Oct 2017 CTK Newsletter

CTK NEWS
Also available online at www.christtheking.notts.sch.uk
Oct 2017
May I take this opportunity to welcome you back after the summer break and a
very special welcome to new parents of Year 7 children. Our building work was
successfully completed during the summer holidays and the students have
responded extremely positively to their new facilities. I am currently thinking
about further developments to our current resources and I will keep you
informed in due course.
I am pleased to report that our Year 7 students have made a very good start to
life in Secondary school and they have been keen to join clubs and make the
most of every opportunity available to them during lessons and after school.
Once again, I would like to remind you that the School’s website is your first
port of call for information, however if you have any queries or concerns
regarding your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to contact their form
tutor.
I hope that you enjoy this half term edition of CtK News and I look forward to meeting you during the
various school events during this term.
Best wishes
CAR PARKING
The area outside the school is a busy place each morning and also at the end of the school day. In the
interests of safety, which I’m sure you agree, we kindly ask that those of you dropping students off can:
Refrain from parking on the pavement / double yellow lines.
Not block the entrance areas or exit roads to the school
Not stop in the middle of a road to allow your child to exit a vehicle, even if it’s just for a
few seconds.
Show consideration to local residents by not obstructing their driveways.
Not park/wait in the disabled parking areas unless you are a blue badge holder.
1

Keeping Children Safe
As you are aware, our main priority as a school is to ensure that all of the young people in our community are
safe and cared for. With that in mind, during the last academic year we launched Personal Development
lessons which were structured lessons that focussed on key aspects of life that affect our young people. We
delivered sessions on sexting, mental health and emotional well-being, drug and alcohol abuse and healthy
eating and physical activity. Over 120 pupils provided feedback on their Personal Development sessions and
the general consensus was that the students found the sessions useful, developing their understanding of
each topic that was covered.
We plan to continue to deliver Personal Development sessions during this academic year, but we have
changed the topics that we are going to study. Each cohort will follow a different programme of study. Topics
that will be covered include radicalisation and extremism, children’s rights, internet safety and the use of
social media.
For further information about this area of study and for all matters relating to safeguarding and child
protection, please go to our school website which has some useful links outlining websites which can offer
support for a range of different topics.
NEWS ABOUT WORK-RELATED LEARNING…
Last Friday a group of over forty students from years 7 and 8 visited King’s Mill Hospital to participate in the
County Council’s “Health and Social Care Skills Show.” Students enjoyed a range of “hands-on” activities in a
number of workshop sessions including triage, the role of science in healthcare and developing their
compassion and caring skills.
This hugely worthwhile experience gave students a unique insight into careers in the NHS including
physiotherapy, occupational therapy and the pathways to becoming a nurse or doctor.
You can see from some of the photos accompanying this article that this was a stimulating and very
rewarding experience for all who attended.
FOR YEAR 10 STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS…Work Experience Week (WEW)
We invite students and their parents to an Information Evening about this event on Tuesday 16 th January
2018 when you’ll be guided through how to find a placement and how to make the most of this exciting
opportunity to experience the world of work. Those who attended last year found attendance at this event
gave them a head-start when it came to securing placements.
A second date for your diary…the compulsory WEW for our year 10 students begins on Monday 25 th June
2018. That may seem a long way off, but it’s a good idea if students start thinking about the kind of
placement they might like now.
This week builds on an experience all year 10 students will have in mid-November when each will meet an
employer and be given a “mock interview.”
Lastly you may like to know that Miss Southgate now leads the school’s work-related learning initiatives,
working alongside Mr Pringle.
2

Geography Trip to Ceredigion Bay, in Wales
Recently, we took our Year 13 Geographers to Ceredigion Bay in Wales to collect data for their Geography
coursework. The students have a range of areas of interest for their independent investigations including sand dune
ecology, the impacts of globalisation and how climate change is affecting this area. We spent three days collecting
data in Aberystwyth, Borth and Ynyslas; interviewing the public and collecting profiles of beaches and sand dunes
were just some of the activities we took part in.
The students were a credit to themselves and the school in their interactions with the public and the care they
showed for the environments they worked in.
As part of the visit we took part in a seminar with Dr Gareth Hoskins from Aberystwyth University to help prepare
our students for life after A Levels. It was an excellent visit and the department is already excited for our return next
September!
3
3

Peru – 2017, that trip we all will never forget
My journey to Peru was one of a lifetime which with no
doubt I’ll never forget and most likely never experience
anything like it again; from the extraordinary local families
in each village we stayed in each week, to the 8 pupils from
the school in which we were partnered up with and to the
leaders and management teams for Camps international
that made the trip so successful and made sure we were
always well, safe and happy out in such remote places in
Peru.
The trip consisted of 4 long weeks three of which were
spent working in three different communities across Peru,
one of which was on the very banks of the world’s highest
lake, Lake Titicaca. We spent our first week in Camp Moray,
a small village consisting of 200 families spread across the
hillside in adobe brick houses. Our first projects here were
simply building toilets. Out there they had no means of
sanitation or places to go when they needed to, so by our
help of making cement, carrying blocks and tiles, and chopping bamboo we helped to start and finish
some of the 15 toilet blocks we were building in the families back gardens or land. We also started on
the plot of land which was to be a new community hall for the village, we cleared waste and rubble and
dug trenches ready for the foundations, we started this project so that the following groups in the
weeks to come after us last summer could carry on our work.
Our second week in Peru was the Salcantay trek, a trek up
mountains to 4600m above sea level, through jungle and coffee
plantations, and small paths through forests to the base of
Machu Picchu. All this resulting in an 80km walk over the space
of 5 days. This was the hardest and most challenging part of the
trip testing us all physically and mentally as we walked and
walked on never-ending paths which looked the same all-day
long. But of course, it was all worth it, even the 3am start on
final day to walk to the base of the sacred ruins and start at 5am
walking up the steps to get to the top for sunrise, without a
doubt one of best mornings I’ve had in my life spent looking across the sacred ruins left behind.
Memories like this will never be forgotten captured in my
mind and heart like a photograph.
The third week was the toughest of them all, after the
climax of the trek, after achieving what many only dream of
at the age of 16 we were missing home. We stank. We were
exhausted. But also, ready to carry on working to help
improve other lives and communities in such simple ways. It
was then we started work at our second camp in Madrigal,
Camp Callyoma.
4

Here there were many sleepless nights, not to exhaustion, but due to
the festival going on the whole time spent there, who would have
known that the small Peruvians could have been such party animals,
especially 5 days straight. In this community we as a team helped the
development for the structure and building of a community centre for
pregnant women, the elderly and a kitchen for wives, mothers and
women. The large building took up most of our time but we also were
working on a children’s play-ground so the children had places to go
when not at home or school as teachers across Peru are on strike. We all
felt saddened that these children didn’t have the opportunity to learn,
something I think you’d agree on we in England especially take for
granted, free education; and so we spent our nights running an hour
lesson to teach the children Spanish and English.
The fourth and final week we were ready to go home not just
homesick but very tired from a strenuous first 3 weeks. We spent this
week however on the beautiful lakeside of Lake Titicaca, we played
volleyball in our free time and
more importantly helped the
local school there in the village
and a family who needed an
animal shelter and greenhouse. We spent our mornings taking a 30-
minute walk to the school where we worked on digging a cesspit for the
toilets and spent many hours getting muddy making adobe bricks for the
new school wall. There was just one thing missing in this school,
teachers and children there to learn, I think this of all things made us
want to work harder as yet again the truths about poverty and countries
such as Peru made themselves known.
5

Chaplaincy News
Hello and welcome to a New Year here at CtK. This half-term has been non-stop term, and next term promise to
be even busier!
Change to Tutor Group Names
Each new Academic Year has its changes, this year saw all of our forms change their
name! Our previous system used the initials of the tutor to signify the form, however
sometimes staff can change and the initials are then wrong. Another problem was
that the forms identity is tied to tutor rather than the whole group. Therefore we
asked Houses to pick a patron saint for their forms who are either connected to their
pilgrimage namesake, or connecting to their learning area. Canterbury’s saints are
either Archbishop’s of Canterbury or connected to arts, media and sports; Holywell’s
saints are Welsh saints or connected to languages, Europe or writing; Iona chose
either Scottish saints or connected to science; Lindisfarne chose either English saints
or saints connected to RE and humanities; finally Walsingham’s saints are either
saints with a connection to Mary or a connection to maths, technology and ICT. A full
list of all 30 saints will be appearing on the website soon.
Welcome Masses
We started the year welcoming the newest members of our community by hosting a Welcome Mass taking the
theme of: ‘You are a new creation’ from St Paul’s Second Letter to
the Corinthians. Canon Phillip Ziomek, from Good Shepherd
celebrated this Mass for us. He spoke to the year 7’s about the
shine on their shoes, how everyone in the room had brand new
shiny shoes, perfect uniform and freshly trimmed hair. The focus
on the shoes was to tell us all how we start off a new year all
bright and shiny ready for the year ahead, but, we can often begin
to dull. Just like our shoes; we will get dull as time progresses,
worn out from all the hard work we do throughout the year. Our
aim for the year is to keep our shoes’ shine as a reminder to shine
our outlook and personalities throughout the year and not to let
ourselves begin to dull from our current shine.
As well as our year 7 Welcome Mass, Canon Phillip celebrated our Sixth
Form Mass, there he spoke about the disciple Peter and his relationship
with Jesus. Peter struggled with being a follower of Jesus he doubted
himself, made mistakes and found Jesus’ teachings hard to understand
sometimes. Yet when it came down to it he trusted in God and stayed
close to Jesus. As a community, we need to remember that no matter
what, God is always with us; to guide us along the right path, all we have
to do is listen. We would like to thank Canon Phillip, celebrating both
Masses; Miss Harvey, Head of Music, for all of her help and support
leading the music for the Mass and the singing practice held beforehand;
and to our students for all the amazing things they did.
6

Walsingham House Mass
Walsingham kicked off our rounds of House Masses this year, this was also Mr Gregory’s first House Mass as
Director of Learning for Walsingham. We celebrated in our traditional way now of starting with a procession
from the Regis building (where the majority of the form rooms are) into the hall. We do this as a reminder that
in Walsingham an important part of the pilgrimage is the ‘Holy Mile’ procession to the shrine as a way of
preparing and praying. Our sixth formers lead our procession and explained it for the lower years.
We carried on the theme of a new creation as those in W.Mary created a video about what people hoped to
achieve in the year. Fr Joe Wheat celebrated the Mass and focused his homily on the first reading which was
from St Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this later we are told by St Paul that we are adopted by God and we are
his heirs, we can call God Abba. Abba is nothing to do with the band but all to do with the languages Jesus and
the disciples would have spoken. Abba means Daddy, St Paul invites us to have a close and loving relationship
with God as Jesus does, to trust him and rely on him as we would a deeply devoted Father.
It is wonderful how well the students lead these Masses, they write all the prayers and explanations to the
scripture readings, they introduce the Mass, lead the music, and the sixth form set up the hall, cleared it away,
ushered people forward for Holy Communion and Cami distributed Holy Communion. It is most definitely a
celebration that belongs to them!
Chaplaincy Team & School Charity
Our Chaplaincy Team started the year by leading Acts of Worship on why we should
be charitable and then held a vote on which charity should be our school charity for
the year. The winning ones were CAFOD and RSPCA, the Chaplaincy Team will be
doing lots to support them in this coming year. They also invited students to join
and our number of Chaplaincy Team Members now come to 33! A great sign of how
well things are working!
7

Briars Trips
We have booked a retreat for year 8 and one for year 10 this year. The year 8 retreat will take place in
January and we have only 1 place left on that. While year 10 has 7 places left and will be in May. There is also
funding if your child is in receipt of pupil premium funding to bring down the cost of the retreat.
Sixth Form
There are a number of different initiatives we are running for 6 th form this year.
Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion Training
We are very passionate about having our students take leadership roles in the
liturgy. One very important role is to distribute Holy Communion, we think it is a
great witness to have sixth form students carry out this role. We always approach
practicing Catholics in sixth form who we believe will set an example to others in
their faith. This year we asked Francesca Bertolaso and Aine Gallagher to go on the
training weekend in the Briars. We are very grateful for their parishes of Good
Shepherd and Our Lady and St Edwards for their support towards their training.
Retreats & Pilgrimages
We hope to bring a group of sixth formers to the diocesan 6 th form retreat in Briars this November, this is a
great opportunity to bring together all of the young people to encourage each other in faith.
Bishop Patrick has invited a great organisation called Youth 2000 to lead a retreat for young people aged 16-
18 in the Diocese. The retreat is called Courageous and will be a great opportunity for us all to grow in our
faith and our courage in following Christ. We will be going to Lourdes again this year and hope to bring our
largest group yet! More information to come!
The next half term looks to be even more great events and activities and I look forward to updating you on
these.
Thank you
The school would like to offer a warm thanks to Mrs Carlisle for her kindness in donating some female sanitary
products which are most welcome.
8

European Day of Languages
On Friday 22nd September, our Year 7 students experienced a day of culture and language as CTK celebrated the
European Day of Languages, an EU initiative that brings communities together and promotes language learning
in Europe. Students enjoyed a range of activities which included food tasting, learning about different European
countries, and hearing from a number of guest speakers who use languages in their jobs. The day culminated in
a British Sign Language workshop, during which the students learnt how to spell their names and sign along to
songs (this part of the day was very popular with the teachers as well!)
The MFL department organise several extracurricular events and trips throughout the school year. For further
information about what we do, you can visit our blog at ctkmfl.wordpress.com
9

10

SEEKING ALUMNI
We are undertaking a project at Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy to find out what our former 6 th
form students go on to achieve following their studies. We would appreciate it if our former 6 th formers
could spare a few minutes to tell us a little about their experiences of Christ the King 6 th Form and provide
some information about the career they went on to. With permission we would like to post this on our
website to help inspire our current students and give them greater aspirations as they see the varied and
interesting paths that former Christ the King Sixth Formers go on to achieve.
The questions are below and if possible could you also attach a photograph of yourself at work? When the
page is online we will contact you so that you can read the insert on our web page. We may also
occasionally post information about events that alumni could be involved with.
To help us grow our alumni network, when you have finished your contribution and sent it to us please feel
free to pass the information on to any former Christ the King students that you keep in touch with and
encourage them to get in touch with us.
Please forward completed responses to alumni@christtheking.notts.sch.uk
Thank you in advance for your support.
Name:
Class of:
I studied…
(Year)
(Subjects)
My next step after 6 th form…
(Gap year/University/course details etc.)
How did the 6 th form help me get where I am today…
My favourite memories of CTK 6 th form are…
EXTRA CURRICULAR TIMETABLE - PE
11

Is your child entitled to a Free School Meal?
Eating well at the right time is proven to have a significant impact on the learning and ability to
concentrate of young people. It is extremely important that young people are well equipped for school
and ready to learn and one contributing factor to this is eating healthily. At Christ the King, we
understand that financial difficulties that some parents experience on a daily basis and we would like you
to consider applying for a free school meal, if you think you are eligible. If you are entitled to one of the
following benefits, you may be entitled to claim:
Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual
income (as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)) that does not exceed
£16,190
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Income-based and Contributions-based JSA and ESA on an equal basis
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after the person stops qualifying for
Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit – during the initial roll-out of the benefit
Because we are a cashless school, all students in receipt of a free school meal remain anonymous and the
information is treated as private and confidential. There is no longer the need to feel that there is a
‘stigma’ attached to students in receipt of a free meal.
You may or may not be aware that claiming your entitlement to a free school meal also now
guarantees your child access to additional funding which could help with the purchase of uniform,
school equipment and contributions to school trips.
If you live in Nottinghamshire visit the County Council website (http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/
education/school-meals/free-school-meals-and-milk) or call 0300 500 80 80.
If you live in the City of Nottingham visit the Nottingham City Council website (http://
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/2399) or call 0115 915 4084.
We are on Social Media...
Christ the King
Darlton Drive
Arnold
Notts NG5 7JZ
Phone: 0115 955 6262
Email: Office@Christtheking.notts.sch.uk
Web: http://www.christtheking.notts.sch.uk
12