This year the Feast of St Edmund took place on Friday 1^st December 2017.   We celebrated our patronal feast day with a whole school Mass.  The Mass also marked the end of our Mission week here at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, Wolverhampton – a double celebration.  Thirty guests were present including the Deputy Mayor Councillor Phil Page and Deputy Mayoress Elaine Hadley-Howell.

The focus of Mission Week was based on Pope Francis’s address at World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, in July 2016 when he encouraged young people to ‘Leave the sofa and make your mark’. The Kristian Thomas Sports Hall, where the event took place, was an abundance  of ‘Make your Mark’ black and white t-shirts which had been kindly donated by Wood, Goldstraw & Yorath, Architects, Stoke-on-Trent and Lads and Lasses Schoolwear, Wolverhampton.  Examples of the student’s prayers over the week were displayed and the whole community gathered, including the majority of our support staff.

We were blessed with the presence of the Soli team – Catherine Smith, Vicki Chatten and Rick Netherwood and the St Edmund’s choir led us in the St Jude Mass.  Fr Michael Dolman,  Vocations Director,  was the chief celebrant and he was joined by Monsignor Mark Crisp, our school Chaplain, Fr Jonathan Veasey Director of Diocesan Education Service and Fr Jan.  Two class representatives from each class led the procession of clergy with 10 altar servers in attendance.

Students from our Sixth Form led the readings and during the Offertory the student representatives gave their tutor group’s ‘Coat of Arms ‘as an offering.

Fr Michael’s Homily was based of the reading from Corinthians, reminding us that we do not have anything if we don’t have love.

‘Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude’ ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things’. ’Love never ends’.

We finished the Mass with the schools Mission Song which raised the roof of the Sports Hall!

Christ the eternal King

With angels to You we sing

Knock on the door of my heart

With Your grace O Lord

Make Your mark

After Mass guests, staff and class representatives visited the Peace Garden where Monsignor Mark Crisp blessed the recently erected statue of Our Lady.

The day ended with staff and guests gathering for afternoon tea.  Mrs Hughes, Principal said, “It was the best day of her teaching career bar none”.

Fourteen Year 11 GCSE PE & BTEC Sport students visited Lilleshall National Sports Centre in order to gain information on Physical Education and sport related careers.

We were lucky enough to have Kristian Thomas, a member of the British team that won gold in the 2012 European Championships team event, and a historic bronze in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics,  deliver talks on the range of sporting careers available that all contribute towards the formation of an Olympic team.  This included gaining an insight into coaching, physiotherapy, strength and conditioning and the roles that are played by nutritionists, analysts and psychologists.

The group had the opportunity to see the Great Britain senior men’s team training and the Great Britain juniors competing against each other for a place in the team at an international in Germany.

A great day at Lilleshall – a spectacular facility. Special thanks to Kristian Thomas and former St Edmund’s student.

Invitation to Annual Candlelight Service.
We would like to invite you all to our annual Christmas Candlelight Carol Service at St Michael’s Church in Penn on Tuesday 12th December 2017 at 7 o’clock.
Please park carefully at the back of the church and be respectful of residents.
It is a time when all the Bishop Cleary Catholic Multi Academy schools and guests come together to tell the greatest story ever told through readings and songs.
Advent is a season of joy and anticipation, of patiently waiting, watching and preparing for the coming of our King so what better way to take time out of the busyness of the season and watch, wait and pray with us.

We are seeking to appoint, to St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, an Academy Cleaner to carry our under reasonable direction the appropriate duties in the case of buildings and the teaching environment, in matters of safety, cleanliness and comfort, conducive to the working needs of pupils, staff and other site users.Cleaner – Required for January 2018

Cleaner Vacancy Ref No. ES003

15 hours per week 3.45pm – 6.45pm Monday to Friday

Rate of Pay £7.78 – £7.83 per hour

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.

For more information or for an application pack, please contact Reception, at the company’s registered office: (c/o: St Edmund’s Catholic Academy; Compton Park, Compton Road West, Wolverhampton, WV3 9DU or call 01902 558888).  Support Staff Application packs can be accessed via our Academy website:  www.stedmunds.org

Visit our Vacancies page on our website for more information: http://www.stedmundscloud.co.uk/jobs/cleaner-2/

On 17th November the Telford National Ski Race event took place with 70 skiers taking part.  Evelyn Thorpe (9JA) and her brother Max (7AJ) took part and both successfully featured in the top 4 positions.

Evelyn entered the Girls’ Individual Race, for her age category, and completed two runs in just 13 seconds. Evelyn’s excellent time saw her rewarded with the Bronze Award Medal.

Max, who came in fourth place, said that he really enjoyed the competition and that it’s not about the winning but more about taking part.

Congratulations to both Evelyn and Max, pictured below.

Year 9 and 10’s represented the academy very well on Wednesday 6 December at St Peter’s Collegiate School for the basketball 3v3 competition. Students were Zac Flosa, Kurt Aco,  Dylan Gumbo, Jayden McIntosh, Favour Enoghama, Jamal Morris and James Edobor.

Well done, Mr Selvey!

On Wednesday 6 December nineteen year 9 pupils, with Jess Banks and Will Tudor, from year 13, went on a trip to the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus,  to see facilities available and broaden their knowledge of the sports industry and higher education courses.  

The visit commenced with a tour of the whole campus, looking at the Sports Centre, Gymnasium, Judo Centre (where the British Judo team are based) and the Performance Hub.

Students then moved onto the Sports Science laboratories where Jess and Will were put through their paces in jump, balance and agility tests using the state of the art equipment. This was the most impressive part of the day, where a whole new world of careers and opportunities in sport were highlighted to students.

The day ended with one of the head coaches putting knowledge presented during the day into practice – starting with a few fun games and moving on to how to professionally teach attacking and defending decision making, via handball. Students really tapped into the knowledge of the head coach and improved their skills and decision making vastly in such a short period of time. 

It is hoped that students take this knowledge into future lessons and into their examination courses (year 9 into GCSE PE and Jess and Will into higher education). All pupils represented the academy very well and the staff at the University were very complimentary. St Edmund’s were asked to visit again, either with the same group or with other students who need such fantastic experiences. 

Globally, the rate of suicide is alarmingly high, particularly in men. Too many men are ‘toughing it out’, keeping their feelings to themselves and struggling in silence. The Movember Foundation is aiming to reduce the rate of male suicide by 25% by 2030.

Mr Tolley, Mr Banks, Mr Lynch, Mr Vazquez and Mr Smith decided to grow facial hair throughout November to generate funds for the Movember Foundation.

Mr Tolley said, “I can say we have been truly overwhelmed by the generosity of staff and even pupils who have joined in and donated and can say, after putting on the cash donations we have received, we will have raised over £1000 for Movember.  This is amazing as we started off with a target of just £250 and we have smashed it!

There is still time to contribute.  Please use the link https://moteam.co/hu-mo-nities

Well done guys.

Back row: Mr Banks, Mr Lynch and Mr Smith

Front row: Mr Tolley and Mr Vazquez.