Issuu

Sharing the

Summer 2019

Our Lady’s R.C. High School Magazine

What a Year for Women’s Football - A World Cup and A Year 11 Win!

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

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: New Outdoor Learning Area Transition Days Careers News Year 11s Move On

Plus much more!

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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.

The summer term is always a very busy time at Our Lady’s and this year has been no different. The year 11 students worked diligently throughout the exam period and I’m sure there will be lots of smiling faces on results day in August. The support shown by all staff during this period has been a testament to their commitment to the children we serve. The end of the exam period also marks the end of a five-year high school journey; we marked this poignant occasion with a mass said by Father Glover and a liturgy followed by a buffet. As we go to print we are preparing to celebrate in typical fashion at our year 11 prom at the Village Hotel in Bury. The children always looks fantastic and have a great evening. No doubt they’ll get some teachers up on the dancefloor! At the other end of school we’ve hosted next year’s year 7 students and their parents at a ‘Meet and Greet’ event. It’s always exciting to welcome new children and parents into our community and I can see already how they will contribute in so many ways. As Headteacher of Our Lady’s, it means so much to me personally when a parent is willing to trust us with supporting their child’s education.

There have been a number of whole school events including the Summer Concert and Affirmation Presentation. I’d like to thank all those who supported these events and I hope like me you were impressed with the wide range of talents our students nurture here at Our Lady’s. I’d also like to thank our guest speaker Hayley Hassall – an award-winning investigative journalist – for her motivational words that I’m sure inspired you as much as they did me (article to follow in next edition). Our exceptional sporting achievements are, rightly, always recognised in our Vision magazine and whilst there are many I could mention, I feel it’s important to draw attention to our year 11 boy’s football team who made the national final. Given the size of our school, we shouldn’t be able to compete at this level but what the boys lack in numbers they more than make up for in their unity, effort levels

and appetite for victory. Unfortunately, they fell at the final hurdle but I couldn’t have been more proud of how they performed and the way they conducted themselves, ensuring the good name of Our Lady’s is only further enhanced. I’d like to thank all parents and carers for their support over this academic year, and I hope you have an enjoyable summer break. God bless

L. Ormsby Headteacher

Editor’s Welcome Message As the academic year ends we have plenty of news! Well done everyone for getting through exam season and good luck to our year 11s who are set for new adventures. There’s been much reflection and celebration following their hard work. Our year 11 boys’ and girls’ football teams have enjoyed success and there have been many enrichment opportunities for all. It was lovely to meet our soon-to-be year 7s on transition. Enjoy the summer break – see you in September!

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Contents Editor’s Welcome Message

High Praise for Summer Salads

Comic Capers

New Forest School Puts Outdoor Learning on the Timetable

An Environmental Enterprise Fit for a Prince

Exploring Careers in the NHS 6 Meeting the Mayor of Manchester

Year 8 Artists Create Mexican Masterpieces

Flushing out Victorian Inventions with Miss Day!

It’s ‘All Change’ When You Move to High School

Staff Profile: Mrs Torr

Staff Profile:Mr Mottershead 11 Good Luck Year 11

A ‘Night In’ for Our HardWorking Year 11s

Year 11 Boys Make Football Finals

The Girls’ Team Triumph

What are they doing now? Richard Carroll

Religious Life of the School

PE NEWS

EmpowHERR

Our Lady’s Primary Go Ride Cycling Competition

Alessia’s Prize-Winning Poster Arrives

Year 7 say ‘NO’ to Bullying 20 MFL Reading Club

High Praise for Summer Salads Our catering team led by the talented Miss Ashworth always pull out all the stops to ensure there are a wide variety of healthy, tasty and tempting dishes on the menu. During the summer term there was an additional treat with amazing fresh salads on offer from our ‘Grab & Go’ Bar. With colourful salads and the option to add your favourite protein – tuna, chicken, ham or cheese – it’s no wonder it proved so popular.

Mr Mottershead summed it up when he said; “Our new salad bar is delicious; just had my first one and I was very impressed, Morrison’s have nothing on our dinner ladies! Great job catering team.”

Comic Capers In partnership with Manchester University Miss Newey organised some Comic Smart Sessions for our year 7 students. The students have been learning how to use some of the narrative techniques and devices that feature in comics and graphic novels. They’ve also looked at characterisation and setting in comics. In the sessions they started to create storyboards which they can now continue working on and adapting in their own time. The comic workshops were delivered by Manchester University student ambassadors to encourage more enthusiasm for reading. By engaging in the creative process it is hoped we have helped overcome potential reluctance to read. Bringing their comic creations to life on paper has made the reading process a more visual one and who knows; maybe some of the students involved will one day see their own comics in print!

Editor: Anna Barker

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OUTDOOR LEARNING

New Forest School Puts Outdoor Learning on the Timetable It’s fair to say the weather has been a little hit and miss this term but on the sunny days our students have taken advantage of our new outdoor learning area. Miss Castle had some spare stools in her room so kindly donated them to the Forest School so that other learning groups can make use of them when they visit the garden. Miss Castle was so pleased that they fit perfectly at the workstations that she got a photo of her lovely year 9s modelling them! Miss Slater’s year 8 class have also enjoyed some outdoor learning. They have been taking inspiration from the Eco School to write a balanced argument on quarrying for limestone. “Quarrying causes pollution of many kinds: noise; air; it looks like an eye sore too. It does however allow local businesses to thrive due to workers spending money there. Limestone is very useful, we use it for buildings, statues, making glass, it’s even in our toothpaste!”

The benefit of outdoor learning shouldn’t be underestimated so we feel fortunate to have been able to enhance our learning provision with an outdoor area that is already proving a great addition to the school. I’d like to thank our new Eco-Committee for helping in the development of our Forest School. Mr Cope

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CAREERS

An Environmental Enterprise Fit for a Prince The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Challenge is a national competition for high school students across the UK, designed to develop and encourage their entrepreneurial skills.

The plastic which has been recycled will contribute to manufacture more of our products therefore helping our environment in more ways than one. The local council and government funding will be in partnership with us to bring our idea to life.”

We are so proud of our enterprising team of year 8s; Toluwlase, Kenzie, Chloe, Tien and Nancy, who attended the Prince’s Trust North West Enterprise Challenge Regional Finals in March. Out of the 61 schools and over 2,500 students that took part, the five top performers were in attendance and our students conducted themselves with maturity and professionalism throughout.

The team certainly brought their ideas to life, impressing the judging panel and finishing as runner-up. Well done to all involved.

The team confidently delivered a pitch for their social enterprise – ‘Trash4cash’ – to the judging panel consisting of business directors and members of Manchester City Council. They clearly outlined their service, pricing and marketing strategies for an interesting and rewarding way for people to recycle. The students explained their enterprise idea: “We have decided that our school will be placing fun bins around all areas. These fun bins will have exciting features for example, basketball hoops, football nets and many others themes. Our invention uses a token rewards system when plastic is recycled into a bin a token is

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dispensed. Individuals can collect ten tokens and take them to a local business or shop in return for a £5 gift card of their choice (if under ten years old you will receive a bumper pack of stationery or confectionary.

CAREERS

Exploring Careers in the NHS On 15 May, Manchester Youth Zone (MYZ) hosted over 100 young people from local schools and colleges at their NHS Careers Day with Greater Manchester NHS Careers & Engagement Hub as part of their Smart Futures programme. Our Lady’s students were lucky enough to join in with the workshops which included talking about the different careers in nursing and healthcare within our wonderful NHS.

Mrs Cooke, Careers Lead said; “Thanks to Manchester Youth Zone for inviting Our Lady’s to their NHS information day. Also, special thanks to our drama department who enabled Hope to complete a ‘mean’ choking scenario!”

Meeting the Mayor of Manchester Four of our year 10 students had the wonderful opportunity to attend a trip to the Lord’s Mayor’s Office to compete in an interschool debate. Accompanied by our Careers Lead, Mrs Cooke it was an honour for the group to meet June Hitchen, Mayor of Manchester. Councillor Hitchen was born and raised in Manchester and has been employed in a wide variety of jobs throughout her working life, including working as a factory machinist, a market trader at Newton Heath Market, an office worker, and a micro-electronic control engineer. During her time in office June hopes to inspire others to raise their aspirations and reach their full potential. Jess, Leander, Deborah and Elvis certainly showed their potential winning the debate against St Paul’s R.C. High School! The debate included whether teachers should be called by their first names and should mobile phones be banned in school. Discussing important issues is an invaluable skill and days like this are a great confidence booster so well done to our triumphant debaters.

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ART

Year 8 Artists Create Mexican Masterpieces Year 8 has been busy working on a Mexican art project with Mrs Jones this term. They started with portrait work and then explored the artist Frida Kahlo before developing their work through to Mexican pattern. Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican artist who painted many portraits, self-portraits and works inspired by the nature and artefacts of Mexico. Motivated by the country’s popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, post-colonialism, gender, class and race in Mexican society. Our year 8 artists have taken these themes to create their own wonderfully Mexican masterpieces!

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PRIMARY TRANSITION

Flushing out Victorian Inventions with Miss Day! Some year 5 pupils from St Chad’s Primary joined Miss Day for a transition session in June where they looked at Victorians and their inventions.

The children imagined they were at ‘the Great Exhibition’ in 1851 at the Crystal Palace in London. They delivered fantastic, persuasive and engaging presentations about various different inventions including the brand new Christmas card, the steel ship and the flushing toilet! Miss Day said; “St Chad’s pupils were extremely intelligent and included lots of great facts, drawings and humour in their presentations. In the end it was the flushing toilet team who won the day. Did you know the saying ‘spend a penny’ comes from the introduction of flushing toilets at the Great Exhibition when it cost only one penny for a trip to the toilet, use of a hair comb and a personal cubicle!”

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PRIMARY TRANSITION

It’s ‘All Change’ When You Move to High School As part of our extensive transition programme we ran several ‘moving up’ days in June for the children who will be joining the Our Lady’s family as our new year 7s in September. One of these days was for the children who are coming from their primary schools without any of their current classmates. The day was a chance for the children to get to know each other, mixing with the children from other schools who they will be spending time with when they start high school. The idea is that when they come to us in September they will feel more comfortable with the transition as they will see friendly faces and have already got to know each other. They spent the morning in the Drama Studio with Miss Tkaczuk, our Transition and Admissions Manager and Rob from Konflux Theatre in Education. He encouraged the children to think about the transition process from primary to high school by getting them all to participate in some drama-based activities titled ‘All Change’. The drama addressed some of the common concerns children have about starting high school but was also a brilliant opportunity to work together and start to form bonds. They children had great fun pretending to be ‘Homework Heroes’ and our year 7 assistants Caitlin and Miya helped allay any fears they had by sharing their experiences of being at Our Lady’s and talking about school life. They even showed the children their homework diaries. As part of our moving up transition days we take the children for lunch in the school canteen so they can experience Miss

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Ashworth’s wonderful catering and familiarise themselves with the lunch setting. During their lunch break the children got the chance to meet with Mr Cope. They then enjoyed Miss Tkaczuk’s school tour, looking around the building and meeting some of the staff. Miss Tkaczuk said; “Our transition days are intended to make the move from primary school as smooth as possible. We want the children to feel safe and alleviate any fears or misconceptions they have about starting high school. By making them feel welcome at Our lady’s before they officially join us, the change from one school to another isn’t so daunting. Our other soon-to-be year 7s have enjoyed similar days here and we look forward to welcoming them back as part of our school community in September.

Our transition days are intended to make the move from primary school as smooth as possible. Miss Tkaczuk

STAFF PROFILE

Welcome

Staff Profile: Mrs Torr Our ‘new’ Business Manager Mrs Torr started at Easter and has already made a positive impact. After a busy and successful first term in the role, she tells us more about herself and her plans for the school… What is your role at Our Lady’s? I am the School Business Manager and part of the Senior Leadership Team at Our Lady’s. Where did you work before you started this role? Before joining Our Lady’s I was the School Business Manager at a high school in Lancashire. I have worked in schools for the last fifteen years in finance-based roles and have worked across primary and secondary phases.

What does a typical day for Mrs Torr look like?

Wow! From visiting the school before I even applied I was extremely impressed with the welcome I received and the facilities are fantastic. The first day of my interview was held at Our Lady’s and spending the day in and around the school gave me the opportunity to get a good feel for what Our Lady’s is like. I was astounded at how polite and well-mannered the students were, how smart the students looked and how friendly the staff were.

A typical day usually involves a variety of different things – I usually have a meeting or two to go to. These may be Senior Leadership Team meetings where we look at various things to move the school forward, or operations meetings which are a good opportunity to get together with the other departments I line manage – administration, catering and the Site Team. I try and get up as often as I can to the year 8 corridor during form time to say good morning to them. I try and manage my emails by setting time aside at the beginning, middle and end of the day to review them and respond to any urgent enquiries. In the middle of the day I do lunch duty in the dining room which is a good chance to chat to students and enjoy the fantastic lunches!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

What are your hobbies outside of school?

Working with many different people across all areas of the school from governors, the Senior Leadership Team to the office staff and Catering and Site Team – I have to be able to work with a wide team of people. I completely enjoy working in schools and enjoy being part of the wider school life; for example being with the students in the dining room at lunch times and seeing the students perform in concerts such as Sister Act which I thought was incredible!

I have four children so life in my house is pretty chaotic and most of it is spent chauffeuring the children about. I love going to the theatre and enjoy musicals so try to do that as often as possible. I enjoy meeting up with friends and socialising so always make sure I put time aside to do this. I also have a love of spa breaks; there’s nothing better than the occasional relaxing weekend and a pamper!

What were your first impressions of Our Lady’s?

What are your goals for this new position? Ultimately I want to make a difference. A lot of my role is computer based – balancing finances and budget planning. Not very

exciting stuff! So one of the key things I enjoy is feeling like I have had an impact, whether this is organising the facilities to put on a school production or classroom improvements – it’s nice to see some something tangible as an outcome.

What is your greatest achievement? Getting this job most definitely. I remember at interview, seeing all the other candidates and feeling more than just slightly nervous!

Favourite film or show? I love musicals and my favourite so far would have to be ‘Wicked’ which we saw in Manchester last year. In terms of films – I love ‘The Greatest Showman’ and can’t wait for that to be on the stage. Person you would most like to meet and why? I would love to meet Prince William and Kate Middleton – I find the Royal family fascinating so discovering how they live their life and have a family under such a media spotlight would be really interesting. If you weren’t a School Business Manager what would you be doing? I always wanted to be an accountant and ended up in the role initially more by luck than any planning, so I think if I wasn’t doing this job I would probably be an accountant. Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions? No not really. I am a mum first and foremost and with four children my only unfulfilled ambition at the moment is a good night’s sleep :)

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STAFF PROFILE

Staff Profile: Mr Mottershead As the students he has supported through from year 7 to 11 leave Our Lady’s, we catch up with the man who knows them well... What is your role at Our Lady’s? PE teacher, Head of year 11. What do you enjoy most about your job? The interaction with the students keeps me young, fresh and motivated day after day. What does a typical day for Mr Mottershead look like? My morning always starts with a bowl of porridge with banana, blueberries and honey; fuel to kick-start the day. I drop my daughter off at nursery and head up Rochdale road from the posh area of Middleton where I now live. Once I arrive at school the fun begins, I set up any sports equipment I need for the day to make sure I’m ready for the students that will be arriving in PE. Then I head over to the main building to check on my year 11s to make sure they are all well and in a good frame of mind to tackle the day ahead. I teach all day ensuring all my students have fun whilst learning in a safe environment; one I experienced myself when I was a boy here at Our Lady’s. When the school day finishes I catch up on my emails and then head out to the gym. An hour or so training with my friends before I head home to eat – one of my favourite hobbies! Then it’s time to chill out, watch some rubbish TV like Love Island or a quality box set like Prison Break before heading up to bed to read, Yes I said read, one of my newest hobbies. I’ve never been a big reader but have recently learned the importance of it. It’s only taken me all of my 21 years on the planet (editor: “ahem..!) to realise how relaxing and educational reading is, so I’m working on reading more each night. Then I fall to sleep which is my favourite hobby, then the process repeats until weekend begins. What I do at weekends I’m not telling you, don’t be nosey! Funniest (embarrassing) moment in school? When I was a boy at Our Ladys we were allowed to go out for lunch once we reached

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year 11. During one lunch break my mate and I saw two white horses on the dirt track leading to the two laps outside school. We decided to chase them trying to get them back into their field but they ran the other way and into the old school yard. They were running around the yard with me, my mate and a dinner lady trying to catch them with schools ties. It was funny but a little bit embarrassing when the head teacher stood me out in assembly and told everyone in my year it was my fault for chasing them in the first place. Lesson learnt – don’t run at horses, just walk past quietly! But In the end I blamed my friend because he was the one who walked past the horse and said excuse me “is everything ok, why the long face?” What are your hobbies outside of school? I love to watch and play football, attend the gym, go for long walks, cook food and watch a good box set during my chill time. Favourite film or show? Film – Gladiator Show –Prison Break Favourite song? Man in the mirror by Michael Jackson. Greatest moment? The moment my daughter was born and graduating from university are two iconic moments in my life. Person you would most like to meet and why? Floyd Mayweather – to understand what makes him so driven and determined to be the best and continue to be the best at all times. What has been your proudest moment with your year 11s?

them do that. We have had ups and downs in the year group since year 7 but everything has been so worth it and I have no regrets. They have all made me so proud by growing into respectful well-behaved human beings just like God wanted them to. What is your advice as they leave Our Lady’s for new adventures? If you start something, finish it and be the best person you can be when doing so, but remember: Life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

The day they sat down for their first whole year exam. I took a moment to stop and look at them all and thank God that they have grown into amazing young adults and I have helped

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Good Luck Year 11 They’ve negotiated five years of high school with its ups and downs, learning lessons and forming life-long friendships. They’ve studied and revised their way through their final year and coped with the demands of their exams. The exams are over and they’ve had time to reflect on how far they’ve come and celebrate all they’ve achieved. In fact, as we go to print they are enjoying the ultimate ‘school’s out’ celebration at their year 11 prom. Our Lady’s would like to thank our year 11s for all they have contributed to school life and wish them the best of luck as they move on to different vocations and adventures. Enjoy your break and we’ll see you in August for exam results day!

Good luck to my wonderful year group. I wish you all the luck and happiness in the world. The corridors of Our Lady’s won’t be the same without you. May your troubles be less and your blessings me more and nothing but happiness come knocking on your door. God bless. Mr Mottershead

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A ‘Night In’ for Our Hard-Working Year 11s It goes without saying that exam season can be extremely stressful for our year 11s, what with their years of hard work culminating in just a few weeks of difficult exams. It’s really important for young people to feel fully supported during their GCSE exams. In an effort to mitigate stress and boost students’ mental health, two successive Fridays in May saw the school transformed into a well-being wonderland for our year 11 girls and boys. First up was the girls’ night in. With a team of strong women behind her Miss Shannon organised an evening of fun and laughter where the girls could choose from a range of well-being and mindfulness activities such as nail art, yoga and knitting, followed by a raucous game of Bingo Bongo, lots of delicious food, laid on by Miss Ashworth’s catering team, and a chance to reflect as a group on their time at Our Lady’s.

The following week, Mr Haughton, Mr Mottershead and Miss Larminie were supported by other staff to oversee a successful evening as the boys did their best to outdo their female counterparts: managing to book a climbing wall and a caving experience for the occasion! The boys had the chance to test Mr Mottershead’s barbecuing skills, enjoyed a fiercely competitive FIFA tournament and even had the opportunity to check out our new Forest School.

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Both events were a huge success (we even had some sunshine!) and staff and students alike remarked on how fantastic it was to see everyone relaxing and spending quality time together before the onslaught of exams. Miss Larminie

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Year 11 Boys Make Football Finals

* Player of The Match

Our Lady’s is so proud of our Year 11 U16 Football Team for making it to the English Schools’ Football Association Final. On Wednesday 8 May the team stepped out on to Man City’s Academy Stadium pitch to compete for the title of National Champions in ESFA U16 Small Schools’ Cup Final. As national finalists in the competition sponsored by the Premier League the boys enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to play in front of a crowd of supporters and local schools as the football season was drawing to a close. Our Lady’s played their way through six rounds of knockout national competition fixtures to make it to the finals and teams travelled from across

England to take part in the Premier League Final showcase. Many of our supporters went down to watch the action unfold and back at school the atmosphere was electric as we gathered around our screens willing the team on. In a tough game against Brooke House College (Leicestershire), the boys held their own and despite an ultimate defeat they are still very much our champions. Massive congratulations to the team and special mention to the ‘Player of the Match’ – our very own Ibere Barumire. What a way to finish their high school football experience.

The Girls’ Team Triumph Hot on the heels of our year 11 boys’ performance in the ESFA premier League U16 Small Schools’ Cup Final, our year 11 Girls Football team celebrated success on the pitch. Doing it for the girls, they became welldeserved Manchester Champions in May. Congratulations to the girls for a stunning performance following committed and strong play in previous fixtures. They finished their Our Lady’s football careers with a convincing 4-0 victory over their opponents, which was a timely triumph with the Women’s World Cup taking place this summer.

* Photos courtesy of www.threefivethreephotography.smugmug.com

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STUDENT PROFILE

What are they doing now? Richard Carroll Former student Richard Carroll is one half of the partnership who has set up WUDN rhxno Ltd, a brand new media company based in Manchester. Anna Barker spoke to him to find out how an education at Our Lady’s developed his passion for the arts, photography and videography… When did you attend Our Lady’s? I attended from 2000 to 2005. Who was your favourite teacher? Such a hard question; there were many great teachers during my time that helped, support and inspired me. Mr Crolla, an English teacher never failed to engage the class and was amazing at his job. For science It was Mr Cope, Ms Makin and Mr Pratt who pushed me to get double A* (Back in GCSE days). What subject did you enjoy most and why? In school I think I enjoyed sciences the most, along with the artsbased classes and English. For Science it was part mystery and imagination, it intrigued me to learn how the world works on a physical level. What is your happiest memory of Our Lady’s? The best experience was going to Athens for the 2004 Olympic Games. Along with five other students from the school, I was selected to go as part of a cultural exchange. We spent three weeks away, witnessed major sporting events (Dame Kelly Holmes gold medal win) along with visiting major historical sites around Athens. What did you do when you left school? I went to Bury College for my A-levels and a foundation degree in art, and then onto a specialist media university where I studied audio engineering. Have you always wanted a career in videography and photography? Its not what I thought I would be doing if you asked me when I left school, but It is something I love. I’ve always been interested in taking photos and capturing moments, dabbling in small projects over the years before taking it seriously. I originally wanted to follow a career in music and audio engineering. It’s all a learning experience and I wouldn’t have certain skills if it wasn’t for the paths I have taken.

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What has been your biggest achievement so far? I have two big achievements to date, the first being on national radio for a song I created and the second is very recent. I was asked to film on stage in front of 20,000 people at Parklife Festival this year. What have been your biggest professional challenges? The biggest challenge I find is being able to meet my clients’ expectations. I push myself to do the very best on every project, with the aim to learn a new technique with each. There’s nothing better than blowing your clients away with a high level of quality. What do you enjoy doing away from work? When I’m away from work, I follow my other passion which is music. I create electronic music with drum machines and hardware synthesizers. Do you have any advice for our year 11 students about their choices when they leave Our Lady’s? Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do straight away, it can take a while to find your direction and footing. Experiment and be creative! What are your plans for the future? My plans for the future involve developing myself and my business ‘WUDN rhxno’ further, pushing forwards and upwards. Find out more about the services offered by Richard’s company on their website: www.wudnrhxno.co.uk Coming soon...keep an eye out for the new Our Lady’s video filmed by Richard.

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Religious Life of the School As part of the religious life of the school, we take great pride in a number of extra -curricular activities which support our school mission:

“To know, Love and Serve God” Prayer and worship have been taking place during form time, with the level of assemblies being led and written being truly inspirational so Mrs Buckley wants to say a huge thank you to staff and students. More recently the Chaplains have led assemblies on ‘Respect’ which was thought-provoking. Our GIFT Team/Chaplains were assigned to forms to support with prayers, as students thought about themes such as love, values and compassion. As part of our new Eco School, a new prayer garden has been created. During specified lessons students are taken down to reflect and pray in a beautiful outside environment. The Chaplaincy Team will also use it when leading sessions throughout the year. As the academic year came to an end we said a fond farewell to our year 11 students. Father Glover celebrated mass for them and afterwards they shared a celebratory buffet. Year 7 parents were invited into school on 5 July to be a part of the ‘Celebration Mass’ to showcase all of the year 7 achievements this

year. Once again Father Glover spent the morning with us so we’d like to thank him for his support. Well done to year 7 for all your hard work.

Our year 11s have been a credit to the school and we wish them the very best of luck on their spiritual journeys throughout their lives.

parish communities. As the school year came to a close our final liturgy was a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the talents and gifts that our students and staff have been given by God. We thank you for continuing to support our students and staff in the spiritual journey in our catholic school. We look forward to the next year! Follow our Chaplaincy twitter page – OurLadysChaplains@OLChaplains

Mrs Buckley Year 7 and 8 students have been lucky enough to visit St Clare’s with Father Dariusz to take part in mass. The students have really enjoyed the experience. Thank you to Father Dariusz for his time and support. Our GIFT Team/Student Chaplains are a credit to the school working hard to develop and nurture the links between our school and

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SPORTS NEWS

PE NEWS Our year 11 boys’ team got through to the National Final; a fantastic achievement considering the size of our school in comparison to the others we were competing against. Although we lost 4-2 the man of the match went to last year’s sportsman of the year Ibere Barumire. Our year 11 girls finished off their time at Our Lady’s by becoming the most successful girls team we have ever had having won six trophies in the process. They did this when they won the Manchester Cup back in April. In badminton our key stage 4 girls team won the Manchester Championships. This is particularly pleasing as the girls have continued to come to practise and have finally got their just rewards.They are: Nicola Zniszczol, Sinead Brown, Kiera-Louise Hodson and Patrycja Wierkin

* *

On a final note, congratulations to our sportswoman and man of the year…

In athletics our year 9 boys’ team came 2nd in the Manchester Championships with Gold winning performances from: 200 metres: Oseratin Ekhoragbon 300 metres: Wesley Frimpong 60 metres Hurdles: Ayo Shennowo Javelin: Presley Rock

Sportsman of the year:

Sports woman of the year:

With the exception of Presley all boys had qualifying times which meant that they were selected to represent Manchester at the County Championships in June.

Martins Adonry

Vanely Barumire

Martins has demonstrated excellent performance and leadership skills in the sports he has played in at Our Lady’s. During this time he has been an outstanding sportsman helping Our Lady’s become Manchester Champions in handball and athletics and was a part of the treble winning team that won everything in athletics last year. In each of his four years at school he has won the gold medal for the discus making him a true champion both in his own age group and when competing for the years above.

Vanely has been a fantastic role model whilst demonstrating great qualities as a sports person across a variety of sports including athletics, handball, netball, rounders and football. She has also been an outstanding sports leader for numerous primary festivals and sporting events over the past four years. She has an excellent attitude, shows 100% dedication and is an absolute credit to Our Lady’s. She is always willing to help and support PE in any way possible.

Our year 10 boys went one better and won the Manchester Championships. Gold-winning performances came from the following boys. 200 metres: Josh Sannoh High Jump: Daniel Okungbowa Bikoro Long Jump: Daniel Olowookere Josh and Daniel Bikoro had qualifying times/ distances which meant that they were selected to represent Manchester at the County Championships in June. * Photos courtesy of www.threefivethreephotography.smugmug.com

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DEO GRATIAS

SPORTS NEWS

EmpowHERR Former Our Lady’s’ student Faidat has set up her own campaign called ‘EmpowHERR’ to help increase female participation in sport. Faidat is a boxer in the community of Moston and through her own love of sports developed a desire to change the gender inequalities in sports opportunities and career paths. EmpowHERR is a project that aims to liberate females to participate in sport and competition, with a campaign to highlight current inequality in sport and empower females. Since her initial pilot project last year which delivered a local campaign and sports day Faidat is now looking to grow

and develop the brand of EmpowHERR by building stronger connections with female sports stars and organisations that promote equality in sport. She runs free sports sessions for girls aged 11 to 16 creating a day for them to enjoy different

sports like basketball, football, dance and boxing. Faidat and her sister Haliyah visited our Lady’s in June to promote EmpowHERR and ran some sessions with our year 7s and 8s. The girls had a great time and it is hoped this will be the first of many sessions.

Our Lady’s Primary Go Ride Cycling Competition Go-Ride Racing is British Cycling’s exciting competition programme which helps young riders make the transition from school or club coaching sessions to inter-club and open regional competition. GoRide Racing events offer entry level, local competition for young cyclists under the age of 16. It is designed to get more young people to take up cycling to be fit and active. Students from seven primary schools battled it out for a place in the Manchester finals in an active and fun Go Ride Cycling Competition at Our Lady’s. British Cycling supported the event bringing 20 fantastic new mountain bikes so that the students could enjoy some speedy racing on our fields. The course included three events; a scratch race, a relay and an elimination race. Mr Snell, teacher at Crab Lane said “This event was the highlight of our year. Our children really enjoyed the event, riding on

really nice bikes and enjoying mixing with students from other schools.” Mr Schofield was instrumental in organising the event. He said; ““All of the cyclists showed fantastic cycling skills and talent and enjoyed racing at Our Lady’s. Good luck to the winning teams Crab Lane and Moston Lane Primary Schools who will go through to represent the North Schools at the Manchester finals. A big thank you to our partners British Cycling who brought brand new mountain bikes along and managed the event.”

SHARING THE VISION | SUMMER 2019

ANTI-BULLYING

Alessia’s Prize-Winning Poster Arrives In the last issue we reported that year 9 student, Alessia Ebohan had won first prize in a poster competition run by Manchester Healthy Schools Team as part of anti-bullying week. Her poster has now been printed and displayed in high schools around Manchester to spread the message that bullying, in any form, is not acceptable. Emma Pilling, Health Improvement Practitioner Specialist for the Manchester Healthy Schools Programme visited Alessia to bring her framed poster and copies of the poster for us to display around Our Lady’s.

a mask to hide how they actually feel. They can be discriminated against because of appearance and may feel forced to look a different way. The girl in the poster represents these feelings holding up the mask.

Speaking about the inspiration behind her artwork Alessia said; “People often wear

I worked really hard on the poster, but don’t normally win competitions so I was surprised

SHARING THE VISION | SUMMER 2019

when I arrived at school one day and my friends were congratulating me because they’d heard I’d won.” Now Alessia has a framed reminder of her award-winning entry and we hope that by being displayed in schools it will help stamp out bullying and intimidation.

ANTI-BULLYING

Year 7 say ‘NO’ to Bullying Miss Hibbs’ year 7 English class have been working on a homework project that has prompted them to share the important message that bullying should NEVER be tolerated. They have been discussing the subject of bullying in relation to a play they have been studying in class. ‘The Terrible fate of Humpty Dumpty’ written by David Calcutt, follows the story of Terry Dumpton who is the victim of a deadly

gang at his new school. Terry’s only friend Sammy is a coward who can’t stand up for himself and the bullying has devastating consequences. Fear, pity, guilt and deceit divide the bullies, giving rise to discussions of moral issues, prejudices, the community and media subjects – themes the students have looked at in their anti-bullying project.

The Languages Department launches… MFL Reading Club! Miss Beard has recently introduced MFL Reading Club taking place each Monday lunch time in S16. She said; “Here in the languages department we understand the importance of being culturally aware and celebrating languages so what a better way of spending Monday lunchtime than reading authentic materials, taking part in interesting conversations and enjoying tasty treats!” A group of year 7 and 8 students attended and completed their evaluation, learnt lots of new Spanish and French words and received their loyalty card so they can build up their rewards!

Enjoy the summer break - see you in September! Find us on Facebook

SHARING THE VISION | SUMMER 2019