Newsletter

Shannon Year 8 won the Christmas Card Design Competition

Follow Us

@EdwardOldcorne

Newsletter

Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College

December 2018

Dear Parents and friends of our college, thank you for taking the time to read our termly newsletter which will give you a flavour of what goes on in our college. These are testing times for education with a lack of funding for Worcestershire schools still a major concern. Thank you to those of you who wrote to your MP about this issue.

However despite this, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College remains a vibrant and happy place to learn. Over the last few weeks we have been focusing on the relevance of our college virtues and how they can be used to help us all become people of good character. These are challenging times for society as a whole and here at Blessed Edward’s we believe that when individuals focus on becoming people of good character then society as a whole can flourish. When I look at the young people in our college I am optimistic about the future. One of our college virtues is “considerate”. We place great store in our community on asking students to show consideration to others. We recently asked students to write thank you cards to two adults in the school who have helped them this Safeguarding term. The simple act of saying thank you ensures Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College is committed to that here at Blessed Edward’s relationships between safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our staff and students are second to none. In conclusion I students. would like to thank you for your on going support for Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and our college and for the ethos and values which guide young people is broader than 'child protection' as it also us every day. Wishing you all a joyous and peaceful includes prevention and ensuring the best interests of our Christmas and a very happy New Year. students come first.

Greg McClarey - Headteacher If you have any concerns contact the safeguarding team: Miss Mason - DSL & LAC Lead Mr McClarey- Deputy DSL The first term of the academic year is ending, and it is Mrs S Thomas - Deputy DSL time to reflect on the achievements of our students.

Mrs Ennis - Deputy DSL There have been some great sporting achievements and Susan Girling - Safeguard Governor examples of extra-curricular activities in addition to David Barclay - LAC Governor impressive academic achievements, demonstrated at Operation Encompass our wonderful presentation evening recently. What a Our school has been given the opportunity to take part in a proud moment for all our parents, staff and governors to national project, which is being run locally in partnership see the progress these students have made during their with Worcestershire County Council and West Mercia journey from Year 7 to Year 11, and now onwards to the Police. next adventure in their young lives.

Operation Encompass is a process whereby the police and As another year ends and Christmas is just around the county council will inform a member of staff if a child or corner, I look forward to another college Carol Service. young person has experienced any domestic incident. This These services always bring home the true meaning of will be done prior to the start of the next school day.

Christmas. It is a fabulous way to start the festive Information sharing between professional agencies allows season and really puts you into the Christmas spirit. This school staff to provide emotional and practical support to years’ service is on the Thursday 20th December at our students experiencing domestic abuse.

7:00pm. I hope to see as many people possible at this https://www.blessededward.co.uk/site/index.php/ holy and joyful event. I would like to wish all of you, on docs2018/operation-encompass behalf of the governing body, a peaceful and joyful Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Christmas and New Year and look forward to 2019.

Child sexual exploitation is a hugely distressing, but fairly Philip Carney - Chair of Governors rare form of sexual, emotional and physical abuse of children.

Key Dates Knowing the signs and being aware of the support 7th January Teacher Education Day available can help to equip parents and carers with the 8th January Students Return knowledge and tools to act.

10th January - Year 11 Parents Evening Use the link below to explore more about the signs and 23rd January - Year 9 Pathway Evening support for parents.

21st January - Year 10 Assessment Week https://paceuk.info/for-parents/ 25th January - Blessed Edward Oldcorne Feast Day http://www.barnardos.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/cse/ Masses spotthesigns.htm 30th, 31st January and 1st February - College Production Other useful links: of Oliver County Council advice and support link:http:// 4th February - KS3 Assessment Week www.worcestershire.gov.uk/advicecarehealthandsupport 6th February - Year 10 Parents Evening Your guide to the social networks your children use: 15th February - Year 11 Photographs https://www.net-aware.org.uk/ 15th February - Students Finish for Half Term Miss Mason - DSL and LAC Lead

Performing Arts Rehearsals for ‘Oliver’ are well underway and this is going to be a fantastic college production to look forward to at the end of January next year.

The Carol Service includes members of our choir and orchestra. There will be solo singing, a beautiful duet and whole choir performances. Our very own staff choir will sing a John Rutter Christmas hymn and the congregation will join in with some reflective, joyful carols.

The choir will be singing carols at Tesco where we will be raising money for charity and spreading some festive cheer!

Mrs Thomas - Head of Performing Arts

30th, 31st January and 1st February - College Production of Oliver The Season Of Advent 2018 As part of our preparations to celebrate the joyful birth of our saviour Jesus Christ a wide variety of services and liturgies were held during the season of Advent.

This season is one of hope, anticipation and joy and every tutor group prayed together using calendars and prayers from CAFOD and also used the diocesan ‘Walk with Me’ resources to help journey towards the true meaning of Christmas Services including joyful Advent themed liturgies every Monday morning in the chapel, Reconciliation Services for all year groups and student led and prepared ‘Time out with God’ liturgies. The music department also worked extremely hard with our students to prepare a wonderful Carol Service that includes many seasonal hymns, readings and poems.

Happy Christmas everybody. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Mr. McCormack - Deputy Headteacher Cadbury World This term we took 46 very excited Year 7's to Cadbury World. We attended a DT workshop on designing, advertising and product range. We then had a tour, finding out about the history of Cadbury's, product range, development and manufacturing. The trip would not be complete without a trip to the shop for some goodies and of course our taste testing of the gooey melted chocolate.

Mrs Taylor- 2nd i/c Creative Arts

Worcestershire Designated Teacher Award for Looked After Children On Wednesday 7th November Worcestershire Virtual School held an awards day at West Midlands Safari Park. The day celebrated the achievements of the local Worcestershire Schools and the Looked After Children that attend them.

Here at Blessed Edward's we were delighted to hear that Miss Mason had been selected to receive this award. She is a true inspiration to our most vulnerable students and her care and dedication to championing their needs is a wonderful example to us all. She personifies the values of our college and we are very proud of her achievement.

Miss Mason added "I was very surprised to receive this award as I feel I am just doing my job supporting our vulnerable students. Ensuring they receive the right support to gain qualifications to enable them to achieve their potential. I find this job very rewarding and enjoyed having the chance today to celebrate their accomplishments as well. All of our Looked After Students received certificates for their achievements and 5 students won the overall awards for their categories and year group. Well done to them all! They are a great credit to our school and they should feel very proud."

Mr Greg McClarey – Headteacher Zimbabwean Singers visit Blessed Edwards - Monday 26th November We were delighted to host 15 visitors who come from Zimbabwe and now live in Birmingham. They have family ties with the village of Nyandoro in Zimbabwe who we are raising money for to build a medical centre.

The people living here are experiencing severe poverty and welcome any help and support they can get. A very pressing concern for the people of Nyandoro is the fact that their nearest medical centre is 20km and they have to walk there. This is roughly the equivalent of walking to Bromsgrove from Worcester. As a school we aim to initially raise £10,000 to complete the building of a new medical centre in Nyandoro. Building started last year with some money raised by another school, but the money ran out. Here is where Blessed Edward’s comes in.

Our visitors came to raise awareness of our cause and to join in a celebration liturgy of thanks. During the liturgy with Year 7 students, they sang traditional African songs and the students sang popular Catholic hymns. We prayed for God’s protection over the people of Nyandoro and for success in building the medical centre.

Please join in our efforts to build the new medical centre. We are looking for new creative and exciting ways to raise money. Any ideas are welcome and any small initiative carried out at home will greatly be appreciated. If you have any questions about the project, please contact Mrs S Thomas at school.

Mrs Thomas - Deputy Headteacher

Modern Foreign Language Event Recently we were lucky enough to welcome 16 Language Ambassadors to the College for a MFL careers and future event. Former students studying or working with languages delivered presentations about their experiences to Year 9 alongside members of the local business community. The Heads of Languages at Worcester Sixth Form College and Christopher Whitehead High School also talked to Year 10’s about A Level languages. The morning was a great success and I would like to thank the MFL team and all of our visitors. We look forward to another event next year.

Mrs Parker - Head of MFL

Micro Farming The Year 10 GCSE Food group had a visit to Churchfields this term to look at micro farming, ice cream production and salt production which all linked to the new GCSE food course.

Mrs Taylor- 2nd i/c Creative Arts

Worcester Food Bank We visited Worcester Foodbank on 7th November to drop off our Harvest Appeal collection of tins etc.

Our community collected over 20 boxes of food with each box containing 24 cans. We also had various other bags and boxes of other items.

In total we handed over nearly 600 items.

Thank you to all those involved with the collection it will help so many families in the Worcester area.

Also a big thank you to the ladies in Pupil Reception who 'packed' and collated all of these items on a daily basis.

Mr McCormack - Deputy Headteacher

Library News Eight excited students from Years 7 and 8 travelled to Coventry on Friday 16th November, to take part in the regional heat of the Kids' Lit Quiz. Nineteen teams competed in anything book related, with ten rounds with titles such as "Birthdays", "Illnesses", "Horses". Congratulations to Blessed Edward Team 2 who finished an amazing joint second, winning prizes for themselves. They also won a set of books for best of round in the "Who Said" category. Linda Bromyard, Librarian, said "it is so encouraging to see so many young people with an interest and love of reading, and with such a vast knowledge of so much children's literature" Team 1 Rebecca Ana Skye Cayce

Mark Billen, playwright and children's author, came into College with the stars of his books, toy bears, Martin and Miriam. He worked with a group of eleven Year 7 students and discussed the process of creating his short story books. Explaining the several stages of making just one page, adding photographs and script. Mark described some of the trickery he does to get the perfect shot with the bears, which may take many shots before getting the perfect one. The students enjoyed working with Mark, asking many questions.

Team 2 Mia Olivia Isabella Daniel

Cultural Trip to Rome - October 2018 After many years of organising the Berlin trip, Mrs Duncan hung her shoes up and decided enough was enough.

I gladly agreed to take on the mantle and continue to organise this popular trip but with a new focus. “Maybe there are other interesting places we could visit?” I pondered. And so the biennial Cultural Trip was born out of the ashes of the yearly Berlin odyssey.

Rome seemed the obvious place to begin our new venture and we were overwhelmed with the response. We took 40 Years 10 & 11 students to Rome to experience the delights of it’s history and culture. A city that is so central to our faith but also to the cultural development of Europe and beyond.

We met under the cover of darkness to begin our 6 day tour. 40 half asleep teenagers, some still wearing their slippers, were met by 4 overexcited staff - Mr Edmunds, Mr James, Mr Jessop, & of course Mrs Jones (the linguist!). Our coach took us to Heathrow for our morning flight and we arrived at our hotel by lunch and began to experience the delights that Rome had to offer. (Mr Edmunds was disorientated for much of the first day - he is normally used to a 24-hour coach journey to Berlin, so felt remarkably spritely.)

Over the next 5 days we visited and experienced as much as we could of what Rome had to offer. A walking tour on the second day enlightened our minds to the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini who produced much of the architectural wonders of Rome including St Peter’s Square. Richard, our guide, regaled his audience with tales of corruption and political intrigue that captivated the imagination of many of our young people.

The sheer size of the Colosseum and Forum gave us a real insight into the lives of the Roman inhabitants of this great city. The Vatican and Sistine Chapel added to our awareness of the importance of faith to many millions around the world. The Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps reminded us that despite their beauty and historic significance, life goes on - and it’s not going to stop people opening up a leather bag shop right next to it!!

As a cultural experience, we couldn’t have chosen a better place to visit. Mrs Jones was happy to increase her average step count for that month (9 miles a day apparently!), Mr Edmunds added to his already bulging designer wardrobe and Mr Jessop added his coin to the Trevi fountain, fulfilling a 15 year promise to return.

But finally, I think most students would agree with Mr James, that one of the highlights was accidently attending a High Catholic Mass in a randomly selected papal basilica attended by a cardinal. We were all certainly filled with the awe, wonder and magnificence of this special ceremony.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Edmunds, Mr James and Mrs Jones for helping me to organise this fantastic visit, but I would also particularly like to convey my gratitude to the 40 young people who were an absolute credit to the school and who I am sure will remember this experience for many years to come.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for news of our 2020 destination!

Mr Jessop - Head of Humanities

Science in Action at Warwick University - 4th December 50 students had the privilege of seeing a range of scientists and hearing about their incredible work at Warwick University. The presenter, Greg Foot, who you may have seen on Blue Peter, described his voyage as an aquanaut and showed how science qualifications can lead to a whole host of amazing jobs. Linking many aspects of his varied work to GCSE science, Greg showed how the work of engineers, physicists, chemists and biologists can all come together to help us to understand the biodiversity in our oceans. Dr Sujata Kundu showed us the potential her work with material science could have and the role that nanoparticles could play in developing amazing materials. Dr Becky Smethurst of Oxford University, explained her work as an astrophysicist in trying to figure out how galaxies and black holes evolve together. She also explained how using the public in ‘galaxy zoo’ enabled hundreds of thousands of galaxies to be classified effectively. Hopefully students will have a look at the people powered research site, www.zooniverse.org and get involved with real cutting edge research.

After a session on revision techniques, students were then informed and entertained by Tom Warrender from Medical Mavericks who describes himself as ‘The human guinea pig’. Tom took the students inside the NHS to look at a range of careers, apart from being a doctor, that the health service offers. Students also got to see inside parts of Tom! The science presenter Marty Jopson, rounded up the day with ‘ZAP! The story of electricity’. Another great presentation that finished the day with a bang!

I am sure the speakers we saw will have helped to inspire some of our budding scientists to consider different fields of work they could enter later in life. Maybe some of them will go on to help solve the huge global problems such as the plastic pollution in our oceans and the rising global temperatures, enter into one of the many areas of health care, discover more about our universe or develop a material with incredible properties that we can only imagine.

I would like to thank the students involved for their impeccable behaviour throughout the day and urge them to look further into the career paths of those speakers we saw.

Mrs McClarey - Science Teacher Year 7 Building Paper-Based Computers Students in Year 7 have been learning about the internal components of a computer. In one ICT lesson they worked in groups to build a paper based model and had to describe the purpose of components. Students had lots of fun!

The ICT department has judged the best computer models and the winners are: Zara, Sude, Ellie and Keeley from Mr Batchelor’s class. From Mr Nicholl’s ICT groups, the winners are Lachla, Brandon, Scarlett, Emily and Tilly. Please see Mr Nicholls for your prize, well done!

Mr Nicholls - Head of ICT

Language Detective This term students have been invited to become language detectives by completing a language challenge or question each week and submitting their answers to the Language Detective box before the end of Friday each week. The first correct answer out of the box each week wins a small prize. So far this term students have considered a range of strange quirks of the English Language, including palindrome sentences and pangram sentences. Other investigations have considered etymology; spelling; the most and least frequently used letters in the alphabet; and shades of meaning between synonyms. Winners so far include Harry, Natalya, Callum and Finley in Year 7; Aaron and Natalie in Year 8; Hans in Year 9; Katie and Harriet in Year 10; and Emily in Year 11.

Miss Case - Head of English

An Inspector Calls Miss Case, Mrs Jhall and Mr James accompanied a group of Year 11 students to see Stephen Daldry’s acclaimed production of An Inspector Calls at The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham as part of their preparations for their English Literature GCSE exam. It was a very enjoyable evening, giving valuable insights into the characters and themes of the play. It also enabled students to develop their understanding of Priestley’s use of dramatic devices and how the text can be translated into performance, which is one of the examination assessment objectives.

Miss Case - Head of English Chess Club We have recently started running Chess club in the Mathematics Department. The club is proving to be very popular, with over 30 students across all year groups attending regularly. We are getting lots of practice in and we have some very promising players emerging. We are hoping to take part in some tournaments in the new year including the Delancey UK Schools’ Chess Challenge, which is the largest children’s chess tournament in the world. The club is open to students of all levels, so whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned player, if you fancy learning more about chess and you’re looking for a challenge, come along to room 16 on Wednesday lunchtimes.

Why Chess?

Critical Thinking Chess is all about making decisions, and having a full array of tools to assist in this:  Analysing the problem  Selecting and evaluating options  Knowing when to use intuition  Creativity and Learned Knowledge Character Chess is a fantastic tool for developing character at a young age:  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses  Understand consequence of decisions  Resilience in the face of defeat  “Growth mind-set” – learn from setbacks Mr Hobbiss - Maths Teacher

International Centre for Birds of Prey 180 Year 7 students participated in a combined English and Humanities trip to the International Centre for Birds of Prey in Newent, Gloucestershire, which has become an annual event. This complemented students’ studies of animal poetry and the novel Sky Hawk in English, as well as preparing them for studying Africa in Geography next term.

Students were given a very informative talk on birds of prey followed by a tour of the aviaries. We were also able to watch a flying demonstration before having some free time to revisit some of the aviaries, and of course the obligatory gift shop visit!

Miss Case - Head of English

Eco Club News The eco club has started off well this year in our journey to lead more sustainable lives. In addition to the eco club meeting once a week on a Tuesday during lunch, the new eco-committee met for the first time this half term. Every year group was represented by the eco-reps in each form. We discussed the pathway to getting the Green Flag award and shared ideas about activities that could encourage students to think about how to look after the world we live in. Our new “Can-o-worms” wormery arrived this term together with a new compost bin from the council. We will be able to reduce the waste going to landfill by making compost with it instead. We also took part in Switch-Off fortnight in November. By turning off equipment that is not being used, we can do our bit to reduce the fossil fuels being burnt to produce energy. Other activities included making bird feeders out of waste plastic bottles, investigating bat boxes and spiders, planting vegetable seeds and daffodil bulbs and starting to prepare a garden for planting some incredible edibles in Spring. Activities planned for next year also include planting a beautiful wildflower meadow and a hedge to increase biodiversity.

We are also encouraging everyone to enter our photography competition entitled “Nature in our Community” to raise awareness of our environment. Entries to be emailed to Mrs Strauss by 1 March, 2019.

Mrs Strauss - Science Teacher Christmas Fayre This week the Year 11 GCSE Food group took a trip to the Christmas Fayre in Worcester to look at the different types of Street Food for their coursework task. A great afternoon taking photos and looking at what was on offer. Lots of ideas to build on.......

Fabulous things being made in Creative Arts

Doughnuts 9W held a doughnut sale as part of the College's pledge to raise money to build a medical centre in Nyandoro in Zimbabwe.They raised £40. Well done 9W!!

2018 Christmas Card

Design Competition 1st Place Shannon Year 8

3rd Place Carlotta Year 9

2nd Place Ruby Year 8

Boccia Festival Fantastic leaders this morning helping with St Joseph’s at Droitwich KS2 Boccia festival. Sian, Ciara, Liane, Georgia, Ella and Lucy did a fantastic job helping the St Joseph’s Sports Crew deliver a successful festival and giving the KS2 students an opportunity to experience different skills within Boccia.

Miss Ingram - PE Teacher

Year 8 leaders did a fantastic job this term at the Year 1 multi skills festival in the Sports Hall. Lots of enthusiasm and fun displayed by all leaders to ensure the younger ones had an “awesome time” as one boy mentioned as he was leaving. Well done Year 8 girls!

Miss Ingram - PE Teacher

The Annual Trampoline competition saw the Year 7's Analise, Aimee, Lucy, Alice, Jess and Nelly making their debut for the College along with Ruby (Yr 8), Imogen (Yr 8) and Gina (Yr 10). They had a great afternoon at Tudor Grange, Redditch and got the chance to experience a competitive trampoline event. We look forward to having more practice in the new year ready for next year’s competition.

Miss Ingram - PE Teacher Year 2 Gymnastics Festival Mrs Barrett’s daughter from St Joseph’s, Warndon in action at the Year 2 Gymnastics Festival.

Fantastic leadership skills by the Blessed’s volunteers, they helped the primary students gain confidence, overcome fears and help them to have a great experience at Worcester Gymnastics Club. Special mention to the Year 7 leaders who rose to the challenge with their initiation to leadership.

Miss Ingram - PE Teacher