Newsletter 14.07.2025 – St Nicholas Catholic High School

A prayer to share

Prayer for a busy week

Dear God,

This week is so full—

Give us strength when we feel tired,

focus when we get distracted,

and peace when we feel overwhelmed.

Help us to use our time wisely and do our best,

not just for grades, but to grow in wisdom and character.

Remind us that we are not alone—You are with us every step.

Help us be kind to others,

even when stressed,

and take things one day at a time.

Amen.

Message from our Chaplain Mairie

This week we have been saying hello to our new year 7 students as they begin their transition to St Nicholas. It has been lovely seeing them around school and, on Friday, the whole cohort finding out their form groups and tutors. We do appreciate that this can be an anxious time for some but also the first steps to new friends, new learning and lots of new opportunities.

To illustrate this, we also celebrated our Prize Night this week, when the sports hall was full of students being awarded for their gifts and talents and commitment to the ethos of St Nicholas. Many staff fondly remember the first time that ‘so and so’ sat in their form or classroom. It won’t be too long before our new St Nicholas students will be joining them.

Shoebox Appeal

This seems far too early given the current weather cycle, but we thought that this might be a good summer project if tidying and sorting at home. Or at least, remembering to save the shoeboxes for when we return in September. We will be launching our Shoebox appeal in the first half term. We were delighted to complete 80 boxes last year, with not very much notice, so it would be wonderful to beat that total this year.

Prize Night

On Thursday night St Nicholas hosted our annual Prize Night. It was a wonderful evening, celebrating our many talented and hardworking students. Guest speaker was former student Bella Manfredi who inspired us all with her speech where she talked about her journey through the education system, from receiving top grades at St Nicholas to accepting her place at Cambridge University, about being nervous about fitting in but doing it anyway and the successes and friendships she made along the way. We had some amazing musical performances, featuring the choir, orchestra, soloists and ensembles.

Mr Burns said : Thank you for a wonderful Prize Night. Our students were fantastic, and it was a proud moment as Headteacher to see so many young people achieve success and recognition and listen to the outstanding music and spectacular performances.

Click here to see further images.

St Nicholas Art Exhibition

For the first time in a few years, we’re excited to be holding a small exhibition to showcase our GCSE and A Level Art work. It will take place on Thursday 17th July, from 4–7pm in A1.

All Welcome

Language ambassadors

St Nic’s Language Ambassadors Spread the Joy of Languages!

On Friday 11th July, our brilliant Language Ambassadors from St Nic’s spent an action-packed morning at Greenbank School with Mr Cliffe – and what a morning it was!

From Spanish cafe roleplays to lively games of handball, water polo, bingo (or should we say loto), and even some dancing of the Paso Doble, the day was bursting with energy. The goal? To promote the love of languages and build strong links between our schools.

Mr Cliffe praised the ambassadors’ maturity and fantastic leadership skills, while Greenbank staff were impressed by how confidently they inspired younger students to get excited about languages.

Even Mr Cliffe got stuck in (yes, including wearing a purple wig – not ideal in 30-degree heat!)

Our Language Ambassadors were outstanding – keep an eye out for their next adventure!

Platinum School Games Mark 2024-25

We are delighted to announce that we, St Nicholas Catholic High School, have achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2024/25 academic year.

The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

With almost 40% of the entire school student population competing in local inter-school competitions this year, we are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year. Thank you to all of the students who have represented the school throughout the year and to parents/carers for supporting your child on their sporting journey.

Lawyer visit

Local lawyer visits law students

Our Year 12 A Level Law classes enjoyed a visit from local solicitor, Dan Brooks, who is a partner in the law firm Poole Alcock. Dan worked with the classes discussing the differences between a career as a barrister and a career as a solicitor. Dan then spoke to them about his courtroom experiences as a criminal advocate, before discussing other ways of forging a career in law that do not require a degree such as becoming a legal executive, a legal secretary or doing a legal apprenticeship. The session ended with Dan responding to questions from the students primarily about what they can do to further any ambitions they may have regarding potential careers in law. Thank you for coming in and sharing your experience with us.

PTFA News

Our latest jackpot winning numbers are:
503965 , 926575, 086274

Our supporters have won: £24.30, £13.50 & £13.80 in the draw!

Please consider joining our school lottery if you’ve not already done so as it helps raise funds for school. Thank you for your support as always.

www.your.schoollottery.co.uk

Thank you very much indeed to so many of you who have bought summer raffle tickets. We will be announcing our winners this week. So keep a look out.

Good luck everyone.

Thank you as ever.
Your PTFA

July Super Draw: Win an amazing £1,000 Sainsbury’s eGift Card or £1,000 cash

Library and Literacy

Summer Reading Challenges

The summer holidays are nearly here and it’s important that our student don’t lose the momentum they’ve built for their reading habits whilst they’re out of school. A great way to keep encouraging their love of reading is to get involved with the Cheshire public libraries summer reading challenges. This year, parents have the opportunity to model good reading habits by joining in with the challenge themselves. Participants for the 13 – adult category could be in with a chance of winning a £50 book token.

Children age 0-12 can take part in the Summer Reading Challenge by signing up in any local library. They will be given a challenge pack and collect stickers along the way. If they complete the challenge (to read six books in any format), they will be rewarded with a medal and a certificate.

https://participatenow.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/summer-reading-challenge-mini-reading-challenge-2024

The Reading Agency have developed the fabulous Book Sorter to help choose books for the challenge:

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/book-sorter

Children aged 13+ and adults can take part in the Adults Read Two challenge.

To take part, all you need to do is read two books between now and September 7th, and write a comment or a short review about them. You can sign up to submit your comments via the libraries website (below). Children under the age of 16 will need parental/guardian permission to enter.

https://participatenow.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/adults-read-two-2024

Francis House fundraiser

One of our lovely students attends Francis House for respite care and has asked us to promote Jimmy Cricket’s Big Birthday Gala Show, held at the The Lowry Theatre in November.

All proceeds go to Francis House who provide invaluable care and help for so many families.

Click here for tickets

Instrumental lessons in September

If your child would like instrumental tuition in September. Please complete this Microsoft Form.

https://forms.office.com/e/zg9eJcMxCb

This includes an exciting new opportunity for 1:1 Music Production lessons.

Measles

Message from the NHS:

We are currently seeing an increase in cases of measles across Cheshire and Merseyside. Measles spreads very easily among those who are unvaccinated, especially in schools. It can cause an unpleasant illness which in some children can be very serious and lead to hospitalisation, and in rare cases can cause death. Vaccines are our best line of defence against measles and help stop outbreaks occurring in the community.

We are calling on everyone to make sure they and their children are up to date with their two MMR doses. We would be grateful if you could share the attached letter with parents, carers and staff in your setting, to help raise awareness.

If anyone is unsure about their vaccination status, or if they need to book a vaccine, they should be advised to contact their GP practice to check and book an appointment. There is no upper age limit for vaccination.

The symptoms of measles can include cold-like symptoms, sore red eyes, a high temperature and a red-brown blotchy rash. If anyone experiences these symptoms they should seek medical attention but be sure to phone ahead before visiting the GP surgery or other healthcare setting, so arrangements can be made to prevent others from being infected.

For more information about measles, see the nhs.uk website Measles – NHS

To find out more about childhood vaccinations, please visit the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/nhs-vaccinations-and-when-to-have-them/

After school PE

After school PE has finished for this year.
Thank you to everyone who has come along to the sessions, we look forward to welcoming you all back in September.

Music Co-Curricular

Choir Rehearsals June/July 2025

No Choir Wednesday 23rd July

After School Clubs

Tuesday Musical Theatre Club
Wednesday Dungeons and Dragons
Wednesday Art Club in A2 all years 3.15-4.15

Lunchtime Clubs

Monday
Art KS4 in A2
History Musical Mondays – H1
Chess Club and Rubik’s club in M5
Y7 & Y8 Code club in C2
Tuesday:
Computer Science Revision in C2
Wednesday
KS3 Art club in A1
Thursday
Year 7 Book to Film Club in E1
Art club KS4 in A1
Dance club
Friday
Easy as Pi club (maths)
Science Club S5

Community notices

Weaverham FC looking for new players

Courses supporting Parents.

Middlewich Town U15s looking for new players

Attendance

Everyone matters – so attendance matters

Upcoming dates

Mon 14^th Jul – Mission day, new Year 7 intake parents information evening 5pm
Tues 15^th July – Year 8 reports to parents, Dorigatti/Pringle (Years 7,8 & 9)
Thurs 17^th Jul – Whole School mass, Sports presentation evening 6 – 8:30pm, Art Exhibition 4-7pm in A1
Fri 18^th Jul – Years 7, 8, 9, 10 & 12 rewards trips
Mon 21^st Jul – Year 12 parents evening 4:15-7:30pm
Tue 22^nd Jul – Lucas Briscoe Rounders tournament (Year 10)
Wed 23^rd Jul – SCHOOL CLOSES – 12:30pm
Wednesday 3rd September – All students return to school

Click here for further dates

Click here to download 2024-25 Holiday Dates

Click here to download 2025-26 Holiday Dates

Click here to download 2026-27 Holiday Dates