Cardinal Newman Catholic School

With the death toll now at 5,000 we were pleased to be able to send off a cheque to the Disasters Emergency Committee for £3,541.78. This was raised on our non uniform day. Once again thank you to all students, staff and parents who supported this great effort.

On Wednesday morning we were honoured to welcome Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development, to Cardinal Newman for the national launch of the Global Learning Programme. For more details of the programme please look at http://globaldimension.org.uk/glp .

We were chosen as the site for the national launch because of our success, under the superb leadership of Ms Larkin and the Geography Department, as an expert centre. Our reason for participation in the programme is that it will help us deliver a truly world class education for our students and prepare them for the challenges of the 21st Century.

We were absolutely delighted to welcome Sophie, champion Equestrian, into school for an extended assembly with Year 10 on Friday 22nd November. The winner of several Olympic medals (including Gold) Sophie described her journey to the top of her sport and the barriers she had overcome. She also talked about other aspects of her life, including her recent graduation with a Maths degree from Royal Holloway. Personally I was particularly interested in her comments on the importance of the psychological aspect of her training. She explained how her work with a sports psychologist had helped her to cope with the pressure of elite performance sport. We can learn a lot from the world of sport in school, not least the positive attitudes and the team spirit required to be successful in it. Particular thanks to Mr Eldridge who arranged this highly motivating talk.

This year our Christmas Card will be on sale to raise funds for Mary’s Meals. Designed in house, the cards feature a Madonna and Child and information about the work of Mary’s Meals, sold in packs of 10 with envelopes for £4 per pack. If you would like to buy cards please see the link on the right hand side of the front page of our website. Each pack purchased will raise funds to feed a child in school for 4 months!

On November 7th, thirty three students from years 12 and 13 sat the UKMT Individual Senior Maths Challenge. The results this year were the best we have had. Six gold awards go to Tom Mottram, William Wheatley, Charlotte Grinyer, Eliot Frazier, Sam Phillips and Tabitha Ogilvie. Three silver awards go to Elizabeth Carr, Imogen Thrussell and Charlie Bush. Ten bronze awards go to Abanoub Iskander, Connor Peters, Bryn Garrish, Julien Poulain, Nicholas Zantis, Stefan Dingelstad, Etienne Mustow, Ciara Harrison, Charlie Riley and David Sarjudeen.

Charlotte, Eliot and Sam have qualified for the Senior Kangaroo Challenge. They are among the 2000 students who are invited to take part nationally.

Tom and William have qualified for round one of the British Maths Olympiad. This is the first time students from Cardinal Newman have got this far and so they are among only 1000 students who have qualified nationally.

Well done to all the students who took part in a tough set of challenges.

Parents please note: the Trutex Uniform Shop will be closed for renovations during the period 16th December 2013 and 1st January 2014 inclusive.