St Edmund's Catholic Academy

This term, Andy Salmon (AKA Sir Linkalot) came to St. Edmund’s to work with our Year 7 and 8 students.The Thinkalink programme aims to provide strategies to support students in memorising important information.  Since the launch of the company in 2009, Thinkalink have presented to 150,000 children and 10,000 teachers at 175 schools UK wide. The British Dyslexia Association believe that Thinkalink’s innovative spelling technique ‘Letter Linking‘ is ground-breaking.

Throughout the day, our students were introduced to the world of ‘Linking’ – a fun and easy way to remember any fact. Andy showed students how linking can be used to remember anything.  Students were given links for remembering tricky words, equipping them to make sense of those tough spellings that appear to make no sense.  Andy also gave students a tip for remembering over seventy years of history in just one link.The day was a huge success and students are already using the links across the curriculum.

On Saturday 31st January, eight St. Edmund’s gymnasts travelled to Fenton Manor Sports Complex to compete in the ‘West Midlands Floor & Vault Competition’. It is only the second occasion that St. Edmund’s have entered this competition and we managed to match our previous year’s performance!

Amelie Harris was St. Edmund’s first performer of the day on vault, and although it was her first real competition she performed exceptionally well, scoring 14.6 out of 16.00.  She was not fazed at all by the bigger competition, and went on to perform her floor beautifully.

This year, we also entered the Milano Competition where three gymnasts were required to perform a ‘trio sports acrobatics’ routine as well as their floor and vault. Christina Clifton, Zuzanna Laskowski and Rebecca Butler performed the best we have ever seen them, with great balance, flair and synchronisation.

Our U19 team then competed on floor and did so with style, precision and lots of extension.  Danielle Lim scored the highest on floor with 13.65 out of 16.0; very impressive as it was her first ever gymnastics competition!  All other floor routines were exceptional and the competition and level of performance was very high. Amber-Leigh Nicholls had a great competition as an individual too, and although she was injured she did not let it affect her determination to succeed. Well done!

In the vault section, all St. Edmund’s gymnasts executed their landings with precision, and again we scored well. There was some exceptional talent in the competition so we did not expect to win medals. However, the girls worked really hard and as a team and we managed to gain 2nd place, silver medal for the team performance.  Team members were Rebecca Butler, Christina Clifton, Zuzanna Laskowski, Julia deBechi, Danielle Lim and Lisa Spratt.

Mrs Cartlidge would like to thank all the gymnasts for their hard work, both during the competition and for their many late night training sessions. All has paid off, and we wish them luck in the upcoming ‘City Gymnastics Competition’ in six weeks.

“All this would also not be possible without the outstanding coaching Mrs Swindells offers to our pupils, both on a Monday and Friday night. We are very lucky to have her expertise and she is a delight to work with.  The impact she has on our pupils is immense; thank you.”

This week, we are delighted to announce that our Year 10 students have made it through to the finals of the ‘IFS (Institute of Fiscal Studies) Stock Market Challenge’, online.

We are positioned 88th in the UK (out of over 8,700 teams), and 18th in the region (Midlands and North West), comfortably beating local competitors within the area.

Many congratulations to our students, this is a superb result showing critical thinking, problem solving skills and real business acumen!

The finals will take place next month in Birmingham, where the team will be asked a number of questions, we wish them the very best of luck!

The Year 7, 8 & 9 Academy Committee was joined by Mrs Gallagher, Academy Committee Chair, at this week’s meeting.

Mrs Gallagher introduced herself, explaining her role and how her primary aim is to make the Academy a better place for children in which to learn. Discussions took place surrounding the importance of the Academy Council, and how this strategic group could be more involved in decision making, including how to monitor the effectiveness of lessons and tutor times.

Lively discussions took place around the need for a uniform review, a possible house system and pupil progression. The Council held a democratic vote and agreed that the charities for 2014/15 would be: Promise Dreams, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Save the Children.

We look forward to the next meeting.

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you will be overjoyed to hear that there will be a Harry Potter Themed Event for Year 7’s on –

Thursday 5th February

At 3.45 – 4.45pm

All Year 7 pupils are welcome. There will be quizzes, games and book readings – so why not come along and join in the fun!

Fancy dress is optional but there will be a prize for the best fancy dress outfit!

To reserve your place, please see Mrs Lowe in the Library as soon as possible.

St Michael’s Parish Church will be holding a special ‘Celebration Mass’ by way of celebrating Catherine Williams’ career and her contribution to St Michael’s Catholic Academy and Nursery.

You are warmly welcome to attend this wonderful service, which will be held on:

Tuesday 10th February 2015

At 9.45am

St Michael’s Parish Church

173 Coalway Road

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV3 7ND

Yesterday morning, St Edmund’s Catholic Academy came together as a school to hold a Holocaust Memorial assembly, in remembrance of the millions of people who were murdered under Nazi Persecution and in the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

A number of students read a short piece about how people suffered during this most horrendous of times, but also how they came together, provoking deep thought about the part that can be played in challenging hatred and creating a safer, better future.

A candle was lit and the photographs of survivors were displayed as a mark of respect to them and also, to those who had died.