R

Saint Bede’s Catholic High School Newsletter Christmas 2018

Reflection

As we look forward to Christmas,

we give thanks to God, who has

given us the greatest gift of all:

his son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is with us and with all of

creation. The Lord, the light of

the world, brings hope and joy to

us all, especially to our

neighbours living in poverty.

During this time, we think about

those who are most vulnerable

throughout the world and pray

for their safety over the

Christmas period.

Let us pray

Christ, my our Lord,

Heavenly host proclaim your birth.

In a stable, in Bethlehem, the Saviour of the world is born to save and to redeem us.

May we be grateful and never forget all he has given and done for us.

Son of the living God, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Amen

A Celebration of Christmas

Over the past few weeks, Saint Bede’s has welcomed Christmas with two important events that are well-established in the school calendar.

Our Christmas Lunch marked the beginning of the school’s festivities and brought staff and pupils together to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings! Pupils were waited upon by staff and everyone was entertained by the school choir who sang classic Christmas songs. The English department, along with Mr Joyce and Mrs Lowe, also treated everyone to a performance of ‘Cinderella… In five minutes’, written by Mr Warrington. A huge thank you goes to our dedicated team of catering staff who as always, did a wonderful job and helped to get us all into the festive spirit!

Our carol service followed and was held at St. Peter's in Lytham. A packed church enjoyed an hour of escape from the frenzy of shopping and other seasonal preparations to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Readings from scripture, poetry, choral works and well-loved carols were all performed prayerfully and with skilled interpretation which was moving and celebratory. We were also delighted to raise over £200 for Harbour House in the retiring collection and thank those who attended for their generosity.

This has been a long, busy and successful term which has ended in joyous, prayerful celebrations of Christmas together with generous donations to disadvantaged members of our local community.

We are sorry to bid farewell to two members of staff who have served the school with great dedication during the time they've been with us. Linda Parr, a member of our dedicated housekeeping team is retiring after a number of years ensuring that the school is a clean, safe and pleasant place to work. Helen Bird is leaving her position as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant attached to the mathematics department to join her husband in the sunnier climes of Saudi Arabia. We than them both for their commitment to the school and for their unfailingly cheerful, positive approach to life which staff and pupils alike have always greatly appreciated.

We also give our good wishes to Mrs Beswick-Holmes and Mrs Langley as they commence their maternity leaves.

I would like to thank all our parents for your support and commitment to Saint Bede's. I hope that you and your families enjoy a very happy Christmas and a peaceful, successful 2019.

Mr Grice

R

Year 7

Timothy Welpton & Farah Crainey

Year 8

Cayden Wright & Sophie Catterall

Year 9

Harvey Myers & Rebecca Wallace

Year 10

Noah Simister & Catherine McGinty

Year 11

Lewis Tupling- Baron & Hollie Winstanley

Sports Pupils of the Month ‘Being More’ Out of School

This November, pupils from Years 7-11

took part in the 10th annual Wyre and

Fylde School’s Dance Festival at the

Winter Gardens. Catherine (Year 10),

Megan (Year 9) and Ella (Year 11)

collectively choreographed the dance

routine which had to lend itself to the

theme of ‘Decade of Dance’. The group

practiced religiously for a number of

weeks in preparation and it certainly

showed! A big well-done to everyone who

was involved.

This half-term has seen a plethora of students excel in their sporting hobbies outside of school. Congratulations to the following for their achievements:

Holly Swarbrick, Year 8, passed her National Ice Skating Association- Level 2 exams. Holly took three individual tests and passed them all. She is now performing in Mary Poppins at Blackpool Ice Arena, which is running for ten dates between now and the New Year. All money raised through the show is being donated to local charities including Brian House.

Emilia Mannino, Year 8, who plays for Blackpool Basketball Club, was recently voted MVP at the Lancashire Tournament in Liverpool after she earned herself the title of ‘top scorer’ in the under-14 tournament.

Olivia, Year 7, was selected to play for Lancashire U11’s for the 2018 season. She also won the Lancashire Cricket Foundation Indoor U13’s Tournament with Leyland U13’s Girls team. The side were unbeaten on the day! Meanwhile her brother, Theo, Year 9, won the batting and bowling averages for Kirkham & Wesham Cricket Club U13’s 2017/18 season. He was presented with both of his awards at Presentation Evening in September by Lancashire Wicket Keeper, Ellie Threlkeld.

Finley Hornby, Year 8, bagged three gold medals in the LSA Swimming Club final championships.

Year 7’s Zac Carter helped his football team, Clifton Rangers Wasps, win the league cup this season, promoting them from the B league to A league.

Oliver Blackburn, Year 8, was nominated by the other members of his St Anne’s Cricket Club team to collect the award for the U12s, who won the league for their age group.

James Sergeant, Year 7, was awarded the U11 Fielding Award for this season from St Anne’s Cricket Club.

Year 8’s Jake took part at the Unity World Games in Nottingham, where he was entered into five divisions with his karate. Jake took home three gold medals and two silver medals from the event! He then went on to compete in the GB Kata League, winning a total of six golds and one silver. He also won gold in the ‘Best of Best’ category, before being awarded the ‘Competitor of Year’ trophy!

Dance Festival

Wizard of Oz

One of our Year 8 pupils, Harry Ince, is

starring in this year’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

production at the Winter Gardens. Harry

has made his debut as a Munchkin after

auditioning. He has rehearsed intensively

since November; learning lines and lyrics to

songs, as well as dances. Harry will now be

performing daily until 30th December.

R Festive Fundraising

Saint Bede’s recognises that not everyone is fortunate during the festive period and therefore provides hampers to local charities. This year we supported: Fylde Foodbank, The SVP Society, Caritas Care: Vincent House, Streetlife in Blackpool, Harbour House and St. Cuthbert’s Soup Kitchen. Thank you to everyone who contributed items; they were massively appreciated. In addition to Christmas hampers, Miss Glass also ran a raffle to raise money to buy sleeping bags for the homeless. There was a huge interest; however, it was Cara in Year 7 who won the prize and with ticket number one of all things! She took home a delicious chocolate hamper. Thank you to everyone who entered; proceeds from the raffle along with a contribution from Mr Harding allowed us to buy eight sleeping bags.

In addition to this, a group of Year 8 girls ran a doughnut sale to raise money for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. They successfully made £140 and as a result, ran another sale on the last day of half-term to collect even more.

Masterchef

We are delighted that a former pupil,

Olly Martin (2003 leavers), has been

selected for the final six contestants

in 'Masterchef'. We wish him every

success.

Get Social with Saint Bede’s!

As well as the school’s website and FireFly,

you can keep up to date with the latest news

and events through our social media

accounts. Search ‘Saint Bede’s Lytham’ on

Facebook and ‘@bedeslytham’ on Instagram.

IMPACT Group Make An Impact

During this half-term, several Saint Bede’s pupils teamed up with pupils from Our Lady’s Catholic High School, Preston, for a weekend retreat to Castlerigg manner. The trip was overseen by Terry Mattinson, although it was predominantly led by the young people themselves. The theme for the weekend was ‘Sharing Voices’ and there were a variety of workshops and prayer activities which looked into related subjects. Lydia and Niamh, two of our Year 10 pupils, created and ran a session revolving around the topic of ‘confusion’, whilst Year 9’s Bismah and Maisie ran workshop on the matter of mental wellbeing. The group also explored the topic of refugees. In addition, sisters Niamh and Ella helped present a reflective programme which brought together all the knowledge and ideas discussed. The whole weekend finished on a high and with a disco, social time and best of all, a roast dinner and ice cream! Terry said he was blown away by the enthusiasm, confidence and grown-up behaviour demonstrated by pupils, especially considering the sensitive nature of the subjects covered. The team were also fortunate enough to be able to write an article about their experience for The Catholic Voice newspaper. The feature can be found in the December publication.