For the last 4 weeks the students and staff of St Edmund’s Catholic Academy have been collecting items to fill shoeboxes, such as toys, stationary, toiletries etc. The boxes are then checked, and sent with £5 to cover the shipping cost, to a depo where they are checked, then dispatched to different parts of the world.
These Christmas boxes will be the only gifts some of these children will receive this Christmas and they make such a difference to their lives. If you would like to find out more about this campaign please check https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
Maybe you could help us next year with your donations. Also on this page you can watch some of the children receiving their goods and the smile on their faces says it all.
This year we collected 25 boxes but also sent 3 bags of extra gifts because we ran out of shoeboxes. We would like to give a big thank you to the 6 form Chaplaincy team for all their hard work towards this successful campaign. They gave a presentation in assemblies, collected goods from the classroom and packed and checked the shoeboxes. A wonderful example to us all of generosity and service.
We are very proud of our Senior Prefects here at St Edmund’s who hold roles of prominent responsibility. A ballot is held each June when all students and staff in the academy vote, thereby appointing a Head Boy/Head Girl/Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl to serve for the following academic year.
We would like students in the lower year groups to be setting their sights on appointment to these roles in years to come – thus holding a position in high regard and a valuable addition to one’s CV.
Some of the duties of our Senior Prefects include:-
- Being Ambassadors for the Academy – they represent St Edmund’s and the student body at a variety of public functions during the academic year, including Open Evening for Year 7 and Year 12 and Presentation Evening
- Greeting important visitors to the academy
- Sitting on the Academy Council
- Representing and speak for all students in the academy and support and prepare activities that encourage and support the learning of others
- Raising money for Charity via many events throughout the year and regularly report to our Academy Committee on their progress to date
- Organising and completely funding a Senior Citizens’ Christmas Party each year which is always a huge success
- Acting as outstanding role models for all students at St Edmund’s Catholic Academy
- Escorting students in the lower year groups around the Sixth Form Area and answer any questions they may have about progressing to the Sixth Form
They lunch with our Principal, Maggie Hughes and Academy Representatives (pictured here), fortnightly to discuss their progress and ways to move the academy forward and certainly make a very valuable contribution.
Pictured left to right:- Alisha Swali (Deputy Head Girl), Mrs Hughes (Principal), Will Tudor (Head Boy), Georgia Everiss (Head Girl), Tom Boyce (Deputy Head Boy)
Saturday 18th November 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Boys and girls welcome ages 9-14.
Parental consent forms with Mrs Ferris – Lay Chaplain.
The new selected student academy committee represented the school on Thursday 2nd November at Mass for the Feast of the Holy Souls. Fr Brendan Carrick was kind enough to join us and celebrate this Mass with us.
All Souls’ Day commemorates the faithful departed. Through the month of November, Catholic churches will pray and remember those gone before us.
During the Mass prayers were said, as we remembered relatives of our community who passed away this year and previous years.
According to Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies can go to one of three places. The first is Heaven, where a person who dies in a state of perfect grace and communion with God goes. The second is Hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned by their choice. The intermediate option is Purgatory, which is thought to be where most people, free of mortal sin, but still in a state of lesser (venial) sin, must go. Catholics believe that through the prayers of the faithful on Earth, the dead are cleansed of their sins so they may enter into heaven.
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon them. May their soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
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| Action Fraud (Action Fraud, Administrator, National) |
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and Action Fraud have recently noticed that Fraudsters have been setting up fake adverts on social media (including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and job browsing websites to dupe people into believing they are recruiting for prospective models.
Once victims show interest in the job, the fraudsters contact potential victims on the false promise of a modelling career and subsequently advise the victims to come in for a test shoot.
The fraud can then potentially be carried out in two ways;
Firstly, the fraudsters can pressurise the victims in sending an upfront fee to book a slot for the test shoot. Once they have received the upfront fee, the victim will never hear from the fraudsters again.
The second possible method is that the fraudsters will take the advance fee that the victim sends for a photo shoot and arrange a photo shoot with the victim. After the photo shoot, the fraudsters will contact the victim after a few days and convince them that their shoot was successful and offer them a job as a model. The victim will then be asked to sign a contract and pay another upfront fee, usually to secure the modelling contract.
Fraudsters are also creating fake adverts for supposed modelling opportunities for children which do not exist. Fraudsters will inform parents or guardians that a potential career in modelling awaits their child. This tactic convinces the parent or guardian to sign up their child and send an advance fee.
The suspects will also convince the victim that in order to become a model, they will need to have a portfolio. The fraudsters will recommend a number of packages and stress that if a package is not paid for in advance, the process of becoming a model cannot continue.
Over a two year period (September 2015 – August 2017), an average of 28 reports of advance fee modelling frauds have been received per month by the NFIB. In August 2017, 49 Action Fraud reports of this fraud type were received and may continue to rise. The total loss in August 2017 alone was over £71,000.
Tips for staying safe:
- Carry out your own research prior to paying any type of advance or upfront fee.
- Be wary if you are asked to pay for a portfolio, as many legitimate agencies will cover that cost.
- Don’t give your bank account details or sensitive information to anyone without carrying out your own research on the relevant agency.
- If you have been affected by this, or any other type of fraud, report it to Action Fraud by visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.
Warrant Officer John Thacker and Edmund Grandison a reserve in the Royal Navy came to speak about the vast amount of Navy Careers available. The sixth form were engaged listening to John’s personal experience of his career. The students took part in an assessment.
John went on to give more details on the degree courses available through the Navy, he also explained various careers available and salaries. John explained how learning styles are suited to various learners.
Jess Banks asked what type of jobs are available, John stated, aviation, flying helicopters to administration and directed students to the website.
Edmund explained his role of how he trains soldiers to defend the ship, he gave detailed descriptions of the places he has travelled and opportunities that he has had.
Tuesday the 10th October is World Mental Health Day.
Mental Health problems can affect anyone, any day of the year, the 10th of October is a great day to show your support for better mental health and start looking after your own wellbeing.
1 in 10 young people in the UK have a mental health problem, which is around 3 young people in every classroom.
Our students will be watching a video on a child with mental health problems and then discussing what advice they would give, what other mental health problems could young people experience.
They will also look at celebrities that experience mental health problems such as Justin Beiber, David Beckham, Adele, J.K Rowling to show that it can happen to anyone but also with the right help we can work towards coping with the illness and controlling it so we can get through each day.
Blessed are those who don’t have it all together
Blessed are those who have run out of strength, ideas, will power, resolve or energy
Blessed are those who ache because of how severely out of whack the world is
Blessed are those who on a regular basis have a dark day in which despair seems to be a step behind them wherever they go
Blessed are you, for God is with you
God is on your side, God meets you in that place.
By Jonathon Blundell
Prayer Life
There are many forms and ways to pray.
One of the ways our Lay Chaplain supports our staff is to pray for them every day. She puts their names on lolly sticks in a jar at the start of the year, then every day while she is in the Chapel praying for the day ahead, apart from praying for all the students and staff of St Edmunds, she takes three names out of the jar and especially pray for those people. She then sends them an email.
Many of them feel comforted by the prayers and send emails back with many messages of thanks.
Maybe we could all have prayer jars with the names of our loved ones in the jar or a box. Every day we could pray for at least 3 of them and then text them or even phone them to tell them you were thinking of them. How contagious would the prayers be?
Today 15 St Edmund’s students from St Edmund’s Chaplaincy team travelled to St Chad’s Cathedral, in Birmingham, along with other schools in the Diocese to attend the annual Chaplaincy Commissioning Mass.
Archbishop Bernard Longley being the main celebrant along with other priests from the Archdiocese. BCYS and Kenelm Trust led the music. Sinead Cullen Barrett of our Sixth-form Chaplaincy team gave a reading and two of our altar servers, Abigail Caron and Jessica Roberts, assisted the Archbishop and priests throughout the Mass.
Archbishop Bernard opened his homily by saying ‘Do not be afraid’ taken from the Gospel reading today. He explained to the students and congregation that he and the Lord understands that sometimes it can be hard to be different, to say you believe in God and thanked everyone for their commitment in making our schools a faithful caring example to others.
The Archbishop also spoke of the Bishops’ Synod in 2018 on ‘Youth, Faith and Discernment’ and asked us to listen to the words of Pope Francis , “So today, my friends, Jesus is inviting you, calling you, to leave your mark on life, to leave a mark on history, your own and that of many others as well.”
“So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven” taken from the Gospel of Luke.
During the Mass, Lay Chaplains of the Archdiocese were presented with the ‘Archdiocese of Birmingham Certificate of Lay Chaplaincy’ after 18 months of dedicated study. Mrs Ferris, our Lay Chaplain, received her certificate from the Archbishop. Mrs Ferris’s ministry to the community of St Edmund’s grows stronger and deeper. We are very proud of her richly deserved success.
All the students loved being part of the celebrations today. Mrs Hughes and Mrs Ferris are proud of our students for their commitment to Chaplaincy, the school and their faith.
Maciej Myszczynski and Adria Dongo Munoz from Year 13 represented St. Edmund’s the British Physics Olympiad on 14th November. This is an annual competition open to physics students in every school in the country. This year over 1,680 students took part. The questions in the competition are designed to stretch and challenge even the most capable problem solving physicists. Maciej was awarded a Bronze 2 certificate and Adria a Commendation certificate. Well done to both students for their excellent achievement.
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