The Great Minds Tour bus from Staffordshire University popped by yesterday to give students the opportunity to experience university life. The use of virtual reality allowed students to select their tour through the campus. The students sat back with popcorn to experience the on board cinema which showcased the facilities at the university.

The top deck of the bus allowed students to see what a typical student hall of residence looks like. They sat in the kitchen diner enquiring about entry requirements and the courses available.

Our year 12 student Quxah said: “Today was brilliant, I loved it!”

A number of enthusiastic Wolverhampton students braved the cold weather and took part in the ‘Sleep Easy’ campaign last Friday night, to raise money in changing the lives of young homeless people in the Black Country.

Sleep Easy is a national event which sees hundreds of people from up and down the country giving up their TOG rated duvets to help change the lives of homeless young people in their communities. Sixth Form students at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy in Wolverhampton prepared themselves to spend their Friday night sleeping in a cardboard box.

Every night, YMCA Black Country Group provides support and shelter for over 300 homeless young people across the Black Country and Staffordshire border area in addition to family mediation, substance misuse support and other services in order to prevent homelessness occurring in the first place.

St Edmund’s Catholic Academy are hoping to raise around £200 for the Moving Forward Fund which enables these young people to move on in their lives, by providing not only the practical things that make a house a home but also accessing employment and training opportunities, as well as providing them with much needed emotional support.

The campaign took place at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy, on Friday 11th March from 6pm – 6am, with a soup kitchen provided by the YMCA and an inspirational speech from  ‘Chedene’, who was previously homeless but had her life turned around with the help of the charity.

St Edmund’s would like to say a very big thank you to all the students who took part in such a worthy cause, Wolf Mountain for entertaining our students for part of the night and most importantly to Mr Bentley, Mrs Wrenshall-Jones and Mr Auger, for giving up their well-earned, comfortable Friday night to accompany the students. This type of event just couldn’t go ahead without the good will and support of our fantastic staff.

LAST CHANCE TO APPLY

Friday 18^th March 2015 – 4.30pm

Come along to find out more information and to see what we have to offer.

Best results ever… 100% PASS RATE at all A2 level subjects!

You can find the Application Form by clicking the ‘About us’ then the Sixth Form tab on our website.

On Tuesday 1st March we welcomed Ofsted into St Edmund’s Catholic Academy for a one day Section 8 Inspection.

I was delighted to hear such positive feedback from the Inspectors at the end of the day. Our young people gave an excellent account of themselves and the academy and I’d particularly like to thank parents and carers for the favourable responses given to Ofsted via Parent View.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank every single member of staff for their dedication to the St Edmund’s family and the care they show to all of our young people. We look forward to the publication of the Inspection Report and to further successes for St Edmund’s Catholic Academy in the future.

Ann Shorthouse

Vice Chair, St Edmund’s Catholic Academy Committee

Last term, eight St Edmund’s gymnasts travelled up to Fenton Manor Sports Complex to compete in the West Midlands Floor & Vault Competition.

This year there were 10 teams that entered the competition and the standard of gymnastics was very high.

Joshua Dodd-Matthews competed first in the U14 section and he did not let his nerves phase him at all as he pulled out two amazing performances on the floor and vault. This was his first West Midlands competition and he was fabulous; a coach from another school even commented on how well he had performed.

St Edmund’s team competed on the floor first and they did so with style, precision and lots of extension. Rebecca Butler scored the highest on the floor with 14.15 out of 16.0.

In the vault section all St Edmund’s gymnasts nailed their landings and again scored well, Lisa Spratt scoring 14.9 and Christina Clifton 14.7.  Amber-Leigh Nicholls performed in the individual section and did exceptionally well too.

We were very proud of everyone and to find out that we came 4^th out of 10 teams was very pleasing.

We would like to thank all the gymnasts for their hard work both during the competition and during their many late night training sessions.  It has all paid off!

For Years 7, 8 & 9 there is a Reading Challenge competition. Collect stickers for every time you borrow a book and there will be prizes for the winners!

There will be a FREE Careers Event on Saturday 27 February 2016, (tomorrow)) at the NEC Birmingham. We encourage all Years 10,11 & 12 students to attend as it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the UK’s leading employers & Universities helping to map out your future!

On Monday afternoon, to mark the year of the monkey – the Catering team at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy held a Chinese themed lunch for pupils and students, in aid of celebrating Chinese New Year.

On the menu was, egg fried rice, vegetarian stir fry, Thai fish green curry and of course the traditional sweet and sour chicken.

Bunting depicting the Chinese flag was draped across the dining hall and everyone really got into the spirit of celebrating the Chinese culture.

Wendy Hall, Catering Team Leader said:

“Last year we gave students a taste of the Caribbean to celebrate Black History Month and this year we wanted to give students an authentic taste of Asia. We really embrace different cultures here at St Edmund’s and we want students to try all different kinds of foods from around the world.”

The Way Youth Zone is a newly opened £6 million facility built for young people in Wolverhampton on School Street.

The Way Youth Zone has 20 action-packed activities every evening, 7 days a week for all young people, regardless of ability or disability. The Way has a high spec music room with a

recording studio, a 3G pitch (the same type of pitch the England Football team train on),enterprise media suite, climbing wall, four court sports hall, cafe, dance studio, gym, cooking area, recreation area and loads more.

The Way has split young people into two clubs; Junior Club for young people between the ages of 8-12 years or Senior Club for young people 13-19 years. Basically, Junior Club is usually 4-9pm on Tuesday & Thursday and 10-2pm on Saturday. Senior Club is usually 4-10pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday and 4-9pm on Sunday.

It costs a young person just £5 for an annual membership and then 50p every time they visit. A young person can do as much or as little as they want when they visit.

Find out more and sign up go to:

www.thewayyouthzone.org.

There are also on social media:

www.twitter.com/thewayyouthzone

www.facebook.com/thewayyouthzone

All photographs are copyright of David Hamilton – Express & Star.