Well, it’s been another exceptionally busy month, and there has certainly been a real sense of endeavouring to triumph over adversity – ‘per ardua ad alta’! With the lovely events of September, such as the Enrichment Days, the Presentation Evening and our exhibition, having taken place in our Main Hall, we were devastated that the school experienced flood damage during the storms of the final weekend of the month, which affected so much of the city. Our beautiful Main Hall, with its distinctive parquet flooring which has been in place throughout the school’s history, was ruined and the Hall will be unusable for several months. Nevertheless we have been thoroughly impressed by the swift work undertaken address the situation. As pupils and parents will be aware, while it has been necessary to put in place a closure day to facilitate the necessary work, by the time pupils return to school next week, there will be a brand new temporary replacement Hall in place! This speedy work has been critical to ensuring that we have an exams hall in time for the GCSE examinations that will be taking place as soon as term resumes. It has been impressive to see the contractors working late into the evening under flood lighting, and they will be working hard throughout the half term break to complete this project. We wish all of those pupils currently revising for these exams every success!
The 'Year of the Word' has started in Bishop Vaughan as it has across the parishes of the Diocese and across the country. During this special year, which started on the Feast of Saint Jerome, 30 September 2019, and which runs until 31 December 2020, we are “called to explore and celebrate the Word of God through the Scriptures, share the Word with others and respond to the "God who speaks" in the way that we live.” Our pupils are focusing on the Word of God in numerous ways and, echoing their work for the exhibition on ‘The Faith That Binds Us’, they are working on several pieces for a Diocesan exhibition in July next year. We look forward to sharing with all parents and members of the Bishop Vaughan community the activities, events and celebrations associated with this. You can read more about the Year of the Word here: https://www.bishopvaughan.co.uk/the-year-of-the-word
The ‘Mission Together’ work of both primary and secondary schools, for which the Charity Team raised several hundred pounds in a very short space of time, was celebrated in a beautiful 'Missio' Mass at the Cathedral which brought all schools in the Diocese together on October 16th. This was a thought-provoking celebration of the power of combined effort and of our capacity to make a real difference to the lives of others. It was wonderful to see that the tiniest infant pupils from other schools within the Diocese and the Sixth Form pupils from our own school had been united in working towards a common goal in supporting the Missio work. The energetic work of our own team of Charity and Faith Ambassadors continues and the team are currently planning lots of activities for a little later in the term! We look forward to updating you on these, and in the meantime, we wish our pupils and their families a very happy half term break, and send good luck to all those working hard on their revision!
Mrs Pole