St Edmund’s 6th Form Turns Orange to End Violence Against Women and Girls

St Edmund’s Catholic Academy proudly joined the city-wide ‘Orange Wolverhampton’ campaign, supporting the global initiative to end violence against all women and girls. This vital safeguarding awareness campaign, initiated by the United Nations, runs annually from November 25th to December 10th. Between these dates, we turned all the desktop screens orange at our school.

At St Edmund’s, we are committed to upholding a community culture where all of our students and staff feel safe and respected. Our participation in the ‘Orange Wolverhampton’ campaign reinforced this commitment through different activities.

Our 6th Form students led the way by holding a special ‘own clothes’ day on Thursday, 4th December 2025. Students embraced the campaign’s colour, wearing orange items to visually signal their solidarity and commitment to the cause.

6th Form students were encouraged to reflect on the issue and make personal pledges. These pledges outline specific actions they will take to promote an end to violence against women and girls, fostering a culture of respect and intervention within our school and wider community.

Staff and students showed their support by wearing orange ribbons. This simple but powerful symbol served as a daily reminder and conversation starter about the importance of the campaign.

At St Edmunds, we believe that by educating the next generation, we are helping to build a future where everyone in our community can live free from fear and violence.

Advent is a time of great longing and expectation as we await to celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago. We also prepare ourselves for when he will most certainly come again. And we prepare ourselves for his coming into our lives each and every day until his second coming.

One of the ways Catholics do this is to go to Confession (the Sacrament of Reconciliation). This week, various churches in the deanery will be holding Reconciliation Services for Advent.

Please see the attached flyer and, if you are a Catholic, perhaps try to go along to one of them and celebrate this most beautiful sacrament of God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing.

A huge well done to our Year 7/8 girls who competed in the City Unified Football Tournament today. The team showed fantastic determination, teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the event.

As the tournament progressed, the girls grew in both skill and confidence, delivering some brilliant performances. With two wins, one draw and two losses in the group stage, the team finished 3rd in their section, earning them a playoff match against Colton Hills, who placed 3rd in the opposite group.

The girls rose to the challenge superbly, securing an impressive 3–0 victory.

Congratulations to every player—you were absolute superstars and a pleasure to take to the tournament. Well done!

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the St Edmund’s A-Team are the official City Dodgeball Champions!

We entered two strong teams into the recent City Tournament, and both squads represented the academy brilliantly, showcasing incredible skill and sportsmanship throughout the day.

The competition was fierce, but our students delivered exceptional performances in attack, with blistering “bullet throws” proving almost unstoppable for the opposition. Defence lead by Sofija Gulbe demonstrated quick reflexes and game awareness, with dazzling catching.

Their combined effort, strategy, and teamwork propelled the A-Team to a magnificent victory! We extend our sincere congratulations to every student who participated in making St Edmund’s proud.

Well done, City Champions! Daisy Swanston, Sofija Gulbe, Sarah Amin, Ava-Rae McDermott, Jade Brindley, Emi Ozoh and DH.

B Team representatives:- Elena Kalinowska, Morgan Hamilton, Bianca Oliobi Omali, Grace Kola-Olowu, Lily Brindle-Williams & Harley-Fae Wellington Brown.

 

On Tuesday, 25th November, eight of our students received the Sacrament of Confirmation, which was conferred by His Grace, the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley. 

This sacrament, the final of the sacraments of initiation, where one becomes a full member of the Church, conferred on all those being confirmed, the seal of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit – Wisdom, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord, Understanding, Counsel and Fortitude.

Our “Confirmandi” were:

Ochuwa Ewesor – year 7

Omuwa Ewesor – year 7

Elvina Xavier – year 7

Maria Akabua – year 7

Victor Nwakasi – year 8

Akenosi Ewesor – year 10

Amhanesi Ewesor – year 10

Foma Ejohwomu – year 12

Before the Confirmation Mass, at St Michael’s Catholic Church, Coalway Rd (part of the St Carlo Acutis parish), we celebrated at the end of the school day with a special congratulatory cake, to wish our students all the very best and assure them of our prayers for them on this special day. Please keep them all in your prayers too.

Confirmandi with Archbishop Bernard Longley, Monsignor Mark Crisp, Fr Gerry Bowen, and Reverend McKearney

Chair of Governors Mike Shipley, Principal Hazeldine and Reverend McKearny

Stars in Our Schools is an annual celebration honouring the incredible contribution of school support staff. This year’s event will be held on Friday, 28 November 2025.

It takes a whole team to create a safe, welcoming, and inspiring environment for every child. Support staff play a vital role in helping pupils learn, keeping them happy and protected, and ensuring the school runs smoothly every day. They are the caterers, administrative teams, finance officers, teaching assistants, librarians, ICT technicians, and many others whose work makes a real difference.

This year, 4 members of staff were invited to a presentation and dinner with the Mayor of Wolverhampton to receive awards of recognition for their contribution to St Edmund’s.

Congratulations to Mrs Beech, Miss Stokes, Mr Buckley, and Mr Bradley, who work tirelessly to support children’s learning and development, while also ensuring everything runs smoothly, keeping children safe and happy.

Photo L-R: Mrs Beech, Miss Stokes, Mr Buckley, Mayor and Mr Bradley

Chloe is a member of Wolverhampton Swimming Club and swims in the performance squad. She trains 5 times a week.

She has recently competed at the West Midlands Regional short course championships, achieving personal best times in the 50m and 100m freestyle and is currently the fastest in her age group at 100m freestyle short course in Staffordshire.

She has qualified for nine events at Staffordshire County championships taking place in February 2026 in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and individual medley and is aiming to achieve regional qualifying times for next summer’s regional long course championship.

Congratulations, Chloe, on your swimming success and good luck in the regional championships in February.

Parents and carers were welcomed to join fellow families and staff for a hot drink and a taste of the food served at St Edmund’s. A growing number of attendees enjoyed delicious bagels, hot toasties, pretzels, and pizza at our latest parent partnership event.

More than 20 volunteers from Severn Trent Water and Friends of Smestow Valley teamed up with our Eco Club pupils to reconnect with nature and carry out much-needed maintenance in our beautiful wetland area.

Braving the chilly weather, the group worked tirelessly to cut back overgrown vegetation and collect bags of litter. Reverend Mick McKearny opened the day with a prayer, reflecting on our shared responsibility to care for our common home.

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, the area is looking better than ever.

Well done everyone — an incredible team effort!