2015-February College News - St Augustine`s Catholic College

College
February 2015
N ews
From the Head Teacher
Once again we have enjoyed a very busy time at St Augustine’s with students involved in Young Musician,
Ten Tors training and selection, Duke of Edinburgh events, Jazz evening, Dance shows, Year 8 STEM day,
Business competitions, Geography Field Trip to Cornwall, Sporting events, Young Voice of Trowbridge,
Model United Nations, BOOM, Warhorse puppet workshop and of course the three residential trips during
half term – the Pilgrimage to Rome, the History trip to New York and the Art trip to Florence. I am grateful
to the staff and helpers who ensure that our students are able to access such a varied range of enrichment
activities.
This month we undertook a quality assurance exercise in the sixth form. The focus was on student learning
and over 60 lessons were visited during the course of the week. During the exercise we were joined by an
Assistant Principal from St Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School, Swindon, and our School Improvement
Advisor (and OFSTED Lead Inspector). In addition to visiting lessons we completed an Ofsted style student
voice exercise and interviewed Mrs Large, Head of Sixth Form. Six of our Middle Leaders, paired with
members of the Senior Leadership Team, were also involved in the Learning Walks. This week supported
our robust self-evaluation process and Ofsted preparation. As with all reviews the outcomes will be shared
with the governing body.
Ash Wednesday fell during the half term break and so we were not able to come together as a community
to mark the start of our Lenten journey together. We are however working hard with the students and I am
grateful to Mrs Wheat for preparing a series of beautiful reflections that can be used in tutor time. In
addition to this we are focussing on trying to live with generosity this Lent and students have been challenged
in their tutor groups to complete forty generous actions in order that as a community we will pray more,
fast from negative actions and give support and care to those around us. Alongside our forty small actions
we are hoping to complete five large community actions and hope that everyone in the community will feel
able to take part in at least one large action and that, as a community, our generosity will mark our journey
of faith towards Easter.
Joe Alsop
Head Teacher
Golden Book Nominees for January
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Daisy Braidley (7B), for competing in the
Under 15’s British Nationals for Judo and
earning the title of West of England
Champion.
Rachel Brown (8B), for completing 25
challenges in order to achieve her Bronze
Aspire Challenge Award.
Kathryn Parkes (9F), for being one of
three students across the British Ballet
Organisation to be awarded a modern jazz
dance scholarship.
Year 10
Caitlin Wynne (10F), for representing
Dorset and Wiltshire Wing Air
Cadets at the South West regional
cross country competition, coming 12 th
overall.
Year 11
Chloe Tucker (11C), and Ana Wilson
(11C), for achieving a distinction in
the London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Arts Grade 6 Musical Theatre
exam.
Congratulations
Ruth Chester (Yr 13) and Katharine Farrell (Yr 13)
for completing the Bath Half Marathon and raising £200
for charity. Well done.
Henryk Jakubowski-Birch (Yr 7) has achieved Royal
Yachting Award, level 4, and is now a fully qualified
yachting instructor. Well done.
Edward Nightingale (Yr 8) who successfully
completed the Waterside A kayak race that was held
on the canal from Great Bedwyn to Newbury. This is a
13.5 miles long and includes 21 portages (running with
your boat around a lock). Well done.
Jake Le’Maire (Yr 11) who has recently been elected
to represent West Wiltshire at the UK Youth Parliament
and to also represent the youth of Wiltshire within the
Wiltshire Assembly of Youth. These are great
achievements. Well done.
Thanks must go to Steve Lloyd, chef at Trowbridge
College, who has worked with Jessica on the finer points
of catering.
Jessica will now go on to the Regional round at
Minehead West Somerset College on 14th March .
SW Region Irish Exiles Trials
Lewis Saliba, Adam Gordon, (11T), and Austin Reid,
(10F), attended trials for South West region Irish Exiles
recently at Filton in Bristol on 28th February. Lewis and
Adam were selected to play for the SW Region Inter
Regional Championships.
A Quiet Place to Study
The Library is open after school as a quiet study space
for students to do homework, revise, and read for
pleasure. The Library as well as over 10,000 books
has 28 computers for students to use for school work.
It is open Monday – Thursday 8.30 until 5 and Friday
until 4.30.
Young Chef Competition
Jessica Groves, (11C), competed in the District round
of the Rotary International Young Chef of the Year 2015
competition on Saturday, 7th February in Bridgwater.
She previously won the school cook-off then went on
to win the Club round at Trowbridge College in July.
It was a very high standard of entries and a close call
between the top five but she won with her menu of a
risotto starter, a main of chicken stuffed with pesto and
a lemon tart for dessert which was described as
technically flawless!
Poetry by Heart
Vincent Ling (10c), was outstanding at the Poetry by
Heart county final on Friday evening.
He achieved runner up in a very competitive field.
Schools involved were Godolphin, Stonehenge,
Dauntsey and Hardenhuish and all contestants were
significantly older than Vincent.
The judges were very complimentary of his expression
and said it was a very close run thing between him and
first place. He was presented with a prize for coming
second.
Year 8 Geography STEM Day
Throughout the autumn term our Year 8 students have
been studying the topic of ‘Risky Places.’ On Wednesday
17th December the Geography Department- invited by
a Royal Engineering STEM ambassador - took part in a
project entitled; ‘How do engineers save lives in the
aftermath of a natural disaster?’
The students embraced this opportunity and used it to
explore the importance of geography, maths,
technology, science and the role of engineering in the
real world.
The day was collapsed and the students were involved
in a series of workshops where the activities are all
centred on problems faced by survivors of natural
disasters and the ways in which engineers/geographers
save lives by solving these problems.
First the students had to consider what kinds of
problems face survivors after a natural disaster and what
engineers might do to help.
They then had a number of challenges to solve,
including:
Short term problems: How many people could you
accommodate overnight in the sports hall?
Mid-term problems: How many people could you provide
temporary shelter/water and toilets for on the school
sports field?
Longer term challenges: How can engineers improve
building design to withstand hazards for example an
earthquake? Students had to design their building using
cocktail sticks and marshmallows and then test this on
the ‘jelly shaker ’ to see if it would withstand an
earthquake!
The day was a great success and was achieved through
the enthusiasm and high levels of commitment shown
by our students. Well done.
If you want to find out more about where geography
can take you – please visit The Royal Geographical
Society website: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/
Study+Geography/Going+places+with+geography.htm
Business & Skills Enterprise
Competition
held at the Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park in London, having qualified at the South West
Regional Semi Final at Millfield back in October.
Twelve of our AS Economics & Business students
recently attended the regional heats of the Business &
Skills Enterprise competition, organised by the ICEAW.
As in previous years, the task involved working in teams
to absorb a huge amount of data about a business, then
develop and present a business strategy for it. The
standard of competition was the highest we have yet
seen in five years of attending this competition.
Although our students did not make it through to the
national final this year, it was an enjoyable experience
and enlightened many about the opportunities available
to school-leavers and university-leavers in the
accounting profession.
In a separate project, five employees from the
graduate trainee program at Danone in Trowbridge
have been working with a Year 12 Economics &
Business class as part of the Danone Challenge. This
challenges students to develop a concept for a healthy
new product. The winning team, Q, comprising W, X, Y
and Z were invited to present their pitch at Danone’s
Head office in London where they competed against
three other schools with which Danone have been
working.
British Schools Championships
Annual Dragons Den Challenge
Edward Austin (10T), James Gordon (7T) and Aidan
Wynne (7F) are representing St Augustine’s at the
British Schools National Biathlon Championships being
Year 10 students have been spending this term busily
working towards the College’s annual Dragons Den
Challenge, now in its sixth year. Closely fought semi-
Danone Challenge
finals have been taking place this week [final week of
Term 4] and the best four teams (A, B, C and D) will
now go forward to the Final in the first week back after
Easter. We look forward to announcing the winner in
our next newsletter.
Wiltshire Schools’ Athletics
Association
Five students: Henry Dixon, John Howorth, Robert
Howorth, Rory Howorth and Jonah Veakins, have
been selected to represent Wiltshire at the ESAA English
School’ National Cross Country Championships which
will take place at Witton Country Park, Blackburn,
Lancashire, on Saturday, 14th March.
Waterside A Kayak Race
Edward Nightingale (Yr 8) successfully completed the
Waterside A kayak race on Sunday. This is a very difficult
race that runs on the canal from Great Bedwyn to
Newbury. It is 13.5 miles long and includes 21 portages.
Due to the icy conditions on Sunday it also involved a
run of a mile (with his boat) around ice on the canal
just outside Newbury, after paddling for over 2 hours.
He came 21st/23rd in his class (junior K1). He also put
in a faster time than some of the junior and senior K2
squads! A massive achievement for someone so young.
BSO at Bristol
It’s not every evening that you get to meet Superman,
but on Friday 27 th February a group of 96 students
attended a concert given by the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra of film music based on the theme
of Superheroes at a packed Colston Hall in Bristol. It
was such a memorable evening and for those students
who were experiencing an orchestral concert for the
very first time, incredible!
Thank you to Mr O’Mahony for organising the trip with
the support of Mrs Medland, Mrs Parsons, Miss
Downes, Mrs Willis, Mrs McMurray, Mrs O’Mahony,
Mrs Alsop and Mr and Mrs Cash.
The following students attended the concert: Rebecca
Addley, Jacob Alsop, Flynn Ancrum, Matthew
Barnard, Oliver Barrett, Theo Beaver, Sophie
Beer, George Brace, Adam Bridgwater, Jack
Brotherton, Sophie Brown, Benedict Bryan, Ruth
Chester, Huw Cheston, Samuel Cobb, Samuel
Connor, Annabel Cooper, Daisy Craddock, Lucy
Crofts, Finnian Cross, Lily Cummings, Megan
D’Inverno, Niamh Day, Alfie Duggleby, Niall Ellis,
Daniel Farrow, Ivo Ferreira, Kimberley Fowler,
Eden Francis, Esther Frawley, Noah Gatland, Eloise
Goodman, James Gordon, Catherine Gurr, Lorren
Harvey, Charis Heaven, Oliver Heaven, Cameron
Hickey, Amelie Higgins, Ciara Higgins, Timothy
Hill, John Horsfall, Abigail Hunt, Andrew Hunt,
Rachael Ibbetson, Joseph Inman, Harry
Jakubowski-Birch, Adam Jarvis, Aine Jarvis,
Kazimir Jeggo, Roan Jeffery, Jordan Johnstone,
Nicolas Kaczmarek, Isobel Kammeyer, Clover
Kayne, Willow Kayne, Andrzej Korczynski, James
Krige, Harriet Lemay-Lamb, Vincent Ling, Zackary
Llewellyn, Lillian Loraine-Smith, Emma Louca,
Yasmin Mahey, Karla Mawby, Lydia Mawby, Nicole
Micheli, Luke Morris, James O’Donnell, Francis
O’Mahony, Imogen O’Mahony, Joseph O’Neill,
Tierney O’Neill, Stephanie Parsons, Adam Roberts,
Joshua Rogers, Arkadiusz Rudnik, Conor Slater,
Hannah Stamp, Courtney-Ann Stanton, Hannah
Stanton, William Starkey, Fergal Tinnion,
Anna Townhill, Joshua Tye, Joseph Westley,
Chloe Whitehead, Eirian Williams, Eve Williams,
Austin Wood, Caitlin Wykes and Caitlin Wynne.
Matilda Alsop and Charlotte Henley also joined us
from St John’s.
St Augustine’s Catholic College
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
March 2015
4th
ASPIRE Trip to All England Badminton
Championships
5th
Celebration of Cultures and Languages
Evening
6th
College Photographer
7th
CYMFed Flame 2
10th
Yr 12 Drama Practical
11th
Reconciliation Service
Moderation of A Level PE
WW Gymnastics
Revision Evening
12th
Reconciliation Service
DoE Bronze Day Walk
16th
American Universities Evening
17th
Yr 10 Creative Writing Workshop (TBC
18th
Yr 10 Vaccinations
PE GCSE Moderation
Young Musician Final
19th
Science Fair
AS Theatre Studies Moderation
20th-22nd Ten Tors
24th-25th GCSE Dance exam
25th
WW Trampolining
Dance Show
26th-28th Battlefields Tour 2015
27th
End of Term 4
April 2015
13th
Term 5 commences
Wingfield Road
9EN
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Trowbridge
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Wiltshire
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BA14