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Newsletter 1 - September 2024
Chaplaincy
Jo Doyle (Lay Chaplain) Email: missdoylej@strichardscc.com
Hello, and a warm welcome back to school after what I hope
was a restful and fun holiday. I extend a warm welcome
to all our new pupils and staff. We wish a fond farewell to
those who left us at the end of last school year, and wish
them well for the future.
Good Shepherd Mass
Year 7 and 8 Caritas Leaders joined other diocesan schools
in Worth Abbey in July to celebrate the annual Good
Shepherd Mass. It was a reflective celebration focused on
the beautiful words of the Lord’s Prayer. Erwyna and Layla
brought forward a Cross we made in DT with the words of
the prayer in the languages taught in our school. Caritas
Leaders were delighted to have their picture taken with
Bishop Richard after the Mass was over and to chat to him.
Primary Retreat Days
At the end of the school year, myself and some of the
wonderful Caritas Leaders visited our feeder Primary
schools to deliver a retreat. It was wonderful meeting some
of our incoming Year 7. Caritas Leaders led them in creating
prayer journals and then we split into different workshops.
These were entirely led by the Caritas Leaders and included
prayer through sign language, prayer with music, Biblical
drama, and creating communal bidding prayers and
dramatic readings. My thanks to the team for their hard
work. It was lovely to see them take charge and lead on this.
End of Year Mass
It is always joyful to be together as a whole school to
celebrate Mass. We began with an insightful reflective
piece by the dance company, accompanied by Josh on
the violin. My thanks to Mrs Knight, the dancers and
Josh for creating this lovely reflection. My thanks to the
wonderful Choir led by Mrs Byrne and our Orchestra led
by Mrs Potter for enhancing the celebration with beautiful
music. My thanks must also go to Altar servers and all who
helped the Mass to run so smoothly. It was joyful to then
have the Head Boy, Head Girl and Deputies return to hand
over the responsibility of these leadership roles to the
newly elected Year 10 pupils.
PE
We welcome all pupils back to PE at St Richard’s this academic year
and especially welcome our new Year 7 pupils as they begin their PE
journey awith us
Thank you
Mr Varney retired from his teaching role at the end of Term 6. We wish
him all the very best in his retirement and thank him for over 40 years
of service in teaching. Almost all of those years were at St Richard’s!
We are however, fortunate to still have Mr Varney involved in PE
in our school community, as he will be continuing with his Primary
School PE Coordinator role.
GCSE PE and BTEC Sport results
Congratulations to our Year 11 leavers who took an accredited course
in PE. They have left St Richard’s with an outstanding set of GCSE
and BTEC grades. We are extremely proud of their achievements. It
is a reflection of their positive attitudes and of the hard work they put
into their studies.
Extra-Curricular PE
We aim for every pupil at St Richard’s to be
motivated to attend at least one PE club every
week. Therefore, we have packed in as many
opportunities for PE clubs as possible, before
school, at lunchtime and after school. There are
a range of activities/sports on the clubs timetable
here, so hopefully there is something for everyone.
The PE clubs offered will change termly. We
welcome any suggestions for new clubs. Pupils
should speak to their Sports Council rep or a
member of the PE department if they would like to
know if any particular activity is likely to be included
later in the year.
We love to hear about pupils' sporting achievements
and successes outside of school, so please
continue to email these in.
Sports Captains
We were very impressed with our sports captains
last year. They were excellent role models for
their peers. We will be recruiting our new Sports
Captains this term for the new academic year.
Pupils will have all of the relevant information
shared with them explaining how to apply within the
next couple of weeks.
Mr Dallaway, Subject Leader PE
GCSE PE results 2023/24
Grades 7 - 9
32%
Grades 6 - 9
57%
Grades 5 - 9
93%
Grades 4 - 9
100%
BTEC Sport results 2023/24
Level 2 Merit
36%
Level 2 Pass (or above) 50%
Level 1 Distinction (or above) 86%
Level 1 Merit (or above) 100%