PRAYER CALLING ALL YEAR 7 PARENTS/CARERS OF PUPILS GOING ON THE COCHEM 2016 VISIT! Issue 29 3 rd May Dear Parents/Carers

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1 Issue 29 3 rd May 2016 Dear Parents/Carers Happy St James Day! To mark the Feast of St James -the-lesser we held a voluntary Mass in school this morning, celebrated by Fr Pat. The school Council has also planned activities for the remainder of the week, to mark the feast of our patron saint, including an 'Are you smarter than your Form Tutor?' challenge, a Guess the baby (teacher) competition, a scavenger hunt and a School Council Food Stall on Thursday & Friday. With us now being in the month of May, we will also be focusing our prayers to our Blessed Mother Mary and in particular praying the Rosary. Towards the end of last week I attended the Diocese of Shrewsbury Secondary Headteachers (DASH) Conference, along with Bishop Mark, who celebrated Mass with us on Thursday evening. Several of the sessions were led by Fr Andrew Pinsent SJ, a Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University, a Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford. He is also a priest of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton. One of the presentations that he delivered was about the relationship between Religion and Science, and he talked about the significant impact that the Catholic Church has had on the world, including Science, Medicine, Geography, Literature and the Arts. He used as examples people like Fr Georges Lemaître, who was the first person to propose what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe, and Gregor Mendel, a Franciscan Friar, known as the father of modern genetics. The message was clear, that the Catholic Church has a lot to be proud of, including its contribution to education, and this is a legacy that we are all trying to continue. We will, of course, be educating our young people about the impact of the Church on our society, and about those influential Catholic men and women who have made their mark. Year 11 will be receiving their Programme of Study this week, which will be accompanied by a letter from myself, explaining exactly how we will be supporting our Year 11 students in the lead up to and during their GCSE exams, and what will be expected of them in terms of attendance, etc. Please keep all of our young people who are taking exams in your prayers. Year 9 received an assembly on the options process last week, ahead of Options Evening this Thursday. All pupils will also be having an interview with a senior member of staff, to discuss their possible curriculum choices. An information booklet has been sent home with students and a copy is also available on the school website, under Curriculum Overview (Students now in Year 9 KS4 Options Booklet (2016)), so in the meantime could I ask that parents look through the available information and have discussions with their son / daughter about the choices available to them. If you have any questions or concerns about the options process, please do not hesitate to contact our Deputy Headteacher, Mr Brophy at huw.brophy@st-jamescatholic.stockport.sch.uk We welcomed back to school today the Iceland trip which returned yesterday. I would like to thank Mr & Mrs Wilby, Mr & Mrs Healey and Mrs Corless for leading this very successful Geography trip. It really is a fantastic opportunity for our young people, and they were a credit to the school and their families. As always, if you ever wish to contact me about any issue, please do not hesitate to me at headteacher@st-jamescatholic.stockport.sch.uk. Tim Beesley Headteacher PRAYER Hail Mary Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. CALLING ALL YEAR 7 PARENTS/CARERS OF PUPILS GOING ON THE COCHEM 2016 VISIT! Please note that the Parental Consent/Medical Information form was due in on Friday 22nd April. These needs to be returned ASAP either to the Office or directly to myself. If you require another copy, please contact me on Thank you clare.pickles@st-jamescatholic.stockport.sch.uk Mrs Pickles- Director of MFL Faculty

2 LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE We are thrilled to let you know that two St James pupils have been selected as the designers of the awards for the ongoing Book Awards- The Read 2016 and Quick Reads Libby Morris of 8M is to create The Read 2016 award, and Will Knox of 7S is the designer of the Quick Reads 2016 award. They submitted designs in a competition open to all the Stockport secondary schools taking part in the awards, and have been declared THE WINNERS! Here at St James, we will be working on turning those designs into real tangible awards to present to the winning authors, at the forthcoming awards ceremony in June. Lots of pupils have been reading the shortlisted books, including Libby and Will of course, and we hope to take a large group to the awards ceremony, which is being held at Cheadle Hulme School, one of the participating schools. There is still plenty of time to get involved, as voting doesn t close until 13 th May. We hope to be able to reveal exclusive pictures of Libby and Will s finished awards in June, followed by all the announcements and news from the award ceremony! Remember, come to the Learning Resource Centre to take part in reading and voting on the shortlisted books! Mrs Smith Librarian SAINT OF THE WEEK St James is our school s patron saint, but not a lot is known about him other than he was one of the Twelve Apostles (one of two James, hence why he s St James the Less probably the Less because he was younger!). We do know that St James was one of the first of Jesus followers to welcome St Paul into Jerusalem after Paul s conversion. This was at a time when many of Jesus followers treated Paul with suspicion and distrust. James, however, kept an open mind and welcomed Paul. In welcome Paul, James was going against the grain to do what he felt to be right; that is welcoming and being nice to someone who had a chequered past and who was not liked. He was setting the example that God loves us all, and uses all of us even the weakest or least likely to spread his message of love and forgiveness. What can we as a school learn from St James open welcoming of the outsider? Congratulations to Shannon Hill who has passed her pre-vocational Inter Foundation Ballet Exam with a "DISTINCTION" this is an exceptionally high achievement and counts as points towards University. Well done Shannon! Mr Bulfin Form Tutor

3 ENGLISH FACULTY Key Stage 3 Shakespeare: This half term, Year 7 have been studying Shakespeare s The Tempest. Coincidently, it was Shakespeare s birthday last week and also the commemoration of 400 years since his death. Consequently we have gone Bard mad! To get into the spirit of both his notable words and language and also his comedies and tragedies, Year 7 have been inspired by the drama that leaps from his pages by getting into character and experiencing the storylines actively. Here are some examples of character masks 7X2 have created for the whole class drama performance, along with adjectives to describe their chosen character. Fig 1: Fig 2: Fig 3: Mia Silcock, Emma Murphy, Ellie Stackhouse, Tom Fletcher Jake Kan-Hai, Jack Roberts, Daniel Lane, Holly Martin Miriam Mirtorabi, Mia Silcock, Jessica Mullock, Georgia Langan, Holly Martin

4 Key Stage 4 - GCSE Language: This half term as part of year 11 s continued study with their English Language exam, the students have been diligently working on completing a third mock; every Monday the students answer a question from a past exam. To reflect the hard work and improvements being made the students are also embedding their cross curricular knowledge of maths by charting their progress on graphs so that the students can see how much better they are doing and areas to work on. The graphs enable the year 11 s to have a wider perspective over the course of the mocks they have already completed. Below are 3 examples of the students English Language mock mark graphs. Fig 1: Tiffany Man Fig 2: Joe McConnell Fig 3: Erica Lau Device of the Week: Caesura: a pause in a line of poetry that is formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than by metrics. It is usually used to slow down the pace of a poem or emphasise a particular word, meaning or emotion. Word of the Week: Corporal: meaning bodily, physical or solid Miss Ffrench-Lange English Teacher

5 LEARNING RESOURCE CENTRE What Are We Reading? It has been far too long since we updated you about what the staff are reading right now! So here s a summary of our favourite hobby Mrs Pickles, Director of Modern Foreign Languages, is reading 101 Damnations by Ned Boulton. She says I am back on a sport related book after reading a few great works of literature. This one is about the 101st Tour de France and is a real insight into the life trailing around after the Tour with all the glamour, or lack of, which goes with it. Ned Boulting writes with candour and humour and as a fellow linguist, has a great command of every language he tries! Mrs Linford, Head of Year 9, says I am reading a book that was written by my very own brother-in-law, Gerry Linford. It s called "Where Will You Go When You Can't Go There?" (available on Amazon) It s a series of short stories that focus on the disappointed and the broken. (cheery, eh?) It s a very proud Linford family moment. Miss Livesey, Teaching Assistant, says I am reading 'American Sniper' by Chris Kyle, documenting his time working as a US Navy SEAL. Haven't read a book so fast in a long time - a really great read. Mrs Millar, Attendance Officer, is reading A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, and tells us her book group is currently reading the classic, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Miss Wardle, Head of Year 10, says I'm currently reading 'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins. It s a really great suspense novel which I am struggling to put down... and sleep after reading! Mr Swanson, Second in Modern Foreign Languages, tells us he is reading a Philip Kerr book The Lady From Zagreb. He says It's one of the Bernie Gunther novels that focuses on a German detective during the Second World War. Always a good read! And it s stone-cold classics all the way for other staff. Dr Guscott, Assistant Head, is reading A Room With A View by E. M. Forster. Mrs Birch, Head of History, is immersed in history at all times- this time with the First World War book, Regeneration by Pat Barker., is reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Mrs Smith Learning Resource Centre BOYS PE EXTRA CURRICULAR SPORT Week Commencing Tuesday 3 rd May GIRLS PE EXTRA CURRICULAR SPORT Week commencing Tuesday 3 rd May Tuesday 3pm Wednesday 3pm Thursday 3pm Year 8/7 Dodgeball Trials Finish 4.15pm Year 8 Athletics Team practice Finish 4pm Year 8/7 Cricket v CHHS (away) Finish 5pm Tuesday (after-school) Wednesday (after-school) Year 7, 8, 9 rounders matches away at Kingsway Year 10 Catholic Schools Tournament leave school at 2pm at Newman College, Oldham. Year 7 & 8 rounders practice Boys PE Thursday (after-school) Years 9 & 10 rounders practice Girls PE

6 YEAR 10 ICELAND TRIP 2016 Just a small selection of photographs from the Iceland trip that took place last weekend.

7 MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES CALLING ALL LINGUISTS OR NATIVE SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES There is an exciting competition run by Manchester Met University which is open for pupils from St James' to enter. Mother Tongue Other Tongue and you can read more information here: It is called Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a national Laureate Education Project, led by the Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy. The competition is officially endorsed by Malala Yousafzai, youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and education activist. Award winning boxer, Amir Khan, launched the competition and had this to say about it: "I think it's important to encourage more pupils in school to learn a language and this competition is a great way to boost children's confidence." The Mother Tongue part of the competition requires children who do not have English as a first language, or who speak a different language at home, to share a lullaby, poem or song from their Mother Tongue. They then write a short piece in English to explain the poem s significance to them. The Other Tongue part of the competition encourages children learning another language in school to use that language creatively to write a poem. It would be fantastic to have some entries from pupils are St James'. MFL teachers will be promoting this with their classes and if any pupils wish to find out any more information, they can talk to their French or German teacher. Any pupil who wishes to enter should hand in their entry to Mrs Pickles by Friday 27th May. The MFL Faculty

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