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Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College

October 2019

Dear Parents and friends of our college welcome to another college newsletter. This term we introduced an expectations evening for each Year group. Thank you for your support of these evenings and I hope you found them useful. As mentioned at these evenings your child should be getting weekly homework from most of their subjects. Please let me know how you feel this is progressing. Homework is not set in order to give teachers something to mark but is set to ensure that your child develops good home study habits. These good home study habits are an essential part of GCSE success. We recently received our attendance data for last year and it was very pleasing to note that we have scored second best attendance of all high schools in Worcestershire. Thank you for supporting our ongoing drive to ensure our students are here at college and enjoying their learning. We welcomed several new staff this term; Mr Dobson our new Head of Year 7 has already developed a wonderful sense of community amongst our new Year 7 students, Mrs Holland our new Careers and Aspirations Co-ordinator is working with students in all year groups to ensure that they are aware of all the opportunities that are open to them after they have left our college. Mrs Ball left us recently to start her maternity leave and we look forward to sharing in her good news soon. Mrs Guppy has joined us as Mrs Ball’s maternity cover. Mrs Guppy knows the college well as she has two of her own children here. Can I please ask that you download the MyEd app which is available on all mobile platforms. We will be moving to app only communications in the New Year. Some dates for your diary next half term include an early finish at 1:35pm on Wednesday 13th November for staff to continue their work on developing our new curriculum. There is also a Teacher Education day on Friday 29th November.

We currently have a vacancy for a Parent Governor. If you are interested in working with us and being part of the ongoing development of our college please contact Margaret Thomas, Clerk to the Governors, to register your interest.

Thank you once again for your ongoing support of our college. Blessed Edward’s is a special place to work and study because everything we do is “For the Greater Glory of God”.

Greg McClarey - Headteacher Safeguarding The college website is always being 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, policy or websites that might be useful to you. There is a lot of information on there that can be helpful.

Key Safeguarding Contacts: Miss Mason - Designated Safeguard Lead & LAC Lead Mr McClarey - Deputy Safeguard Lead Mrs Thomas - Deputy Safeguard Lead Mrs Ennis - Deputy Safeguard Lead Mrs Girling - Governor with Safeguarding Responsibility Mr Carney - Chair of Governors Mr McClarey and Miss Mason - Prevent Single Point of Contact.

This full safeguarding team can be found here.

Here are some other links parents will find useful: · Online safety tips for parents of 11-13 Year Olds · Online safety tips for parents of teenagers 14+ Year Olds · Fifteen Apps parents should know about · Worcestershire safeguard board website · Wake up Wednesday 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. · 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.

Miss Mason - DSL and LAC Lead

On the 26th September I attended this year’s Open Evening. The inspirational speech given by Mr McClarey gave a real feel for what our college is all about.

He explained we were not a factory, or a machine, but a community that looks after each person as an individual giving them choices and opportunities that other schools do not offer. As I walked around the college, after the presentation, I could see the children, teachers and support staff working together offering potential new students a glimpse of the community that is Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College.

The diverse and inclusive approach we have for children, their parents and the subjects that we teach, truly make our college stand out among other schools in Worcester. The talents of both children and teachers were demonstrated in the various groups on show around college. Well done to them all, and a big thank you to all the Staff that support these children and give them the confidence to perform, discuss and speak in groups with such confidence and sincerity.

As you will read in the rest of the newsletter there are some great sporting achievements and examples of extracurricular activities. These are further examples of how diverse and inclusive our college is, encouraging our students to try new experiences and discover their strengths.

On behalf of the Governing body may I thank all the parents of the college for their support in all activities and events. This partnership between parents and college is so important in ensuring the success of our children.

Philip Carney - Chair of Governors Key Dates 4th November – Students Return 4th November – Book of Remembrance Placed in the Chapel 4th November – Year 11 Mocks Begin 10th November – Remembrance Sunday 11th November – Anti-Bullying Week 13th November - Students finish at 1:35pm Due to Teachers Curriculum Planning Time 21st November - Presentation Evening Ex -Year 11 Students 25th November - Year 11 Mock Exam Re-Sits 27th November – Year 7 Parents’ Evening 29th November - Teacher Training Day, College Closed to Students 2nd December – Advent Liturgies Begin 3rd December - Year 9 Pastoral Development Day 5th December – Year 9 Parents’ Evening 13th December – Advent Reconciliation Services 17th December – Birthday of the Holy Father, Pope Francis 19th December – Carol Service 7pm 20th December – Students Finish for Christmas at 12:30

Library News We are delighted to see that that books that we collect for charity are well received. The photographs show the school building and the reception ceremony of donated books, in the village of Breman Fawomanyo which is in the Ajumaku Enyan Essiam District of Ghana. Chief Nana Kwadwo Tanno II is trying to develop the community with a plan to develop a Library that will serve other villages and develop a community hub. The books have helped to support the village school that serves the other villages across a newly developed bridge, supported by the government. Books will also go to a school we have in Kaba Nigeria. Many thanks to Mr Gladstone Douglas for organising the collection of our books and sending them on to places they are needed.

Many of the books were donated from the Library, English and Science Departments.

A group of Year 9 students created some Book Art using old book pages and decorating with the Iris Folding technique - superb results. Some students added extra embellishments and hooks so their art could be hung up, others would like to use them for greeting cards or book covers.

An exciting afternoon as author, Mr Horn worked with a group of Year 8 students. They had a lot of play with words, some obscure, some made up and other just plain funny! Mr Horn talked about his poem “Does a Yeti Eat Spaghetti?” and the students all joined in with a fun action rhyme about “Yeti Etiquette”. There was lots of discussion about whether the Yeti really exists. Mr Horn shared some short limericks which everyone in the group had a turn of reading out loud, and lots of giggles as tongue twisters were attempted. The star of the event was definitely the cuddly yeti, who sat quietly observing everyone! Thank you to Mr Horn for giving the students a lovely opportunity to share reading in such a fun way!

National Poetry Day 2019 “Truth” A class of Year 8 students celebrated National Poetry Day with a workshop with five local poets. Each poet introduced themselves by reading a poem they had written or a favourite poem that inspired them. The class was divided into groups and each poet led five students in writing a poem on this year’s theme “Truth”. The poets were excellent at encouraging the students to think around the subject and achieved remarkable poems in such a short time.

Kevin Brooke was impressed with his group and said “I thought they were really clever to focus on the notion of pictures, truth and lies, the way they constructed the idea of how images can be deleted, but how lies will always be remembered was so relevant to modern life.”

Amanda added “ I really enjoyed the session. I was impressed with the students – their concentration and good behaviour and responsiveness to the brief!”

Mr Horn really enjoyed seeing the students excel and show their creativity. Mrs Bromyard was thrilled with the success of both the poets and students, and commented it was lovely to see them all working together so well and achieving superb results.

Many thanks to all the poets who gave up their time to give our students this experience, Polly Stretton, Mogs and Sue Morris , Chris Horn, Amanda Bonnick and Kevin Brooke.

We were delighted to have multi-talented Charlie Eden into College on Wednesday 16th October, working with a group of Year 8 students. Charlie showed several pieces of his hand crafted stained-glass, each one having its own story. He explained the reason for making each piece, many of which had hidden objects, the students delighted in finding them. Charlie also shared several of his poems, each one having a meaning behind their humour. The students were really engaged and learnt a lot from the session.

Six Worcestershire Librarians from different schools, joined forces to create a joint project based on "We are Going on a Bear Hunt" to celebrate Michael Rosen's 30th anniversary of this wonderful book. Our book uses the different reading genres, with Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College focusing on Comedy. The student librarians assisted with the pages and enjoyed making it. We all look forward to seeing the final book.

French Spelling Bee Just before we broke up for the summer holidays our then Year 7’s took part in a French Spelling Bee against students from Nunnery Wood High School. After a very competitive final the winner was Emily from Nunnery Wood with Livia from Blessed Edward’s coming second and Emily, also from our college, finishing third. Well done to all those that took part!

Contestants from Nunnery: Emily (winner) Hazel Liam Samuel Contestants from Blessed Edward’s: Livia (2nd place) Emily (3rd place) Bartosz Scarlett Mrs Low - MFL Teacher

Bonjour Salut

Bonne chance Merci

Year 10 Trip to CERN From the 15th to the 17th of July, myself and 19 other Year 10 triple science students, along with Mrs Ballett and Mr Bradburn, went on a trip to Switzerland to visit the CERN facility.

After departing from Blessed Edwards, we travelled by coach to Birmingham Airport where we then flew to Geneva Airport.

On Tuesday, we were taken on a boat to the Old Town of Geneva where we spent a few hours sightseeing and shopping before leaving for CERN. Whilst in the Old Town, some of the students visited St Pierre Cathedral (St Peter’s Cathedral) where they took a tour of the towers and got to see the great views the city had to offer.

After a short 35 minute tram ride, we arrived at the facility where we got to buy souvenirs and see the exhibitions. One such exhibition was an interactive example of how the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works. Other parts of the exhibition included old parts of the collider and video/audio explanations.

After a wander around the exhibitions, we were taken to a talk by a CERN scientist who explained the inner workings of a particle and how the LHC works and what it does for modern science.

We all then went across the border to the French part of the facility where we got to see the live video feed of the LHC and some of the scientists who monitor it. After an explanation of the needs of the LHC the group got to watch an informative video. It further explained the need of the LHC and how it was built along with some of the experiments it conducts.

Later that evening, we all enjoyed bowling and pizza. Two games of bowling were played and Max won with an astonishing total of 280! The next highest was 178. Max’s score was only that high due to a technical issue with his lanes computer but he still won!

On the next day, we travelled back to the old town where we did more sightseeing before heading to the airport and flying back home. It was a great trip, thank you Mrs Ballett and Mr Bradburn.

Marley - Year 11 Sutton

French Exchange Blessed Edward's French Exchange visitors came for the week (16th to 20th September) and they had a great time and were welcomed into their partners' families. They went to Worcester and visited the mayor, and spent a day in lessons with their exchange partners. The highlight of the visit was a day trip to the Black Country Museum, where they were charmed by an old fashioned pharmacist and barked at by a very strict teacher in an authentic classroom. They also got to see where Peaky Blinders is filmed! In October we go over to experience life in Lille, and will get to see their new friends again!

Mr Xia - MFL Teacher

Llanrug 2019 30 Year 11 students enjoyed a great start to their last academic year with us by experiencing the adventures of Snowdonia National Park. Divided in to 3 groups, they enjoyed a variety of outdoor activities such as rafting, canyoning, coast steering, paddle boarding and hiking.

The behaviour and attitude of the students was exceptional and made for an enjoyable trip. If you wish to attend this next year, please see Mr Ebbage for details.

My Fair Lady Rehearsals for the College production of 'My Fair Lady' are well under way and the whole cast are going to see a live production of this show at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton. The students will hopefully be inspired by the character roles and be raring to go on stage 'absolutely bloomin loverly'!!!!!

Mrs Thomas - Head of Performing Arts

Computer Science Accelerator Programme Mr Nicholls, Head of ICT, was one of the first 100 teachers across the UK to complete the Computer Science Accelerator program.

This is supported by Google and the National Centre for Computing Education. This involved undertaking 40hrs of face to face CPD and online learning.

European Languages Day On Thursday 25th September it was European Language Day! We celebrated by having lots of fun and exciting lessons learning about different cultures in Europe. In Year 7 we did a European language quiz and Year 9 students learnt about European festivals. In Year 8, bi-lingual students in the year group taught their class their language. It was great fun and the student-teachers did an excellent job, creating a powerpoint and even bringing in food from their country for us to try. I would like to thank all the students who taught for all their hard work for preparing their lessons.

Mrs Low - MFL Teacher

Poetry Day This year we celebrated National Poetry Day on Thursday 3rd October with a competition to learn more about the favourite poems of staff in College. Staff carried around copies of their favourite poem all day, while students in Years 7, 8 and 9 were challenged to find as many as possible to complete their entry sheet. There was a competitive air around college at break and lunchtime as students raced to complete the challenge. First to finish were Lubna and Taslima in Year 7 who won the Year 7 competition, while the winners in Year 8 were Justin, Charlie and Antoni , and Eadie in Year 9.

Thank you to all the staff who took part, and of course to the students for their enthusiasm.

Miss Case - English Teacher

Year 7 Worcester Heritage Walk As part of our History WOW Curriculum in Year 7 we have been exploring the different ways we can study History effectively, specifically the study of Chronology and Historical Enquiry. Year 7 History students were given an opportunity to discover the important sights of Worcester in our annual Heritage Walk. By looking at a variety of different buildings and sites in Worcester students were able to put together a picture of how Worcester might have looked over the last 1000 years and, more importantly, how and why it has changed.

We took a stroll down the oldest street in Worcester - 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 have used this improved knowledge of their local area in lessons and will continue to make those links between global, national and local events in our history.

Mr Jessop - Head of Humanities.

AQA Further Maths Course After two successful years running the AQA Level 2 Certificate in Further Maths course, we were expecting around 25 Year 11 students to sign up this year – roughly the same number as in previous years. Imagine our delight when no less than 47 students asked to take the course this year! So many that we’re now running two classes each week.

The Certificate in Further Maths is designed for students who are thinking of studying Maths beyond GCSE, as both a bridge towards A Level, and as a means of securing a top grade in the GCSE papers.

In June 2019, 96% of the students sitting Further Maths achieved either grade 8 or 9 in their GCSE. Mrs Connolly, Head of Maths, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that so many students are intending to study Maths at A Level or beyond. Maths is a brilliant basis for so many different career paths.”

Mr Ellis, who teaches the classes, said: “The course is about 50-50 between higher GCSE content and new, unfamiliar topics. The students find it hard at first, but as they get more into it, they can see their skills really improving.”

Year 7 Netball The Girls have made a great start to the Netball Season, and training sessions have been really well attended. A special mention to the new Year 7s who came out in force with 52 attending Netball trials.

So far we have played 6 fixtures and have won all of them. Keep up the excellent work girls!

Mrs Barrett & Mrs Coleman

Year 11 Netball On Wednesday 9th October the Year 11’s took part in their last ever school district Netball tournament!

Competition was tough, but they finished third - and as the top state school in the city!!

Artistic Gymnastics Aimee in Year 8 has been competing in a variety of artistic gymnastics competitions this year and did very well in the West Midlands novice Championships.

She came away with 3 golds and 4 bronze medals in her last 2 competitions. Well done Aimee!

Molly and Kyle representing 9 Ashley along with Laila and Cian representing 9 Clitherow, were presented with the joint winners trophy for Sports Day July 2019.

Mr Coward - Head of PE

Swimming On 1st October the Relay Swim Team were out in force again doing exceptionally well to retain some of their event titles. There are 4 other competitions which take place during that week in our County (West Midlands). Then results are collated for a County position before submitting for Nationals qualification.

The Junior girls team Natalija, Chloe, Libby and Alice won their Freestyle and Medley relays, finished 2nd and 3rd in the County.

The Junior boys team Will, Jack, Toby and Lem came 2nd in both relays, 7th for Freestyle and 3rd in the Medley for the County.

The Inter girls team Ciara, Bethan, Poppy and Jasmine won their Freestyle and came a close 2nd in the Medley. Over the County they finished 8th for Freestyle and 7th in the Medley. Very well supported by their injured team mate Lauren.

The Inter boys team David, Kian, Jack and Pat had a clean sweep in both events with a solid win in both relays. They finished 7th in the Freestyle and 6th in the Medley in the County.

Unfortunately none of the squads qualified for Nationals which is the top 30 fastest teams throughout the country, however there are over 250 schools that enter and we are in the top 40 for some events, so close!

Thank you to Mrs Barrett for organising, Mr Williams for taking the swimmers to Malvern and the parents for picking up swimmers.

Miss Ingram - PE Teacher