Newsletter January 2007

This issue

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

In this issue:

• Good news to start the year
• Team work leads to success
• Phenomenal Charity Appeal
• Young Enterprise Company Programme
• Enrichment days
• Extra curricular activities
• Don't miss out on education
• Changes to Liturgical Celebration
• Important dates
• Netball news

Dear Parents and Guardians

“I take great pleasure in informing you that our school is the highest achieving academy in the country (The Times, 11 January). Well done to everyone.

Over £4000 was raised in this year's Advent Charity appeal. This is a phenomenal achievement which will help our selected charities enormously. Your generosity and enthusiasm for our charity appeal make me very proud to be Principal of Saint Paul's Academy.”

Principal, Patrick Winston

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Good news to start the year

Returning to school in January can be one of the most difficult points of the year, but on this occasion, partly due to the timing of the Christmas holiday, it seemed that staff and students returned refreshed and ready to settle down to business quickly and purposefully. Morale was boosted by the Secondary School League Tables, which were published the week of our return to school. Although it is easy to be cynical about this data, the facts are clear; we are the highest achieving Academy (not including the former City Technology Colleges) in the country and our value added is very high. The Times on January 11th stated Following the CTCs, Saint Paul's Academy in Greenwich, where more than a quarter of the pupils receive free school meals, is the highest achieving Academy. This means that our students leave Saint Paul's having achieved much higher standards than were predicted when they started in Year 7.

I have said many times before that this doesn't happen by chance, and again my thanks go to all my colleagues who work so hard to offer our students the very best in all aspects of school life.

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Team work leads to success

As we look to the future, the performance of Year 11 students, in the mock examinations which took place just before Christmas, was extremely encouraging. Current data suggests that they are well on track to achieve very good results next summer, again with many students achieving much more than they might have anticipated when they came to Saint Paul's. Of course, there is still a great deal of work to do, but with students, staff and parents and carers working together, I am confident that this cohort will more than do themselves justice next summer. Year 8 and 9 SAT results also look very promising and again I think we can look forward to some significant value added scores.

This is the first year when teaching staff in English, Maths and Science have considered the ability and progress of each individual Year 8 student in order to decide whether they should take SATs in Year 8 or 9. Last year, all Year 8 students took their Maths SAT and so this year the whole cohort, which is now Year 9 will take English and Science.

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Phenomenal Charity Appeal

In the first week of term, we were also able to close the Advent Charity account, and I am delighted to tell you that in total we raised in excess of £4,200, which represents a phenomenal achievement by staff and students. This year it was particularly pleasing to see so many new initiatives raising substantial sums; these ranged from a cookery book to Christmas tree decorations, while more traditional money raisers, such as watching videos and taking on sponsored activities, proved as popular and lucrative as always. As you know, this year we supported Sr Anne's school projects in Kenya and, closer to home, the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice. We have received letters of thanks from both Sr Anne and Jim Bennett on behalf of the Hospice, and they both commend the commitment of our school community to reach out to those who need support.

The Advent Charity Appeal is also linked to the Academy's Enterprise Initiative.

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Young Enterprise Company Programme

The Academy has two specialisms, sport and enterprise, and these are an important aspect of school life which are developed through the curriculum as well as through outside activities. The Enterprise initiative is in many ways hard to define because it has many different strands, but in essence, it aims to prepare young people to be financially literate and to have a knowledge of the world of work and business by the time they leave school. These skills are developed in a variety of ways; this term the whole of Year 11 took part in an Enterprise Housing initiative where they learnt how to deal with uncertainty, take risks and respond to change.

Also, Saint Paul's students have registered with the Young Enterprise Company Programme which gives them the chance to get a taste of adult life by running their own company. In this project, our students are supported by advisers who are currently working in business; the aim is to raise share capital, then market and finance a project of their choice. I will keep you informed of this and other Enterprise activities as the year progresses.

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Enrichment days

The Enterprise Housing day that I have just mentioned is not only part of our Enterprise Scheme but also part of our new programme of Enrichment Days. These are days spread throughout the year when the whole school comes off timetable to take part in cultural activities and to learn about issues that would previously have been covered in PSHE lessons. This half term, Year 11 had their housing day, Year 10 had Education in Human Relationships delivered by the Life group, Years 8 and 9 looked at various aspects of crime and safety and Year 7 went to London Zoo. The consensus of both staff and students is that this is a very enjoyable way to deliver aspects of the curriculum and one which takes advantage of the enormous number of attractions in London and the surrounding areas.

Our next Enrichment Day is in March and we plan to extend the programme next year.

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Extra curricular activities

Not all extra curricular activities are linked to a particular initiative, and there are a large number of exciting projects taking place in the different Learning Zones. As I write, students from Saint Paul's are taking part in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at The Catford Broadway Theatre, an event which is happening in collaboration with other local schools as part of the International Schools’ Shakespeare Festival. Saint Paul's contribution has been prepared by the Drama and English departments and there has been a tremendous commitment by both staff and students to produce work of a standard high enough for performance in a public theatre.

Bringing literature alive was also the aim when seventy Year 11 students went to The Shaftesbury Theatre for a Poetry Live day. Live poetry performances have become very popular over the last few years, and this event gave students the chance to see several poets who they are studying for their GCSE examinations, including Grace Nichols and Jackie Kay. Students were also able to ask the poets, as well as the Edexcel Chief Examiner, about the best way to approach the poetry questions in their exams.

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Don't miss out on education

Of course, anything we do in school becomes meaningless if students are not here on time and ready to learn. Although we are currently meeting our target of 94% attendance, this still means that six out of every hundred children are not in school each day. Some absence is unavoidable, but there are a significant number of students who have too many odd days out of school. One day a fortnight doesn't sound very much but if this ratio was maintained then a student would miss 10% of their education. Similarly, lateness, both in the morning and for lessons, is extremely disruptive, not only for the person who is late, but also for the teacher and the rest of the class.

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Changes to Liturgical Celebration

At the moment we are reviewing the way we celebrate the Catholic nature of our school. Traditionally, we have focused on whole school masses on Holy Days of Obligation. However, recently, the Bishops of England and Wales made changes to the way these feasts can be celebrated, meaning that we now have fewer compulsory masses. This gives us the freedom to be more flexible and so we have arranged for all year groups, or in the case of Year 7 and 8, half year groups, to have their own masses which will be prepared with the RS and music departments. Fr David Camilleri will celebrate these masses with us and we hope that students will feel personally involved on these occasions. These masses will also help us prepare for the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in June which we will celebrate, as has become traditional, in Aylesford.

Ash Wednesday this year falls on February 21st, which is the first week back after half term. We will be marking this important day, which signifies the beginning of Lent, with short liturgies for all students. As always, the community of Saint Paul's will seek to use the season of Lent as a period of reflection and renewal as we prepare for the great feast of Easter.

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Important dates 

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Netball news

Catford Broadway Theatre was also where the Year 7, 8 and 9 Netball Teams celebrated Christmas at a production of Cinderella. This term, apart from training and fixtures, the Netball Teams will be going to see the Brunel Hurricanes play against Loughborough Lightning in the Netball Super League in March. The team is also in the process of designing a Saint Paul's Netball kit and we look forward to seeing the finished result! Practices take place every Wednesday from 2:10 to 3:30 and girls from all years are welcome.

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