ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Catholic Technology College Easter Newsletter 2014
Made by students
Find out what’s been going on at the school in the last term
UPDATES REVIEWS SPORTS SPECIAL
‘Nil satis optimum’ A LETTER FROM OUR HEAD TEACHER
Dear Parents, Carers and Students, Thank you for a rewarding and busy term. Our students have done tremendous work both within school and in the wider community. As ever, they are highly respected young people and our school continues to thrive thanks to their loyalty and hard work. We have been busy planning for the introduction of the revised National Curriculum next September and I am very grateful to parents of our Y8 students for their attendance at our information evening. This year group will be the pioneer group for the new curriculum. Our older students are preparing for their examinations. The Easter holiday is a valuable period for revision and I trust that Parents and Carers will encourage them to spend some time on this as well as having a much needed break. Please pray for all of them. We look after our examinees in school by ensuring they have a peaceful and supportive environment – the younger students show genuine consideration for their peers who are taking examinations through their prayers and considerate behaviour. Please also keep in your prayers some of our students who are suffering from major illness. They and their families need our support. Our sixth formers and staff will be taking petitions for them when they set off for Lourdes next month. Wishing you all a very holy Easter, P. Mullins.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
The Health and Social Care Sixth Form group have benefitted from listening to guest speakers who dedicated their time to come in and talk to students at St Francis. Y12 students, who are working on their final AS unit: Positive Care Environment have decided to base it on care for the elderly, at Aldridge Court Nursing Home. Amy, the manager of the home, together with Lynn, a senior carer spent the afternoon going through and explaining to our students the qualities of a good care environment (both pictured below). We also had the privilege of having an ex St Francis student come in to talk about her career path to becoming a nurse and her current position as the Deputy Director of Nursing at Burton Hospital. Y13 students, who are considering the varied care sectors for their forthcoming examination, learned a lot about the voluntary sector when the Chief Officer and the Older Adults Community Engagement Officer from Age UK came in to talk to them about the care they provide for the elderly in the Walsall area. It is great to see that our local organisations and past students come in to share their expertise and experiences with our students who can use the knowledge they gained from these talks in their studies and upcoming examinations. Mrs K McMulkin
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‘Nil satis optimum’ CAFOD Student Voice—CAFOD Written by Eliza Beestone 12A On Wednesday 26th March we had the privilege of attending an Oscar Romero workshop at Grimshaw Rooms in St Chad's Cathedral. We were asked to lead 6 groups of Year 9 students from St Thomas More Catholic School Nuneaton and St Thomas More Catholic School Willenhall. We were involved in an activity based on water, looking at communities whose access to safe water is at a distance from their home.This involved each school group being an imaginary family group. In order to acquire water they needed to collect picture of a bucket. These paper buckets then need to be carried to a storekeeper‘s table where they could be exchanged for essential items such as being able to drink, cook, wash or water crops. Some excitement was added to the activity by making the pupils carry their paper bucket inside a real bucket on their head, if they dropped the bucket then they had to go back to their family table and start the journey again. This was followed by a period of debrief and discussion. We realised how lucky we are and that often we take water too much for granted. I enjoyed working with the different students and found the day very interesting. There were clear links between our faith and what we are called to do especially in Lent. Mass in the afternoon was celebrated by by His Grace, Archbishop Bernard Longley, to celebrate the life of Archbishop Romero and the work of justice and peace in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Megan Yr 13 I had an enjoyable day at St Chad‘s Cathedral.Through the activities and discussion today, we have thought about how lucky we are in our own lives and the impact of Oscar Romero on other people‘s lives. I enjoyed working with other schools. Jack Yr 12 I really enjoyed working with the different schools and I gained a greater understanding of who was Oscar Romero and his work for justice and equality in San Salvador.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ STUDENT VOICE Alice Yr 12 I liked working the other schools since I could hear about their different thoughts and feelings about CAFOD. It was interesting to reflect on what we take for granted, such as water, which people in less developed countries are desperate for. Harry Yr 12 I had an enjoyable time being the shopkeeper exchanging ‗buckets‘ for water. I found the day informative about the work and mission of Cafod. Hollie Yr 12 I enjoyed working with the different students and found the dayinteresting. Niamh Yr 12 I enjoyed working with people from other schools and discussing different opinions. Erin Yr 12 During the Cafod workshop I had a good time working with people from other schools and being in a different working experience.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ DT—MR BARRATT
4x4 In Schools Challenge Report By Matthew Cooper. The day of our reckoning dawned on March 27th 2014. All our hard work would be measured. After going through exciting times last year, Team E-Motion had to find new enthusiasm and commitment, taking note of lessons learnt, for the return competition this year. Would our hopes become reality? Would we triumph where we had once failed? Would we be the best that we could be? Leaving the competition last year- a little downhearted - we decided to evaluate what had gone right and wrong last year. Despite some problems last time we picked up the gauntlet and in the true St Francis spirit we moved onwards. Unlike last year we would have to build our car from scratch. This would prove to be a real challenge. With a handmade stylish Land-Rover looking car (which we spray -painted grey), our body work was completed. This wasn‘t easy, however, as we had an issue and had to make the body shell 6 times! Problems with our front and rear axles didn‘t help either. We just couldn‘t get the right set up and each one kept breaking. Making the structure of the car had its problems too and we had to be precise. If one piece was incorrect the whole car wouldn‘t function. The car was a little too fast but we were ready … or so we thought. With the invaluable support of Mrs Mullins coaching on our presentation skills, we were prepared for what lay ahead. Our display and car were completed, so we packed our van and journeyed to Birmingham College to the Regional Finals, where our destiny lay. Competitions, although they are stressful situations, can bring a team together and fire them towards victory. The day included: a trailer tow, an obstacle course, scrutinering (where they check that the car meets the rules and regulations), a presentation of the project and a portfolio review. On the first half of the day leading up to lunch we were in a strong position, as our presentation had gone well even though we were nervous. Little did we know about the problems that would arise in the afternoon. The car would not perform properly and we had no other option but to use the supply car. This meant that we could only be awarded half points for the track and
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‘Nil satis optimum’ STUDENT VOICE trailer tow. We felt for sure now that we had lost and had no chance of winning after our catastrophic failure. Unbelievably, against all the odds, we won the discretionary award from the judges, because they saw potential in our team. We were so excited…. Now we advanced to the final and for the next 2 months our STEM team would have to work diligently to have a chance of being overall champions at the ―4X4 In Schools Finals‖. In the run up to the finals we made many different obstacles and did lots of practising and testing. We also made a new floor pan for the car, made out of plastic instead of wood this time. The ―4X4 In Schools Finals‖ burst around the corner like a rocket and with a new presentation and modified car we felt we were ready for anything. To our surprise a new track built entirely on a Range Rover (yes a real car!) had been made and this would make our job a lot harder. The morning went really well and we got a once in a lifetime opportunity to look around the Land-Rover styling studio and competitor analysis area. The security was tight as there were top secret developments happening before our eyes. We got a real insight into the way a premier automotive car is developed and what it might be like to work as an engineer at JLR. We truly felt inspired and left the day with new aspirations and dreams. An experience like that doesn‘t come round often, does it? In the afternoon we set to the track. Shocked by its level of complexity, our car fell off many times. However, we pulled through these difficult times and almost finished the course. Although we didn‘t win a trophy, it was great to represent the school at a UK final. We all had a superb day and really enjoyed the fabulous experience. We would like to extend our thanks to Mr Barratt and Mr Turner for saving our car more times than we can remember and for doing all the paperwork and supporting us in this endeavour. Without them we wouldn‘t have had such an aspirational journey over the last twelve months.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ SIXTH FORM LITURGY
Here at St Francis our mission statement informs everything we do. This half term has been particularly fruitful in terms of the spiritual development of children in some of our primary feeder schools. Mrs Mulcrow, Mrs Oliver and our Sixth Form Liturgy Group have been busy working with pupils from Class 3 and 6 creating liturgies on the themes of ‗Reconciliation‘,‘ Friendships‘ and ‗Conformation‘. All of which were well-received and resulted in wonderful testimonials for the excellent work our sixth formers undertook. Several members of the Group have expressed an interest in teaching as a career. We hope it will not be too long before they are working with their own sixth formers, planning and delivering liturgies themselves! Learner voice William Wisniewski I enjoyed working with Year three. It was nice to know that I was helping this Year with Reconciliation preparation. I enjoyed listening to their ideas. Caoimhe Harvey I was pleased to be able to work with my past Primary School. They behaved so well and I enjoyed the experience. The idea of the broken heart/reconciled heart I feel the children enjoyed. It is something I will never forget and helped me to develop skills that I need for the future. Hollie Murray I enjoyed helping out with Class three on Tuesday. It was helpful for me to see how the different children‘s ages work . I am thankful for the experience. Harriet Benwell I really enjoyed working with Year 3‘s from St Patrick‘s. I was very impresses with the answers they came up with in response to thought provoking questions. I enjoyed working with the children on my table to guide them through the session and hear their ideas about reconciliation and the way we can both hurt and heal others. I felt the children were very reflective in the Chapel and responded well.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ PRIMARY LIAISON Jack Hardy I enjoyed the experience of working with a younger year group. I have previously helped Year 6 pupils from St Marys of the Angels on their St Andrews Day assembly. Laura Prichard I enjoyed working with Year 3 Class from St Patrick‘s School and helping them develop their Faith through activities before they make their First Reconciliation. The reflection in the Chapel of how they can follow God was lovely to take part in. Working with children has inspired me to think of doing teaching in the future for a career. Nichola Stubbs I really enjoyed working with Class 3, I feel the pupils got a lot out of the activities. I hope that I will get the opportunity to work with the pupils again as I would like to be a Primary School teacher Daniel Mason This was a lovely experience to take part in in helping the Class with activities for Sacrament of Reconciliation.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ SIXTH FORM LITURGY St. Bernadette’s Primary School Wednesday 29th January 2014 We came in to visit year 6 students on Wednesday afternoon and we introduced them to liturgical activities to help to engage them in their faith. We did this in many fun and interactive ways. Every single student fully participated in the activities they took part in. From the spiritual rucksack for a journey through lent, to creating prayers for their own personalised prayer book, the students were able to express their ideas fully and creatively. We really enjoyed working with these students as they were open to our activities aswell as being extremely polite and full of new ideas. They welcomed us into their class and embraced the experience as something positive; therefore, I think they gained invaluably from taking part. The students were respectful and definitely had the knowledge to understand what our activities were all about. The afternoon closed with a reflection in which the students spoke about how they could positively use the gifts and talents which they had gained at confirmation to make the world a better place to live in. Our activity was the spiritual rucksack and we can definitely take some new ideas of what to put in our rucksack from talking to the children in year 6. There ideas were inspirational and they have also perhaps reignited my desire to be an RE teacher. Therefore, we too have gained so much from the experiences shared that afternoon. Megan Cox and Sara Janik
I enjoyed the visit to St Bernadette‘s as we helped Year 6 pupils to create a Prayer Book, strengthening their ICT and RE skills. It was a really good experience for me as I want to be a teacher in a Primary School.—Emily Fisher 12C
I really enjoyed working with St Bernadette‘s Primary School. I loved helping the children to write their prayers during an ICT task and they came up with some inspiring thoughts about their Saint. We also talked about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and how we can be guided in our Faith.—Alice Duckworth 12R
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‘Nil satis optimum’ PRIMARY LIAISON
Myself and two other students along with Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Mulcrow visited St. Bernadette‘s school on the day of their RE Inspection. We worked with a small group of children who were preparing for their first Holy Communion. Through a series of interactive activities which ranged from a Prezi about maths in the story of Lent, to what would be put in a rucksack to take on a spiritual journey. We have visited children from this school previously and yet again they were a pleasure to work with. Working with the young children has really inspired me and made me look at the subject of Lent and preparing for First Holy Communion from their point of view. They were extremely polite and knowledgeable about the subjects which we were exploring and this made it a very enjoyable . The afternoon spent at the school really helped us to put into practise the words of St. Francis ―Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.‖ This is because the children were able to engage in their faith and explore it through a range of activities to strengthen and support them through their own spiritual journey. Megan Cox 13N On March 18th we worked with Class 6 pupils from St Francis Shelfield, as they prepared for the Sacrament of Confirmation. During their visit to us we looked at two inspiratinal saints: Saint John Bosco and St Josephine Bakhita. We also looked at our Spiritual Rucksack , identifying qualites needed for our journey to the Kingdom of God. This gave us the chance to help others to grow in Faith and to share our knowledge with younger pupils. This was a lovely experience to be involved in and we wish the Year 6's all the best, may they continue to explore their Faith.—Maddie, Harriet, Louise and Siobhan SFLG Yr 12
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‘Nil satis optimum’ SIXTH FORM LITURGY St Thomas of Canterbury On Friday 21st March we worked with 25 Class 3 pupils from St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School. We led a range of spiritual activities to help the pupils prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and their journey in Lent. Creating the Lenten cross provided great excitement as well as working on healing broken hearts and reconciled hearts as well as creating a prayer book. We also enjoyed a Chapel Reflection based on a Litany of forgiveness. We really enjoyed our morning and it gave us the chance to work with younger pupils by helping them to put their faith into action. Kirsty and Sara Yr 13
St Mary of the Angels Working with Class 6 pupils from St Mary‘s of the Angels to help prepare their assemblies for their House Saints has been an exciting venture which the Sixth Form Liturgy group have taken part this year. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the pupils to produce their power points which contained a variety of contributions such as: prayers, information about the Saints and quizzes. In addition to this, active prayer and reflective questions provided a valuable opportunity for the pupils to create meaningful acts of worship. We would like to thank Mrs Anderson for all her efforts in helping to make this such an exciting partnership for this academic year.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ PRIMARY LIAISON My Visit to St Joseph’s Friday 14th February 2014. Myself and the Sixth-Form Liturgy group visited the Year 3 children along with Mrs Oliver and Mrs Mulcrow for half a day to work with the children encouraging their faith before the children make the sacrament of the First Holy Communion. When we arrived, we introduced ourselves to the children and we explained the activities we would be doing throughout the morning. I was honoured to support the Liturgy group as St Joseph‘s Catholic Primary School was the school I attended throughout my Primary school life. When I was at the Primary school working with the children, it became clear to me that it was an achievement that I had been asked to go and help younger students, allowing those children to discover their Faith in more depth. Helping the younger students about following a Catholic life reminded me of the years when I needed help about becoming a true Catholic. When I was at the school, I helped the children with 3 tasks; learning about a spiritual journey, helping individual children to write a prayer so a prayer book could be written collectively for the class and assisting the children with a task called ―Broken Hearts.‖ Attending St Joseph‘s Catholic Primary School was a reminder how important it is to follow the path Jesus has created for us. Throughout the day it was a pleasure to help the children prepare for such an important time in their religious life when making the sacrament of Holy Communion. The day was a reminder that as a Catholic, it‘s important to ―love your neighbour as you love yourself‖. Mk12:31 Sophie Thomson
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‘Nil satis optimum’ PRIMARY LIAISON
St Mary’s Of the Mount visit to St Francis- Helen & Amber On Wednesday 12th March; we and 10 other year 9 students spent the day in St. Anthony‘s room along with the year 6‘s of St. Mary‘s of the Mount to do a fun English project… create a visual presentation of their day at St. Francis. We got into groups and brainstormed lots of fun, brilliant ideas for our storyboard, these ideas were anything from zombies to Disney princesses- which the year 6‘s had no trouble coming up with! Then; while two of the group went off to interview Mrs. Mullins and Miss. Sutton- we grabbed our cameras and headed off exploring! Geared with our cameras and ideas, each group spent half an hour collecting their pictures…with a ten picture limit it seemed impossible! Luckily though, we managed to beat the task with time for a quick selfie in-between (with the year 6‘s of course)! Now came the hard part…assembling it! We had about 3 hours to get our pictures, assemble them, create our storyboard and decorate it?! Considering it was a competition- we all had nothing to lose! With teamwork, effort and tons of glitter every group worked as hard as they could (with a lunch break in-between- playing bulldog with the year 9‘s!) By the time lunch was over- it was finally time to finish up and sort out our presentation, which was going to be judged by Mr.Mitchell. We all took it in turns giving it our best shot explaining what we did and what our story was about. Eventually though…the top winners were Connor Lovage and Oliver Mardenborough and they all got their chocolate prize. Once we were all cleaned up we had a final fun treasure hunt around the school which was a race for…more chocolate! Overall, we all had a brilliant day with the year 6‘s and we hope they enjoyed their day too- using teamwork and determination we all managed to make brilliantly designed stories with lots of imagination! Amber Hickman and Helen Hardial (Year 9)
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‘Nil satis optimum’ AUTHOR VISIT
Our afternoon with the great Cathy Cassidy Hello my name is Francesca and on Friday the 14th of February we went to see Cathy Cassidy. We went on Friday 14th February we enjoyed it was at The Gold Mine Center. Our day was very exciting Cathy talked about her new book Coco Caramel. Some of us had read some of her other books and that inspired others to read them. Her new book sounded very good it is about a girl called Coco Tanberry. She is a lively girl who is a big animal lover. She is kind and friendly but when her horse Caramel gets sold she isn‘t so happy. She tries to get him back and put her horse fist. Justina thinks it‘s a very good book and she said ‗ I enjoy reading Coco Caramel because I like the way it is set‘. As you can see we enjoyed going to see Cathy Cassidy. She is an inspiring person who has inspired me to write stories. Me and the rest of the girls who went got to talk to her and got to learn a few things about writing stories. She said ‗just write about things which you know well.‘ In Cathy‘s case this was chocolate! To conclude the day was very inspiring. This wouldn‘t have happened without Miss Sutton and Mr Dolan so thank you. I really enjoyed the afternoon and so did everyone else. Francesca Tovey-Nesbitt 7S
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‘Nil satis optimum’ MUSIC DEPT
Big Orchestra 2014 Forest Arts On February 10th, 20 St Francis Pupils from Years 7 – 13 went to Forest Arts centre to be part of the Big Orchestra Event. This event allowed our pupils to play with 75 other pupils from Walsall schools in a range of musical styles. They spent some time in sectional rehearsals and then rehearsed and performed as one big orchestra. The highlight for many of us was the theme from Star Wars and Jurassic Park which sounded amazing. Our pupils played brilliantly and a big well done to Lucy Bernstein who played a clarinet solo in the concert to much acclaim.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ LOURDES FUNDRAISING
Lourdes Fundraising 2014 21 pupils and 4 staff will be travelling to Lourdes this year to work with the sick pilgrims from our Diocese. I am so pleased to say that we have raised £6500 towards the cost of the pupil‘s tickets in order to allow them to provide this wonderful gift of service. We have been very lucky to have been awarded a bursary from the Catenians, and we have been busy bag packing, holding cake sales in our local parishes and other activities. The Music Department also held the annual Lourdes fundraising concert which raised over £700, followed by the school‘s annual Blue Day which raised over £1000. Thanks so much to all pupils, staff and parents for their involvement with our fundraising this year. We will report back on our Pilgrimage when we return in June. Miss J Clensy Head of Music and Group Leader
St Patricks Day and the Ceilidh Band busked around school to dancing pupils, raising money for the Lourdes pilgrimage at the same time.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ CARING FOR LIFE
Staff and students at St Francis of Assisi CTC have responded magnificently to a request from the LIFE organisation for Baby Bags for the new mothers who have asked for support from their counselling service. Over the last few weeks we have provided items for two different types of bags one which includes nappies, baby wipes, baby lotion and other essentials for the care of a new born baby and the other which provide a layette of clothing. St Francis students always respond to appeals for support from our local charities and in line with our Catholic beliefs on the sanctity of life and the opposition to abortion we feel that we need to support those women who are faced with a crisis pregnancy that choose to keep their babies. This is another example of how we feel that putting our faith into action is one of the most important ways of witnessing to Gospel values in society.
Year 9 Students from St Francis of Assisi who helped to sort the items for the Baby Bags
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‘Nil satis optimum’ PUBLIC SPEAKING
On Wednesday 19th March, three Year 7 teams, a year 10 team and a 6th form team competed in a Public Speaking competition in an event organised by the Sutton Rotary Club. All five teams competed at Barr Beacon School against the corresponding year groups from Barr Beacon, speaking about a specific topic they felt passionate about. Each team consisted of three members; a chairperson, a speaker and a proposer; each with different roles. The chairperson directed the talk, introduced the team and was responsible for the seamless transition between the other team members. The speaker spoke about a topic for six minutes, mostly from memory with minimal aid from prompt cards. Chosen topics included mental health, dance, animal welfare and money in football. Last, but by no means least, was the proposer who elegantly and wittily concluded the talk by commenting on the speech and thanking the appropriate people. Although there was tough competition from Barr Beacon, we left the evening winning in all 3 age groups, a clean sweep. Each winning team was presented with a trophy and each member of the winning team presented with a cheque for £20. Lots of time and commitment went into the competition with many lunch times and evenings at home practising and perfecting each individual speech. A big thank you needs to go to Miss Gill who helped organise and run the event in school and also to the rotary club for their work in promoting the talent of the youth in Walsall schools. This event has been a confidence booster for many of the younger students within the competition and has also developed their team work, English and public speaking skills which will benefit them through their time in school and further in their life. I would personally recommend this competition to future year groups as I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, discovered some fascinating information listening to other speeches and gained £20! By Jake Heaney– Year 13
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‘Nil satis optimum’ WW1 EVENING World War One Evening on 26 March 2014 A packed conference room listened eagerly to a range of stories and experiences passed down amongst local families about the impact that the First World War had upon their lives. An audience ranging from eight to eighty were enthralled by not just the stories that families shared, but by letters and postcards sent from the front, and other memorabilia. The stories ranged across experiences from front line service in the trenches to refugees fleeing from the fighting, and from families here in Walsall eager for the news of their loved ones, to service across the world. The First World War is rightly called a World War. Events in Ireland, India and Turkey were part of our evening, not only the perhaps more familiar story of the trenches of the Western Front stretching through France and Flanders. Three keynote speakers addressed our gathering. Megan, a Year 13 student at the school, spoke of her great great grandfather Private Jim Elwell, a Walsall man who served with the Suffolk Regiment, who wrote over 50 letters and postcards, still in the family‘s possession, back to his wife and ―little‘uns‖, Lizzie and Lucy. Sadly, Jim was not to survive, killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917. Then Andy Simson, previously Head of Science at the school, spoke movingly of his uncle, Lt-Colonel Brodie, a career soldier in the Scottish Highland Light Infantry, who won the Victoria Cross in 1914, but like Private Elwell, was not to survive the war. Andy also read extracts of his ancestor‘s letters to his family back home in Scotland. Then Bronwen, a Year 9 student, told us of her great grandfather Denis McCullough, and his major part in the turbulent events of Ireland in 1916, as President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Belfast at the time of the Easter Rising. Then the meeting was open for guests to contribute. Campaign medals, a Bible inscribed by a loving grandmother in 1914 as her grandson went
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‘Nil satis optimum’ HISTORY DEPT
to war in France, the story of a refugee fleeing invaded Belgium and settling in the Midlands. A shell casing from the Gallipoli campaign was passed around, a set of embroidered postcards with ―on active service‖ faintly visible in pencil, addressed to Daisy in Balsall Heath, ―from your everloving sweetheart Walter‖, a cigarette box sent as a gift from the Queen to a soldier serving in the front line, cigarettes still intact inside! St Francis Deputy Head Mr Stephen Godber commented ―We had a very successful evening last night with a wide range of ages of people who shared a common interest. I found it all fascinating and humbling‖. Head of History Ian Garrett commented, ―We had a fascinating evening exploring a wide range of family stories and experiences. It helps show the continued significance of the First World War – it was an event that had a huge effect on people‘s lives in a variety of ways, and one that resonates to this day‖.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ WW1 EVENING
Newsletter report—World War One Evening St Francis held a World War One evening on the 26th March. Over 50 people attended the event. A number of them held interesting presentations on relatives, or friend‘s relatives, and displayed fascinating artefacts. The evening was hosted by Mr Garrett, Head of History. There were three amazing main speakers, who expertly told the stories of their relatives, who were involved in the First World War. These were Megan, Mr Andy Simson, and Bronwen. Megan who is currently in year 13, gave an excellent presentation ion her great great grandfather called Jim Elwell. He was from Walsall and courageously fought and was sadly killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917. He was in the 7th Suffolk Regiment and sent over fifty precious letters and postcards home. Megan also showed the ―dead Man‘s penny‖ plaque sent after he was killed. Jim Elwell has a book written about him based on his letters which is available in the school library. It is entitled ―Thank God I‘m doing my little bit‖. The next main speaker was Mr Andy Simson, who is our previous Head of Science. He spoke about the fascinating tale of his great uncle, Lt-Colonel Lorrain Brodie. He showed a variety of letters and medals, including a picture of his great uncle‘s Victoria Cross, which is the highest medal for gallantry. The last main speaker was Bronwen, who is in year 9. She presented a ―prezi‖ on her great grandfather Denis McCullough, who was one of the leaders of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood). He was based in Belfast and when the Dublin organisation planned the Easter Rising in 1916, he was not involved and so was not put to death afterwards. Bronwen showed us a list of all the British prisons he was held in though.
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‘Nil satis optimum’ STUDENT VOICE
There were various other people involved in the wonderful evening, who also shared numerous stories and artefacts. These included: An ancestor‘s Bible given him when he joined up with a heartfelt note from his grandmother Campaign medals (nicknamed Pip, Squeak and Wilfred) A shell from Gallipoli Many different photographs Postcards sent by a soldier from the trenches to his ―sweetheart‖ Daisy in Birmingham A cigarette case sent a s a gift to the trenches from the monarch, which still had all the cigarettes in mint condition A French prisoner of war‘s record card from a prison camp in Germany Overall, this was a wonderful evening which we thoroughly enjoyed. As it was so successful, we wish to have another one like this, as it was a good stimulating environment. We recommend you participate also as it was an interesting experience for all ages (the age range of people there was from 8 to 80!) By Clodagh DF and Kirsty P, Year 7
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‘Nil satis optimum’ SPORTS NEWS
It must be the end of term again as here I am, writing another account full of sporting success stories about the achievements of our wonderful students at St Francis of Assisi CTC. From January up to February ½ term we had a busy time getting all of our games completed in the boys basketball leagues. I am very proud to say that, as always, we honoured all of our fixtures and as a result our boys were provided with many opportunities to develop their games. We actually had a great deal of success this year with our year 8 and year 10 teams finishing as league runners up in the Walsall Schools competition. Our year 9 boys team finished in 3rd place but the real success story was with our year 7 team who went all season unbeaten and finished as comprehensive league winners. A huge congratulation‘s must go to Lewis, Cezary, Sam, Aaron, Sam, Ryan, Liam, Niall, Joe and Tom. Clearly the investment of some outdoor basketball posts has paid off and the future certainly looks bright on the basketball front. This half term has seen the recommencement of girl‘s netball fixtures. It is so pleasing to note that we have been inundated with interest from the girls and lunchtime and after school practices have been particularly well attended. The extra training is certainly paying off, with the girls performing very well in their respective leagues. There is still one more league game to go and a few of our teams are hoping to finish as runners up if all goes well. Our year 7 girls are hoping to go one better and should they win their last game they will be crowned as league winners. This will be a major achievement as we are in the same league as some very strong traditional netball schools, many of whom in previous years have been county champions, so again I have some very high hopes for further success in the future. The school football seasons commenced again following the February half term break, this time with the focus being on the cup competitions rather than the league. Our impressive league performances resulted in all year groups being entered into the most competitive Gold Cup competition. At the time of writing the year 7 and year 10 boy‘s teams have both progressed to the semi-final stage and the 6th form boy‘s team are awaiting their quarter final tie. I hope that I will be able to report some more cup success in the next newsletter. Some of the finals are due to be played at Bescot Stadium so there is a great incentive for the boys to ensure that they get through to
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St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
Newsletter Easter 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ SPORTS NEWS those finals. Another sport that we have had considerable success at local level in recent times is that of volleyball, thanks to the expertise of Mrs Thorpe. On Friday 28th March we hosted the Walsall Schools Volleyball Championships here at St Francis. The event was well attended with many schools from the borough entering teams and a great deal of thanks and praise must go to Mrs Thorpe for organising the competition. Even more praise must go to the students for the way that they performed. We ended up victorious in all but one of the competitions and finished up as runners up in the other. So our year 7 girls of Katie, Elys, Wendy and Aoife were crowned U13 champions (one year below the age group!) and our year 7 and 8 boys of Sam, Ethan, Sam and James were runners up. The success continued with the older age groups and the year 9 / 10 girls of Jacinta, Charlotte, Niamh and Shannon and the boys of Dylan, Jack, Cameron and Oliver were also crowned as champions. All teams now go on to represent Walsall in the Black Country School Games in the near future. The summer term will soon be up on us and the focus will move on to the sports of tennis, cricket, rounders and athletics. We will be hoping to better last year‘s third place in the athletics at the Alexander Stadium, having a look at the talent coming up in year 7, we may just be able to do that. Also, net sessions with the year 7 boys have identified a number of very talented individuals and I wouldn‘t be surprised if I am writing about some more success in the near future. Let‘s hope that the sun shines for us and we are able to play a lot of good quality sport throughout the summer term. Yours in sport, Mr Connell
Newsletter Easter 2014
St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
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‘Nil satis optimum’ DRAMA CLUB
Drama Club Niamh Ingram Year 11 Drama Club has been really good this year, Miss Service gives us a wide range of things to do; we use costumes and props to build a character around. This leads into small performances using the stage and new lighting system. In Drama Club, Miss Service gives us activities to do which builds up our confidence and makes us able to act out how we feel in a fun environment. Drama Club has really widened my thoughts of drama and all the different kinds of acting and skills within it. I have built on friendships in this group. I have worked with younger years acting as a positive role model to them. In drama all ages can work together and enjoy being creative.
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St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
Newsletter Easter 2014
‘Nil satis optimum’ STUDENT VOICE
Aidan Amann Year 8 The drama club meets on Tuesdays, both at lunch and after school and Friday lunchtimes. It is run by Miss Service and assisted by Miss Bhatia. So far as I know, every student enjoys their time when they go. The room we have the group in can change depending on what is free but if all things go to plan, we usually meet in the gym hall on stage. In drama, we always have fun. We dress up in different costumes including a leprechaun outfit and a brides dress. We perform different exercises, such as role plays and freeze frame situations. In role plays, we are given a topic and in groups, we come up with ideas based around the topic. We are also given lots to think about in terms of acting, skills like voice projection and facial expression and then apply them to our performances. In drama club we get to be as creative as we like, within reason! We have fun but make sure we don‘t embarrass ourselves because of silly behaviour. Miss Service and all the students are always up for a laugh and a joke; however we do not upset or embarrass each other. We love the drama club and we can‘t wait to do more!
Newsletter Easter 2014
St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
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‘Nil satis optimum’ USEFUL INFORMATION Spring Term 2014 Mon 6 January
Start of Term - School opens
17 to 21 February
Half Term
Fri 11 April
End of Term - School closes for Easter
Summer Term 2014 Mon 28 April
Start of Term - School opens
Mon 5 May
May Day Bank Holiday
26 to 30 May
Half Term
Mon 21 July
End of Term - School closes for Summer
Inset Days 2014 Friday, 11th April 2014 Monday, 21st July 2014
Academic Year 2014-15 Autumn Term 1 Monday, 1st September to Friday, 24th October Autumn Term 2 Monday, 3rd November to Friday, 19th December Spring Term 1 Monday, 5th January to Friday, 13th February Spring Term 2 Monday, 23rd February to Friday, 27th March Summer Term 1 Monday, 13th April to Friday, 22nd May Summer Term 2 Monday, 1st June to Monday, 20th July
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St Francis Of Assisi Catholic Technology College
Newsletter Easter 2014