36students from year 7 and 8 have recently spent 3days on retreat at Alton Castle Catholic Retreat Centre in Staffordshire, where we looked at the theme of ‘Called’.
What are we called to be?
How are we called to live?
The students tried different activities to enable them to push themselves and see the beautiful countryside they were staying in. They tried a range of activities, cycling, trekking, climbing wall, archery and survival skills-looking at the 3 things we need to survive, water, shelter and food.
During their time they took part in prayer, adoration and a beautiful Mass celebrated by Fr Paul Wheldon at the St John Catholic Church which is on site.
We shared our Retreat with St John Wall Catholic School in Handsworth and many new friends were made.
We are all called to do be ‘Saints’ .
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine.
Our Chaplaincy Team this year decided to put together lots of feathers to make 2 ‘Angel Wings’. Mrs Ferris asked the form tutors to ask the students if they would like to either design a feather, write their new year’s resolution on, their aspiration or inspiring quote.
‘God has created me to do some definite service…I have my mission. I shall be an angel of peace.’ Saint John Henry Newman
We hope you like the final display inspiring students to aim high and be the best they can be.
From the moment that you are born you have all the potential in the world inside you. God gives you this potential but it is up to you to make the most of what you are given. That means pushing yourself to accomplish great things, and taking some risks that are worthwhile in order to grow as an individual. Don’t let a fear of heights keep you from reaching the top and seeing the most incredible view. Your wings are already there, you just have to recognize that you have them so you can successfully take off. Don’t be one of the people who do not accomplish what they could have just because they mistakenly thought they were missing the tools needed to achieve their goals.
‘Your wings already exist…all you have to do is fly’.
The workshop Adeel and I attended recently was a great insight into university life at Warwick and specifically what a politics course would entail. We had a Q&A with current politics students and one girl who had finished her course and was now doing her masters at Warwick. They all told us how flexible the course was and how you can tailor it to support your specific interests.
My personal favorite part of the day was our mini lecture on “How should we deal with the legacy of the empire” looking at how our famous institutes like Oxford and Bristol university were built on the back of the slave trade and how we as a country, and students that attend those universities, should address that by acknowledging the victims without whitewashing the fact that many university founders themselves were slave owners.
We also looked at what makes a good MP and how to write a good political blog, a skill we are encouraged to use to enter the Political studies association blog competition on “does the public expect too much of UK politicians?”.
Ruby Cochrane
Coronavirus – Advice for all early years providers, schools and further education providers
The government is closely monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus and is taking action at home and abroad.
The overall risk of Coronavirus to the UK remains moderate. However, we understand that people may be concerned where there are children, students or staff returning from or visiting China.
Public Health England and the Foreign Office have issued advice for anyone travelling to the area. This can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-and-avian-flu-advice-for-travel-to-china
Latest information and advice can also be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
Please share this advice with your staff and cascade as appropriate.
Advice for parents/guardians
You should not be unduly worried about the possibility of your children catching the Coronavirus.
There is no reason why your children should not continue to attend their early years, school or further education setting as normal.
We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming half term period. If so, please refer to the FCO’s latest travel advice via the link above.
What action you can take
A UK wide campaign has been launched to provide clear advice on how to slow the spread of Coronavirus.
Please help to support the campaign which promotes basic hygiene practices, such as regularly washing hands and always sneezing into a tissue, to stem the spread of viruses.
You can do this by:
Displaying this poster in relevant public spaces:
Sharing DHSC content from the following social media links:
Congratulations to Stacey Roderick, Additional Educational Needs Coordinator and teacher of psychology, for completing the Autism Leaders Award.
The award, a new postgraduate qualification designed to help raise awareness of the developmental disorder within mainstream schools, was delivered by the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Outreach Service in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton.
We are delighted to announce we have our own qualified Autism Leader at St Edmund’s.
Mrs Gibbons, Assistant Principal, collected the award Stacey’s behalf.
The Eco-Club took another step towards achieving their Eco-School Green Flag Award. St Edmund’s were kindly donated 30 trees to plant on the premises to help offset the carbon footprint of one our pupils companies.
The day came when the trees arrived and the Eco-Club got into action! With the help of Mr Katumba, our green fingered hero, who showed us how to plant the trees successfully, with digging a suitably sized hole and how to use compost effectively so the roots have help growing when they wake up.
In very cold conditions our Eco-Club planted all 30 trees successfully and had a great deal of fun. We all agreed that it was amazing to be part of something that will hopefully be here in years to come. It has gone towards our Eco-Schools award objective of biodiversity, which brings us very close to completing the whole award!
Our members are, Abigail, Mario, Cilla, Kate, Sara, Billie-Jo and our Sixth Form Environmental Committee made up of Jessica, Carlo and Seren.
As part of this year’s Loyola programme, pupils from years 8, 9, 11 & 13 attended RAF Cosford for the first of two days of fierce competition to qualify for the national finals.
After a number of qualifying rounds, even pitting our two teams against each other, the year 9 team finished 2nd out of the 21 schools at the event and won two awards.
This is an excellent achievement in our first year taking part in this technically challenging competition and means they will now take part in the national finals at the end of March.
Great credit goes to Mr Morgan and the students for their hours of commitment after school to enhance and improve their design.
Students from various schools and institutions from across the city, recently gathered at the illustrious Wolverhampton Civic Hall. For many the events of that evening would become a moment engraved in their memories for a lifetime.
A year 11 and a sixth former took on new roles, not only were they students from St Edmund’s Catholic Academy but they also became Youth Council Members. Two sixth formers returned and took on more prominent roles within the youth council, one went on to become a Wolverhampton representative for Youth Parliament while the other went on to become the Chair of Wolverhampton Youth Council.
Together these four students, and the rest of the Youth Council members, would go on to represent their school and help create a better Wolverhampton; a Wolverhampton where the future generations to come would listen intensively to the history of Wolverhampton and how it progressed to become a new city, a better city.
These students would go on to face many new adventures and in turn new opportunities would arise – let’s hope that, like the senior Youth Council members, the new members would also be able to find their voice!
By Janis Liora Tchiesso Nantchouang
Some of our sixth formers took up a fantastic opportunity to visit the prestigious Ernst & Young (E&Y) offices in Birmingham.
The students had the opportunity to take part in workshop and networking with E&Y personnel and a tour of the offices.
They took part in a very focused 4 hour workshop event within the Tech / Accountancy sector. During the event they took part in workshops led by leading professionals within the firm, students networked with E&Y staff and heard all about the work experience and degree apprenticeship opportunities with some possible fast tracks on offer!
Brandy Sasa felt the workshops were fantastic. Brandy has already started the application process for the summer internships. The students were informed about the apprenticeship process and how EY supports university placements. Brandy had the opportunity to identify her own key strengths. “ It was a great day, I am so glad I went”.
Harjan Sangha thought the trip to the E&Y offices was very scrupulous and interactive. He is in the process of applying for a one week work experience at the E&Y offices in Birmingham, and has also persuaded other scholars to also look at the opportunities presented to them. The students took the opportunity to gain presentation skills, and evaluate their strengths and get an idea of what kind of field of accountancy would best suited for them.The students were notified of all the amazing and punctilious opportunities that Ernst And Young offer to young people, to give them a jumpstart in the working world.
St Edmund’s has been named a top sixth form for student progress in recent figures. We are proud and delighted to be one of the top three performing sixth forms in Wolverhampton based on student progress in last summer’s A-level and Btec exams.
In the recently published Department of Education league tables, students who study post 16 at St Edmund’s are shown to make excellent progress across a whole range of academic and vocational subjects.
This position was reinforced by Ofsted who visited the school in November 2019 and classed sixth form provision at St Edmund’s as “excellent”.
St Edmund’s will also feature in the Express & Star on Thursday 27th February. Click here for more information.
Head of Sixth Form, Ms Toor, is always happy to show parents and students the St Ed’s
sixth form experience. For more information please contact htoor@stedmunds.org
sixth form experience. For more information please contact htoor@stedmunds.org
