Congratulations to all of our Sixth Formers on their A Level results this week! We are extremely proud of everything they have achieved. Their excellent results reflect their hard work, dedication and commitment during a challenging year. As we say goodbye to our Year 13 students, we wish them every success in the future. May they continue to fly high!
Picture: Zoe (Head Girl), Hector (Head Boy) and Renata Joseph
Ball boy Maximus had the opportunity to meet HRH the Duchess of Cambridge on finals day at the Wimbledon Championships 2021 - a memorable experience!
Congratulations to Dimona, Archie, Ruby, Maximus, Amy, Jacob and Raphaela who were selected to be ball boys and ball girls at the Wimbledon Championships 2021. They were excellent ambassadors of our school and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Anzah (Year 7) attended the Sky WellChild Award ceremony this week and we are very proud to share the news with the school community that she won an award and met Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, at the prestigious event. The awards were broadcast on Sky News and YouTube—well done Anzah! The awards celebrate the inspirational qualities of children who are facing huge challenges and Prince Harry is WellChild’s only patron.
Inspirational Child 7-11 Years Award
Anzah Arwani
11-year-old Anzah from Battersea has complex neurological disorders which affect every aspect of her daily life, from walking and eating to coping with anxiety attacks. Despite these challenges Anzah is fiercely independent. She attends mainstream school and takes part in lots of activities. She has won awards with her frame football team and, having overcome her phobia of water, certificates for her swimming. Anzah has constantly defied doctors’ expectations. Through hard work and determination she can now take a few independent steps and even overcame her anxiety disorder to address a room of 100 people.
Saint Cecilia’s is excited to announce the appointment of Lucy Bush and James Owen as Deputy Headteachers. Renata Joseph, Headteacher says, “The appointment of two new Deputy Headteachers marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Saint Cecilia’s School. We already have dedicated and highly qualified staff to be proud of, and I strongly believe Lucy and James will be a huge asset to our school community. They will help us develop and promote our excellent curriculum and teaching.”
Lucy Bush is currently Assistant Headteacher at Guildford County School in addition to being Head of Learning and Teaching. Lucy says, “I am excited about joining Saint Cecilia’s School as Deputy Headteacher working alongside James. In my previous role, I was responsible for developing all areas of the curriculum and teaching and strove to ensure excellence across learning for pupils and staff alike. I am looking forward to working with a new group of colleagues and pupils, and sharing my knowledge and skills to help provide an outstanding education to all our pupils.”
James Owen is currently Deputy Headteacher at Hampton High. James says, “I’m really looking forward to helping pupils and students get back into a normal school environment and helping them to be successful and grow in confidence. I am eager to be part of a community that greatly values education and nurtures each individual. I will bring my experience of working in co-educational schools to help promote and build on Saint Cecilia’s already excellent reputation.”
A sixth house is needed for the increased number of pupils coming in for September 2021. After much discussion and deliberation, the new sixth house continues the house tradition of the school and the school’s vision and Christian ethos: to have life and to do so abundantly.
The new school house will be named Carter, after the inspirational female jazz musician: Betty Carter.
A Brief Overview of Betty Carter (1930-1998)
Carter was an American jazz musician, known for her improvisational techniques and complex singing including scat singing. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: "There's really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter.”
Her passion for jazz, her resilience and independence, despite the pressures to conform to styles of the time, led her to create her own label called Bet-Car Records which became the sole recording source of Carter's music for 18 years.
Carter often recruited young accompanists for performances and recordings, insisting that she "learned a lot from these young players, because they're raw and they come up with things that I would never think about doing."
1993 was Carter's biggest year of innovation, creating a program called Jazz Ahead, which took 20 students who were given the opportunity to spend an entire week training and composing with Carter, a program that still exists to this day and is hosted in The Kennedy Center.
How will Carter House fit with the current house system?
Betty Carter also fits well with the house system as the third musician, equaling the number of mathematicians and musicians that make up the houses. Her surname also fits well with SAINT-C to represent ‘Cecilia’s’ in the school’s name.
Pupils in Carter House will wear ties with an orange stripe, a strong dynamic and energetic colour that fits with the current bright colours of the existing houses.
How will pupils know if they’re in Carter House?
We will not be pulling pupils from an existing house to join the new house. So, for example, if your child is in Newton, they will remain in Newton. Instead, our new Year 7s in September 2021, will start the 6th house and Carter House will build from there, year in, year out, until pupils from Year 7 to 13 populate the house.
We look forward to welcoming new Carter House pupils with a new house leader in September!
Former student Sharon, who left our Sixth Form last year, was kind enough to return to school and report on her first year at Jesus College, Cambridge, describing her experience there as a Black student. The Sixth Formers and teachers who attended thoroughly enjoyed her informative and entertaining talk, and we are very grateful to Sharon for sharing her impressions.
The committed group of DofE volunteers from Year 9 to Year 12 has been awarded a social value certificate which reflects all the hard work they have dedicated to their community.
Volunteering is a key part of the DofE programme as it is proven to have a huge impact both on a young person's life and on the wider community. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, pupils have managed to devote a phenomenal 767 hours to volunteering between April 2020 and March 2021, with a social value of £3,489.85.
The pupils were involved in a huge range of activities including:
Cooking meals for Merton emergency accommodation project and frail/shielding people in Merton
Assisting in the school library and after school clubs
Assisting neighbours who were shielding by cooking meals, delivering groceries, and picking up medications
Writing letters to elderly people in care homes to minimise loneliness during the pandemic
Assisting various local food banks
Hosting weekly zoom games nights and parties for family members who might be shielding or lonely.
Online conservation work by doing animal identifications all over the world
Coaching and teaching music for a church choir
Litter picking in neighbourhoods and parks
Working to assist in the cleaning and maintenance of horse stables
Coaching and leadership for intermediate dance troupes and tennis groups
Helping siblings with homework, maths and reading skills during lockdown
Huge congratulations and keep up the good work!
CONTACT US Address: Saint Cecilia’s Church of England School, Sutherland Grove, London, SW18 5JR Telephone: 020 8780 1244 Email: info@saintcecilias.london
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