Newsletter
March 2024
Headteachers Welcome
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are approaching the end of a very busy Easter term, throughout which I am again proud to say that all of our students have been working incredibly hard.
Students in years 11 and 13 are approaching the final push within their journey towards public examinations in the summer term. I have been very impressed by the independence and determination of our year 11 and year 13 students and of course we will continue to support them and keep them in our prayers as they move into the examination period.
It is wonderful to see so many extracurricular and enrichment activities taking place within and across the academy, from Geography trips to PSHE sessions, and retreat days to student leadership conferences. These opportunities allow students so much extra learning and development; I am grateful to all our staff who run these activities, some of which are within this newsletter and who never fail to seek new ways to engage and support our students beyond their classroom learning.
Admissions into year 7 for 2024-25 are significantly over subscribed: in fact, we will be holding two days of appeals after half term due to the number of parents who are committed to wanting their child to be part of our St Thomas More community. Year 12 applications have also considerably risen, with over 100 applications to St Thomas More. This is great news as it has allowed us to expand our curriculum offer and the courses that we run. These applications and appeals are testament to the hard work and collaborative partnership which underpins St Thomas More and makes me proud to be the Headteacher.
We continue to improve the facilities within school. There will be further investment in the ICT infrastructure over the Easter holidays. Finally, we have prepared thoroughly for Easter throughout Lent as demonstrated in this newsletter. The MAC Stations of the Cross event took place on Thursday 21st March and was a beautiful evening which allowed us to reflect on our mission, and come together as a community.
Following such a busy and eventful term, I would like to wish you and your families a happy and holy Easter, and look forward to welcoming our students back for the summer term.
Mr M Rayner
Headteacher
Catholic Life
Light Fever
The Light Fever Adoration takes place in the Chapel. Students actively participate in the adoration of the blessed sacrament every Wednesday during lunch time.
Live Simply Gardening
Students have been taking part in a live simply gardening project. The students are currently sowing the seeds to create their own prayer garden.
Parable of the Talents
All Year 7 students have been given £1 to use to raise money for Father Hudson's Care. We have seen some amazing things around school so far, we can't wait to see the results!
Stations of the Cross
On Thursday 21st March, St Thomas More hosted a Stations of the Cross event for staff, students, the parish and the local community.
The evening was a wonderful success with over one hundred participants following a candle lit procession with Father David leading. Thank you to Father David and Lay Chaplin Prudence for all their support in making this event a such a joyful evening.
RE Department
Year 4 Lenten Retreat
Students from the MAC Primary Schools were welcomed to STM to reflect on the Holy Season of Lent. The session was delivered by the RE Team and gave students the opportunity to reflect on the events of Holy Week and the Stations of the Cross. Y4 reported that they particularly enjoyed touring the grounds of St Thomas More, as well as spending time in the RE department creating Holy Week story stones. A fantastic morning was enjoyed by all!
Philosophy Film Club
During the spring term, our film club have watched and discussed two films; Soul, Jack and The Prince of Egypt.
These films have given us the opportunity to reflect and think deeply about our life. For example in Jack, we discussed how we may live our life differently if we aged 4 times faster than usual.
Our students all said that the biggest concern would be missing our on your full childhood and not getting a chance to live your life fully.
Institute of Philosophy Tutoring
A selection of GCSE and A Level students have received 10 hours of tutoring from Glenn Skelhorn, from The Thinker, in partnership with the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
Students have grappled with key philosophical dilemmas such as metaphysics, epistemology and political philosophy. It has been an excellent opportunity for students to broaden their understanding of the world and they live in and explore big ideas that students study in A Level RS and further academic study.
Students are due to graduate from this 10 hour course in the next few weeks, providing evidence for further study and UCAS and employment applications.
Year 12 Visit from Father David
Our Y12 A level Religious Studies students were extremely lucky to be visited by Father David this week to discuss the nature of God. Students are currently completing learning in Christianity around how we describe God and the justifications for these claims.
We discussed the reliability of the language we use to describe God and the cultural, scriptural and theological evidence for the words we use.
It was great to hear students' own beliefs and ideas, as well as the insight of Father David to help develop knowledge and understanding for our A level students.
A hot drink also helped to promote theological thinking!
English Department
International Women’s day 2024
Inspire and Include
In honour of International Women’s day this year, some year 10 students created a speech and a poem to empower and educate students on the importance of equality and inclusion.
The students worked extremely hard on this performance, bringing in the difficulty of modern TikTok beauty standards and inspiring our students to stand against prejudice and unrealistic expectations.
Fantastic work to the girls in spreading an extremely positive and inspiring message.
National Literacy Trust Champions
On Tuesday 20th February a group of 13 pupils from year 7&8 volunteered to take part in a session to become Trained National Literacy Champions in St Thomas More. The session was delivered by staff from the National Literacy Trust, Stoke and involved thinking of ways to promote a love of reading within the school and the local community.
Students were also informed of some amazing hub activities which take place across the city throughout the year and how they can become involved.
Students came up with some incredible ideas that we will certainly try to implement in our school.
I’m sure you will agree this was a great opportunity for those students taking part and will help to boost literacy within the school.
Furthermore because of the training they received they can now lead on projects within their school setting to boost literacy among their peers.
Students were also informed that the training could be added to UNIFROG their online careers portal.
Poetry Live – January 2024
Year 10 and 11 students were invited to take part in the Poetry Live trip at the Manchester Opera House. Students benefited from live poetry readings from some of the poets they are currently studying, as part of their GCSE English Literature Power & Conflict scheme. There was also the opportunity to take part in Q&A sessions with the poets and an AQA examiner. Poets included: the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Imtiaz Dharker and John Agard.
This was a fantastic opportunity for students to see poetry being read aloud and performed, bringing to life the texts they are studying in preparation for exams. John Agard was a particular favourite, as his passion and enthusiasm for his poetry was incredible to watch.
World Book Day 2024
For World Book Day this year, all students were invited to a Book Bistro Event ran by Mrs Emberson where students were able to explore all of the wonderful texts on offer in the library and enter the World Book Day competition. Also, all Year 7 and 8 students were given the opportunity to enter the Reading Raffle with a chance to win an Amazon voucher. This competition was aimed at encouraging conversations between teachers and students about reading for pleasure. Finally, the Honours students in Years 7 and 8 had a Book Review event where they had the chance to create a Reading List of new texts and discuss their favourite books with their peers.
Year 7 Poetry Competition
Our Year 7 students have taken part in the latest Young Writers poetry competition: Through Their Eyes. Students were asked to explore a range of perspectives and poetic voice. They then decided on a chosen perspective they felt connected to. These varied from the perspective of a refugee to an animal in crisis or a child with a dream. Students created some fantastic poems and showed wonderful enthusiasm for their chosen perspective, including researching ideas at home. The top 3 winning students will win £50 and a trophy and other entries will be published in a book. We are awaiting the results of the competition, but we are already planning a book launch in anticipation for our amazing authors to showcase their great efforts. Well done to all who took part.
International Mother Tongue Day
To celebrate international mother language day on Wednesday 21st February the school canteen prepared a special dish to represent the food of a different country/language each day of the week.
On Wednesday 21st February, some KS4 linguists also visited year 7 forms to lead a prayer in their mother language
Maths Department
Within the Maths department this Spring Term we have had some great opportunities for students within all year groups. Although it has been a short term, we have managed to fit in Y7-10 Data Point assessments and feedback as well as Y11 Mock Exams, visitors into school to work with Year 10 students as well as hosting a range of extra-curricular activities.
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 have the opportunity in smaller groups on a Thursday afternoon form time working on specific skills to enhance and boost their maths progress.
Sparx Superstars
Here are the Sparx Superstars for each year group for this term! Well done for continuing to exceed out of school within home learning – amazing work!
Advanced Mathematics Support Programme
Colleagues from AMSP (Advanced Mathematics Support Programme) came into school on the 5th of March to work with a select group of Y10 students. They were asked to do complex tasks that required hard-thinking and applying maths to real life situations and jobs. The sessions had a focus on Careers in Maths as well as what Maths looks like in Further Education.
Junior Maths Challenge and Senior Maths Challenge
Students in Year 9, 10 and Sixth Form had the opportunity to take part in the UK Maths Trust Junior / Senior Maths Challenge. These challenges encourage mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency to make students think. The problems on the Junior Maths Challenge are accessible yet still challenge those with more experience. There are also increased challenge and risk involved as some questions towards the end take marks away from you if you get them incorrect!
Well done to these Y9 students: Nazar A (Silver), Ayomide A (Silver), Seeley B (Bronze), Josh C (Silver), Charlie H (Bronze), Artjom I (Bronze), Huma K (Silver), Filip M (Bronze), Samuel P (Bronze), Reece S (Bronze),
Well done to these Y10 students: Michelle A (Silver), Annabel A (Bronze), Oliwia B (Bronze), Charlotte B (Bronze), Martin B (Bronze), Karolina G (Bronze), Pola G (Bronze), Leah H (Silver), Angel H (Bronze), Muhammad-Zayan K (Bronze), Zuzanna K (Silver), Adrian P (Bronze), Jacob P (Bronze), Janina R (Bronze), Milena S (Bronze), Monalisa T (Bronze), Zuzanna Z (Bronze).
Revision and Exam Support
We continue to offer support to year 11 students on Tuesday evenings for revision and exam support. We were happy to welcome all students and their carers to Year 11 parents evening on Thursday 21st March to give back their grades from the latest mock exams and their Question Level Analysis (QLA). From the QLA, they are able to identify weaknesses and work on these during Easter in readiness for their first Exam on the 16th of May.
What is upcoming in the Maths Department?
AMSP – Girls in Stem Opportunities offered to Y10 Girls (July 2024)
Y11 Exam Dates – 16th May, 3rd June (NON-CALC), 10th June.
Science Department
Word for You Club
We are looking at the bible books sequentially and learning wisdoms from each one, which points us to be more like Jesus, filled with his grace. We grew some paperwhites and now we have just planted some marigold seeds. These both represent how the seed of faith can grow and lead us into our best life, connected to God.
CREST Club
The students have been busy researching their projects and have now started making their products. The soaps and solid shampoos have been made using the traditional method, with lye and moisturising oils. The students will test them and create a product with the optimal pH for the skin. The students making the bathbombs have been researching how to make a bathbomb which doesn’t crack. They are aiming for the fizziest bathbomb which is also nourishing for the skin.
Fab in the Lab
Throughout the year, students from Year 5 at our MAC Primary Schools have taken part in fortnightly online science sessions delivered by the Science department at St Thomas More. It has been a fabulous opportunity for our MAC Primary Schools to take part in the same sessions and to see (virtually) practical science in the labs at St Thomas More as well as taking part in practical activities in the classroom.
Science Sparklers
Some of our Y7 students have enjoyed exploring the science of fireworks and sparklers this term at lunchtimes.
Year 5 STEM week workshop
We welcomed Year 5 students from St Gregory’s Catholic Academy to St Thomas More in February to work practically and learn chromatography techniques that they used to solve a crime. We hope everyone enjoyed their time working in the lab at STMCA.
Science Masterclasses
The Science Department have been running GCSE Chemistry and Physics Masterclasses this half term. All students have had the opportunity to join an after school session specific to each exam paper. Students have completed extra exam questions, looked at misconceptions, and exam technique. Biology Masterclasses are running in April.
British Science Week - Time
The first of our activities in British Science Week was making parachutes. Each student made a parachute and we dropped them in the stairwell. The longest parachute fall took 3.04s – well done Jordan!
British Science Week - Time
Continuing the theme of time, the Chemists explored different ways of speeding up and slowing down reactions. Students had a race to see who could get a chemical reaction to inflate a balloon the quickest and they used chemicals to remove colour from a solution.
All Year 7 students were challenged to produce a poster on the theme of “Time”. Students were very creative in the interpretation of the theme with many looking at how technology has developed over time and how the Earth has changed.
British Science Week – Time
Students had the opportunity to test their aerodynamic skills with Mr Ishfaq and Mr Ishfaq. They investigated which design would fly the longest and then tested out their theories!
British Science Week – Time
Our genetic code hasn’t changed over time however our ability to investigate DNA has improved dramatically in recent years. Students had the opportunity to extract DNA from strawberries. Strawberries have eight copies of each type of chromosome and so are ideal for this experiment. The long, thick fibres of DNA contain the information for the functioning of the chemistry of life.
Faculty of Performance
This term has seen the return to football action and in particular the Y10 and Y11 School football teams who have been playing matches both home and away. The home games we have been played on our state of the art 3G football pitch using the floodlights. The Y11 team came very close in the quarter finals of the county cup but have reached the final of the city school competition. Well done. The Y10 team are awaiting other fixtures to see if they have qualified for the city schools final but have remained unbeaten so far. Well done!
Year 11 Football Team
Year 10 Football Team
Basketball
Basketball season began in January and it was great to see so many of our students representing the academy who have also been training at our extra-curricular basketball club each Tuesday with the Hanley Hustlers basketball coach Noah since September.
There are two days of Easter basketball sessions during the holidays that are free to attend for different year groups. Please speak to Noah at Basketball club on Tuesday to enquire about availability.
Stoke Dance Festival
Our fantastic STM dance students were involved in the Stoke dance festival held at the Victoria hall theatre on Tuesday 19th March. The students performing were from different year groups and have been rehearsing with Mrs Nutbeem at the Dance club on a Tuesday after school and the performing arts club on a Wednesday after school.
Under 12s Netball
The U12 STM Netball team participated in the City Netball competition finishing 3rd overall, well done. They have also participated in a series of local fixtures. The girls are becoming strong competitors having developed their skills at netball training every Wednesday with Miss Matthews.
Under 13 Netball
The STM U13 Netball team participated in the city netball competition. The standard was very high and team STM managed to finding 3rd out of 6 teams in their group. This was a great achievement with several students missing due to other school commitments.
Badminton
Well done to the U14 and U16 STM badminton squads competing in the Staffordshire schools in their league this term. The team have been playing against different schools with 2 of the U16 squad using this as an opportunity to gain a GCSE practical grade in badminton. Many of the squad attend the badminton cub after school every Friday where they have been developing their skills.
Ski Trip
In January Mrs Kerr and Miss Helliwell led a trip to Piancavallo, Italy where 24 of our students had the opportunity to ski as well as experience Italian culture, food and hospitality. Students also had the opportunity to toboggan and observe a torch-lit descent. All students excelled at overcoming their fears and building resilience - demonstrating the school's motto of aspiring to be More perfectly!
Such was the success of the trip, that we have teamed up with our MAC feeder primaries to run another ski trip in January 2025, for more information please contact Mrs Leese via office@stmca.org.uk
Outward Bound
Students in Y8 and Y9 have been out on two exciting residential trips this term to the Outward Bound Centre in Aberdovey, Wales. Students have taken part in a range of adventurous activities designed to test their resilience and problem solving skills, all whilst having a lot of fun! They have been swimming in the sea, wading through muddy swamps and trekking across the Welsh countryside learning orienteering and survival skills. Miss Brown and Mrs Bussell returned from both trips to report that STMCA students had behaved impeccably and shown great stamina and determination- they were very proud, well done.
Geography
This term has seen the Year 11 geographers undertake their second instalment of their compulsory fieldwork in preparation for GCSE examinations that commence in May. A fantastic day of assessment was had by all, measuring the effectiveness of beach management and the impact of coastal processes on the Rhyl coastline.
Honours and Scholars Programme
Honours Programme
This term, our Honours students have been busily completing their Charter of Opportunities in readiness for their final interview in June. They have taken part in an Honours workshop, attended weekly Honours masterclasses on topics such as Music Production, 'Is Pain real?' and Art Papermaking, entering two Honours competitions ('Steps into the NHS' and 'BBC Young Reporter of the Year') and attended World Book Day Workshops. Y7 Honours students visited the University of Birmingham (Russell Group University) in December, followed by Y8 and 9 Honours in January, and Y10 Honours visited Oxford University in March. I look forward to the next Honours Workshop which includes a World Maths Day Masterclass during the first week back after the Easter Holidays.
Scholars Programme
Our Y8 and Y9 Scholars students have completed their Scholars Programme with flying colours. Students attended weekly tutorials with a PHD tutor throughout November, December and January, and then wrote a dissertation style essay on their studies topic which was submitted to their tutor. All of our Scholars students were successful in Graduating from the Programme this year and attended their Graduation Ceremony at the University of Warwick in February with Mr Howitt. Well done Scholars students!
Rising Stars
The first Wave of the Rising Stars Programme was very successful between November - January, with many of our students engaging well and being invited to the end of programme rewards afternoon in February. The second wave of the Rising Stars Programme started after February half term, with 40 students across Years 7-10 receiving weekly intervention in Maths, English, Science and RE and also a Progress mentoring session to accelerate their progress.
Bikeability
Students in Year 7 and 8 had the opportunity to sign up for a Bikeability course in March. Students were led by qualified instructors through the course to equip them with the skills to ride confidently and safely on the open roads, supporting our mission as a healthy school and working together to reduce climate change.
Y9 STEM Events
Year 9 students have been working with General Electric Engineering company through the Inspirational Learning Group to take part in two STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops in January and March. These events have been very successful, with the facilitators feeding back that our Year 9 students were the most creative group of students that they had ever worked with! Students took part in a 'Toxic Popcorn' workshop in January and a 'Run Marble Run' workshop in March. Some of our Year 9 students broke their course record for how long they could keep a marble off the floor by building a creative and innovative marble run course using very limited materials and resources, showing great creativity and engineering skills. The scheme aims to inspire more children to take up careers in Engineering in the UK.
Transition to St Thomas More
Year 6 students starting in September 2024
We have had a record number of applicants to join STMCA this year, and we can't wait to meet our new year 7 year group.
There are a wealth of transition opportunities ahead including visits into primary schools, afternoon tea, an Easter enrichment day as well as two full days packed with exciting activities!
Our two transition dates are Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th July 2024, with a parental information evening on Wednesday 3rd July. All of our new year 7s are due to receive a postcard which sets out some challenges for our students to complete between now and September.
Finally, we will be hosting a summer school in August in which new students will have the opportunity to spend a week getting to know the school and its staff.
We can't wait to meet our new students and have them join our school community.
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