Author: roctave

In March we launched our second annual Easter Egg Appeal which saw students and staff across the sites purchasing chocolate Easter eggs, big and small, and handing them in to our onsite donation points. The appeal gained lots of attention from students as they continued to demonstrate a great attitude towards almsgiving and outdid themselves with donations!

Come Community Day, more than 300 eggs were rounded up and hand delivered to the Demelza Hospice in Eltham. We were greeted by the amazing nursing staff who gladly helped to unload the special delivery and reminded us of the immeasurable impact that such gifts would have on the children they care for. We would like to thank all who contributed to this virtuous cause and also to think of the families affected by children suffering serious illness and would like to thank organizations like the Demelza Hospice for all the work that they do. 

We were jubilant to finally have the ability to hold our cross-site Sports Day for our learners last week, which saw many of the sixth forms gifted athletes turn out to the sporting event, keen to claim the title of CTK Champions! 

Events began at each site at 1:45pm with Badminton, Football and Table tennis taking place over at St Mary’s, Netball at Aquinas and Basketball hosted by Emmanuel. Once the coaches of students arrived at the relevant sport-hosted site, students were informed of the round-robin style set of rules and eagerly took to their sporting locations. 

This was a wonderful opportunity for students from the pre-existing CTK Football, Basketball and Netball teams to come together and show off their skillsets.

The cross-site event also gave students the ability to converse and mingle with their fellow CTK learners. 

So, which CTK campus was crowned the victors? After hours of sporting amusement, the scores were as such: 

This means, with a total of 65 points the CTK Sports Day 2022 Winners are ….

St Mary’s! 

We would like to say a huge congratulations to our fellow teammates at St Mary’s and a very well done to all for the skills, dedication and effort shown towards success! 

The last day of the Spring term saw countless activities taking place across the three sites and all in celebration of Easter Community Day! 

ECO: We were pleased to see students incorporating the sixth form’s Eco-friendly ideals into the Easter Community Day by involving themselves in various eco projects that day. One activity involved up-cycling used jam jars and other recyclable masonry to create tea-light lanterns. These were then hand painted, ready to be taken home and used as an eco-friendly alternative to an electric lamp. 
In another mini-Eco Project, students took to the outdoors to hang bird boxes around the sixth form in the hopes of encouraging more bird wildlife on site. The students showed much enthusiasm as they painted and decorated the boxes before picking the perfect locations to hang the new bird homes. 

Cultural: The Easter Community Day continued to be a success with plenty of cultural activities taking place across the sites. This included the

likes of henna hand painting and even live performances in the main hall with renditions of beautifully recited gospel songs. But it didn’t end there. The talent- showcasing continued in the LRC as tactical-minded students took on both peers and staff in a nail-biting chess tournament.

 
Fundraising: The day saw multiple fundraising activities taking place and we couldn’t be more proud of our students for the initiative and generosity shown towards charity work. We were delighted to see students from the ALS department run a sweet stall that raised money for Demelza Hospice, a charity that we have worked with many times in the past supporting the work they do with the families of terminally ill children. 
Another group of students raised money by putting on sporting tournaments whereby entrants would pay a small fee to gain access to the Sports Hall and go head-to-head with an opponent in games such as table tennis and badminton.  
The list of activities was endless and both staff and students alike had great fun, raising over £500 for charity and fully immersing themselves in the spirit of the Easter Community Day!
We would like to thank all staff and students for their commitment to making the day special and for all the hard work they have put in over the past term! 

Five learners from CTK Aquinas have been successful in their attempts to join the Raising Opportunities Programme – a programme that seeks to prepare learners for higher education and wider participation. CTK’s partner for the RO (Realising Opportunities) Programme is the University of Leichester and these learners will be guided through the programme by them.  

The learners Alejandro, Rianna, Rachel-Gladys, Ashton and Samuel all received the good news recently that they have been accepted onto the course. Once these learners complete the programme (that runs from the start of year 12 into the beginning of year 13) they can hopefully expect to receive reduced grade offers from UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) when they get to apply. 

Our congratulations go out to these learners, and we hope that they find the course both informative and educational. We would also like to thank our Careers and Partnerships team for orchestrating this programme in collaboration with Leicester University. 

Learners at CTK Aquinas took part in a youth mental health first aid course run by MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) recently. The course sought to teach learners how to identify, understand and help others who may be experiencing a mental health issue. 

These learners will now go on to be the student wellbeing ambassadors for the sixth form and use what they have learnt to promote good mental health practices and procedures. We are excited and proud to have learners who reflect our values and are as passionate as we our about mental health. 

This training has been organised as part of our wellbeing initiative, put in motion by our wellbeing committee. Here at CTK, we understand that the wellbeing of everyone in our community is paramount in ensuring positive development and progression, and we realise the importance of good mental wellbeing. This is just one process of many that our wellbeing committee is currently working on, as well as trips, competitions and more. 

We welcomed the celebration of LGBT+ History Month here at Christ the King this February with a variety of activities and displays which sought to illuminate some of the amazing actions members of the LGBT+ community have performed throughout history. 

In the LRC (Learning Resource Centre) we have had wonderful displays installed detailing both prominent historical figures from the LGBT+ community as well as more recent individuals who have achieved something remarkable. Many people have found these displays incredibly interesting and thought provoking. An example of someone on the board was Nicola Adams, who was the first openly LGBT+ woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in the boxing competition. 

The LGBT+ Society, a student-led group acting as a safe and secure environment to talk about issues relating to the LGBT+ community, has also been discussing LGBT+ history, as well as the positive changes to civil rights in recent history and the landmark events that led to where we are now, including the 1969 ‘Stonewall Riots’ and origins of the Pride in England to name a few. 

Our 10:10 reflection at the start of the month was also dedicated to LGBT+ history month, which emphasised the importance of respecting human identity, dignity and worth, and that whoever we are, our self-understanding can be affected by our past, present and future. 

CTK is an establishment that reveres acceptance and respect, and we are delighted to be able to be able to shine a light on the importance of the LGBT+ community and the positive impact they have made in making our world a better place. 

At Christ the King we are big proponents of social action in our communities and are regularly running events and activities for the benefit of charities in and around our local communities. Below are a few of the recent social action events that have been taking place across the CTK (Christ the King) sites. 

Recently learners and staff were encouraged to wear expressive clothing in aid of “Dress to Express Day”, a day that aims to raise both money and awareness for the charity Young Minds, a charity that seeks to ensure all young people and their families receive mental health support, if they need it. This day raised over £350 for the charity and cannot wait to see this money put to good use. 

In a similar vein, students also took part in “Onesie Day”, which saw learners attend their sixth form in all manner of humorous onesies. This event was run by the learners themselves and was in aid of Mindout, a charity focusing on improving the mental health of people in the LGBT+ community. 

Learners also ran a heart-shaped lollypop stand in the canteen, with the profits going towards the charity Tender, a charity whose mission is to help young people who are the victims of domestic abuse. This was another charity selected by the learners. The total sales managed to raise a fantastic amount of £70 for the charity. 

The grand total from these events was over £400, and we are so immensely proud of our learners for running events like these, whilst simultaneously committing to their studies. It demonstrates how deeply they care about social action and how much making a difference means to them. 

We eagerly await the opportunity to inform you of more acts of charity and social action occurring around the sixth forms in the future. 

Christ the King is proud to announce the launch of our Easter Appeal, a fundraiser seeking to raise both gifts and money towards two amazing charities, CAFOD and Demelza.  

CAFOD (Catholic Aid for Overseas Development) is a Catholic organisation that aims to assist anyone in the world who requires aid. Demelza is a charity that assists families with young members suffering from terminal and very serious illnesses. 

The appeal is set to run throughout lent and encompasses a variety of social action initiated by our learners, including a chocolate Easter egg appeal, a GoFundMe donation page and a milkshake stand amongst many more. We are honoured to be organising such an event and are excited to be able to update you once we have news on the status of the appeal. 

If you would like to donate items or funds to the appeal, you can do so in a variety of ways: 

• If you would like to donate monetary funds, please follow the link which will take you to our GoFundMe page, where we are raising money for the two charities. 
• If you would like to donate chocolate eggs to the appeal, please bring them to either the chaplaincy, or the reception where they will be collected by the team. 

We would like to take this moment to thank our fantastic chaplaincy team for organising the appeal and continuing to facilitate and run events throughout its course. 

We were delighted to host a virtual talk from the EU council at CTK Aquinas recently. The talk was well attended by students from a range of A Level subjects including Modern Foreign Languages, Politics, Geography and Sociology. 

Mr Bonello, a Lawyer and Linguist gave us an insightful presentation on the role of the European Union and where the European Council sits amongst the other various European institutions. 

The session was very informative and students left with a deeper knowledge into EU policy-making, including how laws are voted upon and the difference between the EU Council and the Council of Europe.  

Events such as these are part of the CTK initiative to further motivate our students to participate in the wider curriculum as well as their chosen subjects. It is very rewarding to see that this encouragement has resulted in so many students formulating opinions on political matters and broadening their scope of knowledge outside of their studies. 

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is marked each year on 27th January – the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. On this day, schools, communities and faith groups across the UK join together in national and local events to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and of even more recent genocides. 

Deacon Javier, our Lay Chaplin, led a Holocaust Memorial service at each site which staff and students attended.  The service was extremely moving and highlighted the Nazi Persecution and the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, in the hope that there may be One Day in the future with no genocide. 

We were privileged enough to host a talk with two holocaust survivors, Paul Sved and Ivan Shaw, who both have fascinating stories about their experiences as young children living in cities under Nazi control. Both speakers, now in their 80’s, gave up their time to speak to CTK lower sixth students as part of the Sixth Forms 10:10 programme. Their stories were extremely moving and highlighted the sadness in their childhood and their victimisation of Nazi persecution. The pair went on to give a recap of their oppression, the time spent away from their families as young children, the day they finally managed to escape Nazi occupation and how they remarkably went on to lead normal happy lives. 

Our students were fascinated by their stories and amazed by the bravery of the survivors. One student said “The testimonies gave me a very harsh yet interesting insight into life during the Holocaust. We’ve heard from historians but not often the survivors and it allowed me to understand the atrocities that were taken upon the people of that time and helped me understand the misfortune they went through. Even with all his discomfort he prevailed and taught a valuable lesson on how two very different views can affect the whole of human history.” – Kanye Cross-Gordon, CTK student. 

We would like to say a big thank you to the Holocaust Educational Trust for arranging this session with us and to the incredible guest speakers for sharing their memorable stories with us at this time. 

The work of our CTK Eco Group continues to go from strength to strength. The Eco committee meet regularly to take forward the Sixth Form’s Green agenda. In a recent meeting they discussed changes they could make to reduce our impact on the environment. Recently, the group have been looking at the impact of meat farming and the damage that such heavily laboured factories can do to the environment. 

The outcome of these meetings has inspired students to consider eating alternative foods that have little-to-no impact on the environment, as it helps reduce the impact too much meat consumption has on both the human body and the environment. 

The reps launched a competition across the three CTK sites, which looked at identifying meat free dishes that each site wanted to take forward. Entrants had to plan a recipe for their tastiest meat-free dish which would be cooked in the canteen. We await to hear the outcome, but recipes included: vegetarian Pizza, meat free chilly, cauliflower curry along with Quorn based alternatives to traditional meat-based recipes. 

The sixth form also received a visit from the Education and Engagement Officer for the Big City Butterfly Project. This is an exciting new project that aims to inspire Londoners to discover butterflies and moths, and connect them with nature and their local green spaces. As well as offering habitat management advice, they have also offered to run a butterfly ID workshop for staff and students. This is an opportunity to gain skills and knowledge to help increase butterfly monitoring across the project area. 

CTK Aquinas were delighted to host Lewisham University Challenge’s “Meet the Oxbridge students” event earlier this month.   

Facilitated by university representatives of Queen’s College (Oxford) and Gonville & Caius College (Cambridge), two CTK alumnae, Lorena and Temi, along with other Oxbridge students, shared their experiences of studying at Oxbridge with Year 12 students from CTK and across the Lewisham borough.   

They spoke about their experiences of the application and interview process, managing the academic workload once they started their course, life in college – both academic and social, and the many opportunities offered through clubs and societies at Oxford and Cambridge.     

These open talks enabled students to get an insight into what everyday life is like at Oxford and Cambridge as well as finding out useful information to help with their applications. The event was very inspiring for our Year 12 students that are considering applying to Oxbridge. The success of this event is testament to our strong relationships with our alumni students and our ongoing efforts to encourage current learners to aim high. 

Thanks to the Jack Petchey Achievement Award received by year 13 French student Emmanuella Owusu Ansah, the entire A Level French cohort were invited to a day out Ice Skating at the Queen’s House in Greenwich followed by lunch at Café Rouge. The Jack Petchey Achievement Award was created to celebrate the achievements of young people across London and Essex and to reward such achievements.

Set in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the rink was surrounded by iconic architecture and some of the best views in London.

The Ice Skating was thoroughly enjoyed by the students. They relished in being outdoors, in each others company with lots of laughs and no broken bones! Some of our students were beginners but showed excellent progress in mastering their new skills. Others were professionals and took the opportunity to display their hidden talent.

Congratulations to Emmanuella on her award and thank you for sharing the award with your fellow French students!

We were delighted to be contacted by CTK Alumni Melvin Lopez-Corleone, who now works at The Bank of England (BoE) as the Senior Regulatory Technology Specialist.

Melvin works within the Innovation area of the Prudential Regulation Authority. The division is at the forefront of researching, applying and delivering advanced technology focused solutions. This includes leading the implementation of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives with a focus on regulation and supervision.

If that wasn’t enough, Melvin has now created a paid Work Experience Programme which he is very passionate about and is eager to introduce to CTK students. The programme, starting in January 2022 aims to give 10 students the opportunity to learn new skills and take on a 4-week paid role in a highly prestigious setting.

With a focus on Business, Maths, Economics and IT students, the programme will include a year-long mentorship with a senior member from the BoE. The application process involves creating a short video, describing why they would make a good candidate for the programme.

Melvin will be reaching out to students via Teams in classes this week to speak to them in more-depth about the programme and urge them to complete their applications by the closing date of December 31st.

What is Books2Africa? Books2Africa is a UK registered charity that is improving the quality of education in Africa through the provision of books, computers and educational resources that enable individuals and communities to acquire knowledge and achieve their full potential in a globalized world. The charity collects and ships donated educational resources from individuals and organisations in the UK, reducing waste and increasing ‘readcycling’. 

We are thrilled to have made this new charity connection by donating hundreds of no-longer used textbooks. The donation brings us a great sense of gratitude and pride because not only does it mean we are helping impoverished and disadvantaged schools in Africa, we are also doing our bit for the environment by promoting recycling or “readcycling” as it’s known.

Supporting charities is a huge part of the CTK ethos, so we hope to continue this work in the coming months and make even more donations by sorting through our unused textbooks and even IT tech that we no longer use. You can read more about the great work that Books2Africa have been doing by visiting https://books2africa.org/

We were delighted to kick start our month of Open Days with the Aquinas Open Day taking place on Saturday 6^th November. We were joined by a vast amount of prospective students.

The student ambassadors worked tirelessly and professionally to chauffeur individual groups of prospective students around the building as they answered questions and showed our guests to the relevant subject areas. 

Staff also played a key role on the day, interacting with interested students and taking them through the subject course. Some subject ambassadors remained in their classrooms to support their teachers and give the prospective students a real feel of what it would be like to study A Levels by giving them an introduction to the classroom facilities as well as showcasing their fantastic work. 

Each hour-long tour ended with a talk with the site principal Ms Holly Power, as well as Executive Principal Shireen Razey. During these talks, both students and parents were given an in-depth presentation on the full range of subjects and opportunities that Aquinas has to offer. 

We were overwhelmed by the wealth of complementary and positive feedback relayed by our visitors. We would like to say thank you to all the students and staff who contributed to the success of the event and again, thank you to the delightful prospective students and parents who attended. 

We were delighted to help promote the recent launch of Black Joy with Penguin Random House UK and Speakers 4 Schools, last week. Penguin Talks is a programme of free, creative talks for young people, giving them the opportunity to both hear from, and directly question, a world-renowned thinker, writer or influential figure from our family of authors.

The aim of Penguin Talks is to help equip young people for the future by introducing a new generation of readers to new ideas and perspectives, and broadening their understanding of issues which speakers feel to be particularly prevalent for this generation.

We were joined by contributors, collaborators and editors; Timi S, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, Sofia Akel and Athian Akec. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and got a great insight into the creation and reason behind ‘Black Joy’ as well as a free copy of the book.

We caught up with Ana, who is currently studying A level Politics, Religious Studies and Sociology and wants to see change being made in her borough for young people through her passion, politics. We wanted to find out what inspired her to join the campaign, here’s what she had to say: 

“One of of the things that inspired me is, as a young person is, I’ve always been very involved in politics, I’ve always tried my best to get involved and make a difference. That’s the biggest thing that inspired me is I want to make a difference in Lewisham, I’d like to be a voice for young people.

Interviewer: If you were to be become Young Mayor of Lewisham, what would you hope to achieve?

Ana: I think that politics is important and that everyone should be involved in it, especially young people, as we are the future of the UK and of Lewisham. I’d like to get young people involved, making sure that theyre taught about politics so that as the next voters, they can have an informed vote.

I’m also really focusing on an eco-friendly borough, tackling child poverty as well as cyber-bullying. Those are my three main campaihn promises, but my most important campaign promise is to listen to young people and hear what they have to say about Lewisham.

Interviewer: What do you friends and family think of your campaign?

Ana: All my friends and family are extremely proud of me. Its been such a good experience. Whatever happens, happens but whatever the outcome I jus hope that I make everyone proud.

Interviewer: What do you hope to do after CTK and how do you studies help align your career goals?

Ana: After I leave CTK I hope to go to Oxford University to study Politics and hopefully one day you’ll see me in parliament! One of my career aspirations is to become a diplomat. That’s something I’m extremely interested in, I speak several different languages. Languages and Politics are 2 of my main passions.

My subjects compliment each other and set me up set me up well for my future as they’re all based around people and will get me to my dream career.

Cycling is a brilliant way to combine getting outdoors with getting some exercise! We love the fact that so many members of staff are setting a notable example for our students by showing concern for the environment and swapping four wheels for two! In support of #BikeToSchoolWeek, we have been catching up with staff and students that travel into college via bicycle. Here’s what they have had to say about their daily commutes: 

Mr Forster said: “I find cycling very therapeutic. It is great for the environment as well as my physical and mental health.” 

Miss Stiasny said: “I love cycling to work! It wakes me up in the morning and gives me an extra spring in my step for the day ahead!” 

Ms Power said: “I am lucky enough to cycle through two London parks on my way to work. I like being able to get some exercise at the start and end of my day and clear my mind during my commute.” 

We’ve been speaking to Mr Downes, who loves to cycle to work.

He says, “I’m lucky enough to cycle to two sites, with very different routes. I love cycling because it helps with mindfulness and wellbeing as well as being great exercise!”

We were delighted to be invited to this year’s COP26 Mock event hosted by St Pauls Girls School in Hammersmith. We were very proud to see our student reps advocating in the student Mock #COP26 conference as part of the UK Schools Sustainability Network (USSN) and the London Schools Eco Network (LSEN). The event was based on Climate Change and how different countries have progressed to fight this following the 2015 Paris agreement. 

In this Mock conference our students gathered facts and evidence to debate how far some countries around the world have come in their fight to lower the global warming crisis. 

Arguments were made in favour for various countries including contributions made by Australia to target and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% – 28% below 2005 levels by the year 2030. 

What is COP26?

For nearly three decades the UN has been bringing together almost every country on earth for global climate summits – called COPs – which stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. In that time climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority. 

The importance of the 2015 Paris agreement 

COP21 took place in Paris in 2015. For the first time ever, something momentous happened: every country agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees, to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate and to make funds available to deliver on these aims. 

For nearly three decades the UN has been bringing together almost every country on earth for global climate summits – called COPs – which stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. In that time climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority.