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Summer Winter 2021

Our Lady’s R.C. High School Magazine IN THIS ISSUE:

Christmas Edition

Results Day Success Black History Month Prefect Team 2021

Plus much more!

Our Lady’s R.C. High School Alworth Road, Higher Blackley, Manchester M9 0RP T: 0161 507 9640 E: admin@olsc.manchester.sch.uk

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Dear parents, carers and friends, Once again, I am delighted to introduce our latest version of the Vision magazine, which contains some of the activities, opportunities and achievements that our students have been involved with this term.

Dear all, Uplifted and inspired. These two words are often overused but that is how the community of Our Lady’s has made me feel during this last term. There are so many good things to read about in our most recent addition of the Vision magazine including details on our open evening, the 2021/22 prefect teams and all the news from our Langdale adventure. As you will be aware, we had a visit from Ofsted in early November and I would like to thank you for the feedback you gave about the school. As I write this article the full report hasn’t been published, but some of the observations made by the inspection team included: -

There was exemplary behaviour seen from all students throughout both days of the inspection. Not one piece of boisterous or disruptive behaviour was seen in any lesson or at any other time.

Every lesson observed was strong.

The curriculum was strong in all subject areas.

The children and staff were emphatic about their praise of the school

The full report will be distributed shortly (if it hasn’t already been), and I look forward to writing to you in more detail at that point. Whilst I’m obviously very pleased with how our school performed, I didn’t need an inspection to tell me how great the children and staff of this school are; I see that every day.

As you prepare for Christmas with your families, I’d like to ask you to take the time to consider those people who may not be able to enjoy Christmas in the same way as others. ‘Love thy neighbour’ is a challenge we embrace here at Our Lady’s and I hope you will be able to do the same.

It has been great to see the return of competitive sport and our drama productions. These events are of critical importance to the holistic development of children. I particularly enjoyed our annual Shakespeare production, which included the deaths of Shakespeare.

God Bless

L. Ormsby Headteacher

Editor’s Welcome Message Wow – what an action packed Autumn term! We hope you enjoy reading this bumper-edition of the Vision and discovering what our staff and students have been up to since September. We wish everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas and new year!

SHARING THE VISION | WINTER 2021

Contents Headteacher’s Welcome

Editor’s Welcome

Black History Month

Proud to Be

4&5

Langdale Residential

6&9

Open Evening

10 & 11

Prefect Team 2021

12 & 13

Half Term Transition

14 & 15

Top of the Class!

Staff Profile: Mr Menga

Thank You, Marcus!

Student Spotlight

International Day of Languages

New Building ... Coming Soon!

Religious Life of the School 22

Sporting Success!

The Hive Project

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Black History Month Black history month commenced in Britain in 1987 and is now a well-embedded annual event when we acknowledge and celebrate the overwhelmingly positive impact of black lives, which historically have been overlooked. Black history month takes place in throughout October and for 2021 the theme was ‘Proud to Be’ In school we produced a reading list for staff and for students that were written by black authors, including fiction and non-fiction choices that were showcased in the library and proved popular. Mother Country is a collective memoir about the Windrush generation written by notable black Britons such as David Lammy MP, Corrine Bailey Rae and Rikki Beadle-Blair it proved a really popular borrow with staff and students alike. Every form group was asked to identify with a black British person they found inspirational, either from history or a contemporary figure. They were then given a small budget and tasked with creating an informative display on their classroom door. As well as looking decorative the impact of all these doors along each corridor created a museum effect bursting with information and imagery about Sir Lenny Henry, Naomi Campbell, Olaudah Equiano and Dame Kelly Holmes to name just a few. Everybody agreed that the doors should remain throughout the autumn term as they are so affecting and they look stunning.

All of the subject leaders looked at their curriculum and found areas of awe that were linked to black pioneers who had made a significant impact upon their various fields. People such as Katherine Johnson a mathematician who started her career as a human computer for NASA during the 1950’s despite facing enormous discrimination both as a woman and as an African American. Johnson continued to work in space science and engineering until her retirement in 1986. Like Johnson, Malorie Blackman started her career as a computer programmer but she found greater success as an author writing well-loved fiction for children and young people that represented black lives. To date her most well-known work is the Noughts and Crosses trilogy and in 2013, Blackman became the first black Children’s Laureate. All of the many departments in school shared lessons on black excellence and put up display work around school to add to the BHM museum around school made by the students.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Proud to Be On the last day of term we hosted a culture day returning to the 2021 BHM theme ‘Proud to Be’. All staff and students were invited to wear something that represents them and or makes them feel proud. It was wonderful to see people in clothing that represents their heritage, favourite sports team, bands, musical theatre or just what they wear to feel good. As part of their PE lesson, some students took part in a carnival workshop and explored Brazilian and Latin dance. The students learnt a variety of choreography and listened to stories about the Brazilian culture and history. We firmly believe that the beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people and celebrating black history month was a really joyful experience.

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LANGDALE RESIDENTIAL

Loving Life at Langdale! October at Our Lady’s always means one thing…an action-packed adventure to Langdale! After missing out last year, our year 8s as well as our year 7 students all packed up their rucksacks and set off for a fantastic residential trip in the Lake District. Miss Watkins and Miss Bramley led their year groups in team building activities and walks up the mountains and have shared their stories of a very busy fortnight! Monday 4th October marked the start of year 7’s residential trip to Langdale in the Lake District. After a remarkable first month at Our Lady’s, the children were both excited and nervous to be going on their first residential as a member of the Our Lady’s community. For many of the children, this was their first residential due the cancellation of their usual year 6 trip at the end of their primary school journey. The year group was split into two with one group going to Cumbria MondayWednesday and the second going Wednesday-Friday. Miss Bramley accompanied the students for the full week with form teachers and class teachers also joining in on the fun. After a quick briefing and once the luggage was loaded onto the coach, the group set off

on their way to Ambleside on a journey which would take under two hours. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favour and the first spots of rain fell whilst we were on the motorway. As we neared Cumbria, the sky got darker but this did not dampen the spirits of students and staff. Both groups, upon arrival at the bottom of the hill, had the first task of walking up to Langdale Youth Hostel, taking in the sights of the valley and breathing in the beautiful, fresh air. Once we had established that it was in fact sheep and not cows who inhabited the steep hill and after students had grumbled and moaned about not being dropped off at the top of the hill, we soon arrived at the old, Victorian mansion which we would be calling home for three days.

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LANGDALE RESIDENTIAL

“It was challenging but it was worth it” Fahuz Amusat

After lunch, the students were allocated dorms and got to know their surroundings. There was then time for two activities before our evening meal. The activities on offer were archery, fire making, rocket building, team activities, shelter building and a long walk. All students would have the opportunity to take part in each activity over the course of the three days with archery being the activity students were most excited for.

“My favourite thing was being in the dorms and I loved archery and fire making” Alpha Bangura

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The rain continued to fall heavily all week but the children were fantastic and threw themselves into every activity and especially into the year 7 football match which was more of a mud bath! After each day of activities, the children would clean up and have an hour of social time to contact home and to practise for the talent show. Both groups exhibited fantastic talents with Israel Somorin and Kyle Kenny being notable stand out acts! The following evening saw students change into their pyjamas accompanied by their pillows for a movie night. After the film, staff gathered the students for an awards ceremony which saw students win prizes for notable achievements over the two days such as ‘Most Enthusiastic’, ‘Team Player’ and ‘Best Wellies’ to name a few.

LANGDALE RESIDENTIAL

“Even though the weather was rubbish, it was really good and I liked the views on our walks” Laura Ciepluch

The final day was bittersweet as the children were sad to be leaving Langdale but were looking forward to seeing their loved ones and catching up on some much needed sleep! Before we made our way back down the hill to the coach, the children had to pack and tidy their rooms. The staff at Langdale also arranged one final activity for students to work together in their groups to find certain things around the centre. After lunch, the children made their way down to the awaiting coaches, taking in the scenic views one last time before embarking on the journey back to Manchester. Both groups were a pleasure to accompany with staff members commenting on what a lovely, well-mannered year group we have.

It really was the perfect way to end the first half term and it was lovely to get to know the children on a different level. It is also important to remember that experiences and trips like this cannot take place without staff members giving up their time to support the children and so a big thank you on behalf of year 7 and Miss Bramley goes to every individual who supported with the trip. On the 18th October, Miss Watkins and the year 8s headed out on their Langdale residential. The 3-day long trip is an outdoor extravaganza and an opportunity for students and staff alike to unwind and reconnect with nature. Miss Watkins set the tone early, banning all technology from the trip, something the year 8s took in their stride. The journey up to Langdale was windy but scenic although the hike from the car park to the Youth Hostel where the group were staying, was initially met with a few grumbles. Once the teenagers had processed that the slight incline was child’s play, students enthusiastically took in views of mountains, lakes and sheep.

gymnastics, singing and dancing although it was Tegra Tshako and Abigael Ngimbi that were crowned winners and earnt themselves a £10 amazon voucher each. Day 2 saw a day jam packed full of activities which students threw themselves in to, despite some sleepy eyelids from all - staff included! John Lugares and Fali Momodu’s manners shone through at dinner time, showing other students how to scrape and clear their dishes and day 2 ended with a film night. Day 3 and it was time to pack and tidy up to head back home but not before a bug hunt where students found frogs, spiders and many other little creatures. Some of the boys helped Miss Watkins load up the mini bus with bags before heading back (down) hill this time to the coaches. Year 8 did absolutely fantastically with the Langdale staff saying “you only get groups like this once every six months and they make it all worth it.” They were inquisitive and respectful and left Miss Watkins and all other accompanying staff incredibly proud to be team Our Lady’s. Well done guys!

The first day was organisational with students sorting themselves into their dorms and taking on the first of a range of activities including; archery, fire making, shelter building or a long walk. Miss Watkins opted to go on the walk with all groups which took everyone down to Grasmere Lake, a beautiful natural setting that was just calling out for stones to be skimmed and wellies to be wetted- something the students gladly obliged. Night one ended with a talent show- and what a talented bunch we have here at Our Lady’s! We saw comedy,

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LANGDALE RESIDENTIAL

“Langdale was beautiful and the mountains were so colourful” Sidonha Mokonen

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OPEN EVENING

A Spectacular Showcase at Open Evening 2021! It was wonderful to recommence a full, face-to-face Open Evening in September after 18 months of virtual events in school! The school was full of year 5 and year 6 students and their families, all keen to see for themselves what Our Lady’s has to offer! Current students led visitors around school on guided tours, Mr Ormsby gave a warm welcome to the school in his Headteacher’s presentation, the catering team took everyone on a culinary journey all around the world in the dining room, and every department in school put on a fantastic showcase display of their subjects.

the library was full of books available to borrow and enjoy at school and Miss Greaves and Miss Winters were dressed up as their favourite Hogwarts students. The languages department offered a European picnic and students could test their brain with puzzles in maths and solve crimes up in English based on detective fiction!

The technology team were baking butterfly buns, brownies and lemon cakes and in science visitors were finding out all about the body and taking part in experiments! Mrs Cooke and Mrs Lowrey were on hand to give advice about careers and college, and our SEND department were sharing learning support techniques.

David Attenborough was ready for a selfie with everyone who visited the geography department, visitors could examine some historical artefacts in history, watch live performances from our expressive arts students and visited the art and photography rooms to contribute to a giant piece of open evening artwork.

What a fantastic evening and thank you to everyone who came, it was lovely to see school so busy again and we hope to see you again in the future.

There was a philosophical funfair in the RE department with fairground games and prizes,

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School OPEN EVENING Trips

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PREFECT TEAM 2021

Meet our new OLHS Prefect Team! Our new year 11 prefect team have been hard at work putting their ideas into action! Head Prefects, Sandile and Victoria, alongside their prefect teams have introduced their teams and shared their plans for the year ahead!

Religious Life

led by Senior Prefect, Abinadab To improve our schools religious thinking, I began by leading my team into brainstorming a couple of ideas that would benefit the school. The project began after I decided we should raise awareness of different religions and so we collaborated to create form powerpoints. From this, as a team, we then decided the best way to explain different religious cultures was through asking students and teachers to help create a short video giving an overview of their religion, because we believe by asking them to explain their personal faith they would give us a clearer understanding. This is to be shown to everyone in school in a few weeks to hopefully help broaden our school’s views of other religions.

Nurture Group

led by Senior Prefect, Taj Hello, we are the nurture and wellbeing prefect team. Our role is to assist with the mental wellbeing of the students, from year 7 to 11. Since becoming prefects, we have planned out and discussed different ways to support the students, with valuable ideas such as therapy rooms for better mental health support. We aim to continue with our plans in order for it to support current and future generations of Our Lady’s students!

Standards Group

led by Senior Prefect, Lase We are the standards and expectations team. We help make sure the punctuality and educational standards our school looks for are met. We have uniform checks which make sure everyone follows the dress code. However, we don’t only punish, we also reward. We are establishing a rewards programme to show people that their efforts to have 100% attendance and punctuality and zero behaviour points is being acknowledged. They can receive a £20 gift card to any shop of their choosing!

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PREFECT TEAM 2021

Environmental Group

led by Senior Prefect, Jennifer

Hello! We are the environmental prefect team! We are here to take care of the school surroundings. Since we have become prefects, we have been planning and finding ways to make our school a cleaner environment to learn in and find ways for students to participate and learn how to keep an environment clean, not only for their benefit, but for younger generations to come.

Sandile Ndiweni Head Prefect

Our Lady’s is one of, if not the best school that North Manchester can provide. A place of success and filled with learning opportunities. Our Catholic values as well as values from other religions and a diverse range of cultures provide a welcoming and inclusive environment. Our school also provides outstanding staff members and academically successful students. We also focus on our local area and our community keeping our students safe and community close. One of the values I like about our school is that everyone is equal, respected and almost like a family. This school is filled with intellectual and hardworking students who are eager to strive to be the best individual they can be. This makes our school a perfect environment for learning and shaping students to be well-rounded and upstanding members of society.

Victoria Odusanya

Head Prefect

I am fully recognisant of the considerable responsibility of Head Prefect, and I promise I will do my best to fulfil this role. I truly believe that this role would allow me to make significant changes in the school that would allow every member of the student body to feel expressed through them. I have constantly built my ability to work within a team as a leader while still appreciating the views and opinions of others, as well as developing the self-assurance needed to take leadership roles, and therefore take responsibility of others and my own actions- something I believe to be an essential skill for a Head Prefect. As Head Prefect I would like to give a voice to the minority groups in our school and work with staff to deal with any possible problems in school. I would like to offer my support to students in regaining confidence in their learning after the covid pandemic and I look forward to working with the rest of the prefects as a team in ensuring excellence within the school. I strive to achieve and set a good example for the younger years and to create a comfortable and memorable environment for what can be a very stressful last year. I want to leave this school knowing that I have given something back and made a difference. One thing I would like to focus on is mental health. It is a big problem in today’s society and I’m sure that everyone has experienced some form of mental health issues. Especially with exams coming up, I expect many people to be feeling under a lot of pressure and stress. However I work to help the prefect groups to improve our facilities at school in order to prevent mental health affecting students enjoying their time at Our Lady’s. It is an honour to make sure that the student voice is represented in key decisions and developments within the school.

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Students enjoyed two different workshops, ‘Peace of Mind’ and ‘Mindfulness’ delivered by Rob from Konflux Theatre. Science teacher, Mrs Riaz, delivered an electricity workshop and Kitty Short from Creative Confidence delivered poetry workshops. Mrs Ashworth and her catering team provided a delicious lunch and the day was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

HI GH SC HO OL DR EA M S

I stood there in the loud, busy, crowded cafeteria As shivers shockingly ran down my spine An overwhelming feeling of perspiration Dripped from my sweaty, sticky, clammy palms I felt light and dizzy, my

mind was very busy Processing the situation Am I the smallest? Who is the tallest? What's for Dinner? Am I a competitive winner? Are year 11's actually sca

ry and hairy? And look like Wolverine? All towering above me, Oh I wish I was a teen livin g the High School Dream!

20 TH OC TO BE R 21

During October half term, we welcomed students from our feeder primary schools into Our Lady’s for a full day to take part in some fantastic transition activities.

ST CLA RE 'S RC PR IM AR

Half Term Transition

Y SC HO OL

School HALF TERMTrips TRANSITION

We hope to see you all at Our Lady’s again soon!

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HALF TERM TRANSITION 20TH OCTOBER 2021

LITTLE FISH

BY ST CLARE'S RC SCHOOL RY MA PRI BIG POND

IN A HUMONGOUS POND WE FEEL LIKE LITTLE FISH HIP BOND THAT FAMILIAR FRIENDS E HAV GER LON WORRIED THAT WE'LL NO STRATED FRU AND RY ANG ED, DISCOMBOBULAT H THE ENORMOUS DOOR AS WE ENTERED THROUG ING AT THE FLOOR O THE CLASSROOM, STAR INT D FFLE SHU Y SHYL AND G CHAIRS MPED INTO TALL, TOWERIN EXHAUSTED, WE SADLY SLU WERS SEARCHING FOR THE ANS HT KINDLY CARE FROM A FRIEND THAT MIG SENT FROM HEAVEN EL ANG AN E LIK LY SUDDEN EARED AN OLD WISE FRIEND APP RISINGLY RESCUED US TITUDE THIS SAVIOUR SUP GRATEFUL, FULL OF GRA RED FEA T FIRS WE T THA FROM A FATE

ct into our eyes ight line from an obje ht white light Light travels in a stra ing a brilliantly brig form dly rapi ge mer The rainbow colours speed of light, than the pace and er fast els trav Nothing dle of the night ray of light in the mid There's only a tight than sound Since light is swifter the thunder ng before you hear You will see lighteni s create reflection light and white hole ume cons s hole the light k Blac ct blocks the rays of when an opaque obje Shadows are formed g like an infection adin spre n, ctio dire And changes the

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GCSE RESULTS DAY

Top of the Class! In what has been a difficult year for our students GCSE Results Day in August was an emotional but happy occasion. We had a fantastic morning with lots of happy smiles from both students and their parents. Mr Ormsby was so proud of everything they have achieved in the last 18 months. He said, “Our students have been exceptionally resilient and have overcome each challenge put in front of them to achieve some fantastic, and very well deserved, GCSE results. I would like to wish them all the best for their futures and also take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and parents who have supported them throughout their time at Our Lady’s”. Congratulations to our ‘class of 2021’ .

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STAFF PROFILE

Staff Profile: Mr Menga What is your role at Our Ladys?

What are your hobbies outside of school?

Languages teacher and Year 7 Form Tutor.

I exercise; I like going for a run and socializing with friends. I enjoy spending time with my family. I’m passionate about languages and enjoy enhancing my Spanish.

Where did you work before you started here? I worked in an SEN School. What were your first impressions of Our Lady’s? Staff and students were welcoming; beautiful displays around the school; great place to work. What is your favourite thing about being a teacher? Interacting with my students via the target language and sharing my knowledge about languages with them. What does a typical day for Mr Menga look like? Lessons, planning, marking, reading, family time and TV. What is your favourite language to speak? Spanish. Where in the world would you most like to visit?

Favourite film or TV show? The Equalizer. Favourite song? Dave - Location. Favourite food? Couscous. What is your greatest achievement to date? Completing my masters degree. Who would you most like to meet and why? Denzel Washington: he’s my favourite actor. I have listened to his podcasts about resilience and failure, and it has helped me to become resilient and to embrace failure in life. Best bit of advice for students at Our Lady’s? Don’t be afraid to fail.

Vatican City.

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School RASHFORD MARCUS Trips

Thank you, Marcus! At the end of the Summer term, our students wrote letters of thanks to Manchester hero Marcus Rashford during their English lessons, recognising all his hard work and commitment to the people of Manchester, particularly throughout the pandemic, and to show their support following the Euro 2020 Championships. All the letters are now proudly displayed on the English corridor, along with the thank you card we received from the Manchester United player himself!

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight on Success: Osaretin Ekhoragbon Osaretin Ekhoragbon is the up and coming athletics star who left Our Lady’s last year. We caught up with him to ask a few questions about how his sporting career started and what his ambitions are now. What Athletics event did you recently take part in?

What are your top three tips for any aspiring Athletes at Our Lady’s? If you find something you are half decent at stick to it Never give up Enjoy what you do

I took part in the English Schools National Championships in Manchester back in July

What are your personal sporting hopes for the future?

How did it feel to get the silver medal at the English School Final and a new PB? What an amazing achievement!

I hope that one day I will run good times that will get me into major championships

It felt unbelievable as I didn’t expect it. Felt like an overachievement

Trayvon Bromell

How long have you been doing Athletics? I started running in school competition since year 7 however I joined a Manchester Harriers Athletics Club in year 9.

Who is your sporting hero?

What event is up next for you? Right now I’m focusing on winter training and maybe doing some indoor races

Spotlight on Success: Zara Tonye Zara Tonye is a year 8 student and a hugely talented gymnast. At the start of October, Zara travelled down to Stoke to qualify for the British Championships, we caught up with her to find out more. What gymnastics events do you take part it? Everything, I enjoy the beam, bars and floor work How long have you been a gymnast? I started when I was four years old, so over 8 years now! Where do you train, are you part of a club? I train with the Heywood Sparks Gymnastics Club, in Rochdale and attend at least 5 training sessions a week.

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How did it feel to qualify for the Championship? What an amazing achievement! I know I couldn’t believe it but I had worked really hard, it was a great feeling What are your top tips for success? Make sure you go to training, be healthy and eat well and enjoy what you do. Just to keep going and keep on enjoying it Who is your sporting hero? Probably Simone Biles, she’s an amazing gymnast! When do the championships take place? They will be at the end of November in Guilford Good luck Zara!!

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF LANGUAGES

International Day of Languages! On Friday 24th September, the MFL department celebrated ‘Languages Day.’ It was a great event with lots of different whole school activities shared throughout the day. We began with a form quiz where students answered questions about countries around the world and languages spoken within our school - well done to all the winning forms! We also ran a baking competition and received many amazing entries from people making traditional bakes or decorating cakes with flag designs. All of the entrants worked so hard and were very creative.

We cannot wait for more fun next year!

At lunchtime, students and staff enjoyed tasty food from around the world in the canteen including Indian chana dhal curry, Nigerian jollof rice and Italian pizza and pasta dishes as well as all our usual offerings many of which are influenced by international recipes. During period four, students enjoyed a languages day video. This included children from across all years, speaking their home language and telling us what they liked most about speaking another language. Year 7 enjoyed a ‘taster language lesson’ during period five. They found out information about Italy, Greece and France and participated in different tasks.

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NEW BUILD PROJECT

New Building… Coming Soon! Our Lady’s RC High School was built on the current site in 2008 to provide secondary education to 750 students from the local area but due to the increasing popularity of the school and local demand, we are currently over capacity. be a new Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) teaching department and other exciting facilities for students to enjoy. External works include a balcony space adjacent to the library and outdoor landscaping will provide improved outdoor social and learning spaces for students. A new pathway is also proposed providing better pedestrian links from the current building to the forest school area. We are very pleased to have agreed with Manchester City Council to increase our admission number to 900 students (in a staggered increase over the course of the next five years) and to enable this to happen, we have an exciting new building currently under construction.

We’ll share an update every term here in the Vision magazine. Check out the 3D architectural drawings and the real time images!

The new building will provide a much enhanced, additional pupil dining space, as well as a large, modern library space with some fantastic views and a designated reading room. There will also

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RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Religious Life of the School We take great pride in the number of extracurricular activities which support our school mission: “To Know, Love and Serve God”. In September, staff began the year with a reflection about teaching as a vocation and a Mass led by Father Dawidowski from St Clare’s. Staff morning reflections have commenced in the Chapel each Thursday morning to give staff an opportunity to pray together as a collective. A number of colleagues attend across school and they find it an uplifting way to start the day.

Our lovely Year 7 students were welcomed in to our school community, with a liturgy created by and led by our student chaplains. The theme was community, and how they would play a special role at Our Lady‘s. They each received a pin badge to recognise that they are part of our loving Catholic family. Mrs Scoular arranged for cupcakes to be shared with staff and students to celebrate and remember Our Lady’s birthday on 8th September. Everyone was given a prayer card to reflect on the importance of Mary in our school as our patron saint and role model.

Every Monday, the Gospel of the week is added to form time reflections for students to think of how we live the Gospels in our everyday lives. A relevant Gospel value has been added to support our Mission each week, which are also displayed on notice boards. It has been lovely to have our children back in school and participating in assemblies. The students continue to receive an SMSC (social, moral, spiritual and cultural) link every Monday to think about as part of prayer and worship and wellbeing. Forms will then be leading assemblies based on themes for each week, which allows students to get involved and take ownership for prayer, worship and spirituality.

We are currently arranging visits to St Clare’s with the support of Father Dawidowski, where students will be receiving the Eucharist and identifying the signs and symbolism in a Church. Last year as a school community we raised £2,203.83 for the variety of charities that we support. A huge credit to, staff, students, parents and Mrs Burke for arranging the events, along with student leaders. Please follow the RE Instagram page @olhs¬_religiouseducation

In early October, Year 9 students attended a 1-day spiritual retreat to Savio House, Bollington. They took part in a range of activities such as icebreakers, prayers and looked at a variety of ways to worship. Everybody who attended said that the retreat had really recharged their batteries.

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PE NEWS

Sporting Success! The PE department have spent much of the first half term, seeing students who wanted to try out for our new school football teams. We are very excited for the season ahead with strong teams playing for each year group. We have been particularly impressed by all the year 7 students who are keen to represent Our Lady’s. Local competitions between schools recommenced in early October and Year 10 and Year 11 were pitted against our local rivals, the Co-op Academies for friendly matches. The Year 10 boys played on a Thursday evening at home in torrential rain. After going 1-0 down to a penalty they managed a 2-1 win from a wonder free kick from Terry Bondo to seal the win for the first derby of the school year. The Year 11 team travelled down to the Co-op and it was wonderful to see so many students coming down to spectate and cheer their friends on. Our Lady’s played well and won comfortably 3-0 in the second derby of the week. The students who travelled to watch the game were exemplary in their behaviour and did our school very proud We are really looking forward to returning to competing. Let the games begin! Mr B Mottershead

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It has been a fantastic start to this school year with girls sport, we have had high numbers coming down to the CITC (City in the Community) football club, preparing for the upcoming fixtures in the Manchester Cup. The close links we have formed with Manchester City Football Club has been such a positive and inspiring platform for the girls, encouraging a number of them to join clubs outside of school, developing their skills and continuing their passion and enjoyment with the sport. We are currently setting up a young girls leadership programme with CITC, running practical and theoretical sessions on how to be a successful leader, coach, teacher showing the different pathways you can go into with sport other than a performer. Two Year 11 girls, Victoria and Martyna participated in the Manchester doubles badminton competition, narrowly missing

the semi-finals, but representing Our Lady’s exceptionally well with real spirit and enjoyment of the competition which we have all missed. We are looking forward to more competitions this year in both basketball and football. This half term we have been promoting fitness and active lifestyle in the girls PE lesson offering them a wide variety of activities such as circuits, aerobic, dance and yoga to encourage the girls to be more active. During this time we held a school challenge amongst all year group’s girls and boys on how many laps could be completed as a team around the school in a lesson. The girls responded to this positively in which we had some amazing results and some excellent displays of individual efforts with the winning team being a year 8 group – Zara Tonye, Brierley and Brooke Keane, Ellie Meara, Jaime Sempey, Evie Davenport, Darcy Williams. Ms. J Richmond

HIVE PROJECT

Busy Bees at the Hive Project! Our students recently participated in a Hive project at the Manchester Youth Zone in Harpurhey. The students were given the chance to hear from inspirational speakers and have a go at activities linked to built environment, healthcare, digital and enterprise. The Youth Zone provided a demonstration of their 3D printer which the students found very interesting. They also had the chance to visits stall from Big People Community who demonstrated how using fruit can power a laptop, Buzzing Sounds led a vocal engineering workshop and our neighbours North Ridge High School had a stall selling items their students had made as part of the Gift Company. The event exposed the students to an array of careers, some of which they may not have known existed.

Adults: £4.00 Concessions £2.00

2nd-4th February 2022 We wish you a Merry Christmas Find us on Facebook