Issue 7 19 th October Dear Parents/Carers,

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1 Issue 7 19 th October 2018 Dear Parents/Carers, Almighty God, you inspired Your servant St. Luke the Evangelist and Physician to set forth in the gospel the love and the healing power of your Son. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus, he also showed the divinity of Jesus and His genuine compassion for all human beings. May St. Luke intercede for us that we may deepen our understanding of the gospel and grow in compassion of Jesus. May his intercession enable our new parish to follow Your way and plan for us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. This week, we were saddened by the news of the death of Fr Paul Watson, Parish Priest of Atherstone. Many of our students within the parish who attended St Benedict s Catholic Academy will remember him. We will pray for his soul next week in our assemblies. Please keep Fr Paul in your prayers during this sad time. Thank you to all parents/carers and students who have donated items of food and drink to the food bank. The commitment from the whole school community is so positive. We will donate all items to the food bank warehouse on Friday 26th October. In the meantime we have one week to go so please continue to support this worthy cause. On the topic of charitable works, I'm delighted to report that two of our students, Benedict and Ruadhan Taylor raised money for the Night Shelter last weekend by camping out for the night. Despite the stormy weather, both boys achieved their challenge successfully. Well done to both students on this fantastic achievement. On Friday 26th October we are holding a non-uniform day to support with the education of two orphan children in India as part of our link with the Balamma Satram at holy Family Charity. Fr Sarves has visited St Thomas More for the last five years so it's a great honour to be able to support this. All students are required to pay 1 for this. Please visit to find out about the work of this charity. Reminder to all parents/carers that we have staff training day on Monday 5th November therefore students are not expected to attend school on this day. Finally this is a year of thanksgiving, prayer and celebration for the priests of the Birmingham Diocese, in preparation for a nation celebration of priesthood in the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in I've also I closed a prayer for priests in the newsletter this week. I wish you all a pleasant weekend. Mrs Thomas Acting Principal

2 News Thursday 25th October Monday 29th October Monday 5th November Tuesday 6th November Thursday 15th November Thursday 22nd November Thursday 6th December Friday 7th December Thursday 20th December Friday 21st December Monday 24th December Monday 7th January Tuesday 8th January Key Dates Sixth Form Parents Evening Half Term Teacher Training day Term Starts Sixth Form Open Evening. School Closes at 2.30pm Year 11 Prize Giving Year 11 Art Mock Exam Year 11 Art Mock Exam Year 13 Prize Giving Advent mass & Last Day of Autumn Term Christmas Holidays Teacher Training day Spring Terms Starts We still have a number of parents/carers in each year group who have not activated their ParentMail account. This means that you will not be receiving key information about your child. It is vital that you set up your account to receive this. We have written to all parents/carers who have not activated their account with guidance on how to do this successfully. If you have any issues, please contact Lisa McCord, Finance on Mccord.l@st-thomas-more.net

3 Catholic Life Message from the Pope Charity is the most effective form of witness, because in it people see the love of God On our website we welcome you to explore our Catholic life which underpins everything we do. You will find A gallery of events like our recent pilgrimage to Lourdes A feature on how we celebrate the Liturgical Year. Features on our collective worship where Mass is celebrated for close to 1000 staff and students. Prayer opportunities primarily using our 'School Prayer'. Our rosary group and involvement on our MAC rosary relay chain. Information on our retreat programme to Mater Ecclesiae convent, Alton Castle and Soli House. The role of our Chaplain Fr Matthew Pittam and the Chaplaincy Family Prayer for World Meeting of Families 2018 God, our Father, We are brothers and sisters in Jesus Your Son, One family, in the Spirit of your love. Bless us with the joy of love. Make us patient and kind, gentle and generous, Welcoming to those in need. Help us to live Your forgiveness and peace. Protect all families with Your loving care, especially those for whom we now pray: Increase our faith, strengthen our hope, keep us safe in Your love, Make us always grateful for the gift of life that we share. This we ask, through Christ our Lord, Amen Weekly Prayer

4 Catholic Life Saint of the Week St Luke The Evangelist St Luke was born in Antioch. He was possibly a Gentile but converted to Christianity. St Luke was a Doctor by profession and also an artist, creating more than 600 pictures which included the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Peter, St Paul and depictions of many Gospel events. St Luke was one of the seventy-two disciples, once sent by Jesus to travel ahead of him to every town he planned to visit saying, The one who listens to you, listens to me. (Luke 10:16a) St Luke is best known for his New Testament writings, the Gospel according to St Luke and The Acts of the Apostles. St Luke s Feast Day is the 18th October. He is the Patron Saint of Artists and Doctors. St Luke The Evangelist: Pray that we will listen to the Gospel of our Risen Jesus. Glory be to the

5 Catholic Life Year for Priests The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is set aside by the Church as a day of prayer and intercession for the sanctification of priests. In 2018, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, it marks the start of a year of thanksgiving, prayer and celebration for the priests of this diocese, in preparation for a national celebration of priesthood to coincide with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in This year marks the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the English College, Douai, the first institution to form priests for the mission in England after the Reformation. From Douai, colleges were founded across France, Spain and Portugal, and in Rome. These colleges trained the priests, without whom Catholicism would almost certainly have died out in England and Wales. For generations, priests were treated as traitors and lived under cover in fear of their lives; hundreds were martyred for their witness to Christ and His Church. Even in later times, priests were few in number, poorly resourced and socially excluded. Without their resilience and courage, the Church we have today would not exist. This year is a time to thank God for the priests of today, as well as to celebrate the past. Lay people, deacons and members of religious congregations are encouraged to pray for the priests of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, past, present and to come. We celebrate and give thanks for those who have gone before us, and for our present generations of priests, and support them with our prayers. We pray ever more fervently that young men in our families, parishes, schools, colleges and universities will hear and respond to the call to priesthood. This prayer has been composed to draw together our intentions for this special year. You are warmly invited to pray it frequently, whether privately, in families or groups, at home or in church. A Prayer for Priests God our Father, we praise you for the gift of the priesthood in your Church, and for the ministry of priests in service of your people. We thank you for the precious gift of your Son, received at the hands of your priests. We pray for all the priests of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. May they find inspiration and encouragement from the laity, deacons and religious, and from each other. We recall, with gratitude, the priests who have been a source of grace in our lives. [We pray especially for Fr ] Be watchful over your priests, Lord, we pray. Give courage to those who serve you, and grant them their eternal reward. Have mercy on those who have struggled to stay close to you. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all priests of the Archdiocese of Birmingham under your protection. Be present in the hearts of all our priests. May their hearts burn with love for you. We pray that all priests experience the joy of the Gospel in their lives, and are constantly enriched by your Word. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, renew all priests in their service of God. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, guide all priests along the right path. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant all priests patience and fortitude. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach us compassion and understanding for our priests. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, open our hearts to respond to our own call to your service. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, nurture vocations to the priesthood in our families, parishes and schools. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, blesses the priests and people of our parishes, and fill our hearts with your mercy. Amen

6 Catholic Life Jesuit Values This half term we are focussing on Compassion and Love as our values. Please support us by encouraging your child to show compassion for others and love towards others. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 Year for Priests

7 Subject As we fast approaching half term, our faculty has been busy planning the next few months. A lot of our attention has been taken up with year 11 and how we can make sure we are supporting all our students to succeed in their maths GCSE next summer. We are in the process of planning a parent s meeting in early November in collaboration with English and Science to guide parent s through some key revision resources to help you support your child at home. Look out for details soon with the date and time. We really hope that all our year 11 parents can make it. A notice to year 11 parents: the year group will be carrying out a pre-mock assessment in the first week back in November. The test will be a full paper and will happen during lesson time. Students are aware of this and need to be revising in preparation for this over the half time break. Open Evening when we became rock stars for one night only The buzz around our faculty during open evening last week was brilliant, it was excellent seeing our future year 7 students really take up the times table challenge with a huge thank you to our Math superstar helpers which left us teachers to talk to people and take lots of rock star selfies. Mrs Tyrell definitely outrocked Mr Ireland and Mrs Prescot.. We are also excited to be hosting the Holy Spirit School Maths Championship next Friday, where our brightest Maths students from all primary year groups will be competing against each other to win the title of Maths champion. There is also a team trophy available for top performing primary school. We look forward to sharing the details of this new annual event in our next update.

8 Subject The Holy Spirit MAC Experience 2018/19 All students and parents/carers should have received a copy of this last week. This outlines the educational provision that every young person within the MAC will experience beyond the National Curriculum. We are very proud to be part of this commitment for every child at an exciting time. If you haven't received your copy from the school please admin@st-thomas-more.net

9 Events Non Uniform Day Friday 26th October Non Uniform for all students. We would like all students to pay 1 and all monies raised will go towards providing an education for two beautiful orphan children in India as part of the Balamma Satram at Holy Family charity that we are working with. Fr.Sarves has visited our school for the last five years and his apostolate is approved by his Bishop. Teacher Training Day School closed to students for staff training day Monday 5 th November Year 7 Year 7 Parents/Carers are invited to join us on Thursday 13 th December in the School Hall am for a mince pie and drink. Many thanks Mrs Fry

10 Events

11 Events Early Morning Study Facilities The School Library and ICT Room 28 are open each morning from 8.30am 9.00am for homework, reading and private study. Small jars of coffee Custard Tinned Potatoes Tinned Carrots Fruit Juice; Jars of Pasta Sauce; Instant Mash Tinned Fruit Biscuits; Puddings We would like all pupils from across the MAC to donate at least one item to the food Bank each week over the next three weeks. Thank you for your support

12 Subject ATTENDANCE LADDER TOP TEN FORMS 8th 14th OCTOBER MH % 7TL % 9TAH % 10CL % 10SH % 7AM % 7HE % 7WL ) % 7NT ) 8BK %

13 Information LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURING TERM TIME UPDATED INFORMATION FOR PARENTS The Supreme Court recently reached a decision in the case of Platt v Isle of Wight Council which has clarified the law on unauthorised leave, including holidays, during term time. The parents of children of compulsory school age are required to ensure that they attend school on a regular basis. The Supreme Court has made clear that attending school regularly means that the children must attend school on every day that they are required to do so. As such, the parents of any child who is absent from school without authorisation for any length of time are likely to be considered as committing an offence under s444 of the Education Act Head Teachers retain the ability to authorise leave in accordance with the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations When considering such requests for a leave of absence, the school are obliged to act within the law. Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. If the leave is granted, head teachers are able to determine the number of school days a child can be absent for. It is for the Head Teacher to decide what is exceptional and it is at their discretion if the circumstances warrant the leave to be granted. The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the resident parent. Each application for a leave of absence will be considered on a case by case basis and on its own merits. Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child will be required to be in school on the dates set out in the application. If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence, which may result in legal action being taken against the parent(s), by way of a Fixed Penalty Notice. Failure to make an application for leave in advance can also result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued to the parent(s). All matters of unauthorised absence relating to a Leave of Absence will be referred to the Attendance, Compliance and Enforcement Service of Warwickshire County Council It is important to note, Fixed Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices in the amount of 120 each, totalling 240 for both children, this is reduced to 60 per child if paid within 21 days). Where a Fixed Penalty Notice is not paid within the required timeframe as set out on the notice, the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal proceedings under S444 Education Act Fixed Penalty Notices are issued in accordance with Warwickshire County Council s Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices. Your child s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority Warwickshire Secondary School pupils recorded 8,895 half day sessions of absence due to holiday in the Autumn/Spring term during academic Warwickshire Secondary School pupils recorded 8,895 half day sessions of absence year 2017/18. This is an increase of 1,816 on the previous year. due to holiday in the Autumn/Spring term during academic year 2017/18. This is an increase of 1,816 on the previous year.