Please keep in your prayers all those affected by the earthquake in Nepal last week.

Prayer at a time of Natural Disaster:

Lord, please be with everyone waiting to be rescued, keep them safe, and bring help to them soon.

Lord, please be with the rescue workers and keep them safe as they make heroic efforts in dangerous situations to rescue those in trouble.

God, bless each and every person affected by this earthquake and surround them with Your love and protection. Let them know we are praying for them and their loved ones.

We give you all the praise and glory forever, Lord, and know that even in the darkest hours, You are always with us.

Amen.

Maggie Hughes
Principal

Last week, Wolverhampton’s Kristian Thomas and former student of St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, won Great Britain’s first gold medal at the European Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier.

The 26-year-old scored 15.166 with a clean routine on the floor to secure his first international individual apparatus gold.

His tumbles were hugely powerful and importantly well controlled, with only the smallest hops on landing for the judges to deduct points.

He put in a super routine under pressure to record a huge points haul and take top honours, his first major championships individual title.

He was elated afterwards, saying: “It’s amazing, I’m absolutely over the moon.

“I’ve never won a floor medal at a major championships, but I knew the routine I had was consistent and I was in contention.

“I was so nervous watching the other scores come in, to win gold is incredible.”

Photograph is courtesy of The Express and Star

During the Easter break our Vice Principal, Mrs Hazeldine travelled to Nepal to distribute books to a primary school that were kindly donated by St Edmund’s students, as part of our Lenten charity work.

The school in Okhreni, a tiny mountain top village located in the Himalayas, is where Mrs Hazeldine’s daughter, Rosie, is currently teaching as a Project Trust volunteer, for a year.

The children were really excited to receive their new books – they have very little but are so keen to learn, particularly another language, such as English.

Mrs Hazeldine, commented: ‘It was an amazing privilege to visit this country and bring a little bit of St Edmund’s spirit to such a remote, beautiful part of the world. The community wants me to thank everyone for their generosity and good wishes. Our sixth formers will be finding out more about the work of Project Trust next term, to consider whether volunteering after A levels might be right for them’.

The Success Centre celebrated their annual St Clare’s Mass, yesterday. During the Mass, Fr Mark Crisp blessed the Centre, along with all students who also took part in the Liturgy.

Prayers of thanks were said for Mrs Beddows and all staff who offered their help by way of supporting students throughout the year.

NEWA 3-4 St. Edmund’s (after extra-time)

After a thrilling semi-final, our Year 9 Soccer team took their place in the final of the Wolverhampton Soccer cup. Goals from Jenson Griffiths (2), Bartosz Walczak and Osiris Jackson mean that the team have made their third final in 3 years. They had to come back from 2-1 and 3-2 down with spirit and determination. It is now time for us to win the final as we were runners-up in Year 7 and 8.

This term many of our students will be taking examinations and we wish them all the best of luck.

Our Year 11 GCSE Photography group are working hard towards their exam preparations and are ensuring that they are ready to tackle them in the next couple of weeks. They are producing some outstanding work showing creativity and insight with exciting results.

During a recent Year 9 assembly, students at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy were asked to put themselves into the shoes of a homeless person and imagine life without simple things we take for granted, such as toiletries.

9MK then showed how for less than a pound, you could buy razors, a can of shaving foam, a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. They then launched an appeal to fill a bag with toiletries and the response has been fantastic.

Enthusiastic students and staff have provided many basic yet essential items which were sent to the Brothers of the Good Shepherd yesterday, in readiness for Easter.

Mrs Knibbs Modern Foreign Languages Teacher and 9MK Tutor commented: “This gesture of goodwill has yet again shown how students at St Edmund’s rise to a challenge and work hard to help others in the community who need support.”

Debbie Ferris, St Edmund’s Lay Chaplain, took some students to St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham earlier this week.

They took part in a Cafod workshop looking at pitching a product to help a village in El Salvador. Our pupils had the opportunity to work with some pupils from Hagley High School and decided to pitch a bread kitchen. It was based on ‘Dragons Den’ and they had to convince 4 ‘Dragons,’ one being a member from Cafod to invest in their product.

We are delighted to say that, they were offered a 25% backing from each dragon – that’s a 100% investment! There was only one other school that received the same. We were pleased with how the team worked together and proud of how they conducted themselves.

In the afternoon, we attended a Solemn Mass for Justice and Peace with remembrance of the 35^th anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero.  It was celebrated by The Right Reverend David Mc Gough. He spoke of Archbishop Romero’s assassination on March 24^th 1980 and how Pope Francis has recognised his Martyrdom and will be beatified on March 23^rd in El Salvador. Pope Francis is a powerful advocate for the poor and Romero’s quote: “Aspire not to have more but to be more,” is one we could all take note of.

Following the very successful, and fun, Shakespeare Event last year, we are proud to announce that our 2015 summer production is Jesus Christ Superstar.

Auditions and parts will be cast from rehearsals, which start after Easter

Rehearsal Times

Lunchtimes:

• 1.10pm Wednesdays
• 12.00pm Thursdays
• After school on Thursdays

If you would like to be in the production, pupils and students can come along to the rehearsals!