SCHOOL Chronicle 2011 / 2012 2
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1 THE JOHN HENRY NEWMAN SCHOOL CHRONICLE 2011 / 2012 2 www.johnhenrynewman.herts.sch.uk 2011 / 2012 Head Boy Headmaster Head Girl Danny Simpson Mr Mathew Kate Anderson COR AD LOQUITURCOR www.johnhenrynewman.herts.sch.uk 4 The John Henry Newman School Chronicle 5 Dear pupils, staff and parents, he Academic Year 2011-12 proved to be one of the most significant in the life of The John Henry Newman School. The School achieved Academy Status in MarchT 2012 whilst a new Headteacher, Mr Clive Mathew, was appointed to take over from Mr Michael Kelly, retiring after 19 years of Headship. Academy Status presents the school with greater and musical production of Grease, the great freedom and opportunity. We already are ben- number of school trips, home and abroad, the efitting from more equitable funding of our remarkable sporting traditions and success, the pupils and students – though still considerably charitable contributions to KISS, HCPT, The less than other secondary schools in the area. Passage and other worthwhile causes, the Justice This has enabled us to modernise areas of the and Peace and Chaplaincy Teams. The more I try school which are important to our pupils and to capture the rich and vibrant life of the school, students; high quality toilets, new computing the more I realise the impossibility of the task. facilities, new outdoor covered play area, new Hopefully, the remainder of this Publication will science laboratory and improvements to hard fill in the gaps! and soft furnishings around the school. The disappointment of losing approximately £20m The John Henry Newman School is a remarkable of capital investment by having the BSF project community; the most recent Ofsted inspection cancelled just before sign off (and after five years reaffirmed its ‘outstanding’ status. We have of hard preparatory work) required a strategic again witnessed outstanding public examination change of direction to enable the school to access results. For me, the really outstanding aspect of alternative funds. The £0.5m grant recently the school lies in the community – loving, caring received for new roofing is an example of this and supportive parents, wonderful children and but we also hope to save monies from revenue committed, caring and talented staff who all income to enable new teaching blocks to be built come together to do God’s work and in doing so in the coming years. have created the most vibrant, positive and joyous community , confident in itself and confident At the same time, Academy Status has strength- in its future. We celebrate 25 years of The John ened Catholic education by enabling the Diocese Henry Newman School in this new academic to create the Westminster Diocese Academy year in a very good place for the next 25 years Trust. This is likely to be the biggest Academy and fortunate to be led into our next phase of Trust in England and Wales and should afford development by our wonderful new Headteacher, Catholic education a strong voice and strong Mr Mathew. future. We are pleased to witness many of our feeder primary schools joining the Trust. As for me, I feel so fortunate to have been part of The John Henry Newman At the same time, Academy Status does not School; 2011-12 will be a very special and will not change the priorities of The John year for me – a part of my life which I Henry Newman School community; we remain have loved so much is no longer there. child centred and want to make every decision informed by our single priority and our Mission With love and good wishes, Statement. It has been a joy to see our school community flourish and to see this reflected in Yours sincerely, Mr Kelly. so many ways – the vibrant musical life of the school, the wonderful dramatic performances 6 The John Henry Newman School Chronicle SEPTEMBER 2011 Spiritual Life of the School isitors to the school frequently comment on just how special our community is. Undoubtedly, Va large part of what makes our school such a remarkable place to be is the collective desire to live out our school mission; to be a living, Christian experi- ence. With that in mind, it’s great to look One of the key roles of the chaplaincy teams is to find ways of living out their faith in a practical back over the past academic year and way and sharing it with others. The 6th form notice a wealth of events, initiatives C Team took time to develop a Lent reflection an relationships which have all helped which they then shared with Year 7 form groups. to make that vision a reality. The Year 9 C Team looked at ways of serving the local community and spent a morning helping Last year was a year of big occasions in the children in St Thomas More primary school. Catholic Life of the school. From the first ever One of the most popular ways of putting faith Feast Day of Blessed John Henry Newman, to a into action was to raise awareness and funds for memorial Mass for the late Father Joe, through to our school charities. Last year, chaplaincy teams a string of celebrations to mark the final school worked together with other student leaders from week of Year 11, the moving on of Year 13 and across the school to organise a host of events for the retirement of our head teacher, Mr. Kelly; the Shoebox Appeal, The Passage, HCPT and each occasion brought something new to the KISS. You can also read later on in The Chronicle community and each brought with it a profound about the work that has been done by the Justice sense of purpose and of belonging. The final and Peace group who returned from a trip to the Mass of the school year was a fittingly joyful Holy Land in February. celebration of all that had come before it – and a prayer for all that is to come. As well as being action packed, last year also saw the quietly determined growth of chap- laincy within the school. Chaplaincy teams, or ‘C Teams’, were formed in each year group with the dual intention of enabling students to make a greater contribution to the spiritual life of the school while also enabling them to explore their own faith and spirituality. Beginning with a team of 5 students in Year 13, we closed the year with in excess of 70 pupils and students from across the school actively involved in chaplaincy. The John Henry Newman School Chronicle 7 The spiritual life of the school permeates every aspect of our community and every moment of our school day. It is something which is alive, which is constantly developing and which is an enormous privilege to witness and be part of. We have recently set up a Chaplaincy Blog on the school website for you to keep up to date with all that is going on. If you would like to find out more about joining the C Team, speak to Kate Batterbury or your Learning Coordinator. 8 The John Henry Newman School Chronicle SEPTEMBER 2011 Geography Farm Trip In September 2011 the whole of Year 9 had the opportunity to spend an activity packed day at the Lee Valley Park Farms, near Waltham Abbey. During the visit pupils spent half a day on a guided tour of Holyfield Hall Farm, a commercial dairy farm, in order to support their studies of agriculture. As well as the chance to see the farm in action, the group also spent a couple of hours negotiating a tricky orienteering course in the beautiful countryside of the Lee Valley Park. In this practical and highly enjoyable task many pupils demonstrated the map skills they had learnt in Year 7. The winning group received medals and we won’t mention the group that were last seen holding the map upside down. The John Henry Newman School Chronicle 9 Biology Field Trip 10 The John Henry Newman School Chronicle tour of the UK. The show opened at the begin- Drama Workshop ning of October in the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and has already received five star reviews, so we are hugely looking forward to taking our 6th The Drama Department were delighted Form students as an excellent follow up to the to welcome Frantic Assembly practitioner workshop and a demonstration of the power and Krista Vuori to work with our Year 12 magic of this style of performance. and 13 Drama and Theatre Studies students on 16th September 2011. Frantic Assembly creates ‘thrilling, energetic and unforgettable’ theatre. The company attracts new During the four-hour workshop, the students and young audiences with work that reflects were introduced to inspiring and fascinating contemporary culture. Vivid and dynamic, Frantic exercises as starting points for devising Assembly’s unique physical style combines compelling physical theatre. The students movement, design, music and text. Scott Graham participated with enthusiasm and energy, and Steven Hoggett formed Frantic Assembly remarking afterwards that the workshop had in 1994. Scott and Steven have since performed helped to fire their imaginations and open their in or directed all of the company’s work. They eyes to new ways of approaching the devising seek to collaborate on original ideas with today’s process. This is already supporting the Unit 3 most exciting artists. Frantic Assembly has work for Year 13, who are introducing techniques toured widely throughout the UK, building its they learned from Krista to their exam pieces, reputation as one of the country’s most exciting which will be performed in November.