Pupils in Years 7 and 8 from five Trust secondary schools came together for our latest Pupil Olympics event.
Boys and girls from both year groups at Saint Benedict, Saint John Houghton, St Thomas More, Blessed Robert Sutton and St Philip Howard took part in a football tournament which was held at Powerleague in Derby. An event for primary schools has already taken place and the next secondary school event will take place on Monday, February 7th. This will be a football tournament for boys and girls in Years 9 and 10.
Well done to everyone involved and to our Trust Pupil Olympics Lead Dominic Harrison for organising such a successful event. Thanks also to all the staff who supported the pupils.
Chaplaincy Training with Sr Judith Russi
On 31st January, Sr Judith Russi treated the year 5 chaplaincy teams of St Elizabeth’s, Belper and Christ the King, Alfreton to some really inspiring training.
The students were led throughout the day by Sr Judith who has a wealth of experience in working with children and young people.
During the day the students were asked to reflect on what they already do as school chaplains, but more importantly what they want to achieve as they move into year 6.
They found Sr Judith engaging and inspiring and left with a real sense of purpose.
Holy Rosary Catholic Voluntary Academy in Burton has been given an overall rating of good – with areas of outstanding practice – following a Diocesan Canonical Inspection.
Inspectors from the Diocese of Nottingham said that the quality of Catholic Life and Collective Worship at the school, which is part of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, were outstanding and graded RE education as good.
The inspection also looked at the behaviour and attitudes of pupils, their personal development, the leadership and management of the school and its overall effectiveness, judging all to be good and concluded: “Holy Rosary is a good and effective school which has improved significantly since the last inspection. Here, outstanding Catholic Life and Collective Worship is demonstrated. The school’s character behaviours, and the gospel values chosen, permeate every aspect of school life and are confidently articulated by pupils, staff, parents and governors alike: everyone concerned is visibly proud to be part of this school community.”
Marie Dyche, Acting Head of School at Holy Rosary, said: “We are delighted with the result of this inspection and particularly pleased that inspectors recognised the strong sense of community that is clearly evident at Holy Rosary. We would like to thank our school community for their support, along with the St Ralph Sherwin Trust and the Diocese. We will continue to work hard to provide the very best education for our children, who are at the heart of everything we do.”
The report highlighted many strengths across the school, including Collective Worship. Inspectors said: “The outstanding Collective Worship demonstrated at Holy Rosary is central to school life. This is celebrated enthusiastically by the whole community and parish. Pupils enjoy the contemporary nature of worship and develop genuine ownership when planning and leading worship as they progress through the school.”
Pupils’ behaviour was praised by inspectors who also highlighted the school’s “use of a number of innovative and creative ways to engage with them and their families during the pandemic.” This included a dedicated school YouTube channel called HRTV, which received over 35,000 views and provided pupils with tangible links during periods of home learning.
Opportunities for pupils to embrace leadership were also recognised in the report, including pupil groups called ‘Messengers’, ‘Earth Friends’ and the ‘School Parliament’.
Another strength of the school is the “strong sense of community”, the report said, along with the quality of pastoral care given to pupils and families.
During their visit, inspectors met with senior leaders and governors. They talked to pupils about their work and visited lessons and Collective Worship, observed extra-curricular activities and form time sessions, spoke to curriculum leaders and teachers and looked in depth at the RE curriculum.
Inspectors sought the views of members of the school community, including parents, pupils and staff.
In relation to the pandemic and school closures, the report said: “Parents are eager to discuss how communication is clear, timely and supportive.”
Governors, staff and the school’s lay chaplain were all received praise in the report and inspectors said leaders valued the support from the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust and the Diocese.
Trust CEO, Sean McClafferty, said: “This is wonderful report to read and fully reflects the hard work, dedication and commitment of all staff, governors, parents and pupils. As a Trust, we are hugely proud of their achievements and the judgements of outstanding for Catholic Life and Collective Worship are particularly pleasing.”
Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy in Burton, which is also part of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, was recently graded good in all areas following a DCI Inspection.
Lead Lay Chaplain Jamie Agius is set to cycle around all 25 schools in the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust to raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Jamie and friend Mark Newing will take on the 188-mile, mostly uphill journey through Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Stockport and the High Peak from February 16th to the 18th.
There will be two outdoor overnight stops for the pair during ‘Tour de St Ralph’, one in woods near Ashbourne and one in a bothy in the hills above Glossop.
The plan is to stop at each school in the St Ralph Sherwin Trust, say a prayer with pupils and take a photo.
All money raised through sponsorship will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together 15 leading UK aid charities which are experts in humanitarian aid and specialise in different areas of disaster response.
Jamie said: “The idea came about because the situation in Afghanistan is so desperate, I felt like I had to do something. Our Trust motto, the words of St Ralph Sherwin, is, ‘Today, not tomorrow’. It’s about taking action when it’s needed, not putting it off; this felt like such a time. I love cycling and I thought it would be quite a symbolic route to get around all of the Trust schools. The most I’ve cycled before is 100 miles in a day but that was mostly off-road. For this journey we will be mostly sticking to side roads but there will be about 15,000ft of hills to climb.
“We chose the Disasters Emergency Committee because it is a consortium of charities and has the most effective impact in terms of getting support to the people who need it. As a Trust which educates and nurtures children and young people, we can only hope that the children and young people of Afghanistan get the help they so desperately need. “
You can sponsor Jamie via his JustGiving page
Saint Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in New Mills is delighted to have successfully achieved a GOLD in its school Mental Health Award with Leeds Beckett University.
The school holds mental health in the highest regard and the staff and pupils have worked tirelessly in ensuring that the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils and staff is woven into the fabric of everything they do.
For the past 12 months, their Mental Health Ambassador has been gathering evidence for the award focused around eight Key competency areas: leadership and strategy; organisational structure and culture for staff; organisational structure and culture for pupils; support for staff; professional development and learning; support for pupils; working with parents and carers; working with external services and the school was delighted to be graded ‘excelling’ in all areas.
In final validation the assessor commented that ‘Saint Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy has presented a wide-ranging profile of evidence that demonstrates they are excelling across all eight competencies of the School Mental Health Award, with strong practice well developed throughout the school’
This award could not have been achieved without the drive and focus of all staff and pupils, in ensuring that the school is a happy, healthy and inspiring place to learn.
Jo Mallabar, Saint Mary’s
St Benedict – Next Level Team Building at the Briars
On a snowy, windy Saturday at the end of November, a small group of St Benedict’s 6th formers, supervised by their chaplain Jannice, attended their first Next Level Team Building day at the Briars.
The purpose of this day was to give the St Benedict’s Chaplaincy and Leadership teams a chance to get to know one another, but also to give them the skills needed to develop their leadership skills.
Two of the students who attended, share their thoughts on the day.
I found going to the Briars to be a really fun and helpful experience, as it showed me what it is like to plan things like liturgies. I found this really helpful so that in the future I would feel less scared when approached with this task again. I also felt that it would really help with other kinds of presentations as well. It was also very nice to spend the day with a focus on our Faith and how to express it creatively, especially in such an awesome place like the Briars. It also helped that the staff were really kind and got involved in all the activities. Caitlin
What I enjoyed about the trip were the activities that we did, where everyone was included. The team leaders were very friendly and engaging with everyone which helped me feel very welcome and made the experience even more enjoyable. My favourite part was the end when we all put our ideas together and contributed to creating a liturgy on the theme of advent. It felt very comforting at the end of the day when we all sat down as a group and shared the liturgy together. Abisola
Creative Chaplaincy
Since becoming the Lead Lay Chaplain for the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to work with lots of brilliant children, young people and staff across our Trust.
I’ve had the chance to meet chaplaincy teams, plan liturgies and run training sessions for the new Letuspray2gether resource.
Another thing I’ve been really impressed with is the creative way that the Catholic Life of all our academies is shown in the halls and classrooms.
Here is a selection of some great displays that I’ve seen so far.
Pupil Parliament
On Wednesday 3rd November the Pupil Parliament met in the Palace Hotel, Buxton.
Students and staff came from across the trust to discuss some really important issues ranging from sustainability and Catholic life to fundraising, community and inclusion.
The day started with a liturgy before the different groups started to discuss one of the five key areas.
The aim of the day was for each committee to set 3-4 targets that would have the most impact on our schools and both local and global communities. These targets would then be presented to the Trust Board and school leadership teams before the committees would choose one target to focus on for the rest of the year.
It was a brilliant day where our children and young people showed what brilliant minds they have and, what excellent future leaders they could become.
