St Gregory the Great Catholic School
Newsletter
Volume 9Issue 1722ndJanuary 2016
Tel: 01865 749933Fax: 01865 717314
Email:
@StGregsOxford
MISSION STATEMENT: “We walk in God’s ways where together we live, love, learn and celebrate”
School Prayer
This week is the week of prayer for Christian Unity. Our prayer is the blessing given by Bishop William Kenney at our Christian Unity service on Thursday. Pupils representing all year groups joined with clergy and ministers from the various Christian denominations in Oxford.
The Blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
who blesses the poor,
the meek,
the merciful,
the pure in heart,
the peacemakers,
the persecuted,
be upon you
and remain with you always.
Amen
School Awards
- Mrs Conway and Mrs Read nominate Isobelle Cansell and Olivia Bruno for an Award for a great help to them and also for being a good friend to anotherstudent.
- Mr Holton has nominated Judith Godfrey for an Award for getting 100% in her ‘Food and Digestion’ Exam.
- Dr Jakoby nominates Besnik Dauti, Shannon Ghee, Maryam Hamid, Euan Ingledew, Akisha Morris and Samina Samad (7IND) for their fantastic effort on the electron story they wrote for homework. Particular praise goes to Euan for fantastic storytelling and to Samina, Akisha and Shannon for explaining why electrons are a bit like donkeys! Well done. Next week: why muons are a bit like aardvarks.
- Well done to Ricola Hitchinson, Josephine Muigai, Elyse Thomas-Collaire, Esther Wanjiro, Joan Awana, Tizzy Russell-Cartwright and Natalie Mbugua who have successfully made it to round two in 'The Great Big Dance Off', taking place on the 7th March in Swindon. For round one they had to make a video entry to then be able to compete in the live rounds. Thank you also to Rebekah Noonan for creating a fantastic video of the dancers to secure their place in the live rounds.
- Mr Taggart would like to congratulate all the Level 2 BTEC Sixth Form students, who took part in a cake and hot chocolate sale as part of their Level 2 Extended Certificate. The students had to plan the sale from the beginning, deciding what to sell and for how much. They had to source all their own goods with a small budget and advertise the sale. The students made a profit of approximately £77 which they have donated to Helen and Douglas House in Oxford. The students involved were Nyah Atkinson, Sannie Babe, Cherie Ball, Katie Carter, Georgia Chambers, Joseph Gonzalez, Osama Idnan, Leon Kuka, Maddy Lubin-Shannon, Caitlin McDonagh, Wasif Naghman, Isaiah Samuels, George Spencer, Mya Uppell, and Chloe Woollard. Hot chocolate on a cold day – the kind of enterprise we like!
- After some very hard work, breakfast revision and improved effort and application, 11Z are at an impressive 83% on or above their Forecast grades in GCSE Law: On forecast grade: AJ Guterres, George Hastings, Sukesh Masih; One grade above Forecast: Jenny Abrunho, Tanisha Alam, James Arkell, Zeisha Rowlands; Two grads above forecast: Caelan Isaac and Joe Reilly; Three grades above forecast (yes, 3!): Amy Buckland. Well done one and all! You are doing yourselves really proud!
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Year 8 Parents Evening: 28th January 4pm-7pm (Main Hall)
Parents and carers of students in Year 8 are invited to meet their children’s subject teachers to discuss their progress so far this year. Snapshot reports will be available. This is an excellent way to support learning at school – don’t let your child miss out.
All Year 8 students should now have received an appointment sheet so please make sure your child is making appointments with their subject teachers.
Curriculum News
Doddle
This week we have launched, "Doddle", our fantastic new online teaching, homework and assessment resource. Students have received log in details and parents should have received a letter and information sheet. These details are also all available on the School website here:
We will also have a parent portal launch over the coming months so, watch this space!
More information will follow for parents of students in Years 7 and 8 as this will also be our platform for reporting on students’ progress across KS3.
Geography Interventions are back on Wednesdays 3.10-4.10pm. If you’re expected to attend you will already have been notified. If you would like to just pop along and do some revision then please just turn up.Coursework due in today (Friday 22/1) so make sure you have printed this out and handed it to your Geography teacher.
Geography A-A* interventions, Thursday 3.10-4.10. We look forward to seeing you!
Year 11 RE revision sessionsare on Mondays at 7.45am in RE4 and RE5 – Breakfast provided!
Sociology Revision in HU2 3:10-4:10 on Thursdays
Attendance is still compulsory to students who received letters home, but it has now been opened up to all students who wish to attend to prepare for the upcoming PPEs.
Oxford HA Lectures, 25th January 2016
Next Monday, the Mr. Skerry (the Oxford HA School Liaison Officer) will be taking a group of Year 12 students to the Historical Association lectures on the 17th Century at Magdalen College School on The Plain. The lectures start a 4.15pm and conclude at 5.30pm. The lecturers will be Dr Vivienne Larminie on 'Parliament, MPs and Political Culture, 1604-1660' and Dr Richard Blakemore on 'England's Trade and Colonies, 1603-1660'. The event is open to the general public, entrance costs a very affordable £2 and a warm welcome awaits all those interested in Stuart History. Come along and enjoy an intellectual early evening in Oxford.
Sixth Form Notices
Open Evening FeedbackIt was wonderful to speak to so many students, parents and carers on Tuesday evening. If you need to pick up a prospectus, course choice form or have any further questions please come to Sixth Form Area at break and speak to Mrs Shields our Sixth Form Administrator.
UCAS UpdateWith all applications now complete the waiting game for University offers begins. However with many of our students having completed their applications early we are pleased to report that already we have:
- 183 University offers (7 of which are unconditional)
- 13 Interviews offered
- 25 students who have received all their offers
Night of Entertainment
Monday 1st February sees year 10 BTEC Performing Arts coming together with Year 11 Expressive Arts for a night of entertainment. Both groups will be performing work they have devised themselves for their practical assessment. Please come to the Main Hall for a 7pm start and support our budding performers.
Spot Awards
Our spot award winners this week exemplified the ‘Aspire’ in LEARN when senior staff visited lessons: Zabid Ahmadzai, Yusuf Ali, Emma Anywar, Amy Baker, Reuben Barresi, Amy Buckland, Orkida Celosmani, Max Chesterman, Chloe Collier, Enya Dale, Sofia Dani, Sehaj Daudhar, Moin Dogar, Natasha El-Hosny, Doire Flanagan, Aliza Garewal, Robyn Garside, William Godfrey, Athina Herrera, Connor Hockin, Saahil Hussain, Cj Hutchinson, Ayesha Islam, Azharul Islam, Fahima Islam, Celia Jean-Pierre, Timmy Joyce, Priya Lal, Vania Lay, Michelle Liu, Stan Majewski, Chelsea McDonagh, Alex McDonald, Tadiwa Ndoyiwa, Corin Parker, Melissa Platt, Zane Porter, Hollie Powell, Zarin Rahman, Timothy Roberts, Milly ScraggGodfrey, Connah Sherman, Rajan Sidhu, Wiktoria Szawan, Ryan Thorbourne, Abigail Walton, Joseph White, Eunice Yeo, and Farah Zulfiqar.
Active Kids Vouchers
We are collecting Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers in our Primary school, so please collect them and leave them with Primary Reception.
Girls’ PE Leggings
The new PE leggings will be available to order online in the first week of February. These have been delayed as they are a new line for the supplier. After February half term, ALL students will be expected to be in their full PE kit; either the traditional tracksuit bottoms, the new leggings or navy shorts.
EAL Musical – Last call
It’s your last chance to get involved inA Long Way To Go- the musical written especially for EAL students, but open to all. There are lots of parts (speaking and non-speaking), and some really great songs.The performance will be in March, with rehearsals every Monday after school. Sign up now in EAL.
PTA Bingo 7.30 Tonight!
Don’t forget, our PTA Bingo night is tonight. Doors open at 7pm,
free entry and only £1 a book. Refreshments will also be on sale. Everyone welcome – it should be a great night!
And finally
The weather may be grotty but we’re still forging ahead, as you’ll have seen from Dr McCarthy’s letter last week. Students are making better progress, and attendance last week was better than any January in our history. What I can’t work out is why our healthiest, most robust students are the younger ones in years 7 and 8!
We’ll be focussing on year 10 and 11 attendance in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll be celebrating my eldest’s 21st on Sunday. Whatever you are doing, have a great weekend!
Dr R. Caseby
Vice Principal