CTK NEWS

Inside this issue:

CTK Cats 1

Art & Design 2

Athletics 3

DoE 4

Puzzle Club 5

CTK Elections 6

Eurovision & Drama 7

Chaplaincy News 8-9

Timetable 10

Sport 11

Technology 12-13

Moe Edwards 14-15

Dear parents

This is as always an incredibly

short half-term, however many

of our students have started

their public examinations and

are working incredibly hard! I

know that this can be a very

stressful time for parents and

carers too and I would like to

thank you for the support that

you have given to your child

during these last few weeks

and months.

I would like to make you

aware of two major changes

that will take place in

September. The timings for

the school day will change in

September and you will

receive a letter detailing those

changes very soon. In addition,

there have been some slight

adjustments to the School

uniform, in particular,

regarding girls’ skirts. In due

course, you will receive a letter

which outlines the details of

these changes and if you have

any queries, please do not

hesitate to contact school.

Finally, may I wish you all a

very restful half term break

with your family and friends

and I look forward to

welcoming our students back

in June.

Best wishes

Carlo Cuomo

Dates for the Diary

Half Term 23rd May—31

May

Y10 History Trip Galleries of

Justice

Y12/13 A Level PE

Moderation Day

English Schools Athletics

Championships at Harvey

Hadden

Also available online at www.christtheking.notts.sch.uk

May 2015

The CTK Cats went to a competition last weekend in

Leicester. The girls gained 2nd, 3rd and 4th place trophies!

Year 7 ‘youth level 1’ team.

Back row L-R:

Francesca Dowson,

Bryony McDonnell,

Rebekah May,

Julia Zebrowska,

Kate Kusztal

Front row L-R:

Georgia

Richardson, Floran

Steeples, Louise

Flavin, Jagoda

Walaszczyk

CTK Cats

Our school is looking forward to this year’s A level Art Exhibition held in the Main Hall.

There will be an Open Evening on Tuesday 23rd June for students, friends, family and

the wider school community to celebrate the achievements of our amazing young artists.

The evening starts at 6.30pm and ends at 8.30pm. Light refreshments are available and

there will be live music performed by our own students.

Please show your support and come and have an enjoyable evening.

Mr McGahey Head of Art and Design

Art & Design

Athletics

On Tuesday 12th May, the Gedling School’s Athletics Championships took place at

Grantham Athletics Track and Christ the King was crowned winner of the overall event.

All of the schools in Gedling attended including Christ the King, Redhill, Arnold Hill,

Colonel Frank Seely and Carlton le Willows. The aim of the event was for the top two

students in each event to go through to represent Gedling at the County Schools Athletics

Finals. Each student gained points for where they finished in their event and these points

were added up to give a prize for the best school team in Gedling.

In 2014, 11 students from CTK finished in the top two in their event and went on to

represent Gedling at the County Championships. This year, a record 23 studnets finished

in the top two in 27 events which meant they qualified for the next round.

Also, for the first time in the school’s history, we won the Gedling Championships and

defeated all of the other schools in the district. This is a fantastic achievement and

testament to the efforts of the staff and the students in raising the profile of PE and Sport

around the local area.

Below is a list of the 23 students (and their event) who made it through to represent

Gedling:

Maya Hyacienth (100m and Long Jump)

Rosie Hoyle (800m)

Francesca Bertolaso (High Jump)

Eve O’Connor Ellis (Shot)

Niall Simpson (100m and 200m)

Sam Richardson (1500m)

Josh Parker (Long Jump and Discus)

Dominik Blazejowski (Discus)

Isaac Barker (Javelin)

Asha Stewart (200m and Long Jump)

Beth Harrison (High Jump)

Maria - Luisa Cursino Da Silva (Shot)

R-Marnie Williams (Discus)

Georgina Musson (Discus)

Charlie Bonser (Hurdles)

Emmnauel Fadeyi (100m)

Jermaine Williams (200m)

Tre Hendricks (Triple Jump and 200m)

James Dwyer (300m)

Jordan Mills (800m)

Charlie Hill (Long Jump)

Cami Makunganya (Long Jump)

Georgia Clarke (3000m)

Stephanie Morrell (1500m)

Mr Riding, Head of PE

DoE Award Practice Expeditions

Two recent weekends have seen the practice

expeditions for our Bronze and Silver Duke of

Edinburgh groups, led by Mr Bull, Miss Craven and

Mr Gallagher. Both took place in, or on the southern

fringes of, the Peak District, and attendees enjoyed the

usual mix of weather that would be expected in the

UK’s oldest National Park.

The first expedition was for our Bronze candidates,

who were split into teams to follow three different

routes over two days, camping overnight at the scenic

Haddon Grove Campsite, lying just to the north of

Lathkill Dale. The first day saw sunny spells and

scattered showers and, unsurprisingly, a few missed

turnings from some of the groups. Nevertheless, all the teams

navigated their way successfully to the campsite before dark, pitched their tents and

wolfed down a filling stove-cooked meal. Overnight temperatures dropped to below

freezing, leaving tents with a frosting of ice in the morning. Thankfully the Sunday was

much more pleasant than the Saturday and students soon warmed up as they headed to

the finish at Ashford-in-the-Water. The map-reading on display on the Sunday was much

improved, with groups eager to avoid the detours their lack of attention had led them to

the previous day.

The following Bank Holiday weekend saw our 18 Silver candidates split into three teams

to camp for two nights and walk for two days. Arriving at the well-equipped Birchwood

Farm campsite on the Saturday evening students were greeted by a demoralising drizzle

that got steadily worse overnight, meaning students had to pack up their tents, cook

breakfast and prepare for a long day’s walk in torrential rain. Full credit must go to all

the students who didn’t utter a word of complaint, worked together as a unit and got on

with the task at hand. They were rewarded at lunchtime when the sun came out and

began to dry them off for the walk north-west towards the campsite at Winster. There

were a few errors with the map-reading by all groups

but generally their navigation skills had held up well.

All groups were pitched up by about 5pm, giving them

time to take in the panoramic views afforded to them

at the campsite as the sun set. The Monday morning

saw a continued improvement in the weather, and all

three expedition groups made hay whilst the sun

shone to reach the finish point near Brassington early.

The Silver teams must be commended for their

excellent attitude across the weekend, supporting

each other in their endeavours and maintaining a

positive and cheerful frame of mind at all times. Thanks must also go to the parent/

guardian supervisors, Alex Hoyle, Owen Moore, Stuart Wright, Laura Hennessy, Kuljeet

Singh-Soar and Scott Thomas who provided invaluable help on both weekends, meeting

students at checkpoints and helping on the campsite.

Mr Gallagher, Geography/History Teacher

All of the Bronze Groups

The Silver Squad Assemble

Maths

Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo (IMOK)

Roma Ellis and Isaac Dixon competed in the IMOK Kangaroo and Olympiad.

Isaac Dixon in Year 9 achieved a commendable Merit for his IMOK Cayley. This round is

for the best 500 students in the country in his year group. Isaac received a UKMT keyfob

and a certificate.

Roma Ellis in Year 10 sat the Intermediate Kangaroo. Around 4500 students sat the

paper, and Roma achieved a certificate of participation and a keyfob.

Congratulations to Isaac and Roma for having qualified for these stages.

Mrs Leigh, Director of Learning

The people have spoken and the results

were announced of the mock election held

at CTK on Friday 1st May. Year 9 to 13

students voted for candidates representing

four political parties having had

assemblies including a “Question Time”

style debate

highlighting

the core issues.

The four student candidates, supported

by staff members, did an outstanding

job drawing on their thorough research

to be able to clearly explain their party

view to their peers.

CTK Elections

Year 9 Oliver Hill, Liberal

Democrat candidate, casts his vote.

Winning tactics? Year 9

Nathan Bull supports his

candidate to victory.

After a close fought

campaign, the final count

returned Year 9 Oliver

Hill (Liberal Democrat)

as the winning

candidate.

Year 13 Cameron

McGrath, Conservative party

candidate, casts his vote.

It was a remarkably tight victory with only 3 votes separating the

top three parties reflecting the passion and quality of all the

candidates. “The real winners” said Mr Wilson, staff helper for the

Green Party team, “are all the students voting” as CTK students

took a real interest in the election, actively debating the issues and

comparing views.

It was interesting to contrast the CTK results with that of the

General Election. As a CTK Conservative team member remarked;

“We may have lost the battle, but we won the war”, Matthew

Allwood Year 13.

Mrs Bassett, Head of Citizenship KS3 & 4

Eurovision comes to CTK

Eurovision came to CTK on Friday 8th May,

when a group of staff performed classic tunes

from the European singing contest to a packed

hall of Students. The event was organised in

aid of the Disaster Emergency Committee’s

Nepal earthquake appeal, and staff and pupils

were extremely generous, raising £180 in total.

One of the event helpers was Suleman Salim

in Year 8. He says: ‘ I wanted to help

because I saw how the people in Nepal were

struggling, and I wanted to put 110% effort

into helping them, and the Eurovision

contest was a great fun way of doing this’.

Mrs Dennis, MFL Teacher

Y12 Performance Evening took place and a huge thank you to all staff and parents who

came to support the students involved. Good luck to Aiden, Jess and James and let’s hope

and pray for fabulous results.

Well done to Year 11 for a brilliant practical examination day. A lot of hard work was put

in by all Year 11 Drama students and yet again, produced some outstanding

performances.

Good luck to all Year 11 Drama students in their forthcoming exams.

We bid a fond farewell to Year 13 A Level Drama students. Charlie-Dawn Sadler, Megan

Leask-Walters and Inez Dudek. Good luck in your exams!

Huge congratulations to Charlie-Dawn Sadler and Megan Leask-Walters for gaining a

place at Drama School. Both girls went through a rigorous audition process around the

country and have been successful in gaining places at Northampton University to study

BA Acting. Well done to both of you!

Please follow the Drama Dept on Twitter for rehearsal updates, performance information

and sneaky peeks at drama lessons @CTKDrama.

Mrs Stanley, Drama Teacher

Drama

Where has this term gone? It feels like we have only got started and here we are at the end

of it already! What a great term it has been, though very short.

Born for this

Technically this happened before Easter

however, as it was before the deadline for the

last newsletter. This liturgy was by far my

proudest moment as Lay Chaplain to date. The

Drama Academy brought the stations of the

cross to life with beautiful singing, acting and

movement. You could hear a pin drop in the

Church as the whole Academy community

watched awe struck at the great sacrifice Our

Lord made for us. Mr Cuomo was very

emotional as were most of the staff! Fr Joe

Wheat organised, co-directed, played, sang and

did all sorts to bring this to life. Without his

hard work and guidance it would not have been possible. I cannot put into words how

incredible it was and that it was all done in just one day of rehearsals is even more

spectacular.

Goodbye Year 11 & 13

It has been a very emotional few weeks at CtK as

we have said ‘goodbye’ to our lovely Year 11s and

Year 13s in one week, both days saying goodbye

with Mass. The Year 11 leavers Mass was

celebrated by Fr Robbie who described life at CtK

as a pilgrimage to a holy place, “we have walked

together over many years and know it is time to

begin our journey

back into the world.”

Fr Neil celebrated

the Year 13 Mass in

the Chapel. He reminded them of the call to be apostles,

that we are now sent off into the world like the apostles

were and Christ is always with us. Both Masses were

organised by the students, and were true celebrations of

their time here and thanking God for his wonderful work.

I will personally be very sad to say good bye to these two

year groups. Year 11 was the first group that I took to The

Briars and I know I will have many fond memories for years

to come of our time there together. Year 13 are truly

wonderful men and women. The Mass we celebrated was

beautiful, relaxed and happy, just like them. I know they

are going to achieve throughout their lives.

Chaplaincy News

Primary School Visits

This time of year means lots of primary school visits! We have started our rounds of

visiting the students who are coming to us in September, as well as visiting Year 4 and

Year 5 pupils to invite them in with their parents to see the school well in advance in

order to make the big change less daunting. It is always a pleasure to visit these great

places and receive such a warm welcome every time. I look forward to many more next

term.

A New Bishop

Nottingham has been without a Bishop since 1st May 2014 when

Bishop Malcolm became the Archbishop of Liverpool. Since then

the Diocese has been cared for by Monsignor Canon Tom McGovern

as the Diocesan Administrator. On Thursday 14th May it was

announced that our Holy Father Pope Francis had appointed Right

Reverend Monsignor Canon Patrick McKinney of the Archdiocese

of Birmingham as the 10th Bishop of Nottingham. Mgr McKinney

is currently parish priest of Our Lady and All Saints in Stourbridge

in Dudley. I know of the great work that is happening in this

parish through friends and am very excited about him coming to

Nottingham. We are very blessed to have Mgr McKinney as our

new Bishop. He is a very caring and passionate Parish Priest, a great teacher and is

committed to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. He is an apostle for the 21st

Century. Mr Cuomo and I have written to Mgr McKinney to welcome him to the diocese

and have invited him to come to the School next year to get to know us better.

Please keep him in your prayers through these next few months as he prepares for his

Ordination on Friday 3rd July and this new ministry in Nottingham.

Fundraising

The parishioners at the Good Shepherd Church organised a St George’s Day pub quiz to

help our Lourdes students. It was a very fun evening, the staff team came 2nd and we

raised £272!

Many of our musicians played in the Nottinghamshire Catholic Schools Gala Concert

with students from the Becket, Trinity and All Saints. The great talent of our student

was wonderful to see. The school band performed Miss Craven’s arrangements of

Waterloo Sunset and Skyfall which was accompanied by some beautiful singing. We also

had solo and duet performances from Lizzie Harrison on the piano, played with skill that

amazed everyone; Amy Hoyle’s incredible classical guitar performance; Grace Hodgett-

Young’s beautiful performance of Impossible with Madison Moss-Hayes on the guitar;

and finally the brother and sister medley from Sam and Bethan Jones. The money raised

was for the sick and retired priest’s fund with £1000 raised!

Prayer Request

Please also keep me in your prayers, on Saturday 23rd May I will be getting married! I

know myself and the future Mrs Hopkins would appreciate your prayers as we begin

married life together.

Have a wonderful half term.

Joe Hopkins

Lay Chaplain

Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri

Breakfast · LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning Grace

in the Chapel

Breakfast · Polish club

· LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning Grace in

the Chapel

Breakfast · LRC open for

breakfast 7.30am

· Morning Grace in the Chapel

Breakfast · Polish club · · LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning Grace

in the Chapel

Breakfast · Morning Grace

in the Chapel

Lunchtime · LRC open

· ICE open

· Backgammon Club - E15

· PE BTEC Booster

· Y7 Cheerleading

Lunchtime · Polish club

· Boys & Girls Table Tennis

· GCSE Technology

· LRC open

· ICE open

· Backgammon Club—E15

· Science club—E14

· GCSE German

Lunchtime · Girls Basketball

All Years

· Y8/9 Boys Basketball

· BTEC Booster Session Y11

· LRC open

· Fashion Club

· GCSE Tech

· Backgammon Club—E15

· ICE open

· GCSE French & Spanish

Lunchtime · Polish club

· Boys & Girls Volleyball

· Boys Basketball Y11 Team Practice

· GCSE Art Club

· LRC open

· Readerholics

· ICE open

· GCSE Tech

· Backgammon Club—E15

· Fashion Club

· Mass in the Chapel

· Anime Club E5

· Puzzle Club—M1

· GCSE French & Spanish

Lunchtime · ICE open · Y 10/11 Girls

Cheerleading

· Y7 Boys Basketball—Team Practice

· Backgammon Club—E15

· Fashion Club

· GCSE Art Club

· Confession in the Chapel (monthly)

· Y8-Y11 Cheerleading

After School · GCSE

Technology

· School Band

· Girls Cheerleading - Y10/11

· GCSE child development—U10

· GCSE Business Studies

After School · Girls Rounders · Y11 Maths

Revision

· Boys Football

· Afterschool Club 3.30pm—5pm

· GCSE Business—U10

· GCSE Tech

· Bronze & Silver DofE

· Technology Club

· Homework Club

· GCSE History Revision

After School · Girls Football All

Years

· Homework Club

After School · Sports Fixtures

· GCSE English Catch Up

· GCSE Tech

· GCSE Geography

· Homework Club

After School

· GCSE Italian

Extra Curriculum Timetable

Sports News

Year 8 Boys Rugby Team County Cup Success

On Wednesday 22nd April, the Year 8 boys rugby

team represented Gedling at the County Finals

held at Mellish Rugby Club. The top eight teams

in the county were there, each team

representing their district in Nottinghamshire.

The tournament began with two groups of four,

with Christ the King drawn with Southwell

Minster, Ashfield School and Trinity School.

Christ the King defeated Ashfield (15-5) in the

first game, and followed that up with wins

against Southwell Minster (15 – 5) and Trinity

(15-5) to book their place in the semi finals, where they faced Quarrydale School for a

place in the final. Tries from Harrison (2), Mead and Simpson (2) saw them comfortably

win the game 25 – 5, with the boys now facing West Bridgford in the final.

The final was always going to be a tight affair, with West Bridgford School winning all

five games to get to the final. West Bridgford took an early lead but a try by Niall

Simpson meant that the game was tied at 5-5 with only four minutes to go. The Christ

the King team continued to push for the match winning try but a clever breakaway from

the West Bridgford scrum half led to them taking the game 10-5 and being crowned

County Cup Champions.

Although the Christ the King team was disappointed with a silver medal, Mr Riding was

really proud of the team’s achievements based on how far they have improved since the

start of Year 7. As a consequence of their impressive performances this year, three of the

players have been selected to attend the Leicester Tiger’s Development Programme and

this is testament to the improvement they have made in the last 18 months.

Netball

Thursday 5th March saw Christ the King host the Gedling Primary Schools’ Netball High

5 Championships.

Ten primary schools from around the borough of Gedling entered the competition and the

eventual winners were Sacred Heart School, just finishing ahead of Salterford House

School who finished in 2nd place.

A big thanks goes to all of the primary schools for attending and also to our Year 10

Netball umpires who did a fantastic job in umpiring all of the fixtures.

We look forward to hosting the next netball event in three weeks time.

Mr Riding, Head of Boys PE

Technology Enterprise – Mother’s Day Magic !

Mother’s Day is a special day of the year where

mums get the day off and get pampered, looked after,

some even cooked for! At CTK to save some mums

from the lastminute.com chocolates, we went for the

more personal touch. With a range of customers from

across the years, Abigail Cassey and Holly Barnett

from Year 8 worked their magic to bring that little

sparkle for some lucky mums! Well done ladies for

your hard work and efforts. Individual orders can be placed at any point during the year,

as well as bulk corporate orders. Speak to Mr Bull for prices.

The A-level students are proving that they can take design

and move it forward in leaps and bounds. The Textiles

projects continue to grow with complexity with sustainability

being a huge influence. With the practical almost completed

the denim pieces are made from recycled jeans and, by using

the laser cutter, butterflies have been etched and then cut out

before fabricating them to the next piece. Paige Farrelly has a

strong future in this design field as she moves towards

university.

Up and coming Technology Trips and Clubs !

We will be visiting Cadbury World in Bourneville, Birmingham on Thursday 25th June

2015 with our GCSE Food students. The aim of the visit is to allow them to see and

experience the production line and the packaging plant as well as receiving a seminar

from a Cadbury specialist on production methods, quality assurance and new product

developments.

We are also taking Year 7 and 8 to the Thinktank in Birmingham on Wednesday 3rd

June 2015. The Thinktank is the UK’s award winning Technology and Science museum

offering an experience from steam engines and talking robots through to gurgling guts

and a chocolate wrapping machine. The Thinktank has over 200 hands-on displays on

Science and Technology for the students to experience and learn from. Exhibitions over

the levels include Made it, Power up, The Street, The Science Garden, Nanotechnology

and Emotive Robots!

Technology

Clubs for Year 7 to include…..

Club 1 – Bird Box Project. A five week project where students will be working towards

enhancing the environment of the school by manufacturing bird boxes for future use by our

local airborne residents. The hope is that animals learn their location and trust the new

pieces of their environment using them in the spring of 2016. Places are limited to 24.

Dates: Tuesday 5th, 12th, 19th May. Tuesday 2nd and 9th June

Club 2 – 1* Chef Award. Sainsburys, through their Active Kids programme, offer the Chef

Awards through schools. Over four sessions the students will build on their current food

knowledge and practice to develop and produce two practicals. Places are limited to 16.

Dates: Tuesday 16th, 23rd, 30th June and 7th July

Club 3 – Garden Plaque Project. Over the four week period students will shape, add a

finish and then typography to the finished piece to create a garden plaque for their chosen

environment. Places are limited to 25

Dates: Monday 15th, 22nd, 29th and 6th July

Primary liaison

Primary Liaison has been very strong this

term with activities across the board.

Technology and Science staff have worked

with Holy Cross, St Margaret Clitherow,

Sacred Heart and The Good Shepherd

here with their Year 5s to undertake Technology. They hand crafted a piece to assist them

with their reading to support World Book by shaping the

material to make it more aesthetically

pleasing, before using heat treatment to

create a book mark. In Science they used

flints dipped in metal solutions with a

little heat treatment from the bunsen

burners to see what reaction and colour

was given off in the process. With safety

goggles on and their Bunsen Burner licences they truly looked the part.

All Year 5 classes had a fantastic time and left to tell their parents,

teachers and Head Teacher what a fantastic time they had had and if it

would be possible to do more in the future. Mr Bull has also been heading out to the Primary

schools working with mainly Year 5 on sensory analysis to expand their pallet and awareness

of foods with great success. A new project for this year also

combines STEM related

subjects allowing students to

create, build, finish and then

test their master pieces in a

very short space of time. With

more to come in the summer

term watch this space!

Mr Bull, Head of Design Technology

Goodbye, Au revoir, Adiós, Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen,

Do widzenia.

zàihuì 再会, Adeus.

It is with sadness that after 28 years at Christ the King I have finally decided it is the right time to

retire and start checking things off my personal bucket list. I am going to travel to places I've

always wanted to go to and haven't been. I am going to read books that have been waiting on my

'must read' list for years. I will garden, learn new skills, play with my grandchildren, visit art

galleries, enjoy being around family and friends... In short, I plan to LIVE.

Working at Christ the King has been a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Over the years, I have seen

so many changes. I have worked with several head teachers, beginning with Tom Moore and ending

with Carlo Cuomo who I feel undoubtedly has rejuvenated Christ the King to an excellence to be

proud of. I have also worked with numerous teachers who I am sure lots of past pupils (now parents

themselves) will recognize – Helen Stuart, Ian Gough-Jones, Kevin Durkan, Ben Wilkinson, Pat

Pike, Pam Gillies, John Cotgrave, Tony Connor, Angela Barrand, Yvonne Rowley, Sue Montoya,

Mike Bussey, Mark Frettingham, Chris Davies – to name but a few! I really could list hundreds…

who not only have been amazing teachers but personally very good friends.

I cannot even think about the amount of pupils I have met from the time I started my life at CTK in

1987. The mathematicians amongst you will appreciate that each year I meet approximately 150

pupils in Year 7, times this by 28 years which equates to 4.200 pupils – that’s quite a few names to

remember! I have had over 160 lunchtime librarians who voluntarily help organize, run and man

the Learning Resource Centre with me at break / lunchtime with wonderful enthusiasm and fervor.

Thank you all!

Reading and marking this year alone has been quite a feat! I have lessons with all Year 7 and 8

pupils and, on average, each pupil has presented me with 10 homework tasks on the books they

have read – this equates to me reading and marking approx. 3,000 pieces of work - but I so love this

part of my job. The amount of effort some pupils put into their “Shakespeare” “Final Chapter”

“Read, Create, Illustrate” (to name but a few) tasks is incredible and I have always felt privileged to

read and share their work with other pupils and teachers. Hopefully, I have helped to nurture a

love for reading and literature for the rest of their lives.

Reflection is a wonderful thing. I have watched students who come as small, very anxious Year 7’s

grow into tall, confident and mature Year 11’s. This includes my own children, Craig and Georgina

who attended CTK and ended with an outstanding education. Working with children and students

is both a privilege and a pleasure, watching them develop both physically and mentally from

childhood to adults. I will unquestionably miss this part of my job more than any other.

Once again I would like to express my gratitude for being part of such a brilliant school community.

I feel blessed beyond measure that I have worked in such a wonderful, caring school with

outstanding colleagues and amazing students.

May it continue. God Bless you all.

Moe Edwards

Learning Resource Centre Manager (Librarian) 1987 to 2015

Goodbye, Au revoir, Adiós, Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen,

Do widzenia.

zàihuì 再会, Adeus.

It is with sadness that after 28 years at Christ the King I have finally decided it is the right time to

retire and start checking things off my personal bucket list. I am going to travel to places I've

always wanted to go to and haven't been. I am going to read books that have been waiting on my

'must read' list for years. I will garden, learn new skills, play with my grandchildren, visit art

galleries, enjoy being around family and friends... In short, I plan to LIVE.

Working at Christ the King has been a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Over the years, I have seen

so many changes. I have worked with several head teachers, beginning with Tom Moore and ending

with Carlo Cuomo who I feel undoubtedly has rejuvenated Christ the King to an excellence to be

proud of. I have also worked with numerous teachers who I am sure lots of past pupils (now parents

themselves) will recognize – Helen Stuart, Ian Gough-Jones, Kevin Durkan, Ben Wilkinson, Pat

Pike, Pam Gillies, John Cotgrave, Tony Connor, Angela Barrand, Yvonne Rowley, Sue Montoya,

Mike Bussey, Mark Frettingham, Chris Davies – to name but a few! I really could list hundreds…

who not only have been amazing teachers but personally very good friends.

I cannot even think about the amount of pupils I have met from the time I started my life at CTK in

1987. The mathematicians amongst you will appreciate that each year I meet approximately 150

pupils in Year 7, times this by 28 years which equates to 4.200 pupils – that’s quite a few names to

remember! I have had over 160 lunchtime librarians who voluntarily help organize, run and man

the Learning Resource Centre with me at break / lunchtime with wonderful enthusiasm and fervor.

Thank you all!

Reading and marking this year alone has been quite a feat! I have lessons with all Year 7 and 8

pupils and, on average, each pupil has presented me with 10 homework tasks on the books they

have read – this equates to me reading and marking approx. 3,000 pieces of work - but I so love this

part of my job. The amount of effort some pupils put into their “Shakespeare” “Final Chapter”

“Read, Create, Illustrate” (to name but a few) tasks is incredible and I have always felt privileged to

read and share their work with other pupils and teachers. Hopefully, I have helped to nurture a

love for reading and literature for the rest of their lives.

Reflection is a wonderful thing. I have watched students who come as small, very anxious Year 7’s

grow into tall, confident and mature Year 11’s. This includes my own children, Craig and Georgina

who attended CTK and ended with an outstanding education. Working with children and students

is both a privilege and a pleasure, watching them develop both physically and mentally from

childhood to adults. I will unquestionably miss this part of my job more than any other.

Once again I would like to express my gratitude for being part of such a brilliant school community.

I feel blessed beyond measure that I have worked in such a wonderful, caring school with

outstanding colleagues and amazing students.

May it continue. God Bless you all.

Moe Edwards

Learning Resource Centre Manager (Librarian) 1987 to 2015

Bye! From me, Maria Luisa, Lauren, Sophie and Oliver my wonderful librarians.

Salters Chemistry Festival

The final event of the day was a Thunder and Lightning lecture

provided by some of the Lecturers from The School of

Chemistry, demonstrating the different ways chemical

reactions give off energy, usually accompanied by a loud bang.

The finale of the lecture showed how a wax candle could be

fired from a musket through several sheets of plywood.

On Tuesday 19th May four Year 8 students and Dr Crook set off

to the University of Nottingham to take part in the Salters

Chemistry Festival. In the morning James West, Anioa

Jackowska, Hananh Harrison and Kwame Ansong were

challenged to solve a murder mystery using chemistry tests

and forensic techniques. They then had to write a police

report which detailed who

committed the crime and why.

In the afternoon they had to keep

the dilithium crystals on the

Starship Enterprise at 10.5˚C for

a minute using a chemical reaction. Unfortunately, CTK

were not the prize winners, but we didn’t come last either

having met the challenges successfully both times.

Dr Crook, Science Teacher

Is Your Child Entitled To a Free School Meal?

Eating well at the right time is proven to have a significant impact on the learning and

the ability to concentrate of young people. It is extremely important that young people

are well equipped for school and ready to learn. One contributing factor to this is eating

healthily. At Christ the King, we understand the financial difficulties that some parents

experience on a daily basis and we would like you to consider applying for a free school

meal, if you think you are eligible.

If you are entitled to one of the following benefits, you may be entitled to claim:

income support

income based jobseeker’s allowance

income related employment support allowance

support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

child tax credit, provided you are not entitled to working tax credit and have an

annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed

£16,190 guarantee element of state pension credit

Because we are a cashless school, all students in receipt of a free school meal remain

anonymous and the information is treated as private and confidential. There is no longer

the need to feel that there is a ‘stigma’ attached to students in receipt of a free meal.

You may or may not be aware that claiming your entitlement to a free school meal also

now guarantees your child access to additional funding which could help with the

purchase of uniform, school equipment and contributions to school trips.

If you live in Nottinghamshire visit the County Council website or call 01623 433009.

If you live in the City of Nottingham visit the Nottingham City Council website or call

0115 915 4084.

Phone: 0115 9556262

E-mail: office@christtheking.notts.sch.uk

Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy

Darlton Drive

Arnold

Notts

NG5 7JZ

Farewell to Year 13 On Friday 15th May our Year 13 students left the school to begin study leave for their

final exams. Their Leaver’s Mass was very emotive, followed by two very touching

speeches from Head Boy, Daniel Bartley and Head Girl, Bethan Jones; amusing

Alternative Awards presented by Mr Akers and a Celebrity Lookalike presentation by

Sophie Houten. Daniel demonstrated excellent speaking skills, entertaining and

reminding us of times past, whilst Bethan moved many students to tears with her heart

felt presentation. This was followed by a delicious

buffet in the newly refurbished Common Room

completed by a delicious CTK cake created by our

own Nikki Saxton.

All of our Year 13 students will be sorely missed

and we wish them all the best for their exams and

future hopes and aspirations.

Mrs Akers & Miss Nokes Heads of 6th form