ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE NEWS Spring Term, Issue 8 22 March 2021 Dear Parents/Guardians, Thanks to everyone’s support we were able to put plans in place to enable a safe, sensible, and calm return for all students on Monday 8th March. It is great to have the students back – and they seem equally happy to be back also. We have all done our best to support learning through online lessons, however there is certainly no substitute than having them back in the classroom. The mass testing programme was also a success, and thankfully the first three school-based tests returned all negative results. These tests have now moved to home testing kits. With the summer exams cancelled, teachers of Year 11 and 13 are focusing on the Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs). As soon as definite guidance has been given by the exam boards, we will discuss with the students and their parents how we plan to proceed and ensure that our students are not negatively impacted by this pandemic and get the grades they deserve. The priority for the remaining year groups is to make up for any lost ground and it is therefore essential that the students fully engage with their learning. The true strength of our community has been evident over the last 12 months and as we, hopefully, begin on a path towards normality again I would like to thank everyone in our community for their support. By everyone playing their part I am confident that we will emerge stronger, more resilient, and more appreciative of the small things we previously took for granted. Best wishes, Mr E Connolly Headteacher Yr 9 Immunisations 24.3.21 DATES FOR Year 9 Exams 25—31 March YOUR DIARY Year 11 Parents Evening End of Term Remember to also check 30.3.21 31.3.21 the website regularly 1 SIXTH FORM NEWS Mark Evison Project Lt Mark Evison died in 2009 from a gunshot wound while serving as a British army officer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was attempting to get the platoon to safety following an ambush. The Mark Evison Foundation was set up in his memory, and his values and characters are a driving force within it. Mark chose to set himself many difficult challenges, always showing grit, resilience, kindness, innovation, integrity and team support. His story has inspired many Year 12 to get involved in the project the foundation supports. I have been blown away with the interest from Year 12 for this project having 13 groups apply for this – a total of 47 students from the year group. Year 12 have been creating and planning projects which are personally challenging. These range from camping in wild environments to walking to Cambridge and putting on a music ensemble for the year group. They have to present their projects this Thursday to the organisers to see if they will get accepted onto the scheme and be awarded £500 towards their personal project. Look out for the updates on whether they are successful. Miss K. Pearce Joint Head of 6th Form Year 12 Clive Stafford Smith Reprieve Talk Last Wednesday, we saw a great turnout for our talk with Clive Stafford Smith OBE, a lawyer who specialises in civil rights, specifically working against the death penalty in America and the founder of Reprieve. Reprieve US is a humanitarian non-profit organisation which has helped over 550 prisoners get off of the death row. In his talk, he highlighted the issue of generational cronyism raising the payment of Lord Drax an MP and his descendants, since his ancestor let go of his slaves, only ending in 2015 and the significant increase in university tuition fees in reaching up to £9,250 per year (undergraduate) since 2012, making debt a guarantee for those unable to cover the costs of their degree without loans. This talk focused the institutional classism that limits the population as a whole and hoped to inspire us to be responsible as we begin to vote in a few years and rise into key positions, changing the world around us. One of the attendees commented about the event: “It was good that CSS told people they have a right to be angry and should be passionate about their mandate being misused.” As you read this, I hope you will remember that the government exists for population as a whole and so that must include you. How do you feel? Do you feel something needs to change? Michael Adetona Year 12 Student 2 SIXTH FORM NEWS Target Oxbridge Year 12 have the opportunity to apply for an excellent programme to help black students gain places at Oxford and Cambridge University. It is an incredibly competitive programme for students who get the opportunity to take part in a tailored series of critical theory discussions, seminars, Oxbridge-style tutorials, visits to both universities and guest speaker events. Students also get advice on making the right subject choices as well as interviews practise for their application. Two students have been successful in their application to Target Oxbridge this year: Andre Johnson Ruben Gonzalez Rojas We hope they continue their success into Year 13 and get the opportunity to study a degree at a top university . Ms K. Bridges Deputy Head of 6th Form 3 SIXTH FORM NEWS Sixth Form Offers We are delighted to announce that our conditional offers for the Sixth Form have now been distributed. It was extremely difficult for the Sixth Form team due to the high standard of applications and consultations. After receiving 890 applications, we held consultations with 458 applicants (both external and internal). We have given out 96 conditional offers internally for 70 spaces, so Year 11 know that there is lots of work still to do to secure a place in our successful sixth form. We will be running lots of pre-enrolment activities including taster lessons, lectures and bridging work and we will be expecting high levels of engagement and enthusiasm from our future sixth formers. We are really looking forward to working with you all in September and have included the taster lessons for April below! Date Time Subject Taster Lesson 20/04/2021 16:00 A-Level Italian 21/04/2021 16:00 A-Level Spanish 22/04/2021 16:00 A-Level Chemistry 23/04/2021 16:00 A-Level RE 26/04/2021 16:00 Psychology 27/04/2021 16:00 Sociology 28/04/2021 16:00 A-Level French 29/04/2021 16:00 A Level Biology 30/04/2021 16:00 BTEC Business Ms C. Rodin and Ms K. Pearce Joint Heads of Sixth Form UCAS Offers Update Name Degree University Nihad Sharief Architecture University of Leeds University of Manchester University of Nottingham Kauthar Botchway Biomedical Sciences Queen Mary, University of London King's College London Imperial College Karis Kariuki Politics and Modern History University of Manchester University of Warwick University of Nottingham University of Cambridge 4 SIXTH FORM NEWS UCAS Offers Continued Temi Iyanda Sport and Exercise Science University of Birmingham Ryan Pereira Economics University of Birmingham University of Warwick University of Nottingham Elizabeth Ajibade Mathematics University of Birmingham University of Warwick University of Cambridge UCL Leah Busuulwa History and Politics University of Birmingham University of Nottingham University of Warwick Julia Motcho Law University of Exeter University of Nottingham University of Glasgow Tarela Jesse Economics University of Nottingham Loughborough University University of Birmingham University of Warwick Polly Au Modern Languages and Business University of Nottingham Royal Holloway, University of London University of Sheffield Sheffield Hallam University Joshua Omilabu Computer Science Loughborough University University of Bath Vincy Mbongo Sport and Exercise Science University of Brighton University of Surrey University of Portsmouth University of Derby Nottingham Trent University Amarie Phillips Chemistry Loughborough University King’s College London University of Warwick UCL Bomi Akarakiri Politics Coventry University University of Nottingham University of Manchester University of Warwick Rachael Ajagun English and History Canterbury Christ Church University Loughborough University University of Birmingham University of Nottingham Victor Alayande Psychology University of Liverpool University of East Anglia University of Lancaster University of Warwick Royal Holloway, University of London 5 SIXTH FORM NEWS UCAS Offers Continued Jean-Pierre Egenti Economics University of Manchester Loughborough University University of Kent University of Nottingham University of Birmingham Georgy Shine Physics Loughborough University University of Manchester University of Birmingham Imperial College London Kumba Kabba Sociology University of Bristol University of Kent University of Birmingham Aston University, Birmingham Grace Aladesuru Sociology Loughborough University University of Liverpool University of East Anglia University of Manchester University of Sheffield Quadri Akib Politics with Economics Loughborough University University of Birmingham University of Manchester University of Sheffield University of Warwick Jengo Edem-Hotah Law with Criminology University of Leicester University of Manchester University of Birmingham University of Nottingham Anastacia Otesanya Nursing King’s College, London University of Birmingham University of Surrey University of Southampton University of Manchester Kofi Oppong Financial Economics and University of Essex Accounting University of Derby Nottingham Trent University Birmingham City University Ben Lawson Biochemistry University of Westminster Kingston University University of East London Kieran Hibbert Geography Loughborough University University of Leeds University of Southampton University of Birmingham University of Warwick