St Michael’s Church of England High A Church of England Academy
Headteacher: Mrs J Jenks BSocSci Hons PGCE
Deputy Headteachers: Mr J Chadwick BEd Hons, Mrs C Hooley BA Hons
Growing in Body, Mind and Spirit
Forthcoming events
Lent 2
Tues 16 Wed 17 Apr Y7 exams
Mon 22 Apr France Holiday Parents’ meeting
Tues 30 Apr and
Thurs 2 May Y6 Introduction Evening
Fri 3 May Non uniform day
Tues 7 May Y8 short reports
Thur 9 May Y11 written GCSE exams start
Thurs 16 May Y10 reports Sports Heats
Y9 DofE expedition evening for parents 6.30pm
Thurs 23 May Y7 reports Y11 Leavers’ service
Fri 24 May Sports Day
Sat 25 May Germany and France holidays leave
Mon 3 June Start of new academic year
Therefore, choose
St Michael’s Newsletter: Lent 2 28/3/24
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents / Carers
As we prepare for Easter, I wish to reflect upon a few events of this term.
Year 11
The majority of Year 11 pupils are impressing us with their positive and mature attitude to learning. Each Tuesday, well over half of the year group have remained after school to join additional revision classes. It was also fantastic to see such high levels of attendance and support from parents/ carers at Revision Evening. The response from pupils to the revision strategies that have been shared weekly in assembly has been truly exceptional. I really hope that all our young
people continue to strive for success and that their efforts will be recognised in the summer. There are a limited number of classes being held during the Easter holidays and if these apply to your son/ daughter you will have already received information about this. I know that our pupils, with your support, will strike the right balance between their studies and having some time for rest and enjoyment in the holiday period. We look forward to welcoming parents and carers of Year 11 to school on Thursday 23rd May for our Leavers’ Service.
Uniform
Thank you to all parents/ carers who support our drive for the highest standards of uniform amongst our pupils. We continue to work hard to ensure that the length of girls’ skirts is correct (within three inches of the knee). Our uniform and appearance policy is applied consistently and on every day that school is open. Please can we ask for the full support of all parents/ carers in ensuring that when your child returns to school after the Easter break that their uniform and appearance is in line with our expectations. (After a holiday, it is particularly hairstyles, fake tan, false eyelashes, false nails and eyebrow treatments that have caused problems.) We will not allow the actions of a small minority to affect the majority of our pupils who consistently show the highest standards of uniform and appearance.
Leadership Roles
Interviews for prefects have taken place this week. Thank you to Year 10 pupils for the enthusiasm you have shown to be ambassadors for the school in this role. We are currently in the midst of our rigorous selection process for the most senior pupil leadership roles in school, with interviews due to take place straight after the Easter break. It is an absolute joy and real privilege to read letters of application outlining what the school means to so many young people and how the myriad of opportunities available has enabled them to grow in body, mind and spirit and truly flourish. School Council meetings for upper and lower school have also taken place this term and it was fantastic to see how our lower school pupils are responding to learning expectations and can address issues with such maturity and passion, consistently demonstrating the ability to debate and to ‘disagree well’.
Charitable Giving
Thank you so much for your continued support, prayers and generosity. The school is certainly on track to reach our £60,000 target for our Zambia appeal. This has been the largest fundraising effort that we can recall in school and really shows how when we work together towards a common purpose, wonderful things can be achieved. The pupils have supported various activities this term in their fundraising
which include a non-uniform day, Year 7 Zumba for Zambia and a staff dance/ karaoke. We hope to build sustainable relationships with our partner school in Lusaka. Should we exceed our fundraising target, which is primarily to facilitate the construction of toilet facilities and other smaller projects; then this money will be devoted to respond to future priorities in the school which may include St Michael’s helping to provide additional resources and hopefully sponsorship for a teacher. In addition to being courageous advocates and trying to have a lifelong impact on a school community in another part of the world, we hope that all our pupils will gain so much from the partnership and particularly from the optimism, hope and joy that radiates from the children and staff there.
Wellbeing
Please can we signpost parents/carers to the extensive range of information on the website that is available to support our young people. Attached is a letter from Kooth who are available throughout the Easter break. This term many pupils have attended additional talks on Prevent and Wellbeing that have been provided by outside agencies.
I am sure that parents/ carers are aware from the media coverage about the national concerns with vaping and the impact on young people and also know that locally teenagers have required hospital treatment because of inhaling some of the substances in disposable vapes. Please can we ask all parents to support the messages regularly given in school about vaping and the use of illegal substances. Our pupils are absolutely wonderful, but are growing up in a society where young people are vulnerable not just through their use of social media but through the easy access to harmful substances within the local area.
We encourage you to have regular and open discussions with your sons and daughters about the challenges they face and please not to assume that they won’t be involved.
Success!
Thank you to all our pupils who have represented school at numerous sports, dance and other competitions such as the Maths challenge throughout this term. You have been exceptional ambassadors for the school and should be really proud of your success. Please do see the website and ‘X’ to keep up to date with all that is happening in school.
Attendance and Punctuality
Thank you to parents/ carers for your support in helping us to improve attendance and punctuality. As previously mentioned in newsletters, attendance really does matter and there is a clear correlation between time spent in school and attainment.
Staffing
Today we have thanked Mrs Clayton Stead for the support she has given to school this half term. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Clare to school after Easter in her role as Head of Geography and thank Miss O’Malley for the outstanding work she has done in in the interim period. Mrs Jennings is leaving St Michael’s today to return to Ireland and takes with her our very best wishes for the future and gratitude for the wonderful contribution she has made in her role as tutor and teacher of English.
Maundy Thursday
Pupils have been involved in various reflections and activities today in addition to our Easter Services which have helped them to focus on spirituality and the Easter message.
Ski Visit
We hope that the pupils and staff travelling to Italy on our ski visit have a safe and wonderful experience.
As always, thank you for your continued support and prayers, I wish you all a peaceful and happy Easter.
Yours sincerely
Headteacher
Lent 2
X (Twitter) news
Sporting success
Karting success
This half term has seen success for our young karters in several races around the country, including in North Wales and Surrey.
Masterchef
Our budding patisserie chefs have been excelling themselves in our Master Chef Baking Club.
Well done to our girls’ cricket teams who have enjoyed fantastic success this this half term.
World Book Day
Fantastic costumes were donned by both Year 7 pupils and staff on World Book Day. Pupils in their tutorials also demonstrated their creativity with their ‘book in a box’ which are in display in our Armstrong Centre. On this day, every lesson started with reading a story and we also encouraged pupils to bring in a book for children in Zambia as part of out Lent Appeal.
Easy Fundraising
Please could we take this opportunity to again kindly encourage you to consider registering with easyfundraising as it means that more than 7,000 brands will donate to our Zambia Appeal for free every time you use easyfundraising for your online shopping. Brands include Amazon, ebay, Argos, John Lewis etc It takes minutes to create an account and it is completely free.
Thank you for your support.
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stmichaels-zambia-24-project
Change Talks
Pupils in Years 9-11 have had talks covering mental health and wellbeing this half term, led by Sam Tyrer from NHS Lancs and South Cumbria.
Year 9 Enrichment / Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Pupils in Year 9 have continued their good work in the community by continuing to help at St Laurence’s food bank and showing stewardship, assisting with environmental projects.
Pupils are just beginning to embark on preparations for their Duke of Edinburgh’s expedition. Parents, carers and pupils are invited to school at 6.30pm on Thursday 16 May for an information evening regarding the expedition arrangements.
Zambia / Lent Appeal
We are almost there with the fundraising for our Zambia Appeal. We are now at around £55,000 and have been absolutely overwhelmed by the kind support of all at Team St Michael’s who have worked so tirelessly and given so selflessly to help raise the money. The funds are going towards building a toilet block at the Good Samaritan School in the capital Lusaka; a project which will ensure not only the 900 children currently at the school will benefit from improved hygiene but also those generations of children to come. Fifteen of our pupils in Years 9 and 10 and five staff will travel to Zambia in July to assist Zambian builders start to build the toilets and we will be visiting other projects supported by the charity Mission Direct.
We will not stop at our £60,000 as any excess of funds will go towards assuring this link is sustainable and our partnership with the young people in this country continues following our visit to Lusaka in July. Thank you for your support of our events this half term, which have included the Y7 Zumba for Zambia, Tesco bagpacking, the Ceilidh and the staff karaoke. Thank you also to pupils who have supported the Lent Appeal of bringing in a book for Zambia, writing a message to send to the children at the Good Samaritan School.
We are now once again asking for donations of children’s clothes (suitable for a warm climate) and especially any old football kit from premier league clubs!
