Newsletter 28.04.23

Message from Headteacher Mr C Burns

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a real pleasure to meet your children since my arrival here last Wednesday. I have been impressed with the calm and purposeful atmosphere around school, how keen our young people are to make a difference and the wealth of ideas they have to improve their school.

There have been some fabulous highlights for me this week: hearing from a Year 11 student about her karate success; the Year 10 boys winning the Cheshire Cup; joining Year 11 at Hymn practice in preparation for their Leavers’ Mass next week; listening to Year 13 students about their thoughts on the sixth form dress code, and then spending time with some of our young people at mini-Dash where we prayed and reflected together with other young people, their Chaplains and Headteachers. Some wonderful moments – I am looking forward to many more!

I am blessed to have been appointed as the new Headteacher of St. Nicholas and look forward to meeting you in due course.

Have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

Mr C Burns

Headteacher

Message from our Chaplain Mairie

Once a term there is an opportunity for students from all our Catholic high schools and sixth form colleges to come together to share experiences and learn about our faith. This term we were pleased to visit St Ambrose College in Altrincham for a day hosted by the Shrewsbury Youth Mission Team.

Here is a report from our students:

Wednesday we went on a trip to St Ambrose College and met with all the Catholic secondary schools in our Diocese. It was an amazing day where we got to meet lots of other young people from our Catholic community. We reflected on the upcoming festival of Pentecost.

We started with an icebreaker activity where we had a chance to talk to the other schools. Then we designed and made some cards to send out to people who may be isolated and are living in our parish areas to offer comfort and support. I think that we made well over two hundred cards to be sent throughout the Shrewsbury Diocese.

Afterwards, we made paper lanterns as a symbol of how we ‘share our light’. We reflected on our own gifts and talents and symbolised letting our light shine. They are going to hang in our chapel.

At the end, the Headteachers from all the schools joined us as we took part in a time of prayer with readers from each school telling the story of Pentecost. We wrote how we were going to spread God’s love and, with that spirit, we returned to school ready to shine.

Sporting Success – Year 10 Football

U15 Emberton Cup Winners!!

The Year 10 football team played St James Catholic High School in the final of the Cheshire Cup on Wednesday 26^th April at Middlewich Town FC.

In sunny conditions the spectators turned out in big numbers to watch both sides compete for the prestigious Cheshire Cup. St Nicholas started the game well and dominated possession in the first 20 minutes. Unable to find a breakthrough, St James worked their way back into the game and had a few chances of their own. 0-0 at half time, it was going to be a close game with both sides struggling to create a clear opportunity. Early in the second half it was St James who managed to get through the defence and make it 1-0. St Nicholas reacted well and showed their character once again and with less than 10 minutes to go made it 1-1. Penalties it was! Finlay made a great save in the St Nicholas goal and it was down to the final penalty. Pedro calmly stepped up and placed the ball in the corner to win the Cheshire Cup for St Nicholas. This a phenomenal achievement and the boys should be proud of themselves.

Mr Cotton

Sporting Success – Álvaro Martin-Timson

A huge well done to Álvaro Martin-Timson who has been selected to play for Sale Sharks U17s next season.

Congratulations and we look forward to hearing of all your future successes.

Sporting Success – Mikey Lawson

Mikey Lawson has been offered a full time scholarship for Chester FC. This is an amazing achievement.

On Saturday, he also travelled to Middlesbrough and represented Cheshire School Boys in the Northern Counties Semi Final against Cleveland Schools. They won 2-0 progressing through to the final. Mikey scored the first goal and was awarded Man of the Match.

Mikey is showing firm commitment and dedication to his sport. Well done!

Sporting Success – Martha Nicholl

Martha Nicholl – gymnastics

After a tough few weeks with a broken foot Martha and her trio had their first competition on Saturday in Newport South Wales where they came first in their group.

Well done Martha and team!

World Maths Day

This week a number of St Nicholas students took part in the MEM and Senior Maths Challenges.

All participants will get a certificate and the following students have won a special prize

Best in School – Alex Simmons
Best in Year 7 – Chloe Chui
Best in Year 8 – Alex Simmons
Best in Year 9 – Cameron Bagshaw
Best Form – 8 John Paul

Here is the break down of their results along with how they ranked in their year group across the country and across the world. It is definitely worth noting that Alex Simmons who won best in School was also in the top 75 in year 8 across the UK and within the top 350 in the year across the world.

MEM Challenge/Senior Challenge

In addition, some students entered in to the above Maths challenge which tested their ability to communicate their problem solving skills in an effective way.

We had entries from students in years 7-10 and 2 of these have come out with the following prizes and an invitation to the Prize Giving evenings at the University of Liverpool in May. A big well done for taking part to all students who entered! Certificates will be given to Year leaders to give out in Assembly.

MEM Challenge – Alex Simmons – Best in school and Certificate of Merit
MEM Senior Challenge – Megan Simmons – Best in school and Certificate of Merit

Ewa Bednarz – George Bunby – Ka Lai Fong – Lily Howard – Andrew Louis Licardo – Martha Nicholl – Jago Quilliam – Emily Saji – Maisie Sharman – Alex Simmons – Luca Cairnduff – Edward Cranmer-Gordon – Lisa Davies – Amelia Fitzgerald – Sinead Garrard – Lucy Riddell – Megan Simmons – Edward Smalley -Alexie Thomas – Naomi Woodyatt

Chemistry trip to TATA Chemicals

Six Year 12 Chemistry students returned to TATA Chemicals Ltd to present their Carbon Footprint project. They were challenged to find out what our school’s carbon footprint is and to come up with ways to decrease it in order to help reduce the effect of climate change on the planet. They worked hard together as a group to prepare, and they delivered an excellent presentation in front of a panel of experts which included the MD of TATA Chemicals Ltd. They received lots of praise for their effort and presentation skills. The panel was impressed with their innovative ideas and our students have been encouraged to try to get some of these ideas implemented in our school. Congratulations to Wiktoria Dziobak, Anthony Hopley, Angelin Jim, Adarsh Joju, Joren Law and Richie Priestley.

PTFA News

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Car Boot fundraiser last Saturday morning – we really appreciate it.

Your school lottery
This week’s jackpot winning number is: 957014 – one of our supporters won £12.60 in the draw! 😀 🎉

If you haven’t signed up yet visit our lottery: https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/lottery/school/st-nicholas-catholic-high-school

Library and Literacy

Reading for pleasure boosts GCSE and A level results.

It’s that time of year again. Our GCSE and A-level students will soon be off on study leave to revise for the up-and-coming exams. Whilst they ramp up the revision, it’s natural that some hobbies and leisure activities will take a back seat until the exam period is over. There is one pastime, however, that they can continue to enjoy guilt free………Reading for pleasure.

You may be tempted to confront your teenager when you see them curled up with their favourite fiction to ask them why they’re not reading Othello or An Inspector Calls. Before you do, consider the following findings.

According to a study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), teens who read for pleasure for at least 30 minutes a day performed significantly better in reading, mathematics, and science compared to those who did not read for pleasure (OECD, 2010).
A study conducted by the National Literacy Trust found that teens who read for pleasure scored an average of 67 points higher in their GCSE exams compared to those who rarely or never read (National Literacy Trust, 2019).
The Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London found that the vocabulary scores of teens who read for pleasure were around 26% higher than those who did not (Sullivan & Brown, 2013).

Revision breaks are important for memory consolidation, reducing stress and improving productivity. What better way for your child to take a break than to relax with their favourite book.

Hayfever tablets

If your child suffers from hayfever, please ensure that they take their antihistamine tablets in the morning before school.

Unfortunately the school is unable to supply hayfever tablets.

HPV vaccines

If your child missed their HPV vaccination the nursing team will get in touch with you.

Industrial Action

Thank you for your support during the Industrial action on Thursday. Also thank you to all our students who participated and worked hard.

Please note that a second industrial action is planned for Tuesday 2nd May.

The school will be partially open

Years 11, 12 and 13 will be on site

Years 7,8,9 and 10 will be learning from home.

Please click here to read Mr Burns’ letter.

Boys’ and Girls’ After School Sports

There are no clubs next week – any changes will be on the school Facebook and Twitter sites.

Lunchtime and after school clubs

Wednesday lunch – Dungeons and Dragons Club in B2Wednesday 3.15pm-4.15pm Dungeons and Dragons Club in B1Wednesday lunch – week 1 – Book Club in the LibraryWednesday 3.15-5pm Chamber Choir in the HallWednesday 3.15-4.15 GCSE Spanish Speaking Revision Club in L1Wednesday lunch – Year 10 Badminton/Table Tennis in Sports Hall (MA)Wednesday lunch – lunch – iMedia Support for Year 11 in C2Thursday lunch – String Group in 1MThursday lunch – Chess Club in M5Thursday lunch – Art Club in A2Thursday lunch – Year 11 Badminton/Table Tennis in Sports Hall (NJS/JC)Thursday lunch – Programming revision for Year 11 in C2Thursday 3.15-4.15 – Orchestra
Friday Lunch – Easy As Pi Maths Club in M1Friday Lunch ‘Everyone Aloud’ 1MFriday lunch – Art Club in A2Friday lunch – iMedia Support for Year 11 in C2Friday lunch- 6th Form Football in Sports Hall (NJS/MA)

Upcoming Dates

Monday 1^st May – BANK HOLIDAY
Tuesday 2nd May – Industrial Action
Tuesday 2^nd May – PTFA Meeting 6.00-7.00pm
Thursday 4^th May – Year 11 Leavers Mass 6pm
Monday 8th May – BANK HOLIDAY
Friday 26^th May – SCHOOL CLOSES

June

Monday 5^thJune – SCHOOL REOPENS
Friday 23^rd June – INSET DAY

July
Thursday 20^th July – SCHOOL CLOSES

For future dates click here

Click here to download 2023-24 Holiday Dates

Attendance

Everyone matters – so attendance matters

Facebook and Twitter

Follow St Nicholas on Facebook and Twitter for updates and insight into what is going on in school.

Newsletter 28.04.23