Newsletter Volume 17 Issue 1, October 2017 It has been an exhilarating first half term here at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. I never cease to be amazed at what we manage to pack into seven weeks of school. There have been exchange trips, a trip to Llanrug Outdoor Activities Centre, ICT and Humanities trips, visits from Soli House Mission group and Open Evening to name a few. Here at Blessed Edward’s we recognise that a school is not just about academic attainment and there have been several events which have struck a chord with me over this first half term and served to illustrate what our community sets out to achieve. The first was Open Evening which got off to a rousing start with wonderful performances from our college choir and soul band. There were close to one hundred students involved in these performances and their energy, enthusiasm and musical ability brought a smile to many faces. We welcomed over six hundred prospective new parents and their children on the night and there were many complimentary comments about our students who helped on the evening. I received the following message from a prospective parent which I feel sums the evening up perfectly; “Just wanted to drop you a quick e-mail to thank you for a wonderful open evening last night. The two year 11 guides were an absolute credit to their families and the school. Our son reluctantly visited last night as he had already made a decision he wanted to go to another school however we felt it was important to visit his 2nd choice. After 3 amazing hours with great hosts, entertainment and food our son had been totally converted. Every room we visited he engaged in all the activities and was inspired by the knowledge and the confidence of our tour guides. We have now adjusted our school choice online. Thank you very much we came away buzzing!!! “ We have had several fund raising events this half term and the Macmillan coffee morning was a particular highlight. There was a hotly contested staff “Bake off”, excellent music again and a huge selection of cakes and biscuits baked by staff and students. The warm, welcoming atmosphere was what struck me most as students, staff and visitors chatted, laughed, drank and ate cakes. The whole morning was organised by Mrs Fitzer and Mrs Olver ably supported by Year 11 students and raised close to £900. Congratulations to Miss Guise who won the “Bake Off” competition. Two of our Year 11 students, Liberty Deaville and Bryony Richards have been organising a Prom Fayre for the best part of six months. Ms Pratty and Mrs Gardner have supported them throughout and their efforts were rewarded with a busy, successful and enjoyable evening. An especially big thank you to the Year 10 and 11 students who modelled on the night. Money raised on the night was donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Year 7 students have also been busy fundraising for Lepra and I would like to highlight the efforts of Hannah Cukic, Imogen Richards and Jessica Bridge. This enterprising trio managed to raise £500, a quite outstanding effort. These few events that I have picked out illustrate our core values of kindness to others and contributing to the Common Good. As you may have seen recently our Year 11 students who left in the Summer have achieved a fantastic set of results. What pleases us most is that these results enabled students of all abilities to move onto the next phase of their education with confidence and optimism. We are the top school in the city in terms of academic attainment and the reason for this is that we have well behaved, well motivated students being taught and supported by a well resourced and highly skilled team of staff. In conclusion can I take this opportunity to thank you for the many warm messages of support that I have received during my first half term as Headteacher. It is both an honour and a privilege to lead such a warm, vibrant and successful community. Greg McClarey - Headteacher
It is a pleasure to introduce myself as the newly elected Chair of Governors for Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. Peter McHugh has been our Chair of Governors for over 10 years and a Governor for many more. He felt the time was right for him to step down from his role as Chair, however I am pleased to say that Peter is staying on as a Governor and will be an invaluable source of help and support. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Peter for his hard work and dedication over the last 10 years as Chair of Governors. Elections are now being called for two Parent Governor positions. These are important roles and are elected by the parents of the college. I would ask that you consider carefully standing for election as Parent Governor. These are key roles and crucial to the development of the college. I would like to welcome our new Year 7 students and wish every student in our college a happy and successful year. Philip Carney - Chair of Governors Parent Governor Elections The Board of Governors currently has 2 vacancies for Elected Parent Governors. You should all have received a nomination form and letter explaining the process. Please can you return your nominations to the school office by Wednesday 1st November. Thank you. Mrs M Thomas - Clerk to Governors Key Dates 20th October - Students last day before Half Term holiday 30th October - Students return 1st November - All Saints Day Masses 6th November - KS3 Assessment Week 13th November - Anti-Bullying Week 15th November - Year 7 Parents Evening 30th November - Presentation Evening 4th December - 8:35 am First Advent Liturgy 5th December - Options Evening Year 9 14th and 15th December - Reconciliation Services 19th December - Carol Service 7:00pm 20th December - Student last day before Christmas holidays
Safeguarding The college website has been updated. 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 or websites that might be useful to you. There is a lot of information on there that can be helpful. Following on from Mr McClarey taking over as Headteacher, I wanted to remind you of our Key Safeguarding Contacts: Miss Mason - Designated Safeguard Lead Mr McClarey - Deputy Safeguard Lead Mrs Solomon - Governor with Safeguard Responsibility Mr Carney - Chair of Governors Mr McClarey and Mrs Solomon - Prevent Single Point of Contact. Miss Mason - Designated Safeguard Lead
Students Good Behavior We received this message from a member of the public about a group of our students as they set off on their French exchange trip. As teachers and parents we all set high expectations for our children and it is always wonderful when we get feedback on how well they conduct themselves both in and out of college. "This morning I was travelling with two friends to London on the 7.28 train out of Foregate Street. Not long after the journey started we noticed a couple of adults looking up and down our carriage, they explained they were looking for 16 seats close together. Not long after the said seats were found a group of youngsters were filing Into the carriage. We found out from one of your teachers that these youngsters were off on a trip to France. Myself and my two friends (ladies in our 60s) were so impressed at the way your students conducted themselves and we would just like to say that both your students and the teachers with them are an absolute credit to your school. We wish them all well on their trip." Mr McClarey - Headteacher
GCSE Results The college is very proud of our examination results for 2016/17. In a year of considerable change in the structure of the examinations especially the new grading/points scores in English and Maths our students have done well. All the key indications suggest that attainment in English and Maths and overall attainment is significantly positive. 79% of students achieved good passes in both English and Maths. The college is particularly pleased that all its hard work and determination has paid off for pupil premium students. The pupil premium students achieving a good pass in both English and Maths increased from 36% in 2016 to 66% in 2017. The pupil premium and non- pupil premium gap narrowed by 25%. This is excellent news for those students and the college. The new style GCSE exams in England are considered to be the most difficult since the end of O-Levels in the 1980’s. These new exams no longer used coursework or modules but were graded on final examinations. By allowing students a free option choice our curriculum remains extensive including sociology, photography, music, art and design and these subjects achieve overall pass rates of 85%-100%. Now retired Principal, Sean Devlin said “It is great yet again to see so many happy and excited students. Our excellent results are testament to the commitment of our teachers and the partnership with parents and hard work of our students. Pilgrimage to Harvington Hall On 3rd September a group of students from Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, all of whom are members of the Youth SVP, joined hundreds of other pilgrims on a journey to Harvington Hall for the annual diocesan pilgrimage, which celebrates the sacrifice of the forty Catholic martyrs of England and Wales. One of these English Martyrs is our college patron, Blessed Edward Oldcorne and we were very proud to represent our college knowing that Blessed Edward made such a great sacrifice for his Catholic faith. Before we went to celebrate Mass we were given a guided tour around the house. Our tour guide was named Arthur and he gave us a potted history of the house before taking us into each room to give us more historical detail and facts. Harvington Hall is called the shrine of the English martyrs and is moated medieval and Elizabethan manor house in the hamlet of Harvington in the county of Worcestershire. The Hall belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and is notable for its seven priest-holes, four of which are built around the main staircase and are the work of Saint Nicholas Owen. The Hall was given to the Archdiocese of Birmingham by Ellen Ferris (1870–1955), whose son Robert was Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1970 to 1974 and later became Lord Harvington. Arthur, our tour guide allowed us to climb into the priests’ hiding holes and we quickly realised how difficult it must have been to remain hidden from the King’s men for so long without food and basic toilet facilities. Following Arthur’s wonderful guided tour we attended Mass celebrated by Bishop Bryne and many of the priests of the Archdiocese. Hundreds of people from all over the diocese of Birmingham turned up to celebrate this wonderful occasion. After Mass we had tea and cakes on the lawn and chatted to many of the people from different parts of the diocese. Imogen Pless – Year 8 student and member of the Youth SVP Macmillan Coffee Morning Thank you to everyone for participating in the Macmillan Coffee Morning. We have exceeded lasts years total to raise £890.00!!! It was a really excellent event that was well supported and enjoyed by many members of college, the wider community around college , Fr. Brian , friends and family and it was also attended by the Deputy Major Jabba Riaz. Mrs Fitzer - SEN Coordinator
Daisy and Hans leap to success in Junior Kangaroo! Daisy Newman of Year 8 and Hans Atendido of Year 7 are our new maths superstars, having qualified and competed in the prestigious “Kangaroo” competition – an invitation-only follow up to the Junior Maths Challenge held in April. Both performed extremely well and have certificates to prove it. This follows on from the Junior Maths Challenge, in which 120 Year 7 and 8 students took part. This year, we gained more Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates than ever before, with as total of 51 certificates. Well done everyone! Gold certificates were awarded to Daisy Newman (Best in Year 8), Daniel Espiritu, and Hans Atendido, who are not only Best in Year 7, but beat all the Year 8’s too! Silver certificate winners were: Connor Dennis, Alicia Hartley (Year 8) and George Farmer, Zebedee Weston, Niamh McClarey, Sian Dalgleish and Benjamin Birkett (Year 7). Congratulations to everybody who took part. Mr Ellis - Maths Teacher SVP Legend Win Taylor is honoured for her work On Thursday 13th July Win Taylor, our SVP leader, stepped down from her post due to ill health. We had our last meeting with her in charge, where many youth and senior SVP members attended. Niamh Dene and Marko Prindeizi (two former Youth SVP members who were taught at Blessed Edward Oldcorne when Win set up the Youth SVP very kindly came to tell the current Youth SVP what happened in 2009 the very beginning. They told us how Win was always there for them to help them on their faith journey. They showed us all the fund raising that has gone on since the Youth SVP started in 2009. Marco told us about how being a part of the Youth SVP has impacted on his adult life. He is soon going to Bangladesh to help give medical aid to poor communities. Marco has just completed his degree in Bio-medics at Cambridge University, which will help him in his medical work in Bangladesh. We were all proud to hear that Niamh has done well in her student life, as she recently graduated with a First Class Honours Degree and is going to Oxford University to study for a Master’s Degree in History. Both Marco and Niamh were amazed at how much the SVP has grown since they were here; it has grown from around 6 to over a 100 students. This is testimony to the hard work and dedication that Win Taylor has shown over the eight years of being Youth SVP coordinator at our college. Niamh gave us a detailed presentation about the history of the Youth SVP at our college. We heard about how Win has inspired the Youth SVP to: visit the elderly, raise money for refugees, the homeless on the streets of Worcester and Mumbai, India. Win encouraged the Youth SVP to donate books to a school in Kenya, talk to confirmation groups about the importance of this sacrament, organise Lent and Advent prayer services in our college chapel and a host of other initiatives. We are all proud of all that Win has done for the Youth SVP and we hope that she will continue to visit us at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. At Win’s leaving ceremony many kind words were exchanged and presents given. One gift was from SVP HQ in London. It was a certificate and medal awarded to Vincentians who show a long term commitment and was signed by the National President of the SVP. What an honour for Win! Father Brian McGinley was there to add his grateful thanks to Win for her outstanding work with the Youth SVP. Mr Devlin, our retiring college Principal, also lauded the work and contribution of Win to the students at our college over such a long period of time. Win was accompanied by a number of senior SVP members from Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, including our next Youth SVP coordinator, Marie Yates. It’s wonderful to know that Marie is going to carry on the work of the Youth SVP at our college and we are very grateful that she has volunteered for this role. After the presentation we all had a big group photo. We will miss Win very much and we wish she could stay longer. Samar Hussain and Siân Dalgleish -Youth SVP members from Year 8
School Visit From China 28 students from Guangzhou Teiyi High School visited Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College last term. The college hosted the students for the week as part of a visit organised by Ardmore Language Schools in Berkshire. The students were accompanied by Guo Cuican, English Teacher and Chen Wen Jie, Education Marketing. The following week the students from China stayed in London to see all the sights then returned to Guangzhou on Friday 21st July. The school has an excellent reputation in China and has been praised many times by the national, provincial and municipal governors. The pupils partnered up with a Blessed Edward Oldcorne student and experienced a complete one week immersion in English education. The Chinese students enjoyed the experience and we were happy to be hosts. “Long lasting contacts and friendships have been made” – said recently retired Principal, Sean Devlin. “Thanks to Area Leader for Modern Foreign Languages, Claire Parker and Rebecca Low 2i/c for organising this within the college”. Mass of Thanksgiving Over 940 staff, governors, guests and students participated in a Mass of Thanksgiving at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College on Thursday 20th July. The Mass was to celebrate the life of the college and the retirement of the Principal, Sean Devlin, Assistant Principal, Sue Price and Area Leader for Mathematics, Lorraine Chapman. Between them they have served the students at the college for 85 years. The college was honoured to welcome Rt. Rev. Robert Byrne as Principal Celebrant along with other celebrants including Fr. Brian McGinley and Fr. Michael Glover of St. George’s Parish, Fr. Andrew Berry of St. Joseph’s in Warndon and Fr. Paul Johnson from St. Ambrose in Hall Green, Birmingham. All these priests are or have been College/Year chaplain in the college. Bishop Robert Byrne reminded all at the Mass of the importance of God’s gifts, which are not rights such as education, food, electricity, health services and clean water. Bishop Byrne helped everyone to reflect the generosity of God towards His people. The college choir enhanced the Mass with their excellent singing. Hymns included ‘How Great Thou Art’, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Lord of All Hopefulness’ and concluded with the college hymn ‘This Little Light of Mine’. Two ex-students Grace Whyte and Louise Ridge returned to sing ‘Pie Jesu’. Their rendition of this beautiful hymn was outstanding. The Mass was a joyous celebration of thanks and farewells. All the guests with Bishop Byrne and other celebrants enjoyed a buffet in the College Library after the Mass. Frank Doran the first Headteacher of the college was able to attend. He was Headteacher from 1963-1985 and laid down the foundations of what now is an excellent college. Year 7 Poetry Our Year 7 students were busy scribing acrostic poems based on the words Blessed Edward to describe how they felt starting their new College. These were judged by Kevin Brooke our Patron of Reading. Kevin said that there was a theme throughout the poems “I was a bit nervous at first but it’s turned out great!” The winners were chosen for their mixture of rhythm, succinctness, flow and authenticity of phrasing. Many of the poems are on display in the library. Congratulations to: Nicole Przepiorka , Christian Carter, Rose Cockcroft, Paris Evans, Eadie Fellows, Archie Thurston. Mrs Bromyard - Librarian
Welcome Back Masses All students in Years 7-10 have celebrated Welcome Masses with our various Chaplains at the start of the College year. The services were joyful and uplifting with the Gospel message centred on the theme of serving others. The choir, ably led by Mrs Thomas and Mr Bryant enriched the services with some beautiful hymns and outstanding solo sections sung by our students. We continue to be very grateful for the wonderful and dedicated liturgical contribution from all of our Chaplains and look forward to their continued spiritual guidance and direction once again this year. Year 7 will be having their Welcome Mass after a few weeks once they have settled in. Masses will be held for all year groups to celebrate All Saints Day after half-term. Mr McCormack - Deputy Headteacher Llanrug Trip 2017 Students in Key Stage 4 enjoyed a wild weekend in Snowdonia National Park, experiencing outdoor activities in some of the most challenging of Welsh weather. The trip focuses on team building, independent skills and taking responsibility for the outdoors. Student's experienced rafting, gorge walking, waterfall slides, coast steering, orienteering and kayaking all in three days. The group of students deserve praise for their attitude towards the weekend, showing high levels of determination and initiative throughout the trip. The next trip will hopefully run September 2018 - please see Mr Ebbage for details. Mr Ebbage - Head of Year 10 Chaplaincy Commissioning Mass On Tuesday 26th September twelve students along with Mr McCormack and Mr. James attended the annual Chaplaincy commissioning Mass at St. Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham. As part of his address Archbishop Bernard Longley publicly acknowledged the liturgical life of the schools within the Archdiocese of Birmingham and thanked all those who contribute to it. Our own students acted as wonderful ambassadors for our college and we were all happy for the opportunity to praise the excellent work of our own chaplaincy team here at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. Mr. McCormack - Deputy Headteacher NEC ICT Trip On the 21st September 2017, Year 9 and Year 11 students’ enjoyed a trip offered by the ICT Department to The NEC, Birmingham, for EGX 2017. EGX is the biggest gaming event in the UK. Students had an opportunity to meet game makers, experience the UK’s biggest gaming event with 4K gaming, and immerse themselves in a technology environment with special guests. Students also had a chance to visit a careers fair hosted by Universities and games’ developers to learn about careers in the gaming industry. Students were excellent ambassadors for the college and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Mr Nicholls - Area Leader of ICT Patron of Reading We were delighted to have our new Patron of Reading, Kevin Brooke, into College to speak with 60 of our Year 7 students. Kevin talked about his book, Jimmy Cricket which is about a troubled boy who finds help with the support of a Cricket Club for bereaved young people. Following the tragic death of his parents, Jimmy moves miles away from everything he knows to live with his grandmother. Kevin engaged the students immediately with constant references to cricket and using cricket terms throughout to involve everyone. Kevin was asked many questions about his own love of sport, in particular, cricket and rugby, and also about his writing. Kevin and the students shared an exciting hour together, talking about the strong issues that are covered in the book. Mrs Bromyard - Librarian
Year 7 Worcester Heritage Walk As part of the transition curriculum in Year 7 we explore the basic historical skills that are needed to study History effectively, specifically the study of Chronology and Historical Enquiry. Year 7 History students were given the opportunity to discover the sights of Worcester in their annual Heritage Walk. By looking at a variety of different buildings and sites in Worcester the students were able to put together a picture of how Worcester might have looked during different historical periods. We walked down Friar Street and saw how medieval buildings were constructed and how the size of the buildings might reflect the status of the owners. The Berkley Hospital and Huntingdon Hall gave us an understanding of how the poor were cared for at a time before there were benefits or an NHS. Looking at the Guildhall and King Charles House we were able to develop a clear picture of the relationship between different monarchs and Worcester’s part in the English Civil war. Students will be producing a detailed project about the chronological changes in Worcester over the last 1000 years and have hopefully developed a deeper appreciation of their local environment. Mr S Jessop - Area Leader for Humanities Humanities trip to Bristol On Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September Year 9 students visited Bristol on a joint History and Geography field trip. The morning was spent at the M-Shed discovering how Bristol was involved in the slave trade. This involved a workshop viewing a range of artefacts which help us to learn more about the different aspects of the slave trade from the punishments the slaves received to its abolition. In the afternoon we visited Bristol zoo, where we took part in a workshop on rainforests, investigating why they are so important to the planet, why they are at risk from deforestation and learning about some of the animals including their adaptation. We even got to meet some of the animals that live in rainforests, these included Giant Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches and a Lesser Madagascan Hedgehog. Mrs Sparey - 2nd i/c Humanities Geography Competitions A massive well done to those students who entered work in to the Young Geographer of the Year competition about their favourite place. It was a hard decision but the final ten students whose work will be entered into the National competition are: Hans Antendido, Maya Stewart, Ruby Collett, Megan Evans, Ella White, Charlie Hancock, Amy Green, Katerina Christodoulou, Joe Jackman and Elizabeth Miller. Also well done to Connor Dennis, George Wheatley, and Bethan Clarke who entered work for the Royal Town Planning Institute’s competition, on how their local area could be made more sustainable. Their entries have been sent off too. Mrs Sparey - 2nd i/c Humanities LEPRA Table Top Sale On Saturday 7th October Imogen Humphries, Hannah Cukic and Jessica Bridge, held a table-top sale for LEPRA. We had a raffle, cake table, bric-a-brac stall and a clothing rack. Before the event we delivered leaflets to all our neighbours and friends to advertise the sale. We couldn’t believe how many people came and each put in some money, which altogether totalled £230.01. We were thrilled with this, then an incredibly generous man decided to match out efforts, so it then doubled to an amazing £460.02! We were so proud for raising so much for charity and so were our parents, who were then kind enough to donate enough to get our fund-raiding total up to exactly £500! THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Sports Memorial Rugby Tournament On Wednesday 12th July the whole of Year 9 participated in a touch rugby tournament in memory of James O'Mara. Each tutor group was evenly split into a red team and a blue team and competed in a round robin tournament. Community coaches from Worcester Warriors and ex-students helped referee at the event and commented on what a great attitude all the players had throughout the afternoon. Every member of the year group has made a contribution towards the charities chosen by James' family. The winners of the tournament were Clitherow Red! Mr Williams - 2nd i/c PE Orienteering and Team Building On Thursday 13th July fourteen Year 8 students helped to run an Orienteering and team building festival for 105 of our Year 5 Catholic Primary students. The morning ran very smoothly and nobody got lost! The leaders were fantastic and showed some good quality leadership skills especially Lucy Allsop, Ella Webley, Daisy Hooley and Emma Kippax in organising 60 students in the bench game. Well done leaders. Miss Ingram - PE Teacher Year 11 Netball On Wednesday 11th October the Year 11 Netball team took part in their last District Tournament. The girls played some fantastic Netball, winning 4 out of their 6 games (losing only to Kings and RGS). Making them the BEST state school team in the City. Well Done Girls, you did yourself proud! Mrs Barrett - PE Teacher ESSA Swimming On Tuesday 3rd October 16 students took part in the ESSA Swimming Relays Gala at Malvern College. A great experience for our swimmers with some great swimming performances. It was a timed event comprised of 2 heats per age group in both Freestyle and Medley 4x50m events. The Junior Girls won the County event in both relays and overall have been placed 2nd in the Medley and 3rd in the Freestyle out of over 30 teams entered for the District. A win would of taken them through the Nationals. The Junior Boys squad came 2nd in the County and 6th in the District. Another great performance. The Inter Girls squad came 8th (Freestyle) and 11th (Medley) in the County. The Inter Boys came 5th (Freestyle) and 4th (Medley) in the County. We look forward to more successful swimming performances in the City Gala in May 2018. Miss Ingram - PE Teacher