Vision Spring 2024

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,

Spring is an exciting time of year in school; the weather starts to improve (sort of), the days get longer affording the children more enrichment opportunities and it is also the time we recruit new staff for the next academic year. Every time a prospective member of staff visits the school for the first time, they are always impressed by the exceptionally high standards we have in school and the strong sense of community they experience. This reflects the strong partnerships that exist between staff, children, and parents.

Throughout the Lenten season we have been responding to the challenge to do more for one another and the community around us. We have raised funds for the British Heart Foundation, distributed ashes, devoted prayers to the stations of the cross and planned a beautiful Easter Mass for all students during the last week of term. The staff and students were all treated to a delicious buttercream bun as a random act of kindness which was gratefully received by all. Now that the weather has started to warm up Mr Cope and the Year 7 students will be planting a wildflower meadow to support wildlife and protect the natural environment.

This term we have also been planning for some large building projects for the summer holidays and beyond. Subject to successful planning permission, we are hoping to install a new all-weather surface, redesign the school hall and yard, and both refurb and extend the PE facilities. This will further enhance the experience of the children.

This year we have received over 700 applications for the Year 7 cohort for 2024. This is the highest number we have ever received and reflects the growing popularity and excellent reputation of the school.

As always, I would like to thank you for your support and wish you and your family a happy and holy Easter.

God Bless

L. Ormsby Headteacher

Editor’s Welcome Message

As we reach the Easter break, it is always a good time in school to reflect on what the year has already brought. Our students have, as ever, worked so hard throughout the term and achieved so much! We hope you enjoy reading about everything that has happened during the Spring term here at Our Lady’s and wish everyone a peaceful and happy Easter. Enjoy!

History at Hardwick Hall

As part of their GCSE History course, students study the Elizabethan age, a fascinating period in time. Miss Warwick arranged for the department and year 10 history students to visit Derbyshire and Hardwick Hall. Famously built by ‘Bess of Harwick’ in the late 1500’s the house has survived and resisted significant alteration making it masterpiece of Elizabethan architecture and interior design. The house is a treasure trove of tapestries, portraits and fancy furniture and the National Trust tour guides gave lots of information about the hall as they toured our students around this magnificent building.

We were unable to take photographs inside of the house but we managed to capture this perfect shot of the History department outside the hall with all of the year 10 students. The feedback from all who visited Hardwick was overwhelmingly positive, thank you to Miss Warwick, Mr Rabbitt and Mr Edge for organising this brilliant day out.

Brighter Sound Project in collaboration with MADE

Mrs Gill has been working in collaboration with Brighter Sound and MADE to deliver a project to a small group of Our Lady’s students. Over 6 weeks they worked together to create a piece of music that will be the soundtrack to a dance performance in partnership with Afrocats.

Brighter Sound are a music development organisation rooted in Manchester. For 22 years they’ve been creating transformative experiences for young creatives, emerging artists and up and coming music professionals. They pioneer new ways of exploring creative potential. MADE is Manchester’s local cultural education partnership. They support educators by producing high quality and meaningful creative learning experiences, connecting young people to the arts in our city.

The students had fun engaging in the following:

• sharing ideas and deciding what type of sound to create

• writing lyrics

• receiving vocal coaching

• singing and recording music using a professional mike

• playing new instruments

• producing music together using professional sound equipment in the music studio

We asked the students for their feedback, comments below

‘I was allowed to be myself’

‘I wish we had longer and it didn’t have to end’

‘I enjoyed making music without any pressure’

‘Doing this project has given me more confidence that I will use in other subjects such as drama’

The students involved in the project will meet up again later in the year at a celebration event at Manchester Art Gallery to share their experiences and showcase what they created.

We would like to thank Tim Chatterton, Tom Leah and Rioghnach Connolly for their hard work and commitment to our young people and for making the project a truly enjoyable, memorable experience for everyone involved.

All Things Careers

This term has seen lots of our students in different year groups experiencing what it’s like in the working world.

All year 7 and 8 students participated in a wonderful enrichment session with Mark Greenop Associates, sponsored by BAE, RAF and the Royal Navy. Students explored electricity and considered jobs in the STEM sector, in particular all the types of engineering roles which exist. Quite literally it put a student’s hair on end, when looking at a Van De Graaff generator!

In addition, the team got both students and staff to generate electricity using peddle power among other demonstrations. Our students were super engaged and said they had learnt lots and had really loved the event.

A group of our year 9 students had the opportunity to visit commercial financial firm, Together Money. Students toured the site, and had Q&A opportunities with an assortment of staff in different roles, including apprentices, marketing and financial risk assessors. In addition, the CEO, Gerard, discussed his career journey with students. His key message was to use every opportunity to create value in themselves, in all that they do – be it academic study or personal development.

Many of our year 10 students are currently finding out about HE provision and what it’s like – asking questions like ‘How useful is a degree?’ ‘How do you pay for it?’ ‘What qualifications and personal skills do you need to get into Uni?’

Students have had the opportunity to visit the University of Bolton, UCEN and Oldham University Campus amongst other settings where they have been given information

about all the routes into university and this will be so useful for them when considering FE courses and colleges when leaving Our Lady’s. Mrs Cooke told students that mapping out “stepping stones” to a chosen career or sector is key to “getting it right”!

In addition, students travelled to Manchester University on a Health Science careers day. Students learnt about DNA research from a postdoctoral researcher and competed in challenges in relation to the structure and coding of DNA. On a campus tour of the university, students discussed budgeting for further education, student lifestyles and met ambassadors from the University of Manchester who studied a variety of Health Sciences.

A big thank you to all the companies and the staff for giving our students such a wonderful opportunity.

Come Away on Retreat

In January, the whole of year 7 participated in a religious retreat which was hosted by the Just Youth Spiritans. A retreat is time away from the normal school program where students have the opportunity to reflect on their relationship with God. The emphasis is on students’ awareness of the presence of God in their lives.

During this retreat, the students focused on their communities and how they can play an active and positive role in the groups they belong to. Another aspect of this retreat involved students engaging in activities including, praise songs, dancing, group work and discussions. The event closed with a liturgy celebrated by Father Joel. As you can see from the photographs, this was a joyous event, enjoyed by all participants.

Matilda the Musical!

Our school show this year was Matilda, based on the much-loved book by Roald Dahl. The story has been lovingly brought to life on stage by Tim Minchin and it proved a really popular choice with hundreds of students auditioning for a part in our production.

The cast were excellently chosen with Hanna Gaslawska stealing hearts in the lead role of the rather wonderful Matilda, Jennifer Ukah and Head prefect Darryl Mbongue as her neglectful but very amusing parents, Tania Kasiguia as her saviour Miss Honey and Success Ebohon as the villain of the piece –Miss Agatha Trunchbull!!

The show opens in dazzling fashion with the number Miracle, performed beautifully by the leads and ensemble, the stage is so full of talented young people all singing and dancing and setting the story up for the audience perfectly. The story then takes us to the Wormwood’s house and the local library where Matilda enchants librarian Miss Phelps (Fullness Ogieriakhi) with her imagined tales of the acrobat and the escapologist, played with great style by Favour Akintunde and Michael Akinfemiwa.

Much of the action takes place at Crunchem Hall where the school motto is Bambinatum est Magitum – children are maggots! Miss Trunchbull makes the children’s lives a constant terror with her bullying ways but Matilda’s mischievous spirit lifts them all up. Songs such as ‘naughty’ and the ‘smell of rebellion’ get the whole cast on stage and make the audience smile and who could fail to be

dazzled by Bruce’s call for revolting children that closes the show in spectacular fashion.

At the end of each performance the audience were all on their feet, clapping and cheering and the students were beaming with delight as they took their final bows. There is a lot of backstage support, many hours spent rehearsing and so many lines to be learned but when it all comes together during show week it is a most magnificent experience.

Thank you to all of the staff and students who make these performances possible.

Band on the Wall

This term, Mrs Baylis took a wonderful group of students to perform at Band on the Wall, the iconic live music venue in central Manchester.

The group have been busy writing their pieces and rehearsing after school throughout the term as part of an outreach programme offered by Band on the Wall with musicians, Richard Kankondo and Ellen Beth Abdi. The students performed pieces that they wrote themselves in front of a live audience and did so well.

Mrs Baylis said she was very proud of the group as they not only performed in front of the public, but also several other secondary schools including Parrs Wood and the Co-op Academy, and their behaviour throughout the whole evening was exemplary. It was a pleasure to spend the evening with such mature, well-rounded and thoughtful pupils. Well done to our performers!

Kath Fry Challenge

The Kath Fry Challenge at Ghyll Head in the Lake District is a regular spring term fixture on our calendar. It is a fantastic weekend of outdoor orienteering and inter-school challenges. The competition is named in tribute to the late great Kath Fry – a teacher and Manchester city councillor who fought fiercely against the sale of the Ghyll Head Outdoor Pursuits Centre in the early 1990’s.

This year we took a team of ten year 9 girls to compete led by Miss Massey and Miss Barnsley. The January weather was as windy and rainy as you might expect but the Our Lady’s squad were in great spirits and rose to the challenge.

A key element of the competition is team building and working together to win. The girls did an orienteering challenge at night with head torches, navigated up a mountain where they had to do some scrambling. They also built and manned a raft, no mean feat - well done girls!

All of the fresh air and competition meant the evenings were spent relaxing and getting a good night’s rest.

There were two other groups at the centre over the weekend although the wider competition is much larger. We find out in a few weeks where we finished in the competition once all the other schools have competed, but regardless of the final position, Miss Massey and Miss Barnsley are so proud of a fantastic team performance!

COINING IN SPRINGTIME REWARDS!

COINING IN SPRINGTIME REWARDS!

Miss Smith and Mr Downes took our year 7 students snowboarding at the Chill Factore. They all had a great time learning all about ‘toe edge’ and ‘heel edge’ skiing techniques, as well as how to control your speed, link your turns and move safely in a diagonal line across a real snow slope.

Miss Massey took our year 8 students to Summit Up where they had lots of fun experiencing the thrill of rock climbing and bouldering. They all had a go at climbing a very large wall and bouldering without a harness.

Miss Hamill and Mrs Greaves took our year 9 student to the Flip Out trampoline park where they had a great time bouncing around on the different trampolines and the foam pits.

Miss Higton and Miss White took year 11 students to Treetop Golf. Whilst there, the students got to experience two indoor 18 hole courses set in a jungle environment! They spent the time dodging twisting vines and vibrant wildlife on the Tropical Trail, they then moved onto the Ancient Explorer!

All our students agreed that their afternoon out was the best! A huge well done to all the students and a very well deserved reward! Keep up the good work for next term everyone!

Coining in Springtime Rewards!

Throughout this term, all our students have once again had the opportunity to earn ‘Ethos Coins’ during the school day by demonstrating their kind and caring Catholic ethos around school. All teachers and support staff can reward the students throughout the day and the 15 students with the most ethos coins in each year group are rewarded with an afternoon out. It’s wonderful to see all the excellent behaviour and achievement around school.

Miss Brophy and Mr Jones took year 10 students to the urban playground Putters where they had a go at 3 different themed nine-hole mini golf challenges and tried their hand at some tricky tests of skill, precision and tactics.

Staff Profile: Getting to Know Ursy!

Ursy is the school counsellor and has worked at our Lady’s since December 2023, let’s find out a bit more about her!

What is your role at Our Lady’s School Counsellor.

How long have you worked here - Can you remember your first impressions; how do they compare to your feelings now?

I started in December; my first impressions were that Manchester was very sunny, the school had a good energy about it, the students seemed lively, and the staff seemed to genuinely care and back up the school’s values with actions. Apart from the sunniness the other impressions hold true.

What is your favourite thing about working in secondary education?

It is a genuine privilege to support young people as they find their way in this world. It is also often a lot of fun.

What does a typical day for you look like?

On a weekday I will wake up at 6. My day at school will involve meetings and working with students, I work closely with the pastoral and welfare teams and every day is different and never boring, which suits me. After work I will either go for a swim to relax or be headed out to a dance class- I like learning new styles and lately I have been into Lindy hop and Afro house.

Where is your favourite place you have visited? Do you have any other destinations you would like to visit?

That is a tricky question but the first that come to mind are: In Antigua, Guatemala, I got to eat my breakfast whilst watching a volcano explode and in Alaska I swam on a glacier. There is also a church in St David’s, Wales where you can stand a pound coin up and it will roll the entire length of the church. All are special places.

I would really like to visit South Korea and Japan someday.

What are your hobbies outside of school?

I like doing escape rooms with friends and family, going on spontaneous adventures and I’m involved with improv comedy. I also love to be out in nature no matter the weather and when I am not doing those things, I like to get cosy with a good book.

Favourite film or TV show?

Howl’s Moving Castle.

Favourite book?

I am a big sci-fi/fantasy fan so my top 3 would be: Neal Shusterman’s Scythe. A Hatful of Sky by Terry Pratchett and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Favourite song or piece of music?

Right now: Anderson Paak -Fire in the Sky

Favourite cuisine or meal?

Indian, but no national cuisine can beat good homemade mashed potatoes.

Who would you most like to meet and why?

Hayao Miyazaki- a legendary animator and filmmaker of exceptional imagination and talent who has lived a very long and interesting life.

Best bit of advice for students at Our Lady’s You never need to have it all figured out but stay curious and stay kind and your life will have the potential to unfold in the most extraordinary ways.

GIFT Chaplaincy Team

Last term, our Chaplains aided Father Nicholas with the Christmas Mass that enabled all students to finish their autumn term with a Christmas blessing. Coming into the new year our Chaplains have continued to work tirelessly completing biblical analysis during Chaplaincy weekly meetings, alongside coming together in prayer and filling our prayer tree with lots of lovely intentions.

The Our Lady’s G.I.F.T Chaplains marked Holocaust Memorial Day by looking at the first-person account of a holocaust survivor and how still to this day our world is witness to horrific events. This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day was ‘Fragility and Freedom’ Chaplains were motivated to produce poems expressing the strong message that we as humans are all made in the image and

likeness of God and no matter what race, gender or age a person is, we should all be treated equally.

Currently our Chaplains are honouring Lent and preparing for Easter, they have already planned a liturgy during lunch time for students who wanted to receive ashes.

Chaplains hope to evangelise that Ash

Wednesday is about people being able to

express their desire to grow in spirituality, turning away from any wrong doings and healing themselves with the grace of God.

The chaplaincy team have teamed up with our S.V.P team to support them on their Big Lent Walk. The aim is to walk over 200km over lent whilst gathering sponsors for CAFOD.

St Vincent de Paul Society – Faith in Action

The youth SVP group has been working hard to continue to establish themselves as a community of students who are dedicated to putting their faith into action in a variety of ways.

The Youth SVP have signed up for the CAFOD Big Lent Walk again this year after our success last year. They aim to walk 200km in 40 days during Lent to raise £200 for CAFOD. CAFOD is a global charity that works towards ending global poverty through collective action and support. We emphasise the importance of collective action in everything that we do, as we believe when we come together we can create more effective and positive change.

As part of the Our Lady’s Valentine’s Day celebrations the Youth SVP supported Mrs Burke in selling and promoting Valentine’s Day cards

As a school community we came together and celebrated International Women’s Day on Friday 8th March, and we are looking forward to hosting our community picnic again in the summer term.

Sports News

Well done to our Year 10 girls and boys handball teams who have both become Manchester champions this term!

Congratulations to our year 11 boys’ indoor athletics team who became Manchester Champions once again with every student winning a medal, this concludes an unbelievable athletics career for the team as they have won every competition that they’ve entered over the past 5 years of being at Our Lady’s. The next generation - our year 7 boys and girls teams are indoor athletics champions and Year 8 and Year 9 teams also placed.

Girls Empowerment

Girls GCSE PE students were given an opportunity of a lifetime; to experience some of Manchester’s finest sports facilities at the institute of health and performance at Sport City. The day was centred around inspiring young girls to strive for elitism in sport and be shown the huge amount of career pathways which are now available for girls to be a part of. The guest speaker Aaliyah Powell, GB Olympic Taekwondo athlete, shared her pathway to success with the girls and the obstacles she had to overcome in order for her to achieve success, not only in this country but worldwide being selected for this year’s Paris Olympics.

The girls were then given the opportunity to experience and use the state-of-the-art equipment to understand the elements of sport science in the tests they were doing. The results provided students with information as to how improvement in performance can be made, looking at the technology advancements that has grown with sport science as well as the psychological benefits and body conditioning the equipment can have. The girls were exceptional during the trip and were an absolute credit to the school in which the organisers of the day commented on their passion, enthusiasm and maturity towards the whole experience, inviting the school to return and offer future opportunities for more students to experience. The British cycling pathway organisation came into school to carry out an early talent identification session with some of our female students. The day is centred around inspiring girls to experience the amazing facilities on offer in Manchester, making them aware of the different sessions available after school promoting girls being active outside of school as well as identifying potential talented

athletes in the sport to further advance the girls talents. Some of our students were identified as stand out performers who showed a lot of potential and they have been invited to the next talent identification round held at the Manchester Velodrome. We are so proud of them!

Supporting the Wider Community – Charity Contributions

Our students and their families are always very generous when it comes to supporting our wider community by giving to our charitable collections each term. Mrs Burke coordinates all of the initiatives and we really appreciate all of the thoughtfulness she puts into each fundraising drive. In December we collected food donations for the Trussell Trust, over half a ton of food generously given by the students which could provide up to 650 meals. The children also delivered all of the contributions to our nearest foodbanks just in time for Christmas.

We also hosted our annual party for the parish seniors, the St Clare’s Over 60’s Social Club. Many of the attendees have longstanding links to school through their children and grandchildren and it is a real privilege to welcome them into school for an afternoon of delicious food and entertainment, all prepared and served by the students. During the spring term we have been busy making, designing and printing cards for Valentine’s day. The students and staff could purchase a card for a small donation to gift to

their friends and family and all the proceeds, almost £100, was sent to the British Heart Foundation.

Peace, blessings, and a Happy Easter to you