St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls AutumnDecember Bulletin 2015 IN THIS ISSUE • IN THIS ISSUE • IN THIS ISSUE • IN THIS ISSUE • IN THIS ISSUE • IN THIS ISSUE From the Headteacher Dear Parent/Carer, We have come to the end of another busy and successful term and I hope that you will enjoy reading about the many activities and events that have taken place since we started the school year in September. Year 7 students made a successful transition to secondary school and have already made a substantial contribution to many areas of school life. We are fortunate to have so many gifted and talented students and staff here at St Anne’s. I am delighted to report that the new Sixth Form Centre has been completed and our students will be able to use it at the start of next Term. The building will be officially opened by Cardinal Vincent Nichols on 19th January 2016 when he will celebrate Mass with us and bless the new building. As many of you will know, we had to take a loan out to finance some of this building work and so we are still fundraising for the new Centre. You can support us by ‘buying a brick’. Further information about the scheme can be found in this Bulletin. Finally, thank you, parents and carers, for the support you give to your daughters and to the school. I wish you and your families a happy and holy Christmas and I look forward to seeing all of our students on Tuesday 5th January 2016 at 8.40am for the start of the Spring Term. God bless. Yours sincerely, Siobhan Gilling, Headteacher Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God. The Catholic Life of the School Introduction This term, as well as our usual Liturgies, Retreats and services of Reconciliation, we have celebrated some special Liturgies such as our Year 7 Welcome Mass and our school Carol Service. These services were held in the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & St. George and our thanks go to Fr Witton, Fr. Graham and all the staff at the Parish. We started off the term with a particular focus on the plight of the refugees fleeing countries such as Syria. We would like to thank all the students and parents for their generous donation of essential items which were taken by the Catholic Workers Organisation and transported to Calais where so many people are still living in temporary shelters. Older people continue to be a priority for our school and so in October we held our second tea party hosted by our Year 10 students, and last week a group of our Year 9 students visited Azalea Court Nursing Home in Enfield. We are looking forward to more visits and another tea party in the Summer Term. As Christmas approaches, we remember we have been given a very special opportunity by Pope Francis who has declared the next twelve months to be a Year of Mercy as he invites us to go on a spiritual journey to embrace God’s mercy and reflect that mercy to others in the way that we live. He has set this special focus so that everyone can have a fresh opportunity to experience the mercy of God which is so important in our lives. To go on that journey we have to take the first step and go through the door that is always open to us. More details about the above and other aspects of the Catholic life of the school can be found in the articles in this section and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very happy and holy Christmas. Miss Pugh, Assistant Headteacher - Catholic Life of the School Tea Party at St Anne’s The Tea Party for older people took place on Sunday 11th October 2015 at the Upper Site in Palmers Green. It was lovely to see the return of some of our guests from last year as well as some newcomers from the local community. Our Year 10 students not only baked cakes, but were charming hosts and looked after our guests very well. Tamera 10T, Salem 10A and Ketsia 10J got the afternoon off to a spirited start by performing several different solos. Sophia 10A, Niamh 10A and Aisling 10L performed some traditional Irish dances. From the thank you cards received, it is clear that our guests enjoyed the food and entertainment but particularly the company of our girls. Our students also enjoyed meeting the guests, and as Christina Barbour 10F said, “We got to talk to older people and they told us beautiful stories about their past – I really enjoyed talking to them.” Our thanks to the Knights of St Columba from St Monica’s for providing help with transport to enable people to attend. Our guests said they would like more opportunities to come to events and meet with the girls. It was therefore good to see that some people were able to take up the invitation to attend our school carol service and meet up again with the girls who had hosted the tea party. Thanks to all our girls involved in the tea party; they were excellent! Make a note in your diary – our next tea party is on Sunday 22nd May! Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God. Refugee Crisis The Catholic Life of the School On the Wednesday 25th November, St Anne’s students packed up all the donated items they had collected for the refugees currently living in the makeshift encampment La Jungle in Calais. It is reported that there are as many as six thousand refugees camped there, having travelled thousands of miles from some of the world’s most dangerous countries, such as Sudan, Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan. There they live in horrible conditions, allowed neither to work nor claim benefits, their only hope lying in completing the final stage of their journey: the dangerous crossing of the Channel into England, where many hope to be reunited with friends and family. Pupils from both sites at St Anne’s collected an entire car-load of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, pots and pans as well as warm clothes to help the refugees keep wrapped up in the freezing winter months to come. The donations were taken to the Catholic Worker group, based in Giuseppe Conlon House next to St Augustine’s of Canterbury Catholic Church, off Haringey Green Lanes. The group have been driving van loads of donations down to Calais since the summer and were elated to receive such generosity from the students of St Anne’s. The donations will be gratefully received by all at Calais, who face an icy Christmas in La Jungle and, though glad to have escaped the troubles they have left behind, hope to receive little more than a new start over this festive period. Mr Ron, Teaching Assistant Visit to Azalea Court Knights of St. Columba Nursing Home, Enfield Competitions National Awards On Friday 11th December, fourteen Year 9 girls visited Azalea Court Nursing Home to share mince pies and sing Christmas Carols with the residents. We were made very welcome by the Carers and Nursing staff who sang along happily with us. Many of the residents were able to join in and there was many a tear. We were delighted that two of our students who had won local awards went on to win awards at national level. Delicia Ong was awarded 1st prize in the essay competition and Martyna Pawlikowska won 3rd prize in the prayer competition. The teachers who entered the girls for the competition, Miss Westbury and Miss Yiannakas, were also at the presentation assembly and it was lovely that two of the Knights were able to come to We all agreed that it was such a wonderful event to be award the prizes: Roddy Beare (Provincial involved in and we all felt we had brought a little bit of Youth Officer) and Jim Pugh (Provincial Christmas to those who may have been forgotten. We have Grand Knight). We look forward to entering been asked to return at Easter, which we all thought would the next competitions! Miss Pugh be a lovely idea. Mrs Cowley, Year 9 Achievement Leader Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God. The Catholic Life of the School Sixth Form Visit to Auschwitz On 7th October 2015 two of our Year 12 students, Mollie Webster and Niamh Shaw, accompanied by Mrs Mitchell, Key Stage 5 Achievement Leader, visited the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp in Poland. This visit was part of the Lessons from Auschwitz (LFA) Project and organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust. St Anne’s new Head Girl, Niamh Shaw, comments on the experience: “I still find it incredibly difficult to put into words the impact that the trip to Auschwitz had on me. As a passionate history student, Auschwitz has always been on the list of historical sites that I wanted to visit; for the most part, I wanted to visit these sites so that I could bring to life all that I have studied. However, upon visiting Auschwitz and now in reflection, the trip did much more than bring this period of our history to life. It has made me realise that history is not as black and white as many people would condemn it to be; it is not simply what happened in the past. It is indeed about what has happened in the past, but it is also about what is happening in our present, and if we do not make a change, it also shows us what will happen in our future.” Niamh Shaw and Mollie Webster Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly with your God.