CTK NEWS Also available online at www.christtheking.notts.sch.uk
Inside this issue:
DoE 1
Technology 2
Backgammon 3
Drama 4
WW1 Day 5
Sports News 6-7
Faith & Family
Day
8-9
Ice Skating 9
Chaplaincy News 10-13
Christmas Mass
Times
13
Chaplains
Christmas
14
CTK Timetable 15
Dates for the Diary
19th December – last day of
term
5th January 2014 — Spring
December 2014
Duke of Edinburgh Award
The Autumn term has been busy for
the staff involved in the Award. The
Bronze candidates have been
trained in map and compass skills
which they put into practice on a
windy day just before October half
term. The staff involved were very
impressed with the candidates and
with some kit training and
consideration they’ll be back in
action in January planning their
practice expedition in April,
undertaking first aid training and
all of the important food and
nutrition training.
The Silver candidates have had
their skills refreshed and put into
action to assist them in the
planning for their expedition in
May. They have shown a real
commitment as they continue with
their GCSE’s juggling commitments
well. The Silver candidates complete
their volunteering, skills and
physical to an increased time period
with many of them completing well
within the time periods.
Staff have been working hard as
well to make sure we have the
qualifications in place to operate
safely on the ratio. Mr Gallagher
has been rubber stamped with his
Countryside Leadership Award and
Mr Bull with his Hill and Moorland
Leader Award so that from
September 2015 the school can
officially offer Gold D of E. We have
a high calibre of staff here at CTK.
We are lucky to have two parent
helpers who were with us for Bronze
last year and are continuing to
support us. Both Mr Hoyle and Mr
Wright will also be completing their
Countryship Leadership Awards in
March.
Dates for the Future:
Friday 13th February—Bronze
Practice
Saturday 14th February—Silver
Practice
Expedition dates in April, May and
June are all on the calendars.
Please check the website for many
more important DoE dates.
Have a good Christmas,
D of E Team
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to yet another Christmas
edition of Christ the King News as part of the Pax Christi Catholic
Academy Trust. The Autumn term is always an extremely long term and
I know that students and colleagues will welcome a well-deserved break!
I am delighted to inform you that the refurbishment of the PE changing
rooms will commence in January and the new facilities will be a
welcomed addition to all students. I hope that there will be little
disruption to the everyday running of the school
May I remind you that in the event of inclement weather etc, information
will be provided on the School website as well as the local radio stations.
Let’s hope that the remainder of the winter is mild!
Finally, I would like to thank you once more for your continuous support
during this first term of 2014 and I hope that 2015 brings much joy and
happiness to you and your families. Merry Christmas and a very Happy
New Year!
Best wishes
Carlo Cuomo
Technology News
Technology Enterprise
This new enterprise scheme will be offered to various
groups throughout the year and the Year 9 boys are
certainly setting the standard. Working with the
Technology staff they have designed and manufactured a
range of products made from a variety of materials for
that personal touch hitting back at the mass produced
items! Issac Dixon, Zong Yuan Wang, Sanches Adani,
Zackary Parking and Ashanti sold the items at their
Christmas market on Friday 12th December. The group
and staff have been promoting the personalised mugs which can be gift boxed as well.
The standard has been set! London Design Trip
November 11th, a very important day for the nation and we headed for
the capital with 45 students. Considering the
amount of people in London we managed to
move around during the day with ease. To be in
such at place at 11 o’clock and then during the
day, it gave the day a feeling of thankfulness,
as we remembered those lost. We experienced the future of technology,
whilst realising just what many lost their lives for, to give the freedom to
experience. The students from Years 9-12 presented themselves very well
and the museums had a lot to offer to all material areas. The Design Museum is moving to South
Kensington from next spring, reducing our travelling times in London by 90 minutes so there is a
hope to pack even more in for the next visit. A big thank you to Mr Baxter, Miss Pennant and Miss
Whitt. Special thanks to AOT for superb traffic dodging too!
Electronics Club
The Christmas Technology Electronics Club has been in
full swing with an equal balance of male and female
students taking part in the session. They have had to
assemble by a process of soldering, trouble shoot with
multi meters, test with patience and then happily take
home a mini working Christmas tree for that extra
little sparkle. A very impressive performance by the
students with some encouraging words from their
Achievement Leader Mr Baxter.
Textiles Club
The textiles club continues to meet three lunchtimes a week and has a strong membership range of
Years 7-11 students both male and female. The projects they have undertaken
vary massively depending on the background of the student. The students
receive care and guidance from Miss Pennant as they create their master
pieces.
Well done everyone! For further successes check out the Textiles Club board
outside L4.
Individual / bulk orders of personalised mugs are competitively priced. Please email me for further
details.
Backgammon Tournament 2014
The backgammon club continues to flourish at maximum capacity (24 members) with a
waiting list. We ended the term with a Round Robin Tournament for both advanced players
and beginners. The members showed intelligence and discipline throughout the afternoon,
taking matches seriously and displaying excellent sportsmanship. The results were as follows:
Beginners Tournament Results
Advanced Tournament Results
Members of the club play every day both for fun and to improve their skills. They show
tremendous commitment to the game and it has given me tremendous pleasure watching them
develop into competent players. Although I am retiring, the club will continue to run, and I
will be able to dedicate more time to it once I am a Lady of Leisure. I am certainly looking
forward to that. Thanks to all members; you have made me very proud and given me lots of
laughs. As a result of our involvement with the British Backgammon Association through
tournaments, some world class players have taken an interest in our club and the highest
ranking player in the world (who is from Japan) has used our photos in his blog, showing us as
the future of backgammon. He has also invited us to meet with him when he plays in the
British Open which will be held in Nottingham. I have also been asked to give a lecture in
Copenhagen at a professional tournament on how to encourage young people to play
Backgammon and sustain a club. Now beat that!
Mrs B Kuczynska
Winner Floran Steeples
Runner-Up Kieran James
Semi Finalist Leitisha Willis
Semi Finalist Josh Gartland
Winner Elijah Morrison
Runner-Up Suleman Salim
Semi Finalist Nyimentito Harold
Semi Finalist Jordan Blanchard
Drama News, December 2014.
Rehearsals are underway for the forthcoming school production of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’.
Students are extremely dedicated and we are looking forward to showcasing the acting talent here
at CTK. We are excited about bringing a new theatrical experience to our CTK community. Tickets
will be available after Christmas. Performances will be 10th and 11th February 2015.
Fantastic news for a former drama student of CTK. Jacob Seelochan who gained an A* in Drama
in the summer has just had his first professional role in Tom Stoppard’s play, Arcadia. He
performed in a two week run at Nottingham Playhouse.
Good luck to Charlie-Dawn Sadler and Megan Leask-Walters! These incredibly talented A Level
students are currently attending many auditions around the country to hopefully gain a place on
an Acting course at a top drama school. We wish them all the very best!
Year 9 GCSE students are preparing for their first performance which will take place 20th
January at 2.30pm. They will be performing ‘ The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty’ in CTK hall.
They have been studying the script and working very hard in lessons.
Year 12 and 13 students are looking forward to their theatre trip to Stratford to see the RSC
perform Much Ado About Nothing on 26th February.
Congratulations to Inez Dudek, Megan Leask-Walters and Charlie-Dawn Sadler for their
outstanding performance of ‘Sleepless’. This performance formed part of their Unit 3 exam for their
A Level and was a fantastic opportunity to showcase their hard work and talent. Well done to you
all!
Please follow the Drama Dept on Twitter for rehearsal updates, performance information and
sneaky peeks at drama lessons @CTKDrama
Christmas Dinner, Not once but TWICE!
Maggie Alexander and her team are once again to be praised
for the excellent Christmas Dinner that was served on
Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th. In excess of 200 dinners
were prepared and served to students and staff by Maggie
and her team. Very little food appears to have been wasted
and the students appeared to have loved it.
It has also become a tradition that the Senior Leadership team don
the appropriate festive headgear and help to serve the Christmas
meal.
Whilst this goes down well with most people Maggie is perhaps
relieved that the additional helpers are not with her every day!
Christmas Dinner tickets for students are numbered, with prizes
kindly provided by the catering team.
This years winners: - 1st prize to Ami Davies (Yr 11), with 2 more
prizes to Jhon Fry (Yr 8) and Bradley Marlow (Yr 7).
Well done to our 2014 winners.
World Ward 1 Comes to CTK!
On the 3rd December 2014 our Year 8 students took part in a cross-curricular day themed around
WW1 to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict. The day was a great success and our
students learnt plenty and to quote some, “fell in love with history!”. The article below explores
the different elements of the day and was prepared by students in 8A.
Our WW1 Day by 8A
Yesterday as part of the WW1 themed day we researched
our ancestors who fought in the Great War; the activity
was led by Mrs Woollard and Mrs Rollinson, our history
teachers. Some of the war veterans we found included
Ernest George Morris, George Byrne, Jay McEwan,
Frederick Bainbridge and Sheik Suleman – relatives of
Millie Morris, Jessica Byrne, Isobelle England, Dylan
Bainbridge and Suleman Salim. They all fought and died
in the war and we will remember their sacrifice always.
We used this information to decorate a poppy, on each petal we included a significant fact about
their lives.
In the chapel we took part in a liturgy to remember the
soldiers who were brave enough to go out and fight for their
country. We took from a bowl the name of a soldier who
came from Gedling and fought for us and for peace. We
chose readings and created posters and prayers themed
around sacrifice, peace and remembrance. We remembered
all the young soldiers who gave their lives for our country
and prayed for the people who are fighting in war today;
one way we did this was by placing the poppies we had decorated on the altar during the service.
We also remember all of the families and friends who have lost their loved ones in conflict.
With Ms Shields we had a chance to reflect on the war and the impact on the soldiers who fought
for us. It was an opportunity to think about the strength and courage it took to serve our country.
We began by mind-mapping all the words which came to mind when we saw a poppy such as
thankful, sorrow and sadness. We then used these ideas to explore the real meaning of a poem
written by a soldier. The poem had been written from the perspective of a soldier who had died
during battle, he pleads with those fighting to stay strong and win for their country. We enjoyed
the session because it allowed us to explain how we feel about the war in our own words.
With Mr Gallagher we re-enacted the Christmas football match from December 1914. The class
was split into a German and English team, we wrote a message
for the opposing soldiers and after approaching each other
cautiously we swapped messages and played a match. It was
difficult to think that these soldiers then went back to fighting
soon after.To help further enhance our understanding of WW1 an
expert speaker, Jason King,
brought in over 1,000 artefacts
recovered from the period such
as rifles, helmets and defused
bombs. Lots of people were chosen to portray soldiers from the
British army and learnt some of the drills soldiers went
through. We all had hands-on opportunities with every item in
his amazing collection. It was a great way to learn about what
really happened during one of the darkest periods in our
history. and a great way to end what was a great day.
Girls Football
Girls football at CTK is growing from strength to strength, we have this year entered both the
national and county cups for Year 9 and below; unfortunately we were knocked out of the
national cup by Buxton College last month. This year has also seen an influx of Year 10s coming
to our training on a Wednesday after school so we arranged with Arnold Hill to play two seven
aside matches last week. Our Year 7s & 8s were one team, and our Year 9s & 10s joined together
for our second team.
Year 7 & 8s: Arnold Hill 2 vs 14 CTK
I was asked to ref the Year 9 & 10 game, so unfortunately I did
not see much of the Year 7s & 8s match. Shannon Campbell,
though only in Year 7, took on the role of Captain and really had
to manage the team well! It is safe to say that she led the team to
an incredible victory; Floran Steeples had a great game as
goalkeeper but said that she didn’t have a lot to do as the defence
worked so well. Katie-Jane Adams, making her debut for the
team, scored an incredible 5 goals! As I say I only saw snippets of
the match but from what I saw it was clear to see that all the
effort in training is paying off! Their commitment and team work
are fantastic, and I am so delighted they got the win they
deserved.
Year 7 & 8 Team: Floran Steeples, Grace Scothern, Ania Jackowska, Evie Hall, Erin Dennison,
Shannon Campbell(C), Katie-Jane Adams
Year 9 &10s: Arnold Hill 11 vs 2 CTK
Though the result didn’t go CTK’s way the team got a lot out of this game as for most of our year
10s this was their first football match ever! Arnold Hill is a very strong team and scored 5 goals
in an action packed opening minutes to the game; we were severely hampered by the absence of
Aine Butler in goal, so numerous players had to take turns.
The defence of Anais Keeling and Eugenia Hamilton, grew in
confidence as the game went on; Nia Kirwin-Thomas, who
was captaining this team, netted a fantastic goal just before
half time smashing the ball into the top corner from the edge
of the area. At half time the score was 8-1 to Arnold Hill, but
it was clear to see CTK was making it much harder for them.
The second half began with another two quick goals for
Arnold Hill, one of which nearly took the hand off Emma
Thorpe in goal forcing her to switch with Nia, and pushing
Anais into midfield with Emma dropped into defence. This
proved to be the strongest team for CTK as they created
another goal with striker Roma Ellis driving a low shot from
the centre of midfield right into the bottom left corner of the
goal. It was this goal that proved to be the turning point and CTK controlled the match then on,
not allowing Arnold Hill to progress with the ball and forcing their goalkeeper to work extremely
hard; though some of the long ball tactics deployed by CTK would make Wimbledon look like
Barcelona! Nia proved just as valuable in goal as out, with some fantastic saves and maintaining
a 27 minutes of a clean sheet until Arnold Hill scored a last minute lucking goal. The girls will
have improved a lot from this match and I look forward to seeing how they progress this year.
Year 9 & 10 Team; Holly Webb, Anais Keeling, Eugenia Hamilton, Emma Thorpe, Nia
Kirwin-Thomas (C), Maria-Luisa Cursian De Silva, Roma Ellis.
Sports News
Year 11
Three players from Year 11 boys football team have been selected for the County football squad
after a successful trial in Mansfield last week, where any Year 11 pupil from any
Nottinghamshire School was allowed to attend the trial. Kieran Harrison, Joel Mclean and
Keaton Sharpe have been named in the 16 man squad to represent Nottinghamshire against
other counties over the course of the season. This is an excellent achievement for the trio and
the school is proud of their achievements. We will keep you posted on how they perform in
future matches.
Mr Riding
Basketball
We have had eight students from ICE take part in an
inclusive basketball tournament held at the Lee
Westwood sports centre at Nottingham Trent
University. Eight teams took part in the competition
and Christ the King Academy only lost one game
making them overall winners on the day. However, the
day was built on lots of games and most of all enjoying
the sport, everyone played really well and the teamwork was outstanding! With some amazing
shots that Mr Jordan would have been proud of. The students had a great time and as always
made lots of new friends.
Mrs Daffin & Mr Stack
Year 8&9 Basketball
Year 8/9 boys and girls basketball teams both won their first round games at the Gedling
Basketball Championships. The boys defeated Arnold Hill 19-0 and Carlton Academy 23-2,
whilst the girls defeated Arnold Hill 22-0 and Carlton Academy 15-2. Both teams need to win
the next two fixtures against the same schools in a few weeks time, to ensure that they
represent Gedling at the County Basketball Championships. The girls are defending county
champions so are keen to retain their crown. On Tuesday 25th November, both Year 8/9 boys
and girls basketball teams entered the second round of the Gedling Schools’ Basketball
Championships in the number one position after the previous rounds of matches. In the first
part of the tournament, both the girls and boys teams defeated Carlton Academy and Arnold
Hill with ease. However, both teams knew they would have to maintain that form if they were
to progress through to represent Gedling at the County Basketball Finals. Due to Carlton
Academy girls not attending the second event, the girls team played Arnold Hill in a 20 minute
game. The girls came out victorious, defeating Arnold Hill 16 – 10, despite being behind after
the first half, 8-4. The boys played against a much improved Arnold Hill side in the first game,
winning 11-4. All credit must go to the hosts who did put our team under pressure from the first
whistle. The second game saw the boys team defeat Carlton Academy 16-2 in a one sided
contest. Both teams won the Gedling Schools Tournament and now progress to represent
Gedling at the Nottinghamshire Basketball Championships in February. The boys will be
looking for their first county championship success, whereas the girls are previous winners in
both 2013 and 2014.
Mr Riding/Miss Bestwick
Diocesan Faith & Family Day
On Saturday 22nd November CTK welcomed people from all across the
Diocese of Nottingham for the Diocesan Faith & Family Day. Each year the
Diocese’s Adult Formation department organises a themed resource day for
people to take part in workshops, listen to key talks and spend time in
prayer. This year because of the Extraordinary Synod of the Family in
Rome, faith and family were taken as themes. The keynote speaker was
Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Westminster,
Bishop John will be known to many as before he was a bishop he was Parish
Priest of the Good Shepherd and one of our School Governors.
Bishop John spoke about
what was discussed at the
Synod and the important
role family plays in faith,
sharing some of his own
stories from growing up. Mass was then
celebrated by Bishop John and 10 priests from all
across the Diocese. James Dwyer, one of our Year
10 students, served the Mass and music was
provided by Miss Craven and the school band. It
was a lovely celebration to bring so many people
from all across the East Midlands to our school
hall, and for us to lead them in the music. Many
compliments were passed on about the quality of our musicians and I was very proud to receive
them. The afternoon was filled with workshops, one of which I lead with Gail Neil the Director of
Education for the Diocese and Fr Martin Hardy, the Delegate for Education during Sede Vecante.
Our workshop was called the Parish-Home-School
Link, many people shared the difficulty of trying to
link these three areas of where we grow in faith and
the challenges that can be found. In my presentation I
spoke about what we as a school do to encourage the
faith of our students and build stronger links with
parishes and homes.
It really was a fantastic day and we have received
great feedback for how welcoming the school was, how
smoothly the day ran and how wonderful our students
were! Some even said it was the best venue they’ve had, while others wanted to sign up the
grandchildren who were still toddlers! A very big
thank you must go to our students who gave up their
Saturday to make it a success, as ambassadors, tour
guides, musicians or as an Altar Server: Fraser
Sanders, Michael Suthcliffe, Ania Jackowska, Fiona
Fitzsimmons, Sam Dewire, James Dwyer, Lizzie
Harrison, Sam Jones, Joe Newton, Poppy Scoffings,
Amy Hoyle, Oliver Johnstone, Matt Dudley, Anie
Butler, Conal McNally, Daniel Bartley and of course
Miss Craven, Mrs Bowen & Mrs Alexander who
were excellent. (Photos courtesy of Michael Henchy).
Thank you
To Staff and Students in school on Saturday 22 November
We attended the Diocesan Day about Families and Faith yesterday, which took place in your
school. We would like to thank all those who helped with organisation and activities during the
day. The students were all most polite, friendly and helpful and we were delighted with the music
group which played for Mass, especially the young student on the keyboard who was a pleasure to
watch and listen to.
Well done all of you for coming out on a Saturday to help with all of us.
The refreshments and lunch too were efficiently and smilingly served, and that was a bonus
because we didn't have to make yet another picnic. Thank you to all the staff who were involved
in that. It was interesting to see parts of the school buildings which are very well kept.
A highlight of the day for us was being with Bishop John Sherrington from Westminster, who
was our parish priest in Derby before he moved to Nottingham. He is a dear friend, and an
excellent speaker. We hope the students were listening carefully and will retain something of
what he said on this important subject.
We live near Derby, but our daughter and her family live in Woodthorpe. Their first child will be
starting school at Good Shepherd next September, so who knows, she may come to Christ the
King eventually. It made a very good impression on us her grandparents, so thank you once
again!
Melanie and Richard Finch
Ice Skaters of CTK
Caitlin Wheat
My Ice skating started when I went to an audition with Torvill and Dean, I was really excited
because I loved to ice skate, and really wanted to learn how to figure skate because it would be a
great experience for me. At the audition we got our skates on and got on the ice and we got into
groups. After the audition we waited for Torvill and Dean to tell us who got through, they said my
name and I was really happy. In the summer holidays I started my training with the coaches. I’ve
been learning new things each week and I have got a lot better. My favourite things are spinning
on one leg and cross overs.
We got our own skates and mine are white. In November we did a show and then in January it
will be on TV. This has given me a great chance to figure skate. Thank You.
Bethany Warner
Bethany started skating at the age of 10, doing skate UK. This was only for half hour a week and
when she finished the course she decided to try out Synchronized Skating Academy (NSSA). She
started skating straight away with the Juvenile team, Silhouettes. A year later Bethany was
asked to skate in the novice team, Shadows. So was now skating for two teams. A year later she
was asked to skate with the Juniors, which is the elite team. This was hard because most of the
juniors were 17 or older and Bethany was now skating for 3 teams, which has never been done
before. She would skate before school at 5am and up to 11pm. This year the Novice and Juniors
became British Champions which meant Juniors which meant the Juniors were off to Helsinki for
the worlds, Bethany was only 12 and was the youngest competing, which was a first! In March
this year Bethany went to Switzerland for the World Challenge Cup were they represented GB.
Bethany has also skated with Torvill and Dean, Robin Cousins, Karen Barber and Mark Naylor
who is the choreographer for the hit ‘Dancing on Ice.’ She has also taken part in the Professionals
on Ice tour at the Nottingham Ice Arena, plus teaching Barney Haywood from Blue Peter to
synchronize skate, which was then shown on Blue Peter.
Bethany was asked to go solo at the British and do Ice Dane, she would have loved to but the
time and commitment and the expense she had to say no. Bethany’s skating is self funding and
runs into 1000’s of pounds each year. Bethany is doing her bit by bag packing at M&S, Tesco and
Asda, I have written to councils but no joy. If you know of anyone or a company that could help it
would be greatly appreciated no matter how small. Every girl is responsible for their own funding.
The National Ice Skating Association (NISA) are fighting to get Synchronized Skating at the 2018
Olympics,. If this happens the NISA chair Chris Bunchanna has told the Juniors it will be them
going to the Olympics!
A Very Proud Mum
Chaplaincy News Autumn Term 2014
We began this year by welcoming a great bunch of Year 7s to our
CtK community; their first day was spent getting to know the school
and preparing for their welcome Mass. At the Mass we also
welcomed Fr Joe to our community as the new Parish Priest of
Sacred Heart Carlton. The Year 7s really got into how we celebrate
Mass here at CTK writing fantastic prayers, explanation of the
readings and some amazing singing. They also created branches for
a tree as our Mass’ theme was ‘You are the branches I am the vine
we find our unity in Christ!’ We also had our first Academy Trust
Mass, bringing together pupils and staff from all the Academies in the Pax Christi Catholic
Academy Trust; that is Good Shepherd, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart and St Margaret Clitherow. This
was a wonderful celebration of the strong links we have with our Primary Schools, it was hosted
by Canon Philip at the Good Shepherd, with almost 150 year 4s coming together with a class of our
year 8s and demonstrating how great it is to be part of an Academy Trust. We hope this will grow
over years to come with us visiting more parishes and encouraging the celebration to grow. Our
third big Mass this term was the Walsingham House Mass, like last year we brought Walsingham
to CtK by having our own procession, though it wasn’t as long!- only going from the tennis courts
to the hall. The house Masses are always wonderful celebrations of what the houses are proud of
and how we all contribute to our house identity: with art work, videos, prayers and reflections all
produced by students to aid these celebrations!
We’ve already begun the Lourdes fundraising, sometimes I
think it’s like painting the forth bridge, as soon as we finish
it’s time to start again! We have begun on a very sporty front:
Mr Baxter, Mrs Leigh, Mr Riding and Mr Gallagher all ran
the Robin Hood Half Marathon for our Lourdes fund. I was
supposed to join them however I completely forgot to sign up
before the deadline, honestly I didn’t chicken out and to prove
that instead I did the Broxtowe Duathlon. For those of you
unfamiliar with a duathlon, I imagine that would be many
people, it is like a triathlon minus the swimming and the
running is in split either side of the cycle. The Broxtowe
Duathlon covered 20 kilometres, many
hills, a field and held on a foggy cold (2
degrees!!) morning in Eastwood… I
served my penance!!Together we raised
approximately £120!! Miss Masterson
has also been hard at work, she has given up her weekends in
December to work at the Greyfriars Social Centre, the twist is
she isn’t being paid she is volunteering and relying on
sponsors, at the time of writing she has raised almost £400!
The Chaplaincy Team is as dedicated as last year. They have already this term
led a beautiful act of worship on community. I have never seen an act of
worship as wonderful as this; each house
came into the hall in darkness apart
from a cross made of t-lights. Placing
Christ at the centre of our community
they invited everyone to consider how we
all can make a big impact on our
communities. They have also created a
display remembering the Act of Worship
that can be seen in Emmanuel block.
Their plans for our end of term Carol
Service are also spectacular. We are
moving ever closer to becoming a Fairtrade school and hope to have proven
this by the end of this Academic year, so watch this space!!
One of the great things about being part of an Academy Trust is that we get to build stronger
links with our local Catholic Primary schools. In St Margaret Clitherow School, we launched a new
programme of retreat days; Starting with year 5 and Baptism and helping them learn how to lead
and plan Acts of Worship. What a fun packed day we had! Fr Philip let us borrow all the symbols of
Baptism: the Holy Oils of Catechumens and Chrism; a baptismal candle; the books; a white garment
and Good Shepherd’s font! The Year 5s had great fun acting out which is probably the World’s first
Baptism of a Meerkat!! I look forward to returning to seeing what we get up to next. Holywell
celebrated their house Mass on the 4th November unfortunately the camera died just before the
Mass so we have no photos of it! Fr Joe Preached on the Gospel do not hide your light under a
bushel as not only can it not be seen but it kills the flame; our light
needs to be in the open.
On Saturday 15th November we have had five members
of our community commissioned as Extraordinary
Ministers of Holy Communion. An EMHC is someone who
has been entrusted with the ministry of distributing Holy
Communion either at Mass or in the hospital or homes of
those who are unable to get to Mass. It is an important
ministry for us to have in school and I think it is great that three of our students will
be able to do this. Lauren, Bethan and Mr Burke were commissioned in at the main
Mass at the Cathedral; Mr Brigadeci and Daniel were commissioned in their parishes
the following weekend. So a massive congratulations to Daniel Bartley, Lauren Avery,
Bethan Jones, Mr Burke & Mr Brigadeci.
On Saturday 22nd November Mr Brogan and I went to Sacred Heart in Carlton’s evening Mass. It
was a lovely celebration for National youth Sunday with Alex Bartley and I
helping out with the music; while Daniel was commissioned as an EMHC;
Sean Sheeran, Aine Gallagher and Mr Brogan read; and Eimear Gallagher
made sure everyone got a copy of our academy
prayer. The following morning Mr Cuomo, Mr Burke
and I went to Good Shepherd where: Ania
Jackowska, Hannah Harrison, Floran Steeples and
Fraser Sanders took the lead in the different ministries of Mass. We also
had Lennon Bradley, Callum and Kieran Barnett reading at the evening
Mass at the Infant of Prague. We hope to see our links with our Parishes
develop stronger and stronger over the coming year.
November drew to a close with our annual retreat for
year 10 to the Briars in Crich. This year 63 students
made the journey up the A610 to the Diocese’s youth
retreat centre. As ever the week was jam packed with
fun while also being pushed outside of their comfort
zones! The theme was respect, how we can have respects
for ourselves, others and the world. Students were
challenged to see how they saw themselves was their
anything they weren’t proud of? How about how they
treat others? Do they consider those less fortunate? As
well as exploring different ways to pray and encounter God. It is
always wonderful to see how well our students react to these
opportunities and are prepared to give anything a go. I hope they
have many happy memories to hold on to from this week.
A new tradition to CTK is our Year 7 Ethos Day, now in its
second year, this is when we take all of our students from Year 7
out for the day to learn more about what it means to be part of a
Catholic Academy and how we live out that faith. We were very
warmly welcomed at the Cathedral for the day where we explored
the Mass with Fr Joe Wheat; learned about Vocation from Fr Matthew Jakes; had a tour of the
Cathedral from Fr Neil Peoples and visited the Mary Potter Heritage Centre too. It was a fun
filled day which helped us understand even more that the Catholic Faith is not just studied in
an RE classroom but lived in our lives.
On Friday 5th December we started the ball rolling
on a new initiative in how we work with our
Parishes, which is by getting together the first
meeting of our Parish Youth Ambassadors. This is a
programme ran in many schools in the diocese and
is a way of linking up better with parishes by letting
students take a lead. However we also felt that was
not just what we wanted our Ambassadors to do, we
hoped they’d be able to take strong leadership in the
parish and be great witnesses to others. Therefore
we were very keen that we bring together students
who regularly attend Mass in their parish. The
parish where we are piloting this first is Holy Cross
Hucknall. So on Friday Jess, Erin, Olivia, Bethany, Mark, Bruno and Issac gathered together
with Fr Frank to come up with ideas of how they could be more involved and encourage other
students from Hucknall to be more involved too. Lots of great ideas have come from the meeting
and we look forward to seeing this develop in the new year.
Children in need was a great success again this year run by the
Prefect team raising over £1300 in one day! With sweet and cake
sales, soak the teacher, and face painting to name but a few.
Christmas Mass and Liturgy Times:
Church of the Good shepherd Arnold
24th December (Christmas Eve) 6.00pm
12 Midnight
25th December (Christmas Day) 10.00am
11.30am
Infant of Prague Bestwood Park
24th December (Christmas Eve) 6.30pm
25th December (Christmas Day) 10.15am
Holy Cross Hucknall
24th December (Christmas Eve) 8.00pm (Carols 7.30pm)
25th December (Christmas Day) 9.30am
Sacred Heart
24th December (Christmas Eve) 6.00pm
9.00pm
25th December (Christmas Day) 10.30am
Our Lady’s Bulwell
24th December (Christmas Eve) 4.30pm
25th December (Christmas Day) 10.15am
St Bernadette’s Sneinton
25th December (Christmas Day) 9.00am
As you have no doubt seen from Mr Lightfoot’s article we had
a World War One Day for year 8 students this month. As part
of the day each group created and led a liturgy in honour of
those who gave up their life in the war along the theme of
Sacrifice, Remembrance and Peace. As part of the liturgy we
created a display on the altar of Poppies representing those
who died. So that was
what we’ve been doing
this term! I don’t know
about you but I am
definitely ready for a
holiday before the
madness begins again
next year!
Joe Hopkins
Lay Chaplain
Chaplain’s Christmas Message
A new thing I’ve done this term is write a blog about our different weekly prayer themes, it’s
been a very enjoyable experience to think about these themes and what they mean; I’ve also
enjoyed the responses I’ve had from parents and staff that they actually read it! I’ve tried to
make them have a link with typical day to day activities, so in good Christmas tradition here
is my Christmas message to rival the Queen’s!
There is something wonderful about Christmas that can not be denied by even the most
militant Atheist. From the traditional carols, glistening lights and excited countdowns that
really catches our sentimental side. When I think of the word Christmas I instantly smile as I
remember such happy times from my childhood. Obviously Christmas can be a very difficult
time for many people, I remember the Christmas after my dad had died and there being a
very prominent empty place at the table for Christmas dinner. There will be many people who
will find this Christmas particularly painful, and it is hard to see the decorations, the songs,
the traditions without the pangs of worry, pain or sadness. How do we reconnect to the joy of
this season? How do we re-foster that feeling of good will at the sound of one word? This is no
easy challenge. We must return to the reason for the season, the hidden message that we
celebrate together each year, the source of Christmas joy.
Recently we had the Year 7 Ethos Day, Fr Matthew Jakes was one of our workshop
leaders, he told us that our first vocation in life, our first calling, is to be happy. He went on to
say that this search for happiness leads us to our main vocation, because we are not truly
happy until we give our life in love to another; whether this be in marriage, the priesthood or
religious life. To rediscover the joy of Christmas we need to accept the main gift we get, this
gift is given each year and that gift is Christ. He gives us himself completely, his life, his love,
he holds nothing back. He comes as a helpless baby born in a stable, born in pure poverty:
without a bed, without a blanket, without a real home but with love. His blessed mother Mary
holds in her arms her creator, her God what joy and happiness she must have felt to be able to
love her God as her Son. Joseph, chosen to protect this family, to show Jesus how to live as a
man, what an honour, what a privilege to have been trusted so much. The shepherds, the
rejects and outlaws of society are the first to come and meet this precious child, no one would
invite a shepherd into their home but here God invites them to celebrate His birth. The wise
men too who travelled for years to have a glimpse of this Child, this messiah who had been
prophesied to come. They give him great gifts, but it is their visit which for Jesus is greater
than the jewellery and perfumes offered.
This great mystery that God the creator of the universe is born sharing our human flesh, he
makes our human lives so sacred and divine, this is what brings us joy. Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, loves you so much and seeing the pain of your life did not want you to carry it all
alone. He chose to be born as we are, develop as we have and be fully human so that he could
share our pain, share our joys and so that we can know he is there, God cares. Emmanuel,
God is with us, that is what makes me smile at Christmas, we are never alone or unloved.
So on behalf of God (a very bold claim) I would like to invite you to join in the celebration of
His Son’s birth. Just as he invited the shepherds and the wise men, he is inviting you. Come
to the stable, come gaze into the crib and see the love of God so delicate and mild in the face of
a child. Come to the Church where you will see his family gathered to celebrate, then fix your
eyes on the altar where this great mystery takes place once again. Christ is made present,
just as he was in Bethlehem, as Bread and Wine is transformed into his Body and Blood.
Jesus takes on flesh in an even more humbler way than he did 2000 years ago, he trusts us to
come forward and to share in his life by receiving him.
This is my Christmas message: EMMANUEL! God is with us, come see him, receive his love.
May you and all you love and hold dear have a wonderfully Happy and Holy Christmas.
God Bless
Joe Hopkins
Lay Chaplain
Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri
Breakfast · LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning
Grace in the Chapel
Breakfast · Polish club
· LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning Grace
in the Chapel
Breakfast · LRC open for
breakfast 7.30am
· Morning Grace in the Chapel
Breakfast · Polish club · · LRC open for breakfast 7.30am · Morning Grace in
the Chapel
Breakfast · Morning
Grace in the Chapel
Lunchtime · LRC open
· ICE open
· Girls Table Tennis - All Years
· Backgam-mon Club - E15
· School Show Re-hearsals
Lunchtime · Polish club
· Boys Table Ten-nis
· GCSE Technolo-gy
· LRC open
· ICE open
· Backgammon Club—E15
· School Show Rehersals
Lunchtime · Girls Basketball
All Years
· Y8/9 Boys Bas-ketball
· BTEC Booster Session Y11
· LRC open
· Fashion Club
· GCSE Tech
· Backgammon Club—E15
· ICE open
Lunchtime · Polish club
· Boys & Girls Volleyball
· Boys Basketball Y11 Team Practice
· GCSE Art Club
· LRC open
· Readerholics
· ICE open
· GCSE Tech
· Backgammon Club—E15
· Fashion Club
· Mass in the Chapel
· Anime Club E5
Lunchtime · ICE open · Y 10/11
Girls Cheer-leading
· Y7 Boys Bas-ketball—Team Prac-tice
· Backgammon Club—E15
· Fashion Club
· GCSE Art Club
· Confession in the Chap-el (monthly)
After School · GCSE Tech-
nology
· School Band
· Girls Cheer-leading - Y10/11
· Panto/School show re-hearsals
· GCSE Business Studies
After School · Girls Netball All Years · Y11 Maths
Revision
· Boys Football
· Afterschool Club 3.30pm—5pm
· German GCSE
· GCSE Tech
· Bronze & Silver DofE
· Technology Club
· Homework Club
· School Show Rehersals
After School · Girls Football
All Years
· Homework Club
After School · Sports Fixtures
· GCSE English Catch Up
· GCSE Tech
· GCSE French & Spanish
· Homework Club
After School
· GCSE Italian
What’s on at CTK?
Admissions 2016 –2017
Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy Policy for the academic year 2016-
2017 has been drafted and is undergoing a consultation period of 8 weeks. The full
draft policy and supplementary form can be found on the school website
www.christtheking.notts.sch.uk. The academy welcomes any comments on the
policy during this time. These can either be addressed to the school c/o Office,
Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy, Darlton Drive, Arnold, Notts, NG5
7AJ or emailed to [email protected]
National Christmas Jumper Day at CTK
Phone: 0115 9556262
Fax: 0115 9556363
E-mail: [email protected]
Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy
Darlton Drive
Arnold
Notts
NG5 7JZ
CHRIST THE KING WOULD
LIKE TO WISH YOU ALL
VERY A MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!