On January 26th – 27th, young adults across the Diocese will be answering the call of Pope Francis and serving in mission projects over this weekend serving their local community. Following a weekend of mission, local groups will join together on Sunday evening at Ss. Peter and Paul in Wolverhampton to celebrate the closing Mass of World Youth Day, enjoy Panamanian food and tuning in to the Pope’s homily and the sights and sounds of Panama. All young people are welcome to join us. Please arrive at St. Peter and Pauls RC Church WV11RJ. at 6pm. Event finishes at 9pm.
The young people will be asking for people to sponsors them. All the money raised will go to Tabor House to support their project with homeless people. If you would like to sponsor the young people you can via parent pay at school.
Please keep in your prayers the 20 young adults, largely from parishes in disadvantaged areas of the Diocese, representing Birmingham in Panama with Pope Francis and the youth of the world!
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Future First Alumni Opportunity
We are delighted to inform you that St Edmund’s Catholic Academy is working with the education charity, Future First (https://futurefirst.org.uk/),
Amongst our former students is a whole host of talented role models who we want to connect with in order to celebrate their success and inspire our current students.
Alumni can be brought back to offer careers and education advice, mentor students, provide work experience placements, help students with CV’s and much more besides.
We need you
Please help us reach out to our former students using your own networks. From doctors to dancers, pilots to plumbers, we need alumni from a wide range of careers to open our students’ eyes to what’s possible.
If you are a former student or know of any who’d like to stay in touch and give back to their old school, ask them to sign up at:
https://networks.
We really do hope you will sign up to help us build an alumni community to inspire the next generation from St Edmund’s.
Help us to spread the word through your social media, email, twitter and text.
For more information please contact the Academy 01902 558888.
British Physics Olympiad Success
In November Armindar and Nnamdi, Y13 students, entered the British Physics Olympiad. This is a national competition designed to stretch and challenge the top young physicists in the country
The examination paper they sat was designed to stretch and challenge all of their physics and maths skills. The results were announced this week and both students received a commendation certificate.
They should be very proud of themselves for entering such a challenging competition and taking their first step in developing valuable problem solving skills that will enable them to develop a deeper understanding of the subject.
Recipe Book Feeds The Homeless
A big thank you to everyone who purchased a copy of the recent edition of the school recipe book. They sold out in a matter of days! The proceeds will go to help the Good Shepherd ministry for homeless people.
Introducing Seneca – A FREE Revision and Homework Platform
All students and teachers now have free access to Seneca – a revision and homework platform making studying more fun.
Seneca is an interactive way to learn official course content. Their web app covers 150+ exam board specific courses condensing what students need to know for their exams. The software is able to identify gaps in learning.
For instance, when you get a question wrong, the platform will repeat the topic in different formats and their smart algorithm has proven to make students remember topics 2x faster. Seneca is totally free for students, teacher and parents.
You can sign up via senecalearning.com
Young Entrepreneurs Raise Funds For Mary’s Meals
A group of budding Year 12 entrepreneurs have joined the Business, Economics and Law faculty to successfully set up and run their own business in the Academy.
Asiya, Gurveer, Kamraan and Bilal have set up AGB productions and have designed and produced bespoke handmade Christmas cards. The group have worked tirelessly this term to produce their products and have raised £52.02, which will be donated to Mary’s Meals.
Congratulations on your hard work and efforts.
West Midlands Gymnastics Floor & Vault Championships 2018-19
A huge congratulation goes to the eight gymnasts who competed in the West Midlands Milano Gymnastics competition on Saturday 1st December at Fenton Manor Sports Centre, in Stoke-on-Trent.
All gymnasts performed exceptionally well on both the vault and the floor. The team are such a wonderful credit to St Edmund’s Catholic Academy. They went on into the afternoon and performed their trio routine that contained sports acrobatics balances as well as skills that showed excellent strength and flexibility. The team were also marked on their synchronisation during the routine.
They all rose to the occasion and exceeded expectations, produced exceptional performances. The U13 team, Ewan Cox, Maja Ura, Ben Jones & Ellie Marrandola executed their routine very well and came fourth overall. A great result considering it was their first West Midlands Competition for three of them and when competing against club gymnasts who train 4-5 times a week. Well done!
The U16 team, Lysia Bayley, Josh Dodd-Matthews, Brientony Jayarajan & Amelia Beet performed with precision throughout their trio routine and impressed the judges with their synchronisation. This together with their individual floor and vault scores placed them in 1st place overall in the West Midlands. They will now represent the West Midlands region in the British Schools National Finals in March, which is a tremendous achievement. Well done to everyone involved.
Mrs Cartlidge/Mrs Swindells
Stars of St Edmund’s 20th December 2018
Stars of St Edmund’s Presentation and Reunion Party, Thursday 20th December, is going to be a unique and exciting opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our highest-performing students, in particular those students who have distinguished themselves in their public examinations, both at GCSE and at A-level.
At St Edmund’s we recognise that awards should also be presented for outstanding academic performance and contribution, progress and achievement, creativity, exceptional endeavour, perseverance and contribution to Catholic Life; all of which go hand in hand with academic success.
This year’s Guest of Honour will be Scott ‘Yaz’ Yarrington, a former Army Lance Corporal, who lost his legs stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, then went on to win Bronze in Wheelchair Basketball at the Invictus Games in Toronto 2017. Scott will speak about how his experience has shaped his positive outlook on life before making the presentations, and then join the Reunion Party where former students will have the chance to join the Future First Alumni Network (for free). This will be an opportunity to become part of a thriving engaging community with access to relatable role models and connections.
Richard Branson believes connections have helped drive the success he continues to experience today. We would like to give the same opportunity to make connections by joining us at the Stars of St Edmund’s Presentation and Reunion Party.
St Edmund’s Day Mass
Saturday 1st December was the Feast Day of our founder St Edmund. We marked the day with a celebration Mass for the whole community on Friday 3th November.
Monsignor Mark Crisp, our Chaplain was the celebrant at the Mass. He gave a great homily, helping us to recognise how lucky and privileged we are to be able to celebrate Mass together as a community without being persecuted for our faith, like people did in Queen Elizabeth 1 reign.
In 1580 Campion joined the first mission that was sent by the Jesuits, to minister to the Catholics of England, who were strictly forbidden to practice their religion. He preached at secret Catholic meetings in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Lancashire.
He was arrested by a spy at Lyford, Berkshire, on July 17, 1581, and taken to the Tower of London. When he refused, under severe torture, to recant his religious convictions, his captors invented charges that he had conspired to overthrow the queen. He was convicted of treason and executed. Throughout his ordeal, Campion exhibited religious zeal and great courage. Campion Hall at Oxford was named for him. He was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Many of our pupils took part in the Mass, Alter Servers, and the choir, people taking the Offertory and readers from our 6th form. We especially give thanks to John Smith who stood in at the last minute, and expressed the Reading of from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, so eloquently. Which ended in:
‘ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’
Future Chef National Competition Heats Up
On Tuesday 4 December, St Edmund’s Catholic Academy hosted the Regional Final, Heat 2, for the Future Chef National Competition.
We welcomed 2 students from 3 other schools, plus 3 chefs and the competition organiser. Sharefa and Dinu had been selected from Year 9 and 10 students who had entered the competition in the first heat, held in our school.
The atmosphere in the food room was very professional, just like Masterchef! Food served to the judges looked amazing. The judges used scoring cards to decide on the winner, who was from Ellowes Hall School. There was only a few marks separating all of the chefs.
It was a pleasure to welcome our guests and see the talents of the students.