St Edmund's Catholic Academy

Year 8 & 9 pupils have begun to study Latin as part of an extra curricular after school club. A grant from the Roman Society and the school’s Gifted and Talented Fund has meant the Modern Foreign Languages department can offer the new club which will look at not only the language of Cicero and Julius Caesar but how life was like under the Roman Empire.

The group will be following the Cambridge Latin Course, which teaches the subject through the life of a merchant family in Pompeii, before the catastrophic eruption in 79AD which preserved the town in volcanic ash. It is hoped that if successful the group will go on to study for official qualifications in the language.

Mr Joglekar, curriculum leader for languages, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to learn an ancient language. We hope learning Latin will support their French and Spanish studies as well as boost their English grammar and vocabulary. It will equip them with useful general knowledge for other subjects as well.”

We are very proud that Fleur Kennedy, a current student at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, will be representing team GB in the inaugural European Games, a multi sport event with 6,000 athletes taking part.

The 16-year-old starlet will be following in a proud tradition because her family have been making waves in the sport of water polo for years – with both brother Roger, 21, and 28-year-old sister Elizabeth having already represented GB.

The free scoring centre forward from Newbridge Crescent, Tettenhall, who flew out at the weekend to Azerbaijan where she will make her debut, said: “It is fantastic news and I cannot wait to pull on my GB tracksuit.”

We wish Fleur the best of luck!

Photography is courtesy of The Express & Star

Dan Freedman, best selling author of the Jamie Johnson series, will be coming into school next week on:

• Thursday 11^th June
• In the Library 1:10-2pm
• There will be books priced at £5.99 and £6.99
• Remember to bring your money

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity!

Today we say goodbye to a longstanding and  excellent teacher; Mr Stuart Playford. If I was looking for an outstanding example of growing your own, Mr Playford is it.

He started as a member of our IT support team, graduated and qualified to teach, and is a dedicated Assistant Principal. He has had many roles in his fourteen years at St Edmund’s and was particularly influential in the planning and construction of our new academy building. Mr Playford is a valued and hardworking  member of our community, who always has the interests of the students foremost in his thinking.

He is going from St Edmund’s to Headship. I hope his new school realise how lucky they are and look after him.

On behalf of us all, I wish Mr Playford every success leading his school. We are going to miss him very much.

Maggie Hughes

Principal

You may remember that a number of our enthusiastic Sixth Form students braved the cold weather and took part in the ‘Sleep Easy’ campaign back in March this year when they slept in a cardboard box overnight. Their aim was to raise money to help in changing the lives of young homeless people in the Black Country.

We are proud to announce that a fantastic total of £1,014 was raised for the YMCA funds and would like to thank all students and staff who participated in some way. Beverley Momenabadi, YMCA Participation Co-ordinator said:

“YMCA Black Country Group really can’t express their gratitude enough to St Edmund’s for participating in this year’s sleep easy.

“The money they raised will go towards helping the lives of homeless young people across the Black Country.”

Twenty pupils from St Edmund have competed in the City Gymnastics Championships at Highfields School. They were all a credit to the school and performed exceptionally well in a large field of competitors.

In the beginner section, Bethany Walters really impressed the judges with her floor routine and gained 3rd place.  She then went on to achieve 3rd place overall in the city. Well done, Bethany!

Marianne Peralta also competed very well and came a very respectable 7th place overall. Other beginners were: Themis Bokini, Joshua Dodd-Matthews, Grace Hewitt, Isobel Rafferty and Seren Young.

In the novice section, Erin O’Hara performed   exceptionally well on both disciplines. She gained 3rd place for floor and vault, and 2nd overall in the city. A super first competition! This result  together with  Christina Clifton, Morgan Lavender, Daneille Lim and Rebecca Butler, placed the team into 1st position –  gaining the Gold Medal – City Champions!

Other novice performers were: Amelie Harris, Zuzanna Laskowska and Chiara Montana.

Well done to all performers and good luck to the team who will represent Wolverhampton in the Black Country School Games on 18th June.

Special thanks go to Mrs Swindells for organising the competition and for all her hard work in helping to prepare these pupils for their competition.