December Newsletter 2019

Winner of the Christmas Card Competition - Lyra, Year 10

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Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College

Dear Parents and friends of our college it is hard to believe that another Christmas season is almost upon us.

During this season of Advent we have focused on reminding everyone in our community of the true meaning of Christmas and the need to look out for those less fortunate than ourselves. Students have reflected on these themes through collective worship each morning, assemblies and RE lessons.

One of the highlights of this half term was our very own general election held on the 12th December. Each year group had a spokesperson for each of the 4 main political parties who presented a manifesto at morning assembly. On the day of the election all students were able to cast their vote in a mock-up of a typical polling station. What struck me was the mature way in which our students debated the issues and formed their own opinions. It gave them a real taste of what it is like to participate in the democratic process. To find out which party won check out our social media feeds available on our website.

If you are out and about in Worcester this Christmas please drop into the Cathedral to see our entry into their annual Christmas tree festival. It is always a wonderful way to while away an hour or so.

In January our attention will inevitably turn towards supporting our Year 11 students in the build up to their GCSE examinations. Year 10 have their assessment week when we return on the 7th and I wish our Year 7 students the best of luck in their new classes. As always there will be a lot going on and we will keep you updated via our college app.

Thank you again for your ongoing support for all we do here at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. It is a joyful place to study and work and I wish you all a very happy and holy Christmas.

Greg McClarey - Headteacher

Safeguarding Wake up Wednesday posters have continued to be sent out this term.

Further posts will send information in the New Year. This is our weekly online safety information for parents to support you with your child’s devices.

These will be sent out via our college app, twitter and facebook.

I was recently made aware of an app parents might find useful. https:// hollieguard.com/ It’s a personal safety app that can help parents put a variety of safety features in place on their child's devices, such as a location alarm and an auto text to a parent if the child needs help.

Also a reminder that we have an Early Help Offer. There may be times when you need extra help and support. If this is the case, please come and talk to us.

The safeguarding information can be found by clicking on the Students or Parents tab then down to Safeguarding, there is an option to see our safeguarding contacts, policy or websites that might be useful to you.

There is a lot of information on there that can be helpful.

The full safeguarding team can be found here.

Miss Mason - DSL and LAC Lead

The first term of the academic year is ending, and it is time to reflect on the achievements of our pupils. There have been some great sporting achievements and examples of extracurricular activities in addition to impressive academic achievements, demonstrated at our wonderful presentation evening recently. The introduction of the new award for Catholic Life in the name of Mrs. Win Taylor a great supporter of Catholic life at the college, is a great addition to the way we recognise the pupil’s engagement in our Catholic college. What a proud moment for all our parents, staff and governors to see the progress these pupils have made during their journey from Year 7 to Year 11, and now onwards to the next adventure in their young lives.

As another Calendar year ends and Christmas is just around the corner, I look forward to another college carol service. These services always bring home the true meaning of Christmas I say it every year, but it is so true. It is a fabulous way to start the festive season and really puts you into the Christmas spirit. This years’ service is on the 19th December at 7:00pm. I hope to see as many people as possible at this holy and joyful event. I would like to wish all of you, on behalf of the governing body, a peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Year and look forward to 2020.

Key Dates 6th January - Teacher Education Day - School Closed to Students 7th January - Students Return 7th January - Year 10 Assessment Week Begins 9th January - Year 11 Parents’ Evening 15th January - Year 9 Pathways Evening 20th & 21st January - Year 9 Immunisations 23rd January - Curriculum Planning Afternoon - Students leave at 1:35 24th January - Blessed Edward Oldcorne Feast Day Masses 27th January - Year 8 & 9 Assessment Week Begins 7th February - Year 11 Panoramic Photograph 12th,13th & 14th February - College Production of My Fair Lady 14th February - Students finish for Half Term Holiday

Year 8 STEM to QinetiQ On Friday 8th November 13 Year 8 students were invited to a STEM event at QinetiQ. They competed with 3 other local schools, RGS, The Chase and Nunnery Wood High School. There were various challenges throughout the day involving code breaking, lego mindstorm programming, app development and programming a space mission! Students were also judged on their team work.

We are very proud to share that we were the overall winners of the day!

Congratulations to the students who took part.

Mrs Ford Lego Club On Friday 22nd November the first Blessed Edward Lego club took place! Titanic ships, mega towers and stars for the Worcester Cathedral Christmas Tree were created. Great fun was had by our Lego Master builders! Come and join us every Friday in the ICT suite.

Mrs Ford - ICT Teacher

Playwright Visit Year 8 had a visit from a published playwright, Kevin Brooks. All year groups gathered in the Drama Studio where they were taught about the craft of writing plays and keeping the audience entertained. This knowledge will help prepare Year 8 students for the Spring Term topic.

Mrs Jhall - Head of English

Library News Kids Lit Quiz – November 2019 Two excited teams were selected to represent our College in the Regional Heat of the Kids Lit Quiz, on 18th November 2019, in Coventry.

They battled through 100 questions on Children’s Literature, with 10 rounds with titles including Spiders, Thievery, Sheep and Rats. Joker cards could be played on a chosen round, which would double the score for that round. Our teams chose Teenagers and Superheroes.

Team A achieved best in round for Statues and received a set of books to share.

Team A were top of the leader board after 5 rounds, and ended up in a respectable 5th place. Team B achieved a remarkable 9 points on the Shakespeare round.

Nicole, Year 7, was fortunate to win a signed book in the raffle.

Mrs Bromyard says it is always a pleasure to see so many students taking part in a quiz on reading, and at such a high standard. Thank you to Mr Powell for driving, Dawn Woods, School Library Association, and Kevin Brooke our Patron of Reading who supported our teams.

Worcestershire Young Writers Competition Anthology 2019 - Book Launch On a cold Sunday afternoon a group of us ventured to the official Book Launch of the anthology, following a short story completion on Myths and Legends earlier this year.

The book has the title “The Myth” named after the winning story by Ellie. Mine came third with “A Fountain of Youth” in the Year 10-12 category.

Jenna, “The Monster Behind the Mask” and Emmy “The Legend” came first and second respectively in the Year 7-9 category. A total of 28 students from our College are published authors in this book. There were over 90 entries in total.

The Book Launch was a lovely occasion, and the young writers read their stories out loud. Several local writers also attended and all agreed that the standard was very impressive indeed!

The judges were Prof Rod Griffiths and Dr Tony Judge and the competition organiser was Kevin Brooke.

Congratulations to all the young writers.

Eadie, Ellie, Ella, Daniel, Skye

The Year 7 students were asked to write an Acrostic Poem on "Blessed Edward" about how they felt when they started in September. The poems were judged by our Patron of Reading, Kevin Brooke, and he chose the following as winners. Each of these students will receive a book as a prize.

Niamh Oliver Taslima Jasmin Angeline Kevin was very impressed with all the poems and illustrations, some very succinct and well thought through.

Blessed Edward by Niamh Blessed's is great Lessons with mates, English, can't be late, Science, I can't escape, Early morning are a date, Dancing Keeps me awake.

Exciting lessons everyday, Darker mornings bring dismay, Working hard in every way, Absolutely paves the way, Really love my funny friends, Day by day it never ends.

Eco Club Update December 2019 This term our eco club have been continuing to work on reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. We are still collecting crisp packets to send off for recycling. The minimum mass needed before sending has changed from 2kg to 8kg which amounts to a lot of crisp packets!

In the new year we will be looking to recycle other items which are not accepted by our household waste recycling schemes. Our eco club have also been working to Encourage teachers to reduce their energy use by turning off screens and projectors when not in use. This makes us all aware of the need to take responsibility for our energy use. We wish you all a happy, recycling Christmas.

Mrs Strauss - Science Teacher

Carolling for Charity The choir recently visited the Worcester Victorian Christmas Fayre and sang some beautiful carols. We managed to collect ÂŁ140 for local charities!

Then on the 12th December the choir sang at Tesco and managed to raise ÂŁ282 in just 50 minutes!

Mrs Thomas - Head of Music

Awards In November we took our Looked After Children to the West Midlands Safari Park for the annual virtual school awards.

Students were rewarded for their achievements from their studies. Myself, Miss Guise and Mrs Cooper were also awarded a certificate in recognition for supporting our Looked After Children and ensuring they reach their full potential.

Miss Mason - LAC Lead and DSL

Warwick University On Friday 6th December 85 key stage 4 students attended the Science in Action conference at Warwick University. 5 highly engaging sessions were delivered that both challenged and inspired the students.

Dr Helen Pilcher, author of ‘Bring back the King’, explained how advances in genetics have made de-extinction a reality. The re-appearance of woolly mammoths, baby-burping frogs and other animals could soon put an end to the dogma that extinction is forever.

Marty Jopson presented an interactive session looking inside the mobile phone. Students discovered the optics and elements that go into their favourite accessory and found out some of the real costs to the Earth.

Hayley Loren, one the Telegraph’s Top 50 Women in Engineering who is working on one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world asked if new energy technologies can keep up, and if we can really go 100% green.

Greg Foot, host of multiple BBC series on TV & Radio, showed research at base camp in Everest is being used to help patients in intensive care units. Greg showed clips of videos of himself working with the team at base camp that showed how studies of the circulatory system at high altitude could be the key to better survival rates after major trauma and surgery. Greg chatted to some of our students after the presentation. His adventures around the world on a variety of scientific endeavours had the students awestruck.

After a useful session on revision techniques, Nick Barker, finished the day with a chemistry demonstration and a sense of humour to entertain all.

Our students as expected were extremely well behaved. Thank you to the staff who gave up their day off to enable the trip to go ahead.

There are not many chances for students to see such a variety of relevant cutting edge topics delivered by leading lights in the field.

Mrs McClarey - Science Teacher

All change please!

As the rain clouds gathered on a Wednesday morning in mid- October, nineteen Blessed’s students got onto a coach for the first stage of the annual exchange trip to our French Exchange school in Lille. Dodging the downpours, we took the train to Euston, and walked across to get the Eurostar from St Pancras straight to Lille. On the way we met an Extinction Rebellion protest and had an impromptu piano performance from Grace, as well as a Year 9 flashmob dance as we waited in the departure lounge.

By the end of that day the rain eased and we had a delightful four days at home and at school with their French exchange partners that they’d got to know when the French group came over in September. The students spent a day in school, had a bus tour of Lille and played laser tag with their French friends. But most of all they had a chance to spend time with their partners and their families, sightseeing, going to attractions and just hanging out.

The feedback from our French hosts was overwhelmingly positive and pupils said they’d had a terrific time. We all came back unscathed but I hope not unmarked by the experience!

Mr Xia - MFL Teacher The Story of Enigma – Y10 Maths visit to Bletchley Park If you think maths problems are hard, spare a thought for the code breakers who worked at Bletchley Park during World War 2. Our Year 10 pupils now have a much clearer understanding of just how difficult the task of deciphering enemy communications was.

We saw and used a real Enigma machine (worth over £250,000!) and calculated the incredible number of different combinations that are possible (over 1.5 quintillion), and heard how Alan Turing and his teams worked to eventually crack the codes and save countless lives by being able to intercept vital communications.

We also watched a new presentation on how the code breakers made D-Day possible, by being able to spread misinformation to the enemy. A brilliant day with a great group of Year 10’s.

Mr Ellis - Maths teacher

Urban Fieldwork On Thursday 14th November Year 10 Geography students headed to Birmingham to complete their urban fieldwork to find out about the regeneration of the city centre. The students found out how areas such as Brindley Place and the Bullring have changed over time. We had a very wet day and spent a lot of time trying to keep dry! Fingers crossed for a better day when we head to the Knapp and Papermill in the summer.

Mrs Sparey - Humanities Teacher

Golfing Success Congratulations to Ben in Year 10 for his amazing golfing achievements. Ben, who plays at Gaudet Luce Golf Club, Droitwich was named as 2019 most improved golfer and 2019 order of merit winner. Ben has reduced his handicap from 26 -11 in one season. This has taken tremendous hard work, dedication and talent. He has won numerous competitions including the Fernihough Trophy and he also plays for the county team. Let's hope that Ben is on par for another fantastic season in 2020!

Trampolining Competition On Wednesday 20th November, 13 Key Stage 3 students took part in the Worcestershire Trampolining Competition, in St Johns Sports Centre. It is a very nerve wracking competition and all the girls did brilliantly.

Alice scored particularly highly and went on to win the beginners section. Well Done All! Mrs Barrett - PE Teacher

Dancefest!

On the 28th November we welcomed over 200 students from our Catholic feeder primary schools. They came to perform their dance pieces that they worked on in collaboration with Dancefest. It was a wonderful morning sharing and celebrating their talents.

Mrs Barrett - PE Teacher

Irish Dancing British Open championship- 2019 The Irish dancing - World Irish Dance Association (WIDA) British Open championship- 2019 was held in Swindon at the end of October .

Some of our students competed from McCarthy Felton School of Irish Dancing.

Fionnuala Year 7 = 3rd place under 11 Alessia Year 8 = 5th place under 13 Harriet Year 11 = 8th place under 16 Congratulations to all the girls !