| Friday Letter - Issue 21 |
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DEAR PARENTS  UNCONDITIONAL LOVE - A PRAYER FROM MEGAN SINCLAIR-BROWN Dear Lord, thank you for always being there when we need you. You never let us down with your unconditional love for us. Thank you too, for forgiving us when we have done wrong. Amen.  WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY MASS ON TUESDAY EVENING! It was a real pleasure to be present at our termly Family Mass on Tuesday evening. It was a poor night outside and attendance often drops in the Spring Term but those who were present were really glad they made the effort. Fr. Stefan led our celebration (the third of the week!) and there was excellent support from the choir and musicians. As always, it was a pleasure to welcome new families and some of our most loyal patrons too. A particular thank you to the Crowley family who were coming for the final time after many years now that Christy will be leaving Year 13 at the end of the year. As I said at the end, they came to pray a little bit for Christy, a little bit for the school and quite a lot for West Bromwich Albion who need them urgently at this time! A lovely evening - well done to everyone involved.  WELL DONE TO MORE HOUSE! Our week started very differently this Monday morning with a House Mass and, much as I enjoy their company, it was better than my regular meeting with Mrs Kelly and Mrs Williamson! The students were fantastic and generously thanked their tutors at the end as well as Mr Perry, their Assistant Headteacher and Mr Holmes their Link Governor. Above all, a huge thank you to Miss Kavanagh. It's hard to imagine that she has only been doing the job for half a term because she has made a great impact in a very short time. Well done More House!  AND TWO EXCELLENT VOLUNTARY MASSES TO REPORT Space did not allow me to tell you last week how fantastic our most senior students in Year 13 were in preparing their Voluntary Mass. There was a tremendous turnout and well done to our Year 13 tutors and their Head of Year, Miss Samuel in particular.  And this week it was a pleasure to join Teresa House (3b and 4b) for their Voluntary Mass supported by Miss Fletcher and Miss Stevens.  Once again, a terrific turnout - thank you!  GREAT NEWS - ARCHBISHOP BERNARD IS COMING! I am delighted to report that Archbishop Bernard will be our Guest of Honour at Governors' Awards Evening on Thursday 7 April. I know His Grace has been busy visiting lots of parishes but we will be one of the first schools he has joined for such an occasion. Fr. Stefan will be in best bib and tucker and I am sure that goes for all of us. Do make a note of the date in your diary.  LENTEN CHARITIES 2011 I am delighted (for the first time ever) to be able to announce our various Lenten charities before February half term! As you know, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 9 March so our fund raising will officially begin then but today's non uniform day will go to support the chosen charities. A big thank you to Mrs Bell who has worked with the Student Council from each House to choose their charity as follows:  John Paul House    Breast Cancer Research                   More House               Cancer Research UK Bosco House          Father Hudson's Society                   Fisher House              St Mary's Hospital in Uganda Martin House          Birmingham Children's Hospital       Teresa House             British Heart Foundation Romero House       RSPCA                                              Newman House         NSPCC   EXCELLENT YEAR 8 PARENTS' EVENING LAST THURSDAY I was delighted to note that attendance at last week's Year 8 Parents' Evening improved from 82% in Year 7 to 84% this year. There was a really good atmosphere throughout and it was a real pleasure to meet so many parents who were delighted with their children's progress. The evaluations were overwhelmingly positive but we have noted comments on how we could improve further. In particular, some parents were disappointed by the length of queues for certain teachers. Unfortunately, those staff who teach two or more groups are bound to be extremely busy. However, we are investigating a computerised appointment system. Watch this space.  VERY GOOD SPECIAL EVENING FOR YEAR 11 ON MONDAY A big thank you to Mrs Kelly who led an excellent evening for certain targeted students and their parents on Monday evening. We have 66 students (about a third of the year group) who need a special push to achieve that elusive A* or vital C grade in Maths, English, Science etc. We have very specific plans for this group and I am sure they will respond appropriately including during the half term break next week. Full report shortly.  PARENTS FORUM MINUTES - PLEASE CHECK THE WEBSITE The Parents' Forum which includes representatives from every year in the school are really keen to encourage as many parents as possible to get involved in their child's education and the life of the school generally. If you have not checked the website for a while please do so on www.stacs.org and you will see the latest minutes and the various plans the Parents Forum have for the future. As Headteacher, I find the group invaluable and I encourage as many of you as possible to join in. Thank you.  GOLDEN RULE 2 - HOW ARE WE DOING? This week all of the Heads of House have been reviewing our progress on Golden Rule 2 which is the need for every single student to arrive each day with a practical school bag containing all the right equipment including a pen, pencil and planner. After half term I shall be reporting on our findings. There is no doubt we have made progress but some students have still not got the message. Watch this space.  MOBILE PHONES - WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It hasn't been popular in all quarters but our drive to stop students using mobile phones during the school day has been an overwhelming success. Staff report that lessons are not interrupted anymore and lunch times and the corridors are free of all the issues that go with their use. To date over 200 mobiles have been confiscated and almost all of them returned at the end of the day. Heads of House are now checking the data and for a small minority of students who are not getting the message we will be contacting parents to let them know that if it happens again we will have to ask parents rather than their son or daughter to collect the phone. Hopefully, it will not come to that but just in case...  CLEANING VACANCY We have a vacancy to join our team of Cleaners. It would be for 13 3/4 hours per week.  If you would like further details please contact Sharon Wilkie on 0121 464 9060.  YEARS 7, 8 AND 9 AQUINAS LONG BALL COMPETITION - REPORT FROM MR HOUSTON Our Spring Term sports house competition for Years 7, 8 and 9 took place this Wednesday. The students participated in our popular game of "Aquinas Long Ball". Well done to all the competitors and supporters who were excellent throughout. The next round of house matches for Years 10,11 and 12 will take place on Wednesday 30 March and there's a rumour that Year 13 are looking to take on the staff! Watch this space.  1st More    100 points          2nd John Paul 80 points      3rd Teresa 70 points        4th Bosco 60 points 5th Romero  50 points          6th Newman   40 points      7th Martin  30 points        8th Fisher 20 points  SPORTS RESULTS Football 14/2/11        Boys               Year 11          Beat                Turves Green            BYE               CUP 15/2/11        Boys               Year 11          Beat                Arden                         5-0                  CUP 15/2/11        Boys               Year 7            Lost                Arden                         3-2 Basketball 15/2/11        Boys               Year 7            Lost                Yardleys                     44-16              LEAGUE          LAST WEEK'S QUIZ QUESTION Congratulations to Idris Ahmed (NE EBA 1A) who correctly informed us that the capital city of Egypt is Cairo where, hopefully, the people can now look forward to a better future. Well done Idris who wins £5.   THIS WEEK'S QUIZ QUESTION On Tuesday after half term it will be 1st March which is St David's Day. Of which country is St David the Patron Saint? A clue - ask Mr Richards!  GOOD LUCK TO THE SKIING PARTY Tonight at 6.00pm the Skiing Party were setting off for Austria. Good luck to them. Full report shortly.  Yours sincerely  JIM FOLEY |