After working at Trinity for 28 years Mr Dexter, our acting Headteacher, is leaving. Mr Dexter has spent most of his teaching career at The Trinity School. He started teaching in 1981. He moved to Nottingham in 1984 and taught at Alderman White in Beeston. He started at Trinity in 1989 and became the Science Co-ordinator in 1990. He did that role for 7 years and in 1997 became Head of Sixth Form, a job he was going to do for almost 20 years. In 2002 Mr Bonner gave him the additional responsbility of Assistant Headteacher and in 2005 Mr McKeever gave him the promotion to Deputy Headteacher, all the while being Head of Sixth Form. In 2015 Mr Dexter became the Acting Headteacher at Trinity. We would like to thank Mr Dexter for his service to the school spanning over 4 decades. He will be missed by many but we hope that he will return to visit us regularly.

THE TRINITY SCHOOLCATHOLIC

EASTER NEWSLETTER 2017

THANK YOU MR DEXTER

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

The words ‘We’re All In This Together’ rang out over the 3 days of performances by our talented performers and musicians in February 2017. Our High School Musical had the audience clapping to the songs and singing along. Trinity Catholic School once again took to the stage to perform this year’s show ‘High School Musical’, an iconic show loved by teenagers. Disney’s 10 year anniversary of the film was performed by a very dedicated cast of over 80 pupils including our young musicians, who told the story through song, dance and a little comedy.

Students, both actors and musicians, received some fantastic comments after the shows on the performance, especially the 13 minute High School Musical mega mix at the end of the show. The cast also received emails from pupils and teachers of the 5 primary schools who enjoyed the matinee performance. Remember ‘We’re All in This Together!’

1981 1984 1989 1990 1997 2002 2005 2015Started teaching

Moved to Nottingham

Started at Trinity

Science Co-ordinator

Head of Sixth Form

Assistant Headteacher

Deputy Headteacher

Headteacher

FUNDRAISINGThe Year 11 pupils spent the first half term after the Christmas break raising money through a daily silver coin collection during form time. The pupils put together artwork in the form of “Silver Coin Angels” to raise awareness for a condition known as “Angelman Syndrome”. This is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has affected former colleagues (Mr and Mrs Nicholson) as their grandson Freddie has this condition. Freddie came in to meet the pupils in January and we did an assembly to raise awareness. We have managed to raise a total of £1150 for the charity based school that Freddie attends. The family get an amazing amount of support from “School for Parents” and we are delighted to have raised such an amazing amount of money for this charity. We will be presenting School for Parents with a cheque before the Easter break.

BARGAIN HUNT ST PATRICKS DAY PARADE

BADMINTONYear 10/11 Girls Badminton:

Silver Medal

BOYS BASKETBALLYear 9: Silver Medal

RUGBYYear 8 City: Gold Medal

HANDBALLYear 9/10 City Boys: Bronze

MedalYear 9/10 City Girls: Gold

MedalSchool Games Year 9/10 Girls:

Runners Up

INDOOR SPORTS HALL ATHLETICS

Year 8 Girls: Silver Medal

TRAMPOLININGKS3 Team: Silver MedalKS4 Team: Silver Medal

SPANISH RED RIDING HOOD - WINNERS!Year nine students celebrated their win with a pizza party! Mrs Campbell had entered their Spanish Caperucita Roja stories into an international teaching ideas competition. Showbie, a paperless classroom app and website, chose their idea and treated them to a pizza party.

SHEKU KANNEH-MASON CD LAUNCHThree songs from Sheku’s forthcoming CD, recorded with DECCA, were launched early in February and made it straight to number one in the classical album charts. They include the beautiful arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, of which Sheku gave a very moving performance at the BAFTAs. Sheku’s career has gone from strength to strength this year and we wish him the very best of luck in what looks like a glittering future ahead.

PTA QUIZThe PTA hosted another successful quiz chaired by Mr Howell. For the second year running, it was a very closely contested quiz, ending with the team It’s Behind You just pipping the teachers to win and take home the trophy. The evening raised over £370 and is going towards buying the Design Technology department a new knife cutter. It may not sound fancy but it will be added to the list of machines in the school ustilising computer aided manufacture and can be used througout the school. It is useful for printing transfers onto t-shirts, wraps for mugs, packaging for nets and much more.

SPORTS REPORTDRAMA

THE TRINITY SCHOOL SHOW BANDThe Trinity School Show Band has had a fantastic start to 2017. With our new student leaders, the band is making excellent progress towards our 2017 show. We have been especially busy with two performances towards the end of term. We participated in the Nottingham St Patrick's Day Parade including a stunning rendition of Danny Boy and we have taken part in a filming of BBC Bargain Hunt in Newark, due to be broadcast later this year. To end the term, we have our first residential weekend of the year.

WORLD BOOK DAYNottingham Writer Workshop for Year 10Nottingham writer and ex-pupil Nicola Monaghan visited the school recently to deliver writing workshops to students in Year 10. This year group was writing stories for a short story competition and she gave advice on writing and publishing, as well as telling us of her own story after leaving Trinity. As a lecturer of creative writing, her ideas were gratefully received, and the students enjoyed the sessions. During the same week, Trinity students were on the look-out for golden tickets, hidden in every department’s books across the school. The two winners received a prize of books and chocolate!

It’s been an exciting and busy time for the Drama Department with our performance evenings of monologues, GCSE/A Level performances and KS3 Performance Evenings. A range of styles from Contemporary Shakespeare text to a stylised Berkoff piece of The Trial were performed by students from Year 7 – 13.

YEAR 11 -‘FACE’Year 11 Drama students performed an extract Act 1 of ‘Face’ in preparation for their Unit 3 written exam. ‘Face’ by British-Jamaican author and poet Benjamin Zephaniah is the set text for GCSE Drama . Martin is a good-looking, self-assured teenage boy who accepts a ride home from a drunken acquaintance and ends up in a horrible accident--badly burned, his face completely disfigured. All the students worked hard on the productions and are now preparing for their Unit 1 exam.

YEAR 12 - THE TRIAL BY FRANZ KAFKA An extract of The Trial by Franz Kafka was performed by Year 12 in the style of Steven Berkoff. Eight of the Year 12 group tell the story of an ambitious, worldly young bank official named Joseph K who is arrested by two warders “one fine morning”. Multi-roling as K each student plays the part of K allowing the characteristics of K to emerge through their characterisation in role.

YEAR 13 – DR FAUSTUSOur interpretation of an extract of the play was set in an asylum where all the characters are a part of Dr Fautus’s mind. An elaborate set and concept allows the Year 13 students to develop their skill as actors and to begin to think about how they will develop their own concept based on the exam set text Lysistrata. A truly experimental and well performed piece by Year 13.

KS3 PERFORMANCESThe Drama Department presented their second KS3 Performance Evening featuring students from the Trinity Theatre Youth Group and the Musical Theatre Club. The students who attend the club’s weekly extra-curricular sessions, performed a variety of play extracts and musical songs.

NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSESome of our Gifted and Talented pupils from Year 9 Drama took part in an ambitious project called the Schools Massive. This was a chance for them to perform a Shakespearean extract on stage with over 350 young people at the Nottingham Playhouse. The Trinity Catholic School were amongst 10 participating schools from primary to secondary who performed on the main stage on Thursday 9th March to teachers, family and friends. The whole process and experience from page to stage has been captured in the photos, BBC News footage and the Schools Massive programme.

COMPUTINGIn February a group of A-Level computing students enjoyed a visit to Bletchley Park, the home of Britain’s WW II top secret codebreakers. It is believed that the intelligence produced here shortened the war by two to four years, and that without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain. Students had the opportunity to use an original Enigma machine and observed a reconstructed Bombe deciphering machine in operation. We were able to walk around the grounds and experience first-hand what it must have been like for the 8000 people who worked there.

Lower down the school pupils took part in “Safer Internet Day”. Discussions took place about how everyone can stay safe online. Some of the areas covered included social media, stranger danger, hacking and cyber bullying. Students then created a poster showing how to avoid these dangers. The winning poster received some WH Smith vouchers to spend at their leisure.

SAINT BARNABAS DIGITAL LEADER NETWORKStaff and students from primary schools in our academy group joined Trinity’s own digital leaders for an iPad training day. The 45 students trained to become experts at using new technology such as iPad and a range of apps in school. Now their role is to support staff and students in class. The network will be meeting up again later this academic year.

PHYSICS SUPER LAB EVENTThis years event was about exploring the Raspberry Pi and its uses within science. There were various challenges involving the Raspberry Pi and pies with Nottingham Trent University supporting the night.

HOUSE PIANO COMPETITIONOn Thursday 19th January, the Trinity Music Department held the House Piano Competition in the Lower School hall. Pupils competed for their house to become the 2017 piano festival champions, and all the students performed to a high standard. After a close run contest, Campion were the winners, with Barlow a close second. Congratulations to all the performers.

PIANO SPECTACULARA selection of pianists from the House Piano Competition performed their pieces at a lunchtime concert on Friday 20th January. All the performers had been practising hard and, as a result, the performances were extremely polished and impressive.

TRINITY OF SOUND, STAFF CONCERTIt was the turn of the staff this time to do the entertaining at the lunchtime concert in March. We had a wide variety of acts, including an appearance from the Spice Girls, a bit of David Bowie, The Darkness, a valiant attempt at the Mexican Hat Dance on descant recorders, a touch of Klezmer and the Chamber Choir singing some Gilbert and Sullivan. The Drama Studio was packed with students, who really got behind the concert and offered fantastic support to the teachers.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DIOCESE SCHOOLS’ CONCERTOn 10th March, BVG and Girls’ Choir joined forces to sing at a collaborative event for schools in the diocese held at St Barnabas Cathedral. All schools sang a collection of pieces called A Season of Charms composed by Jonathan Dove and each school then performed a creative response to one of the songs. We were treated to a visiting workshop from the organisers at the cathedral beforehand. Trinity’s contribution was called ‘Summer’ and involved ribbons, hula hoops and much moving around in the aisles!

HALLÉ ORCHESTRA REHEARSALSOn 13th and 20th March our Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra musicians were lucky enough to be led in their rehearsals by professional musicians from the Hallé Orchestra to work on the piece The Ride of the Valkyries in preparation for the Spring Concert. We were very pleased to welcome pupils from Christ the King to join in the project.

SPRING CONCERTThe Spring Concert was held on 28th March and included many of our ensembles, large and small. There were performances from LSO, Guitar Groups, Brass Group, Jazz Orchestra, Swing Band, BVG, Chamber Choir, Girls’ Choir, Flute Groups, Klezmer Group, Chamber Orchestra and Concert Band. The concert finished with an ambitious piece, The Ride of the Valkyries, for which we combined the forces of Concert Band, Chamber Orchestra and players from Christ the King. It was a fantastic evening of music, well done to all the students involved.

HALLÉ WORKSHOPSOn Friday 20th January, a cellist from the Hallé Orchestra came to Trinity’s Music Department to deliver workshops with our GCSE and A level Music students. The workshops were centered around the Gershwin piece An American in Paris and the students created their own piece in response to the stimulus given.

HALLÉ CONCERT AT THE ROYAL CONCERT HALLOn the 26th of January, some of our pupils were given tickets to see the Hallé Orchestra play at the Royal Concert Hall. The GCSE and A level Music students and Chamber Orchestra and Concert Band members enjoyed a fantastic programme of music, which included Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris and Ravel’s Piano Concerto.

MUSIC

BRILLIANT BOOK AWARDSThis year the Kindle Club shadowed the Notts Brilliant Book Awards, supported by the Nottinghamshire Education Library Service. Six books were on the shortlist and the students had to read them and decide which they liked the most. Most of the authors delivered talks about their books, and the Kindle Club visited the Magnus School, Newark, to listen to Christopher Edge talk about his book, ‘The Many Worlds of Albie Bright’. Trinity also entered two teams into the School Quiz, which involved answering questions on the books. They represented the school really well, showing a very deep knowledge of the books they had read. The overall winner of the award was Christopher Edge for the Albie Bright book. This was a very fitting end to a great experience.

LOURDES FUNDRAISINGThe group going to Lourdes have been doing various fundraising events, including cake sales and appeals at their local parishes. The most recent one was a sponsored bike ride at the David Lloyd Club, Aspley, where the group set out to ride the equivalent distance from Nottingham to Lourdes, approximately 900 miles!! It was a great event and a real team effort. We also had help from parents and other pupils who were visiting the Club on the day. We raised over £350 on the day and with on-line donations added it should take the total to around £500. We are very grateful to the David Lloyd club for allowing us to do this event as it has made a real difference to our fundraising.

THANK YOU MR DEXTER

BATTLEFIELDS TRIPAt the end of February, a group of 25 students and 3 members of staff visited the Battlefields of World War One. They visited the Somme battlefields in France and then many other famous sights including Ypres and Passendale in Belgium. The trip was a great success and was enjoyed by all.

SKI TRIPIn February half term Trinity went on its 19th ski trip. This year was at a new resort in Italy called Artesina, near Prato. The conditions were excellent and we did extra activities such as a cave walk, snow tubing, pizza night and bum boarding. We are now loooking forward to the 20th trip in February 2018. Find us on Instagram: @trinityskiclub

FAREWELLWe also say goodbye to Miss Scully who has been with us for a year covering a maternity leave. She has worked hard and done a really good job. We wish her well as she moves to a new job at St Paul’s in Leicester and also as she gets married.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENTIn March a small group of Trinity sixth formers met with their MP Lillian Greenwood after touring the Houses of Parliament, before meeting with the Think Tank “Centre for Social Justice”. After an informative discussion that inspired many of the students present to consider a future career in politics they then went on a walking tour of London and the British Museum led by Ms Wright and Mr Howell.

WARGAMING TEAM SUCCESSThis term the Trinity Wargaming team equalled their best ever result in the School league Wargaming Competition, qualifying for the National Semi-Final. The school entered an elite and dedicated team, who were prepared to play fixtures even during the school holidays, and Mr Howell would like to thank all the members of the team for their dedication and enthusiasm. We wish them luck for their forthcoming fixtures, and hope that they’ll become the first Trinity team to qualify for the National Final

HAGG FARM2017 marked another year at Hagg Farm. A valuable week where many students go away from home for the first time having to clean after themselves and complete outdoor activites such as caving and rock hopping.

Thank YouA big thank you to our parents, to pupils, teachers and support staff for the hard work this term. Your support is a vital part of the success at Trinity. This is my last newsletter to you as I leave at the end of term and Mr McClafferty starts after Easter. I hope you will give him the same support I have enjoyed as the acting head, and over my previous 28 years here. I have been very blessed over the years to work at Trinity, a school that allowed me as a teacher to flourish, trust given to me by the community to help lead the school and the privilege of looking after and teaching your children and some of you. To teach Chemistry, Science and somehow encourage a moral purpose. There is something rather special here, the Catholic ethos, our values and successes created by the hard work, passion and commitment of all of us. I love the high ambition and aspiration we engender, the sense of purpose and a school clearly seeing beyond ‘results’ although academic results should always be important. I will miss my interactions with parents and parish, I will really miss working hard with colleagues’ especially senior staff to solve problems (good job I’m a chemist!) and above all those cheeky, interesting, smiley, optimistic and even sometimes struggling children, each individual, each unique character. It is not easy in any generation to grow up and learn to cope with the world as you find it from age 11 to 18, but we can all do our bit to help young people cope, thrive and be happy and purposeful. At Trinity they should blossom! So thank you again and may the message of Easter renew each of us in our purpose and destiny in life.

FOSTER CARERS DINNEROn March 9th, Nottingham City hosted a wonderful reception for all their foster carers, in the Council House. Trinity was privileged to be asked to provide some music and so four Sixth Form students attended the dinner. They performed as people arrived and at the start of the meal and again at the end. It was a special evening for some very special people in Nottingham and we were honoured to attend and be a small part of it.