Canonisation
Last weekend a group of eleven from Cardinal Newman, including 4 children from Years 5 and 6, were privileged to represent our school community and our diocese at the Canonisation of Cardinal Newman in Rome. Newman is the first English saint since the Reformation to be recognised by the Catholic Church and it was therefore an enormous occasion, not only in the life of our school but also in the life of the Catholic Church in England. We joined a congregation of around 100,000 for the Mass in St Peter’s Square and the children enjoyed seeing the variety of flags and hearing the range of languages of all the different people who make up “the family of God.” The school’s press release on the occasion can be found here and the very significant article written by Prince Charles, who attended the Canonisation in his role as future Head of the Church of England, can be found here.
In next week’s Collective Worship, the children will present their impressions of the occasion to the whole school and to the parishes who so kindly supported the pilgrimage, so that the legacy of the Canonisation can be shared by the whole community. We look forward to continuing to reflect on Newman’s life and example in the months and years ahead and it is important that our children (and indeed all of us!) are able to answer the question put to the four pilgrims in Rome by the Vatican News channel EWTN: Why is Cardinal Newman special to you? As we return to the normal routines of school life, let us revel in the change to our school prayer: Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us.
Trip to Lourdes (24th – 30th July 2020 tbc)
Following the success of our Rome trip, we are hoping to gather a small Cardinal Newman group as part of the annual diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes in July. The link to Cardinal Newman school can be tenuous – bring along grannies, aunties, neighbours etc! The more, the merrier! There is some general information on the diocesan website here and specific information about the Family Group here. The new information for next year is not yet out, but the unconfirmed dates are believed to be 24th – 30th July 2020.
Helpers are always needed as the number of sick and elderly wanting to join the pilgrimage is always greater than the number of helpers available, no matter how many helpers there are! Helping might involve pushing a wheelchair, keeping someone company, organising logistics (carrying medical equipment etc) or working in the Accueil (hospital) as an unskilled helper (or doctor or nurse etc if you happen to be trained in those areas!) The diocese run a highly successful programme for young people in Years 10 and 11 called Redshirts – they can travel with/without their family and have their own itinerary. About 100 young people are involved in Redshirts every year.
We will host an information evening about the Lourdes trip in the New Year, but would encourage you to keep the dates free if you are interested in joining the trip either as an individual or as a whole family.
Active Lifestyles
Information is coming out to you today regarding a new initiative inspired by the Tokyo Olympics next year and designed to support families to keep active. We know many of our families participate in lots of sporting activities through the week, but children do enjoy a new challenge, so I would encourage all families to engage with the “Travel to Tokyo” programme to continue to support healthy lifestyles for our children.
We would like to congratulate Mallena Davydova on her recent success in the “Best of the Best” Karate Championships. Mallena practises at the Hurricane Karate Club and won a Gold medal in “kata” (forms) and a Bronze medal in “kumite” (controlled fight) in the championships. Mallena has now qualified for the World Championship training squad. Well done Mallena – we are all very proud of you!
Democracy in Action
Congratulations also to all those who participated in the School Council elections this week, both as candidates or as electors. It is fantastic for the children to have an opportunity to experience democracy in action and they were, as always, very excited to be able to cast their votes in the ballot boxes. A full list of the winning candidates can be found here.
E-Safety
With the release of Fortnite Chapter 2 (age limit 13+), we would encourage you to check the settings your children are using when accessing online games of all kinds. There is advice for parents specifically around Fortnite Chapter 2 and on other online issues on our website here. If you find some particularly good sources of advice for online safety, do please share them with the office so we can add them to the page.
Would you like to teach?
Our Xavier Catholic Education Trust are always keen to support new and career-change teachers in their initial training. We are working with Teach South East to support Taster Days and Interview Days for those who would like to find out more about beginning “school-centred initial teacher training” (SCITT). Our annual SCITT Taster Day will be on the morning of Friday 15th November 2019. There are other Taster Days around the Trust. For more information or to register, please contact: c.brown@sjb.surrey.sch.uk or visit: https://www.teachsoutheast.co.uk/
With best wishes
Catherine Burnham
Congratulations to Luma (Year 3), winner of the
