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• Thursday 19 June 2025 STACS to Peru To say that this was the trip of a lifetime is certainly an understatement! When fourteen students and two staff member set off on May 30th for Urubamba in Peru's Sacred Valley we had no idea how much of an impact it would have on our lives. After the weekend to acclimatise to the altitude, our students planned and led workshops at local schools each morning, and gained cultural experiences each afternoon. Their workshops included teaching basic English, learning body parts, colours and all about personal hygiene. We supported a programme to equip girls with period products, painted a mural to encourage organic foods, healthy eating and the use of a vegetable garden, and played all sorts of sports and games with the children. In return we were greeted with 'Mucho gusto' and smiles, hugs and 'Muchas Gracias!' for our time and efforts. We learned how to throw pottery in a Peruvian Ceramics workshop, how to bake healthy treats using authentic Peruvian ingredients, saw parades and dances i
• Friday 13 June 2025 Sports Results - Week Beginning 9th June On Tuesday I took our fantastic Tennis team to go and help run the LTA youth school competition for the local primary schools. Our students were umpires and coaches throughout the day and were fantastic role models. The competition ran so smoothly that it finished ahead of schedule, which allowed them to play some of their own matches to finish the day. A huge well done to them all and a big thank you from Kings Norton Tennis Club and the primaries that attended.
• Friday 13 June 2025 Peru 2025 - Update Its been a busy week in Peru for staff and students. The weekend was spent in Machu Pichu seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World and having a bit of downtime before getting back to work. This week students have been busy again painting murals, attending Afro-Peruvian dance classes, leading workshops with local students, learning how to cook Peruvian style cookies. There has been some downtime where students visited a hummingbird sanctuary and had an evening of reflection making smores around a fire.
• Friday 13 June 2025 Year 13 Leavers Mass and BBQ - June 2025 Our Year 13 Leavers’ Mass and BBQ was a truly joyful occasion, bringing together students, staff, and families to celebrate the end of a remarkable journey. After a demanding term of revision and final exams, it was a chance to pause, reflect, and give thanks.
• Wednesday 11 June 2025 Year 13 Leavers' Mass and BBQ Our Year 13 Leavers’ Mass and BBQ was a truly joyful occasion, bringing together students, staff, and families to celebrate the end of a remarkable journey. After a demanding term of revision and final exams, it was a chance to pause, reflect, and give thanks.
• Tuesday 10 June 2025 Houses of Parliament Trip - June 2025 What an incredible day at the Houses of Parliament today as campaign champions for 'Send my friend' to school. We started by taking a stunt photo opposite Big Ben. We had a tour of the Houses of Parliament by MP Bambos Charalambous including the amazing chapel. We had an open discussion with Baroness Chapmen, the Minister for Development and challenged her to increase the budget for education globally.
• Friday 6 June 2025 School Production 2025 Update – ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’
• Friday 6 June 2025 Peru - June 2025 Year 12 students are having a great time in Peru, and in just a short few days, have learned so much, and met so many amazing people, working hard for a fairer world.
• Sunday 25 May 2025 Lourdes - May 2025 Opening Mass and our first shift in the evening watching the Torchlight Procession with the pilgrims.
• Friday 23 May 2025 Laurence Turner, MP visit On Friday May 23rd, we had an important visitor in school; Mr Laurence Turner, MP for Northfield. Mr Turner met with members of the student council, and also with students promoting our School of Sanctuary, and the Send My Friend to School project, in which students are raising awareness about educational inequality across the globe. Mr Turner also answered our questions on some of the challenges faced by young people and their families today, such as teacher shortages, climate change, knife crime, school budgets, child poverty, access to educational resources and Special Educational Needs. Our students spoke so eloquently and Mr Turner gave them lots to think about and even advice on how to get involved in politics. A huge 'thank you' to Laurence Turner for taking the time to visit STACS, we look forward to welcoming you again in the near future.
• Friday 23 May 2025 School Production 2025 Auditions – ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat There has been a lot of excitement about our next School Production and it has been lovely to see students showing such a keen interest. For those students and parents new to the school, we staged ‘Matilda’ in 2024 and I am pleased to announce that our 2025 School Production will be: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’.
• Friday 23 May 2025 Vocations Mass at St Dunstan’s On Wednesday a group of students went to St Dunstan’s for a beautiful Mass led by Canon Gary Buckby. Fr Toby encouraged the students to be open to the vocation God is calling us to be.
• Monday 19 May 2025 Sports Results - Week Beginning 19th May Last Friday 9 of our female footballers were invited to take part in an FA Discover My Talent event, the first of its kind in the West Midlands and hopefully the start of something wonderful.
• Friday 2 May 2025 Year 11 Celebration Mass and Guard of Honour
• Thursday 1 May 2025 Alton Castle - May 2025 We arrived on Wednesday for an action packed 3 day retreat. We started off by making our way down to the discovery centre to have a welcoming assembly. After, everyone was assigned to groups. Group Pugin did a 200 kilometre bike ride down to a waterfall and back. After that was lunch, afternoon prayers and activities then night drinks. Bed time was at 9:30pm (but we didn’t sleep until midnight on the first night!).
• Thursday 1 May 2025 Carlo Acutis Centre On Thursday morning we had a wonderful celebration to formally name our SEND hub The Carlo Acutis Centre. We were delighted to be joined by Bishop David for the special occasion. The centre staff planned a beautiful prayer service and lots of our students who use the centre regularly were involved. We are so happy that the centre is now named after a saint of our time and we look forward to living out his message of love and faith.
• Monday 28 April 2025 Health & Social Care Results Congratulations to our Health & Social Care students who have received final results this week - with very respectable grades of, to provide them with the maximum UCAS points to support them in their next steps. Well done to our future Nurses, Teachers and Radiographers. We are so proud of you all.
• Friday 11 April 2025 Paris Trip 2025 It was such a pleasure to take 48 wonderful students from Year 10 to Paris at the start of the Easter holidays. We travelled overnight by coach but were soon enjoying the warm sunshine and beautiful grounds at the PGL centre, the Château de Grande Romaine. The students rose to every challenge, climbing the 700 steps of the Eiffel Tower, speaking French as they did the town trail and bravely trying the snails at dinner time, not to mention the scariest rides at Disneyland! It wouldn’t have been possible without a great team of staff who were constantly making sure that our students were safe and enjoying themselves, so a huge thank you to Mrs Devlin, Mrs Stait, Mrs Hughes, Mr Bowen and Mr Vidaurri.
• Friday 11 April 2025 Easter Mass and House Cup - Apr 25 It was a joy to prepare for our whole-school Mass at the end of the spring term. Over the past few weeks, our school choir has been diligently learning worship songs, showcasing the talents of our many gifted singers and musicians. Their dedication truly shone through in the beautiful music they prepared for the occasion.
• Thursday 10 April 2025 ‘Macbeth’ at the Globe Theatre Just before the Easter holidays, a group of our year 10 students had the incredible opportunity to see ‘Macbeth’, one of their GCSE Literature texts, at the Globe Theatre in London. Built in the 1990s, the new Globe Theatre is a replica of the original where many of Shakespeare’s plays – including ‘Macbeth’ – were first performed, giving students a wonderful insight into the experience of a Jacobean audience. Thankfully, the sun was shining as we sat in the upper gallery of the open-air theatre! The 90-minute performance was specifically designed for school students and included dynamic dancing, music and acrobatics, as well as moments of encouraged audience participation, reflecting the more lively, raucous nature of theatre in Shakespeare’s time. The students thoroughly enjoyed the performance (many finishing the actors’ lines along with them!) and afterwards some even got the chance to speak to
• Wednesday 9 April 2025 Year 12 Trip to Birmingham University On Wednesday 9th April, our year 12 sports scientists went to the University of Birmingham to have a taster of University life. On the trip they were able to explore their sporting vocation and expand their knowledge on sports nutrition, physiotherapy, and physiology. A great day out!
• Saturday 5 April 2025 Lourdes Training Day On Saturday 5th April, students and staff gathered together with schools from across the Diocese for our annual Lourdes training day. Students participated in health and safety, wheelchair training, basic life support, movement and handling, hydration and nutrition and beds and cleaning sessions throughout the day. Our students were exceptional ambassadors for our school and participated enthusiastically. We are very excited for our pilgrimage in 7 weeks time and a big thank you to staff, students, Our Lady and St. Chad's for hosting the day, and the Birmingham Lourdes Hospitalite Team for preparing the day.
• Friday 4 April 2025 School Council visit to the Houses of Parliament Last Friday, 30 students who are members of the school council or involved in Student Leadership visited the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. After a brief visit to the Abbey, and a walk around Parliament Square, we received a guided tour of the two Houses of Parliament, and heard about the functions and roles of the Lords and Commons. Our tour guide gave us plenty of factual information, as well as an occasional 'fun fact', including the chandelier in the central foyer being made in Birmingham! Later on, we had a workshop on petitions and a Q&A with Baroness Hamwee, a member of the House of Lords. A huge 'Thank you' to Mrs Bentley for arranging such a unique opportunity, to Mr Foley for supporting, and to the students who were exceptional. Thanks also to Kadyn (Y12) for the photos, and to Alf, who has summarised the visit below better than I can!
• Thursday 3 April 2025 Lenten Charity Day in aid of Cancer Research UK On Thursday we spent the day having fun and raising money for Cancer Research UK. We had cake sales, craft sales, a sponsored walk, an egg and spoon race and loads of other fun activities. So far we have raised over £2000.
• Saturday 29 March 2025 Born For This Performance On Saturday, 5 of our students performed in Jo Boyce’s ‘Born For This’ with 50 students from Birmingham Diocese, together with The Kenelm Youth Trust. Chelsea played the part of Jesus.
• Thursday 27 March 2025 Year 11 Public Speaking Competition On last Thursday evening Delicia in year 11 went to Newman University to take part in a public speaking competition. Well done for speaking in front of all those people.
• Tuesday 25 March 2025 Year 11 Aspirations Evening It was so lovely to welcome so many year 11 students and their families into school this week to celebrate their achievements. Well done to everyone that received an award.
• Friday 21 March 2025 Lumen Christi Baton Relay On Friday we welcomed the final leg of the Lumen Christi Baton Relay. Students ran between each of our Lumen Christi schools finishing at STACS. On arrival at STACS they were greeted with flags and banners. The runners enjoyed a well deserved ice cream for their efforts. Well done to all the schools involved.
• Saturday 15 March 2025 Flame London On Saturday a large group of staff and students went down to Wembley for the annual Flame event. Flame is the largest Catholic youth event in England and Wales. Filled with inspiring speakers, incredible live music, prayer, adoration.
• Friday 14 March 2025 Houses of Parliament Trip An amazing experience for our Year 9 students, Cali and Elora, who represented our school for the launch of the 'Send my friend to school' campaign' They visited The Houses of Parliament, met politicians, Ade the former Paralympian basketball player and speakers from Cafod all who are passionate about education both nationally and globally.
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