Message from the Head Teacher

Although this has been a short half term, it has been very productive. Year 11 have only a few weeks left of their school career and they continue to work hard to meet deadlines and prepare for their examinations. Lent began with a calm and reflective Ash Wednesday service and the distribution of ashes was presided over by three of our local clergy. The Lenten theme of charity has been fully supported by our students and the school council organised a non-uniform day and poor lunch to raise funds for

Cafod, and other nominated charities. Our humanities subjects have been preparing for two amazing overseas visits. The Geography department was very excited to be going to Sicily, especially with the recent eruption of mount Etna. In contrast Year 9 Historians will experience the Belgium battlefields and reflect on the impact of war. For both groups I am sure that these will be memorable and perhaps in some cases, life changing experiences. With sporting successes, Easter egg competitions, a staff verses students quiz and the impending launch of our website, there is a lot happening at SFX and I hope that you enjoy reading the latest edition of our newsletter.

March 2013

SFX NEWSLETTER

“Risky Behaviour” Day By Mrs Masterman

On Tuesday March 12th our year 9 students spent the day exploring risk in their lives. They began with a presentation which looked at Arson, Hoax calls and water risk. This was followed by presentations from the police and road safety officers. Both year 9 and 10 were treated to a spell binding performance by “An Invisible man” Theatre Company which told the story of two teenagers and the risk in their lives. After the performance the students were allowed to discuss the play with the actors and take part in some work-shops including “The Door of Risk!” which is a game show coming soon to TV! A thought-provoking, yet enjoyable day was had by all.

Easter Egg Competition

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Easter egg competi-tion. The winning eggs are…

Year 7 Winner ‘Monsters Inc.’ Gabriel Bradley

Year 9 Winner ‘The Stegg’ Nathan Thorpe

Winning Form 9 Easby

Year 8 Winner the ‘Eggs Factor’ Samantha Heeney & Mary Hewitt

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Life The RE Department welcomed a visit from the charity LIFE as part of a GCSE study unit on ‘Religion and Medical Ethics’.

Year 10 and 11 students met Maria Macgregor from LIFE, who explored the con-troversial issue of abortion and the pro-life perspective.

Students explored the sanctity of human life from a non-religious pro-life charity. Students looked at the development of a baby from concep-tion to birth using 4D images and ex-

plored the legal limits of abortion. Students also explored the morality of abortion and society’s responsibility to protect human life. Students were given opportunities to consider the reasons for and against abortion and were made aware of the variety of different ways that LIFE campaigns to protect the unborn child, who has no voice. Students heard how individuals, their partners and families are affected by abortion and the need for emotional support from LIFE, as they come to terms with difficult decisions and the consequences of any actions taken. Students were interested to learn that, even though LIFE is against abortion, the help the charity offers is non-judgemental.

UK Intermediate Maths Challenge Roll of Honour 2013

Best In School Emma Morrison Yr 11 Gold Certificate Award Emma Morrison Yr 11 George Peat Yr 11 Joe Arundell Yr 11 Douglas Birks Yr 11 Silver Certificate Award Joe Wall Yr 11 Haydn Simper Yr 9 Harriet Iveson Yr 9 Nathan Place Yr 11 Emma Hartley Yr 11 Jack Smith Yr 11 Robert Wingate Yr 9 Tabytha Milton Yr 9 Robert Kitchin Yr 11 Kate Ward Yr 11 Holly Smith Yr 10 Bronze Certificate Award Elly Lord Hatton Yr 9 Will Riley-Fox Yr 10 Jordan Simpson Yr 9 Elizabeth Lees Yr 9 Marina Kisielowska Yr 11 Ryan Canizo Yr 9 Danni Phillips Yr 10 Chloe Dods Yr 11 Stephen Brown Yr 10

Special Congratulations to Emma Morrison (Yr 11) who has qualified for “The European Pink Kangaroo” round, and Haydn Simper who has qualified for “The European Grey Kangaroo” round.

Maria Macgregor

Giving Fundraising for charity is an important part of citizenship, developing a sense of responsibil-ity and camaraderie by working together to raise much needed funds for those less fortunate than us. So far the pupils have achieved some impressive targets and helped a lot of worthy causes in 2012-2013: Help for Heroes £217.32 Cancer Research UK (cake Sales) £94.02 The Sick Children's Trust £1300 Dogs Trust - Cake Sales 30/11/12 £85.00 ongoing Friends of Educators Trust India £227.10 Macmillan Cancer 7E Reindeer £75.75 WWF Collection Form group 9J £34.74 Poor Lunch & dress down day £393.86

Pupils receiving their awards In full school assembly.

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Inspiring a Generation - Students who strive to succeed

Winning Voice By Lucy Padgett

I am Lucy Padgett and this year, on Wednesday 20th March I entered the Wensleydale Tournament of Song. This is a singing and instrument competition. There are many different classes but I only entered two. The classes I entered were ‘Girl Solo’, and ‘Girls Solo Show Songs’. For the ‘Girls Solo’ class I sang ‘Danny Boy’ and for the ‘Girls Solo Show Songs’ class I came fourth with eighty four points out of one hundred. In ‘Girls Solo’ I was awarded eighty five points and first prize. I

won the Diana Hartley competition for the promising musician under eighteen years old. Diana Hartley is a choir leader who has sponsored this award to encourage new talent. The adjudicators choose who can receive the award and they get to keep it for one year. You all get a medal to keep for ever. Congratulations to Lucy, this is a great achievement. The School look forward to seeing how Lucy pro-gresses with her singing endeavours in the coming years .

String Ensemble and Wind BandString Ensemble and Wind BandString Ensemble and Wind BandString Ensemble and Wind Band

concert on Wednesday 8th May starts at 7pm

SFX School Assembly Hall

Please join us to celebrate the contribution that our Year 11 music students have made to

the musical life of the School over the past 5 years

A term in pictures

Chess in the LRC

Mrs Masterman addresses year 9

RE Revision in the LRC

Food Technology Textiles Homework Club

Pupils on duty Year 8 PE

C of E School Visit On Monday 11th February six eager pupils from Richmond C of E Primary School were shown around SFX by the school council. After having some lunch they experienced a full student council meeting. Since the visit we received an e-mail say-ing that they enjoyed the experience and loved the school.. They wanted to say thank you for the welcoming attitude of the staff and pupils.

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Sports Update The Hambleton and Richmond-shire Area Swimming Gala was a big success for St Francis Xavier School as we had some fantastic individual and team performances. We were able to field full teams in the Junior and Intermediate Boys and Girls events. The Junior Girls , Boys and Intermediate Girls fin-ished 3rd overall and Intermediate boys were 4th. Yasmin Dixon 1st (JG Backstroke), Niamh Jolly 2nd (JG Free), Thomas Kavanagh 3rd (JB Free), Issie Starkey 2nd (IG Free), Hannah Darby 2nd (IG Breaststroke), Chloe Flint 2nd (IG Back), Laura Foster 3rd (IG Fly). Very well done to all involved. The year 7 boys made it through to the Area Football final against Richmond School following a fantastic win against Allertonshire School where Cameron Mooney scored a hat trick as SFX won 5-4. The final was a hard fought

contest, with some outstanding football on show, but sadly Rich-mond School were the victors by 6 goals to 2. It is a superb achieve-ment for the boys though, many of whom had not played full 11-a-side games this year, and shows that hard work has its rewards. The players from the squad and the PE department owe Mr Moss (a parent and coach at Richmond Town FC) a huge thank you for all of the hard work that he has put into running training sessions every Monday, and all of the times that he has helped with football trips, it is greatly appreciated. The year 8 boys put in a fantastic performance in the Area Cup Semi Final against Easingwold, and were victorious by a score of 6 goals to 3. The goals were spread amongst the players and it was a very strong team performance. We go on to play Thirsk in the Final. The Year 10 team also played Easingwold in the Area Cup Semi Final, and were undone by a last second goal to lose 4-3 in a very even game. Well done to all who were involved.

The Year 8 girls netball teams performed very well at the Area rally held at Easingwold. Due to Mrs Humphries’ training sessions on a Thursday night we had enough girls to enter an A and a B team, both of which did well. The A team finished 4th overall in their competition and the B team finished 5th. A big thank you also goes to Mrs Clay and the nine year 10 pupils who judged the Primary School Key Steps Gymnastics Festival. Pri-mary schools from Bedale, Wensleydale, Richmond and Cat-terick attended. Winners of the event qualified for the North York-shire school games final in June, which once again will be officiated by young leaders from year 10. Upcoming events: Area 7-a-side rugby competitions Area Football 7-a-side competitions (boys and girls). Both have been postponed until after Easter due to the weather.

Calendar Dates A few handy dates for your diary:

April Monday 15th

School opens

Thursday 18th

Junior Maths Challenge

Thursday 25th

Year 8 Parents Evening

Friday 26th

Year 11 Prom at Scotch Corner from

6.30pm onwards

May Monday 6th

School closed May Bank Holiday

Wednesday 8th

Spring concert

Monday 13th

Start of GCSE Examinations

Thursday 16th

Year 10 Parents Evening

Friday 24th

Year 11 Thanks giving Service

Friday 24th

School ends - half term break

Monday 27th

Lourdes Pilgrimage with

Middlesbrough Diocese

June

Monday 3rd

School opens

GCSE Exam

Period

Friday 28th

GCSE Exam

period ends

Paying for school meals couldn’t be simpler You can pay by cash, cheque or ParentPay. Make your cheques payable to Saint Francis Xavier

School. We can split cheques between siblings. Post your payment in the box at Reception. For more information about ParentPay please contact Reception on 01748 823414