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Mount St Mary’s

Catholic High School

Educating The Individual For The Benefit Of All

Spring 2018

Founded in 1853

www.mountstmarys.org

MSM Messenger

The news magazine of Mount St Mary’s Catholic High School

T H E M US I C AL

Hello Founded in 1853

Mount St Mary’s

Catholic High School l The “Beast from the East” has visited more than once and challenged our resolve, but not broken it. I have to start this message by complementing our students and staff for their continued commitment to participating in, and providing, high quality education. Despite challenging weather conditions and travel chaos our students chose to fight their way in and remained on task all day. Staff followed their lead and even when the site was not open to students, spent their time ensuring they were well prepared for when the storm passed. Our students’ success continues to impress on many fronts; Jekyll and Hyde stunned the cumulative audiences and once again showcased our ever impressive talent. Our youngsters engagement in extra curricular activities continues to grow, be it indoor athletics, table tennis, football or netball. However the limit is not sporting, our robotics challengers, the Golden Bunsen and training of ITT students, our debating numbers continue to grow and, this term, we celebrated our best ever success in the Intermediate Maths Challenge with our very first gold award. We have welcomed some new staff to our number, Mrs Simbananiye (MFL), Mrs Bruce (English), Mrs Reed (Student Support worker) and finally Fr Emmanuel has brought a breath of inspiration and positivity, but you will be able to read more about him in this edition.

Our Mission The community of Mount St Mary’s is called to develop the full potential of each person - spiritually, academically, socially and physically - and to create a safe, happy and caring school.

To end this, our Easter term, a number of our Year 9 students volunteered to lead our whole staff on a journey through the ‘Stations of the Cross’, with reflections and meditations at each. We look forward to sharing this via the website in the near future. May I wish the whole community a safe, peaceful and reflective Easter break and we look forward to the ‘next push’, starting on Monday 16 April. Mark Cooper Headteacher

T H E M US I C AL

This year’s School production of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ was a resounding success. The story focussed on Dr Henry Jekyll’s scientific experimentation on how to split the good and evil from an individual, in the process he somehow creates Edward Hyde, the evil side of himself. The manifestation of Hyde consumes him and alienates those whom he loves, including his fiancée Emma and best friend Utterson. Both Jekyll and Hyde also become involved with a young performer, Lucy, who falls desperately in love with Jekyll, but is at the mercy of Hyde as her patron. As the death toll on stage grows, and the deeds of Hyde are uncovered, Jekyll must come to terms with the fact that Hyde is a part of him and he must accept this as his fate. Over 30 students, from all years, brought the Gothic tale to life. The production, both technically and vocally challenging at a professional level, demonstrates our growing success as a Performing Arts Faculty and the success of the students by taking on such a high-level performance. All students involved showed amazing talent, skill and dedication: rising to the challenge in the lead roles were Camron Simpson (Year 11) as Dr Henry Jekyll, William Cullingworth (Year 10) as Edward Hyde, Ellie Durkan (Year 11) as Emma Carew, Adrianna Dautaj (Year 11) as Lucy Harris and Marc Veraque (Year 11) as Utterson. The show was a visual feast for the audience with dance, magic tricks, circus numbers and even live scientific experiments. For many students this was their last production at Mount St Mary’s and the emotions on the final night at curtain call, from all the cast, demonstrate how enriching and important our productions are to the school community. Many thanks to the creative team for all the hours put in to making the production happen and more thanks to the students of Mount St Mary’s who participated in such a wonderful event. Roll on next year…

PERFORMING ARTS

@msmpai

youtube.com/msmpai

Leeds Champions

P.E Extra Curricular Timetable In December we entered both boys and girls squads into the Leeds Indoor Athletics Championships. We held multiple trials in school at lunchtimes, where students competed for a place in either the boys squad or the girls squad. Over 30 students trialled for one of the 8 spaces available in each team. Those lucky enough to be selected then spent lunchtimes and after school preparing for their events. All this work paid off as both teams won their qualification rounds and were awarded a place in the Leeds City finals, to compete against the four other best teams in Leeds. This is the first time in 5 years we have had a team make it that far and we now have two! In February we took both teams to the finals, the standard of the athletes was incredible with many students competing who also represent various local athletics teams. Our boys team came a very respectable 4th overall. The girls squad are a rather remarkable group of students who have been blessed with natural athleticism, mixed with a really positive mind-set. They arrived with the hope of placing for a medal but in fact stole the show and won the whole thing!

After School 3:10 - 4:10

BOYS

GIRLS

MIXED

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Basketball All Years Sports hall Leeds City

Rugby All Years Field DMA/SDA

Football Year 7-9 Leeds United

Football All Years Field MAR

Climbing Club Sports Hall IAH/PAW

Table Tennis All Years Activity Studio

Netball All Years Sports Hall YVP/REG/LIU

(Resumes After Easter)

As a result of being the Leeds Champions we now head to Huddersfield to represent Leeds in the West Yorkshire finals, fingers crossed and watch this space to see if they can continue their rise to stardom!

Rugby Year 7 - 9 Leeds Rhinos

@mountstmaryspe Since November 2017, students in Years 7-10 have been taking part in after school debating sessions as part of the programme run by Debate Mate. Students have been developing their confidence and teamwork skills, as well as their speaking and listening skills through delivery of reasoned arguments. On Wednesday 31st January, Mount St Mary’s hosted the Leeds contingent of Round 1 of the Urban Debate League, a national competition run by Debate Mate. 5 teams of Mount St Mary’s students competed against Allerton High School, Bishop Young Academy and Cockburn School. Students debated in 2 rounds, including the debate “this house believes that parents should be held accountable for the actions of their children”. Students displayed confidence, resilience and respect while debating with their competitors, delivering impassioned speeches and carefully responding to questions. All of the scores were entered into the National league, where MSM students placed 2nd in Leeds and 23rd in the UK! On Wednesday 7th March, Mount St Mary’s also hosted the Leeds contingent of the second round of the Urban Debate League. This time 7 teams of Mount St Mary’s students competed against Allerton High School and Cockburn School. Students once again debated in two rounds, including a pre-prepared debate sponsored by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors: “this house regrets the demise of the high street”. Prior to the competition, students spent a considerable amount of time researching both sides of the argument and preparing their reasoning. Once again, students excelled in their display of their speaking skills, while responding carefully to the questions put to them. The final results of the Urban Debate League will be released at the end of April! Good luck MSM!

@MSMEnglish

Where are they now? Prince's Trust Mosaic Mentoring Group

In January, 25 Year 10 Students began a mentoring group run by The Prince's Trust. The programme is run by volunteers all from a professional background who work as positive role models to help students with confidence, self-efficiency and employability. The scheme delivers a package of mentoring support which is tailored to each individual's needs and includes group mentoring, work place visits, inspirational speakers and competitions, with the aim of boosting aspirations, confidence, self-belief and motivation. Additionally we work with students to enhance their 'soft skills'- personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness and encourage an optimistic outlook, which is important for school and the current job market. This is the first time Mount St Mary's has run this mentoring programme, and we're looking forward to seeing the positive impact this has on the students taking part.

Anna Carolan

Left MSM in 2007 Anna came back to Mount St Mary’s and worked as a Teaching Assistant while waiting to be accepted on her teaching course. She now teaches History and Classics at King James, Huddersfield.

MSM Win ‘Best Speaker’ at The Tetley! On Thursday 25th January, Mrs Evans-Woollett and Mr Hinchley took a group of Year 10 students to The Tetley to compete in the annual The Tetley Debating Competition, in association with The Leeds Salon and Debating Matters. Students are scored on content rather than presentational style and have to intensely prepare beforehand. As part of the competition, students deliver speeches, then face questioning from the judges, the audience and their opposing team, before delivering summary speeches. In the first round, MSM students were proposing the motion “we should welcome the advent of genome editing”. As another school had withdrawn, Yaniat Menghisha and Serena Banka Pianta delivered their speeches before being questioned by the judges and the audience. Both Yaniat and Serena delivered confident, well thought-out speeches before displaying exceptional resilience under tough questioning from the judges, who were exceedingly complimentary of our students. In the second round, MSM students were opposing the motion “we should accept the risk inherent in contact sports”, proposed by Woodkirk Academy. Matthew Francisco and Agata Wroniecka used their in depth research to present a unified front against Woodkirk, ensuring that no sweeping generalisations were made and each of their arguments were backed up by clear facts and statistics. Woodkirk Academy were declared winners overall, but Yaniat Menghisha was awarded best speaker – with Evenezer Sultan also being commended for his excellent floor questions – and received prizes including a £10 Vue Cinema voucher! Well done MSM!

@MSMEnglish

Michael Bedford

Left MSM in 2007 Michael had some health problems and found getting a job difficult but after a stint on work experience at Marks and Spencer they snapped him up as a permanent employee.

CAREERS | LATEST NEWS

@msm_careers

JANUARY—MAR 2018

A busy term for Year 9, 10 and 11!

JAN // The second week into the new term saw all our Year 10 students taking part in full day programme of activities. The activities provided students with the insight, tools and opportunities to develop their skills for success. The day included themes around teamwork, target setting, personal goals, self motivation and creative thinking. Here are some words from the students who took part: ‘Inspire others to do well as well as yourself. You don’t need to work alone, work as a team’ – Bethany. ‘The motivational speeches helped boost my confidence and ability to understand myself more. I enjoyed the ‘Training Your Mind’ session the most because it was very real and helped put my life into perspective. It was a much needed wake up call and was very interesting to listen to. It helped me to stop and actually think about what I was doing and if it was useful. Today I learnt; ‘Don’t do what everyone else does because you are not everyone else’. Although I already have a very good idea on my future, I felt looking at others lives was just as important at looking at my own to make me think about my future’—Emma.

JAN // Year 9 students attended a Catering and Hospitality taster day at Leeds City College Printworks. The students made a chicken stir-fry from scratch and gained valuable information about the FE choices at LCC.

JAN // Leeds College of Music hosted a Music Production taster day for some of our Year 10 students. Students got the opportunity to use industry software and ask questions about University life at LCM. JAN // Medical Mavericks ran a session for our Year 9 and 10 students on careers in the medical field. Students took blood from a fake arm, learnt CPR, did health tests on themselves and had access to the use of real medical equipment, including many more activities…

FEB // Year 9 students attended a STEM day at Leeds College of Building. Here the students had to create their own Eco building and take on different roles within their group. These roles consisted of Architect, Director and Surveyor to name a few. Students had to compete with other schools and present their ideas to a board of professional Engineers. The Year 9 students made us very proud and took 1st place for their creativity and attention to caring for the environment! FEB // Year 10 students had the AMAZING opportunity to visit ITV Studios for ITV News Day! The day saw our students use real industry equipment, meet and greet with well known presenters and gain a valuable insight into the Media job sector today! Students even had the opportunity to appear on television and try out presenting the weather with the help from John Mitchell!

The following Year 8 students have been trained as Science Ambassadors at York University Physics department to do work at our primary feeder schools.

Over the last three months, a team of budding Year 7 and Year 8 engineers have been working hard on a RAF-themed challenge using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 set. Through grit and determination they have developed a robot that collects important humanitarian aid resources and have researched into humanitarian aid solutions. Unfortunately, the snow prevented our trip to RAF Scampton to showcase our findings and see the Red Arrows. Maybe next year?!

Awatif Bakari, Luna Misgina, Pretapaula Gaspar, Ellie Portman, Avital Anoff, Mariam Badru, Zara Menghisha

The schools they have been working with are St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Christ The King Catholic Primary School, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, St Philip's Catholic Primary School, Holy Family Catholic Primary School. The children have been measuring how much electricity you can produce from fruit.

Golden Bunsen 2018 Dr Prisutova and a team of Year 8 girls have visited each of our Catholic feeder primary schools to promote practical skills in physics. The image below shows a recent trip to Holy Family Primary School. Next term the schools will all come to Mount St Mary’s to participate in the grand finale to decide who will take away the Golden Bunsen for 2018

Students have been working hard on improving their times tables recall this year and, as a school, we're proud to share that our students have answered over ONE MILLION questions since September. Special congratulations for their hard work must go to Samrawit Liule, Arsema Rezene (Year 8), Emmanuel Izekor, Urmila Kinito (Year 9) and Yosan Tekeste Yosief (Year 7), who have all broken the 50,000 barrier individually, which is a fantastic achievement. Not long to go until they join the 100,000 club. Watch this space for a times tables based House competition in the summer term.

@MathsMatters

On Wednesday 13 December our Year 10 students hosted a christmas party in our school hall for over 100 local senior citizens. For some of our guests this party is the highlight of their festive season and the only social gathering they are invited to.

Jacob Riley Duddin Jacob Riley Duddin willl be Aboard NASA’s First Mission to Touch the Sun.

Parker Solar Probe

NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names online to be placed on a microchip aboard NASA’s historic Parker Solar Probe mission launching in summer 2018. The mission will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and your name will go along for the ride.

www.go.nasa.gov/HotTicket

Jacob Riley Duddin

UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge In the Mathematics Department we are celebrating our best ever results in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, with Rui de sa Nogueira achieving a Gold certificate (top 5% of entrants), 8 students achieving a Silver certificate (top 20% of entrants) and 19 students receiving a Bronze certificate (top 40% of entrants). Their names are proudly displayed on our wall of fame on the maths corridor. Well done to all involved and we look forward to improved results in 2018-19, as well as excellent results in the Junior Maths Challenge on April 27.

@MathsMatters

Christmas Smackdown

The Christmas term concluded with staff and students in Year 7 and 8 in their Christmas jumpers (or ‘Taylor’ ed suits) in house teams in the Christmas Smackdown. Events were numerous and varied from lip ssync battles to the reigndeer games. Much fun was had by all. Thank you Mr Taylor for all your organisation.

Meet MSM’s Lawyers of the Future!

On Saturday 10th March, Mrs Evans-Woollett, Mr Hinchley and Miss Rathore took 16 Year 9 students to Leeds Magistrates’ Court to participate in the Leeds Heat of the Magistrates’ Mock Trial. The students were given the case R v Fenton to prepare for, where the defendant was accused of possession of a bladed weapon. Students prepared for two months prior to the competition, with support from past competitors in Year 11. Students took on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, magistrates and court staff while competing against other schools from Yorkshire. In the first round, MSM students competed against Abbey Grange, with our students acting as defence counsel. Holly Messu Pianta and Elizabeth Mekonen acted as defence lawyers, questioning the prosecution witnesses in order to find inconsistencies in their stories, and then questioning their own witnesses in order for them to explain their version of events. Johanna Jermy put in a stellar performance as the defendant, keeping calm and collected under difficult questioning. She was well supported by Harriet Owusu-Nsiah, who acted as the second defence witness. Sendos Joseph was on excellent form as the usher, ensuring witnesses were carefully guided to the stand and sworn in to ensure they were truthful. Once the trial was over, magistrates Ruth Kibreab, Aliod Biniam and Jenicy Fernandes debated with three students from Abbey Grange to come to the verdict: the defendant was found not guilty and Mount St Mary’s were declared winners! In the second round, MSM students competed against Ryburn, with our students acting as the prosecution. Bradley Barker and Faith Odeyo acted as our prosecution lawyers, using their excellent public speaking skills to interrogate witnesses and develop the case. Sophie Newton-Harvey and Iliham Negash acted as prosecution witnesses and were incredibly resilient when questioned by Ryburn. Tomasz Lejczak acted as legal advisor, clearly and carefully setting out the parameters of the law. When the case ended, Ruth, Aliod and Jenicy acted as magistrates once again to decide on the defendant’s guilt; the defendant was found guilty and Mount St Mary’s were once again declared winners! Ryburn were declared overall winners on points, but the students performed spectacularly and deserve much praise and celebration! Zevlyn Corbett, our court artist, and Henog Temesgen and Harvey Drummond, our court reporters, have entered separate competitions and will receive the results soon! Congratulations MSM!

@MSMEnglish

Year 8’s visit York University

A small group of Year 8 students ventured to York University on Monday 29 January for a day of seeing what higher education has to offer. The trip involved a tour of the campus and workshops with one of the University Lecturers and five student ambassadors. Year 8 will soon be considering their subject options for GCSE, and this trip helped inspire them to think about their future and the possibilities a higher education can offer them.

“YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD” - Princess Diana The 1st cohort of 30 students in Year 8 are coming to the end of their Diana Award Mentoring Scheme. The programme runs over 6 months, fortnightly, and raises awareness of a variety of issues, including bullying and racism. The students have been busy practicing their anti-bullying presentation, which they will perform to the year group on Wednesday 28th March. The new cohort of students will start their mentoring programme on Wednesday 18th April.

The students who take Creative iMedia are entering the Young Game Designer Competition held by BAFTA. To enter this award, students can submit an original game idea created by themselves or with a team of two other people. If their game idea is chosen as a winner, they'll get to meet top gaming experts who’ll work with them to bring the game to life! Entries will be judged on gameplay design, creativity and suitability for chosen games platform, and there are already some amazing ideas coming to life.

Year 10 EAL (English as an Additional Language) Students

Friends of

MSM Have Your Say...

Join Friends of Mount St Mary’s (PTA) What is a Parent Teacher Association? Most schools have a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), which is an organisation of parents and staff. Its role is to encourage closer links between home and school. PTAs are best known for their fundraising work, but they have a useful social function too. Fundraising events provide an opportunity for parents, staff and students to get together.

Year 10 EAL students working together with teachers from the National Collaborative Outreach Programme. Each of the students enjoyed this experience of sharing interviews with each other and working as part of a team. The teachers discussed with each student where they could see themselves in five years time.

How is the PTA organised? At most schools all parents/carers and teachers are automatically members of the PTA. How can I be involved in my PTA? There are many different ways you can help with the PTA, whether you have lots of time to offer or not. Some of the roles are time-consuming, although also rewarding. If you can’t commit to a big job, look out for things you can do less frequently (eg running a stall at the summer fair, baking for a cake sale), and you can always support PTA events by simply turning up.

Below: Observational Drawing by Lord Cobbinah Year 9

Interested?

You Can Make A Difference For more information please contact Mrs Malone ([email protected]) or Mrs Doughty ([email protected])

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MATHS + DOCTOR Do you have the following symptoms? Phobia for maths and persistent headaches learning the subject Difficulties with certain topics Homework problems Difficulties completing tasks in lessons and at home Confidence issues with learning maths Problems solving past exam questions

+ = %

Worry no more, a cure is at hand! See the doctors in the maths department. All welcome, from Year 7 - 11 Thursdays 3:10 - 4:10 Make a date with us. What’s more? You will earn house points for attending!!!

@MathsMatters

“Gladness of heart is life to everyone; Joy is what gives length of days” Ecclesiastes 5:20

This term we have welcomed our new Chaplain, Fr Emmanuel, into our school community. His appointment has been fantastic news for us, and his presence has already had an impact with many of our staff and students during the Class Group Masses and Staff Masses held weekly in school. When you see him, make sure you stop and say “Hello!” as I am confident that the conversation you have with him will brighten your day! My name is Emmanuel Osondu Adindu. I was born during the civil war in Nigeria; this is what informed my middle name (Born to survive). I am the fifth born child in a family of eight, five boys and three girls. My father died a little early and that posed a great challenge to my upbringing; early in life, I wanted to go to the minor seminary to help me discern my vocation to the Priesthood; this I could not do because of lack of finances. After secondary school, I went to live with a priest as a houseboy and cook. After staying three years with this Priest, I left him and became a volunteer teacher in the school I had previously attended.

Fr Emmanuel

The major turning point in my life was when I applied to the National Missionary Seminary of St. Paul for formation as a Missionary Priest. It was a significant moment in my life because of the circumstances that led to my application and because, out of the over one thousand candidates who applied for consideration, I was among the few (18 candidates) that were selected from all over the country.

Going to the Spiritual year house of formation and eventually to the major Seminary was a new dawn in my life. It was a step forward considering my poor background. It was so sweet and memorable being a senior seminarian. However, challenges were still there, both financially and family wise. My nine years in the senior seminary exposed me more to life and afforded me the opportunity of learning about Nigeria as a multi-cultural society, and knowing and appreciating people of other ethnic groups. After obtaining a certificate in Philosophy and a degree in Theology from the Pontifical Urban University Rome, I was ordained a Priest for the Missions on 7th July 2001 by Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Archdiocese of Texas, USA. I worked in the Archdiocese of Onitsha as an assistant Priest for two years. In 2003 I was posted to Malawi Mission. I worked in this Mission as a Parish Priest for eleven years. While in Malawi, I was privileged to work with people living with HIV/AIDS. I worked to improve the quality of the lives of poor, malnourished and vulnerable children. I also worked to economically empower the people. As a person I like to be happy and I like people around me to be happy too; that is why my motto is, “Gladness of heart is life to everyone; Joy is what gives length of days”. I like singing; it makes me extra happy! I like watching football and I like being good to people. I like taking my time in doing things. I believe that God favours me a lot. Coming to the UK is a thing of joy for me and an opportunity to know more. When I tend to compare Malawi and UK, I feel there is no basis for comparisons. It is like moving from one extreme part of the world to another. As a Missionary, my target is to be privileged to win at least one Soul for God.

“Gladness of heart is life to everyone; Joy is what gives length of days” Ecclesiastes 5:20

MSM MESSENGER Would you like to contribute to the next Messenger? Would you like to write an article about an event you’ve been involved with in or outside school? Do you have art work or a poem you would like to share?

Get in touch by emailing [email protected]

Well done to Year 8 for collecting £1586.04 for St Gemmas Hospice!

Year 10 Work Experience Our Year 10 students have been on two weeks work experience. We would like to say a huge thank you to the businesses involved for all the effort you have made in helping our students, by offering them the opportunity to experience the world of work.

Founded in 1853

www.mountstmarys.org

MSM ONLINE Maths Department @mathsmatters ICT Department @MSMICT

Through work experience they can develop their skills and qualities to ensure all our students are 'work ready' by the time they finish with us in Year 11. Thank you!

Important Information re: School Buses from September 2018 We have been advised by the Education Transport Authority that they have recently written to all parents to advise that you are required to complete an online renewal form if you wish for your child to continue to use the school bus services, for the next academic year. The closing date for these applications is 30 June 2018. The online renewal form can be found by visiting www.generationm.co.uk

Performing Arts Department @msmpai www.youtube.com/msmpai

All applications must be received strictly no later than 30 June 2018. Any applications received after that date will not be prioritised. It is crucial that you submit your application by 30 June 2018, as the transport authority will then be looking at the amount of applications, to determine the demand for services.

English Department @MSMEnglish

New starters must complete a new application form which can be found on the above website.

Physical Education @mountstmaryspe

If you have any questions or comments please contact:

Careers @msm_careers Year 7 @makeitcountmsm

Education Transport West Yorkshire Combined Authority Wellington House 40-50 Wellington Street Leeds LS1 2DE Tel 0113 348 1122

For information on school buses and bus passes visit: www.generationm.co.uk

For more information, to visit the school or to contribute to the next edition of the Messenger, please contact the school. Mount St Mary’s Catholic High School Ellerby Road Leeds LS9 8LA t 0113 2455248 f 0113 2005114 [email protected] www.mountstmarys.org