“Aspire not to have more but to be more” Oscar Romero

Outstanding behaviour & outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural education (Ofsted May 2013) Christmas Newsletter 2018

Entertaining the Shoppers at Morrisons with Christmas Cheer Some Spring Term Events St Thomas More at 60 Mon 7th January 2019 School re-opens for pupils Next year will see St Thomas More Catholic School Mon 14th January—New Year Mass celebrate 60 years. This is true, although in theory Week beginning 14th January Year 9 Exam Week St Thomas More Catholic School no longer exists. As Tues 22nd Jan—Year 11 Full Report home you know, since September this year we became a Thurs 24th Jan—Targeted Year 11 Parents’ Evening convertor Academy. That meant that on the 31st Friday 25th Non-Uniform Day for Briars Hardship Fund August 2018, St Thomas More Catholic School Friday 25th—Year 8 Liturgy led by 8C closed and a new school—St Thomas More Volun- Monday 28th Jan Year 11 Liturgy tary Catholic Academy was opened. I hope that the Saturday 2nd Feb—Ski Trip departs majority of parents, pupils and staff did not notice Wed 6th Feb—Year 9 Core Subjects any difference, but for our little school, it is hoped Thursday 7th Feb—Senior Maths Challenge that this change will give us even greater security in Mon 11th Feb charity DrugFam talks to all year groups an ever changing world. Wed 13th Feb—Year 9 Options Parents’ Evening On the 14th October this year, Bishop Oscar Fri 15th Feb—School Closes for Half-term Romero was canonized: he is now St Oscar Romero. Monday 18th Feb to Friday 22nd Feb—Half-term It was he who said “Aspire not to have more but to Mon 25th Feb—Year 11 Mock 2 Week be more”. This is particularly poignant at this time Saturday 2nd March—Flame Youth Event at Wembley of year and in the current divided political climate. Monday 4th March Year 11 Photographs At a joyful time of year when we give and receive Tues 5th March—Year 11 trip to Manchester University presents and share time with those we love, I chal- Wednesday 6th March—Ash Wednesday Service lenge the pupils this Christmas to think of those for Mon 11th March—Year 10 Exam Week whom Christmas is not such a happy time; to think Wed 13th March—Year 11 Mock Results Morning of things they can do to make someone in this situ- Mon 18th to Fri 22nd Mar—Science/RE trip to Iona ation smile, love and feel loved. Please remember Tue 19th March—Year 7 Full Report home your neighbours this Christmas and offer them a Friday 22nd March—Year 7 Liturgy led by 7C kind word or smile. There is no better feeling than Week beg 27th March—Targeted Yr 11 Parents’ Eve that of putting a smile on someone’s face—a gift Friday 29th March—Year 8 Liturgy led by 8F that is within all of us. Thursday 4th April—Year 9 Interim Reports home With ski trips, Iona trip, getting ready for the Ice- Friday 5th April—Year 9 Liturgy led by 9F land trip and the prospect of a possible China trip, Fri 5th to Sun 7th April—D of E Practice Expedition there is much to look forward to for 2019 and to Tues 9th April —Manchester Acting Co—Macbeth hopefully put smiles of the faces of pupils. I would Tues 9th April—Year 8 Parents Evening like to thank all the pupils and parents, along with Thur 11th April—Year 10 Interim Report home the staff, governors and Friends of St Thomas More Friday 12th April—Mass celebrated by Bishop Patrick for all that you do to support us. It just remains for Fri 12th April—School Closes for Easter me to wish you all a very happy and fruitful Christ- For more dates and events including dates of parents’ evenings, please visit our website mas and I look forward to working with you all in (Please note—dates subject to change) 2019. Here’s to the next 60 years! God Bless. Mr H Briars 2018

On Monday the 12th of November 2018, we departed from school at half past one. After a gruelling two-hour coach ride, we ar- rived at the bowling alley in Ilkeston (where Mr Bowler grew up). 48 Year 9 pupils bowled for an hour or two before we left Ilkes- ton. We arrived at the Briars at around 5 o’clock, where we were welcomed by the team. We were shown to our rooms and shortly after we were put into different groups. We decided our group names such as the Pur- ple Potatoes, the FBI, the Dengineers, the Meese and the Nutty Guys. Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious dinner of burger and chips followed by cake. We partook in various challenges such as dressing up as superheroes. The next day we awoke from our slumber to find a nutritious breakfast waiting for us. We all had a fantastic time and would recommend it to everyone.

Mastering the Art of Maths In October, eight of our intrepid Y11 students attended a maths problem-solving morning at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Ashbourne. Divided into two teams, they developed their prob- lem-solving skills (a big part of GCSE) by solving a maths mystery and then by making interlocking cubes that were self-supporting. Both teams did really well and had a great time.

Awards Evening 2018

Congratulations to all the students who received their GCSE certificates and awards for all their hard work over the last year. Awards were presented by Doug Jones, former Whitehall Outdoor Education Principal and then Head of Outdoor Education for Bedfordshire. Doug gave a truly inspirational speech to the leaders of the future. Lit Quiz 2018 On Monday 12th November, eight students from Y7 and Y8 attended the East Mid- lands final for the Kid’s Literature Challenge at in Bakewell. There were ten rounds of questions on children’s literature topics, altogether, which included ‘Mythical Beasts, Babies, Authors, Animal Rights, Adventures and Aliases’. Our Y7 team achieved an impressive score of sixteen points on the ‘adventure’ round, playing their joker. They also scored ten points on the ‘aliases’ round, an incredible feat for a first attempt! Our year 8 team performed extremely well, achieving 75 points altogether and taking fourth place over- all, not far behind the winners, Highfields School from Matlock who scored 82 points. They also won a book prize for achieving the highest score on the ‘Capitals’ round. Mrs Clifford and Mr Lambert also won £5 book tokens for answering the following questions: ‘Who was the farmer in Animal Farm by George Orwell?’ and ‘Who was the captain in Moby Dick?’ It was a really enjoyable competition. Well done to our teams: Lia Martland, Erin Babington, Connie Skitt, Keziah Ruddy (Y8) Charlie Lambert, Cormac Roscoe, Elizabeth Orton, Maddie Sparks(Y7)

The Science of Bridge Building

During our Science lessons we were given a task to work in small groups and build a bridge over a 1.2 metre gap. I worked with 3 other people and we set about designing and testing our bridge. We rolled up A4 paper into tight rolls. We then punched a hole in the ends – this enabled us to fasten them together using nuts and bolts. We built them into trian- gles because this makes our construction stronger and more stable. We had already designed our bridge so we worked to this plan. When we tested it with a model car it withstood the force of the car and our de- sign and build was successful. We really enjoyed the project and learnt a lot about forces in buildings. Hannah Day – Yr9 Mindfulness Mindfulness is a very simple form of meditation that was Scouting for little known in the West until Cakes recently. A typical meditation consists of focusing your full 3rd Buxton Scouts spent an enjoyable evening attention on your breath as it making Christmas cakes in school on Monday flows in and out of your th body. Focusing on each breath in this way allows you to 10 December. The Scouts had a great time, observe your thoughts as they arise in your mind and, they were very grateful to Mrs Birch for giv- little by little, to let go of struggling with them. You ing up her free time to help them and for come to realise that thoughts come and go of their own letting them use her room. accord; that you are not your thoughts. You can watch as they appear in your mind, seemingly from thin air, and watch again as they disappear, like a soap bubble bursting. Thoughts come and go, and ultimately, you have a choice about whether to act on them or not. Mindfulness is about observation without criticism; be- ing compassionate with yourself. When unhappiness or stress hover overhead, rather than taking it all person- ally, you learn to treat them as if they were black clouds in the sky, and to observe them with friendly curiosity as they drift past. In essence, mindfulness al- The Spirit lows you to catch negative thought patterns before of they tip you into a downward spiral. Mr Ryan has been Christmas using Mindfulness with individual students to help with a range of issues to help improve awareness, self- Connie Belfield, Megan Schofield and Matil- control and coping strategies. He will be running anoth- da Maddocks from 8F, completed two suc- er 9-week Mindful Attention Program with a cohort of cessful bake sales for worthy causes in the Year 7 in the New Year. Also starting in the New Year last three weeks. They raised £55 for Blythe will be Mindfulness sessions every week after school on House and £55 for the MS society. Well Thursday from 3.15 to 3.50, everyone welcome. done girls. More Sports

Sports Leadership

18 Btec pupils took part in the Leadership Training day held in September. Pupils received training in either Badminton, Round- ers, Basketball and Football. The courses were run by the Nation- al Governing Bodies of each sport. The day proved very success- ful and pupils achieved leadership qualifications in their chosen sports.

Young Ambassadors Each year applications are invited from the Yr10 Btec Sport group for the two positions of Young Ambassadors. Katie Amps and An- na Flanagan from The High Peak Sports Partnership interviewed eight applicants and after much deliberation, Eve Timperley and Ellie Vernon were selected. Ellie Mycock was also invited to attend the February training with an Olympian. They will now undergo further training and not only support sport at St Thomas More School but engage in primary school activities and completions including officiating at the School games.

Football The football teams had a mixed start to the year, with many cancellations due to weather. Our first fixture was against . The Year 9s and 7s began their matches quite promisingly with some good chances created, Year 9 were able to score first with a good team goal which was finished off by Joshua Kelly. Year 7 had a fantastic game considering they had never played together before; their movement with the ball was excellent. Digby Evans pulled off some amazing saves to keep the game level, but eventually the size of the pitch was too much for them and BCS took advantage and was able to take the win. The same had to be said for the Year 9s who also lost their game. The next fixture saw our Year 8s and 11s compete against Buxton Community School, again these were well fought games. Their passage of play was excellent with some good movement in both years, but un- fortunately BCS were yet again the better team. Dodgeball

This year a new dodgeball club was introduced on a Thursday lunch time for Year 7 and 8 pupils. Although this club was slow to take off, it has gained in popularity with numbers increasing to approximately 40 stu- dents. The club has given students the opportunity to play, have an understanding of rules and to officiate. Rugby

For the second year running pupils have been encouraged to participate in the Rugby development days and I am pleased to say that the attendance has been fantastic. Pupils get to expe- rience an intense day of coaching from experienced and professional coaches and work with other students from Chapel High and Buxton Commu- nity School. This year a separate day was offered to girls and 34 from year 7-10 attended.

Netball The Year 8 and 10 netball teams started the year off with a tough match against Chapel which for the Year 8s ended in a result of 5-5 and the Year 10s narrowly lost 10-8. Since then both teams have been training every Tuesday after school until 16:30. More recently Yr. 10s travelled to Hope Valley for the High Peak Tournament, which 12 teams attended and were placed 3rd behind Chapel A and Hope Valley A, who came joint first. The Year 7s also practice on a Wednesday lunch time which is led by three Year 10s. All new members are welcome. Written by Megan Harris-Wood and Ellie Mycock

Cross Country The High Peak Cross - Country trials took place this year at School. Competitors had to finish in the top 12 to be given the opportunity to represent the High Peak at the Derbyshire Championships. All ath- letes ran well in difficult conditions, but I am pleased to say that five of our pupils were selected for the team. Maddie Hayles (Yr8) finished 9th, Dominic Cusco (Yr9) who finished 12th, William Stanway (Yr9) who had a very good run finished 2nd, Josh Barry (Yr9) finished 10th, Euan Freeman (Yr10) who finished 8th and Matthew Schofield who finished 6th. Good luck to these athletes who will now compete at the Derby- shire Championships on 19th Jan.