Newsletter July 2011

This issue

Welcome to the July 2011 edition of Saint Paul's Academy's newsletter!

In this issue:

• Shakespeare at Saint Paul’s Academy
• Theatre in Education
• Trip to France - a great success
• Celebrating Mass
• Enrichment Day
• Students film shown at Cineworld
• First Prize for Samantha
• Marvellous Experience for Students
• Dropping off your child at school
• Concerns regarding Facebook
• Sewing Machines for Sale
• Gaelic Football London Club Champions
• Goodbye to Colleagues
• Term & Holiday Dates
• From our football correspondent

Dear Parents and Carers

“We have now completed our first full academic year on our new campus and it has been another very successful year for Saint Paul’s. Of course, our core business is to ensure that every student achieves their full potential academically, but we also know that there is a great deal more to school life than the curriculum and that the students who get the most out of their education are those who participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Wehave always been passionate about offering students as much as we can outside the taught curriculum and our new building has allowed us to extend this offer even more.”

Patrick Winston, Principal

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Shakespeare at Saint Paul’s Academy

The Drama Department has been able to produce a fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. Not only was the acting superb, but the nature of our marvellous facilities helped create a wonderful atmosphere which reflected the drama of the sea. The Drama Department has also achieved outstanding results in LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) with 64 out of 65 students in Year 10 achieving acting qualifications at a very high level.

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Theatre in Education

As well as taking students to a wide range of productions, we also frequently welcome theatre companies to perform at the Academy. ‘Theatre in Education’ often work with our students, both to perform and reflect on particular scripts and in June we were particularly pleased to welcome the ‘Choices Project’. This is a production which aims to educate young people about violence; they watch a play and then discuss the contents with the parent of a murdered teenager. In our case, this was particularly poignant because the person who came to talk to us was Barry Mizen, father of Jimmy Mizen, a pupil at Saint Thomas More Secondary School in Eltham who was killed in May 2008. This was an extremely moving and productive afternoon.

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Trip to France - a great success

Sport continues to move from strength to strength at the Academy, and at half-term a new venture was undertaken. This was a water sports trip to the South of France led by four young, very energetic members of staff. After a very long coach trip, the party arrived to find heavy rain across the area, but from that point things got better and the three-day trip canoeing down rapids in the Ardeche was a marvellous experience. The four days on Mimosa Beach included raft building, wind surfing and snorkelling, but when activities on the final day were cancelled because of the sea conditions, students and staff were not displeased because they were able to relax on the beach and enjoy the sun. My thanks, of course, to all members of staff who gave up so much of their time.

Dance is also flourishing and at the end of June, thirteen of our most talented dancers performed on the open air stage in General Gordon Square in Woolwich. This was part of a project called ‘Dancing Streets’ and it gave our students the excitement of performing for the general public whilst at the same time allowing the general public (including a number of staff) to see how very talented so many of our boys and girls are.

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Celebrating Mass

Our increasing numbers and our new building have made us reconsider how we celebrate our patronal feast day on June 29th. With over 900 students and 130 staff, it is impossible to have a whole school Mass, so we now have a voluntary Mass first thing in the morning and then extended assemblies followed by achievement awards for every year group. This year, the rest of the day was spent launching a fund raising campaign to raise money for blood cancer charities; this will be one of our Advent charities and more details will follow in the next newsletter. All students and staff entered into the spirit of this venture with great enthusiasm and in one day we raised a staggering £2,700.

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Enrichment Day

Similarly, Enrichment Day was a great success, with students undertaking activities ranging from a behind the scenes visit to The Globe Theatre, trips to London Zoo, the London Aquarium and Chatham Dockyards, as well as Dickens World, where students experienced 19th century literature meeting 21st century technology, and the Titanic Experience at the 02, where, after a voyage on that doomed ship, students and staff found out whether they survived or perished at sea. This was determined by the name on their entry ticket! In school on the same day, we welcomed next year’s Year 7 students, many of whom were very excited about September especially after they had sampled our restaurant food!

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Students film shown at Cineworld

Since Easter, a group of our Year 10 students has been taking part in a London-based film and arts event, called ‘The Happy Soul Festival 2011’ which aims to engage communities around the issues of mental health awareness and wellbeing. Fifteen Year 10s made a 10-minute film called ‘Reality Check’, which reached the final 5 out of 62 entries nationally. It was screened at CineWorld in Wandsworth at the beginning of June and was extremely well received. We didn’t win the overall prize, but this has been a fantastic experience for everyone involved.

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First Prize for Samantha

Our summer Music Festival, now an annual event, demonstrated still further the huge amount of talent within the student population. There were over seventy entries which meant that each ‘class’, such as piano, singing, brass or ensembles, had to have its own competition with the winner going through to the final, very much in the style of the BBC ‘Young Musician of the Year. The decision was almost impossible but first prize went to Samantha Kinosa in Year 7 for her moving rendition of ‘Footprints’. This will now be recorded and the CD will be sold around the school; all proceeds will go to the blood cancer charities.

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Marvellous Experience for Students

Opera is something that many people have misconceptions about and at Saint Paul’s we challenge stereotypes and prejudices. With this in mind, we always welcome the offer of tickets to the Royal Opera House. This term a group of Year 7 students went to see ‘Peter Grimes’ by Benjamin Britten and although there were one or two who were not completely converted, they all admitted that it was a very dramatic production and an extremely moving story. The set was amazing with the darkness and strength of the storm and the roughness of the sea coming across powerfully; this was in contrast to the beauty and brightness of the Opera House itself. It was also a marvellous experience for our students to hear a professional orchestra being conducted by one of our greatest conductors, Sir Andrew Davis, and to hear some of the best singers in the world.

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Dropping off your child at school

Of course, we are still experiencing some teething problems which don’t emerge until you are settled in a building. One of these is an issue with students being dropped off at school in the mornings by parents and carers. We have recently experienced some very dangerous situations with people driving too quickly, parking irresponsibly and then turning in the middle of the road. Young people are not always as vigilant as they should be, despite constant reminders and it is therefore the responsibility of the adults to ensure that our students are safe. I would therefore ask that no student is dropped off on the Finchale Road gates, particularly as it is illegal to park on the zigzag lines outside a school and that there are no u-turns on Finchale Road. This will also very much help bus drivers, who at present are experiencing difficulties accessing the road.

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Concerns regarding Facebook

Another issue which has arisen is the use of technology and in particular, Facebook. All parents and carers will have received a letter outlining our concerns, but I would like to remind you that the minimum age requirement to have a Facebook account is 13; therefore, anybody under this age who has an account must have entered a false date of birth. We are also extremely concerned about the number of “friends” many students have. We very strongly advise that students are only friends with people known to them personally; some of the incidents we have dealt with in the school have been extremely distressing, not only for the student involved, but for their families. It is essential that we all work together to protect our young people from dangers they don’t always fully understand. Similarly, I would like to remind you that we do not allow Smartphones in school because of the mayhem they have caused over recent months.

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Sewing Machines for Sale

Saint Paul’s Academy currently has some Bernina 1008 Electronic Sewing Machines for sale. They are two years old but have never been used.

They have been greatly reduced to £200.00 but do not come in a box or with a warranty.

If you are interested, and would like a viewing please contact:
Lesley Archer on 020 8311 3868
Extension 129

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Gaelic Football London Club Champions

We are coming to the end of a very successful Gaelic Football season and it is pleasing to reflect on a number of significant highlights:

• U14 Girls’ Team winners of the All Britain Feile • A successful U14 Tour to Ireland with victories in Armagh and Cavan • At U14 level: Winners of the London Club Championship • Twenty students (girls and boys) participated in the Feile Peil na nOg competition in Co. Cork

Nine of our girls represented London and eleven of our boys represented South London in the Feile Peil na nOg competition in Cork. The London girls’ were in a very strong pool and drew one of their fixtures. The boys won their pool and qualified for the semi-finals but were defeated by Moyle Rovers of Tipperary, who eventually won the division. In Ireland, The Feile is an international tournament that had attracted almost 160 teams from Ireland, the UK and the USA.

At the end of May, our U14 team travelled to Lavey in Co. Cavan for a seven-day tour. They were hosted by local families and their programme included visits to places of interest as well as an extensive set of fixtures. I am very grateful for the way families in Lavey welcomed our students into their homes.

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Goodbye to Colleagues

At this time of year, it is inevitable that we have to say goodbye to some colleagues. This year, Mr Morgan, Ms Gardner, Mr Murtagh, Dr Barrett and Mrs Gobey are all moving on. Mr Morgan has been with us for two years, and has not only made a significant contribution to the ICT department, but has also introduced Rugby to the Academy. Mr Murtagh has also been with us for two years and as well as being a member of the Mathematics’ team, he too has made a significant contribution to Sport. Dr Barrett has been a highly respected member of the Science team for three years and is moving to Christ the King sixth form college to focus on A Level teaching; whilst Ms Gardner, who has been part of the English team for the past four years, has not only been an outstanding pastoral leader, but has also introduced many initiatives, including Debate Mate.

Farewell to Mrs Gobey

Finally, Mrs Gobey has been with us for 39 years as an Art teacher and more recently, Assistant Principal in charge of Creativity and Technology. Mrs Gobey has been an outstanding teacher and leader throughout her time, firstly at Saint Paul’s School and then at the Academy. Her sense of justice and unassuming character has earned her a great deal of respect from generations of staff and students. Her flamboyant style, sense of humour and quick-wit will be very much missed by the Academy community. We wish her a long and happy retirement, enjoying the finer things in life.

I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable summer.

Best wishes
Patrick Winston, Principal

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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, the Kent Cup. The complete set of results to date is:

The complete set of results to date is:

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Ireland Tour: May 2011

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Feile Peil na nOg (U14): Division 4

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Great Britain Club Championship (14)

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