Samaritans- Operation Christmas Child
At the start of November each tutor group was asked to fill a shoebox for the Samaritans Charity-Operation Christmas Child, and again students and staff came up trumps.
Over 40 shoeboxes have been delivered. The boxes were filled with items such as hats, scarves, tooth brushes, toiletries, writing pads, pens, toys and a Christmas card. Each box also had to be sent with £5. A huge thank you goes to everyone who donated in any way, with special thanks to the 6 form Chaplaincy and Charity teams for all their hard work in collecting and putting the boxes together.
You have all made a difference to a child’s life this Christmas, thank you for your kindness and generosity, God Bless.

The Sixth Form ran yet another successful charity event last Thursday, this time it was a ‘spooky disco’ for years 7 and 8.

Mrs Hazeldine, Principal, perfected the ‘Floss Dance’ as instructed by the year 7s.

Mrs Hogg (Assistant Head of Sixth Form) recruited a team of Sixth Formers who sold tickets and snacks at the event, which raised  just over £200.   Proceeds will be used to fund the annual Senior Citizens Party next month. Mrs Hogg said “It was an amazing night full of fun and laughter. A fantastic event creating memories for our students”.

Many thanks to all staff and sixth formers who helped to supervise.

On the 4th of July, a total of eight students in Year 8 were picked to go on a trip to reward the highest average of ATL (Attitude to Learning). Mr Harris (Head of Year) took the group to Highfields Secondary School for the Young Wolf Film Festival where they met other students from participating schools.

To create the feeling of being in the film industry, the students were set in groups to create their own mini disaster film where they learnt how to edit their film with green screen using iMovie and Special FX.

Amelia, 8JW, said ” I really enjoyed working with wax, creating special effects and using the green screens to create a certain background.”

Students performed and created their own background audio to a company their film.   As well as this, to enhance their understanding of the film industry, teachers from the school helped and also brought in a specialised make-up artist.

“The make up I really liked because I want to work in the film field and it looked really cool,” Grace, 8KJ, stated.

Moreover, the two groups acted and performed their script in front of other students whilst in character; with this they were are able to gain their confidence in front of the camera to create a successful film. However, throughout the process of acting, many pupils did have their difficult times where they had to retake the scene again and again.

“My most embarrassing moment was when I forgot all my lines when they were filming us!” Brientony, 8HN,commented.  Mr Harris thought the whole experience was excellent and the pupils really enjoyed the make-up artistry.

The disaster films were a total success and were presented at the Young Wolf Film Festival premier on the 5th of July.

The school has organised an enrichment day for students to have fun and experience a variety of new activities.The event takes place on Tuesday 17th July and Wednesday 18th July and both of those days are non-uniform days. Enrichment day will be taking place in school, but certain activities require students to go outside of school.

The school has organised Culture Days to give students from all years a chance to meet other students and to socialise.This event helps students to meet people with different religions, different races and people who speak other languages.

Altogether there will be 37 different activities to choose from, including Hogwarts themed games and quizzes, practicing spells, making your own wand and favourite potions; Marvelathon Pyjama Film Premier; Gaelic Football; Cartoon Drawing; Performing Arts Musical; Golfing at Bantock Park to name just a few.

On Wednesday 18th July there will be a few visitors coming to share their skills and talents.  Students will have three double periods in their year group, and take part in the each of the three sessions. Visitors include Hannah Lewis, a singer from London who specialises in what she confidently refers to as “proper pop”. Hannah Lewis will be singing in the Arena.  Also, there will be an African Drum Company who will be performing in the Sports Hall; they will bring some drums and work with students to perform a piece of music.

Mr Katumba said, “The person that is leading it is Mrs Curtis because without her nothing would really move,”.  He has also put in a great deal of hard work toward this. Every teacher will lead an activity of interest and Mr Katumba can’t wait. The activities that Mr Katumba will be leading are said to be a ”Top Secret”!

This year sees the end of an era for Principal Maggie Hughes, who has been in the teaching profession for 38 years.

On Friday the 31st of August, Mrs Hughes will retire from her role of Principal and pass on the role to Vice Principal, Mrs Hazeldine.

After securing her degree at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Mrs Hughes taught Mathematics at many different schools in the Walsall region. In 1989 she was appointed her first lead role as Head of KS4 at St Thomas More Catholic School, which would be the start of an era of leadership roles at alternating schools.

Maggie Hughes joined the St Edmund’s community in September of 2007 as Deputy Headteacher. As St Edmund’s underwent its transformation from a school to an academy, Mrs Hughes was appointed by the Directors as Principal after the retirement of former Principal, Deirdre Finucane. Mrs Hughes has taken the academy from strength to strength, and has achieved much in her time here, such as a ‘Good’ from the Ofsted inspection of March 2016, and the Ubi Caritas Award from Archbishop Longley in recognition of her role in leading all that is exceptional in Catholic education.

The academy is now over-subscribed with approximately 630 children applying for the 200 places available in Year 7 in September 2018 and has a thriving Sixth Form. Clearly, Mrs Hughes has helped to form the school into the distinguished Academy it is today. She will be sorely missed.

Mrs Hughes retires this year