Don't Stop Believin' by the Concert Band

During the lockdown, members of Saint Cecilia’s Concert Band had been missing their weekly rehearsals and numerous performances (or rather Mr Robinson was), and so the band recorded their individual parts to "Don't Stop Believin' ", a very fitting title for the Coronavirus situation. Over 40 members of the Concert Band recorded themselves at home and submitted their videos. Mr Berry put together the audio, and Mr Robinson put together the videos and then synced with the audio. We are very happy with the end result, and very proud of all our young musicians. Whilst not a replacement for the tour to the South of France that was meant to take place in July, or the performance at the Royal Albert Hall that was due to take place in April, this has provided much joy to the young musicians and teachers. 

Watch it here on our YouTube channel.

Saint Cecilia's Concert Band is the school's most prestigious instrumental ensemble, performing widely across London and Europe, and now online! The Concert Band is a 60 member strong ensemble, with musicians who are beginners to those who have taken their diploma. The Concert Band repertoire encompasses a range of styles, from West End musicals, to Film scores, popular songs and classical transcriptions. The band perform to an incredibly high standard, and are perform at a range of functions, both inside and outside of school. 

Met Police Holiday Activity Scheme comes to Saint Cecilia’s School

The Metropolitan Police will be running their successful holiday activity scheme for 9-16 at Saint Cecilia’s School for four weeks in the summer holidays.  The summer camp comes under the Parallel Youth Enterprise, a registered charity and, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and the 'Covid-19' situation, will deliver a four week youth project from 10 am to 4 pm on weekdays from Tuesday 28 July to Thursday 20 August.

For just £25 a week, young people can participate in a range of activities.  The extensive programme of activities includes on-site workshops featuring music, dance, computers, video, arts & crafts, beautician & hair care, face painting and more.  Ongoing sports sessions will include football, basketball etc. and in the sports hall table tennis, badminton and pool.  Off site trips include adventure centres, a trampoline arena, London Dungeon, canoeing, sailing, rock climbing, London Zoo, ten pin bowling and ice skating.

Full details, including how to book can be found at:  https://www.wandsworthsummercamp.org/projects

Welcome back Years 10 and 12

We are excited to welcome some Year 10 and 12 pupils and students back to school from next Monday (15 June 2020). Parents have already been sent detailed guidance and pupil timetables. Year 10 pupils must be at school no earlier than 9.30am and no later than 9.50am. Students in Year 12 must be at school no earlier than 10.30am and no later than 10.50am. We are being exact in these timing to ensure we can manage safe entry into school and a prompt start to lessons. All pupils should travel directly home and not congregate in Southfields.

In line with Government guidance, Years 7, 8 and 9 continue to work remotely.  Teachers are setting work for these pupils who follow their normal timetable.

Saint Cecilia's Bake off Results!

Thank you to everyone who took part in our very own Bake Off Challenge. The task was to get creative and produce a sweet or savoury signature bake with the theme of ‘A Tribute to Key Workers’. Children then had to send a photograph of their creations to their House Leader with a short description of what it would taste like and perhaps a little story behind it! 

We are so proud of the floods of insatiable entries we received and the incredible stories that went along with them. We had some wonderful entries – cookies, flans, cakes, cupcakes, brownies (to name a few). The standard was unbelievably high that Paul and Pru would have been impressed for sure. The House Leaders really struggled to pick just one front-runner from each House. Congratulations to everyone who took part and in particular to our two joint winners: Ruby Sims (Archimedes) and Lucy Thompson (Newton) who each win 1,000 points for their Houses. Well done!

Ms Wood, Teacher of English, Newton House Leader

Pupils volunteer 1,000 hours for community projects

Our Duke of Edinburgh students volunteer over 1,000 hours for community projects
June 1-7th is Volunteers’ Week – the annual celebration of the contribution made by millions of volunteers around the UK.  I’d like to take this opportunity to herald all our pupils who volunteer as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. We run Bronze and Silver awards and are now offering the Gold Award to our Sixth Form students. In the last year, 125 of our Year 9 and 10 pupils have given a total of 1,157 hours of their time to helping others. Our pupils have helped the elderly, supported environmental projects, worked at local charity shops, led sports groups and volunteered at various school clubs and in faith communities. This is a huge collaborative achievement and is of enormous benefit to our local community. Thank you to them all!

When will the school reopen?

We are asked this question frequently by parents and students alike. We, like all other schools, have to follow the guidance from Government and cannot open until we are told it is safe to do so. There have been reports in the press this week that the PM, Boris Johnson, will be announcing on Sunday 10 May the Government’s plan to ease lockdown. This may include guidance to schools on how and when we can start opening our doors. All we know so far is that the Dept for Education is considering a ‘phased manner’ to reopening schools – but we do not yet know any further detail of these plans.

The Senior Leadership Team will take the guidance given by Government and create a robust plan to return to school safely for pupils, staff and the wider community. We expect to be able to circulate this to parents in good time before children are due to return.

Our School Is Temporarily Closed

Following Government guidance, as of Friday 20 March, Saint Cecilia’s closed due to Covid-19. We have only remained open for the small number of children whose parents are key workers and who need us to look after their child so that they can continue to work. We have also made provision for some of our other children who we believe to be vulnerable.

Until we are able to open again, our children’s learning is being fully supported through Show My Homework where lesson plans and resources are updated daily. Mentors are also continuing to contact all children regularly.

We will update our school community when the position becomes clear regarding opening our doors again for all staff, pupils and students.

Fairfield Hall - Wandsworth Schools' 'Winter Sounds' Concert.

Ella Wild, Year 9 -

Last Thursday evening Saint Cecilia’s concert band took to the newly reopened Fairfield Halls stage to play as part of Wandsworth Schools’ ‘Winter Sounds’ concert. They were among 500 children from schools across the borough to take part. The concert band opened up the night by playing Also Sprach Zarathusa by Richard Strauss (also known as the title music from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Pop and Rock Legends: Stevie Wonder. Both were a huge success, with excellent playing from all. It was the result of hard work and dedication from both the band and teachers.