St Edmund's Catholic Academy

Earlier this month, Beth Sherburn Pop singer and songwriter, visited St Edmund’s Catholic Academy.

Beth works alongside ‘Life Skills’ and came into school to talk to our Year 7 and 8 pupils about eSafety and Cyber Bullying.

With Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram being popular amongst our young people today, Beth spoke of the importance of being safe online and how these platforms of Social Media can be dangerous if not used in right way.

She commented: “Your words are very powerful – so make sure you use them wisely…don’t be mean behind the screen.”

She also shared a real life story about a girl who committed suicide due to cyber bullying taking place in a school.

“If you are being bullied or know someone who is, it is really important you tell someone, so that the bullying stops. Don’t ever let anyone take away your dreams and ambitions.”

Beth also performed a number of songs including her latest single; ‘Joker,’ featuring Lil Wayne, which is out now! Everyone was on their feet singing and dancing, we look forward to Beth’s visit again in the near future.

The Happy Puzzle Company came for the third year running to St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, to provide some wonderful Maths games and challenges for our Year 7 pupils.

These puzzles and games were designed to help and develop maths and thinking skills, team skills, communication skills, logical reason and help to raise children’s expectations of what they can achieve.

Pupils enjoyed challenges such as the Penguin Iceberg, the road map challenge, and many more.

Sana Shakeel – Year 7 pupil said: “We couldn’t have completed the difficult tasks without working as a team.”

Serena Mayoudom – Year 7 pupil said: “It was a really good experience, I particularly enjoyed the illusions that Miss created.”

Ayaan Bukhari – Year 7 pupil said: “Nothing was impossible and I liked that we could all take part in solving these physical activities.”

Mr Morris Curriculum Leader Mathematics said:  “All pupils felt a sense of achievement at being able to tackle the seemingly impossible tasks. But through teamwork and perseverance they found strategies to succeed that will help them progress in their everyday lessons.”

Last night we held our Open Evening for prospective parents and their children. With more than 400 people attending, we really showcased why St Edmund’s is one of the UK’S most improved schools in England.

The atmosphere was buzzing with families enjoying the St Edmund’s team spirit and a range of activities and talents being displayed. These included: crazy science experiments, food tasting, teachers dressed as Egyptians and many more.

The feedback was very positive with many parents commenting on how impressed they were with our excellent facilities. One parent said: “Everything was perfect and we have had a lovely evening.”

Overall, the evening was enjoyed by all and we’d like to thank pupils and staff who contributed their time in making it a success.

On Friday morning, seven of our enthusiastic Year 12 pupils: Abbie Atkinson, Vicki Briggs, Ann-Marie Harper, Elise Kelham, Amber Nicholls, Fern Nicholls and Adam Reynolds -Allcock took part in raising money for cancer by holding a fabulous Macmillan’s coffee morning at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy.

Not only was it for a good cause, it was part of their assessment in their Work Skills qualification.

Mrs Toor said: “One of the course requirements was to plan and run an enterprise activity; this coincided with the National Coffee Morning, a cause that is close to all of our hearts.

The aim of this unit is to give learners the skills and knowledge to plan an enterprise activity. They were required to create coherent plans and assess the risks involved in implementing them.”

They also had the opportunity to use their customer skills, handle money and keep basic financial records. Learners will evaluate the activity and theirpersonal involvement.

There was a wonderful selection of handmade cookies and cakes donated by the group, who used Mrs Bates food room to make the cakes. Mrs Toor donated rice crispy cakes and Mr Farr also made a selection of fancy treats.

It went down a treat with the rest of the school and in particular Mr Farr’s cupcakes. They raised £113.00 in total and all of proceeds raised will go to Macmillan.

On Wednesday 30th September St Edmund’s will be holding our Year 6 into Year 7 Open Evening.

Please come and see our wonderful Academy as we welcome you into our community.

Can we remind all parents and pupils that due to our Open Evening next Wednesday:

• The Academy will close at the earlier time of 12.15pm
• School buses will not be available until the normal time of 3.40pm
• Parents are to arrange alternative travel for their child to get home

Thank you for your cooperation.

On Tuesday afternoon, the company Thinkalink came into school to work with our Year 7 and 8 students.

Thinkalink are a company who promote linking as a way to remember things, working with students to create links to help them remember spellings, historical dates and, in fact, any aspect of the curriculum.

Sir Link A Lot introduced our Year 7 students to the world of linking and supported our Thinkalink Ambassadors as they prepare to help other learners develop their linking skills.  Our fun-packed day was rounded off with an adult training session in which Sir Link A Lot tested our parents’ linking skills.  How do you spell ‘parliament’?  You write ‘Liam’ and pop his parents either side: par  liam  ent.

On the 15th September, St Edmund’s Catholic Academy hosted a UCAS presentation evening to many of our Year 13 students, where Emma Fereday from Liverpool Hope University was a guest speaker.

She gave a detailed overview of the UCAS process, covering everything from the application process to accommodation and the social aspects of university life.

It was great to see so many parents and students attend, making plans for the next steps in their education.

Sledge Brewster Year 13 Deputy Head boy commented: “I found the UCAS evening very helpful. It gave me an insight of how student finance works and how to write an effective personal statement, which I was unsure about before.”

Special thanks to Mrs Hogg, Ms Moore and Mr Bentley who supported the event.

Presentation Evening took place last week on Thursday 17th September.

Principal, Mrs Maggie Hughes proudly announced the Award from PiXL as the Academy is in the top twelve most improved schools in the country, for achieving outstanding Year 11 GCSE results.

PiXL is a partnership of leaders from over 1500 mutually-supportive secondary schools in England.

The Academy has achieved record breaking results at all scholastic levels this year, as was reflected in the certificates and prizes awarded to pupils.

Mrs Pat McLaughlin MBE presented over 150 pupils with shields and certificates for outstanding work and achievements.

Principal, Mrs Maggie Hughes commented to the students: “Back in Sept 2010, when you started in Year 7, it was predicted that 54% of you would have 5 or more A*-C grades including English and Maths at the end of Year 11. This summer 65% of our Year 11 have attained this standard with 72% achieving A* – C grades in at least 5 subjects. You blew all of our predictions out of the water and I am so proud of you.”

The evening ended with an inspirational speech from Mrs Pat McLaughlin and a wonderful drinks reception to conclude the night.

Here at St Edmund’s we are very proud of our Sixth Form. Students are encouraged to strive to achieve their ambitions and “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” (Blessed Oscar Romero)

We have a well equipped Common room and good study facilities that support our students to succeed.

Last term we celebrated 100% pass rate at A Level and every student who applied to university succeeded in gaining a place

Please watch our brand new Sixth Form promotional video.