Saint Bede’s Catholic High School

Newsletter - July 2020

Over the past weeks, our pupils have provided us

with many opportunities to celebrate their

successes, acts of kindness and impressive

achievements. This newsletter provides an

opportunity to share some news of what our pupils

have been doing as well as updating you on

important information and providing you with

helpful resources.

Inside this edition Page 1 & 2- Mr Grice

Page 2 - Staffing changes in school

Pages 3 - 5 - Celebrating Success showcasing our pupils’ talents, compassion and skills

Pages 6 & 7 - Opportunities to learn new

skills during lockdown

Prayer

Bless all members of our school community as we prepare for our summer holiday.

May our time together with our families and friends leave us with memories to cherish.

Pour out your love on us that we may return renewed and refreshed to continue our journey together.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen

I do hope that you and your families are keeping well. The last few weeks have been challenging for all of us in for many

different reasons and I am enormously grateful to all of our parents for the invaluable support, encouragement and guidance

you have provided for your children while balancing demands of work and looking after other family members.

I am also very grateful to all of our staff for their commitment and dedication in keeping in contact with pupils and providing

work to minimise the inevitable disruption to their learning caused by the pandemic.

The past few weeks have made us look at the way we work in school from a new perspective and the experience of educating

and supporting pupils during the closure of the school will prompt some worthwhile changes that will benefit all members of

the school community over the years ahead.

Online learning

Online learning has been a new challenge for staff and pupils alike and may need to be revisited should there be a second

outbreak of the virus. I am therefore extremely grateful for the invaluable feedback you have provided us with through your

responses to the questionnaire on the provision made during the lockdown as well as additional observations. In response to

your feedback, we implemented the following:

Provided you with a brief summary report on the work completed by your child during the temporary closure of the

school.

Provided a more detailed subject report that identified gaps in the knowledge for topics and areas studied during the

lockdown period. Resources were also identified to assist the pupils with the process of catching-up and plugging those

gaps over the weeks before the return to school in September. (See below)

Parents whose children have experienced significant difficulties with the remote learning are being contacted by

subject staff via Zoom meetings or ‘phone calls to provide guidance and support with the areas identified on the

subject report

In some cases, teaching staff have

completed the RAG rating before sending the

reports back to pupils. In others, pupils have

self-assessed their own RAG ratings before

sending their reports back to their teachers to

moderate if required. The resources are links

to useful online sites and other sources with

information and activities for the pupils to use

to plug gaps or consolidate their knowledge

and understanding of key topics over the

coming weeks.

Subject Report (example)

Mr Grice

Farewell and welcome

We are saying farewell to Miss McGinty who is retiring after leading the Modern Foreign Languages Department

with great skill, dedication and flair over several years. As well as maintaining a very impressive track record for

GCSE results and inspiring many pupils to continue to study a foreign language at university, Miss McGinty has been

a highly valued member of the Year 7 tutor team. We are also wishing a well-deserved retirement to Mr Hardman, a

very dedicated member of our housekeeping team. Miss Batty, a member of our Learning Support team who has

provided valuable support for individual pupils is also leaving Saint Bede’s. We are welcoming Mrs Hendy as the new

Subject Leader for Modern Foreign Languages who will be joined by Miss O’Donovan as an additional teacher of

French.

Keep safe, keep learning - preparing to return in September

At the time of writing, we are busy preparing for a full return of all our pupils to school in September providing that

there are no significant changes to infection rates with COVID-19 locally or nationally.

Our priority will be to ensure that we have done everything we possibly can to ensure that our pupils, their families,

our staff and members of the local community are kept as safe as possible. Following government guidelines, we

will be implementing ‘bubbles’ in which different groups of pupils will be kept as separate as possible from each

other; ensuring that guidance regarding hygiene e.g. handwashing routines is followed and that arrivals at school

together with breaks and lunchtimes are staggered whenever possible.

To aid the return to school we have altered the original published calendar to enable a staggered start for the new

academic year:

Also, please note : Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd October are both INSET days and the school will be closed to

pupils on these dates.

We are living in unprecedented times and I am enormously grateful for your invaluable support over the past few

weeks. The next school year will also present challenges for all of us as well as new opportunities to work together

in different ways as a school community. I hope that you and your families will be able to find some time for rest

and relaxation over the weeks ahead.

Tuesday 1st September INSET day. No pupils in school.

Wednesday 2nd September Year 7 and 11 pupils only

Thursday 3rd September All pupils

Mr Grice – continued

To enable us to respond to any local or national

changes that may need to be implemented as

a result of the pandemic over the weeks ahead,

I will be writing to parents two weeks ahead of

the return to school with detailed information

concerning the measures we are putting in

place.

Sam in Year 7 has been spending 10 minutes

every day during lockdown completing

sponsored walks on his treadmill supporting a

variety of charities. During June, he has been

busy raising funds for his local foodbank.

Year 10 Pupils Challenge Throwaway Culture

In a recent national competition set by the Columban Missionaries, Gabriela and Evie in Year 10 scored a double success with their entries that focused on challenging our throwaway culture and in particular, the catastrophic damage caused by single use plastic.

Evie produced a short video which earned her second place and Gabriela submitted an article entitle ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire – when trying to put out the disaster of deforestation, plastic only fueled the flames.’ which can be read here: https://columbans.co.uk/3085-2 This was awarded joint third place. See more here: https://www.columbancompetition.com/

Treadmill Challenge

Celebrating Success

Columban Missionaries’ Competition

Eggciting Online Competition For Easter, Mrs Malley organised an eggcellent

online competition in which pupils had to

decorate an Easter egg. There were some

eggceptional entries and the winner, Chloe in Year

8 was eggstatic to win a £10 voucher with her

highly topical entry.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Year 8 have been busy over the past few weeks completing projects based on Shakespeare, his life and

times for their online work in English. Here, Mackenzie offers her own outstanding comic strip

interpretation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Celebrating Success

Mackenzie - Year 8

The Silent Song ‘Long ago in the watery depths of the sea, a ripple broke the still of the surface and a flash of green flickered. There swam Syreni the lonely mermaid. In the distance the sound of the mermaid song echoed, but for Syreni there was no song. Unable to hear the other mermaids, she sang her songs in her freckled head. Syreni dreamed of being able to sing with her friends and make friends with the other mermaids. Oh! How she dreamed. One day Syreni was enjoying sitting in the sun. The sun bounced off her green tail, making her sandy yellow hair appear seaweed green. Staring lazily in to the distance she daydreamed. Then out of the corner of her eye Syreni saw a blue glow in the distance. Curious she swam over to investigate. She saw stones with ancient mermish carved onto them. Syreni translated them as "Go, go to the place of the silent song, there you shall find company." Puzzled, she picked up the pebble. It fitted snugly into the palm of her hand. "This could be important," she thought as she slipped the little rock into a seaweed pouch that hung from her neck...’ To find out why the pebble was important, read the rest of the enchanting story here: https://

www.ndcs.org.uk/information-and-support/parenting-and-family-life/family-blogs/the-silent-song/

Zach in Year 10 has been combining his love of

cooking with helping to keep his Biathle team mates

busy preparing healthy, tasty dishes through

providing online cookery demonstrations – Thai

green curry is a particular favourite! As well as

encouraging the team to all take turns teaching each

other to cook a savoury delight each week, he is busy

writing a cookery book.

Celebrating Success

Written by Eva in Year 7 for the National Deaf Children’s Society

Keeping The Team Fit & Fed

Time for Trivia To keep minds razor sharp, Mrs Boylan has been preparing quizzes based on the letters of the

alphabet. (The answers are printed towards the end of the newsletter). Remember, no conferring and

certainly no mobile ‘phones!

Mrs Boylan’s ‘Time for Trivia’ - all of the answers begin with A or B

1. Which A is the capital of UAE (United Arab Emirates)?

2. Which A is an American cartoon character has brothers called Simon and Theodore?

3. Which A is the official language of South Africa?

4. Which A is a singer who had hits with ‘One Last Time’, ‘Side to Side’ and ‘No Tears Left to Cry’?

5. Which A is the proper name for the white of an egg?

6. Which B is the fruit that was first introduced to British shops in April 1663?

7. Which B is the capital of Slovakia?

8. Which B is the English translation of the word ‘pain’ in French?

9. Which B is a simple brass musical instrument without valves that is used by the armed services to play pieces like the Last Post?

10. Which B is a creature that emerges from a chrysalis?

Developing Cooking Skills Many pupils will be helping busy parents with cooking at home during the lockdown and learning valuable skills for life in the process. Mrs James recommends some of the recipes in this booklet which can be completed within two hours: Miss Parsons’ Cookbook Some delicious recipes can also be found here: https://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school?fbclid=IwAR1_5pzrIxg24-d_4oZFnbqUjmmk2KmTYFkkUAUk_GUMj6PCg3auH1HonxI

e

Online Food Hygiene Courses

Many pupils will either work in a catering related

field or the hospitality industry, often as students

or on a part-time basis. Any pupils wishing to add

a highly respected qualification approved by City

and Guilds should look at this link: https://

www.virtual-college.co.uk/courses/food-and-

drink/level-2-catering?

chan-

nel=ppc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx7rTkfj26AIVAuDtC

h2QKwNxEAAYASABEgJn__D_BwE

It will help to open doors when you are being

interviewed.

Fantastic free fitness app

For pupils and parents who are looking for a change from Joe Wicks, Mrs Smith recommends the Down Dog app which is available free for pupils who sign on using their school email address: https://www.downdogapp.com/schools/instructions/stbedeslytham_lancs_sch_uk First Aid and Mental Health resources

The British Red Cross have been busy providing useful online resources for pupils.

https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/first-aid-and-kindness

Online Resources Budding builders and excellent engineers

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester MOSI are asking people to try 5 daily challenges for #MakefestAtHome. They look fun for all the family. Each day the challenge is different: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/makefest-at-home

‘I’ve finished all my work and I’m bored…’ BBC Bitesize

This may be a familiar refrain in houses across the country at the moment! BBC Bitesize is a great

resource for pupils wanting to deepen their knowledge and understanding of what they have been

learning in the online tasks we have been providing as well as providing opportunities to learn about

new skills, topics and subjects they haven’t studied before: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

Gain New Skills - Online Courses

Quiz Answers

1. Abu Dhabi 2. Alvin 3. Afrikaans 4. Ariana Grande 5. Albumen 6. Banana 7. Bratislava 8. Bread 9. Bugle 10. Butterfly

Selection process for our next Head Boy, Head Girl and their Deputies

Our Senior Prefect team who are always very ably led by a Head Boy, Head Girl and their

Deputies play an invaluable role in the life of our school. As well as being excellent role

models, they are great ambassadors for Saint Bede’s on many occasions during the year. By

now, we would normally have announced the successful candidates but we intend to hold

the interviews and voting process at the start of the new school year. We look forward to

introducing a very impressive team to our school community in September!