St Cuthbert's RC High School

PE news:

Congratulations to the Year 10 boys’ handball team who won the Rochdale Handball Competition beating Middleton Technology School and Siddal Moor. They have now progressed to the Greater Manchester Competition which will be held in Oldham after Easter.

All the boys played their part in a fantastic team display which saw the side score 13 goals in two games and concede just two. The stand out performances were from Fabio Tavares and Norman Robak helped the team achieve success. It was a dominant display from St Cuthbert's on the day. Congratulations boys!

A special mention must also go the year 10 boys’ football team who have also won the Rochdale Football league! They are also through to the semi-final of the Rochdale Cup. Good luck boys!

The girls’ football team have also been triumphant, winning the Rochdale School’s tournament. Congratulations to N.Lloyd, C. Akerele, N. Chapman, N. Simpson E. Flynn and M. Kenny who picked up their gold medals.

This week we heard all about our past pupil, Connor Ronan who picked up the prestigious International player of the year for the Republic of Ireland’s under 17’s. Connor is currently playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers as well as The Republic of Ireland and is experiencing great success, well done Connor!

Pilgrimage Trust

St. Cuthbert’s are extremely proud to announce that one of our students – Claire Harrop, has been selected to attend the pilgrimage to Lourdes this year with HCPT. Claire is very excited to be attending this holy event and is looking forward to making her first pilgrimage.

CAFOD shared Lunch 

St Cuthbert's CAFOD group recently hosted a light Lenten Lunch of soup and a bread roll to raise awareness of our brothers and sisters across the developing world who experience hunger every day of their lives.

Pupils and staff were invited to eat less and donate what they would usually have spent on lunch to CAFOD.

Pupils said that it was "really good to raise money for a great charity" and that it was "a brilliant event".

CAFOD's campaign this Lent is called Make a Splash and is focusing on providing clean drinking water in remote areas of the world where there is none.

The CAFOD group wish to thank everyone who took part, the Cuisine team for providing us with delicious soup and to Mrs Rothwell for loaning her classroom. We will let you know the final total when all the donations have come in.

Holy Week

Holy Week is the most important week in the Church's calendar. It has been marked this week in school in a number of ways.

Our Pupil Chaplaincy Team (Pupil Chaplains & Music Liturgy Group) planned, prepared and delivered a prayerful service for each year group based on the theme of God's forgiveness and mercy.

Through the gospel reading, prayers, drama, an examination of conscience and beautiful Taize chants, pupils were reminded that Jesus showed forgiveness right up to the point of his death and that God's forgiveness is available to us whenever we are ready in our hearts to receive it.

Fr Gaspar celebrated Mass in the chapel on Tuesday lunchtime for pupils and staff.
Our daily prayers in form time have reflected the events of Holy Week.

Some pupils have been asking why our statues in school and in the chapel have been covered up in purple cloth this week.

This reflects the practice in many churches when statues are veiled until after the lighting of the Pascal candle at the Easter Vigil. It reminds us of the solemn events of Holy Week and focuses our minds on Jesus' work of redemption.

We wish all pupils, staff and friends of St Cuthbert's a happy and holy Easter.

Door of Mercy

On the first day back in school after the Easter holidays, we will receive the Door of Mercy from Alice Ingham RC Primary School.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis has invited everyone to celebrate the Year of Mercy.

At the beginning of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis opened a series of Holy Doors in Rome.
Walking through a Holy Door is a symbol of us making a change. Leaving the old behind and entering the new.

In this case, leaving behind the baggage of our past and choosing to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Here in the Diocese of Salford, we have our own version of a Holy Door of Mercy which is being handed on from school to school.

Walking through the Door of Mercy is a sign of our personal need to feel the mercy and the love of God, which is like an open door, always ready to welcome us, embrace us and forgive us. It is a sign of conversion, a change in our hearts.

So what’s on the ‘other side’? The ‘other side’ is the side of mercy. We make a new start as a person who is choosing to be merciful, loving, forgiving and compassionate towards others.

There is an invitation to all staff and pupils at St Cuthbert’s to walk through the Door of Mercy before we pass it on to St Patrick's RC Primary School on Tuesday 12th April.

Community Support Team

This week, volunteers from our school ventured out into the community to ensure the area in which we live in is kept clean and litter free. At St. Cuthbert’s, we take pride in God’s planet and we are always looking for ways in which we can improve the world we live in. These students enjoyed making a difference and we are very proud of them for volunteering and giving up their lunch time.

Maths Competition

Last night 4 of our Year 11 pupils took part in the first ever Rochdale Sixth Form College Maths Challenge. 6 teams competed against one another in a series of 3 rounds. The first round was an individual round whereas the second and third were team challenges. It was a very tense evening with St Cuthbert's being in joint first after the first round. After the second round St Cuthbert's were still in the lead.

The third round was made up of 6 tough questions for which each team only had 4 minutes to complete them. After an anxious wait while the marks were added up St Cuthbert's were named as the overall winners. The 4 pupils were M. Haynes, H. Peel, T. Bullock and J. Dinnen. It was a fantastic evening and the pupils should be extremely proud of themselves. Well Done!

Easter Revision Sessions/Events

Tuesday 29 March: RE revision (for selected students only).
Thursday 31 March: London Arts Trips
Tuesday 5 April: Art Examination Preparation
Weds 16 April: English and Maths Dearne Valley revision trip

Highest Achievers

Year 7 Ben Orchard
Year 8 Jordan Breakwell
Year 9 Tanniqua Heyliger
Year 10 Stacey Openshaw
Year 11 Chloe Kennedy

Attendance Winners

Year 7: 7.5
Year 8: 8.2
Year 9: 9.1
Year 10 10.3
Year 11: 11.9

Expressive Arts news: 'Stars of the Week'

Poppy Kinsella for fabulous show designs.
Gosia Halaczek for completing her Media folder independently.
Joe Maloney for his 'tectonic' bass vocals in the end of term liturgies.

This week our drama students have been preparing for their GCSE drama exam which takes place on Wednesday. We wish all of our students the best of luck.

REwards

Congratulations to the RE rewards winners this week who have been awarded 50 Vivos for their positive contributions to their RE lessons last week:

Mrs Bowden: Kwame Eaton
Mr Hall: Chloe Kennedy
Mr Kenny: Saffron Harrison-Wood
Miss Steciuk: Savanna Turner
Mrs Walters: Ryan Brosnan