St Benedict’s Newsletter

MACMILLAN CAKE SALE Students (and parents) baked, created and decorated batches

of tasty goodies to sell at our MacMillan Cake Sale last Friday. A week earlier than the

rest of the country, a group of Year 13 students sold cakes to students and staff at break

and lunchtime; they raised an amazing £180 for the charity. Our students organised the

sale as part of the CAS element of their IB Diploma. Thank you to everyone for your

support.

CONGRATULATIONS to Year 7 students Alex Fryer, Antonietta Barone, Dan Kilburn and Rian

Gisbourne, who on 18 September, received the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Mass was

led by the Very Reverend Bishop Byrne at St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Bidford.

Pictured right, our students with the Bishop and former student, Ella Ciotkowski who also

received the Sacrament.

ELEVATE To support transition into Key Stage 4, Year 10 attended a workshop called ‘Study Sense’, delivered

by Elevate on Monday 19 September. This ‘high impact’ and engaging session addressed studying and the

knowledge and skills students need for GCSEs to become successful and independent learners. The workshop

was found to be most useful by all students and staff present. The session will be consolidated by future work

in form time. Overall it was a fantastic start to Year 10’s journey.

THE RSC are holding their annual Fun Palace this Sunday, from 11am to 4pm at The Other Place

in Stratford. The event is free to attend and is a nationwide celebration of the arts and culture.

There will be the opportunity to take part in workshops, demonstrations and tours - tickets are

available on the day. For details and times of activities please see https://www.rsc.org.uk

YEAR 8 STUDENT Thomas Cosgriff attended The Guild of St Stephen's National Mass for Altar Servers at

Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 17 September to represent Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Redditch.

The Mass was led by Cardinal Vincent Nicholls. Thomas was lucky enough to have a front row seat, as from

nearly 1000 altar servers he was invited to read one of the bidding prayers!

JOIN IN WITH THE BIG KNIT! Innocent Smoothies are running a campaign this winter to

raise money for AGE UK to help keep older people warm and well. For every ‘little

smoothie bottle hat’ that is donated, Innocent will donate 25p to the charity. There will

be a ‘knitting club’ in Room 7 on Wednesdays to get everyone started and don’t worry if

you can’t knit as crocheting is absolutely fine. Patterns can be found at http://www.thebigknit.co.uk/

PASTORAL MATTERS The Pastoral Team welcomed Mrs Joanne Tarver as St Benedict’s

Pastoral Support Manager at the start of this term. Mrs Tarver has worked for the past year in

the PE Department and brings considerable experience to the role, having previously worked in

many schools including several years as a teacher and pastoral support in New Zealand.

Working alongside Mrs Boote Powell, Deacon Steve, Naomi and the Inclusion Team, Mrs Tarver

will be based in the Pastoral Office in School. Pictured left Mrs Tarver with Deacon Steve.

HARVEST MASS Our annual Family Mass for Harvest takes place on Tuesday 4 October at 5pm. You are most

warmly invited to attend and we especially look forward to welcoming our Year 7 families. We are encouraging

students to bring tinned and packaged food into school for their form’s Harvest Hamper which will then be

used to help local people in need. We thank you for your support in advance.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Mon 3 October Year 8 and 9 Parents’ meeting about new grading systems 6:00 – 6:30pm

Tues 4 October Year 9 vaccinations

Harvest Mass 5pm

Wed 12 October Year 11 Parents’ Evening to include information on new grading system 4.15-7.15pm

Issue No 2 Date Friday 30 September 2016

Sports Round-Up

We have had an amazing start to school sport at St Benedict's with over 275 students training or competing in the many sports on offer over the last week.

IN THE LAST WEEK:

Over 60 boys and girls from Years 7 to 11 competed in the South Warwickshire Cross Country Trials. St Benedict's had by far the biggest team in South Warwickshire and had more top 10, top 3 and winners than the other schools competing. Full results to follow.

YEAR 9 AND 10 NETBALL teams played against Studley High School resulting in a draw with both teams winning 1 match each.

YEAR 7 FOOTBALL 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams played against Alcester Academy 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams. The 1st team lost 3-2 with a last minute winner, however they showed a lot of promise and we are still to find our best team. The 2nd team won 2 matches and lost 1 and the 3rd team won 2 and lost 1.

OVER 40 STUDENTS took part in rugby training ahead of their matches against Alcester Grammar School and the Year 7 and 8 tournament.

OVER 40 STUDENTS from Years 7 to 11 took part in basketball and netball training.

GOOD LUCK to Year 10 Students Harry Castle and Matthew Turner who are part of the Warwickshire U15 County Football Team and have a match against the Coventry Schools Team next Wednesday.

Our Physical Education team are looking forward to an even better and more successful year of school sport. If you have not attended a club yet, please get involved - all students are welcome.

USEFUL CONTACTS Telephone: 01789 762888 Fax: 01789 400192

Emails: admin@st-benedicts.org pta@st-benedicts.org Send your news to: newsletter@st-benedicts.org

School Website: www.st-benedicts.org