Newsletter December 2007

This issue

Welcome to the December 2007 edition of Saint Paul's Academy's newsletter!

In this issue:

• Breaking news
• Praise from Ofsted
• Focus days and activities
• Anti-Bullying DVD produced by students
• Music department hits a high note
• Swipe card meal payments
• Fundraising success
• Netball at Saint Paul's
• Important dates
• Holiday dates
• From our football correspondent

Dear Parents and Guardians

“I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the staff of Saint Paul's Academy, without whose dedication your sons and daughters would not make such significant progress. I have said many times that the staff, both teaching and support, give far in excess of their contractual obligations and without this generosity of time and spirit Saint Paul's Academy would not enjoy the reputation it does.”

Patrick Winston, Principal

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Breaking news

• Congratulations to Rebecca Garrett and Amy Achour from Year 10 who have been selected to represent Saint Paul’s Academy at the Greenwich Dance Christmas Performance.
• The U14 Gaelic Football Team has been crowned London League Champions following their 3 – 07 (16pts) to 2 – 05 (11pts) victory over Saint Brendan’s.
• Joe Meade from Year 10 has been nominated as South London’s Gaelic Football Player of the Year.
• Congratulations to Nkemjika Eka of Year 8 who has now scored 53 goals in inter-school football fixtures.

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Praise from Ofsted

As we anticipated, we were visited by Ofsted at the end of November and at the end of their two day visit they concluded that Saint Paul's was a good school with outstanding features. The report is extremely positive with many complimentary remarks about our community. The team acknowledged many strengths including academic performance but they were most impressed by the values held by students and the respect they show for others. The inspectors saw this as an outstanding feature of our school and a reflection of the strength of our community.

I look forward to sending you a summary of the inspection when the final draft of the report is published in the New Year..

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Focus days and activities

These days, it is becoming more and more common, both nationally and through the Church, to have particular days or weeks set aside for specific topics. We are, of course, used to certain events such as Remembrance Sunday in November and the more recently established World Aids Day which is held on December 1st

Both of these occasions have been marked in school and this half term we have also focussed our attention on Enterprise Week and Anti-Bullying Week. The aim of Enterprise Week is to enable students to have a first hand, practical but safe experience of making money; there are obviously many ways of doing this but one which was particularly successful this year was the challenge put to Year 9.

Each form was given £10 and told to go away and, using only that money, see how much profit they could make. The ideas that students came up with were fantastic and ranged from using a chocolate fountain to coat marshmallows with hot, liquid chocolate to hiring DVDs and charging other students to watch them. 9E made the most profit ending up with grand sum of £80 and the total profit for the year group was in excess of £250. Overall, this was an extremely enjoyable learning experience.

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Anti-Bullying DVD produced by students

During Anti-Bullying Week assemblies featured a DVD made by a group of our Year 8, 9 and 10 students about the consequences of bullying. The students were advised and supported by a professional actor and director, Naomi Cortez, who helped them produce a high quality and hard hitting film. Having shown it to students at Saint Paul's, the DVD is going to be taken into other schools and, through the education authority, it will hopefully be made available to youth groups. The marketing of the DVD, which is actually entitled Consequences, will be undertaken by a Year 10 Enterprise group which is a fantastic example of different areas of the Academy working together.

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Music department hits a high note

We have also experienced great success in music this term, branching out into new ventures. The mass for the feast of All Saints on November 1st, not only featured some spectacular singing from individual students, as well as from the choir and indeed the whole school, but also for the first time our students provided the instrumental accompaniments.

Equally impressive was the fact that our students wrote three pieces of music, including the Gloria, which were performed for the first time during this Mass; it was very obvious at the end of our celebration that everyone present had been very moved by the occasion.

Some students also took part in the London Jazz Festival, playing a piece actually composed by our Head of Music, Mrs Presencer. This was a superb opportunity for them to work with professional musicians and to experience the excitement of live performance. We are looking forward to many more diverse ventures in the future.

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Swipe card meal payments

As you are all well aware, the breakfast and lunch system at Saint Paul's works extremely well with many students availing themselves of the meals on offer. However, I have been asked by the office staff to remind you that payment by cheque is by far the most convenient way of putting money on to your sons' and daughters' swipe cards.

A cheque ensures that the amount of money you give your child is the same amount which is put on the card; we are finding that some parents and carers are giving their children large sums of money only to find that not all of it is being put on the swipe card. Putting on money in this way also means that students waste less time queuing at the office and that congestion on the bottom corridor is kept to a minimum.

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Fundraising success

Of course, no Christmas newsletter would be complete without me giving you details of our Advent Fundraising. This year I am delighted to tell you that we have raised in excess of £3,000 and worked closely with Sister Ann O'Connor in Kenya, supporting her work in schools and with children who have HIV/AIDS. Our commitment to this project is long term because, as a community, we undertook to see a number of students through their secondary education, which has to be paid for in Kenya, and obviously this requires annual funding. This year the Student Forum also elected to support Demelza House which is a hospice offering care for children and young people who suffer from chronic or life shortening conditions as well as respite care for families.

The original Demelza House is in Sittingbourne but there is huge need for such care in other areas and so a site has been bought in Eltham. Our aim was to raise as much as possible for the new institution as well as raising awareness within our community about the need for huge growth in the hospice movement. Most of us will have contact with the hospice movement at sometime in our lives and we very much hope that our school will maintain contact with Demelza House, and continue to support this project in any way we can.

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Netball at Saint Paul's

Netball at Saint Paul's Academy has continued to flourish this season with the highest number of players ever. Each year group has a team which trains every Monday and which plays both friendly and league fixtures throughout the season.

However, the biggest news this season is that Saint Paul's has gained admission to the Bromley Netball League; this means more competitive games against strong opponents which raises our game monumentally. We are also now registered with England Netball which means our teams are officially recognised and will receive even more invitations to various tournaments held across Kent and London. In September, the Year 7 and 8 teams competed in the London Academies Netball Championships held on a treacherous day at Coldharbour Leisure Centre. Despite the horrendous weather conditions, both teams played well and the newly formed Year 7 team in particular showed great potential coming fifth in a tough group of 13 schools. The Year 8 team also performed well and were placed fifth in their age category. Netball at Saint Paul's Academy has continued to flourish this season with the highest number of players ever. Each year group has a team which trains every Monday and which plays both friendly and league fixtures throughout the season.

However, the biggest news this season is that Saint Paul's has gained admission to the Bromley Netball League; this means more competitive games against strong opponents which raises our game monumentally. We are also now registered with England Netball which means our teams are officially recognised and will receive even more invitations to various tournaments held across Kent and London. In September, the Year 7 and 8 teams competed in the London Academies Netball Championships held on a treacherous day at Coldharbour Leisure Centre. Despite the horrendous weather conditions, both teams played well and the newly formed Year 7 team in particular showed great potential coming fifth in a tough group of 13 schools. The Year 8 team also performed well and were placed fifth in their age category.

The U16 team, whose members show huge dedication, is moving from strength to strength and for their efforts have had numerous, glorious victories against old rivals! They were also delighted to come fourth in their group at the recent Kent County Netball Championships held at Rainham School, Gillingham. All girls played excellently despite several finger injuries and finished the day exhausted but proud of their collective performance.

Even though the winter days grow darker and colder, we will continue to train on Mondays in order to maintain fitness and skill levels and we are also pleased to announce that we are introducing termly Netball Master Classes, which will be held indoors and will include fitness programmes as well as nutritional advice. Keep your eyes on the notice boards for more details of this, girls!

Finally, details of the Saint Paul's Academy Netball Club's trip to Spain in May are being finalised so watch this space.

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Important dates

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Holiday dates

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From our football correspondent

Football teams throughout the School have taken part in a number of fixtures including the National Cup and the Kent Cup.

The complete set of results to date is:

Year 7

Goalscorers: B. Owusu-Ansah 13, W. Orimolusi 11, A. Baptiste 7, B. Anidugbe 6, O. Isichei 5, O. Adeloye 3, S. Shote, 2, B. Holdsworth 1, C. Normahoned 1, T. Fadipe 1, (Own Goal 1)

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Year 8

Goalscorers:N. Eka 14, D. Conteh 7, K. Okogwu 5, K. Makinde 2, JC Hines 2, J. Olufade 2, G. Murphy 2, K. Sharpe 1, C. Shiel 1, J. Keating 1, C. Dunleavy 1, H. Hill 1, (Own Goal 1)

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Year 9

Goalscorers:O. Odebunmi 14, A. Wright 6, N. Eka 5, M. Brobbey 4, A. Bridge 3. G. Inkulu 3, S. Lingwood 1, L. Obembe 1, L. Akanni 1, T. Nihill 1, A. Marshall-Peacock 1, A. Swain 1, (Own Goal 1)

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Year 10

Goalscorers:M. Fabiyi 8, J. McGilly 4, J. Gillespie 3, M. Kolawole 3, J. Baptiste 2, L. Hubbard 1, O. Akande 1

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Year 11

Goalscorers:D. Isichei 1, J. Higgins-Page 1.

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Girls' Tournaments years 7-11

Goalscorers: V.Asare 6, A. Offe 6, T. Murphy 3, A. Light 2, C. Swain 1, L. Smith 1, H. Goodes 1, M. Mbang 1, R. Kayode 1, L. Trieu 1, B. Jones 1, M. Kersnauskaite 1.

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