For the Second Week of Advent an English Carol from the 16Th Century

St Gregory the Great Catholic School Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 12 6th December 2013

Tel: 01865 749933 Fax: 01865 717314 Email: [email protected] www.stgregory.oxon.sch.uk @StGregsOxford

MISSION STATEMENT: “We walk in God’s ways where together we live, love, learn and celebrate”

Prayer For the Second week of Advent an English Carol from the 16th Century.

A voyce from heven to erth shal com: “Venite ad iudicium.” This voyce both sharp and also shryll Shal be herd from heven to hell; All mydle erthe it shall fulfyll: “Venite ad iudicium.” “Venite” is a blyssed song For them that for joye dooth longe And shall forsake paynes strong: “Venite ad iudicium.” Glad in hert may they be When Chryst sayeth, “Venite; Ye blessed chyldren, come to me, Into vitam eternam.

Introduction Dr Caseby is at the SSAT Conference in Manchester today so I thought I’d take the chance to revisit my newsletter! I hope you enjoy.

School Award 1 A special award to class 7b/En2 who have just completed 'Skellig' by David Almond, their second class novel since September! We were all absolutely spellbound by this story about a visiting angel/creature and the effect love can have on all our lives. The class take it in turns to read out loud and we have enjoyed some fantastic readings from Melanie Crowder, Charlie Coulthard, Anton Turk and Rida Kamran. Our next read is 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief', a tale with an exciting modern twist on the Greek myths and legends - we're really looking forward to getting our teeth into it in January.

I’m currently reading ‘Why do I jump?” by Naoki Higashida, David Mitchell and Keiko Yoshida. It’s written by a 13 year old autistic Japanese boy and gives his perspective on autism. A truly humbling and challenging book. Have you heard the one about A Police Commissioner, a Magistrate and an OBE go into a Law Class ... Mr. Skerry's 10Z and AS Law classes were treated to a special lecture about Magistrates on Monday morning. The three civil honours above were encompassed in just one man, Robert Derricott OBE JP. Travelling all the way from Newport, Gwent to speak to our students, he was impressed by the energetic atmosphere in the school and the very thoughtful questions posed by the 10Z students. Sharing memories of his time on the Bench, Mr Derricott amazed students with a tale of a man who escaped Court by leaping over him and out of the Magistrates' entry (he was captured on the street outside the Court House) and an occasion when a 3-day case's final witness was a neighbour of the JP so the case had to be retried. Many thanks to Mrs Kallay for arranging Mr Derricott's visit.

Year 11 Parent Survey There was a 70% turnout for the year 11 Parents' Evening last week. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the questionnaire. It is good to know that the vast majority of parents and carers say that their child feels safe (99%), is making good progress (96%), is well looked after (98%) and is taught well (93%). It is a concern, however, that over a third of respondents say their children's lessons are sometimes disrupted by poor behaviour. This underlines the need for us to press on with our approach to the minority of students who interrupt the learning of others.

School Lunch Payments Since September we have seen a large increase in the amount of students using Gregory’s restaurant each day and there has been some recent confusion about the system for topping up accounts and the amounts required. A main meal costs £2, a sandwich £1.50, hot snacks between £1.10 & £2.00 and drinks between 40p & 75p. Each account is limited to a spend of £3.50 per day (which can be adjusted for individuals if required). There are two options for topping up: 1) The easiest, fastest and preferred way to top up is online at www.parentmail2.co.uk. You will need a code to access the account for the first time, please contact the main office at [email protected] if you do not have one. You can add funds to your child’s account at any time throughout the week and it will be available for them to spend within 1 hour. NB: If you ever experience trouble accessing your ParentMail account, please email [email protected] or call 0844 356 0003.

2) If you do not have internet access at home, your child can bring cash to the school office on a Monday morning from 8am. Please put the money in an envelope with the amount and your child’s name written on the front, this will then be added to their account before lunchtime on that same day.

U13 Girls Football County Cup Just a quick note to wish the U13 girls’ team good luck for next week when they take on Cheney school in the semi-final of the county cup - fingers crossed we'll see the girls make it to the final!

Trip to Lille The MFL department's festive trip to the beautiful city of Lille is nearly upon us! Miss Delannoy, who hails from the city itself, has prepared a wonderful walking tour for us, taking in some of the famous sights and Euralille (one of Europe's biggest shopping centres)!

If your son/daughter is participating in this trip then please note that the final deposit of £25 is now due. Please hand this in at reception in an envelope clearly marked with your child's name.

Also, please ensure your child is in possession of a valid NHS-issued EHIC card. Contact Ms Rappak if there are any issues with this.

Rome Pilgrimage Festive Celebration A reminder that on Wednesday 18th December from 6.30pm, an evening of excellent entertainment by the staff and students of St Gregory’s will be followed by a Rome Pilgrimage fundraising auction complete with festive drinks and nibbles! Entry is on £3 minimum donation (or £5 for two). Tickets are available from Rome Pilgrims staff or students. Auction items include: Cases of Wine, Christmas Gift items, Designer Gear, Dinner for two and much more! Plus Christmas cake and card sale, stocking fillers and music, all with plenty of festive magic! Guys and Dolls Last Thursday Mr Nicholls took some of his tutees from F13 to watch 'Guys and Dolls' at the Oxford High School for Girls. One of our very own, Harry Pudwell, a member of F13 was starring as Nathan Detroit, one of the leading roles. The Show was fantastic with rave reviews of Harry's performance by everyone, including all the local papers.

The Pupils that attended really enjoyed it and also said how it was great to see one of their fellow tutees following his dream in theatre. Definitely one to watch for the future! Well Done Harry!

Many moons ago I appeared in a school production as Big Jule – can’t imagine why I got the part!

School Award 2 Congratulations to Mrs Akeh's 7A2 French class, who each did an excellent oral presentation about themselves in French, even though they have only been learning the language since September. They then went on to produce an identity poster, giving lots of details about themselves.

News from the Computing and ICT Dept – ‘Hour of Code’ All KS3 students will be participating in this national event during their ICT lessons next week. This is as part of a campaign devised to encourage at least 10 million students to try computer science for one hour. Celebrating Computer Science Education Week, the campaign is called 'Hour of Code' and offers a one hour introduction to computer science for all ages. Our thanks to Mr Andrews, Mr Lockley and Ms Said for their support with planning this event. Computing is already part of the curriculum at KS3 and 4 at St Gregory's.

School Award 3 Lillie Boyce, Ruth Lewin-Leigh, Abu Bakr Banaras, Orkida Celosmani, Lati Dedia, Tommy Holmes, Stan Majewski, Carlos Montini, and Esther Wanjiru from 8a2 German for their excellent work during the German breakfast: fantastic contributions in German requesting food and giving their opinions about it, without forgetting their (German) Ps and Qs!

Emma Anywar, Josh Baker, Hannah Brown, Natalia Janicka, Ellie Horne, Lewis King, Liam Masih, Mark Suraj, Jordan Thompson, and George Whipp from 9b3 German for great work on using the past tense to describe what they did at the weekend.

Connah Sherman in 7a4 French for an outstanding first week in French!

PSA Parents Association A small number of the PSA met with me last week to discuss future engagement and links with parents. I need to do some ‘new’ thinking to make sure we engage with a much wider community. Watch out for news in the New Year. How does the notion of an ‘International Cuisine’ event sound as a starter?

Age Uk Appeal We have a long standing relationship with Age UK and would like to help with a pre-Christmas appeal. Do you have any unwanted clothing or books which could be recycled in the Age UK outlets? If so drop the items off at school – the main office and I’ll organise collection. Last year 26,000 older people died because of cold equating to about 200 people in Oxford. A shocking statistic. I know I’ve got some clothes that I’ll never use again! A great chance to have a pre-Christmas clear out.

The second part of our engagement with Age UK is to feature in a major national project with international composers and artists on the theme of loneliness amongst young and old. It promises to be amazing.

Parents Evening and Concert 12th December Sixth Form Subject Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.45pm Followed by 12th December Christmas Carol Concert 6.00pm – 7.30pm Our Concert features 4 of our DBMAC Primary School Choirs plus our own for a lovely evening of reading and traditional hymn. It’s always a special event. Go on make an effort to come along.

Oxford Interview I’ve been delighted with the attitude and approach to life of our Sixth Form this term. For many the UCAS offers are starting to arrive. Congratulations to Sara Elkirate who has an interview at Oxford University to look forward to. We have six Oxbridge applications this year plus some very strong Medicine applicants. Terrific.

Masters Level Congratulations to Mrs Rappak and Miss West who have both recently passed their Masters level qualification with Oxford and Cambridge. Fantastic. Trivia news – we’re still looking for the return of Miss West’s special mug. There is an amnesty and reward. It is a white mug with a globe, volcano and weather clouds on it and means the world to her! Can you help?

Mandarin Chinese lessons after school for one week only! Would you like to pick up some basics of this beautiful and fascinating language, taught by our visiting Chinese students and teachers?

The following sessions are running next week in LA2, open to ALL students AND staff:

Monday: 3:10pm - 3:30pm - Write Your Name in Chinese

Wednesday: 2:45pm - 3:30pm - Greetings and introductions

Friday: 3:10pm - 3:30pm - Numbers

We hope to see you there!

再见

Chinese Visitors: 9th - 13th December We are delighted to be welcoming a group of 30 Chinese students aged between 13 and 15 and their 7 teachers from Beijing . Our new International Student Ambassadors will be buddied up with two Chinese students each and will have the opportunity to teach them English, learn Mandarin Chinese, bring their Chinese buddies to their timetabled lessons and take part in a final intercultural collaborative project.

Thank you to our International Ambassadors Dara Austin, Sannie Babe, Josh Bonney, Pawel Burda, Siobhan Cahill, Alex Cattermole, Richelle Espinosa, Prashant Gurung, Katie Heppell, Aadil Hussain, Robbie MacKinnon, Benji Masih, Tara Mulcahy-Murray, Max Oliver, Jahan Swaine, and Tomas Zhang.

If you would be interested in taking part in the school’s many forthcoming international projects around the world, as well as being involved in welcoming students visiting us from our partner schools abroad, then please see Ms Rappak!

And Finally

There’s little else to add to the tributes from all around the world following the death of Nelson Mandela. For my part his story as unfolded in “The Long Walk to Freedom” is one of the most powerful influences on my life. It’s the book that I’ve given away most to students over the years in the hope that they will be moved to action.

I’ve forgiven Dr Caseby for his misspelling of Brummie. If you’re visiting the German market tomorrow I hope you have a great time. Go and have a look at the new Library – it’s amazing.

I’m going to be there for the second part of a photography course learning all about focal length, f numbers and iso. A whole new language.

Best wishes

Mr J J Hussey Executive Principal