DEAR PARENTS

 

A BLESSING FROM WALK WITH ME

Lord God, As the world prepares for the celebration of Christ's birth, help us to remember that He is born in our lives each day.  Bless our awareness of the awe and wonder of these days, of your majesty raising our lowliness.  Amen.

 

WHAT A WONDERFUL EVENING ON WEDNESDAY

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Evening of Readings and Carols on Wednesday.  There was a fantastic turnout and no wonder because it was a very special occasion.  Whilst the quality of singing and musicianship would have graced any concert it was wonderful that everyone present heeded Mrs Kelly's appeal that it should be an evening for spiritual reflection appropriate to the occasion.  At the end there was the opportunity for applause and my goodness it was expressed loud and clear.  Well done to all our students who were there in huge numbers from the Sixth Form to Year 7 and they all sang their hearts out.  As always a huge thank you to the staff involved, many of them behind the scenes.  But, of course, a special thank you to those directly involved - our Lay Chaplain, Anne-Marie; Mrs Bentley and Miss Stimpson who worked with Year 7 in particular; Mr Weekes who has contributed so much to the musical life of our school; to the Music Service and the four colleagues who were present; to the staff choir who were fantastic, as always; to Mr Richard Smith, our new head of RE who has made a huge impact in such a short time; and finally, to Ms Mary Cutler, Head of Performing Arts who led it all so brilliantly.  A truly memorable evening and the perfect preparation for Christmas.  Well done everyone.

 

MR DAVID BRYANT RIP

We continue to pray for the repose of David's soul and think of his daughter, Mrs Sharon Williamson, our Business Manager and the whole family at this sad time.  David's funeral takes place next Thursday 22 December.  May he rest in peace.

 

FATHER MICHAEL KNIGHT RIP

We were greatly saddened to hear of the death of Fr Michael Knight who was Chair of Governors at St Thomas Aquinas for many years.   More recently he was Chair of Governors at St Edmund Campion School, Erdington and he will be sadly missed by many people.  May he rest in peace,.

 

MRS MARY GRANTHAM RIP

I did not know Mary but I have heard a great deal about her this week.  I received a lovely letter from her daughter, Gill Bridgman recounting Mary's days as Head Cook at St Thomas Aquinas from the first day in 1963 until 1980. It is clear she was a fantastic character and lots of people have emailed their memories of Mary who died last week aged 91.  Her funeral takes place today and we pray for the repose of her soul and think of Gill and the whole family at this sad time.  May she rest in peace.

 

WHOLE SCHOOL MASS TODAY

As you know, we were gathering for our traditional Whole School Mass this morning celebrated by Fr Stefan.  It will be a wonderful celebration and at the end we were hoping to make two important presentations.  The first was to the special charity we focused on for the Autumn Raffle, REACH which does wonderful work with young people who are homeless.  And then we were planning to make a very special presentation to one of our students who has been nominated by the police and all local secondary schools as someone who is an inspiration.  I hardly need to tell you that I am referring to Billie Jayne Fulford who is facing immense challenges in her young life.  Billie Jayne is not at all well at the moment so if she is not able to come to school it will be presented to her during the holiday.  What a girl! Full report shortly.

 

DIOCESAN INSPECTION REPORT - DID YOU GET YOUR COPY?

Hopefully, you received your copy of the Diocesan Inspection Report which we issued to all students yesterday.  As you will have seen, it is a glowing tribute to the work of the Religious Education Faculty in particular and the Catholic Life of the school in general.  I congratulate Mr Smith and his team on a splendid achievement and to everyone else involved.  Two Outstanding verdicts in one term - it doesn't get much better

than that.

THANK YOU TO THOSE STAFF LEAVING TODAY

Mr Haydn Rees

Mr Rees joined St Thomas Aquinas in 2001 and has taught Business ever since.  It seems appropriate that he is leaving to pursue business opportunities elsewhere

Mrs Di Clarke

Di has done a sterling job in the Manion Centre since joining us in 2008.  We wish her a long and happy retirement.

Mrs Marie Chandra (Hayes)

Former student Marie has done a great job as a Faculty Assistant since 2008 and leaves to devote more time to her family.

Mrs Judith Rowley

Judith formally leaves today.  Judith, again a former student of our school, has made the remarkable decision to spend more time with baby Martha than with me as my PA.  She was fantastic in the role and will be much missed.

Thank you to Haydn, Di, Marie and Judith for their loyal and dedicated service to our school. 

 

AND GOOD LUCK TO ANDREA

Today we say goodbye temporarily to Mrs Andrea Baker from the Science Faculty who goes on maternity leave prior to the new arrival in the new year.  We wish Andrea, Jeremy and Imogen every happiness.

 

AND LIKEWISE TO MISS CHILD

We wish Miss Child, Art Teacher and Faculty Assistant every happiness when she marries Martin during the holiday.

 

LETTER ON OUTER COATS - A CLARIFICATION

Hopefully, all parents received a copy of my letter regarding outer coats in January.  A number have been in touch regarding a clarification and I do apologise for the omission from Tuesday's letter.  As before, plain navy blue outer coats are completely acceptable and students who wear them should have no concerns in January.  Other than that we do intend to ensure all students comply with the rigorous dress code in the new year.  i.e. everyone must wear a plain black or navy blue outer coat.  Thank you.

 

WELL DONE TO THE WINNERS OF THE YEAR 8 ENGLISH & CHRISTMAS CARD  COMPETITIONS

Space does not permit me to give you the details.  See www.stacs.org for more.   Full report shortly.               

                                                        

SPORTS RESULTS

U14 FOOTBALL - GIRLS

U16 FOOTBALL - GIRLS

NETBALL RESULTS - GIRLS

BASKETBALL - BOYS

 

 

WELL DONE REECE ON A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT

Congratulations to Reece Chapman Carry who has been selected for the elite Midlands rugby union squad which is a brilliant achievement.  Well done Reece.

 

LAST WEEK'S QUIZ QUESTION

Congratulations to Finn O'Ryan of Year 8 (Romero 2A) who correctly informed us that it was Indian batsman Virender Sehwag who recently broke the one day batting record with an innings of 219.  Well done Finn who wins £10.

 

Yours sincerely

 

JIM FOLEY