Sports News

Creative Confidence

Our hard-working Makaton and Performance Poetry students have really impressed Kitty from Creative Confidence this term with their outstanding effort and development. We spoke to Kitty for her termly review…

Makaton Sing and Sign/Storytelling The Makaton students excelled in their ‘Sing and Sign’ sessions this term communicating through a variety of songs such as Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits, Remember by Becky Hill, Breaking Me by Topic and even a touch of Blondie’s Call Me! This diverse genre allowed them to embrace their own unique sense of style and expression and the students were able to compare the lyrics and similarities in each song. The students’ soaring confidence was so astounding that they took the reins and were given the opportunity to teach what they had learnt to their peers which again was a privilege to be part of. This term we decided to take it one step further and used stories, roleplay and presentation techniques using Makaton. The students embraced taking on characters such as an Estate Agent showing prospective buyers around the house whilst signing each room, shape, size and colour in Makaton. The students took turns at hosting game shows such as Blankety Blank with hilarious phrases that really got the competitive juices flowing! However, the icing on the cake had to be the pizza/pasta cooking show which involved displaying their extensive knowledge of all the ingredients in Makaton. They were so invested in their roles as Italian chefs that they would definitely give Gino D’Campo a run for his money! Each session has been met with an infectious enthusiasm and it has been a privilege to teach students who are hungry to learn and who dare to be different! Performance Poetry Brandon, Salvatore, Destiny and Javae have been on a fabulous journey of poetic discovery. They have been incredibly open, sharing their feelings and emotions on a variety of topics. They showed maturity and respect to each other when relaying stories thus creating some fantastic pieces of poetry. The boys embraced each poetic device from similes, alliteration, senses, rhythm and rhyme and even rap! However, the boys exhibited their most extensive knowledge of descriptive words in ‘The Love Trilogy’. They were fearless in their expression and pushed themselves out of their comfort zone making each scene come alive. It has been a privilege to watch the boys blossom and I am proud at how they have grown into talented, confident poets. They are a breath of fresh air and there is never a dull moment when they are around. I look forward to seeing what masterpieces they will create next term!

Kitty Short Creative Confidence CIC

Religious Life of the School

Student form groups have been leading assemblies on a variety of different themes and gospel values, the children put such a lot of thought into them and delivered their presentations with great confidence.

Year 7 students have been attending Mass at St Clare’s with Father Dariusz, it has been a positive experience to return to church and celebrate the Eucharist. This is something that we aim to share across other year groups throughout the year. Year 9 and year 10 students went on retreat to Savio House in Bollington. The students participated enthusiastically with all of the various activities the centre staff had arranged for them. Staff who led the trip, all agreed that the students were fantastic and represented Our Ladys exceptionally. This activity is a very popular fixture on our spiritual calendar. Our year 9 and year 10 student chaplains trained as Caritas leaders with Kath Ansley from Salford Diocese. They learnt about the seven aspects of social teaching and how the work of Caritas supports a variety of people across our Diocese. They supported the Advent challenge #lovedbythelord, by writing prayers that were shared on the diocesan website and are currently writing their own spiritual action plan on how we can share the teachings across our school community. This half term, the student chaplains were focusing their reflection on the season of Lent. They led the Easter liturgies, and supported with fundraising for ‘Grow a Fiver’ and ‘St Joseph’s Penny’ initiatives. Some of our students have shown an interest in being involved in the ‘Faith in Action’ award to show faith, service and reflection, as part of the Salford Youth Ministry in school and the wider community. We look forward to sharing their progress with you.

New House Icons

The foyer has been given an uplifting makeover in the form of new artwork. Mrs O’Shea has worked with many of our talented art students to create five painted icons of Our Lady to represent the five house groups we dedicate to her in school.

Each year group has a dedicated shrine to Our Lady, for Year 7 it is Our Lady of Knock, Year 8 is Fatima, Year 9 Lourdes, Year 10 Mount Carmel and Year 11 are Walsingham. Mrs O’Shea researched the locations of each of these shrines and their history; this inspired her to sketch five stunning original designs. She then scheduled an after school art club and students from the relevant year groups stayed behind on Wednesday nights and carefully painted the designs in vivid detail and brought them to life. It was a twelve-month project to complete all five icons starting during the winter of 2020, finally completed, and hung in the foyer ready for Christmas 2021. I am sure you will agree they are a beautiful addition to the school building.

Building Update

The new school building has really started to take shape this term!

It’s been an exciting time for the planning team, choosing paint colour for the walls, new carpets and furniture for the classrooms and learning spaces. The builders have been hard at work every day, not an easy task through the wind and rainy months of January and February! The foundations were all laid and we could see the structure growing day by day. You can see how the building has developed this term in our real time images which we are taking every day. We are all so excited in school to see the building develop and to get in there ready for the new school year!