Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Lucky the Chick

  Thu 20 May 2021

  Children at St John’s have raised their own chicken, as part of their curriculum project ‘In the field’.

  At the end of April, the school took delivery of an incubator and eggs purchased from Thomas Alleynes Academy.  

  The children were extremely excited and counted down the days until they could find out how many of the 21 eggs received were fertile. On the seventh day the children carried out a ‘candle check’ on each egg which involved using a special torch to identify which eggs had baby chicks growing inside them.

  Teachers explained to the children that some of the eggs would be ‘yokie eggs’, meaning that these eggs were not fertile. From the 21 eggs, the children identified that four of the eggs had a small black dot, which was in fact the developing chick. These eggs remained in the incubator and the others were removed.

  After nineteen days the children removed the incubator from its rocker which moved the incubator from side to side very slowly so the eggs didn’t have to be rotated. The incubator needed to maintain a temperature of 37.5 degrees and have a humidity of 44%. In order to ensure the incubator was at the correct temperature and humidity we had a special compartment to add water. On the twenty-second day, one of the eggs hatched!

  The children really enjoyed observing how the chick used its egg tooth to chip away at the shell. They also observed show the chick rotated in the shell to cut off the top and push its way out. Once it had hatched it had to remain inside the incubator until its feathers were dry. The children enjoyed watching how the appearance of the chick change and there were eager to move the chick into its egg-loo. The chick then remained in the egg-loo under a heat lamp. The children named the chick ‘Lucky’ as it was the only chick that hatched! Lucky was fed special food and given water but has now been returned to the farm at Thomas Alleyne.  However, he really made an impression on our youngsters!

   

  “I didn’t think he would be brown because chicks are yellow”  Annie, aged 5

   

  “Lucky likes it when we sing, chick, chick, chick, chick chicken” Isabelle, aged 4

   

  “When he goes back to the farm he is going to see his mummy and daddy and brothers and sisters.”  Etta, aged 4

   

  “When he gets bigger he will be a chicken!” Finley, aged 5

   

  "​He's so tiny, fluffy and cute!" Francesca, aged 4

  

• World Record Donation to Mary's Meals

  Tue 09 Mar 2021

  Painsley Catholic Academy has raised £120,000 for the global school feeding charity, Mary’s Meals, an amount that beats any other single donation from an academy.  The impressive donation is enough to feed almost 8,000 children for a whole school year through Mary’s Meals. 

   

  Back at the start of the academic year in September 2019, the 15 schools within The Painsley Catholic Academy, pledged to raise £100,000 for their chosen charity, Mary’s Meals, in a campaign they called 20:20 for Mary.   

   

  The aim was originally to meet this target by the end of the school year in July 2020.  Pupils and staff undertook a massive range of events including cake sales, sponsored silences, sponsored head-shaves, sky dives, mountain climbs, bike rides, car washes and porridge breakfasts.  

   

  Since then, Covid has pretty much changed everything over the past 12 months.  Plans have had to be cancelled and put on hold and schools had to change how they operate completely.  Despite all the challenges that the schools have faced, the students, staff and parents have continued in their support of this charity, finding ever more inventive ways of raising the cash resulting in a fantastic outcome. 

   

  Mr Steve Bell, Chief Executive Officer of The Painsley Catholic Academy commented, “Mary’s Meals is a very popular charity with our pupils.  It is a simple charity and that is what we like.   It costs just £15.90 to feed a child with Mary’s Meals for an entire school year. Research shows that children who eat Mary’s Meals: have more energy, feel healthier and happier, find it easier to concentrate and do better in school.  The school that we were raising funds for is Kafumphe Primary School, Dowa, Malawi; one of the world’s poorest countries where many families live through farming, but struggle to grow enough food.” Mr Bell continued, “Our pupils loved the thought that by raising just £15.90, they would enable a child to eat a nutritious meal every day and attend school for a whole year. However, then the pandemic began.  We realised that asking for sponsored events was not feasible, and on March 23^rd 2020, our schools closed their doors to most pupils.  However, the children and staff were adamant that they wanted to continue their fundraising efforts.  The deadline for the target was extended until December 2020 with a view to raising as much as we could.  This determination was underlined by the fact that the Kafumphe Primary School also had to close and the pupils would potentially not receive any food.”  

    

  During the pandemic, Mary’s Meals is providing children with food at home, until it is safe for them to return to the classroom. Parents and guardians collect the food from a central distribution point – observing all necessary hygiene and social distancing measures. Soap is distributed along with handwashing guidance to help support communities’ resilience to the virus.  

   

  Gillian McMahon, Director of Supporter Engagement and Income at Mary’s Meals, said: “We never cease to be amazed by the creative and committed fundraising efforts of the pupils and schools who support our work. The amount raised by Painsley Catholic Academy is so impressive.  We are immensely grateful to everyone involved for their extraordinary fundraising efforts. This will help to transform the lives of children in Malawi so they receive nutritious meals, supporting them to feel healthier and happier and making it easier for them to concentrate in school. It’s clear that raising these funds have also proved life-changing in a different way for the pupils who took part, really demonstrating that so many little acts of kindness can make such a big difference.  One of the core values of Mary’s Meals is that the charity believes in the innate goodness of people.  There is no doubt that the pupils of The Painsley Catholic Academy have demonstrated this goodness.” 

   

  Mr Bell adds, “More important than the value of the fundraising, are the values that the pupils have learned along this difficult journey at this seemingly impossible time.  We must look after each other regardless of where we live, our gender, our background, our colour, our faith.  We are one human race in this battle together.  The pupils, through their individual acts of kindness, will collectively be providing 7862 children with meals for a whole year.” 

   

  The celebrations of this achievement have had to be low key due to the current restrictions.  However, the students who attend the schools within the academy, and the wider communities who have all played a part in the fundraising were delighted to receive a video thank you message from Founder and Global Chief Executive of Mary’s Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. 

   

  In this video, Magnus says, “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done, your incredible 20:20 for Mary campaign.  You’ve ensured that the children at Kafumphe Primary School can carry on eating, so on their behalf, I thank you with all my heart.” 

  

• BWH Competition for Year 5

  Thu 25 Feb 2021

  Blessed William Howard is running a competition called' Lockdown Diaries' with the local Catholic primary schools. There are two tasks -  the first one asks students to take a meaningful photograph of a scene that represents how they feel about the national lockdown. The photograph needs to be in black and white but can include special effects.  The second task looks at the spoken word and requires students to write a poem of approximately 40 words.

   

  The deadline for entries is 29th March. Winning entries will be published on the school websites and social media, as well as in the BWH Parent Bulletin. Good luck, everyone!

   

  Thanks

  Mr Burton

  Head of Year 7 at Blessed William Howard

  

• Painsley Catholic College to become Teaching Hub

  Fri 12 Feb 2021

  Painsley selected to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders.

   

  Painsley Catholic College has been selected to become a teaching school hub.  Teachers across the country will benefit from vital developmental support and expert advice, allowing them to improve a broad range of vital teaching skills, under plans announced by the Department for Education today.

   

  The teaching workforce will get best-practice and expert advice on how best to engage with pupils, lesson planning, and classroom management, as the teaching school hubs programme is rolled out across the country.

   

  Painsley is one of the 81 schools in England selected to be designated as a new teaching school hub.

  Mrs Rachel Waugh, Principal at Painsley Catholic College commented, ““We are delighted to have been successfully designated as a teaching school hub. It is an important development for the continued professional development of teachers and leaders in education. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of training to ensure the highest quality of teaching and leadership in schools for the benefit of the staff and young people we serve.”

   

  The teaching school programme was announced in 2019 and was followed by a procurement to successfully appoint six test and learn hubs.The 81 new hubs will be rolled out in addition to those six existing test & learn TSH, meaning there will be nationwide coverage for the first time, and that every school in England will now have access to a local centre of excellence for teacher training.

   

  81 hubs will be added in all corners of the country to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders at all stages of their career and play a key role in helping to build up trainee teachers as they enter the workforce. This will further level up the quality of teaching, allowing every child to receive a world-class start in life no matter where they are born. Each hub, all of which will be operational and helping schools from this September, will have its own defined geographical patch and will be expected to be accessible to all schools within that area, serving on average around 250 schools each.

• Season's Greetings!

  Wed 16 Dec 2020
  

• Food Bank Success - thank you!

  Fri 11 Dec 2020

  Thank you to everyone who has donated to our foodbank appeal! Donations will be going to the Rugeley Foodbank.

  Well done!

  

• Wolfie Comes to St. John's!

  Tue 03 Nov 2020

  What a fantastic day! We had a very special visitor from Wolverhampton Wanderers for our Penalty Shootout Charity Event. The children scored some spectacular goals against Wolfie and had a great afternoon whilst at the same time supported our Focus Charity Mary's Meals. 
  
  Our pupils raised over £2,000. We are so proud of all of the children at St. John's. 

  

• Blast Off!

  Fri 25 Sep 2020

  Class one have been really busy this week, whilst they were off exploring the moon in their Moon buggy disaster stuck! The engine and wheels flew off their buggies leaving our explorers without a vehicle to explore the moon. Class One's mission was to design a new Moon buggy and send it to the mission control for immediate manufacturing! 

   

  As part of our curriculum Vehicle 'In the night sky' the children have designed a Moon buggy. They first had to draw and label their design, using pictures to inspire them. The children then used various materials and tools to create their Moon buggy. 

  

• Hats Off to Miss Johnson!

  Fri 18 Sep 2020

  Class 2 have been busy investigating the most waterproof material for a break time duty hat for Miss Johnson. They tested the materials in Science then they designed and made their hats in DT. They were very pleased with the results!

  

• Home Learning

  Mon 27 Apr 2020

  The pupils at St John’s have been taking part in a variety of home learning activities including many outdoor explorations. From baking to discovering animal habitats the learning does not stop. Children have taken part in planting their gardens, learning how to grow things such as tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, rocket, strawberries and sunflowers to name a few. Parents have kindly provided us with photos to share this learning journey with us as a school community. We look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour.