Issue 116 9th February 2018

Principal’s WelcomeDear Parents and Carers,

Whilst Christmas was many weeks ago I would like to thank you for the lovely gifts sent in for staff; it really is greatly appreciated. It was also lovely to see so many of you at the Christmas Celebration and the parent/carer consultation afterwards. I hope you continue to find the latter valuable in terms of meeting with key members of staff. Of course, if you have any concerns, you can contact us at anytime. The form tutor is the best person to contact in the first instance.

This week in school we are focusing on safe use of the internet. We launched this with a very useful assembly delivered by Rob Walker Green, our ICT Coordinator, who tirelessly supports students through his ICT teaching, to be safe when using the internet. Jane Marriott, Head of Care, also plays a vital role in monitoring students’ internet usage, working with Ian North, our ICT Manager, to make sure that we have the very best systems in place to keep everyone safe. If you do need any advice on internet safety at home please do not hesitate to contact Rob Walker Green or Jane Marriott.

As you will see from the newsletter we had a super day on Friday 2 February supporting the NSPCC’s Number Day. We had some very imaginative costumes and students enjoyed wearing clothes with numbers on. They also experienced learning in all subjects with some reference to numbers. Orchard class had the most fun learning about fractions using pizzas! We raised over £50 for this very worthwhile charity, so thank you for supporting this.

At the end of every term I undertake a full analysis of how well students are performing in all areas – education, therapy and care. Please see below.

• In school 88% of subject targets have been achieved or are within 10% of being achieved.

• In 6th form 83% of students are on target to achieve their predicted accreditation results.

• 87% of IEP targets have been achieved.

• In therapy, attainment in standardised assessments has gone up on average by 10%.

• In care, progress within the life skills curriculum has gone up on average by 10%.

As you can imagine we are very pleased with these results, which clearly demonstrate how hard students and staff work at St Catherine’s.

I would like to finish with a plea, if I may? Please can I ask that school-aged students do not bring mobile phones into school. Thank you.

Very best wishes Rachel Weldon Principal

News from the Board

Break up for half term holidayFriday 9th February 2018

Return after half term holidaySunday evening 18th February 2018 for

boardersMonday morning 19th February 2018 for day

studentsQuarter term weekend

Friday 9th March 2018Return after quarter term weekend

Sunday evening 11th March 2018 for boardersMonday morning 12th March 2018 for day

studentsLast day of Spring termThursday 29th March 2018

Start of Summer term Tuesday 17th April 2018

Quarter term weekend Friday 4th May 2018

Return after quarter term weekend Tuesday 8th May 2018

Break up for half term holiday Friday 25th May 2018

Return after half term holidaySunday evening 3rd June 2018 for boarders

Monday morning 4th June 2018 for day students

Quarter term weekend Friday 29th June 2018

Return after quarter term weekendSunday evening 1st July 2018 for boarders

Monday morning 2nd July 2018 for day students

Last day of Summer termThursday 19th July 2018

Term dates can also be found on our website:www.stcatherines.org.uk/term-dates.php

Please note this is the only place you will find accurate term dates specifically for

St Catherine’s, Ventnor.

Spring 2018 Summer 2018Term Dates

As you know, on the last day of each full term, there is a coffee morning followed by an Assembly in the Chapel to which all students, parents, carers, staff and Trustees staff are invited.

Usually there are three or four Trustees at the coffee morning and we endeavour to make this our opportunity to meet everyone and hear your views about St Catherine’s. It is always a great

pleasure to be able to match the families to the young people who we get to know during the years that they are at St Catherine’s. The comments from parents are so encouraging, for example: ‘The staff all go the extra mile to make sure my child is progressing’ and ‘we get so much more

information than we used to get from our old school and we can understand it’ and ‘ we were so glad we came to the Open Day two years ago as it enabled us to see what we were fighting for’

and many other lovely comments. One of my personal regrets is that this word ‘fighting’ comes up so many times. Why should you have to ‘fight’ to get what is the correct education for your child?We continue to work through various agencies to improve the situation for our young people, as

supporting them is so worthwhile. If you attended the assembly you will understand how vital our work is. To see young people perform with confidence and pride in their abilities is a joy to behold.

We rejoice in the fact that they make such progress under the care and education which they receive at our school.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the Easter coffee morning and assembly. Meanwhile enjoy the coming of Spring.

Paddie Collyer – Chair of Trustees

Student Council News

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The School Student Council met to discuss new ideas for the school and follow up with actions from the last meeting. They discussed the replies received from the letters they sent out regarding how

many people would be interested in school photographs. The interest shown is as follows: individual photographs - 10, class photographs - 12 and a whole school photograph - 7. The students have

also completed a funding request form for new football goal nets which will be given to the Senior Leadership Team to discuss.

This term Sixth Form Student Council have been addressing a number of different issues. Some of the things they have been working on include: requests for improved internet access in the houses,

new ovens for Trinity View, discussions around different meals in the houses and school, and requests for new furniture in different areas. Each issue is discussed by the Council then passed on to the relevant staff who will either work to address the issue, or will explain why some things can’t

be changed. The Council have also choosen their charity for this year and will begin fundraising after half-term. They will then give an assembly on it later in the year. Students are also regularly

reminded that they can bring any new issues to their Council representatives.

St Catherine’s Round-upSt Catherine’s Charity Shop

St Catherine’s charity shop has recently become an integral part of work experience for some of our post-19 students. St Catherine’s Work Experience Co-ordinator, Laura, facilitates the opportunity for students to run the shop on a weekly basis during term time. This provides time for students

to practise and learn new skills in real life scenarios. Some of the skills the students learn from this work experience are money handling, meeting new people, problem solving and having to use their

initiative, along with time-keeping and independent travel.

Mariah- I like working on the till talking to customers.Ciara- I think that this is really good, I like how flexible the work times can be.

Sixth Form Student Council’s chosen charity is

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On Friday 2nd February, St Catherine’s supported the NSPCC Number Day. Students and staff had the opportunity to dress up as something to do with number - this could be anything with a number

on it or with a specific number theme!! Students donated 50p and staff £1.

During the day, lessons were all linked to number in some way. These class activities were then shared with other classes in the school celebration of learning assembly.

NSPCC Number Day

Thank you to all of the parents whose children started in September 2017 who completed the Admissions Questionnaire.

Your responses are invaluable and help to ensure that we are doing all we can to make the process of joining St Catherine’s as smooth as possible.

Admissions Questionnaire

EducationRecycling Batteries and Collecting Stamps

by 6AEThis term 6AE have been thinking about the importance of the 3 Rs. Not reading, writing and

arithmetic (although we have learnt lots about this too!) We have been learning about:ReduceReuse

RecycleWe realised that while we do use a lot of rechargeable batteries at St Catherine’s, if we have

non-rechargeable batteries, we do not recycle them and instead put them in the bin. They then end up in landfill sites. We learnt that they have harmful chemicals in them, that means it is not good for them to end up in landfill sites. So, we decided to find a solution. We went on the internet and found a company that would send us a free battery recycling box and would come and collect all

the batteries when it is full. Here is a picture of 6AE with our new red battery recycling box.

We have decided as a tutor group that we would like to collect used stamps. These get recycled and as a school we can get some money for them if we collect lots. So please can you all start

collecting any stamps you get on envelopes and when you have a few, please can you send them into school? They need to be torn off the envelope with about half a centimetre around the sides. We will tell you in the next newsletter how many we have collected and take a photograph too.

Thank you very much,

Bethan, George, James, Katherina, Nick and Sam.

by Mr Thompson

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On the morning of Monday 29th January, Music Teacher, Mr Thompson and Learning Support Assistant, James took Year 12 GCSE Music students to experience what it is like in a music studio. The students were shown different effects used in Music Technology by James at his mixing desk. The visit explored effects including reverb, echo, delay, distortion, panning, drum machines and creating samples. The students also got to see the recording rooms where the instruments are

played. The visit was a great opportunity for Christian, Eli & Emma to increase their knowledge for Music GCSE. Big thanks to James!!

GCSE Music Students Visit a Music Studio

Whitecliff ScienceIn Science pupils have been learning about materials. Using a feely box, pupils had to touch a

mystery object wearing a blindfold. They then had to describe the object using property vocabulary and guess what it was.

by Mrs Booth

Pupils have also tested the properties of materials to see if they bend and if they are waterproof, making careful observations.

Staff Assisted Games - Basketballby Mr Henderson

On Thursday 21st December 2017, the whole school was off timetable in the afternoon to participate and support the first ever Staff Assisted Basketball Games.

A total of seven games were played which ended with one draw, one win for the staff and a whopping five wins for the students. This meant the students were the overall winners.

It is incredibly pleasing to say the games were refereed by the Sports Leaders students. Furthermore, there were a total of 18 members of staff who played and a staggering 29 students

which is 52% of the school. This is very impressive!

The games were played in a respectful and competitive spirit and the afternoon was enjoyed by all.

Staff person of the games: Mr James Thorpe

Student person of the games: Evie D

Therapy

Colwell Class have been working on developing their team skills in group therapy sessions on a Tuesday. They have been given the challenge to design and make a prototype game that they will

have to present to a panel of three judges.

The class have divided into three teams and have come up with the skills that they need to use to work together on this project.

So far they have decided on their company name and logo and set up a working brief around the game. They have come up with two designs which they are going to use to carry out some market

research.

by Miss MeagherDesign a Game Dragon’s Den

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Healthy Living: New Year, New StartThe students in sixth form have been working hard to improve their overall fitness, health and

well-being. Students have worked with staff to learn about healthy options, make healthy eating posters and help make a display in St Margaret's kitchen.

Students have been opting for healthy snacks including fruit, salad and yoghurts as well as exercising more. This includes taking part in extra gym sessions, both within school and at the local

leisure centre, The Heights.

Students in St Margaret's have also been taking part in ‘step into Spring' morning wake up, shake up short walks in the community to improve fitness and alertness ready for the learning day.

Well done to all the students who have made such good progress and shown willingness to take part!

The Occupational Therapists are currently in the process of moving offices and had seven flat pack desks delivered from Ikea.

As we all know, completing flat pack furniture is a particularly tricky task and involves reading and understanding complex visual instructions, being aware of the whole product that one is aiming to

build, using a wide variety of tools (some of which are included and some of which had to be borrowed) let alone locating all of the attachments, screws bolts and dowels (then finding

alternatives for the inevitable missing piece).

OT is all about learning functional skills in real life situations so students were given the opportunity to take part in this valuable learning experience. Some loved it, some found it interesting and some

hated it; but all were able to engage in the task and build something that had a function and a clear purpose. Comments included: 'This is great, it's just like a giant lego set!' to, 'why don't they

include an electric screwdriver?' and even, 'why don't they just build it for you?".

Students have signed the bit of the desk that they worked on (Shhhh - don't tell Mrs Weldon) so that in years to come we will have a cherished record of past student’s achievements... and so

when they fall apart, we will know who is directly responsible.

Occupational Therapy: Constructionby Mr Evans

After all the rocket designs were complete there was only one thing left to do: commence count down to launch!

Scouts Prepare to LaunchDuring this half-term, Scouts have been busy making their own rockets out of lemonade bottles! The scouts worked in pairs to create a rocket from a plastic bottle and papier mache. They then

got the chance to design the rockets how ever they wanted and chose a name for the rocket.

BLAST OFF3 2 1

Vocational

On Saturday 27th January 2018, Young Enterprise team, Slumberjacks, presented some of the products they have created so far in lessons, which include Bath Branches and pop-up Christmas

items, to the judges of Dragon’s Den hosted by Hose Rhodes Dickson in Newport. The judges were so impressed with the products that the Slumberjacks were awarded a £60 investment for their

business.

Bath Branches (see pictures below) are perfect for a relaxing bath with a slot to hold your glass of wine, a dish to put snacks in, spaces for tealights and a stand to hold your book or ipad.

Bath Branches are available to buy for £18. To process an order please email Becky Laidler on laidlerr@stcatherines.org.uk or phone 01983 852722.

Our Slumberjacks Young Enterprise team will be holding a stall at the Tesco Trade Fair in Ryde on Saturday 24th February, 9 am to 1 pm. They will be selling Bath Branches, Chop Eastwood

Chopping Boards and Easter products for under £3. Come along and say hello.

Slumberjacks at Dragon’s Den

Fundraising and Development

........................................................................................................................St Catherine’s

A registered Charity no. 288148Recognised by the Department for Education (DfE)

Grove Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 1TTT: 01983 852722 E: general@stcatherines.org.uk

www.stcatherines.org.uk

Fundraising EnquiriesFor further information about our fundraising activities,

contact our Fundraising Team on: 01983 852722 or email: fundraising@stcatherines.org.uk

Challenge Events

We have a range of Challenge Events coming up. If you would like to support

St Catherine’s by taking part in one of the events below please contact us on fundraising@stcatherines.org.uk.

Spinnaker Tower Abseil - places available

throughout the year

Skydiving - places available throughout the year

The Crab and Lobster, Ventnor for their kind donation of £65.

The Isle of Wight Council’s Short Breaks’ team for grant funding of £286.81 to purchase cooking equipment for our holiday activity

courses.

Big thanks to..........................................................

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We have spaces for this year’s British 10k London Run taking place on Sunday 15th July. This is a great event with the course winding

through the streets of London passing many of London’s iconic landmarks.

If you are interested in taking part please contact Charlotte Cosgrove on 01983 852722 or

email cosgrovec@stcatherines.org.uk.

British 10k London Run