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ContentsStarchaser Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2French Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2World Book Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Out of Hours Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4ICT Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Chaplaincy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Student Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Fundraising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

The Newspaper Editing Team

Dates for Diary:

Dear ParentsA lot of things have happened sinceour last newsletter; the provision ofnew computers in the LearningResource Centre, the visit of MikeNewell from Luton FC as part of anewspaper project, a space day aspart of National Science Week, apresentation of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards to Year 13students and a very successful Parents’ Association RaceNight. Details of these and other achievements can be foundelsewhere in the newsletter and I hope that you enjoyreading about them.

Achievement is an important part of life at SFX and over thecourse of the next few months many of our pupils andstudents will be taking public examinations (SATs, GCSEs,AS and A Levels). Let’s hope they all achieve the highestpossible grades.

It is at this time of the year when we recall theachievements of Jesus; how he triumphed over death andprovided for us the possibility of eternal salvation. This wasa truly remarkable achievement and one which we shouldspend some time reflecting on. It enabled us to have a newbeginning in the same way that the spring flowers around usnow are a sign that nature has triumphed over the dark daysof winter. Let us remember that the Easter message is oneof achievement, triumph and hope.

Best wishes to all our families at this Easter season.

L D Rippon Headteacher

John Kelly – Y10 Simon Peers - Y10 Ben Coyle – Y10Stephen Beard – Y10 Christopher Baker -Y10 Carl Brown -Y10 Adam Wing – Y10 Dennis Spellman – Y10 Andrew Dooley – Y10 Michael Moorecroft – Y10

David Kelly -Y10 Michael McNamee – Y10 Connor McCarthy – Y9 John Hyland – Y9 Andrew Dunbar – Y9 Stephen Langley – Y10 Nicholas Dwyer – Y10 Stephen McGuffie – Y10Thomas Stanton – Y10Thomas Bennett – Y10

Sean Buckley - YY10 Terence Whinnet – Y10 Michael Lord -Y10 Thomas Lees – Y10 Dominic Barlow – Y10Tom Evans – Y10 Neil Cox – Y10 Plus articles by Y7

n Friday April 7th College closes for Easterholidays at 12.30pm

n Monday April 10th to Wednesday April

12th Easter revision classes GCSE (Y11)

n Tuesday April 25th College re-opens at8.40am after Easter holidays

n Monday May 1st College closed - May Bank Holiday

n Tuesday May 2nd - Friday May 5th Y9 SATs

n Thursday 18th May Y11 Leavers’ Mass

n Monday May 22nd Main GCSE and ASLevel examination programme begins

n Monday June 12th Main A’ Levelprogramme begins

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Starchaser EventNational Science WeekAs part of National ScienceWeek, SFX was invited to StJulie’s High School to takepart in Space Day on Friday17th March. Miss Martintook pupils from Years 7and 8 to St. Julie’s HighSchool to see apresentation about theStarchaser Team. TheStarchaser Team talked topupils about Space andtheir ongoing work inspace exploration. Theboys then had theopportunity to see thespectacular 11 metre Starchaserrocket for themselves. Some primary schools from thearea also took part and sent out pupils to watchStarchaser’s presentation.

Starchaser manufactures rockets and undertakesexperiments on rocket and Space travel. They alsohave ambitions to send families into Space one day.The pictures show the rocket they brought to St.

Julie’s with themthat day, whichrepresented themodel of thelargest rocket toever have taken offfrom the UKmainland. Thisproject was

organised by Mr. Grace (St.Julie’s Head of Science)with the aim of gettingchildren interested inscience at an early age, toencourage them to pickscience for an A levelsubject and possiblycontinue with furtherstudies after they leaveschool. He also wants to create collaborationbetween SFX and St. Julie’s.

Paul McGillan 10 LewisThomas Stanton 10Rigby

French ExchangeOn Sunday 26th March a group of 49 French pupilsfrom Miss Bousquet’s old school in Villefranche deRouergue (Aveyron), which SFX pupils have visited forthe past 3 years, spent the day as guests of families ofSFX pupils.

On Monday 27th March the French pupils came intothe school to shadow their new friends throughout theday attending lessons and sampling English cuisine inthe Dining Room. It was a very enjoyable and enrichingexperience, enabling our pupils to understand betterthe difference between French and English culture andeducation systems.

It was a step into the past for Jean Michel Renard (theFrench teacher/organiser) whospent a year inLiverpool as a FrenchAssistant at the start ofhis career some yearsago.

Thomas StantonPaul Mcgillan

Cricket CoachingOnce again cricket coaching has been going on at St.Margaret’s Cricket Centre.

Monday 4.30-5.30 for Years 7-8Tuesday 8.00- 9.30 for Years 9 & older

In addition, various SFX boys have been to the U13/ U15coaching on Friday nights for the City Schools/DistrictCricket Teams. Mr Reynolds has also just startedintroductory sessions for primary school pupils in the SFXgym on Tuesdays 5.30- 6.30. If you would like moreinformation about cricket coaching see Mr Reynolds.

Andrew Dooley 10 Lewis

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Public Speaking/DebatingCongratulations to John Bridge (YR 13) for winning 3rdplace (and a £50 prize) in the annual Catenian PublicSpeaking Competition.

This took place at the Adelphi Hotel on the evening ofFriday 10th March. John delivered his speech, entitled“Live 8: poverty or publicity” to an audience of morethan 100 guests, but nervousness was never an issuefor him. He also took 3rd place in the samecompetition last year. John consolidates SFX success inthis particular competition in recent years- formerpupil James Richardson won 1st prize in 2004.

In the meantime, a group of year 12 students aresetting up a new Debating Society at the college- moredetails soon.

Teen IdolFollowing a very successful Teen Idolevent last year in which Nathan Carter(Now in Year 11) came third winning thechance to record a CD, this year’s TeenIdol auditions were held in the main hallon Wednesday 8th March.

The judges were Mr Fox, Ms Manning andEthan Hunt (of Year 11). They were ourvery own answer to Simon Cowell, SharonOsbourne and Louis Walsh! EighteenStudents turned up to sing and theyhandled the pressure well. Ten successfulpupils went on to the challenge heats atParklands CLC on Tuesday 4th Aprilwhere they competed against 10 pupilsfrom 16 schools in Liverpool for a chanceto earn one of the 48 places in the semifinals in May. The top three students fromall semi finals will compete against eachother in the Philharmonic Hall in June.

The following students are those whomade it into the heats at Parklands.

Alistair Fredrick Year 11 Nathan Carter Year 11 Lawrence Langley Year 11Carl Latham Year 11 Adam Killcourse Year 11 Gareth Taylor Year 11 Adam Kaufman Year 10 Daniel Badger Year 10 Michael McNamee Year 10 Phillip Evans Year 10 Joe Morris Year 9 Reserve.

World Book DayOn Thursday 2nd March, as part of World Book Day,author Trevor Baxendale came to SFX to talk to a selectionof year 7 pupils. Trevor is an author for the BBC and haswritten a selection of books in the ‘Doctor Who’ series. Atthe moment he is writing a book for children which hehopes will reach bookshelves in the near future. WhenTrevor invited pupils to ask him questions about his careerhe was asked what inspired him to write the Doctor Whobooks. He was particularly pleased with this question andtold us that when he was a young boy he enjoyed readingcomics and sci-fi books and making up his own charactersfor stories. Trevor also revealed that if he had not becomean author he would have liked to become an illustrator.

After the interview Trevor signed his books and somepictures, with pupils able to purchase the books. We thenposed for a photograph with him. Many of us found it veryinteresting and exciting and we would happily welcomehim back to SFX. Thanks to Mrs Boughey and theLibrarians who made this event possible.

By Adam Gilbert, Nicholas White, Sean Cunningham andJoseph Reeds. (7 Alpha)

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Specialist Status NewsICT and Mathematics RefurbishmentWe are now in the second phase ofrefurbishment; we have now refurbished IT1,IT2, the Main School LRC, and the Sixth FormLibrary. Each room has been equipped withup-to-date computers, and bigger, flat screenmonitors. The next phase is to create an ICTsuite of five rooms by re-furbishing existingrooms, this will be beneficial to the studentsand the teachers, as all rooms will have thesame layout, with the same equipment suchas flat screen monitors and interactive whiteboards.

ICT students and their teachers will not be theonly ones benefiting from the new ICT suites.Teachers from other subjects will now be ableto use computers, as the existing ICT roomswill become available as bookable resourcesand for some primary school activities. TheMathematics department will also benefitfrom the refurbishment of the Maths Floor andthe creation of a dedicated Maths ICT suite inthe main building. It is envisaged that themajority of refurbishment will be undertakenduring the summer holidays.

John Kelly and Simon Peers

OOHL – Out of Hours LearningThe Night Owl sessions are continuing to beoffered from 3:30 – 8:30 pm each Wednesdaydelivered by staff from ICT, Technology and Art.These are available to all students from Year 11.The sessions are already well attended andpupils find it beneficial as it providesopportunities to complete coursework andrevision from all subject areas in the ICT suite,DT rooms and Art rooms. Alternatively, you cancomplete revision in the ‘quiet room’ orcomplete work on SAM Learning, which is alsoavailable to every student, and can be accessedin the ICT suite.

SAM Learning required information at log in:

Centre ID – L24PCUser ID – (DOB) ddmmyy followed by yourinitials (no spaces). Password – Exactly the same as User ID.

You will find this site very helpful for yourrevision.

The sessions have been complemented withafter school booster and intervention lessonsfrom a variety of subjects including Maths, R.Eand Science. The Early Bird session on aTuesday morning is also available. Year 11should give thorough consideration to coming tothese sessions, as GCSEs are quicklyapproaching. Year 10 and Year 12 pupils are verywelcome and will also find it beneficial whendoing coursework, or revising for their ScienceGCSE modules.

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Community Transition& Partner ActivitiesOur Specialist School Status“ is allowing us tostrengthen our community links and help others toachieve their goals” – a theme which is close to ourmission as a “Christian community”. This was saidnot too long ago by Mr Rippon and is one of hishighly prioritised goals. We would like to inform youthat this task is well underway.

Mr Roberts has recently been appointed as ICTTransition/Partner Co-ordinator for Key Stages 2and 3. Also, Mr Morgan has been appointed as theMaths Transition/Partner Co-ordinator for KeyStages 2 and 3.

These two new appointments will allow us to moveforward with our new projects, one of which isalready in progress. This is the ‘Computer Club forGirls’ (CC4G) which is partly run and facilitated byour 6th Form Students who, under the direction ofMr Roberts act as Mentors and ClassroomPractitioners in some of our feeder PrimarySchools. St Gregory’s and St Paschal Baylon havenow completed the Pilot Phase of the project.

This was recently highlighted by the DfES as anarea of innovation and good practice and wasshowcased at the National Annual Mathematics andComputing Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday14th and Wednesday 15th of March 2006. Tohighlight this new innovation, Mr Kelly ( ICTAC co-ordinator), has created a fantastic DVD whichshowcases this, among other activities completedso far.

In the forthcoming term the project will beexpanded to the rest of our partner and primaryschools in the area. Mr Morgan will begin to pilotthe Jaguar Maths Challenge project in the nearfuture.

Parklands High SchoolOur New Community PartnerWe are also delightedto welcomeParklands HighSchool as an officialCommunity Partner.Since September theICT Department at

SFX have beenworking closely withthe ICT Departmentat Parklands andhave helped them todevelop a newcurriculum for Key

Stage 3 ICT andsupport them in the development of GCSE and

BTEC at Key Stage 4. On the 3rd of April theHeadteacher Mr Alan Smithies wrote to Mr Rippon toofficially accept the partnership proposal. Thispartnership will enable SFX to continue to support theICT department at Parklands High School andhopefully enable even more pupils to enjoy andachieve in their ICT studies.

The New ICT AcademyProgrammeThe ICT department havebeen working with atraining provider calledSpeke Training andEducation Centre inBoulevard BusinessCentre to develop a oneyear ICT Academyprogramme for 6th FormStudents which will encompass 2 days offsite work basedlearning and NVQ Level 2 in ICT and 3 days at SFXstudying a BTEC First Diploma (ICT for Practitioners), aswell as Literacy and Numeracy qualifications.

This is an exciting project which will be offered to twoother schools in our local community; New HeysComprehensive School and Broadgreen High School.

STEC came into school to launch the new ICT Academyproject and do some workshop activitieswith Y11 on Tuesday 4thApril in the 6th Formcommon room. SelectedYear 11 pupils met at 1.30pm for a tour of the 6thForm block followed byroadshow activities.

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ChaplaincyDe La Mennais Brothers’ Youth Gathering inPloermel, France – January 2006Following on from world youth day, at the end ofJanuary. Brother Jamestook a group of 10pupils from Years 13, 11and 10 on a 4-day trip toFrance to take part in aDe La Mennais Brothersweekend gathering atthe Brothers’ motherhouse in Ploermel,Brittany.

The weekend focused onthe theme “God is Love” and was led by a team ofbrothers and lay people. Music was provided by four ofthe group and a French brother. Extra dimensions were

added to the experience by a heavy snowfallwhich left around 5 inches of snow and led tothe obligatory snow fights and snowmanbuilding.

Brother James congratulates our pupils ontheir attitude and enthusiasm during the

trip whichmade takingthem a realpleasure.

World Youth Day ‘06A great deal has happened in terms of chaplaincyactivities these past 6 months. We will begin by lookingback at last summer and the momentous occasion ofWorld Youth Day 2005. Two year 12 students (now year 13)Matthew Sewell and Luke Whalley joined Brother Jamesand a group of 5 people from St Austin’s Parish,Grassendale on this fun filled German adventure whichculminated in a weekend spent with the newly electedGerman Pope, Benedict XVI, with about a million otheryoung people spread out across quite a few fields.

Nobody will ever forgetthe open-air vigil onthe final night. Thatsea of praying, candleholding people lit onlyby the small candlesthey held in theirhand illuminating thedarkness. At the endof the concluding mass thenext morning, before we all left to go our separate ways,all in some way changed as people, the pope announced inthe traditional manner the venue for the next world youthday 2008… Sydney, Australia!!Look out Oz; here we come!

A more detailed account if the trip and further photos canbe found on my website atwww.brojames.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Articles by Brother James & Stephen Beard Y10

Other ChaplaincyActivitiesOur Yr. 9 Amnesty International has continued this yearwith a faithful group of participants meeting once a weekto learn about individual cases of human rights violationsaround the world and to campaign for justice. Activitieshave included writing letters to governments and militaryleaders in countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Mexico,Israel and here in Great Britain, and sending Christmascards to victims of injustice around the world. We alsoparticipated in the Make Poverty History campaign inconjunction with R.E. classes in Yrs. 7-9, sending “buddy”posters to No. 10, Downing Street. We did in fact receive aletter from No. 10, thanking us for our efforts, and two ofthe group also received replies from Maria Eagle MP onofficial House of Commons paper in relation to a differentcampaign.

Future EventsSponsored Cycle for a school in Togo, Africa –Summer, 2006 After Easter Brother James will begincollecting sponsorship for a fourteen day 1,400 milesolo Sponsored Cycle that he will be undertakingduring the summer holidays to the shrine of theapostle St. James (Brother James’ patron saint) inSantiago Di Compostella, north-west Spain. The ridewill be to raise money for a newly-opened school inthe West African country of Togo. If anybody wishes tocontact Brother James about potential sponsorship,please either pass a message to him at theChaplaincy (Newman Building) or leave it with asecretary at the Main Office. (Brother James).

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StudentVoice

Year 8 FundraisingThe Year 8 charity is the Royal National LifeboatAssociation (R.N.L.I) The present Year 11 were the firstYear Group at SFX to support the charity, raising £1,034.00from November 2002to July 2003. Sincethen each year hasmanaged to increaseon the previous yearstotal. The presentYear 10 raised£1,560.00 and thepresent Year 9raised £2,000.00. Amazingly thepresent Year 8 has already raised £3,700.00 to date andthere are still 3 months left for fundraising. This is a newschool record for fundraising at SFX. Thanks to all theForm Tutors and all those involved with the fundraisingover the past few years and all those who helped arrangeevents and other activities to raise moneyfor such a worthy cause.

John Hyland Year 9

Year 9 NewsYear 9 are raising money for the Marie Curie Cancer CareHospice in Woolton. Events organised for Year 9 have included;cake & sweet sales, inter-form football competitions, sponsoredkayaking, selling refreshments at parents evening and sellingMarie Curie Wristbands. In the near future the Year 9 pupils planto undertake a Marie Curie 10-mile sponsored walk with MissCrickett, Mrs. Boughey and Mr. Bright also taking part. Theyhope to raise a lot of money for the hospice in this event and askpeople to pledge donations. The event was originally scheduledfor March 12th but due to bad weather it has been rescheduledfor April. Miss Crickett would like to remind all Year 9 pupils that the SATsare approaching and in the time leading up to them to workextremely hard as they will benefit their futures. Miss Crickettwould also like to say that she is pleased to say that pupilreports have been sent home and is also delighted to say thatshe thinks the majority of them are extremely good. Connor McCarthy Year 9

Year 10 FundraisingThe current Year 10 has been raising money for Zoë’sPlace baby hospice for the last two years. The hospice isbased in West Derby and is totally reliant on donationsto keep it running. The boys in Year 10 have watchedvideos about the hospice and Mr Farrington has also taken asmall group to visit Zoë’s Place to report back to the Year Groupin assembly. Penny Williams, who coordinates fund-raising,keeps in regular contact with the Year Group giving praise andencouragement for their efforts. In 2004/2005 the boys raisedover £3,000.00 for the hospice, they have raised just over£1,770.00 this school year. The boys have raised money in avariety of ways, these include; yard sales, raffles and playstationtournaments. The Year 10 Form Teachers have arranged most ofthese events and they must be thanked for their continued helpand support. 10 Lewis and 10 Bryant worked particularly hardthis year. Miss Cain and Mr Farrington hope that the hard workcontinues throughout the school year.Connor McCarthy Year 9

Year 11 FundraisingThis year, Mr. Pedder and his Year Group will befundraising for Oxfam. Their target: to raise enoughmoney to build a well, providing enough water for up to 1000people in the heart of Africa. The money raised all came fromgeneral fundraising and by selling goods (i.e. snacks and drinks).Mr. Pedder gave thanks to his pupils and described the Year 11Form Teachers as “superb” with their efforts.Andrew Dunbar Year 9

Parliament NewsOn Tuesday 14th ofMarch the SFXrepresentatives of theLiverpool SchoolsParliament attended ameeting in the TownHall at 12:30pm. Themeeting included aquestion and answersession with theleader of LiverpoolCity Council Warren Bradley, and a briefingabout the possible regeneration of St. Luke’s Churchby the City Centre. The council leader began tellingthe Parliament about himself, a bit of his life historyand went on to answer questions.

The Parliament was then told about the possibility ofSt. Luke’s Church in the City Centre being made into aUnited Nations Centre for young people; the plan is toerect a structure of glass and steel inside the walls ofthe Church which was severely bombed in World WarTwo. The centre will have three floors, a café, an areafor performing and exhibition space.

Adam Wing Y10

Attention Cyclists!

FundraisingActivities

The school council have been recently pondering upon theidea of purchasing some new bike parks for the use of thestudent body. There are in fact two possible locations for theshed, one being the corner of the biology building next tothe Year 7 yard. Watch this space for more news!

Ben Coyle Y10

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Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Return your answers to: School Office, c/o Miss K. Lindop

DEADLINE FRIDAY 26 MAY 2006

Entry Details

EntertainmentTry our Sudoko Quiz and you could win a £20.00 voucherfor Borders Bookstore to spend on Books, CDs or DVDs.To enter fill in your details and answers and return thepage to the school office by 26th May 2006.

Sudoku

Winners for last term’s Newsletter CompetitionPalindrome category: Dominic Fullan – 10 Mayne - £10 PrizeMagic Numbers category: Dominic Fullan – 10 Mayne - £10 PrizeSudoku Puzzle category: Tresor Wose – 7 Kemble - £20 Prize

Every Child Matters Competition (£15 prize pp)Be Healthy: Liam Fletcher – 7 CampionStay Safe: Jordan Rimmer – 7 CampionStay Safe: Paul Furlong - 7 CampionEnjoy and Achieve: Brendan Patino – 7 CampionPreparing for World of Work: Paul Wileman – 7 Campion

Professor ‘Green’Project: Competition 7 2 6 3

4 7 2 51 6

4 7 3 88

8 5 4 69 2

5 6 3 82 1 5 9

The Professor ‘Green’ Project competition involvesdesigning and creating a poster/cartoon/leaflet byeither using ICT or hand-drawing. The prize forwinning this competition is £20.00 per category. Thiswill be awarded in the form of Borders voucherswhere you can purchase Books, CDs and DVDs.

The categories are:Saving the environment: The dangers theatmosphere and the rainforests are facing.Saving the animals: The effects of man that arecausing animals to become endangered and finallyextinct.

Please send all your entries to Miss K. Lindop (AHT. Director of Specialist Status)c/o School OfficeSt Francis Xavier’s College Beaconsfield RoadWoolton L25 6EG

Be sure to state your name, form and teaching groupclearly on the back of your entry.The closing date for this competition is Friday 26thMay 2006.

Good luck!

Quick Quizn Along with Intel, which is the next major

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n How many number 9’s are there between 1 and100?

n Who is known as the founder of the operatingsystem ‘Linux’?

n What is the difference between a theory and atheorem?

n Which is the only word which ends with ‘mt’?

n A computer’s most basic form of language iscoded in 1’s and 0’s. Early computer programmershad to program in this code. It is extremely hard tolearn and because it is very basic, it is also veryfast. What is this code/language known as?

n What is the name of the program that converts‘assembly’ language into binary so that thecomputer can read it?

n What is the name of the operating systemMicrosoft is planning to release next which is stillin BETA?

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By Welwin Lobo, Michael McNamee & Michael Moorcroft