10 JUL 2014 - GV Issue 19.pub - St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy

Main Reception:
Tel: 01782 821559
Absence Line:
01782 814034
St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy
Little Chell Lane, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, ST6 6LZ
email: [email protected]
http://www.stmargaretward.co.uk
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. Aristotle
As we approach the end of another successful year, we can reflect on
our experience, learn from it and plan ahead. There is certainly lots of
excitement about sports day next week and moving into the lovely new
part of the school in September. There are lots of changes planned for
the new school year. When we return on Monday 8th September, the
times of the school day will be a bit different: It will Include 15 min
reading time at end of registration. NEW TIMES:
8.45–8.55 will be Registration then 8.55-9.10 Reading time
9.10 – 10.00
P1 10.00 – 10.50
P2 10.50 – 11.05
Break
11.05 – 11.55
P3 11.55 – 12.45
P4 12.45 – 1.30
Lunch
1.30 – 2.20
P5
2.20 - 3.10
P6
The reading time with form tutors is very important and is part of our
drive to raise standards of literacy across the school. Research
evidence shows that more reading leads to improved achievement in
every subject. Our new library will of course support more reading and
help us to build a culture of reading in school. We also want to build
students’ resilience and determination to succeed. They should expect
to be challenged, expect constructive criticism and be willing to try, fail
and improve. Effort, practice, failure, even more effort, even more
practice, success! Even when we succeed, we should expect to be
told how to improve, so that we can succeed even more! Of course,
whatever we do, we strive to do it in an atmosphere of love,
forgiveness and reconciliation.
On Wednesday our Y10 Young Engineers team went to Darley Moor race circuit to
compete against eighteen other Stoke on Trent schools. The eleven students took
their electric race car that they have spent 9 months designing and making and spent
over 3 hours behind the wheel against fierce competition. The car performed faultlessly all day despite other teams breaking down and having to be towed off the track.
The competition was set up by KMF in order to inspire young engineers and to find
the most talented and gifted students. Various prizes were given during the day but
the most important prize was for the ‘Young Engineer of The Year’. A massive congratulations goes to Jamie Whelan for taking second place. As the whole project had
been an enormous team effort all eleven students won an iPad each and a
medal which was presented to them by Jason Bradbury from Channel 5’s Gadget
Show. Congratulations to the whole team and we’re glad that all their hard work and
effort paid off!
On Friday 11th July VoiceBox will
be singing at the Lord Mayor's
commemorative concert for the
'Anniversary of the Srebrencia Potocari Act of Genocide' at the
Jubilee Hall, Stoke. We are one
of the only two schools in the area
that have been chosen to sing at
such a special event! VoiceBox are
also joining with the Jazz
Orchestra on their tour to Tuscany
18th-25th July.
VoiceBox will
return in September to rehearse on
Friday lunch times in Music 2.
On Sunday 29th June, six female
members of staff took part in a
social bike ride along the local
cycle ways and canal tow paths.
They met at Bathpool park and
cycled to the China Gardens on
Festival Park where they all
enjoyed a quick cuppa before
setting back. One member of
staff had not ridden a bike for
over 20 years, so was delighted
when she completed the 16 mile
ride.
During ECM week last week,
Year 7 enjoyed taking part in bike
day, which involved students
participating in different cycling
activities including a team
pursuit, time-trial, slow bike race
and an obstacle course. Staff
helped five students who were
low in confidence to achieve their
goal of riding a bike. Mrs Munden
said
"It was great to see
students flourish throughout the
day and finish with big smiles on
their faces.”
Sustrans
High school officer,
Andy Barratt, has been visiting
SMW to run a cycle safety
programme with our Lunchtime
group. Throughout lunch times,
students have been shown how
to fit a helmet correctly, basic
bicycle
maintenance,
bike
handling skills and signalling.
Andy awarded the students with
Sustrans cycle t-shirts for their
hard work and dedication over
the six week course.
On Thursday 3 July, pupil Anna
Bradburn visited St John's
Catholic Academy in Kidsgrove.
Pupils from all year groups
listened to her perform a variety
of pieces featuring a number of
recorders. In addition to this,
Anna also performed "Bohemian
Rhapsody" on her electric
recorder which is called an
Elody. Pupils in Year 4 and 6
then took part in a recorder
workshop which Anna led. As
always
the
children
were
exceptionally well behaved and
thoroughly enjoyed both the
concert and the workshop.
Georgia Rafferty in Y10 has had the
honour to be selected to represent Staffordshire in the ESAA Track & Field
Championships. They are being held at
Birmingham Alexander Stadium this
weekend where she's running in the
1500m heats on Friday, with the final on
Saturday morning at 11:52am. We all
wish her the best of luck!
A young budding reporter in school, Mia DiMarzo took on the assignment of following
the Year 9s who were the audience for a performance called 'The Voice.' Artlink, a
music dance and drama group acted out a jury scene in Studio 1 yesterday morning,
followed by a question and answer session, Mia watched the performance and
interviewed Jo Blagg, the founder of the group to find out more… Artlink has 24
members altogether made up of 4 professionals and enthusiastic learners whose
ages range from 20s to 80s. They have been rehearsing and performing around the
Stoke-on-Trent area for 10 years and actually started life under the umbrella of St
Margaret Ward when Jo was Arts College Manager, so it was a particular pleasure for
the ladies to return and perform at the school. The audience contributed really well
with questions and opinions re 'Sarah' the main character and the
community she lived amongst. A big round of applause ended the morning and Mia
did a great first job as a journalist. Well done everyone!
Y10 GCSE Drama students
performed self devised TIE
(Theatre in Education) pieces at
St George & St Martins Catholic
Academy on Friday 4th July. It
was a resounding success, with 3
performances thoroughly enjoyed
by 120 students from Nursery to
Year 2!
Several students
achieved A* in their performances
by getting FULL marks! Well done
to all students from Mrs Butters
On Monday 7 July the Music Department held our first collegiate Summer Music Festival at St Mary's Catholic Academy. The
event was for Year 5 students & featured Year 5 classes from the following schools: St John's Catholic Academy; Our Lady of Grace
Catholic Academy; St Joseph's Catholic Academy; St Mary's Catholic Academy; St Wilfrid's Catholic Academy: St Peter's Catholic
Academy and Our Lady & St Benedict Catholic Academy. The theme of our festival was "Flying High" and we sang a number of
massed items ranging from "Let's Go Fly a Kite" to "Fly me to the Moon", all of which were accompanied by SMW Jazz
Orchestra. Each school also performed a solo item. The festival was a huge success and each school including the Jazz Orchestra
were presented with a certificate at the end. Thank you and well done to everyone involved, our theme for next year will be "Under
the Sea". A special thank you must also go St Mary's Catholic Academy for hosting our
Year 8 trip to the Black Country festival and also to Mrs Amison. Miss Hayes, Miss Balewski and Mrs Amison. SMW
Museum. Students went to learn musicians were: Hannah Clewes, Olivia McIntyre, Hayley Smith, Dani Smith, Emily
about life during the Industrial Clamp, Jordan Edwards, Lydia Richards, Rhianna Leighton, Megan Harvey, Amie
Revolution. The group had a great Leese and Nathaniel Shufflebotham.
time and experienced demonstrations by the museum’s volunteers
about how people lived and worked
during this bygone period.
Mr Chance
As part of a (MFY) Music for
Youth national music composition
project, "Evolve", Year 4 from St
Peter's and Year 3 from St
Wilfrid's have worked with Mrs
Amison to create class pieces of
music on the theme of "Infinity".
The pieces were videoed and
sent off to be judged and, as a
result, both classes were invited
to present their work at a primary
schools' workshop at the Adrian
Boult Hall in Birmingham. They
were especially praised for their
musical discipline and the
musical content of their compositions. The workshop was part of
the MFY National Festival and
was a sell-out! Well done to all
our children for their excellent
presentations to such a large
audience. We are very proud of
your achievement. Mrs Amison
On Thursday 3rd July,
another activity during
ECM week. Year 7s
had a different experience that they could
remember and not
something that they
could do everyday in
Stoke
on
Trent.
Therefore, in a combined trip with the Art department, the pupils
went to see the “Another Place”, a sculpture site by Antony Gormley at Crosby Beach. Everyone enjoyed the trip. Mr Chance
Students from KS3 took part in a STEM challenge day where they had
to Engineer a robot to rescue a wounded soldier and then Design and
Make a BattleBot to take part in a robot wars style competition. Well
done to Ethan Zdrodowski and Ethan Bates for wining the challenge! We would like to thank Nigel from Young Engineers for coming
into school to deliver the activity and we would also like to thank the
Royal Academy of Engineering for
supporting the day.
Joan Walley MP (Surgery Time)
A regular constituency surgery is held
on the 3rd Friday of every month
1.30 pm:
Tunstall Library, The Boulevard.
Please check with my constituency on (01782) 577900
to check the date of my surgery. By appointment
The school absence
line phone number is:
01782 814034
Absences should be reported
on the first day before 10.00am
and every other day thereafter.

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