As ever, the start to the term has been tremendously busy! Our first week back in school has seen some of our Year 10 pupils sitting their very first set of external examinations, (and with these, as with all examinations, we wish them every success!), and we have celebrated a wonderful Presentation Evening in which pupils from the current Year 11 up to those who completed Year 13 at Bishop Vaughan in August 2018 received awards in recognition of both their achievement and their effort.
We were delighted to be joined by a number of special guests presenting awards, these including our school Governors, the Diocesan Director of Education, parents of former pupils, our Assembly Member Mr. Mike Hedges and members of the Catenian Association, Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Angrove. The pupils giving the keynote speech did an excellent job in providing us with some thought-provoking subject matter whilst delivering this with humour and warmth. Well done to all! Well done also to those pupils that provided musical entertainment that ranged from the Radetzky March to musical theatre solo items currently being studied as examination pieces.
The focus of the evening was, of course, those pupils receiving awards and there were several new awards made this year, these including the Cicero Prize for achievement in Classics, presentations to those achieving their Bronze and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards and presentations to those pupils that have made a valued contribution to our work as a Rights Respecting School. Congratulations, therefore, to Maria Vieira, Maya Ingham, Niamh Jones, Jovin Jose, Jennifer Parry, Aleksandra Figura, Ira Go, Sophie McFenton, Jess Beech and Alisha Moran. The Oak Sutherland Prize was awarded to a most deserving Kaitlyn Millis and the Caritas Prizes to Ben McCarthy, Ethan Fage, Joe Cura and Peter Crudge, who have all demonstrated Christian Love in Action through their work in service of others. Sebastien Lewis and Ffion Williams were the recipients of the Kristy Lear Award and the recipient of the Catenian Award was Laity Watters whose award was collected by a family friend as she could not join us on the evening itself. Joseph Cura received the Headteacher’s Award for his exemplification of the Gospel values in all that he does. From his extensive charity work within school to that within his parishes, and from his dedication and diligence to his warmth of character, Joe has certainly contributed immeasurably to the school. As stated during the evening, those receiving awards were representative of the very many receiving certificates, prizes and other forms of recognition throughout the school year, and we look forward to the Lower School Presentation Evening later in the academic year.
This term, we continue our work on the Catholic Pupil Profile with a focus on the paired values of being eloquent and truthful. We are focusing on expressing our ideas and opinions clearly and with conviction, whilst choosing our words carefully so they are kind and compassionate and don’t hurt others. We can also express ourselves eloquently in forms other than with words and we will therefore be striving to use our creative gifts to say things in ways that are interesting, truthful, memorable and faithful. Similarly, we will be examining the importance of truth and integrity in all that we do. We are looking forward to hosting a Children’s Rights Celebration with our cluster of schools later this month, confident that pupils from our primary feeder schools will themselves prove most eloquent ambassadors for the rights of others, and advocates for truth and fairness.
With congratulations to all that have received awards or participated in the events of this first week of the term, and with best wishes to all pupils and their families for 2019.
Mrs Pole