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ContentsICT Website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Community LearningProgramme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Famous Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Swan Lake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Exam Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7Battle of the Bands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8School Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Fundraisng. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Mace Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Competitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Newspaper Editing TeamAdam Wing 11 WA

Andrew Dunbar 10 CA

David Jones 10 RI

John Hyland 10 KE

Connor McCarthy 10 OW

Josh Donnelly 8R I

James Fazakerley 8 OW

Callum Hutton 8 MA

Bradley Crompton 7 WA

Philip Devine 7 LE

Mark Farrell 7 WA

Elias Dubicki-Galleway 7 WA

Joseph Irwin 7 LE

Matthew McNamara 7 LE

Liam Markey 7 LE

Jordan Roberts 7 WA

Michael Sweetman 7 BR

Senior Editor Adam Wing 11 WA

Graphic Designer John Hyland10 KE

Graphics Assistant Joseph Irwin 7 LE

Dates for Diary:Friday March 30 school closes at 12.20pm

Tuesday April 17 school reopens at 8.40am

Year 11 study leave begins on Wednesday May 16 2007

Year 12 study leave begins on Friday May 18 2007

Year 13 study leave begins on Friday May 25 2007

Monday March 26 Meeting for Y11 parents and pupils about final preparations for GCSE 7pm,School Hall

Tuesday March 27 GCSE Options evening for Y9 pupils moving into Y10

Dear ParentsIt does not seem five minutes sinceChristmas and here we are nearly atEaster, the most important season inour Christian calendar. A time for us toreflect on the fact that Jesus wascrucified because of our sins, but roseagain; a time to remember that thepower of good is far greater than that of evil; a time whenwe are born again.

The fact that Easter in Britain coincides with Spring,reinforces this message of new beginnings and new life evenmore. It also gives us the encouragement and determinationto approach things with new and increased fervour.

For those pupils and students who are fast approaching theirSATS, GCSE’s, AS and A Levels, it is a time when they need allof our support and encouragement; a time when theythemselves need determination. We wish them well as theyapproach the final furlong – the next few weeks are crucial interms of revision and preparation. The Ofsted team whovisited before half term were impressed by the students “verypositive attitudes to learning”. Let us all hope and pray thatour students gain the success which they deserve in theforthcoming examinations.

Yours sincerely

L D RipponHeadteacher

Building Schools forthe FutureSeveral years ago the Government unveiled plans toregenerate and rebuild every School in the country and itwas recently in the news that SFX will be in the nextphase of Schools to be rebuilt part of the ‘wave fivebuilding’. Our School will come together with Abbots Leeand Lower Lee schools to effectively build one largecampus in which the three schools will each keep theirown identity but will share specialist facilities such as asports hall or science labs. It is anticipated that buildingwill commence in three to four years time and theschools must come up with plans in the time betweennow and then. During this period we shall be talking toParents, Pupils and Staff for ideas for the new Campus.The three schools already have a good rapport and sharesome facilities which means that the new campus willmerely make the sites more easily accessible with gatesto connect the schools within the campus grounds.

Adam Wing

Digital Native ProjectMr Evans has decided to set up an ICT Departmental websitewhich will allow pupils to have greater learning opportunitiesoutside or normal school hours, they can also leave messagesto their teachers for any queries regarding their work. Thewebsite was designed by Mr Evans to enable students to havemore interactivity with ICT staff and each other outside ofnormal lesson time. The website address is;www.ictlesson.info. The site contains podcasts for GCSErevision which can be downloaded and listened to on a CD, acomputer or on an MP3 Player. The site also has lessonresources and presentations, Exam board information, revisionresources and is growing weekly to include as many otheruseful items as possible.

Students can also email any problems with homework,coursework or understanding lesson content to a new ‘RemoteOnLine Feedback’ facility, the email address is;rolf@sfx.liverpool.sch. If students email any problems ICTstaff will try to get back to them as soon as possible, thismeans that during a weekend or even school holidays ICTstudents can get help of their teachers!

The website also has its own wiki which is a miniencyclopaedia that will allow pupils to search for certainwords or things they need help on. They can also add theirown definition to words which means that eventually a full ICTencyclopaedia can be created for the students by the students.The website has its own blog where students can leavemessages for teachers or for other pupils to help them. MrEvans is also looking for two administrators to help run andmaintain the site; the administrators must have a basic graspof html coding. Although the website is not completely up andrunning it is still available to go on and browse. Mr Evans isurging everyone to make the best possible use of the site andthat they should use it as much as possible.

David Jones NightowlThe Nightowl sessions have been running since October 2006and are very well attended by Year 11 pupils. Over the past fewmonths between 40 and 90 Year 11 pupils have attendedsessions each week. When interviewed Miss Lindop said “I amextremely impressed by the dedication andwork ethic of some of our Year 11 studentsand I am sure that the extra hours theyhave spent studying at Nightowl will paydividends when GCSE results are publishedin August”.

When interviewed, a Year 11 pupil said“Nightowl is a fulfilling and enrichingevening which lots of people in Y11 partakein. Many teachers give up their timevoluntarily and we are really grateful for this. The teachers wantus to use the potential

we have to the full and give a lot of help and assistance to all ofus. They want us to succeed. It’s more relaxed because as well

as the taught classes there are also drop insessions and workshops which are moreinformal”.

There are lots of sessions every week for Year11 pupils to come to which are published eachweek on the plasma screen in the diningroom. It is really important that Year 11 usethis facility as part of their revision for GCSEswhich start soon. Nightowl runs every Tuesdayfrom 3.30pm to 8pm.

Jordan Roberts

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Community Learning ProgrammeThe community classes started on 22nd February, with over 160 adult learnersfrom our community enjoying classes in:

• ICT

• Digital Photography

• Literacy

• Spanish

• French

• Craft

The adult learners all commented on how much they had enjoyed the classes andhow fantastic our staff and student helpers were. Miss Lindop would like to expressher appreciation to the Year 12 Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award students who havevolunteered to assist with the classes as part of their service project. A big thankyou must also be given to the younger helpers from Years 9 and 11 who havevolunteered their time freely and have provided an invaluable service on the carpark and assisting with the organisation of rooms and the environment. Thefeedback from the community learners was very positive and many of themcommented on how enjoyable the classes were and how friendly and helpful thestaff and student helpers were.

The next phase in our community learning programme is to undertake researchinto the viability of running a year-long accredited learning programmecommencing September 2007. Watch this space for more details!

Andrew Dunbar

OFSTED & REInspections.The college was recently inspectedby OFSTED. The inspection was agreat success, and the inspectorsrecognised the hard work put in byall staff and pupils over the past sixyears since the last inspection.

It was noted that “the students arepolite and courteous with visitorsand supportive of each other” andthat the students at St FrancisXavier’s make an outstandingpositive contribution to thecommunity through charity work,Duke of Edinburgh’s award andvisits to the local community toname but a few of the manyschemes and work undertaken bypupils.

The inspectors concluded that thecollege is “…an inclusive collegethat provides a good education forall its students” and that “Thecollege has a good and welldeserved reputation in the city andstudents are proud to attend it.They went on to say that“throughout the college there is afocus on improving learning”.

The inspection of the ReligiousEducation aspect of the collegewas also a great success.

The two inspections concluded that“St Francis Xavier’s college is agood catholic school with someoutstanding features”.

Mr Rippon said “I would like tothank all Staff, Pupils and Parentsfor all the hard work they have putin over the past years, it has notbeen easy but we have workedthrough it together and with someextra hard work put in over thenext three years we hope to get an‘outstanding’ report with evenmore grade 1’s!”

Adam Wing

3

4

Oliver ‘The Musical’Later in the year, the newlyformed SFX Performing Artsdepartment is putting on aschool production of the classicplay Oliver. Most of the year 10Performing Arts group will in theproduction, as well as youngerpupils and Sixth Form.

Auditions have taken place forOliver and rehearsals have nowstarted. There is still opportunityto get involved. We are lookingfor pupils to join the chorus andthe back stage team. If you havean interest in helping out please see Miss Manning or Miss Shinks.

Andrew Dunbar Enterprise EventOpen The Door Theatre in Education Group visited our schoolon Tuesday 20th February, to present “Fair Start – Me the NextRichard Branson”. This play forms part of the EnterpriseModule currently being followed in Year 10 via our Learn toLearn programme. The play explores the highs and lows ofstarting your own business through the eyes of three pupils. Ateenage desire to visit the fun fair sparks a great idea for abusiness opportunity. Each character using their individualskills and personalities strives to make it work.

Mr Conroy – Enterprise and WRL Co-ordinator stated that“this is an excellent way to deliver the importance ofenterprise education to our pupils”. The pupils demonstratedtheir approval with a resounding ovation.

David Jones

On Tuesday 27th February the schoolreceived a visit from the famous authorAlan Gibbons. Mr Gibbons came to talkto pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9. He cameto talk to the pupils about how hebecame a writer and gave handy tips onhow to become a successful author. MrGibbons has over 50 published books,the most famous being The Shadow ofthe Minotaur which was awarded thevery first Blue Peter book of the yearbeating off fierce competition from J.KRowling and other well known authors.The Shadow of the Minotaur is alsostudied in school. Mr Gibbons has soldover 700,000 copies of his books in theUK alone, that means that 1 in 10people own one of his books. His bookshave also been published in more than10 different languages. Mr Gibbons isworking on his current book DemonAssassin, where a demonic assassin is

sent to try and kill Winston Churchilland a young boy must try and save him,Mr Gibbons said that he is expectingthis book to be the one he enjoyedwriting the most. But Mr Gibbons wasnot always this successful. He was ateacher for eighteen years until he wasencouraged to send his work off to apublisher and after twenty threerejections, his book Pig, was finallyaccepted to be published. Mr Gibbonshas advised all the future writers toread a lot and carry a notebook to copydown literary devices used in books. Hehas also advised them to try and imitatevarious styles of writing other famousauthors use and to use a lot ofimagination. Everyone involved wouldlike to thank Miss Grace for her effortsin organising this wonderful event.

David Jones, John Hyland and ConnorMcCarthy

Famous Author Visit

The Higher EducationPlayMiss Thiery organised the Higher Education play for theboys in Year 10. The play company called Impact Theatreperformed a play for the year called ‘HE4all’ which tookplace during fourth lesson and after the play hadfinished, certain boys remained behind for fifth lesson tolearn more about the play and participate in someactivities. The play’s purpose was to show that it isimportant to go to University if you wanted to get a betterjob and earn more money. The play delivered this pointbut also made it funny so as to keep pupils entertained.For more information visit their website www.he4all.com.

Connor McCarthy

Sport NewsCongratulations to Michael Deakin Y12 who has beenselected for England U18 Schoolboys. Michael wasrecently chosen as Captain for the England vs BelgiumNational U17s which resulted in a 5-2 victory!

The Table Tennis sessions have commenced withlunchtime sessions available for Year groups 7-11, afterschool sessions will begin in the Summer term. If pupilsare interested they must see Mr Brophy for details.

Canoes have been purchased and coaching sessions willbegin shortly.

Watch out for more detailed sport news in the next edition!

Mr Brophy

5

Poetry LiveOn Wednesday 17th January, pupils from Year 10, Year 11 and someSixth Form students attended the Poetry Day Live at the PhilharmonicHall. Several poets were there reading their poems from theanthology which Year 10 and 11 are currently studying for GCSE.

The day was organised by Miss McDonald, with Mr Quinn, MrsBoughey and Mrs Jenkins accompanying the students on the day.

The day was very useful for everyone who went, with insights into thepoems from the poets themselves. AQA Examiner Peter Buckroydalso gave tips and links on how to do well in exams.

Poems were read by Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke, Imtaiz Dharker,Moniza Alvi, John Agard and Simon Armitage. John Agard was highlyentertaining and Simon Artbitage was extremely amusing!

Overall, it was an enjoyable day that will help us with our final exams.

Wesley Dunn and Andrew Dunbar

Of Mice and MenOn the 25th January Miss McDonald arranged for the AigburthTheatre Company to come intoschool and perform Of Mice andMen for Year 11 pupils.

Three men performed the playwithout any props and it waswell organised. The best actorin the play was the young manwho played Curley’s wife andCrooks as well as a few othercharacters. The highlight of theplay was when George shotLenny because it was sounexpected due to theirfriendship. The play helped usto understand the book furtherbecause we got to observe thecharacters behaviour ratherthan just read about it.

Adam Brown and Ian Carroll

Open the DoorOn Wednesday 7th January a play was performed to Year 7 inthe main hall. The play was called Open the Door and wasperformed to the year group to inform them about bullying andwhat to do if it is happening to or around them. The play alsogave the Year 7 pupils small tips on adjusting to a new school.

The play had three main characters, Paul, Michael and Kieran,who were moving to secondary school. Kieran (who knew noone) tried to act “hard” to get Paul and Michael to like him.However, he was unsuccessful and so he decided to take hisfrustration and anger out on Michael. When Paul found outabout this he immediately informed his form teacher. Histeacher spoke to Kieran, and he did not bully Michael again; infact Paul and Michael became friends with Kieran.

This type of thing happens in every school, and it always will,the important thing is that it is stopped as soon as possible.The only way for a teacher to stop these things as soon aspossible is if someone (you!) is brave enough to speak up. Justlike Paul was.

After the play, a survey was passed around and according to theresults, 94% of the pupils stated that they understood what theplay was about and knew who to go to if they had any problemswith another pupil. 98% of the Year 7 audience said theyenjoyed this production, as did members of staff.

Ms Staunton said that she is definitely going to organise forOpen the Door to come in again sometime in the near future.Ms Staunton has also asked me to remind our readers that wehave our own bullying survey. If you have any problems, orknow of anyone who has any problems with another pupil justinform your Coordinator of Learning by filling in the form.

Joseph Irwin

Swan LakeOn the 31st January pupils from Year 10 and Sixth Formwent to see a performance of Swan Lake at the EmpireTheatre. The trip was organised by Miss Hayes who thoughtit would allow the pupils to get a better understanding ofthe acting world as the actors only used actions and music.The trip also helped those who attended to realise thatactions are just as useful as words in the performing world.Miss Hayes is organising a play during the summer for anafternoon in Stratford on Avon. Anybody wanting to go onthis trip should contact Miss Hayes. The pupils enjoyed thetrip to Swan Lake thoroughly and can’t wait to see the nextperformance arranged.

David Jones

Spring ConcertThe annual spring concert shall take place in the secondweek back after the Easter holidays. Any pupils’ who wishto be involved see Miss Manning as soon as possible.

Miss Manning

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Exam Preparation

ALAN TestingYear 11 pupils have recently completed their Mock Tests for theAdult Literacy and Numeracy qualifications.This is a new initiative which was implementedas part of Specialist Status last year with agreat success rate. Although they are notGCSE Qualifications, if a pupil passes boththe Literacy and Numeracy tests they areworth a grade B GCSE at level 2 or agrade E GCSE at level 1 in addition tohis Maths and English qualifications.

The tests start early for some students onMonday 16th of April 2007 which is the firstday after the Easter Holidays. This is a schoolINSET day so the rest of the pupils are not in school. For the restof Year 11 the tests start on Tuesday 17th April and run for 3weeks, ending on Friday 4th May.

Each Year 11 pupil has been given a test dateand will sit the Numeracy Examination in themorning which will last for 75 minutes and theLiteracy Examination in the afternoon whichwill last for 60 minutes. If pupils are entitled toextra time it will be added on to the exam

timing.

Both of the tests are computer based and thereare practice tests available on the Internet whichpupils can try out at home or in school to helpthem to prepare for the test. The link is shownbelow.

http://www.edexcel.org.uk/sfc/onscreen/alan-test/

Year 11 pupils must be in school at 8.40am on the day of theexam and must report to the Library and wait with Mrs Gracewhere they will be registered at 8.45am. The Afternoon Test willstart at 1.20pm, it is vital that pupils are not late.

Year 11 Mentoring SchemeEvery member of staff has beenassigned a student to mentor in the runup to their GCSE exams in May andJune. The pupils who have beenassigned a mentor were identified asnot reaching their full potential in therecent half term assessments and mockexaminations. In addition to this, pupils

who didn’t originally have a mentor butthought that they would benefit fromone were also assigned a member ofstaff by Miss Evans. The staff meet withtheir mentees once a week. In themeetings the pupils talk about how theyare doing in their subjects and planrevision, the pupils also talk to their

mentors about any problems they have.Miss Evans, Miss Lindop and MissMartin mentor the Gifted and Talentedpupils in order to ensure that theyachieve the A’s & A*s which they arepredicted to achieve.

Adam Wing

All Year 9 pupils will sitStatutory Assessment Tests(SATS) in the week beginning8th May 2007. They will betested on their knowledge ofthe Maths, English andScience work they havecovered over the past 3years. The results of thesetests will give an idea ofeach pupil’s currentattainment grades and willbe used as a basis forsetting next years Year 10classes. The Fischer FamilyTrust also uses the SATSresults to set each pupilstarget grades for their

GCSE’s. It is vital that allpupils revise thoroughly forthese important exams andall pupils are advised to geta good nights sleep the nightbefore the exams start andeat a healthy nutritiousbreakfast on the morning ofthe exam. Pupils must alsoensure that they have thecorrect stationery andequipment with them on theday of the exams and thatthey arrive at school on time.

John Hyland and David Jones.

Year 9 SATS

Learn to LearnIn Year 10studentshave onelesson perweeklearning howto learn, thesubjectfocuses onhow to learn

effectively in class and at home. Some ofthe topics covered include:

• Whole brain learning

• Learning styles

• Memory techniques

• Mind maps

• Enterprise

• Revision skills

• Financial capability.

When interviewed, Miss Evans explainedhow not all of the topics focus on academic learning. Mr Conroy recentlyorganised an Enterprise topic which ranfor 6 weeks and students becameentrepreneurs, designing a whole rangeof products from a club night to agreetings card. This lesson providesopportunities for pupils to explore at theacademic side of learning whilstfocusing on life skills as well.Adam Wing

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SAM Learning

Revision WebsitesThe Internet has a huge range of free resources which can make areal difference to your grades - get online and try them out!Research has clearly shown that eLearning can make a significantdifference to your overall grade at GCSE. Miss Evans has provideda list of sites which you may find useful to use as part of yourrevision.

1. GCSE Bitesize Revisionhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/: Brush up on yourskills with Revision Bites and use Test Bites to check what youknow. Loads of interactive exercises!

2. Project GCSE: http://www.projectgcse.co.uk/They offer manyresources for students revising for their GCSEs including:GCSE revision notes and practice questions, a GCSE bookshop,GCSE help and advice and the 'take a break' section.

3. GCSE Guide - http://www.gcseguide.co.uk/ The Chance ToRevise, Test yourself and learn GCSE Topics FREE, WithEnglish Coursework, Maths Papers With Answers, MathsRevision Notes, A Bookshop and more...

4. Doc Brown's Chemistry Clinic:http://www.wpbschoolhouse.btinternet.co.uk/ Lots of usefulGCSE, AS and A2 level revision support for Chemistry as wellas links to other Chemistry revision sites.

5. Revision Mind Maps:http://www.bgfl.org/services/mindmaps/maps/mindmaps.htmlThese map out key areas for revision in a large number ofsubjects.

6. S-Cool: http://www.s-cool.co.uk/default.asp S-cool is a newsite dedicated to school students.

7. Biology Revision Websitehttp://www.purchon.com/biology/revision.htm GCSE Biologyrevision. Very useful site.

8. SAM learning - http://www.samlearning.com/ Exam revisionfor GCSE's. The school has a subscription.

Adam Wing

Revision Tips andTechniques1. Arrange a quiet space for revision, without

distractions.

2. Make sure that the room is well lit, you have a pen,pencil, rubber, ruler, the books needed.

3. Have lots of water available and healthy food,including fruit and vegetables.

4. Establish a revision timetable/plan and stick to it.

5. Use active revision techniques (mindmaps, diagrams,revision postcards dealing with topics, lists of keywords) – it’s faster, more effective and much more fun.

6. Break revision down into small manageable chunks.

7. Establish a good time to learn for example if you areno good until you’ve had your Dinner leave it till laterbut if you work better straight from school revise at4pm.

8. Learn/revise something every day – even if there arebuilt in ‘lighter’ days e.g. Saturday.

9. Make it multi sensory, use at least two senses: hear it,say it, see it, do it.

10. You can: 1) read the information you wish to learn, 2) write/draw some brief notes/diagrams/charts onwhat you have learned, 3) summarise the informationby talking it through/drawing/writing down key ideas,4) listen to someone else’s summary or look atsomeone else’s diagram.

11. Highlighter pens are good for making notes, charts,key words.

12. Use revision cards (plain postcards work well): writedown a topic and five key words about that topic. Turnover the card. See if you can remember all the wordson the card. Design a set of cards for each topic.

13. Routine is important e.g. go to your learning place,turn off the TV/radio/music, sit at your desk, geteverything around you that you need.

14. Structure is important, e.g. look at the last thing youdid on this topic, read your work, work for 10 minutes,take a 5 minute break, work for 10 minutes, take a 15minute break, revise for 5 minutes.

Six Simple Techniques1. Condense. Fitting notes onto one side of paper makes

them easier to stomach, so rewrite and cut down asyou go.

2. Highlight. Target key areas using colours and symbols.Visuals help you remember the facts.

3. Record. Try putting important points, quotes andformulae on tape. If you hear them and read them,they're more likely to sink in.

4. Talk. Read your notes out loud, it's one way of gettingthem to register.

5. Test. See what you can remember without notes, butavoid testing yourself on subjects you know already.

6. Time. Do past exam papers against the clock, it's anexcellent way of getting up to speed.

For the third year running the school has subscribed Years 9 and11 to SAM learning. This is a top quality on-line learning servicethat can be used at home or in school, it is a brilliant way to helpyou to revise for GCSEs or SATS. GCSE pupils should try tocomplete at least one hour per night on SAM Learning.

Pupils can tackle a choice of revision, using drag and drop andtest practice which essentially means that students do and marktheir own work. In exam practice, every single mark is identifiedby the examiners who wrote the question so we see time andtime again that pupils benefit from improving their technique,their confidence and as a result their results.

Learners need three details to login:

School ID L25SF

User ID Date of birth followed by two initials; first name then last name. Example: 010885DJ is the User ID for David Jones born 1st Aug 1985.

Password Initially same as User ID, you should change your password as soon as you login.

If pupils need a new password or are unable to access SAM theyshould speak to Miss Evans or Miss Lindop who will reset theiraccount.

Adam Wing

8

Battle of the Bands 2007This year a new competition has started in conjunction withParklands CLC. Run by the same people as Teen Idol, Battle of theBands involves bands that can perform their own material or coverversions and take part in a competition with other schools in southLiverpool. In school we ran our own competition and two bandswere selected to perform in the semi-finals at Parklands CLC.

‘The Crowbar’ consisted of Michael Campbell, Josh Blakeway,Curtis Reekie and Patrick Coyle who entered the originalscategory. ‘Off Target’ consisting of Matthew Blake, MatthewOldham, Matthew Weeks, David Sutton, Jack Brown and Alex werethe schools representatives in the covers category.

On the night of the semi-finals both bands put in excellentperformances and ‘Off target’ made it through to the final. Thefinal will take place at The Picket in Liverpool on Wednesday 18thApril and tickets are available from Miss Manning. Come alongand support your school!

Miss Manning

Monday – Junior Vocal Group

Wednesday – Music Theory Club

Thursday - Woodwind Ensemble

Music Lunchtime Clubs

Resident ArtistDeclan Hudson from Year 8 is using his artistic talents toimprove the décor in Lab P3.

Declan has been interested in drawing for a long time andhas real talent. He has been showing off his talent in Lab 3.As soon as Mr. Holden saw Declan’s work he kindly donatedtwo of his classrooms boards.

After Year 9 pupils requested a picture of Bob Marley Declanwas only too pleased to use their idea. Declan has alsodrawn a South Park character and a young girl. If you wantto keep up to date withDeclan’s work he canbe seen any lunch timein Lab 3.

Can you see theresemblance?

As you can see Declanis a great artist and hasgone from drawingcartoon characters tohigh speed trains. Hisfavourite thing to drawis a plane in mid-flight soaring over the Mediterranean. It ishard to believe Declan does not want to be an artist when hegrows up.

Future Projects

Declan is planning to draw a rabbit hopping merrily througha meadow and a rugby player scoring a try in front ofthousands of fans.

Matthew McNamara

Cricket CoachingNext term Mr Reynolds isorganising a cricket team for Years7, 8,9,10 and there will also be asenior team. Trials are notnecessary, anyone is welcome tojoin. The team will play on the topfield against other schools duringthe school week.

In conjunction with this two sixformers (Mark Doyle and JamesMerry) are in the process of cricketcoaching qualifications. Theirassessment is on Friday the 30thMarch 2007.

Elias Dubicki- Gallwey and Mark Farrell

PTA Race Night ~ £1000 raisedLast term the school PTA held another race night, which is proving to be increasinglypopular family event here at SFX. The night involved governors, staff, parents and pupilscompeting against each other in various races. It was an excellent night with overseventy people in attendance. Everyone had a great evening and over £1000 was raisedto support the activities of the school. A big thanks you to all who supported the eventand we hope to see you nest time!

Callum Hutton and James Fazakerley

Swimming TeamOn 8th February this year SFX hosted a swimming gala betweenSFX and Calderstones. It was a huge success as both teams had agreat time. When the smoke had cleared though, SFX were theclear winners with 132 points to 96. I spoke to Mr Long, head ofthe swimming team to see what he thought on the teams’performance. He said, “The opposition was not as strong as lastyear but they put up a good fight.”

I asked what he thought was the teams’ strongest stroke, hereplied; “butterfly, as Y7, Y8 and Y9 all won their races.”

Very soon there will be an inter-form swimming gala where all 8forms will go head to head to see who the true champion is, butfor now well done to SFX swimming team.

Liam Markey

9

Golf Team NewsSFX now has four golf teams consisting of pupils with varyinghandicaps. The teams have taken part in differentcompetitive matches, three of which have been with otherschools in the North West in a knock out competition. Eachgame has been fought well but unfortunately all the matcheswere narrowly lost 2-1.

Last October we held the first SFX competition and overtwenty six pupils played at Allerton Golf Course. We wereassessing their handicaps and potential for matches in 2007.The next competition will be in March 2007 at Allerton andthere will be a prize of £30 for the winner. Please contactMr.Roberts for further details.

Philip Devine

Teen Idol 2007For the past two years SFX has had pupils’take part in the Teen Idol competition andthis year we held our school auditions onThursday 14th March after school in thehall. In previous years we have had pupilsprogress through to the final and performin front of hundreds of people at thePhilharmonic Hall. This year we would likeyou to be brave, set up in front of thejudges and come and have a go!

Miss Manning

Year 8 FootballThe year started with some poor results but since then, the teamhas improved. Recent results show the teams improvement.Unfortunately the team were knocked out of the Merseyside Cupon penalties by Archbishop Beck after a 1-1 draw in normal time.Two goals came in extra time, one from either side. SFX werebeaten on penalties 5-3.

The team are currently still in the Liverpool Cup after beatingFormby High on penalties and then beating Calderstones 5-1.

The next match that SFX played was against Ruffwood, where theywon 4-0.

Let’s hope the team can keep up their current form and stay aspossible in the Liverpool Cup.

James Fazakerley, Josh Donnelly and Callum Hutton.

Trip to GreeceIn May 2007 Mr Slattery is taking aselection of students from SFX toGreece.

They will be getting a coach toLondon and taking a four hour flightto Greece. They will be staying in fiveluxury hotels, the last being the best.

Their day to day schedule will be;eatingbreakfast, thengoing to a siteor historicalvenue, gettinglunch. After thatthey will beshopping orgoing to thebeach and ofcourse, youcan’t have hotweather withoutice cream!

They will be visiting the acropolis inAthens, the Meteora (where a scenefrom the James bond film, For YourEyes Only, was filmed) the Delphimountains. At Olympia, (the firstOlympic events were held there) theboys are going to race. They will alsogo to a theatre in Greece which isfamous for its high quality acoustics

Mark Farrell, Joseph Irwin and EliasDubicki-Gallwey

School CouncilAs you may already know there is a school council, which helpsamplify the pupils of SFX views. Twice every term the council meetto express the views of their fellow classmates. They areresponsible for the salad bar, no chips day and the ban oftwizzlers!

To be a councillor you must be a good listener, you must careabout other pupils and take other peoples opinions intoconsideration. You must be an overall nice person.

Recently Ofsted visited SFX and attended a school councilmeeting; they were very impressed and thought that the children’sattitude was excellent.

The councilconsists of yearrepresentativeswho commenton their fellowpupilssuggestionsand how theycan be made areality. Thecouncilconsists of achairperson, aminute takerand otherrepresentativeswho reportback on their classes concerns and ideas.

The council have made some big changes to the school andhopefully many more will be on the way.

Liam Markey

Computersfor SchoolsWe are currently collecting the TescoComputers for Schools vouchers.The vouchers are given to customersfor every £10 spent in a Tesco store.The more vouchers we can manageto collect, the more equipment wecan exchange these for to supportour growing amount of ICTresources. All vouchers should begiven to Mr Evans.

10

Year 12 Visit to TateGallery, Liverpool Year 12 Art Students visited the Tate Gallery, Liverpoolaccompanied by Mr. Kelly and Ms. Douglass. The groupattended a workshop in the International Modern Artexhibition and worked independently in the Henry Moore andPatrick Caulfield current exhibitions. The visit provided astimulus and starting point for Unit 2 of the AS Art course.

Ms Douglass

Year 11 NewsYear 11 should now be making their final plans for their GCSErevision and working hard in school to ensure they reach - orhopefully exceed their target grades. They should be taking fulladvantage of the Night Owl sessions on offer to them and accessSAM learning to aid their revision programme. There will be aninformation evening on the 26th March for advice on finalpreparations for the GCSE's.

Year 11 are currently raising money for Alder Hey, we do not wantto disrupt their learning by doing this but any donations or ideas toraise money for this worthy cause are welcome. The boys havebeen collecting each morning in registration.

Miss Cain

Year 7 FundraisingYear 7 had a fantastic start to the year, fundraising forOperation Christmas Child. Year 7 pupils were askedto bring in a shoe box full to the brim, containinggoodies from toothbrushes to chocolate bars. Theshoe boxes were distributed to children in under-developed and war-torn countries at Christmas.Many pupils took part and the event was a greatsuccess.

What to look out for

Soon Year 7 will be raising money for the NugentSociety. The Nugent Society is a charity that raisesmoney for people who have a disadvantage in life.Always remember there is always someone worse offthan you.

Wow!!!

The most successful Year 7 fundraising event lastyear was when Year 7 raised an amazing £1,500.00for the Nugent Society.

Matthew McNamara

On Wednesday 7th February the Lab in a Lorry came to SFX. Itwas, as it says on the tin, a lab in a lorry that visited schools inthe United Kingdom to promote science as an interesting subjectand to teach schoolchildren about the subject. There were threedifferent compartments inside the lorry and students were splitinto three groups to investigate various topics. Unfortunately weonly had enough time to visit two of the workshops. The firstworkshop was about light and the different colours of light andthe second was about sound and the vibration of sound and thethird was about oil and the best way to extract it from the ground.

The workshops made the subject more interesting by usingpractical experiments and examples which helped to conveyinformation clearly. It was a really interesting hour of sciencewhich was very different to usual lessons.

Alex Simons

Lab in a Lorry

11

10 Lewis Raise Funds forGuide Dogs for the BlindPupils in 10 Lewis haveparticipated in raising fundsfor the Guide Dogs for theBlind. Various activities tookplace including inter-formFootball matches, cakesales. (Homemade or healthyoptions of course!), rafflesand quizzes as well asvoluntary contributions fromthe boys. Sean Burkeorganised a sponsored canoejaunt and raised an individualrecord of £200.00. Well done10 Lewis!

Ms Douglass

Year 8 FundraisingDuring this year our school has been raising money forvarious charities. Mrs Smith (Y8 Assistant Co-ordinator ofLearning) very kindly updated us on the charity workundertaken by Year 8. Her year group charity is the RNLI andthey have a tremendous past record for fundraising for thiscause. To raise money for the charity this year, pupils in Year8 will be visiting classrooms to sell a bag consisting of; abeach ball, an RNLI badge, and an RNLI logo. Year 8 will alsobe doing a sponsored swim and a penalty shoot out.Altogether Year 8 have raised in excess of £1,400.00 to date.

Year 8 are very proactive fundraisers, in addition to thewonderful work they do for the RNLI, they also raise moneyfor a child they have sponsored who lives in the third world.His name is Sonny.

They have received an award for being the best youngsupporters group in Liverpool.

Bradley Crompton

Mace Debating CompetitionCongratulations are due to Year 13 pupils Austin Coyle and BrynGough who, on Monday 15th January, won the north-west regionalfinal of the prestigious Mace Debating Competition, beating fiveother schools in the process.

The event took place at Birkenhead School where Austin and Brynwere pitted against Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (Blackburn)in a debate which centred on recent equality legislation. The boysboth delivered very persuasive speeches, expressing themselveswith clarity, charisma and well-judged humour. In the exchangeswith their opponents they seized the initiative further, delivering aseries of astute challenges and lightning ripostes that served onlyto emphasize their masterly grasp of the topic under discussion.

The judges’ deliberations were quite lengthy, but the result wasnever in doubt as far as Mrs Boughey – SFX’s public speakingsupremo – was concerned. “The boys were a revelation,” sheremarked. “They are articulate, quick-thinking and havetremendous presence. I was so veryproud of them.”

Austin and Bryn now progress on tothe Northern Final of thecompetition, which takes place on6th March. The standards are sureto be high, but the boys’ impressiveform so far would suggest that theywill be a handful for even the mostaccomplished debating team.

Mr Cugley

Year 10 FundraisingOn the 18th of December during the Year 10 assembly, StanOwens, a local blind man came to SFX representing the GuideDogs for the Blind to accept a donation of £1,835.00 from the boysof Year 10. He spoke of how delighted he was to be able to acceptthis donation on behalf of the Guide Dogs for the Blind andinformed the Year 10 boys of how their hefty donation would helptrain guide dogs to help young blind people get around. His speechincluded a short talk about his life and how guide dogs helped himto go around and feel normal and an active member of thecommunity. Mr Pedder himself said he was delighted with thedonation and said that it reflected the Year group as a whole andwishes to thank everyone who gave their support.

Connor McCarthy

Easter QuizWe all know about the eggs, bunnies, bank holidays and church services - but howmuch do we really know about the Christian tradition of Easter? Here are 10questions to test your knowledge. Submit your answers to Miss Lindop. All correctanswers will be placed into a draw to win an iPod Nano.

Question 1

What are the origins of the word ‘Easter’?

A: Aramaic B: Anglo-Saxon C: Hebrew

Question 2

What event does Maundy Thursday commemorate?

A: The Last SupperB: The birth of JesusC: Jesus’ return to Jerusalem

Question 3

Who was Jesus betrayed by?

A: King Herod B: Judas Iscariot C: Mary Magdalen

Question 4

What does Good Friday mark?

A: The resurrection of Jesus B: The Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared beforeMary to announce she would conceive a son to be called Jesus C: The crucifixion of Jesus

Question 5

Jesus was crucified on a hill known as Golgotha. But what doesthe name mean?

A: "The place of the skull" B: “The high mountain” C: “The place of the olive trees”

Question 6

In which city is Jesus said to have been buried?

A: Bethlehem B: Jerusalem C: Nazareth

Question 7

Why did eggs become significant at Easter?

A: They represent fertility and new beginnings at spring timeB: In spring 1215, King John decreed a "national egg day "whereby royal eggs and hens were given to the poor C: They are a symbol of the immaculate conception

Question 8

What do Christians celebrate on Easter Sunday?

A: The day Jesus Christ died on the cross B: The ascension to heaven of Christ C: The resurrection of Jesus Christ

Question 9

Why do we have the Easter bunny?

A: Rabbits were revered by early Christians as holy animals B: Rabbits were a pagan fertility symbol C: Rabbits lived in the Garden of Gethsemane

Question 10

How many days does Lent last for?

A: 40 B: 30 C: 14

Entry Details

Name

Form

Return your answer page to: School Office c/o Miss K. LindopDeadline Friday 20th April 2007

Last term, the newsletter held a competition to win a brand new iPod Mini by answering a series of generalknowledge questions. We can now reveal that the winner was Louis Dowling (10CA).

Well done to him and commiserations to everyone else who entered.

Andrew Dunbar

And the Winner Is….