What’s been happening at

Mount Carmel

Chaplaincy

LOCKERBIE MANOR

Pictured right, how Holly looked before her brave decision to shave off her long hair.Holly being congratulated by her friend Keira Duckett and her brother Paul (pictured below).

Charity

WELCOME MASSYear 7 pupils spent the day off their normal timetable soon after they started at the school to participate in a ‘Damascus Day’. This day further develops friendships within the year group and gives time away from the hustle of a normal day to reflect, think-ing of their family, their pastimes, primary schools and decide on their aspirations whilst at Mount Car-mel.The day ended with a Mass, officiated by our school Chaplain Fr. McCartney. At the beginning of the Mass pupil representatives from each of our part-ner Catholic schools brought up their Leav-er’s candles. At the end of this welcome Mass all pupils received a blessed Mount Carmel candle to take back to their homes along with a daffodil bulb to nurture and grow.

Mount Carmel Headteacher, Xavier Bowers thanked everyone for their kindness and generosity and reminded everyone that the school will always remember Logan and that his memory will remain as part of the school community. Mount Carmel pupils who were friends of Logan actively raised funds for the project during the Summer term with a range of fundraising activities. A grant from Prospects Windfall Fund completed the fundraising target.

Mount Carmel held a remembrance Mass followed by a blessing and official opening of the ‘Garden of Reflection’, a memorial garden completed over the Summer holiday break. The opening marked the first anniversary of the tragic death of a Year 8 pupil at the school, Logan Wood. Logan’s parents and family attended and Mass was celebrated by Fr. Derek McCartney, Parish Priest of St. Mary’s in Clayton-le-Moors and Mount Carmel school Chaplain.Over 250 pupils from a range of year groups requested to attend the Mass which was held in the school hall. Pupils and staff participated in the service with readings from Mrs Lesley Pemberton, Headteacher at St. Mary’s R.C. Primary school and friends of Logan. Family, friends, individuals & organisations who had donated to the garden were invited to place a star into the planters displaying their kind donation to the garden. Coloured stars were then tied to the trellis by all who attended and wind chimes attached to the central feature canopy.

PAPAL AWARDMount Carmel’s recently retired Chair of

Governors Dennis Ford was acknowledged for his 16 years dedication to the school by

receiving the ‘Dean Desmond Award’ for his long and outstanding service to the Board of Governors at Mount

Carmel. The award was presented by Mrs Anja Turvey, who is also

Dennis’ daughter. Concluding the evening our newly appointed Chair

of Governors, Mr David Rushton presented Dennis with the

‘Benemerenti Papal Award’, a very special honour awarded by the

Pope to members of the clergy and laity for service to the

Catholic Church. Dennis proudly received a medal and framed

certificate recognising this honour.

Coloured stars were also tied to the trellis and wind chimes attached to the central feature canopy by Logan’s close friends.

A blessing and opening ceremony took place in the memorial garden with the planting of rosemary, loganberry and daffodil bulbs. Family, friends, individuals & organisations who had donated to the garden were invited to place a star into the planters displaying their kind donation to the garden.

Sleepover73 Year 7 pupils enjoyed a 3 day residential trip to Lockerbie Manor. The aim was to help build long lasting friendships and relationships to improve confidence, teamwork and communication skills. Pupils experienced a wide range of activities such as a high ropes course, climbing wall, abseil tower, obstacle course and zip wire. Those who didn’t attend were involved in team building activities and challenges within school.

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVALMount Carmel drama pupils from mixed year groups performed Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ at the Charter Theatre, Preston to an audience of more than 500 people. This was part of our involvement with the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival. Drama teacher Miss Bell commented “Shakespeare Schools’ Festival’ is a project we have been involved in for quite a few years and it is always exciting yet challenging. The pupils spent many hours in rehearsals. Skills and techniques to develop expression, projection of voice as well as the development of roles really helped bring the play to life. They also had to take on production roles such as marketing, directing, costumes and props to give them a better insight into the organisation of a professional production. They attended a cast workshop where they worked with experienced Shakesperean actors. The final play was a massive success with the students giving an outstanding performance and gaining a raucous applause and well deserved positive appraisal at the end!”Year 10 pupil Niamh Kay said “It was very nerve wracking stood backstage, we had a mixture of emotions which all disappeared as soon as we set foot on the stage. We were lucky to have worked with professional directors. We would like to thank everyone who helped us throughout the project and hope those who saw the performance enjoyed it as much as we did.”

Mount Carmel celebrated the achievements of students during their annual Key Stage 4 Awards Evening.

The evening began with an excerpt from ‘King Lear’ which had recently been performed at the Charter Theatre in

Preston as part of the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival. Role model pupils were celebrated from current Year 11 pupils.

Form tutors commented on qualities such as politeness, punctuality, helpfulness, organisation and dedication of

each of the selected pupils. Subject awards were also awarded for attainment and achievement during the

previous academic year.

The Mayor of Hyndburn Cllr. Marlene Haworth and the Mayoress Mrs Dorothy Berry, invited guests, staff

students and families then celebrated the successes of former students in their recent examinations with

special trophies being awarded for outstanding effort and achievement.

Acknowledgements were made to current students who excel in their relevant sports at

County level or equivalent. Lewis Pearson who represents the North of England for

Cricket, Keeley Battrick who competes in British Kickboxing events

and Shannon Proctor who plays football for

B

lackburn Rovers.

Guest speaker during the evening was Anja Turvey a Paraplanner Team Manager and former Deputy Head Girl of Mount Carmel. Anja spoke of how aims and dreams can be achieved despite set-backs and without necessarily attending university. Determination and hard work she stated are the ingredients of success.

Anja then presented subject and trophy awards for Year 12 students including Memorial Awards donated in memory of loved ones who worked or were associated with Mount Carmel. Recipients of these awards were; Julia Trella who was awarded the ‘Nicola Hughes Trophy’ for dedication to language studies; Khizra Nasar who was awarded the ‘Ken Hargreaves Memorial Trophy’ for outstanding achievement in Science; Hannah McKinney who was awarded the ‘Peter Barratt Award’ for improved attendance and Alex Yates who was awarded the ‘Fred Bentley Award’ for achievement in Geography.

Year 11 Declan Watson receives information from Army Careers Advisor Lisa McLeod during a Careers Fair in school. Representatives from local colleges, further education, vocational and apprenticeship providers were in attendance for Year 11, 10 and 9 Mount Carmel pupils and their parents to gain advice and guidance.

2014-15 Head Girl Georgia Brennan and Head Boy Dylan

Thompson with their awards.

Year 7 pupils raised more than £100 for East Lancs Hospice after taking part in a sponsored sleepover in the school hall.They played games, competed in quizzes, participated in team challenges and watched a Christmas film. The sleepover was organised by Head of Year 7 Mrs Lowe and Mrs McNally who is Assistant Head of Year 7 along with Year 7 form tutors. The school Parent Teacher Association came along at supper time and served hot chocolate before the pupils settled down for a good night’s sleep(!) Breakfast was then served by the school catering staff before lessons began the following day.

Year 7 pupils David Kay, William Jackson and Chris Thomas preparing for a good night’s sleep in the school hall during a charity sleepover.

G.I.F.T. team members Sanah and Sebastian (below) with some of the many items generously donated by Mount Carmel families to the Syrian refugee camp. School Lay Chaplain Alana Murphy co-ordinated the appeal.

Thanks to the generosity of Mount Carmel families we sent over 100 boxes of gifts to the Samaritans’ Purse ‘Operation Christmas Child Appeal’. Mount Carmel Religious Education teacher and charity co-ordinator Mrs Bell organised the appeal in school.

Christmas paraliturgies presented to all students reflected upon the birth of the Messiah, Jesus; staff and students were also asked to considered refugees throughout the world today and in particular, Syria.The Christmas paraliturgies continued the ‘making room for Jesus’ theme started in the Advent prayer chain reflec-tions in which staff and students were encouraged to make room for others in their lives over the festive period.The school G.I.F.T. (Growing in Faith Together) team helped staff deliver the liturgies.

Once again Mount Carmel students and their families have done us proud! We have supported the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ campaign run by Samaritan’s Purse for many years and during each Autumn Term we ask for

donations of small toys, toiletries, stationery and sweets to fill shoe boxes.Many families are kind enough to send in a filled box to the appeal. Our pupils then kindly donate their own time after school and at lunchtimes to wrap and fill the shoe boxes before we send them off to the charity for distribution to children around the World.

Pictured above is Year 9 pupil Paddy with his mum placing a memorial star into the garden.

Below; April Taylor, Shannon Cunningham and Mrs Bell with a cheque for £218.74 for the‘Text Santa’ appeal.

Our Christmas Fayre took place this year for a second time, organised by our Parent Teacher Association. It was great to see how many people came along making it such a special event. Our school choir really brought the festive atmosphere to life with carols and Christmas songs. We were pleased to have the support of St. Mary’s Brownies, Accrington Lions, Divas Dance School and The Civic Theatre, Oswaldtwistle along with the many local traders, charities and crafts people who came on the night to sell a wide range of festive gifts, hold tombolas, lucky dips, games, make-up and face painting. Refreshments were provided by our PTA including teas, coffees, hot dogs and mince pies made by our catering students. A really popular chocolate fountain was pro-vided by our Year 11 students and Year 7 pupils held a North Pole co-ordinates quiz to win a very large chocolate hamper. The craft club sold hand made Christmas cards and our Design Technology department made tree decorations and cushions to sell and provided beautiful henna painting.

Wordsworth Road, Accrington BB5 0LU Tel: 01254 233458

Our school is at the heart of the Catholic Community. We are also here for all families who share our values and beliefs.

R.C. HIGH SCHOOLA family of faith & learning

Papal Award for Chair of Governors

KS4 Awards Evening

Welcome new Year 7 pupils

Official opening of memorial garden

PTA Christmas Fayre

Primary Partnership Carol Concert

Charity fundraising

Donations to refugee camp

Shakespeare festival

Mad 4 Maths

Year 6 days

Year 7 Sleepover

Lockerbie

Careers fair

inside this issue .....News February 2016

PTA Fundraising

/MountCarmelHigh

www.mountcarmelhigh.co.uk

Quality of teaching, learning & assessment

Good“In lessons students enjoy their learning, behaviour is positive and they make good progress. Teachers work hard to form good relationships with students.”Ofsted Inspection Report, OCTOBER 2015

Personal development, behaviour and welfare“The school’s work to keep students safe is very effective. There is a strong culture of care and nurture, which is appreciated by students and their parents.”Ofsted Inspection Report, OCTOBER 2015

Good

Effectiveness of leadership & management“Leaders set high expectations of students and staff and have created a culture of respect and tolerance. Leaders at all levels are determined to make a difference to young people’s lives.”Ofsted Inspection Report, OCTOBER 2015

Good

READ THE FULL REPORT ON OUR WEBSITE www.mountcarmelhigh.co.uk

Mount Carmel hosted a Christmas Community Party in the school Hall with over 70 guests attending. Parishoners from local Catholic Parish Churches of St. Mary’s, Clayton-le-Moors, St. Joseph’s, St. Anne’s and St. Mary’s Oswaldtwistle, residents from nursing homes, local residents and staff family members were amongst the guests. A festive meal was prepared and served by staff and catering students from Accrington & Rossendale College with Mount Carmel YSVP (Youth St. Vincent de Paul), G.I.F.T. (Growing in Faith Together) and Senior Prefect teams serving food and waiting on the tables. Entertainment was provided after the meal by Mount Carmel dance students and a sing-a-long featuring the school choir was held with audience participation actively encouraged. A free raffle was held before all guests each left with a food hamper consisting of items kindly donated by Mount Carmel students and their families during a recent non-uniform day.

The Hyndburn Catholic Schools partnership sang Christmas songs and carols in Accrington Market Hall in front of the Christmas tree to a crowd of proud parents, grandparents and onlookers. This is the third successive year that the partnership of schools have entertained in the Market Hall. Around 250 pupils from the choirs from St. Oswald’s, St. Mary’s Clayton-le-Moors, St. Mary’s Oswaldtwistle, St. Anne’s & St. Joseph’s, Sacred Heart and Mount Carmel sang beautifully together. We received lots of kind comments and it created a really nice start to the festive

season. Thank you to all who supported us.

We were pleased to work with our partnership of primary schools on many collaborative community events as well as welcome pupils to events and activities taking place at Mount Carmel during the Autumn Term.

Well done to overall winners of the ‘Mad 4 Maths’ quiz from St. Paul’s; Jack, Samuel, Fraz and Inaaya. Well done also to the first ‘Computing Challenge’ winners from Hippings; Harvey, Grace, Seth and Amos

Congratulations to St. Paul’s Primary School who are the 2015 ‘Mad 4 Maths’ inter-school champions. The annual quiz is organised by Mount Carmel and hosted by the Maths department. The St. Paul’s team fought off competition from another 14 teams to win the overall title. In second place came St. Mary’s Primary in Clayton-le-Moors and in third place was St. Mary’s Primary in Oswaldtwistle.A ‘Computing Challenge’ round was introduced for the first time this year in our brand new computing suite of rooms. The pupils were given a team task to complete covering aspects such as binary, algorithms, sequencing and computational thinking. Mount Carmel’s student computing ambassadors helped during the evening. This proved to be a challenging but very popular round and a separate trophy and prizes were given to the winners from Hippings Methodist Primary. In second place were another team from Hippings with Moor End Primary coming in a very close third place. An e-safety information stand was available to parents.Around 70 parents/grandparents/primary school staff came along to support the teams and had the opportunity to enter a parents’ prize quiz and raffle. Refreshments were served during the interval by Mount Carmel Parent Teacher Association.

MAD 4 MATHS& COMPUTING

Primary Partnerships

Over 450 Year 6 pupils were invited to visit Mount Carmel over 3 days in September for our ‘Next Steps 6 Days’. These days give the pupils an ideal opportunity to experience a ‘taster’ day at high school. The pupils are accompanied by staff from their primary schools and particiapte in activities from a range of subjects including Science, Design & Food Technology, Art, Music, Drama, Modern Foreign Languages, ICT and much more. The pupils also have lunch in the ‘Twelve Star Diner’ and have opportunity to speak to Mount Carmel pupils and staff about life in high school.

NEXT STEPS DAYS

Year 6 primary pupils enjoyed their visits to Mount Carmel where they experienced many aspects of our school life.

Community

School choirs from Mount Carmel, St. Oswald’s, St. Mary’s Oswaldtwistle, St. Mary’s Clayton-le-Moors and Sacred Heart all came together in Mount Carmel’s school Hall for the annual Catholic Schools’ Partnership Carol Concert. Over 150 pupils attended the service with each school singing individually as well as collectively on the stage next to a large Christmas tree. Prayers were read by pupils from each school as candles on the Advent Wreath were lit. Fr.McCartney, St. Mary’s Clayton-le-Moors Parish Priest and Mount Carmel Chaplain then blessed candles for each visiting family to take home with them and light on Christmas day.

Hampers were handed out to all who attended the Community Christmas Party. Items for the hampers were kindly donated by Mount Carmel pupils.

This was an extremely successful event that involved months of planning and organisation by Mount Carmel’s Parent Teacher Association and school staff. Over £1,000 was raised over the Christmas fundraising period, with money kindly donated back into school projects or resources. We thank the PTA for their time and dedication to the school.If anyone wishes to be part of the PTA, please contact school.

Mount Carmel PTA made a donation to a scheme providing gifts for elderly people living alone in the Hyndburn area.

“Thank you” to Mount Carmel’s Parent Teacher Association who spent months planning and worked extremely hard to make the Christmas Fayre such a great success.

.... and much more!