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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



Holy Cross Hucknall

24th December (Christmas Eve) 8.00pm (Carols 7.30pm)


Sacred Heart


9.00pm


Our Lady’s Bulwell



St Bernadette’s Sneinton


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


· ICE open

Lunchtime · Polish club

· Boys & Girls Volleyball

· Boys Basketball Y11 Team Practice

· GCSE Art Club

· LRC open

· Readerholics

· ICE open

· GCSE Tech


· 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


· 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!

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