St Francis of

Assisi Newsletter

July 2012

J

Dear Parents,

While we are still waiting for summer to arrive, plenty has been happening

here at school. We have extended our outdoor seating facility and are

looking to extend our covered areas so that our students can enjoy their

breaks outdoors, despite the rain. We are relieved that we have had no

school closures due to severe weather during this academic year, despite the

wind and rain!

During our recent half term week, we had three trips abroad and our

students were, as always, great ambassadors for the Church as well as for

their school.

One group went to Germany to extend their language skills, another group

enjoyed an outdoor activity week in France whilst our sixth formers gave up

their holiday to look after sick pilgrims in Lourdes. None of these trips are

possible without the support of parents and, of course, dedicated staff who

forfeit their own holiday to support our students.

Our Consultation Evenings with parents have been enhanced with video

footage of our various year groups in action and I hope that the majority of

parents are now accessing our VLE through our website where we post a lot

of information for you. This is an important source of communication and we

welcome your ideas for any improvements.

We continue to be concerned at the number of students who are accessing

inappropriate material and chat rooms via the internet. Their safety is often

compromised and we have had to involve the police on several occasions this

year. Too much of our time in school has been given over to deal with the

consequences of this and our policy on mobile telephones must be fully

respected and adhered to. Only those with specific permission may bring a

telephone to school where it is kept in the school office until home time each

day. We also expect parents to regulate what their children may access

either on their telephones or computers to avoid the very real dangers which

inappropriate use of the internet can lead to.

St Francis of Assisi Catholic Technology College

Headteacher: Mrs P. Mullins, B.A. (Hons), M.A. NEWSLETTER

July 2012

Continued …

Many of our leavers have kindly donated blazers and ties to our uniform box.

If you are interested, please contact the relevant Head of Achievement and

Learning for your child. Please also check our list of uniform requirements (in

our Behaviour Policy and Prospectus) as we will not accept modifications and

it is expensive to have to replace garments or shoes that your child has

assured you are allowed but are actually not acceptable. We do NOT allow

unnatural hair colours, the current earrings designed to make a piercing

abnormally large, false nails – these have become ridiculously long - nor do we

allow skin tight trousers and short skirts. Sensible school shoes MUST be

worn at all times. We do not expect to have to waste our time telling

secondary age students how to properly wear our uniform. Our dress code is

non-negotiable.

As the school year draws to a close, we are saying goodbye at the end of this

term to Dr Berry, (Science), Miss Pateman (Modern Foreign Languages) and

Miss Nolan (English). They are all moving on to other roles and we are very

grateful to each of them for all they have given to St Francis.

Please continue to pray for our students, especially those taking

examinations. I wish you a very happy summer holiday and sincerely hope we

all get to see a little bit of sun.

Yours sincerely,

P. Mullins.

Letter from Mrs Mullins

Year 7 News

As we all know the Olympics are

coming to London this year so in

honour of this an Olympic themed

week has been organised to inspire

us to get in the spirit of this once

in a life time experience. The

Olympic themed week will involve

Year 7, 8 and 9. We will be split up

into completely random groups to

do lots of Olympic based

activities. A surprise guest has

been organised who created one of

the mythical beasts for Harry

Potter.... who is this person? We‟ll

just have to wait and see!

Year 7 tutor groups have been

set a challenge to organise

some dazzling entertainment

for our celebration day and

new parents evening. Year 7s

are show casing their talent

for future parents and

children. At St Francis you

won‟t just grow academically

but in confidence too.

The PE department have come

up with a brilliant way to raise

money for a brand new

trampoline. This has been

named as a Bounce-athon. It

will involve girls collecting

sponsors from friends and

family and then during their PE

lessons, in a fancy dress

costume of their choice, they

will continuously jump! The

costume can be anything from

fairies to pyjamas, which really

does save you a lot of trouble

in the morning. So get jumping!

Word from Mrs Beaumont

Mrs Beaumont has been delighted

with Year 7 because so many have

progressed throughout the year. She

said, ‟‟It is so upsetting to lose the

Year 7‟s to Year 8 but I hope they do

very well.‟‟

Year 7 News

Year 8 News This has been an eventful year containing many competitions, trips and

excitement; we hope you look on your previous year with good comments

and some improvements. For example what can you do to improve your

work? What can you do to socialise more?

Our minds are going to be quizzed soon enough as we get ready to

select our GSCE DT options. Now you‟ve chosen your main options there

is just one decision left to make, the best advice I can give you is to

choose something that you are good at and that you enjoy. Until

Christmas you will be requested to take two DT options which will be

taken for 10 weeks each and then you will be once again asked to

choose your final DT option.

To conclude on our final year 8 newsletter I would like to wish good

luck to the people who have been chosen to participate in the Black

Country games and I would like to congratulate you all on such a

successful year.

Year 9 News Recently in CC lessons, each form in Year 9 were

set the challenge to present a class debate to the

rest of the year, stating their views on...

‘Should 24 hour drinking in the UK be

legalised?’

This task proved to be a successful one as all the

presentations were fantastic and very well

organised, a big well done to every form for

participating. However, 9N won from the F side and

9S won from the C side. Their presentations stood

out to Mr Howes as being the most formal and

informative. They will go head to head after half

term to win votes from the rest of the year group,

therefore it will be Year 9‟s decision as to who are

the overall winners. Good luck both teams!

Year 10 News

It is a very exciting time full for our

Year ten students as they are all

preparing for their work experience,

which begins on Monday 16th July

2012. All students have chosen a

placement, ranging from media centres

and music studios to Birmingham City

council. The students are looking

forward to their „dress for work‟ day

on Thursday 12th July where they will

receive a briefing period 1 to period 4

from an external visitor from Walsall

Education and Business Partnership

and from our school work experience

co-ordinator, Miss Clensy. Students

will be supported during these

sessions by their Head of Year, Mr

Brown, and their form tutors. We wish

all of our students every success and

we know that they will represent our

school wonderfully during their first

week in the world of work!

In addition to this, four very lucky Saint Francis students have been

selected to work for Walsall Council for four weeks during their summer

holiday. They have the responsibility of preparing Year 6 students for the

important transition between primary and secondary school.

These students are Liam, Kieron, Morgan and Liam. The students are

looking forward to their challenge and will be using many of their

wonderful experiences at Saint Francis to help them to inspire current

Year 6 students to look forward to the wonderful experience that is

secondary school!

Year 11 News

After weeks of exams and hard work

we were finally allowed to let our

hair down at the prom!

Although a lot of us are coming back

next year... this was a time we were

able to say a sad good bye to all

those who are leaving sixth form

next year.

Sixth form News After all our exams we were straight into

our year 13 courses! The main things we

have been focusing on are our university

applications... and so our personal

statements have been on the forefront of

our minds. It‟s not all hard work though! As

you have seen in our trip section... some of

our sixth formers went to Lourdes.

We must also say goodbye to our year 13‟s

this year and wish them luck for the

future.

After working hard for all their exams

they were able to bid fair well to all their

class mates, who they have know for at

least 6 year!

MFL News

MFL Trip Strasbourg / Black Forest June 2012

The MFL department would like to congratulate all of the students

who attended the MFL trip in half term. Despite a couple of accidents

(and visits to hospitals in France and Germany) students had a

fantastic time. The hotel was beautiful, overlooking a wine-growing

valley. The first evening was rather rushed, after a hospital visit on

the journey, but we arrived just in time for Mass in Oberkirch,

Germany, where we were welcomed by the priest and the locals. On

day one we visited the Hasenhorn Mountain Coaster – the biggest

mountain rollercoaster in Germany – a 15 minute ski lift to the top

followed by a rollercoaster ride down! We also visited Badeparadies,

an indoor waterslide park. For the French students on day two we

visited Strasbourg, taking in the beautiful sights such as the Notre

Dame cathedral, plus the cute half-timbered buildings along the river

trip. We also saw the European Courts of Human Rights. Finally we

visited Europa Park – Germany‟s largest theme park, and rode Silver

Star, Blue Fire and a variety of other hair-raising rollercoasters,

before travelling back that evening (not before another hospital trip –

this time in Germany). The students were fantastic and a credit to

the school. They fully embraced the different cultures, were keen to

try local delicacies (though not as brave as us staff who tried

snails…thanks to Mr Gould‟s persuasion!) and actively practised their

language skills. They have gained an enormous amount of valuable

experience from this trip and many seemed inspired to return to

Germany and France in the future.

As trip leader I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the staff

who willingly gave up their half term to provide this fantastic

opportunity for our students :- Mrs Cooper, Miss Pateman, Mr Dawson

and Mr Gould.

Miss Clarke, Head of MFL.

MFL News

Linguists of the month...

March

Kieran Year 7

Kieran is producing fantastic work in

French. He is on target to reach a top

level 5 in all four skills this year, which is

a very high target for a year seven pupil.

He is showing a very good talent for

language learning and the MFL department

is delighted with his achievements and

attitude.

Katie Year 11

Katie has consistently worked hard in

French and always works to her full

potential. She is motivated and is always

looking to improve her performance. We

wish her well in her GCSEs and feel sure

she will succeed. We look forward to her

joining our A‟ level French class next year.

It has been a pleasure to teach Katie and

she should be commended for her

resilience. She is never put off, even when

an aspect of learning is difficult.

Rebecca Year 7

Rebecca produces consistently good work

in all four skills and makes exceptional

effort at all times. She is always

enthusiastic and makes use of on line

resources to enhance her progress.

Sports News What a summer of sport we have to look forward to!. We have the battle between

the number one and two ranked test teams in cricket (England V South Africa),

the Tour de France with genuine British title hopes in the form of Bradley

Wiggins, and of particular interest for anyone associated with St Francis of Assisi

CTC is the fact that past pupil Daniel Martin will be hoping to showcase his talents

as one of the best cyclists in the world. We also have the biggest sporting event in

the world to look forward to, of course, the once in a lifetime opportunity to see

the world‟s best athletes competing on British soil in the London 2012 Olympics. If

this doesn‟t inspire us all to get active, nothing will!

Our students have certainly been very active in recent months and I am very

pleased to be able to report some more team and individual success stories. In

the Walsall schools Trampolining Championships, we managed to win a total of 23

medals. Our U13‟s novice and elite teams won bronze medals, our U15‟s elite team

won silver and our U15‟s novice, U18‟s novice and U18‟s elite teams all came away

with Gold medals. In the individual competitions Lauren came away with a bronze

medal, Lucy and Bethany silver medals and Mary, Shannon and Aiden all came away

victorious with Gold medals.

Our gymnasts also managed to return home from the Walsall Schools

Championships as overall team winners. The team consisted of girls in year 7, 8 and

9. The students involved were Alice, Shannon, Katie, Marni, Harriet, Victoria and

Anna. They now go on to represent Walsall in the 2012 Black Country School

Games. So too, will our year 8 boys and girls volleyball teams and I hope to be able

to report back with some more positive news in the near future.

Finally, I have some excellent news in terms of individual achievements in

athletics. Conal, Phoebe and Chris in year 9 were all selected to represent Walsall

in the West Midlands Schools Athletics Championships. Chris was overall winner in

the junior boys high jump and was 2nd in the 200m and Phoebe was a close 2nd in

the junior girls 200m. They both now go on to represent the West Midlands in the

English Schools Athletics Championships. Phoebe had an excellent winter season

and earlier in the year became National Champion in the Aviva Sports Hall

Athletics Championships. An honour previously held by Olympic Gold medallist

Denise Lewis, so Phoebe is definitely one to look out for in the future.

A huge congratulation goes to all of the students involved in these success stories

and to all students who have represented St Francis in this academic year. We are

always very proud of their achievements and hope for more of the same in the

future.

By Mr Connell

Trip News During half-term, Year 8 and 9 students visited Club Correz in France.

Pupils enjoyed an action-packed week of water sports, high ropes, and lots

of outdoor activities. It was great fun! Have a look at the pictures to see

for yourself …

Trip News

This term has been jam packed with trips, what with the year 7‟s trips to

Stratford, the Lourdes trip for 6th form, the black forest/Strasbourg MFL

trip and the water sports trip to France for 9‟s and some 8‟s. This page gives

you the updates on these trips and the views upon them.

Stratford

Every year, Yr 7 gets the chance to

visit Shakespeare‟s birth place in

Stratford-upon-Avon. They travel

there and get a tour around his

childhood home and get to have some

free time shopping on the little street

next to Shakespeare‟s home and

museum.

“Shakespeare‟s Birthplace

was very interesting as we

got to look around each room

and have someone to talk to

us all about it.” Laura Yr 7

By Laura, Year 7

Trip News

Lourdes Trip

Every year, 6th form gets the chance to go

to Lourdes in France. It‟s not only as a

spiritual experience, but also so that they

can put their faith into action by helping

others.

„I would advise anyone of

thinking of going to go and

make their own memories as I

assure you that it will be the

best time ever and you will

find it hard to put into words,

how incredible of place it truly

is‟ Shanna Yr 12

By Bethany, Year 12

Extra-Curricular News

In the ecology room...

In June the Ecology Area was officially

opened by Mrs Mullis and Mrs Carol

Hannan, ex head of science at St. Francis.

The story of the Ecology area all started

when Mrs Hannon met up with Mr. Hughes

by chance in a garden centre and he told

her about school‟s project. She suggested

that he approach the Lichfield Science

engineering society for more funding to

help develop the project. The Art club and

Stem club joined forces to create an

honourable piece of art work to mark the

area.

Wanted!

WHAT? We need Gardeners to help with the School‟s organic garden.

No experience necessary, just enthusiastic volunteers! WHEN? Friday lunch time and after school on a Tuesday (weather

permitting)

PAYMENT? You get a share of the vegetables and fruit that we grow.

We are currently growing potatoes, peas, old fashioned leeks, broad

beans carrots, strawberries, blueberries raspberries and rhubarb.

Contact Mrs Brook if you are interested in volunteering.

By Sharday, Helen, Alisha and Bronwen, Year 7

The concept of the ecology area was Mr Hughes idea; he wanted a place

students could learn about the environment and habitats actively. Why

learn in classroom when you could observe the natural habitats in the

space of your school ground?

In the ecology room there is a pond and so far it has been visited by water

striders, tadpoles, fish and ducks. The Ecology team are looking for

further funding so they can make it a better place. Watch this space!

Extra-Curricular News

Fair Trade...

The Queen‟s Diamond Jubilee seemed a perfect

opportunity to do something to celebrate the 60

years of our monarch‟s reign with a fair trade

twist. Pupils were given the challenge of baking

a Fairtrade cake that would be good enough to

serve to the queen. Twenty three pupils entered

the competition from years 7 to 11. Some pupils

took their inspiration from the Commonwealth;

many Fairtrade producing countries such as

Ghana, Malawi, India and South Africa were

former British colonies that joined the

Commonwealth of Nations. Union Jacks and

crowns were also popular forms of decoration

not to mention the red London bus driven by the

Queen.

Judging took place on Monday 28th May. The

cakes were split into two categories large and

small, with first and second prizes been given in

each category. The judges had the hardship of

trying all the cakes comparing the taste,

texture, decoration and presentation. The

number of Fairtrade ingredients used in the

cake also contributed towards the final mark.

The winning large cake was a Spiced Jamaican

Banana cake decorated with flags of

Commonwealth countries with a beautifully

decorated crown being awarded 2nd place. In

the small cake category the winning cakes were

coffee flavoured with piped crowns and in 2nd

place were cakes iced in red, white and blue

with jelly diamonds.

The cakes were sold at break and lunch time and

we made £65 which is going to be sent to the

Fairtrade Foundation.

Extended project

Year 12 took part in a n introduction to the Extended Project this term. All Year

12 students were briefed on the project and how it could help develop their

academic studies and even gain them an advantage when applying for Universities.

The day was a great success with Year 12s thinking of some very interesting

projects to pursue.

What is the Extended Project?

This is a qualification that can help make students stand out in terms of

University, Apprenticeship and Job applications. It also gives students extra

UCAS points and has helped many students in the past gain University entry.

Some students were told that it was because of the way they talked about their

projects at interview and were able in instances show interviewers the finished

product that they were offered places on competitive courses. This includes

courses like:-

Creative costume theatre design. Nursing.

Architecture and design.

The project can be focused on any subject. This means you can study ANY area of

interest and we have had projects that have been; Art based, library based, Law

focused, History inspired, Science focused, Sociology review, Music creation, DT

designed, Media created and Psychological Experimentation, amongst many others.

Good to luck to all Year 12s in their Extended Project next year.

Needed for Science Science is in need of a dishwasher and a freezer that will fit under a work

surface. If anyone has one that they would like to donate to the Science

department, please contact the School office. The Science department would

be very grateful.

JUBILEE PICTURES!

Do you have any Jubilee Celebration photographs that you would like to share

with St Francis? Mrs Hill would like to make a display to mark the special

occasion. Please email pictures to: phill@stfrancis.cc

Extra-Curricular News

Extra-Curricular News Dance...

The dance group received two workshops funded

through „Dancing for the Games‟ to celebrate the

forthcoming Olympic Games. The first street

dance piece had the theme „Playground‟; students

had to create a performance for this theme. The

students performed at Willenhall Memorial Park on

17th May. The dance group then performed at the

Walsall Catholic Schools Athletics event at

Alexander Stadium and will also be performing on

Thursday 28th June at the Walsall Town Hall at

the Catholic Schools Dance Festival.

During the second workshop they learnt a

performance piece that will be performed as part

of a mass finale of the Lawk Naach Project on

Saturday 30th June as the Olympic Torch relay

travels through Smethwick. The pupils have been

very dedicated and have thoroughly enjoyed the

projects!

Charity Walk for St. Giles...

On Tuesday 24th April the year 11 Foundation

Learning group took part in a sponsored walk along

6.75 miles of the Tissington Trail in the Peak

District. The pupils had taken part in the planning

process, deciding which part of the 13 mile trail

they should walk, the date for it, how we would get

there and back and the charity they would raise the

money for. St Giles Hospice was chosen as Jo

Walker from St Giles had been into school to talk to

the group as part of their Beliefs and Values short

course.

The group of 11 pupils raised just over £200 for St

Giles Hospice which was given to Jo Walker when

the pupils invited her back into school to present

her with a cheque.

Extra-Curricular News

Cooking...

The year 10s took on the challenge of

cooking a three course meal of their

choice, in line with the jubilee

festival. They had to produce a plan,

prepare it and serve it to 11 members

of staff and themselves, this

obviously took a lot of team work and

determination. I think it is safe to

call this event a success partly down

to the future 5 star chiefs! May we

also thank Mrs Majster for all her

hard work.

Carnegie Book Award 2012

Students from the school reading group have recently enjoyed taking part in

Carnegie Award Shadowing. The Carnegie is a prestigious book award, given

each year to the best novel written for young people the books for

themselves.

Over the past two months, we have met every week in the Learning Resource

Centre to talk about what we‟ve read. There were 8 books on this year‟s

shortlist with a wide range of different styles and settings from a Siberian

labour camp to a Latin American shanty town. Along the way we enjoyed

discovering new authors and talking about what we‟d read. We found we

were challenged, moved, sometimes surprised, but always entertained.

For our final meeting, we visited Aldridge School to join up with their

reading group. We talked about the books, and the students acted out key

scenes from the novels. Finally it was time for the moment of truth and the

winner of the Carnegie Award was announced as A Monster Calls by Patrick

Ness

Everyone who took part found shadowing the Carnegie a very enjoyable

experience and we can‟t wait to do it again next year!

Extra-Curricular News

Army Cadets by Aaron...

The first time I went to Cadets, I was scared

because I was nervous. I didn't know anyone

there then but after a few weeks I got to know

lots of people. I soon made some friends. I felt

so much better when I had made friends. When

I got there on my first night they showed me

around the detachment. Then when they had

showed me around there was a group of cadets

doing drill outside.

I loved marching in the Remembrance Day

Parade and felt very smart in my uniform,

especially when our troop marched past all

my family. There were lots of people

watching and marching. We marched behind

the Air Cadet's band and the music made it

easier to keep in step. There were other

people marching too. At the side were

veterans who had placed the wreaths in

front of the Memorial Cross in Aldridge.

Two of the Air Cadets and two of my Army

Cadets put wreaths there to. It was sad to

think of people who had been killed but we

felt proud of their sacrifice.

I had made a lot of friends at cadets and look forward to seeing them

each week. When we broke up for Christmas we had a fun night when

we played on x box, had snacks and listened to music.

Cadets are not just about having fun I have learnt how to do some first

aid. Bleeds, recovery position, CPR, breaks and how to treat people for

shock. This is lifesaving which could help me in everyday life and in

school. I have already passed my, „Two Star First Aid‟.

I have learnt how to use a map to find my way around so I don't get

lost. Sometimes I also need to use a compass as well as map. The

compass helps me to find the right direction. I know how to read grid

lines and can do a route card too.

I have enjoyed learning how to shoot at targets and I feel I my accuracy is now beginning to improve. I want to pass my 2 star shooting test soon.

Reviews

Girls book...

Summer‟s Dream by Cathy Cassidy

A summer read you won‟t want to put

down! The 3rd book in the Chocolate

Box Girls series is for those who have

ever dreamed big, want to dance and

push themselves to the limit. Or just

anyone who wants to achieve something

no matter how small that thing is. The

story is about the confident Summer,

who grabs an opportunity with both

hands to go to the ballet school of her

dreams. She pushes herself to the

limit every single day but what if her

dream turns into a nightmare or an

obsession?

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

The first book in the series,

Artemis Fowl is about a 12-year-

old criminal mastermind, who

kidnaps a fairy for ransom of

gold. Little does he know that

this fairy is like no other and is

the Captain of the LEPrecorn

Unit. What has he taken on a

twisted tale you won‟t want to

miss?

Boys book...

World Book Day: Thursday 1st March 2012

St Francis staff and students really got into the spirit of celebrating

World Book Day this year, with a programme of reading-related activities.

During morning registration, staff shared extracts from their favourite

books with their forms. They also wore badges championing their

favourite authors. Students were encouraged to spot these throughout

the day and to talk to their teachers about their choices.

At lunchtime the LRC was a hive of activity as students took part in a

„Guess who‟s coming to dinner‟ competition, using a series of clues to work

out which fictional guests were expected. Congratulations to Rebecca in

Year 7 who scored the most correct answers. Alongside this was the

opportunity show off artistic talents by designing a bookmark.

To encourage reading for pleasure, each student also claimed a £1 book

token which could be used in bookshops or for orders from our Scholastic

book catalogue.

Reviews

Album Review

Stereotypical by Rizzle Kicks. This

album is one of my favourites from the

year so far. It offers plenty of catchy

songs and funny lyrics which will please

lots of listeners. Although the genre of

this album is mainly rap, this British

group have a very distinctive sound and

don‟t follow your typical expectations of

rappers. This is what makes the group

so memorable and popular with younger

people. I would recommend

„Stereotypical‟ for everyone.

Gig review

On Sunday 11th February Wolverhampton‟s Wulfrun Hall hosted the one-day

festival Chazzstock. The line-up featured up-and-coming bands including The

Horrors and The Vaccines.

Despite the lack of grass, sun, wellies and fast food stalls, Chazzstock had

the same, if not better, atmosphere of a real summer festival. The doors

opening at 3.30pm and bands played to the growing crowd until 9.00pm, when

the excitement increased as the anticipation for the night‟s headliners rose.

The Horrors played an unforgettable set, amazed the crowd as they

performed their songs in silhouettes and ended their set on a high as the

crowd fell into a trance as they danced to the sounds of „Still Life.‟

The end of the day could not have been finished any other way as The

Vaccines played all of their hit songs to the excited crowd. The energy and

atmosphere was electric as they played their catchy songs and even played

some songs from their new album which is being released in September.

All in all, an energetic day with some incredible bands.

By Sophie, Year 9

School Noticeboard The next date for the newsletter is December 2012.

Can‟t wait until then for the next issue? Then, log

onto the VLE and School website for up-to-date

news before the next school newsletter.

Thank you to all students who contributed to the

newsletter. Special thanks to the St Francis

newsletter team: Year 7 - Helen, Sharday, Bronwen,

Alisha; Year 8 – Sophie, Bethany; Year 9 – Charlotte,

Sophie; Year 10 – Jess, Katie; Year 12 – Bethany.

Contact Miss Nolan at hnolan@stfrancis.cc

DATES FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR

4th September: Inset Day 1

21st September: Inset Day 2

19th October: School closes for half-term

29th October: School reopens.

21st December: School closes for Christmas holidays.

(Please see www.stfrancis.cc for details of the dates for returning Year

groups in September.)

MUSCIANS WANTED!

New date for St Francis has got Talent – Thursday 18th October

Spaces available for guitar, keyboard, violin, trumpet, flute and

clarinet lessons in September. Please sign up before summer though.

The very successful SFA choir will be looking to recruit new members

in September – see Miss Clensy if interested.