19 July 2019 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 39

Message from the Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers

As we move into the month of October, we begin to consider the life of our patron, St John Henry

Newman. This year, his feast day (9 October) will be the first since his canonisation on 13 October 2019.

We are comforted by his wisdom in these uncertain times, often and particularly his phrase ‘Let us act on

what we have, since we have not what we wish.’

The PE Department will be talking to students about a return to lessons from 12 October. Letters will

be sent out to parents sharing the specific details next week.

We thank all of our students and their families for their continued support as we navigate through this

unprecedented time.

Ms Emma O’Connor

This week the Headteachers’ Award goes to Joseph Bracken for his design for a Cardinal

Newman face covering.

Cardinal Newman

Catholic School Holy Cross Catholic Multi Academy Company

2nd October 2020 Newsletter 2

Don’t forget to check the school’s

website for all the latest news:

www.cncs.school

You can also find us on Twitter at

@newmancoventry and Facebook

Cardinal Newman Catholic School Cov.

Virtual Open

Evening

Thank you to

all the students

and staff that

worked so

hard to produce the videos and letters for Open

Evening. The evening was a great success with lots

of visitors to the site and lots of positive feedback

about the quality of the information shown and

how well our students represented the school

community. We are very proud of both the staff

and the students at Cardinal Newman and it was

lovely to see the students from Year 13 and Year 8

talk about their experiences at Cardinal Newman

as well as Year 7 talk about their transition to our

school in very unusual and challenging

circumstances.

If you require any further information from the

school about applications for Year 7, or if you

would like a prospectus sent out to you, please

contact Mrs Amanda Higgins -

amanda.higgins@cncs.school

The deadline for application is the 31st October

via: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/148/

school_admissions/120/

secondary_school_admissions/2

Miss M Goodwin, Deputy Headteacher

Attendance Competition

Each week, a laminated pizza

slice is awarded to either the

highest attendance or most

improved attendance. Once a

tutor group has completed their empty pizza pie,

they will receive an actual Dominoes pizza party.

Please see below the winners of last week’s pizza

slices.

Mr E Timmins, Assistant Headteacher

Highest Attendance Most improved

Year 7 7EBG 7NMI

Year 8 8MCN 8LHR

Year 9 9CLR 8SON

Year 10 10AHR 10CWD

Year 11 11ANO 11RNN

Saint John Henry Newman Feast Day

On Friday 9th October we will celebrate the Feast day of

Saint John Henry Newman. We are very privileged to have

a connection with Saint John Henry Newman and

throughout the year we will explore some of his different

teachings, poems and writings to learn more about how he

put his faith into action. We will be celebrating Mass as a

school community via our school YouTube channel, if you

would like to join us for this celebration please access the

channel on Friday 9th October at 11.30am.

Laura Byrne, Lay Chaplain

Lord support us all day long.

Help us to learn and work together

You have blessed us with special and unique gifts, help us to use them and not

to hide them.

Help us to encourage others to use their gifts, to be their best self and prove

that we are all made for greatness

Amen

Saint John Henry Newman

Pray for us

Cardinal Newman Catholic School Prayer

Governor Vacancy at Cardinal Newman

School governors make a valuable contribution to children’s

education, opportunities and futures. Being a school governor

is a challenging but hugely rewarding role and will give you the opportunity to make a real difference to young people, give

something back to your local community and use and develop your skills in a board-level environment.

School governing boards need to have a balance and diversity of knowledge skills and experience to enable it to be effective.

There is no requirement for governors to have an understanding of the education system, just the necessary skills, character

and time to contribute. There is plenty of training available to help you learn about education. Schools need and benefit from

a range of professional knowledge on their governing board including education, finance, human resources, legal, marketing and

public relations, property and estates management and organisational change.

The governing body of a school has three core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

• Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupil, and the

performance management of staff; and

• Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

At Cardinal Newman we currently have a vacancy for a Parent Governor.

A Parent Governor is elected by parents of registered pupils at the school.

If you are interested or know of anyone who would be interested and would like further information, please contact, Suzanne

Harris, Clerk to the Governors suzanne.harris@cncs.school or visit https://www.nga.org.uk/Governance-Recruitment/Be-a-

school-governor-or-trustee.aspx

COVID-19

Please see below important information:

• If your child is unwell and displaying symptoms of COVID 19 you MUST NOT send them to

school. They and the household in which they live must isolate for 14 days or until a test has

been confirmed as negative and fever symptoms have disappeared for 48 hours.

• Please call the school on 024 7633 2382 and leave details of your child’s name, their registration

group and symptoms. We will mark their register accordingly.

• You should immediately arrange for a COVID test via the online portal or calling 119.

• Upon receiving the results contact us and advise as follows:-

1. If your child’s test is positive, then they should self isolate for at least 10 days from the date of

test and all other household members should self isolate for 14 days. Please inform the school

accordingly.

2. If your child’s test is negative and no other person in the household has received a positive test,

then you should advise the school accordingly and your child can return to school when they are

well (must be fever free for 48 hours).

3. If your child’s test is negative but another person in the household has a positive test, then your

child must self isolate for 14 days from the date of the positive person’s test.

If you have any members of your family with symptoms please DO NOT send your child to school but

instead follow the procedures above.

If your child is unwell at school:

You will receive a phone call from the school requesting that you come to collect them immedi-

ately.

You will be advised to arrange a test and follow the ‘stay at home’ guidance.

Please then follow the procedures above. Our school team will mark their register accordingly.

Students are

reminded to bring a

face covering with

them to school every

day.

Year 7 continue to settle in well to life at Cardinal Newman. We were very proud of the

students that took part in the Virtual Open Evening last week. They were fine

ambassadors of the Year Group and of the school.

The School Counsellor has now visited most of the tutor groups to introduce herself and

carry out a ‘well being’ session with the students, which has been really important and well

received. Our Lay Chaplain, Laura, has also started visiting the groups to talk a little bit

about the Catholic Life of the school and deliver a short prayer service in the classroom.

It is hard to believe that we are already on week 5 - it feels like Year 7 have always been

here!

Miss Keane, Head of Year

Roisin Jones 7ECK 89

Rhys Wandji 7ECK 89

Jasmine Lysik 7ECK 75

Lucy Cronin 7PRN 73

Kurtis Docherty 7NMI 73

Brolin Okechukwu 7ABK 73

Kanimoly Pakiswaran 7CHT 71

Munachinonso Ohadomere 7CML 69

Joseph Quainoo 7ECK 68

Grace Leape 7ECK 67

Riley Glenn 7ECK 65

Adin Marianixon 7NOE 64

Mary-Grace Berry 7NOE 63

Isabelle Boshell 7CML 63

Michalina Cyboran 7ABK 63

ASPIRE POINTS LEADERBOARD

News from the Year Groups

W/C 21/09/20 W/C 14/09/20

Another fantastic week

by Year 8! Well done to

8TGN for winning the

Top Notch Tutor

Trophy.

Showing fantastic

attitude to learning and

always trying their best.

Our students in Year 8

really are doing us proud.

Well done to those who

are on the ASPIRE

leadership board this

week. Some are on here

for the second week

running!!

Year 8 News

A week in the life of a Year 9 student

Akilan Rahulan 9NWH 62 Nikola Singh 9BNE 57

Jake Whitehead 9ECM 55 Erin Healy 9BNE 54

Nicholas Imagbovomwan 9NWH 51

Since returning to school after lockdown Year 9 have been working tirelessly across the board to make up for lost time. This also includes the huge boost in

numbers of ASPIRE points being attained by the year group as the students want to get the new prizes as part of the school reward system re-launch.

The current Year 9 top 5 ASPIRE point scorers.

WELL DONE!

Each week we also run a friendly tutor group

competition which is based around attendance, number

of ASPIRE points and the number of negatives points each tutor group receives

over the previous week.

Well done to our current leaders 9TEN!

During lockdown, I had no idea we were going back to school. I didn’t know whether it would be weeks, months or

even a year. I was (to my surprise) anticipating starting school in September when I heard we were coming back. I

never actually realised that I missed school and quite enjoyed it until the whole COVID-19 situation.

Therefore, on my first day back I was quite nervous. Nervous about seeing my friends, worried about seeing my

teachers and anxious about starting my lessons. I personally thought that my first day back was very enjoyable. I believe that the school has handled the COVID-19 situation with care and tactical skill. The idea of always

positioning the teacher 2 metres apart with tape is quite ingenious. I also like the compulsory rule that students

should always wear face coverings inside the buildings and outside when with your friends from different tutor

groups.

This leads me onto my next point, the classroom divide. Before COVID-19 students were set into different groups

by their academic skill. However, the school has now decided that students will stay in their groups for almost

every lesson (excluding their options). This creates protection for students in the school and if in the rare case that a child were to contract COVID-19 the school would isolate the students that the infected pupil had been

with in lessons. This is another prevention to stop the school from closing down again as a child’s education is

extremely important.

Altogether, I believe Cardinal Newman Catholic School has done an excellent job of providing education to students whilst still following the COVID-19 laws and guidelines and becoming a safe environment for both students and teachers alike.

By Matthew McBrearty—9TEN

School under COVID-19 measures….

Year 10

Message from Mr McLintock: Hello again, to our Year 10 students. A huge well done to the majority of students on your

conduct and behaviour since your return, I hope this continues all year round! Each week, a student from a different tutor group

will be nominated to write a small piece for the newsletter. This weeks newsletter has been written by Rebecca Stevenson,

10TRD. Well done Rebecca!

"Amid this global crisis, we have had to adapt to the "new normal." New measures have been put in place globally and this has

happened in school too. School life as we knew it has changed, not just for the students but for our teachers as well. These

changes are both vital and necessary in order to keep us in school and to receive our important education. In Year 10, the

majority of students have settled in successfully so far and are adapting to this new way of life, with all of its advantages and

disadvantages.

We personally feel like our school has done their very best to ensure our safety through these new measures, such as our year

zones and wearing a mask in our own block and on school site. We all feel safe in school and are so happy to be back with our

friends, who were greatly missed during lockdown. I think I speak for the whole year when I say that we appreciate what the

school has done to ensure our safety.”

Rebecca Stevenson 10TRD

Inter-year competition current standings.

1st place – 10SSH

2nd place – 10CWD

3rd place - 10ABI

4th place – 10TDS

5th place – 10RDS

6th place – 10AHR

7th place – 10TRD

8th place - 10SPX

Mr J McLintock, Head of Year 10

Year 11 - School Life After Lockdown

Many state ‘collective intelligence is the only hope we have to save the planet.’ As a student, I unquestionably feel that this is evident

within this new, but now normal world – where this very idea of ‘communality’ is what allows us to collectively protect ourselves

from this invisible enemy.

Throughout the unprecedented chain of events we have all experienced since March, the staff at Cardinal Newman ensured that the

heart of the institution - students’ mental health and wellbeing – was held paramount. As you may tragically be aware, the mental

health of many students is at breaking point – with students often having no access to support at home. However, at Cardinal

Newman, the large number of different interventions held at tutor times on a weekly basis has helped us tackle such issues – en-

couraging pupils to freely approach many different sources of support such as tutors, ‘Heads of Year’ and the safeguarding team

during this time of unease.

As a pupil in Year 11, I can truly say that the support, commitment and care given at Cardinal Newman is beyond words. The staff

at Cardinal Newman had solemnly acknowledged that the transition into life at school after several months of lockdown was not an

easy task, so they made it one of their priorities to help the student community to overcome their challenges – duly ensuring we

were protected at all times and were aligned and congruent to government guidance and regulation.

As pupils, we have experienced an actuality which has not been experienced by any generation today. We woke up into a world of

economic, physiological and social uncertainty - but this is going to help shape our generation as it encourages us to contemplate

the world with a different mindset and appreciate the smaller, yet equally as important things in life - the key skills that each student

is taught at Cardinal Newman.

Harsimran Nagra, 11AMI

Social Media

We as all parents to remind students to follow sensible rules

concerning social media

Social media can be a lot of fun, sharing the photo you just snapped

with your phone, connecting with friends after school and sharing

interests. Nevertheless please be aware of some important do’s and

don'ts's when connecting through social media.

Do: Think about how you present yourself online, including your profile image and your language. You

are creating an online reputation that stays with you forever.

Do: Know who can access your personal information. You may be able to decide what parts of your

profile others can access, but assume everything is public unless you learn otherwise. Sometimes

"private" means everyone can see what's on your profile, but only your friends can post comments or

contact you.

Do: Trust your instincts if something doesn't feel or look right. If something online makes you feel

uncomfortable, talk to a trusted adult.

Do: Think before posting your personal information. As soon as your information goes online, you

can't control who sees it and how it's used. This means your photo could be shared almost instantly

with thousands of people or even altered/distorted digitally. If you wouldn't want everyone to see it,

don't post it.

Do: Think before sharing others' personal information, including tagging photos without their

permission or sharing their personal life with the world. They deserve privacy as much as you, so help

protect it.

Do: Use privacy settings and follow password recommendations

Don't : Assume everyone you meet online is who he or she seems to be. Anyone can create a user

profile pretending to be someone else -- even on social media sites that claim to connect students from

the same school.

Don't : Post information that could lead someone to you offline. Avoid posting photos that include

license plates or identifiable landmarks or messages that indicate your typical hangouts. Over time,

people can piece together detailed information about you.

Don't : Reply to harassing or disturbing messages.

Cyberbullies want to know they are making you worried or

upset and want a reaction from you. Instead of responding,

remain in control by talking to a trusted adult.

Don’t : Post about illegal activities

Don’t : Fall down the social media rabbit hole.

Weekly Prayer

Father, stay with us and care for us so

that we will always be united to You.

May we walk with you daily and desire

to spend refreshing times in your pres-

ence. Keep us safe from evil and close to the Holy

Spirit. Sanctify us in truth of your word and may

we never doubt your love for us. We pray to be con-

tinually amazed by your desire to guide us always

and constantly stand in awe of your glory. These

things we ask in Christ’s name. Amen

Notices

Dates for your Diary

Fri 9th October 2020 @ 11.30am - Feast Day Mass

In 2019/2020 we celebrated

our 50th anniversary year

and have set the target of raising £50.000. We have secured

£20,000 and need your help to reach the target. The money

raised will be shared between 3 charities voted for by stu-

dents, parents, staff and governors. Myton Hospice, CRISIS and

Mary's Meals. If you would like to make a donation or for fur-

ther information please visit the link below:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/50K-for-50-years

Thank you for your continued support.

Message from Lucy Bassett

- Counsellor

A quick message from me to say hello

and share some wellbeing information.

I hope you are all settling back into a routine and know where

to go if you need any support or have any questions. I feel as

though some things have returned to normal whilst some

things have definitively changed. I wonder how you are

managing all these changes, what is it like for you?

We all need help sometimes, your heads of year, student

reception staff, teachers and support staff will signpost you to

student support if you would like some extra support.

Here is a link to some information about mental health and

returning to school https://www.themix.org.uk/work-and-

study/student-life/the-mixs-back-to-school-guide

Are you still making time for things to enjoy, things to do for

fun? I wonder if you could think of some things to do for fun in

October, no matter how big or small, just something that will

feel good? It could be watching that film you meant to,

spending more time drawing. It could be spending more time

with someone who makes you feel special… whatever it is, I

wonder if you could make some time for it as a way of looking

after yourself.

There are lots of wellbeing resources on the school website

which you can find here = https://www.cncs.school/learning-

from-home/anxiety-and-mental-health

Please may we remind students and

parents to ensure they come to

school equipped. Due to health and

safety at this time we are unable to

accept students belongings into

school after they have arrived.

Many thanks for your cooperation.

Coventry Against Racism Public Discussion

– Coventry City of Peace

Date/Time - 06/10/2020 at 19:00. Location Online. Coven-

try Against Racism will be holding a public event on

Facebook Live on 6 October. For further information visit:

https://coventrycityofpeace.uk/events/coventry-

against-racism-public-discussion/

https://www.themix.org.uk/work-and-study/student-life/the-mixs-back-to-school-guide-37553.htmlhttps://www.themix.org.uk/work-and-study/student-life/the-mixs-back-to-school-guide-37553.htmlhttps://www.cncs.school/learning-from-home/anxiety-and-mental-healthhttps://www.cncs.school/learning-from-home/anxiety-and-mental-healthhttps://coventrycityofpeace.uk/events/coventry-against-racism-public-discussion/https://coventrycityofpeace.uk/events/coventry-against-racism-public-discussion/