Dear community I am writing to you re the current consultation on the proposal to temporarily close the school sixth form. The consultation closes today. This has been an incredibly difficult period and I do appreciate the many members of our community who have been so supportive and encouraging – as well as those who have engaged with the consultation process via the email portal. I will be working alongside other members of the school leadership team to develop a response to the consultation which will be presented to governors on Thursday, 16 March. After this date, it will be presented to Trustees who will then make a recommendation to the Local Authority. I can assure you that I will continue to communicate with you in as transparent and straightforward way as possible. I am very sorry that some communications have not been sent to all parents, particularly regarding some in-school events. At this stage, I am asking my leadership team to continue to develop a sixth form curriculum and to ascertain the viability of all of the subjects that we have offered. I am concurrently examining support outside of the school that can enable KS5 to run sustainably at Trinity. I am glad that all Trinity students who chose only Trinity have a second option in the event of the Local Authority shutting the sixth form. I view this as essential to limiting anxieties and enabling all of our year eleven students the opportunity to focus solely on exams. As made clear at the community information evenings, a number of parents have been very proactive in developing a strategy to support the school. They are chaired by Anne Warren (anne.robin@btinternet.com) and have some events happening next week. I must stress that regardless of the recommendation made by the Trustees and the subsequent action of the Local Authority, I will need this group, and this support, to be maintained. If there is a silver lining to this whole process, though intensely challenging, it has been the bringing together of a significant number of disparate elements of our former and current community with the goal of supporting the school. A public meeting is planned for next Wednesday evening (15/3) at Dale Street Methodist Church to discuss the current situation. It will have speakers from different political parties and will be chaired for Trinity Alumni. Please email Anne for details. Please remember us all in your prayers. It has been a challenging time for a lot of people and we only get through these moments with the support of those around us. Take care Chris

Message from the Principal

R M

Trinity Catholic School

Newsletter 1 0 M A R C H 2 0 1 7

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

you talked

about the need

for us to have

our priorities

right, and not

to hoard

possessions.

Touch our

hearts that we

may love people

and use

things — and

never the other

way around.

Amen

P A G E 2

Congratulations from the Art Department

The Art Department would like to congratulate Nadya G for gaining an offer at London College of Communication and Ravensbourne College of Arts and Amy M who has also gained an offer at London College of Communication and Brighton. This is highly unusual in Art and Design higher education as they usually request a Foundation Course as an entry requirement. This is testa-ment to the girls’ hard work. We wish them success in their endeavours.

T R I N I T Y C A T H O L I C

Dates for your Diary

Tues 28 March Year 8 Parents’ Eve

4.00-6.30

Tues 13 June Year 7 Parents’ Eve

4.00-6.00

Lost property If your child has lost anything, please encourage them to take

a look at our large selection of lost property in the main reception office. Any items which are not claimed will be

donated to charity at the end of each term. Please do remember to name every item of school clothing including

winter coats so that we can return any lost items to their owner.

Student Absence Procedure If a student is absent, please call the Absence Line daily on

01926 462929 and leave a brief message stating their name, tutor group and reason.

When the student returns to school please provide written confirmation of the date(s) and reason they were absent.

Student leaving during school hours

If you need to collect your child for an appointment during school hours, please write a note in their planner to show their

teacher and meet them in reception to sign out. We expect students to remember what time they are being collected and to arrive at reception at the correct time. On return to school,

the student may sign themselves back in.

School Fund As a Voluntary Aided school, we ask that parents contribute £60 per pupil per year. This fund enables the school, which does not receive as much capital funding as other state schools, to pay for improvements to the building, build resources for learning (for example, the Language Lab) and for maintaining facilities. Even if families could move to £5/month rather than the lump sum in September it would assist the school greatly. Chris Gabbett

Ash Wednesday Pax Christi Pilgrimage to London Pax Christi students from Trinity Catholic School recently spent a day in London to join a protest against nuclear weapons. The day started with mass at Westminster Cathedral, before joining other members of Pax Christi UK for a liturgy and protest in Whitehall Gardens, and then at the Ministry of Defence. Part of attending a Catholic school is having the opportunity to engage in a real way with political and social issues. I am proud to lead students who would care so deeply about their world and their future.

We are planning a number of other Pax Christi events this year. I am hoping to take year ten and eleven Pax Christi students on a ‘Martyr’s Walk’ in London in the summer term. We have also been invited to attend a ‘Faith in Action’ event at St Paul’s School in Milton Keynes as an example of a strong and successful student led faith group. I am really honoured by that. We hope to also make last year’s pilgrimage to Birmingham along the canal an annual event to raise money for those damaged by the violence of poverty. Chris Gabbett

Calling all Old Trinitarians It’s fifty years since Peter Hastings founded Bishop Bright School on the Trinity site. As such, we are planning an event in the summer, and we ask that all former students contact us either via the school switchboard or email trinityalumni@welearn365.com so that we can celebrate en masse. I know that a lot of former pupils are now parents (and grandparents!) of students - so if you could please pass this message to other former pupils who may have drifted further afield it would be very much appreciated. Chris Gabbett

PTSA News Huge THANK YOU from the PTSA. We had a wonderful selection of cakes donated for our Easter Cake Sale this week which were enjoyed by both Students & Staff. With your generosity we raised an amazing £171.69 which was all profit and will go towards projects within the school that all the stu-dents will benefit from. PTSA next Committee meeting is Next Thursday, 16

th March at 5pm in

the Library. Bag2school next collection date is Wednesday 3

rd May.

If a parent works for a company that takes part in a charity scheme or similar and would be prepared to help with our fundraising please could they let the PTSA know. Many thanks for your continued support of our PTSA. Sarra Perkins Chairperson

WAGS

If you are free this weekend, maybe you would like to go to the WAGS show at The Spa Centre in Leamington. The show consists of 140 Scouts and Guides in a Variety show with spectacular dance routines and comedy. The show has been running since Tuesday, with the last performances tonight and Saturday matinee and evening.