English Revision
Reminder to all Year 11 students.
English revision sessions after school on
Mondays 3.15-4.15pm
"St Thomas Aquinas Catholic School is an outstanding school" |
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OFSTED SEPTEMBER 2011 |
Open Evening 2012
The Best Ever!
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Letters & News
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Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Residential - May 2013 It was a great pleasure to accompany twenty six Year 9 students recently on the annual trip to Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Snowdonia. Our students enjoyed a wonderful week taking part in several exciting activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, orienteering, mountain walking and sea level traversing. In preparation for the trip students had to improve their fitness levels by taking part in regular workouts throughout the year. Ogwen cottage is a very special and unique place and the instructors take great pride in really challenging all students who attend the centre with demanding and thought provoking ... [Read more] |
Visit to Paul Olsen – 14 May 2013 On Tuesday 14 May, I had the privilege of visiting the first Headteacher of St Thomas Aquinas School, Mr Paul Olsen, at his home in Burnham-on-Sea. On arrival I was warmly welcomed by Paul and his wife Mary at their beautiful house on the seafront at Burnham. The day coincided with Paul's ninetieth birthday; he was in great spirits and was delighted with the card and colourful flower pots I presented to him on behalf of the school. Paul spoke affectionately about Aquinas from the beginning of the building of the school to the numerous students and their successes, the staff and ... [Read more] |
Carl Chinn Radio Show - 12 May 2013 On Sunday 12 May 2013, Mr Foley and I were invited onto the Carl Chinn's show on BBC Radio WM to talk about our School's Golden Jubilee Celebrations on 6 July 2013. It was a fantastic experience to visit the BBC Studios in the Mailbox and be interviewed live on air, although nerve racking as well! Many thanks to Carl for the opportunity and his warm welcome certainly easied my nerves. If you missed the show click on the link below to listen again (our interview starts around 1.30.00 into the show) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018hfln Mr IngramMarketing and Website Manager... [Read more] |
Halfords Graduate Workshop – 8 May 2013 On Wednesday 8th May, nine students and I took part in a workshop with Halfords Graduates. In the workshop we took part in a number of activities and overall we were taught how to boost our performance skills. The whole experience was to help us learn skills we could take into the future and we finished with a performance of Shakespeare with Sarah Doyle and Halfords members. I would like to say thank you to Mrs Cooke and Phil O'Connor for arranging the workshop. Pearse Duffy Year 12 Student  ... [Read more] |
Alton Castle 2013 Last week saw the annual Year 8 retreat to Alton Castle, set in the tranquil Staffordshire countryside. Over the course of three days students explored the theme of ‘Who Am I?' through a mix of daily prayer and reflection, and participation in a range of activities, including archery, trekking, climbing and mountain biking. It is always a privilege to take a step back from the hectic nature of school life and to appreciate more fully our faith and the gifts that God has given to each of us. On the Thursday evening students gathered in the lovely setting of St ... [Read more] |
Royal Shakespeare Company Trip - 1 May 2013 Â On Wednesday 1st May, eleven A Level Drama students accompanied by Miss Mortimer attended the evening performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It at The Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Â We are studying the "RomCom" as part of our A Level studies and watched the play intrigued by the staging, layout, lighting, music and performance. The performance included music composed specifically for the RSC production by Brit-Award winner Laura Marling. The notable performances were by Pippa Nixon (Rosalind) and Alex Waldmann (Orlando), and special mention must also go to Nicolas Tennant whose portrayal of the clown Touchstone was so engaging. Stratford-upon-Avon ... [Read more] |
Fisher House Mass - 29 April 2013 It was a real privilege to be present for Fisher House Mass on Monday morning and what a great way to start our week. We were really grateful to Fr Gary who stepped in to celebrate the Mass for us in the absence of Fr Jan who has been away this week. Fr Gary is well known to the former pupils of Our Lady and St Rose, Weoley Castle and St Peter's, Bartley Green but he was a new face to many of our students. However, they will all remember Fr Gary's homily which blended beautifully with the theme of ... [Read more] |
Bronze Duke Of Edinburgh Practice - April 2013 Last weekend 42 students from Year 9 took part in a practice expedition around Earlswood as part of their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. The weekend was an opportunity for students to learn and develop essential map reading and camp craft skills in preparation for the qualification expedition in June. Almost all students were successful in completing the weekend despite some setbacks along the way for a couple of groups, including a close encounter with, as Mr O'Sullivan would describe it, ‘at least 40 horses'. Over the two days students learnt about the importance of teamwork and leadership skills and ... [Read more] |
Citizens UK Founding Assembly - 25 April 2013 On Thursday 25 April 2013, fourteen of our older students from years 10 and 11 attended the founding assembly of Citizens UK Birmingham, committing to unlock the power of active citizenship within the city and working with local communities to bring about change on common social justice issues. Our students joined a number of other education, faith and community organisations to begin the summer listening campaign, whereby our students will identify what young people are most concerned about. They will then take these issues to a city assembly later this year to participate in a vote on choosing the four ... [Read more] |
Maths Challenge - 25 April 2013 The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Junior Maths Challenge took place on Thursday 25 April. Twenty pupils from amongst the most able mathematicians in Years 7 and 8 took park in this nationally recognized competition, run by the University of Leeds. St Thomas Aquinas has long been associated with this demanding activity, and has a proud history of success with many pupils gaining the highest level of certificates. Earlier this year the Intermediate Challenge took place open to Years 9, 10 and 11 which again resulted in a number of Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for St Thomas Aquinas students. Of particular ... [Read more] |
Northfield Youth Excellence Awards – 24 April 2013 On Wednesday night, myself and Amanda De Valliere attended the Northfield Youth Excellence Awards at the Factory Young People's Centre, accompanied by Mr Flood to represent our school. There were four students from our school nominated for awards and two nominations in the category for team of the year. I was nominated for the award for contribution to the community, Padraig Clarke was nominated the for Positive Change Award: Amanda De Valliere and Sam Hawkesford were nominated for the Inspirational Leadership Award. Myself, Amanda and Sam received the runners up prize in our categories and a special congratulations must go ... [Read more] |
MFL Primary Event – 24 April 2013 On Wednesday 24 April, we were delighted to welcome children from four of our feeder primary schools to St Thomas Aquinas School for a French role-play competition. The children had been planning and practising with their teachers for several weeks and they performed with confidence and style. Each group presented a role-play set in a café and the customers found plenty to complain about, from cold coffee to spiders on the table. In one play the customers were actually inspectors, much to the dismay of the poor waitress! We were really impressed with the complex language, careful pronunciation and acting skills ... [Read more] |
World Book Night - 23 April 2013 We celebrated World Book Night in style this week, when we gathered in the ARC on Tuesday evening. Over 40 parents and staff enjoyed tea, cake and celebrated all things books. We had the great pleasure of hearing Birmingham author Katharine D'Souza talk about her latest novel "Park Life" which is a wonderful read, and about her life as a writer. Jen Bakewell from the new Library of Birmingham gave us a 3D virtual tour of the new building and its amazing resources - it really does have something for everyone. Our own English staff also stepped up to read ... [Read more] |
Romero House Mass - 22 April 2013 On Monday 22 April, students in Romero House gathered in the Main Hall for their annual House Mass celebrated by School Chaplin Fr Jan Nowotnik. Head of House Mr Flood introduced the theme of the Mass ‘Courage' and how House Patron Oscar Romero lived a courageous life and continued to share his faith and speak out about the injustice and corruption in his home country, knowing it might ultimately cost him his life. In the opening procession students offered up reminders of the catholic faith, including the Bible, a candle to represent the light of Jesus shining on us all and written ... [Read more] |
Gold Duke of Edinburgh Practice - 19 April 2013 The practice expedition was a good opportunity for us to develop our walking and navigation skills before the qualification expedition in June. Over the weekend we learnt how to use a map and compass together to triangulate our position exactly, take bearings and how to find our way off the mountain when we can't see 10m in front of us. The weather held off for most of the weekend with brilliant blue skies and sunshine for us to walk in. This gave everybody very red faces by the evening. Throughout the day on Sunday we saw the clouds rolling in, but ... [Read more] |
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