Author: nallen

Schools across our Trust, along with our Central Team, came together to mark Remembrance Day.

Students and staff took part in the two minutes’ silence and schools held services, took part in community activities and created artwork and displays.

Blessed Robert Sutton students in Year 7 laid 100 poppies, made by students, at a local care home.

Hannah Turner, Head of Art, is proud of the students and the contribution they are making to their local community.  She said: ‘Our pupils are a credit to themselves, their families, and our school.  Their commitment to serving their local community is heart-warming to see.’ 

Laura O’Leary, Headteacher: ‘We are really proud of the finished installation and delighted by the engagement of our local community. It has been amazing to see so many of our pupils taking part in the project, particularly those pupils who have a personal connection to someone who has served or is serving.’ 

\At St Anne’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Buxton, children, staff, parents and friends gathered for a service lead by Year 6 classes, which culminated in the playing of The Last Post and The Reveille by two parents. Another parent, who is a serving officer in the RAF, laid a wreath. 

Photos from Holy Rosary, St Charles’, Blessed Robert Sutton, St Anne’s, St Edward’s and Saint Benedict.

The effective deployment of Teaching Assistants and SEN networking was the subject of a conference run in conjunction with Esteem Multi Academy Trust.

The event was for all of our Trust schools, with SENDCos and TAs attending the Diocesan Centre in Derby. The morning session centred on practical and research driven strategies to support TAs to be more effective in the class and the afternoon was all about networking. Thank you to everyone who attended, to staff who organised this important conference and to Esteem for their specialist input.

The cohort was launched this academic year and will run until December 2022. Meetings are held every second Thursday of the month and a Teams support group has also been set up, where everyone can post and view anything to do with menopause.

Open menopause drop-in sessions have been held for line managers and staff attending the sessions have been asked if they would like to be menopause ambassadors, with the aim of having one in every school.

Dr Liz Andrew, from Menopause Care, also held a Q&A session with the group.

Children and staff from our family of 25 schools were asked to work on a new Mission and set of Virtues at our first Pupil Parliament meeting of the academic year.

The session was led by our new CEO, Kevin Gritton, and Lead Lay Chaplain, Jamie Agius. We were also delighted to welcome our new Trust Board Chair, Sarah Noon.

When thinking about our Mission and Virtues, children and staff were asked to consider how they wanted people in our Trust to treat each other and what we could do collectively, as an organisation of nearly 8,000 people.

There were some fantastic ideas which are now being displayed at St Katherine’s House in Derby, where the Trust Central Team is based. Mr Gritton will now work with the Trust Board on creating a new Mission and Virtues. This will incorporate ideas from the staff and children at Pupil Parliament, the Central Team and Headteachers.

Thank you to everyone for taking part in such a fantastic day.

Schools across the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust have been celebrating their GCSE results.

Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Burton, achieved its best ever GCSE results.

Headteacher Laura O’Leary said: “We are delighted with this outstanding set of results from our Year 11 cohort, it has broken all our previous records including our Centre Reported Grades from the last two years.

“We are extremely proud of our pupils whose results reflect their hard work and commitment. They are the first cohort to have taken GCSE examinations after the pandemic and they have missed substantial periods of schooling whilst getting to grips with online learning. For them to come out with such impressive results today is not just cause for celebration in its own right, but a real testament to the resilience, intelligence and immense positivity of this cohort of fine young people.

“It also speaks volumes for the skill and deep commitment of their teachers, who have looked after them so caringly, and kept them learning so purposefully, through the ups and downs of that time. I am enormously grateful to every member of staff for their dedication and encouragement. I know our pupils will join me in thanking their teachers and, of course, their parents.”

David Redfern, Headteacher at St Thomas More Catholic Voluntary Academy in Buxton, congratulated Year 11 on their results.

He said: “We are celebrating another great set of GCSE results. The Class of 2022 has made exceptional progress and this is down to the hard work and commitment of each and every student, throughout what was not only a difficult year but past couple of years.

“Grades are one thing, but it is what they reflect that matters and these results demonstrate how resilient our students are. We must not underestimate the challenges GCSE students have faced across the country with uncertainty characterising their GCSE experience. The grades our students have achieved, after these turbulent few years, are even more outstanding as a result.”

At Saint John Houghton CVA, in Ilkeston, 84% of students achieved at least a Grade 4 in English and 75% of students achieved at least a grade 4 in Maths. There were also strong results in Religious Education, Geography, Physical Education, Modern Foreign Languages, Design and Technology and Business Studies.

Headteacher Steve Brogan said: “We are so pleased for our students who have worked so hard for these results and have demonstrated determination, one of our school’s core virtues, over the past two years. This group of students have had their education disrupted so much during their GCSE years and we are so proud of how they have dealt with the challenges they have faced. We wish them all the very best for the future as they take their next steps in life.”

Students at St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Glossop, were celebrating their results. Charlie Price Hammond (Deputy Head Boy) outperformed many of his targets. Sam Wardle achieved an average across his subjects of a grade 8. Cliodhna O Hara achieved 2 grade 9s and 5 grade 8s. Joe Cousen achieved top grades in all of his subjects, 4 of which were grade 9. Seb Kinsey achieved an average grade 8 across his subjects with 5 grade 9s. Grace Connor achieved all grade 5 or above including 5, grade 9s and a grade 8. Molly Kay achieved 6 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and 1 grade 7.

Head of Geography, Mr World, shaved his head in support of his student, Oscar Hick after the pair had agreed that Mr World would do this if Oscar achieved the target Mr World had set for him.

In a statement, the school said: “Despite the many obstacles, the class of 2022 at Team SPH sprinted their way to the GCSE finish line with success. This day, unlike any other, will certainly be one that will be celebrated and remembered forever by all.

“Students can enjoy their results, take pride in their success and reminisce on every unusual, yet special moment of their time in secondary education.”

Photos below are courtesy of the Glossop Chronicle.

Saint Benedict Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Derby, celebrated rises across the board in its GCSE results.

Kevin Gritton, Headteacher, said: “We are very proud of our Year 11 pupils at Saint Benedict who received their GCSE results today. They have shown incredible determination and resilience in the face of all the disruption they have had to contend with over the past three years.

“The school’s Attainment 8 score, which is a key measure of results across all subjects, rose to 50.7 up from 48.6 in 2019. 66% of pupils achieved 4 or above in both English and Maths, up from 59% in 2019 and 46% achieved 5 or above in English and Maths, up from 39% in 2019.

“The school also saw a big rise in the percentage of grades at 7-9, with 27% of all grades at 7 or above, up from 22% in 2019 and 46% of all grades were 6 or above. We were also particularly proud of our pupils with Special Educational Needs who achieved an Attainment 8 score of 38.6, a massive rise from 29.8 in 2019.”

Sean McClafferty, Trust CEO, said: “Congratulations to all of our young people on their exam achievements. It’s been an incredibly tough two years for both pupils and staff, in preparing for examinations. We all know how difficult it’s been at times, but also how hard everyone has worked. As a Trust we are all very proud of all your achievements and wish you every success in moving forward.”

Eco-gardens will be created at eight schools across the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust after they secured funding from East Midlands Airport.

Blessed Robert Sutton, in Burton, St Thomas’, in Ilkeston, and St Edward’s, in Swadlincote, will share £34,000 from the airport’s eco-gardens project.

English Martyrs’, in Long Eaton, Holy Rosary, in Burton, St George’s, St Joseph’s and St John Fisher, all in Derby, will work with a wildlife expert on their garden plans before the amount of funding they will receive is confirmed in the Autumn.

The eight schools were among 26 which applied for funding from EMA’s eco-garden project.

All schools were asked to submit designs for gardens or green spaces that substantially boost biodiversity and lead to improved wellbeing.

The proposals were evaluated by a panel of experts which included representatives from the airport’s corporate social responsibility team, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and the parks, green spaces and environmental management team at South Derbyshire District Council.

The submissions were assessed against several criteria. The designs needed to demonstrate how the gardens would make existing space environmentally richer and more diverse, improve biodiversity, stimulate outdoor learning, and have wellbeing benefits.

A wide range of designs were submitted with proposals ranging from creating wetlands,  living classrooms, sensory gardens, vegetable patches and wheelchair accessible green spaces.

Such was the standard of entries that the judges decided to award funding to all schools that participated. Some will be awarded the exact amount of funding that they asked for while others will be given support to refine their designs to maximise biodiversity and wildlife benefits. The cost of these will then be re-evaluated and schools will be awarded the appropriate funding to deliver these schemes.

Jo Pettifer, Sustainability Project Co-ordinator for the St Ralph Sherwin CMAT, worked with schools on their garden proposals.

She said: “I am delighted that 8 of our schools have been successful in securing funds. The design ideas include ‘Flight path’ inspired by the ducks which regularly land on St Thomas’ school roof, “The Lost Gardens of Holy Rosary” which is a magical secret garden idea and The Sutton Way Eco Garden: a garden inspired by Blessed Robert Sutton’s Mission Statement – Love, Respect, Hope, Kindness, Resilience – it shows how those values will help us make a more sustainable world. The pupils have worked so hard, carrying out wildlife audits, planning their designs, discussing them with their teachers and filming presentations for the competition. I am so grateful that East Midlands Airport are rewarding all that hard work, what a triumph.”

Following on from the huge success of the Stronger Together performance last year at Derby Theatre, the overwhelming feedback from staff and students in schools was “ Can we do it again next year, but to an audience?!” And here we are 12 months later with an even more ambitious project!

In partnership with Derby Theatre and our new partner Buxton Opera House we have created our very first St Ralph Sherwin original musical.

The musical has been written by Simon Marshal and Rukus, from Baby People, and co-created by over 50 students from our Trust secondary schools. The students have been involved in the creative process from the start and their ideas, thoughts, feelings and words have been used to create the scripts, characters, music and lyrics.

The musical focuses on the importance of having faith in yourself and explores the idea that your destiny isn’t written in the stars but is within you.

Once the script and songs were completed, artists were hired and timetabled to visit the schools to direct sections of the script, music and movement in preparation for the final performance. The schools in the south of our Trust performed at Derby Theatre to a packed audience. The schools in the north of our Trust will perform in September.

Following on from the difficulties of the past few years, it is wonderful to be able to unite in our local theatres as a Trust and with our wider community of parents and friends – and create a piece of history as possibly one of the first Trust’s to create its own original musical! Who knows, this time next year we may be on Broadway or picking up an Olivier award!

Trust Performing Arts Lead Anna West

Bishop Patrick McKinney celebrated St Edward’s CVA’s 50th anniversary Mass on Friday. The Bishop blessed a new anniversary mosaic at the Swadlincote school and Trust CEO, Sean McClafferty, was presented with a special retirement gift. Our incoming CEO, Kevin Gritton, and Trust Board Chair, Jacqueline Rodden, also enjoyed the morning.

A Year 8 pupil at St Philip Howard CVA, in Glossop, spent three hours using Google Translate to write a letter in Ukrainian to a new student.

Billie – Jo, who is a mental health ambassador for her year, wanted to make the new pupil feel welcome.

In her letter, she said: “I’ll be here to support you, don’t be afraid to come and talk to me.”

When Billie-Jo gave her the letter, she apparently smiled for the first time since joining the school and said “thank you” in English.

The school has been using Ukrainian subtitles on its interactive screen and translating written work so that it’s easier for their new student to understand.