brother or sister? Have I helped others and been a good Catholic Citizen? Well, the PE department are no different in that we take time to look back at what we have been doing and this time of year provides an ideal opportunity for us to reflect upon the students and their sporting achievements. I think many of the SFA students certainly do deserve to be on Father Christmas‟ good list for their sporting achievements alone. The first half term of the academic year was dedicated to football and netball. We entered 6 football teams and 5 netball teams in to the local competitions. The girls netball teams were involved in their first wave of fixtures and the early indications are that we will be finishing high up in all of the respective leagues when the fixtures recommence later in the year. The year 8 girls will be hoping to emulate their success from last year. With reference to the football I also expect to have many teams finishing in the top 2 in their respective leagues, when the league tables are published. What is for sure is that the year 11 boys will be crowned as league winners following their 100% winning record. I look forward to more success when the cup competitions commence in February. On Friday 21st November St Francis of Assisi CTC hosted the annual Walsall Schools Cross Country Championships. A total of 185 students from across the borough participated on what was a cold, wet and dreary day. However, the weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the students, with the standard of competition being sky high throughout the afternoon. It also turned out to be a resounding success for the students of St Francis of Assisi. All of the boys and girls performed with great grit and determination and represented the school with great pride. We were team winners in the year 7 boys, year 8/9 girls, year 8/9 boys and the year 10/11 girls competitions. We also won the overall team competition for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. A number of our students will now go on to represent Walsall in the West Midlands Championships in January. The following students all managed to go away with a medal after their individual performances; Milly Fidkin (year 7 3rd), Sam Green (year 7 3rd), Charlotte
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Newsletter Advent 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’
Bush (year 9 1st), Jimmy Cotterill (year 9 1st), Liam McIntee (year 9 3rd) and Luke Billett (year 11 3rd). We have also had the qualifying competitions for the Walsall Schools badminton championships that were held at Streetly Academy. We play in the Walsall South qualifying competition and the top 2 teams go through to the borough finals. Both our KS3 boys and girls teams have managed to do just that. The girls team of Alicia Brown, Emily Findlater, Libby Hood and Isabella Hughes finished second behind Streetly and our boys team of Joseph Ball, Daniel Jolly, Jacob Thorne and Jack O‟Learly go through to the next stage as Walsall South winners. I am hoping for more of the same next week when our boys and girls are involved in the Walsall Schools table tennis championships. Our KS3, KS4 and KS5 boys teams all finished as runners up in the Black Country team championships. I am hoping for them to go one better in the Walsall competition, with the aim of retaining all of the trophies that we currently hold. I will hopefully have the opportunity to feedback about more success in the next addition of our newsletter. I would like to wish everyone a very happy and holy Christmas and I look forward to 2015 being as successful as this year has been! Mr Connell Head of PE
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‘Nil satis optimum’ YEAR 9 Y9 Islamic Visits During October, all Year 9 students were given the opportunity to visit the Ghamkol Sharif Mosque and the Islam Exhibition in Small Heath, Birmingham, as part of our Islam topic in RE. We started off in the Mosque and had a tour of the men‟s and women‟s worship areas and the wudu areas. We learnt about the history of the Mosque. We learnt that it was named after the founder and took 4 years to build, from March 1992 to 1996. We were also told that it is one of the largest mosques in Europe and cost nearly £4 million to build. After our visit to the Mosque, we went to the Islam Exhibition. While we were there, we visited different sections, such as Faith and History where we enhanced our knowledge of the background and History of Islam, The Five Pillars where we learned the 5 key rules that every Muslim should follow, Family Life where we learned about family roles in the house and key Islam laws (such as a ban on drinking alcohol/ non-Halal meat), and Islam and Science where we learned about key scientific discoveries, After these sections, we participated in a question and answer session followed by learning how to write our names in Arabic (the main language of Islam) Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and I hope everyone else did too. Guy 9B
Parental Praise This term has seen the successful launch of Parental Praise events by the Year 9 Pastoral Team, led by Mr Conway and Miss Miller. These events were a fantastic opportunity to recognise the continuing hard work of our students over the last few years. At St Francis we value the hard work and determination of all of our students and invited a specially selected cohort and their parents to celebrate with us. Not only did students receive an award to recognise their hard work, but Mr Conway and Miss Miller have been working on ambition and inspiration within this cohort. The students have set some fantastic goals with their parents for the future. We‟re excited to see where this journey may lead!”
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Newsletter Advent 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ HEALTH AND SOCIAL Health and Social support As part of their course and in readiness of an examination in January 2015 our Year 10 and 11 Health and Social Care students have experienced first-hand the array of various support services that an individual might access at any point during their life, through the incredible work of the Health and Social Care sector. This first-hand experience has been delivered through an incredible array of volunteers who themselves are committed individuals currently employed in the differing aspects of the Health and Social Care sector. Through their invaluable commitment, these guest speakers who have taken time out of their busy schedules to come into School to meet with our students, have through a demonstration of real life events of some of their own clients that they‟ve worked with, highlighted the many incredible ways in which the expert support from the Health and Social Care sector has helped individuals through what has, on occasion, been adverse events in their lives. Our sincere thanks go to this „army‟ of volunteers, some of whom are parents, who, without their support, events such as this just couldn‟t take place. Some of the services to have volunteered for us are listed below: Prospects IAG (Walsall) is the new name for Connexions Walsall who provide support for all young people in Walsall. They provide information and advice to help individuals to get ready for adult and working life. CRUSE Bereavement Services who described the support available to people as they cope and come to terms with the death of a friend or relative. St. Giles Hospice who provides support to patients and relatives demonstrated their support which helps families cope better with terminal illness. Alan Jarvis, a past pupil, who now works for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, demonstrated the support available to improve lifestyle choices.
Louise Jackson-Sanders is a regional manager for prostate cancer UK and commissions a range of clinical and holistic support services for men and their loved ones/carers.
The students have found our visitors interesting and informative and now feel more confident in describing the support services available. Good Luck in your examination!
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‘Nil satis optimum’ USEFUL INFORMATION
Spring Term 2015 Mon 5 January
Start of Term - School opens
16 to 20 February
Half Term
Thu 26 March
End of Term - School closes for Easter 1:30pm
Summer Term 2015 Mon 13 April
Start of Term - School opens
Mon 4 May
May Day Bank Holiday
25 to 29 May
Half Term
Fri 17 July
End of Term - School closes for Summer 1:30pm
Inset Days 2015 Friday, 27th March 2015
Parents Evening 2015 Post 16
Wednesday 21St January 2015
Year 9
Monday 2nd February 2015
Year 13
Tuesday 10th February 2015
Y9 Options
Tuesday 3rd March 2015
Year 8
Thursday 16th April 2015
Normal School Day Registration:
8:55 am
Lunch :
1:00—1:40 pm
Final bell:
3:30 pm
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St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
Newsletter Advent 2014