ISSUE 93

it with

RESPECT!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Wednesday 4th September Staff Training Day School Closed

Thursday 5th September Start of Term Y7 - 8.40 a.m. Y8-11 - 11.20 a.m. (to back yard entrance by the subway gate from 11.15 a.m. onwards)

Tuesday 10th September Suicide Awareness Day

Monday 16th September Y7 and Y10 Photographs

Thursday 3rd October National Poetry Day

Thursday 10th October Mental Health Awareness Day

Tuesday 15th - Friday 18th October Y7 Retreat Days

Wednesday 16th October Restart your Heart Day

Mon 21st - Tues 22nd October Y11 English and Mathematics Mock Examinations

Thursday 24th October Y7 Form Tutor and Intervention Evening

Friday 25th October New Families Mass End of Term

Monday 4th November Staff Training Day School Closed

Tuesday 5th November Start of Term 8.40 a.m

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

This summer term has been full of new beginnings and completion of journeys. Y11 finished their GCSE’s after a long month of intense examinations and then

celebrated in style at the school prom. We wish them all the best for their future education and careers and we look forward to welcoming them back to school in November for a final mass and Presentation Evening.

St Gregory’s has once again opened its doors to our whole community and welcomed hundreds of Y5 pupils from our local primary schools to come and experience secondary school life and try new learning experiences (see extra sheet). We have been delighted with the wonderful enthusiasm and engagement of all who have visited us and look forward to welcoming them to our school in the future.

Our theme to end the year has been, ‘SEAL it with Tolerance’, the highlight being Mass celebrated by Archbishop Malcom McMahon, Canon Christopher Cunningham, Father John Scofield and Father Dave Heywood. I had the privilege of presenting our SEAL awards; recipients are voted for by their peers which is what makes them so special. A huge congratulations to Dion Josh (Y7), Daniel Roach (Y8), Joseph Milner (Y9), and Elysha Verico (Y10).

The Y11 SEAL Award was presented at the Prom to Nathaniel Hartley-Walsh and Lois Dewhirst.

Our annual tradition of parading out to Sports Day took place with Mr MacKenzie on his bag pipes followed by a rainbow of our form colours—truly fantastic, especially with the addition of our two new form names—Kolbe (pink) and Teresa (turquoise).

A personal highlight for me has been the overwhelming support for my chosen charity, ‘Healing Little Hearts’. Pupils have taken part in a range of activities including: ‘Dress Down Day’, ‘Head Teacher for a Day’, Afternoon Tea, selling of Heart badges, cake and ice lolly sales, ‘Sponge the Teacher’ and a variety of raffles. Our target was £1000 which we reached and surpassed with a final figure of over £2000. The pupils never fail to amaze me with their generosity and thoughtfulness.

Congratulations to 7Teresa who raised the most money from their Afternoon Tea and will enjoy a trip to the cinema from me in September!

Have an enjoyable and restful summer holiday and thank you for your continued support.

Mr McGlinchey

JULY 2019

PROM

2019

Remember Service of Word and

Communion takes place every Friday throughout the term at

8.15 a.m. All welcome.

HEAD TEACHER FOR THE DAY

Christopher Knight (Y7), won the raffle to be ‘Head teacher for a Day’ and his first tasks were to appoint his sister, Rachel as his Deputy, and to extend Break by 10 minutes

- a very popular initiative! He walked the entire school with Mr McGlinchey popping into classrooms, attended the Pupil Leadership training, nominated ‘Teacher of the Year’ and ‘Support Staff of the Year‘, wrote a letter of suggestions to

improve the school experience and spoke to the press!

When asked what was the best part of the day he said ‘Handing out the rewards to staff”.

‘Teacher of the Year’ went to Mr McLeod, Mrs Kaye and Mr Egan, ‘Support Staff of the Year’ went to Mrs Dolphin and Mrs McSorley.

On Tuesday, June 18th the Cheshire Book Quiz final took place with Paul Dowswell as our special guest. Our Y8 pupils read six books over seven months and

answered questions on the books and general questions on children’s literature. It has been a huge commitment; unfortunately we missed out on qualifying for the final. Mrs Mason was the quizmaster for the evening which was hotly contested.

On yet another Tuesday in June, our reading groups attended the ‘Cheshire School Book Awards’ Celebration Ceremony at Winsford Academy. We have been reading the shortlisted books and were lucky enough to meet three of the nominated authors: Stewart Foster, Matt Killeen and Tom Palmer. They each

gave a short but entertaining and informative talk about their own reading and writing experiences.

Tom Palmer won the younger category for his book ‘Armistice Runner’, a favourite with our reading groups,

and Giovanna and Tom Fletcher won the older category for ‘Eve of Man’. Thank you to everyone who read the books. We look forward to next year’s shortlist.

LRC Competition Winners Issues Quiz

Charlie Lewis 10More Lydia Baldwin 7More

Completed Loyalty card Eleanor Grace 7Plessington

Mrs Huckerby/Mrs Mason

LRC NEWS

COLLEGE VISITS

ENGLISH NEWS

Chester University Y9 Subject Sampling Trip

30 of our Y9 pupils spent a fantastic day at Chester University where they took part in a Forensics Science Crime Scene Investigation, a Law

seminar and gained some insightful knowledge about University life!

There have also been visits to: Carmel College:Y9 High Achiever’s Day,and Y10 Taster Day. Cronton College: Y10 Sampling Day Warrington Vale Royal College Y10 Sampling Day.

Thank you to all the Colleges and to all the pupils who were a credit to our school. Miss McLenaghan

Speak Out Competition

On Thursday 11th July Leon Hanratty and Eleanor Coutts represented St Gregory's in an Arch-diocesan Public Speaking Competition.

The contest was open to 11 - 14 year old pupils across the Archdiocese and took place at St. John Rigby College.

The overall aim of the contest is to foster presentation and communication skills in young pupils, as all walks of life, especially the business world, are increasingly reliant on these abilities.

Leon and Eleanor worked on their speeches in their own time and both took on some challenging topics. Leon argued that Britain should pay reparations for harm done by the Empire and Eleanor aimed to convince the judges that Animal testing for the purposes of scientific research is a necessary evil.

Miss Herridge was confident that we could

bring home the trophy as the winning school! "Leon and Eleanor have researched and

debated these challenging topics independently and have produced

eye-opening speeches.”

They had much to gain and nothing to lose in taking part in a challenging but friendly and stimulating atmosphere.

Leon and Eleanor found themselves competing against 10 other pupils all in Y8 and Y9 and both were a credit to the school.

Miss Herridge’s confidence was rewarded, when Leon was placed runner-up! His speech was astounding!

Passport to Literacy Scheme

The Passport to Literacy Scheme has come to a close with Bronze and Silver Certificates issued to Y7 and Y8 pupils. All pupils who exceeded their targets were entered into a draw for a book. Congratulations! L. Herridge

McDougall’s ‘Young Baking Team of the Year’ Competition

Three Y7 pupils led 3 groups of Y5/6 from Sacred Heart Primary School to design, trial and make their own dishes. They had

to use a McDougall’s product alongside local seasonal produce: luckily, one of the Y6 girls had a family member who lived locally and grew rhubarb, as does one of our science teachers. Fresh seasonal and local produce sorted!

The teams had to create their own recipes and give them a title. The final dishes were: Rhubarb Cool-Barb, Thyme for rhubarb and Zestie Bestie Cake.

Unfortunately, we did not reach the final stage but everyone enjoyed the cooking!

H. Fleming

RHUBARB! RHUBARB!

GCSE POD

We officially said goodbye to our Y11’s in our Leavers’ Assembly on June 11th.

Mr Getty’s poetic talents were well received as he delivered a poem he had written about his Year Group since becoming their Pupil Progress Manager in Y8.

We wish them all good luck and success in whatever career they pursue and look forward to seeing them on GCSE Results Day, Thursday August 22nd 2019.

GOODBYE AND GOOD

LUCK!

It has been a year since St Gregory's started Using GCSE Pod to make learning and revision more

manageable. The Pods contain all the right facts, quotes, keywords, dates and annotated diagrams needed for GCSE success. Over 50,000 Pods have been viewed by pupils across the school.

The highest using pupils in each year were: Smith Newitt (Y9), Thomas Houghton (Y10) and Natalia Otto (Y11)

Let us make the next academic year as big a success as 2018-19.

D.Jones

FAREWELL TO

We say farewell to the following staff and wish them well in their new endeavours: Miss Bragg (Music), Mr Carey (PE), Mr Carey (Science), Mr Giles (PE), Mrs Morgan (Health and Social Care), Mrs Peace (Pupil Pastoral Support Officer), and Mr Macdonald (Science).

After many years of service as a pupil herself, a TA and an invaluable member of the Pastoral Team, Mrs Peace has decided to become a teacher. We wish her well and thank her

for the love, support and care given to hundreds of pupils and their families. Her devotion to our community will always be treasured and remembered.

This week our Annual Community trip to Alton Towers took place with approximately 590 pupils taking part. An enjoyable time was had by all!

Congratulations to the large number of pupils in all Year Groups who have qualified, through their outstanding Attitude to Learning and excellent attendance for the Early Finish Reward on Friday. Amazing!

A group of Spanish pupils from Chatterbox Academy have spent a fortnight experiencing life in our school and they had a wonderful time!

This year, there was a range of pupils of different ages who were paired up with St. Gregory’s pupils in Y7-10. They were able to live the life of a typical English pupil, attending a range of lessons, whilst practising their English skills. Our St. Gregory’s pupils were greatly impressed with their levels of English as many of the students have been learning it since they were three years old. It has given our pupils a real challenge to improve their spoken Spanish to the same level! With this in mind, and after having such positive experiences of welcoming a Spanish pupil into their homes, a number of our own pupils have made friends for life and are already planning to make their own arrangements to return to Spain to visit their partners in the future.

It has been an extremely successful experience with pupils and staff making our visitors feel most welcome. We are now looking forward to next year when we will be welcoming the Chatterbox group again. If you would be interested in accommodating a pupil, please email Mrs Nicola Bailey for more information. Mrs Loxley

VIVA ESPAÑA!

Y7 210

Y8 130

Y9 112

Y10 120

Foundation Governor Vacancy Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Making the difference in a child’s life

Sacred Heart RC Primary is one of the “feeder” primary schools to St Gregory’s with a good reputation. If you are interested we would really like to hear from you email:sacredheart_primary@warrington.gov.uk. Please note that school will be closed July 24th – September 4th, 2019.

A group of 15 of our aspiring STEM ambassadors in Y9 attended Cronton College

Sampling Day to find out more about the opportunities available to girls in STEM careers. The programming of signals, to mechanical engineering problem solving, ALSTOM, a company providing the widest range of smart solutions in the rail market, challenged the group to be the best they could be!

A group of 48 Y8 pupils took the opportunity to visit the Liverpool Exhibition Centre for the annual Big Bang North-West: ‘All about STEM’ Festival. Pupils competed to: swap wheels on a go-kart; programme drone flight paths; beat Usain Bolt over 15 metres and learn all about the opportunities available in STEM careers. A fantastic time was had by all!

Mr MacDonald

SCIENCE NEWS

The Y7 Chaplaincy team represented St Gregory’s at the Good Shepherd Mass at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral in June.

Our pupils have been working hard all term to raise money for the Good Shepherd Appeal and, the Mass, celebrated by Bishop Tom Williams, was a wonderful celebration gathering contributions

from schools throughout the Diocese.

Also in June, the Y8, Y10 and Y11 Chaplaincy

Teams received their Bronze ‘Faith in Action’ Awards from Archbishop Malcolm McMahon at an Awards Ceremony at

Liverpool Hope University Chapel. This national award recognises pupils who have made an outstanding contribution to the Catholic life of their school and wider community.

This term, we celebrated a special Mass which marked the official opening of the new Chapel in school. Members past and present of St. Gregory’s community gathered to celebrate the hard

work done by many to complete the Sacred Space. The new tapestry was unveiled for the first time and Mass was celebrated by Canon Christopher Cunningham.

Former Head of School, Mrs Noreen

Fawkes, said “So grateful to see the magnificent design of the new Chapel and the new accommodation but, more importantly to experience the tangible caring community spirit that exudes from staff and rubric of the school.”

Warrington Walking Day We were proud to represent the parish of St Albans and Sacred Heart on Warrington Walking Day. A wonderful tradition in glorious sunshine!

Nathan

CATHOLIC LIFE AND CHAPLAINCY

It was an absolute privilege to welcome Lorraine Cavanagh QC back to St Gregory’s. Former pupil, Lorraine, gave an inspiring talk about leadership, commitment and determination, as well as sharing all about her successful

career in law and her journey to becoming a QC - only one of 460 women since the fifteenth century to be made a QC.

Her focus centred on having a sense of ‘Self’ and the importance of believing in yourself, being a good, kind person and never losing sight of those core values which had been instilled in Lorraine during her time at St. Gregory’s. We look forward to Lorraine’s return as guest speaker at our Presentation Mass in November.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? REWARDS

HEALTHY EATING WEEK

DSL is Mrs Howard-Rigby (Pastoral Deputy Head Teacher) Safeguarding Governor is Mr. Roger Harrison.

Warrington Duty and Assessment Team: 01925 443400 (Working Hours)/01925 444400 (Out of Hours)

Cheshire Constabulary :101 ChildLine: 0800 1111

Safeguarding Newsletter Summer,2019 is now available on the school website. Pupils have been given paper copies

SAFEGUARDING

Remember: All pupils must be in school by 8.40 a.m. at the latest

In our quest to be recognised as an outstanding school, Mrs Cross galvanised us all into action for the British Nutrition Foundation Healthy Eating Week (June 10th-14th).

We took up the challenge of breakfast, 5 a day, drink plenty, get active and sleep well. Yrs 7-10 were treated to cereals kindly donated by staff and local supermarkets:

Sainsburys and Asda. Fruit, kindly donated by Marks and Spencer, was also on the menu, not just for breakfast but in lessons as rewards. Pupils were encouraged to be more active - walk or ride to school but, unfortunately, the British weather meant a postponement of our ‘count the steps’ activity. Pupils also took part in a National Sleep Survey.

The week was a rousing success!

Pupils completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award this half term. Pupils spent their training weekend learning how to map read and follow the countryside code. This was in preparation for their

qualifying weekend where they had to be completely independent and navigate and survive on a two day expedition.

Duke of Edinburgh is about persistence, team work and independence away from home. On the first day pupils walked 14km from Malpas to Tattenhall in Cheshire, navigating with an Ordinance Survey map and using a compass to reach their destination. The next day, they walked 10km from Tattenhall to Kelsall. No one got lost and everyone was successful in achieving their Bronze Award!

Congratulations. E. Anderson

GOING FOR BRONZE!

Ceramic Workshop

Y10 Art and Design pupils took part in a fantastic workshop with local ceramic artist, Jeni Jacques-Williams, owner of Lemon Studio Ceramics and founder of Warrington Creatives Collective. It was established to showcase the amazing talent of local artists within our Community. Pupils produced amazing results that linked to their individual pro-jects using a range of hand building techniques. Well done!

Working with Primaries

Miss Bond had a fabulous time at St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary School working with Year 6 to produce some

botanical illustrations using watercolour paints.

Eco Group Mural Lovely to see Erika Mould’s winning Poster design being made into a large mural by the Eco Group, to help raise awareness of the issues caused by plastic within our oceans.

‘There Is Still Art, There Is Still Hope’ Campaign.

Excellent collaborative work during theme week from our Key Stage 3 pupils exploring the work of Bob and Roberta Smith for the ‘There Is Still Art, There Is Still Hope’ Campaign. This highlighted the importance of Art in

promoting individuality and celebrating diversity within society. J. Bond

CADETS TO NEPAL!

Rugby

St Gregory’s Y7 Rugby team finally got their hands on some well deserved silverware by winning the National 9’s Trophy. A squad of 13 made the short trip to Victoria Park to play teams from Salford,

Yorkshire, St Helens and Widnes, to name but a few areas represented. St Gregory’s felt that with the draw they had they were in the running to get through the qualifying stages. In the 4 games played, the boys showed their quality and won all 4 games. At the break we knew 2 more wins would crown us champions. An excellent win against Compton House was followed by an impressive performance in the final game!

Girl’s Rugby

Congratulations to Isabel Hackney, who

has been chosen to play for NW County. We are so proud of you!

Charity Football Match We had a fabulous afternoon watching the Y9 v Y10 charity football match. Y10 won 4-2 and we raised money for Alder Hey Hospital.. Well done to all who played, supported and helped out.

BACK OF THE NET

ART NEWS

Jess Johnson (Y10) is one of 16 cadets from Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service that have been chosen to go to Nepal in October 2020 working with ‘Classroom in the Clouds’ charity to building classrooms and toilet facilities in rural mountainous areas. Each cadet has to raise £3,600, so Jess will be selling cookies and having a ‘Name the Bear’ competition in the LRC next term. There is a 70s/80s disco on the 4th October at St Joseph’s Catholic club: tickets are £10.00 including a buf-fet. Limited number of tickets available. Please call 07912384481