Newsletter
December 2022
HEADTEACHERS LETTER
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are approaching the end of the Christmas term. After what has been an extremely busy and successful year for our school. Our newsletter contains just a snapshot of all the different activities and enrichment opportunities that occur within St Thomas More Catholic Academy. Further details can be found on our Twitter feed, on Facebook and on our website.
It was lovely to have the validation of our Ofsted report for our school community this term. We continue to go from strength to strength despite the challenges of the last few years. In the sometimes-negative world it is wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate the good things that we do as a school community whilst still striving to improve further and be best school possible.
Over the recent weeks, we have been preparing for Christmas through Advent; last Tuesday we held our Christmas Concert, which was a fantastic evening and the students' talents and effort shone through. I am delighted the music department is thriving and enabling students to develop and show their musical talents.
On the last day of term we are having a Christmas jumper non-uniform day to raise funds for the Father Hudson charity. As you know we have been supporting Stoke-on-Trent foodbank though advent and putting our faith into action by bringing donations into school. Thank you for your support.
The end of term sees Mrs Bradbury (AHT) and Mrs Ford (Lay Chaplain) leave us for a period of maternity leave. Congratulations to both and we look forward to hearing exciting news.
I would like to thank the governing body for all their commitment this year and every year. Mr Rob Flello continues as Chair of the governing body, with Kathleen Harrison our new Vice Chair.
I would like to wish you all a happy and holy Christmas.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mr M Rayner
Headteacher
KMF Young Engineer Of The Year
We are involved every year with a year 10 enrichment programme, and there is a different challenge, from building a racing a car to building a robot for 'robot wars'.
This year our students were involved in creating a science experiment that was launched a balloon into space.
The craft had video cameras on board which capture the view and the moment the balloon popped and returned to earth!
The students wrote a scientific report of their findings, created a video of the footage and created a presentation for the prize giving event.
There were 6 prizes; awarded for best video, best report and best photo.
St Thomas More won first prize for best Science report and brought back an impressive trophy and a drone for each student that participated.
Well done to the students involved - Sahara, Abiha, Aleena, Millie, Kaitlyn, Samuel, Raman, Jacob, Alanis, Scott, Mehak and James.
Christmas Service 2022
On Tuesday 13th December, staff, students, families and the local community, came together to celebrate and to enjoy the Christmas Service.
The audience were delighted with performances from the STM Choir, the year 9 and year 10 bands, solo pianist, solo guitarists, readings, poems and carols.
The students worked incredibly hard preparing for the concert and their hard work certainly paid.
The evening was a great success and the students should be really proud of all that they achieved.
We can't wait to see what performance will be next!!
Catholic Life
Staff Retreat
Staff across our MAC started the term with an INSET day led by Sister Judith Russi. Sister Judith reminded us of our mission within school and how we can implement more catholic social teaching within our curriculums across our community of schools.
Year 5 Retreat Day
Our Y5 students from our MAC schools visited us to take part in an Advent retreat. Students reflected on the theme advent, visited the chapel to focus on the advent wreath and the scripture for each week and also made their own prayer wreath for their schools.
Remembrance
We marked Remembrance Day by having a two-minute silence and holding a reflection in acts of worship as school community. Our wonderful art department made poppies with students which we displayed at the front of school.
Faith Leaders – Alton Castle – Staffordshire Retreat
Our faith student leaders took part in an advent training retreat at Soli House with schools across Staffordshire. We prepared for advent and had time to plan what we can do as a school community during advent. We also took part in some team building activities. Students loved taking part in archery.
Advent fundraising
Our year 7 students have been taking part in parable of the talents fundraising for Father Hudson’s Care. Students were all given £1 to go away and make it grow. Students have been extremely creative and worked well to make the £1s grow.
For advent every form has been doing a reverse advent calendar for items for the foodbank.
Y7 - Brilliant Biscuits
Y8- Twinkling Tea Bags
Y9- Bountiful Breakfasts (cereal, dried fruit, LongLife milk)
Y10- Tempting Treat (sweets and chocolates)
Y11- Sparkling Snacks (crisps, crackers, nuts etc)
Sixth Form & Staff- Terrific Tins (all tinned goods)
Community Christmas party
It was so wonderful to welcome back our community to school for our community Christmas party. We had festive afternoon tea, performances from our fantastic choir and a quiz led by our Health and Social Care students. Everybody had a festively fun time!
Exploring the Church
In year 10 RE we have been learning all about the Church, exploring the meaning and importance of the Church, as well as the architecture and features of a Catholic Church. We really enjoyed getting creative with year 10 and building our own Churches which reveal many of the important features which we have been learning about in class. To help to prepare for this, we visited our chapel to explore the features in there.
Vocations
In year 8 and 9 we have been exploring the meaning and importance of vocations and evangelism in the Catholic Church with a focus on our calling to be stewards through Catholic Social Teaching and our calling to be charitable. Year 8 and 9 have enjoyed having the opportunity to creatively express their learning through artwork this half term:
Bonjour Lille!
In the early morning of Thursday, the 1st December, St Thomas More students went on a trip to Lille, France. Students were accompanied by: Mrs Leese, Miss Kalafati, Mr Howitt, and Mr Forrester. This trip was put together by the Language faculty to help educate the students about the French language and have them put their language skills to the test. Many students have said that they enjoyed the trip and that it was an educational experience, Leah from Year 9 says: ‘It was wonderful I had so much fun hanging out with my friends’, she also commented on the scenery, describing it as beautiful. As a student who went on the trip I feel as if it was an eye-opening experience as we got to see how the language is used day to day and witness the French culture.
On the first day we went to the Christmas markets, these small stalls sold things ranging from jewellery and nativity scenes to miniature cars and hand cut vinyls. Students had the opportunity to walk around and spend. After a few hours in the market, we made our way to the Chateau where we enjoyed a Christmas dinner and played games, we then went up into the rooms that we would stay in for the night, this gave students the chance to make new friends and to learn off of one another, we spent the night having fun with friends before getting a goodnights sleep ready for the jampacked day ahead.
The next day we woke up ready for a delicious breakfast. We then got to spend time in the games room provided, this again gave students the chance to socialise and have fun in a competitive environment playing games like pool and foosball; Monalisa says ‘the games were recognisable which led to an easier interaction overall, making the trip an enjoyable experience.’ We then headed to a shopping village where we enjoyed crepes from a small stand. Zuzanna from Year 9 shared that she enjoyed the traditional pancakes. We got back onto the coach and drove to a shopping centre where we could have lunch, buy clothes and gifts alongside snacks.
Overall, I think that the trip was very educational as it got students to think about the French language and use it in a way that isn’t possible in a classroom, I also feel as if my knowledge of the French language has broadened, other students also agree and feel as if they were challenged and the French that they had learned really made the trip a better experience altogether.
Written by
Maysoon Chowdhury Year 9
Year 11 Students visit Wetley Rocks Care Home
It’s been 3 long years since the STM PE Christmas tradition was able to happen. We’re delighted to be back supporting local communities and spreading some Christmas joy with games of bingo, prizes and gifts. The Year 11 Sport Studies students had a great time.
Student Leader Spotlight
Hi, my name is Jakub. I'm one of the student leaders here at St Thomas More Catholic Academy. I decided to become a student leader because I've always had some 'leader spirit' in me. Ever since I was in primary school I always had some leadership role.
My favourite thing about being a student leader must be all the exciting opportunities that I get. So far this year there were quite a few of them such as leadership training from an external provider or me getting to deliver a leadership qualification to KS3 student leaders. All of it is amazing! I also like being a student leader because you get to learn about other people.
My advice to all students is simple 'Do your best and forget the rest' as Tony Horton says.
If I were to pick my role model then it would most likely be my teachers, especially the teachers that are in charge of different things I take part in. This is because I get to learn a lot from them and they are all amazing people that I know I can always look up to.
Personally, I think that leadership is all about guiding people to be the best version of themselves. You must also be very understanding otherwise people lose faith in you.
Lastly, it's very difficult to pick one of my favourite things about St Thomas More Catholic Academy so overall I would like to say that I like every aspect of the school.
Careers
Our first WOW week was a great success, activities encompassing every year group taking place throughout the week. The week started with an inspirational guest speaker: World Champion In-line skater, Jenna Downing. speaking to years 7,8,9, and 10 students during the day. Jenna is the LG Action Sports World Champion, a 10 x British Champion and is a X-Games silver medallist. A natural competitor, Jenna has competed in rollerblading events since the age of 8 and has amassed a lifetime of awards competing across the globe in televised and major international events. She spoke to students about what it truly meant to ‘Aspire to be More’; realising that there is no limit to what you can achieve and we all need to ‘dream big’ and be bold in our expectations.
We were excited to introduce Year 7 to the ‘World of Work’ (WoW) through a workshop with alumni and older students, exploring the question: ‘What Can I do Today to Make my Future Great?’ These involved alumni including; Nathan ‘The Hitman’ Heaney, a professional boxer; an apprentice hairdresser and a Sentinel journalist, sharing their memories at St Thomas More, and their inspiring career successes, since leaving our school.
Inspiring older students shared their top tips for ‘What can we do today?’: Jakub, a Year 10 student leader and Careers Ambassador, spoke about his Career pathway planning on Unifrog, research into careers in aviation, and Year 11 Student McKenzie discussed his preparation for an Apprenticeship as a Paramedic, by volunteering and training with St Johns Ambulance.
Uni-connect led a talk about Further Education and ‘Opportunities in the Arts’ with Year 9. Lucy Harding, shared her career as an Artist and related opportunities. A fun Unifrog Careers themed Escape Room activity, completed the WoW week, for all KS3 Honours students testing their teamwork, puzzle solving, resilience and logic skills, whilst improving knowledge of careers and building transferrable skills necessary for both success at school and in the World of Work.
Whilst exploring careers in construction, aspiring architects, builders and surveyors in years 10 and 11 enjoyed a brilliant and useful day visiting St Modwen’s. We enjoyed a tour of the construction site: this was a chance to explore the machinery and methods used in preparing, building and finishing the site ready for use. We then enjoyed meeting the Project Managers and employees on the site to discuss their roles and career pathways and ask questions about Careers in Construction.
Students were invited individually on the trip as they had been identified as having an interest in these Careers, through the research and work they had done planning their career pathways on Unifrog.
Unifrog is our Careers platform which ensures every student in our school has access to personalised Careers information, a place to identify, and record, their post-16 destination plan and future career aspirations, and ensure that they are preparing and recording the necessary skills and activities to create CVs, Applications for apprenticeships, colleges and Universities. Most importantly this allows students to be independent, to empower them to research and discover careers and skills that will motivate them to achieve their dreams in the future and their best results at school today.
Career Ready Graduation
Our Successful yr13 Graduates of the Career Ready programme enjoyed a celebratory evening with their mentors, families and friends, receiving their certificates and giving speeches, re-living their internships, mentoring experiences and celebrating their growth and achievements on the programme. It is always impressive to see the students progress into employment, and become Career Ready.
Career Ready London visit
During our final week of term we will be running our WOW week for Year 11. During this week students will receive their first mock exam results before re-visiting their plans for post 16 education and training. We will be hosting speakers from our own sixth form, local colleges and apprenticeship providers to ensure that every student has all of the correct information to make the right decision for them. Students will also have the opportunity to meet with an independent Careers Advisor, professionals from local colleges and universities, and Trainer who will help to link them up to an apprenticeship.
Could you contribute to our careers programme?
There are many levels of support that we would welcome dependent on how much time you are able to spare. A Q&A session about your career journey for a class or year group can often be the spark that sets students off on a path of discovery, a mentor that helps students to appreciate the value of education, an employer visit for a small group of interested students or a work experience placement for Year 10 or 12 student. If you would like to discuss supporting our programme please do contact us either via the main school office or via email vkerr@stmca.org.uk We would also welcome any support on our linked in account. https://www.linkedin.com/company/st-thomas-more-catholic-academy/about/
STM SCHOOL OF ROCK….
During this winter half term, we have had a fantastic volunteer (Dave Rodgers) run a Rock School programme alongside Miss Findlator (Music teacher). This programme consists of band musicianship tutorials in drums, bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, keyboard and vocals. Our BTEC Music students, as well as some enthusiastic and talented year 9 students, have been encouraged to learn new musical styles and riffs together. The students have been learning Christmas songs for the upcoming Christmas concert on the 13th of December and have performed on ‘Arts on Angels’.
MUSIC EXCELLENCE RETREAT AT STANLEY HEAD…..
On the 18th of November the Music department took the choir and some students from the Rock School Programme to a retreat at the Stanley Head outdoor centre. Students worked exceptionally hard learning and rehearsing pieces for both the Christmas concert and the Christmas light switch on in Longton.
On the 19th of November, after a long day and night at Stanley head the choir performed at the Longton Lights switch on, where they sang 6 carols beautifully in front of the Longton locals, friends and family. Well done to all students who performed.
The Jeff RICH DRUM MASTER CLASS……
St Thomas More had the very talented Jeff Rich (the former drummer from Status Quo) come in and deliver a fantastic drum workshop with year 7 and students from the Rock school on Monday the 21st November. The session was incredibly engaging and interactive. Students learned about the history of different kinds of drums and were given a chance to play percussion along side Jeff as he played his drum set. It was an exciting and enjoyable time for everyone involved.
Language Faculty at St Thomas More Catholic Academy
Bedrock Brainiacs rewarded with Books!
Year 7 and 8 students have made excellent progress in their Bedrock lessons this term, developing their reading, writing and oracy skills through an immersive vocabulary curriculum, whilst exploring a range of fiction and non-fiction texts.
During Bedrock lessons, students are given the opportunity to visit the library or to bring a book of their own choice; encouraging a love of reading.
Those who have gone above and beyond in these lessons have been rewarded with a special visit to our library book vending machine.
Students will continue to be rewarded with further opportunities to visit the book vending machine, helping to widen their reading choices.
Keep up the good work and "Aspire to read more" Year 7 and 8!
English Speaking Board (ESB) Assessments help St Thomas More Students Become Confident Speakers!
Students from Years 7 and 8 underwent their English Speaking Board examinations in July of this year. We are extremely proud of how students rose to the challenge of preparing and learning their different talk topics. Students’ hard work and dedication paid off. 100% of students who took their assessments passed, with many students reaching the highest grade of Distinction.
In Year 7, students wrote and presented a curriculum talk on the subject they enjoyed the most. They also created and presented a mock news report about a topical issue. Finally, they presented a convincing argument on a topic of their choice.
In Year 8, students learnt and presented poem by heart, a challenging task that they met with dedication and enthusiasm. They also read from and presented a personal interest talk on a topic of their choice. Many students chose to speak about their hobbies and interests, including playing the guitar, Polish culture and history, horse-riding and Middle-Eastern fashion.
In 2023, the current Year 7 will be taking their assessments in the Spring term.
Similar to the assessment structure in Year 8 this year, they will: read two pages from Treasure Island (students are practising this in class and will take a prepared booklet home after Christmas so that they can practice at home). In January they will also choose either a poem or song lyrics from a specially collated Anthology and learn this by heart, ready to recite in their assessment.
Students will present a personal interest talk on a topic of their choice. All three tasks will take approximately 15 minutes to complete on the day.
During the assessment, students will be together in small groups of no more than ten students. Though nerves are a normal part for most students before an assessment, the ESB examiners are expert at putting students at their ease and helping them to achieve their best. Many commented this year that they enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about interesting topics.
Another way to minimise assessment nerves is to practise consistently at home before the assessment day, which is why Year 7 students have been set homework currently to learn their speeches. ESB Homework will expand in January to include learning and reciting their chosen poem and reading from their Treasure Island extracts. Students can of course, practise independently, but any audience that can be provided at home by friends and family will help students to become more comfortable speaking in front of others and less nervous on the day.
French Cinema Experience at Saint Thomas More Catholic Academy
At Saint Thomas More Catholic Academy, we have the wonderful opportunity to promote the love of languages through culture and love of cinematography. Year 7 students were treated to a screen adaptation of the famous French book by René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempré, the petit Nicolas. The movie was streamed in French with English subtitles, immersing students in this beautifully styled, deliciously sweet and funny film of this mischievous French schoolchild. The movie was accompanied by French pastries that the students could enjoy.
The movie was an opportunity to extend students’ learning with a quiz about the adventures of the young Nicolas and the winner of the quiz won a homemade basket of French delicacies.
The cinema experience is one of many cultural and linguistic approaches that we want to engage with and develop across the academic year.
Treasure Island
Our Year 7 students have started their first term at St Thomas More Catholic Academy studying the classic novel, Treasure Island in English. This is a city-wide initiative which has been launched through the English Excellence Project, focusing on raising standards and expectations of reading in Stoke-on-Trent. The students started to study Treasure Island in Year 6, focusing on the first half of the text and then continued their study into KS3, ensuring a smooth transition in English. St Thomas More Catholic Academy has had a role in the development of the schemes of learning and we feel that this has hugely impacted the transition for our students starting in September. The Year 7 students have radiated enthusiasm when studying this text and have thoroughly enjoyed learning a childhood classic.
Young Writer’s Competition
This term our Key Stage 3 students are being challenged to a competition where they will be tasked with writing an exciting and unique mini saga. The Young Writer’s competitions are always a success among students and many students find their true love of creative writing through exploring the mini saga genre. The lucky winners will have their story published, alongside a cash prize. This years competition is based around writing with numbers, to attract mathematicians and creative minds alike. We look forward to announcing the winners and cannot wait to see what fantastic stories our students create this year. Good luck to all KS3 students!
A Christmas Carol
The theatre troupe MANACTCO returned to our school on Tuesday 6th December to treat our students to an outstanding production of A Christmas Carol. This provided the students with a spectacular live theatre experience. Moreover, it also helped to secure pupils’ understanding of the plot of the novella, developing their knowledge of key themes and characters. Pupils participated in a question and answer session following the performance, helping to consolidate their understanding of this important GCSE text.
Maths Department
Within the Maths department this Autumn Term we have had many amazing opportunities for students as well as brilliant results from internal programmes such as Pet-XI and Basics training.
Numeracy
Year 7-9 Students complete Numeracy Ninjas during form time to test both their numerical skill and time management. Each year group currently has a diverse set of questions - over the 3 years - with a wide variety of numeracy skills tested and, over time, their scores should improve, allowing them to achieve higher coloured belts in their Ninja programme.
Mr Moore has also introduced new form time activities for both year 10 and Y11 students to increase their mathematical thinking on puzzle questions as well as promote brilliant discussions from real-world issues.
Chess
Chess is continuing to run every lunch time in room 141.
This year there have been plenty of new faces and we are operating at nearly max capacity. The students have also taken part this year in the Junior Chess Problem Solving competition.
Additionally, we will once again be welcoming Jonathan Blackburn to STMCA to run another Chess Masterclass on 15th February.
Rising Stars
Members of the Maths department have been working closely with Rising Stars students to broaden their understanding and work on exam techniques. Students in years 7 to 10 have the opportunity in smaller groups on a Thursday morning form time working on specific skills to enhance and boost their maths progress. They are also offered careers advice during this time and can work on their Unifrog profiles to enhance their soft skills.
Pet-Xi
Our Y7 pupils had the amazing opportunity to work with maths experts from the Pet-Xi team on a three day Mathematics bootcamp. Students spend three full days working through key mathematical concepts that they may have missed in prior years due to being away from Primary school during the pandemic. Well done to all the year 7 who completed this workshop and we look forward to welcoming Pet-Xi into the school in the future for more brilliant workshops.
What is upcoming in the Maths Department?
Chess Events:
Jonathan Blackburn Masterclass – 15th February 2023. Honours Masterclass with Welsh Chess Champion!
Hegarty Heroes
Here are the Hegarty Heroes for each year so far this half term. Well done for continuing to exceed out of school within home learning – your efforts will pay off!
Honours Programme & Rising Stars
Honours Programme
The Honours Programme 2022/23 launched in October 2022 with an event in the Auditorium with Honours students and their families. Honours students were selected for the programme because they have demonstrated high performance at Key Stage 2, showed high attainment or progress through baseline assessments at St Thomas More Catholic Academy or demonstrated dedication and engagement with the Honours Programme in 2021/22.
‘The Honours Programme’ is a specialised programme for most able students which will be fundamental in securing excellent outcomes for students at Key Stage 4 and 5. The Honours Programme builds upon key skills for most able students such as Growth Mindset, leadership, extended careers advice and guidance to nurture ambition for the future, as well as offering a wealth of challenging educational opportunities. Students have access to weekly Honours Masterclasses in the style of University lectures on a broad range of exciting topics including Sociolinguistics, Geology Rocks, Medical Physics and British Designers. These sessions have been very well attended this term, and continue every Wednesday in the New Year.
Honours students have been involved in two workshops this term, including a Careers session and a Study Skills Workshop run by external provider 'Elevate Education'. They have also had the opportunity to enter the first of 5 half termly competitions in English; all details are on the Honours Team.
Following the Assessment fortnight in January 2023, Honours students will be mentored through Academic Support Tutorials to accelerate their progress across subjects.
The Honours Programme has had a high impact on students’ progress at STMCA since it launched in January 2019. Students who engage with the Honours Programme not only accelerate their progress across subjects but better equip themselves with key skills and experience to set themselves apart from their peers in a competitive post-16 environment.
Rising Stars
86 students have been involved in the first wave of the Rising Stars Programme this term. They have two workshops a week which include a progress and careers session on Thursdays, and a subject session on a Friday, rotating between Maths, English, Science and RE. Rising Stars students have demonstrated excellent commitment this term, and will continue on the programme until the assessment fortnight in January 2023. Following this, Rising Stars students who have shown high engagement will be invited on a reward event on 16th February 2023.
Honours: English Writing Competition
This year at St Thomas More Catholic Academy, all of our Honours students have been given the opportunity to take part in a global competition: The Six Word Wonder. A Six Word Wonder is a story, memoir, poem, or joke, told in only six words. The ambition of the contest is to encourage everyone to experiment with the six word format, and hopefully discover fresh new stories, poems, memoirs, and jokes. From the school, the seven best entries will receive a £10 gift voucher. If students are successful in the competition, the winner will be: named Six Word Wonder 2023, published in a future Six Word Wonder series book and win a cash prize of £100. We look forward to the entries as well as announcing the school winners of the Six Word Wonder competition.
Scholars Programme Trips
University of Manchester – The Brilliant Club Scholars Programme.
02nd November 2022
As part of the Scholars Programme the students were given the opportunity to experience life as a student in the University of Manchester as well as workshops in study techniques and hints / tips which will support the students through the Scholars Programme tutorials and assignments.
University College, University of Oxford.
10th November 2022
STMCA Scholars students attended a day at University College, University of Oxford which they were seen as an Oxford University student for the day. They were given an introduction to University College, Campus Tour, Meal in the Great Hall and two subject taster sessions before making the journey home.
Year 10 GCSE Fine Art students have been exploring the qualities of clay and ceramics, making vessels inspired by sealife and being inspired by many different ceramists. These will be glazed in the spring term, once they are fired.
Year 10 GCSE Photography students have been investigating cameraless photography. They made their own camera obscuras from pringles tubes, which they then took photographs with and developed in an environmentally friendly developing solution called Caffenol. Made with mainly coffee and washing soda crystals, it works in a very similar way to the harsh chemicals but is much kinder to the environment. The developed result is a negative image that is a brown colour that can then be edited be colour reversed to look black. Hopefully you can see that this is a photograph of a skull with horns.
The cyanotype process has also been a topic. This is where photographs are created by placing images on top of light sensitive papers, we added UV light to the process because the sunlight is not very strong at the moment. It was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1841, this simple process produces a continuous tone image of Prussian Blue using a sensitizing solution of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide.
BCB Ceramics ‘Clay Club’ is BACK!
The wonderful artists from the British Ceramics Biennial are back in school this year to work with any student, any year group who is interesting in developing skills in and improving their knowledge and understanding of clay, where it is from and how it directly affects us in Stoke-on-Trent. The club takes place every Wednesday 3.20-4.30 in the art department. Everyone is welcome to join in. Currently students are creating Christmas lanterns using slab building techniques.
Students and staff were invited to the art department to create a decorative Remembrance Poppy. Many beautiful poppies were created using painted paper plates, which were then decorated using black and white oil pastels and pens. They were then laminated and attached to canes.
Merry Christmas from the Business and Computing department!
We have two new clubs that will be run in the New Year:
Stock Market Club
Who wants to be the Lion of Longton Hall Road?
Students will get the chance to play the virtual stock market investing money into businesses from around the world and seeing if they can turn their shrewd investments into a profit. Students will gain an understanding of the stock market learning the factors which affect the rise and fall of stock prices.
How it works?
Each participant will get £100,000 of virtual money to purchase whatever stocks they see and then buy and sell over the month aiming to make as much profit as possible. There will be monthly prizes on offer for the best performing portfolios each month.
DRONE CLUB!
Performance Faculty at STMCA
Year 8 Football
The Y8 STM football team entered the city 5 a side competition in November and narrowly missed out on a semi final place, putting in some strong performances.
Year 11 Stanley Head
The Y11 Sports Studies students were on their orienteering trip to Stanley Head at the end of October to complete part of their learning objective 4 assessment for the outdoor unit they are currently completing as part of their GCSE Sport Studies qualification.
Under 16 Netball Team
The U16 STM girls Netball team participated in the city competition in October. With many Y11 girls attending parents evening it was great to see some of the younger students step into support the team.
Year 9 Partnership Games
A massive well done to the y9 STM partnership games students for achieving a gold award recently. The STM team also achieved the most points from any school in the city. Well done to all who participated.
Dance Club
This Dance club ran by Mrs Nutbeem has see a range of younger students attending and developing basic sequences and motifs.
Year 9 /10 Athletics
November was a busy month of sport at STM. Our year 9/10 students were in the sports hall athletics, where several medals were achieved
Year 7 Partnership Games
This November our new year 7’s loved their first experience of the city’s partnership games coming away with a Silver medal. Well done to all who participated.
Year 8 Partnership Games
In September and October STM have been involved in the Y8 Partnership Games. This has given a range of students the opportunity to be involved in competitive sports activities.
Under 15 Football Team
U15 STM football team have been involved in county cup action this term and also in the city league competition putting in strong performances in all games.
Year 7 Athletics Team
Well done to the Y7 STM Sports hall athletics team. They attended the competition in November with several students achieving winning medals. Great work and well done to all of the team.
Year 8 Girls Football
The Y8 girls participated in the city girls 5 a side competition in very rain swept conditions and battled well in the difficult conditions.
Year 8 Indoor Athletics
Well done to the STM Y8 Indoor Athletics team who participated in the City Indoor Athletics competition in October. A great team effort where the squad all worked well together and individually.
Under 14 Netball Team
An amazing effort from our U14 STM Netball squad in October where we finished runners up in the city Netball competition, very narrowly missing out on the city title that we won last year.
Year 9 Football Team
The STM Y9 five a side football team competed at the city school’s competition in November. We narrowly missed out on qualifying for the semi finals having won 3 out of 4 group games. Fine margins! Well done to the team for some great performances.
Year 11 Performing Arts
The Y11 GCSE Performing Arts students have been practicing their key skills. In preparation for their unit assessments in the new year. It is great to see such talented students working with Mrs Nutbeem.
SEND
Parent Clinics
This term has again seen many of our parents attend our Special Educational Needs consultation clinics. These clinics are for parents whose children have Special Educational Needs and offer an opportunity for them to come along and speak to their child’s Point of Contact (Key Worker) to discuss how things are going at school any problems they may be experiencing. It is a chance for parents and the SEND team to discuss and plan the best way forward for their child, in collaboration with one another. These are informal meetings over a cup of tea and biscuit and every parent who has come along so far has given very positive feedback. If you are yet to attend a meeting and would like to set a date - please get in touch.
Prince’s Trust Sessions
It has been a busy term in the Prince’s Trust lessons. Many students in Year 10 have enjoyed the unit on ‘Teamwork’ in which they participated in team games through which they developed skills essential for college, the workplace and adulthood. Here, the students participated in a game where they were blindfolded. This helped them to understand the value of trust in a team as well as active listening. Here, students had to rely on methods of communication other than speaking which highlighted the value of mutual respect and developed their problem-solving abilities.
Students studying this course have also been cooking up some culinary delights! Check out these tasty treats! All in the name of independence and preparation for independent living. Now there’s no excuse for not helping out at home now!
Our Year 11 students are thinking ahead to post-16 training and as part of this, they are exploring many of the door that are open to them. They had a special question and answer session and tour of the workplace of our very own Site Manager – Mr Kirkham. Mr Kirkham explained the details of his job to the students including what a day in his job is really like, how to get into property management and the advantages and disadvantages of this career path. One of our students is now considering this line of study and will be visiting Stoke on Trent College very soon to find out more about pursuing this career path. Thank you for the inspiration, Mr Kirkham!
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday 3rd January - School returns for all students
Wednesday 4th January - Key Stage 3 & Year 10 Family Revision Session
Monday 9th January - Outward Bound Trip
Tuesday 10th January - Chaplaincy Meeting
Wednesday 11th January - Parent Partnership Meeting
Thursday 12th January - Sixth Form Parents Evening (online)
Monday 16th January - Year 7 -10 & Year 12 Assessment Week 1
Monday 23rd January - Year 7 -10 & Year 12 Assessment Week 2
Thursday 9th February - Year 9 Parents Evening (online)
Thursday 16th February - Year 10 Parents Evening (online)
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