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Archived News

• Thursday 8 December 2022 Advent Carol Service On Thursday, 8th December, we held our annual Advent service of readings and carols in our school hall, full of parents, pupils and staff. After having to postpone the carol service last year due to the concerns of the Covid Omicron virus, it was wonderful to resume our normal Advent celebrations this year.
• Wednesday 7 December 2022 St Mary's hosts the annual Croydon Deanery Schools' Mass St Mary’s Catholic High School was delighted to host this year’s annual Croydon Deanery Schools’ Mass. Staff from all the Catholic schools in our deanery were invited to celebrate Mass in our local parish church of St Mary’s, West Croydon, followed by a reception in the parish hall.
• Friday 2 December 2022 Year 11 Awards Evening On Thursday, 1st December, we welcomed back last year's Year 11 students, along with their parents, to our annual prize-giving celebration evening.
• Wednesday 23 November 2022 St Mary's lights up for Red Wednesday We lit up the front of our school on Wednesday, 23rd November in support of Aid to the Church in Need's Red Wednesday campaign. Red Wednesday is a global campaign highlighting the need to break the silence on the persecution of Christians and all faiths, globally.
• Monday 14 November 2022 Year 11's residential weekend at Hindleap Warren Year 11 is a really important year for students as they prepare for their public examinations as well as looking forward to their post-16 choices, and we at St Mary’s Catholic High School are committed to putting as much support in place for them as possible. Once again, we took Year 11 on a residential weekend trip to an outdoor pursuits centre, Hindleap Warren, where they participate in a variety of team building games led by the centre staff, and specialist subject lessons delivered by our teachers who will accompany them. The purpose of the weekend is partly to help students gain a deeper understanding of the significance of revision and also to build relationships and a team ethos in the year group as they go into the most important year of their education so far.
• Sunday 30 October 2022 Wicked Rewards Trip On Wednesday 19th October, fifty students embarked on a journey to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to watch Wicked, the musical. The fifty lucky students were chosen because they have a high level of achievement points - in fact, they are the top twenty from each year group. After half term, if will be the top twenty students from Year 9 and 10, along with the remaining Year 11s who get to go.
• Thursday 20 October 2022 Students visit St Bernadette's relics On Thursday, 20th October, students selected from Bernadette House travelled to St George's Cathedral to visit the sacred relics of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. The relics have been on a national tour of England and Wales and were at St George's Cathedral for just two days this week. This was a unique experience for our students, and one which will live long in their memories.
• Wednesday 5 October 2022 Student Leadership Training Event Our Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl attended a leadership training event at Christ the King Sixth Form on Wednesday, 5th October. The student leaders participated in events such as: what it means to be a leader; how to be an effective leader in our school; how to communicate effectively; project planning; and tasks to help develop teamwork.
• Friday 30 September 2022 St Mary's students attend The Beginning of New School Year Mass Our students attended the Start of New School Year Mass, on the Feast of St Jerome, at St George's Cathedral this morning, along with other schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark. The annual Mass is a wonderful opportunity for our School and College communities in the Archdiocese of Southwark to come together, as the body of Christ.
• Tuesday 27 September 2022 Fr Michael celebrates our Year 7 Welcome Mass On Tuesday, 27th September, we welcomed Fr Michael to our school as the celebrant at our Year 7 Welcome Mass for new students and their parents.
• Tuesday 20 September 2022 Fr Patrick commissions our new Student Leaders On Tuesday, 20th September, in front of a whole school assembly, our new Student Leadership Team and House Captains were commissioned with a blessing from Fr Patrick, our parish priest. our Chair of Governors Bernard Tomkins also came to meet them all. They will be living out our core values of Welcome Hard Work and Service.
• Friday 16 September 2022 BBC100 - 'Share Your Story' visits St Mary's On Friday, 16th September we had guests from the BBC in to talk to all year groups as part of their 100-year celebration 'Share Your Story'.
• Thursday 25 August 2022 St Mary's students achieve outstanding GCSE results On Thursday, 25th August, Year 11 students collected their GCSE and vocational examination results. While the news media reported a national drop in GCSE grades this year, particularly in the higher grades, it is wonderful to report that our students received the best set of recorded results in the school’s 170-year history.
• Friday 24 June 2022 Duke of Edinburgh Award Practice Expeditions This week saw the inaugural Duke of Edinburgh Award cohort at St Mary's go out for the practice and training aspect of the final section of the Award: The Expedition. For successful completion of this section of the Award, participants are required to complete a two-day, self-sufficient hike with a night camping. Participants must plan the route they will walk in lowland countryside, prepare their own food, and master the necessary camp-craft.
• Tuesday 21 June 2022 Year 7 Retreat to Aylesford Priory On Tuesday, 21st June, Year 7 students went on retreat to Aylesford Priory for the day. For most this was their first school trip since Year 4 in primary school.
• Tuesday 3 May 2022 St Mary's raises £1035 for CAFOD during Lent 2022 Students and staff raised an amazing £1035 for CAFOD's 'Walk against Hunger' and CAFOD's 'Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal' during Lent this year. Our school has a rich tradition in supporting CAFOD over the Lent period going back many years, but this year there was special impetus because of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Students and staff donated coins each day during form time, and in the last week of term a special non-uniform day raised the bulk of the money raised.
• Thursday 28 April 2022 Young Citizens Mock Magistrates' Court Trial Students from Years 8, 9 and 10 competed in a virtual Young Citizens Magistrates Court Mock Trial on Wednesday, 27th April. They were competing against other schools from across South London.
• Friday 8 April 2022 Year 8 Walk Against Hunger In thislast week of term, all Year 8 students took part in CAFOD’s Walk Against Hunger, by walking laps of our upper playground in solidarity with our poorest sisters and brothers around the world. Solidarity is a key element of Catholic Social Teaching, with students aware that their actions and prayers for those less fortunate are of great importance in fighting our world’s inequalities.
• Monday 4 April 2022 'Growing Against Violence' Workshops St Mary's continues its effective work in supporting our students counter youth violence. Welcoming 'Growing Against Violence' into school to deliver their workshop to students across KS3 to explore themes around Youth Violence both locally and nationally is just part of our ongoing effective work around this important issue. The workshop was delivered by a group of professionals across a number of fields from the organisation ‘Growing Against Violence’; each delivering their own unique insight and experience of youth violence.
• Wednesday 30 March 2022 Our Lenten Liturgy, with local primary schools This year's Lenten Liturgy was made even more special by the attendance of pupils from St Mary's Catholic Junior School and St James the Great RC Primary School, who both contributed beautifully with hymns and readings, focusing on Jesus fasting and praying in the desert, through to the Resurrection.
• Friday 11 March 2022 National Careers Week 2022 This year's National Careers Week was a great success at St Mary’s with every student having access to a range of Careers activities across the curriculum, and also several inspirational guest speakers at various House assemblies each day.
• Thursday 3 March 2022 World Book Day 2022 Thursday, 3rd March saw scores of students at our school dresses as characters from their favourite books, joining students across the world to celebrate World Book Day 2022. All week, students had special assemblies, led by Miss Garrett, Head of English, in preparation for the big day.
• Wednesday 2 March 2022 Ash Wednesday at St Mary's With the reduction in COVID restrictions, celebrating Ash Wednesday in a more customary manner was especially important for our school community, being the start of the most important season in the Church’s year - Lent.
• Monday 21 February 2022 Early Birds at the Maths Booster and Breakfast Club! Well done to the 46 students, and their teachers, who attended the first session of the Maths Booster and Breakfast Club from 7.30 - 8.30am this morning.
• Sunday 20 February 2022 Empower Me at St Mary's Empower Me is a session run after school each Wednesday which is open to all year groups. Here you come to talk and write about your dreams, aspirations, and goals and how to achieve them with timelines.
• Friday 11 February 2022 Jordanne Returns We are delighted to welcome back to St Mary’s former Head Girl, Jordanne H. Since leaving our school in 2017, Jordanne studied Inclusive Theatre at the Chicken Shed Theatre Company and is now studying Educational Studies at Greenwich University.
• Monday 31 January 2022 Celebrating the Feast of St John Bosco Today, Monday, 31st January, students in St John Bosco House in our school celebrate the feast day of their patron saint. To mark the special day, each studentwill be given a special prayer card to remind them of the significance of 'Don Bosco', the“Father and Teacher of Youth.”
• Friday 21 January 2022 St Mary's inspection reports published We are delighted to report that, within days of each other, both reports from our recentinspections have been published, to great acclaim. In November, Ofsted carried out a Section 8 Inspection, closely followed in December by the equally important Diocesan Section 48 Inspection.
• Thursday 20 January 2022 Great St Mary's Bake Off kicks off in style! The inaugural Great St Mary's Bake Off was held on Wednesday 19th January. Contestants were tasked with making chocolate brownies and were given an array of additions to make their brownies stand out in taste, texture, and appearance, in order to be crowned Star Bakers.
• Tuesday 11 January 2022 Year 11s study skills workshops with Elevate On Tuesday 11th January, we were delighted to welcome the team from Elevate to our school. The team offered workshops on revision, study skills and time management to all our Year 11 students as they prepare for their upcoming mock examinations and the summer public examinations.
• Wednesday 22 December 2021 The Manna Society - our Advent Charity At Advent, St Mary's school community has always collected for the poor and hungry. This year we have been supporting The Manna Society, a charity which helps the homeless in London.
• Wednesday 15 December 2021 Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at St Mary's For the first time in our history, St Mary's Catholic High School has been accredited to run the Duke of Edinburgh's (DoE) Award Scheme. Whereas many of our students have achieved the award over the years, this has always been done through outside youth organisations, such as the scouts, guides, police cadets, etc.
• Tuesday 7 December 2021 'Go Green Day' for CAFOD On Tuesday, 30th November St Mary's students and staff raised £193 towards our CAFOD 'Go Green Day'. We asked students to wear their normal uniform on that day, but to wear one item of bright green clothing as part of their uniform - hats, ties, gloves, t-shirts, scarfs, socks, jumpers, hoodies and more were worn.
• Wednesday 24 November 2021 Macmillan Cancer Support Cake Sale Thank you to everyone who supported last week's student lead cake sale for Macmillan Cancer Support. We have raised nearly £500, which is a magnificent effort. Students have also learnt about teamwork and leadership as well as economics and business.
• Wednesday 17 November 2021 Student Leadership Training On Wednesday, 17th November, our Student Leadership Team took part in an online training afternoon organised by Unloc and Christ the King Sixth Form College. It is a delight once again to work with Christ the King Sixth Form College; an important partnership with a Catholic post-16 provider in developing the potential of our senior students.
• Tuesday 16 November 2021 Year 11 Careers Event Year 11 students and their parents had the opportunity to meet with representatives from a range ofpost-16 providers at this week’s parents’ consultation evening. Organised by Miss Delaney, the representatives set up theirdisplays in the school’s dining roomin order that all students and their parents couldvisit them as they arrived for meetings with their subject teachers.
• Thursday 11 November 2021 Remembering the Fallen On Thursday, 11th November our school once again remembered those who have died in the First and Second World War, and inconflicts since then.
• Wednesday 20 October 2021 Sarah Jones MP visits St Mary's We were delighted once again to welcome our local MP, Sarah Jones, to St Mary's this morning. Having been a great supporter of local schools since being elected to Parliament in 2017, Sarah is currently Shadow Minister of State for Police and Fire Service. She met with a group of senior students who were keen to talk to her about her role as the MP for Croydon Central. Sarah spoke about the importance of listening to the concerns of the local community in order to inform those directing the national agenda and, in light of the tragic death of David Amess, the importance of dealing with extremism and reducing the rise in online hatred as well as the physical intimidation of those who may have different views or beliefs.
• Saturday 16 October 2021 Former Head Girl, Breea, returns to inspire Year 10 students Former Head Girl Breea was a welcome guest speaker today for our Year 10 Business Studies groups. She was able to speak to the students about her time since leaving St Mary’s, including starting her own successful cake business ‘Brees Bakes’ from scratch. Sheoutlined how she started her business from the initial idea; market research; finance; marketing; and production. Breea answered a full range of questions about her business, including the challenges she has faced.
• Wednesday 6 October 2021 Open Evening welcomes Year 6 parents and pupils On Tuesday, 5th October, St Mary?s was delighted to welcome prospective pupils and parents to our Open Evening. With the relaxation of COVID restrictions, it was wonderful to see so many take the opportunity to visit our school in person, to tour the school, chat with staff and pupils, and listen to a talk from Mr Shields, our Headteacher, along with the Head Girl and Boy.
• Monday 4 October 2021 Proud2Be - Black History Month at St Mary's As part of Black History Month students will be following the Croydon theme Proud2Be. Local events have been organised by Croydon BME Forum in partnership with Croydon Council.
• Tuesday 21 September 2021 Year 7 Welcome Mass On Tuesday, 21st September we were delighted to welcome Fr Peter Sebastian from our local parish church of St Mary’s, West Croydon to celebrate a Welcome Mass for all Year 7 students, along with their parents and teachers. This was the first Mass celebrated at our school since the COVID restrictions were imposed. As a result of missing their Mass last year, Year 8 students and their parents were also invited to join the Year 7 families, and we are pleased to see that many took up the offer.
• Monday 20 September 2021 CAFOD's 'Eyes of the World' Campaign This summer, all Year 7 students took part in an art project, organised by Mrs Goodwin, in support of CAFOD’s ‘Eyes of the World' campaign. Using either cool and warm colours, each student created a small jigsaw segment of these four large eyes.
• Monday 20 September 2021 Year 11 at Hindleap Warren Eighty-eight Year 11 students took part in the Residential Revision and Activity Weekend at Hindleap Warren outdoor centre in Ashdown Forest, from Friday, 17th to Sunday, 19th September. The staff from the centre were full of praise for their behaviour, support for one another, and explained that they were a pleasant group to host. Our students, yet again, proved to be great ambassadors for our school, and for their families.
• Monday 6 September 2021 Summer School 2021 In August 2021, fifty students from the current Year 7 and 8 cohorts embarked on a journey of performance, art, cookery, and wellbeing. Tasked with preparing a performance of one of Shakespeare?s most famous comedies,
• Thursday 2 September 2021 St Mary's School celebrates its 170th Anniversary On Thursday, 2nd September 2021, St Mary's celebrates the 170th anniversary of its foundation, making it one of the longest established schools in Croydon, and one of the oldest Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark.
• Thursday 12 August 2021 Year 11's collect their GCSE Results Warmest congratulations to our Year 11 students who collected their GCSE and BTEC results at school today. These students deserve much praise for their hard work, enthusiasm and commitment towards their studies, despite both years of their courses being severely disrupted by the enforced lockdowns. We are especially proud of the resilience that each one has shown, being determined to do their best at all times, meeting, or in most cases, exceeded expectations.
• Friday 16 July 2021 Year 11s leave in style! Year 11 students completed their time at St Mary?s in real style, and deservedly so, as this group has had both years of their important Key Stage 4 severely disrupted. Despite the setbacks to their GCSE and BTEC examination courses, students in this year group will be remembered for their positive attitude, engagement and resilience. During the enforced lockdown, they engaged fully with remote learning, and since the return to school, their attendance has been remarkable - the highest of any Year 11 cohort for many years.
• Thursday 15 July 2021 It's a Bugs Life in the Art Club! Key Stage 3 students have had a great time in the Art Club enrichment activity this term making a wonderful display of exotic bugs for display, with Mrs Goodwin and Mrs Wiseman. Constructed of papier-m?ch?, wire and tissue students used the brightest colour paints available to enhance their fantastic bugs.
• Tuesday 13 July 2021 Year 7 enjoy their 'Animal Experience' On Tuesday 13th July, as part of Year 7's 'drop-down' day, we welcomed The Animal Experience once again to our school. Our students had a unique opportunity to learn about a wide variety of rare and endangered creatures within the safety of the classroom.
• Friday 2 July 2021 Euro 2020 motivates St Mary's students in their school work Over the course of the ongoing Euro 2020 football championship, St Mary’s has been holding a ‘Euro 2020 Rewards’ scheme for all students. At the end of each lesson, teachers nominate one student as ‘Star Player’ for their hard work, effort or commitment. As well as their parents/carers being informed, the names of all the nominated ‘Star Player’ students are put into a weekly draw, and 10 winners are selected to win a special healthy lifestyle prize. Prizes include: sports equipment; footballs; drinking bottles; skipping ropes; kit bags; art materials; reading books; and much more.
• Thursday 17 June 2021 Year 11 summer term careers activities success While many schools simply waved goodbye to their Year 11 students at the end of their recent examinations at half-term, St Mary?s Year 11s spent their last few weeks at school engaged in a whole range of challenging and developmental activities. All students took full advantage of the range of opportunities available in a carefully crafted programme of events with a variety of on and off-site activities, all possible despite the ongoing COVID restrictions.
• Monday 31 May 2021 Students respond to Pope Francis' call for a 'Marathon of Prayer' During the past month, St Mary’s students have responded to Pope Francis’ call for a ‘Marathon of Prayer’ to bring about an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, which has seen so many people in our own country fall sick, and sadly, many thousands have died, is now really affecting our poorest sisters and brothers across the world.
• Monday 10 May 2021 Enrichment activities resume at St Mary's After school on Thursdays, St Mary’s students are once again able to choose from a full range of extra-curricular activities in which to participate. Music, arts, sports and much more are on offer for all students.
• Sunday 25 April 2021 National Survey of Children - The Big Ask St Mary’s Catholic High School is encouraging everyone in our school community - pupils, parents, staff and governors - to take part in the new Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza’s The Big Ask – the largest ever consultation with children aged 4 to 17 in England. It aims to find out children’s concerns and aspirations about the future, so that we can put children at the heart of our country’s recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
• Sunday 18 April 2021 St Mary's students and staff donate over £1000 to charities at Easter This Easter, St Mary’s donated over £1000 to five charities from money collected by students and staff this academic year. Despite the interruption caused by the national lockdowns, St Mary’s school community once again rose to the challenge of providing much needed support to these important local and national charities.
• Saturday 17 April 2021 St Mary's joins with four local primary schools for virtual Lenten Liturgy Following the great success of our virtual Christmas Liturgy, St Mary’s worked with four local primary schools in the production of a virtual Lenten Liturgy which has been viewed over three hundred times, as well as being the basis for end of term assemblies. Using the educational resources of the Catholic charity Missio, the liturgy focused on the fourteen Stations of The Cross, along with two Easter appropriate hymns - Christ be our Light and Lord of the Dance.

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