Rise Theatre
As part of our Mission Week, we invited the group Rise Theatre to perform ‘Romero – Heartbeat of El Salvador’. They performed twice during the day to all students and staff, and again in the evening to parents, our academy committee and guests from our parishes.
The three actors were very talented and played many parts, switching from different accents and negotiating costume changes. They told the life story of Blessed Oscar Romero from when he was a boy and his desire to be a priest, to his assassination whilst celebrating Mass on the 24th March 1980.
Romero became an Archbishop in 1977 and was a vocal critic of the violent activities of government, armed forces, right wing groups and leftist guerrillas involved in El Salvador’s civil conflict.
The play asked the question ‘What do we live for? Is it for love or for something else?’ It taught us that love is not a warm fuzzy feeling – real love is vulnerable, broken; it dares to get messy. Love is unselfish, it cannot walk on while other people suffer; it cannot help but reach out. Love is a heartbeat and can never be silenced.
The performance brought many of us to tears – it was powerful and thought provoking.
Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed a Blessed evening.

hrist the King Mass

On Sunday 26th November the school choir took part in an event which, in recent years, has become a regular feature for the choir, namely attending the Mass for the Feast of Christ the King at St Thomas’ church in Tettenhall. This Feast marks the end of the Church’s liturgical year and celebrates the passing year, it also looks forward; the Gospel reading directs our attention towards our own end, about how we are living our own lives now and about the quality of our generosity towards God and neighbour. This aspect was particularly emphasised by Fr. Paul, the parish priest, paraphrasing part of his homily: Jesus, he said, “…does not just ask us to forgive those who do very little wrong, but to bear patiently with those who are guilty of more serious wrong and to still forgive them, to still be loving and generous towards them.”

The choir sang, what would be for many in the congregation, a new sung Mass, the Mass of St Jude by Mike Stanley, a suitable herald for the new Church year which begins next Sunday. Mr Bard, the Head of Music and Drama conducted the choir, accompanied by Ms Buzzing on the piano and the choir included Mr Garrity and myself, Mr White, among its melodious throng. Mr Bard and other members of staff received compliments from Fr. Paul and parishioners. Mrs Dickenson, an Academy Representative, Mrs Hughes, the Academy Principal and Mr  Katumba, Assistant Principal and Head of Religious Education were in the congregation and congratulated and thanked the choir for attending.

A special thanks to all members of the choir who attended the Mass, to their parents and carers for supporting their children getting to and from St Thomas’ and finally for the refreshments provided by St. Thomas’ after Mass.

Mr White

On Friday 7th November St Edmunds, along with many of the Nation, ‘did their bit’ for Children In Need. Apart from a mufti day, when students and staff donated a pound, members of the 6th form dressed up as Pudsey and went around the classroom collecting any loose change.
So far we have raised £849.67 but Parent Pal is still open for anyone who would still like to contribute.
Thank you to everyone for all your efforts to help those who need an extra helping hand. God Bless you all.

For the last 4 weeks the students and staff of St Edmund’s Catholic Academy have been collecting items to fill shoeboxes, such as toys, stationary, toiletries etc. The boxes are then checked, and sent with £5 to cover the shipping cost, to a depo where they are checked, then dispatched to different parts of the world.
These Christmas boxes will be the only gifts some of these children will receive this Christmas and they make such a difference to their lives. If you would like to find out more about this campaign please check https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
Maybe you could help us next year with your donations. Also on this page you can watch some of the children receiving their goods and the smile on their faces says it all.
This year we collected 25 boxes but also sent 3 bags of extra gifts because we ran out of shoeboxes. We would like to give a big thank you to the 6 form Chaplaincy team for all their hard work towards this successful campaign. They gave a presentation in assemblies, collected goods from the classroom and packed and checked the shoeboxes. A wonderful example to us all of generosity and service.

We are very proud of our Senior Prefects here at St Edmund’s who hold roles of prominent responsibility.  A ballot is held each June when all students and staff in the academy vote,  thereby appointing a Head Boy/Head Girl/Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl to serve for the following academic year.

We would like students in the lower year groups to be setting their sights on appointment to these roles in years to come – thus holding a position in high regard and a valuable addition to one’s CV.

Some of the duties of our Senior Prefects include:-

• Being Ambassadors for the Academy – they represent St Edmund’s and the student body at a variety of public functions during the academic year, including Open Evening for Year 7 and Year 12 and Presentation Evening
• Greeting important visitors to the academy
• Sitting on the Academy Council
• Representing and speak for all students in the academy and support and prepare activities that encourage and support the learning of others
• Raising money for Charity via many events throughout the year and regularly report to our Academy Committee on their progress to date
• Organising and completely funding a Senior Citizens’ Christmas Party each year which is always a huge success
• Acting as outstanding role models for all students at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy
• Escorting students in the lower year groups around the Sixth Form Area and answer any questions they may have about progressing to the Sixth Form

They lunch with our Principal, Maggie Hughes and Academy Representatives (pictured here), fortnightly to discuss their progress and ways to move the academy forward and certainly make a very valuable contribution.

Pictured left to right:- Alisha Swali (Deputy Head Girl), Mrs Hughes (Principal), Will Tudor (Head Boy), Georgia Everiss (Head Girl), Tom Boyce (Deputy Head Boy)