PRESS RELEASE - July 2013

Pupils at Saint Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe are encouraged to cycle or walk to school in-line with the school’s policy to promote healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyles. To support this, Year 7 pupils at the school recently took part in the Bikeability scheme. This is the updated Cycling Proficiency Test, designed to give the pupils the skills and confidence to ride their bikes safely on today's roads.

The pupils’ training included how to control their bikes, being able to look and assess traffic, how to communicate and where to position themselves on the road.

Initially the sessions were based in the playground so that the instructor could assess the groups' bike handling ability and practise skills such as balance, control and observation without worrying about traffic. Once basic skills had been developed, the lessons moved onto the road, a vital step in raising awareness and putting the playground practice into a real-life situation.

Whilst at Saint Paul’s, the Bikeability instructors were also able to advise the pupils on safety equipment and how to check and do simple maintenance on their bikes.

“Cycling is an ideal form of transport for young people providing a healthy, cheap and environmentally friendly way to get about,” explained Ms Diane Keary, Head of Year 7 at Saint Paul’s. “The government recommends that young people should have a minimum of one hour’s moderate physical activity each date so that they stay healthy and help prevent serious illness in later life. Cycling to school is a simple and practical way of achieving this.”

Ms Keary added: “It is obviously vital that children can handle their bikes competently and that they know how to ride safely and with consideration for others. They need to learn about potential hazards and how to deal with traffic safely which is why we provide this training for them.”

“The course included basic road manoeuvres, assessing risks, holding good road positioning, awareness of traffic and a general understanding of the highway code. The pupils started off with basic riding techniques and then moved onto more challenging situations.”

“The course was not just about teaching children to ride a bike to national standards but also about introducing them to cycling as an everyday and fun activity and an alternative mode of transport. Cycling is a very efficient and eco-friendly way of getting around which we would like to encourage.”

“Getting children interested in cycling at an early age is a great way to encourage them to exercise,” commented Mr Wiktor Daron, Head Teacher at Saint Paul’s. “However, young people between 11 and 15 are most vulnerable on the roads, and only one-third of children ever do any cycle training so we wanted to emphasise the importance of training and safety to our pupils.”

 “By undergoing some training and by following a few simple safety rules, we hope we can make sure our pupils keep out of trouble on the roads.”

The Year 9 girls from Saint Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe made the school proud when they recently won the Wythenshawe Rounders Tournament.

The girls had great wins over Manchester Health Academy and Newall Green High School and went on to be crowned as the overall winners of the tournament.

“Winning the Wythenshawe Rounders Tournament was a fantastic achievement for our Year 9 team,” commented Mrs Janice Stuart, PE teacher at Saint Paul’s. “The girls beat all the other teams they played against very comprehensively. They thoroughly deserve the success they have worked so hard for.”

Mrs Stuart added: “The girls demonstrated extremely knowledgeable tactical fielding which greatly contributed to their success. I was also delighted to see the good sportsmanship of the players as they went out of their way to congratulate the other teams for their efforts.”

“All the girls have a real passion for the game and this is a well deserved achievement for them,” said Mr Wiktor Daron, Head Teacher at Saint Paul’s. “I am very proud of all those who took part; the team has shown great spirit and determination.”

Early last week, (before the snow descended) the SOLSTICE planning group met.   As you may be aware we have parents, one member of staff and Sister Patrick who are all undergoing treatment for various types of cancer.  Cancer in all of its forms is a disease which respects no-one and attacks young and old alike. Fortunately there have been breakthroughs in detection and treatments but research requires money and support of sufferers also needs money. So we have selected Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer as the two charities to support with our SOLSTICE events.

Back in April, The Towers Convent School in Upper Beeding made the decision that as a number of our parents, a member of staff and Sister Patrick were all undergoing treatment for various types of Cancer we wanted to support Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer and began planning our Solstice event.  Also, we decided that, as this is my tenth and final year as Head, we would aim for a total of £10,000. We thought that we were being optimistic and perhaps a little too ambitious but decided that it would be better to aim high.  As I write this the total is just over £13,500 with money from the sponsored runs and silent auction still to come. The original plan was to give £5,000 each to Macmillan and Cancer Research UK and then anything above that amount could go to the Worthing Hospital Scanner Appeal.

The first ‘event’ was our money mile where everyone was invited to place loose change on the tape around the school. The money is still coming in and we are at 1194 yards. Not quite a mile but equating to over £500.  There have been many individual events such as the Daisy Chain Challenge (£88), a parent who asked her dinner party guests to pay for their pudding (£55) cake sales at various churches to name but a few.

Then the Summer Solstice arrived and the Seniors arrived dressed in pink and green outfits plus trainers to do the 5km fun run along the banks of the river adur. The first girl back was Ellie-Rose Teatum with a time of 19 minutes 20 seconds.  In the afternoon all of the Juniors and nursery ran or walked around the field as many times as they could manage. For one nursery child one lap was enough before he declared to Hayley “I have had enough, my feet won’t do anymore” whilst the girl who did the most laps was Amelie Somers completing 48 laps closely followed by Harriet Thornton completing 47 laps.  The sponsor money from both of these events this has yet to be counted but even if each child only raises £10 then that would be a further £3200!

In the evening the auction alone raised an amazing £3905.  With ticket sales and bar sales, lockery and tombola adding a further £1600 to the proceeds from the night.  All 23 lots sold with some competitive bidding, particularly for the tickets to the Ashes which sold for £370 and the Florida apartment which reached an amazing £1000. The champagne tea at South Lodge, Dinner, bed and breakfast at Dean’s Place, a Mappin and Webb watch, signed cricket bat and the bakery courses at The Artisan Bakery were also very popular, each reaching around £200. There were many more items donated and a silent auction for these is still in process.

Saturday saw some serious competitors warming up with exercises demonstrated by Kat O’Neill before setting off on a steep hill over the Downs for a 5 or 8K run, jog or walk. This raised over £1000 in entry fees. Congratulations not only to Will Chambers and ex-pupil Lydia Growns who respectively won the two categories but also to Ellie-Rose Teatum who repeated her achievement of the previous day and was the first Towers pupil to return.

During the afternoon the fete was declared open by Sister Patrick and followed an afternoon of busy its busy stalls, entertainment and games went ahead despite the windy weather.  The rain held off until it was time to pack away and to start the barbecue. Venison or pork burgers provided by a parent were delicious and the entertainment first ‘Fat Owl’ followed by ‘No Pressure’ soon had literally everyone up and dancing to round off a fabulous weekend.

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3 June 2013 - Press Release

All Hallows Catholic College has received national recognition for the high attainment of pupils in the GCSE examination in 2012.

All Hallows Catholic College qualified as one of the top 20% of non-selective schools in England for the high average grades achieved by students.

Every school in the country has been ranked according to how well they performed in their GCSE results in 2012 by SSAT - the representative body for schools.

The new rankings, calculated by SSAT using official data, compare how schools nationally performed by counting all students' best 8 GCSE subjects and reflect schools' desire to achieve the very best results for their students.

Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT said, " All Hallows Catholic College should be congratulated for their stunning achievement is securing some of the best GCSE results in the country.

"All Hallows Catholic College has proven itself to be one of the best schools in the country at securing superb GCSE outcomes for their students.There is plenty that other schools could learn from All Hallows Catholic College's success.

"These results are testament to the commitment and hard work of the students, teachers and leadership team at All Hallows Catholic College and a vindication of their belief in high expectations, good teaching and ambition for every young person.

"Successful schools like All Hallows Catholic College understand the value of data, such as these attainment measures, in helping to ensure that all young people perform to the very best of their ability. The attainment measures show how schools are focused on their performance and out comes of all their students."

Ends

SSAT (The Schools Network) Ltd is an independent  membership organisation that works with schools and partners to shape a world class education system. it represents almost 2000 members in England. The company operates with the same broad educational objectives as the old Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

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