Following excellent feedback from Pearson's online Maths lessons, this week sees the launch of lessons in Science and English.
All lessons are broadcast on the Pearson YouTube channel and are available for viewing on demand.
You can find a schedule of Science lesson timetables and topics here, and the same information for English lessons here.
If you find the lessons useful then be sure to tell your friends!
Year 8 drama club members have produced an insightful video piece as part of their extra curricular work.
The students were given the challenge of writing about life before, during and after lockdown and were encouraged to think about what they took for granted and are now grateful for.
The club members got to work straight away, meeting on zoom to discuss ideas, drafting a script and taking inspiration from the many positive messages that have been shared over the past few weeks.
With their final script written, the girls rehearsed and recorded their lines and took pictures and videos to accompany their powerful message.
Collaborations like this are proving challenging for professional television production companies, and require rigorous organisation alongside all the creative and technical elements. As well as providing a revealing insight into what it feels like to be a young person in the time of Covid-19, the work stands as a production achievement that the students can be justly proud of.
Well done to all the girls involved for their hard work, creativity and collaboration. ‘In years to come’ we will look back on your video as a reminder of our time in 2020.
Please take the time to view the video which runs for around four minutes.
Between now and summer we will be updating our website with a different Mental Health resource each week which could be beneficial to our students’ and their families.
This week we will focus on anxiety.Anxiety is a serious problem for teenagers. Common features of anxiety include tension, worry, frustration, irritability, sadness and withdrawal. Young people do not often express their anxiety in a straightforward way and can show they are affected through passive or negative behaviours.
Tips for teens on managing anxiety.
Useful websites for self-help resources:
Now it’s over to you to perform and record them.
Go to the website below, read through some scripts and see which one you would like to have a go at. Learn your lines, practice and then record your video (more details on the website - there is a 'How to' to give you some tips from top professionals).
Recordings can be submitted until 6pm Wednesday 10th June 2020 through the upload link below.
The video footage will then be edited into a short film; a patchwork of stories told by a multitude of voices that will be available for you to see.
This is a great project for you to be involved in and something exciting to put on your CV, especially if you are hoping to continue with acting/performing arts, after school. You never know who might see your recording. Please email Miss Douglas for help and advice.
Miss Douglas recommends, 'Tactile Nature' by Daniel Ward. This is a poem that will challenge you to look at vocal and physical skills separately and combined, seeing what effective this can have on your performance.
This week, drama students haven’t let half term get in their way of performing!
Six of our students have stepped up, and have been busy writing, rehearsing and filming monologues for consideration in 'The London Festival of Music, Speech and Drama'.
We are very proud of their talent, commitment and efforts and we wish Nancy, Sophie, Madi, Scarlet, Elle and Steph the very best of luck!
We wanted to take a moment to update you on changes that we have made to adapt our building for safe distancing.
Staff have been working tirelessly in removing and rearranging furniture, planning and marking demarcation zones and devising schedules to make our school a safe-distanced place to learn.
Starting in the classrooms, we have removed and rearranged furniture so that each class has a student separation of at least 2 metres, and to achieve this we have reduced the number of student desks to 10. There is a clear teaching zone identified at the front of each classroom which is marked with perimeter tape.
In a small number of rooms where a slightly different size or shape has meant that the 2m limit becomes quite tight we have taken the decision to reduce to 8 tables to be secure in our spacing.
All classroom furniture is hard surfaced and easy to clean. Every classroom in the building is fitted with sliding sash fittings in every window which give the greatest rate of natural ventilation.
Outside in the corridor we benefit from generous spacing in our new build along every corridor, meaning that there is no corridor that is rendered unusable under safe-spacing requirements. We have marked centre lines on the corridor floors, and where students line up to enter a classroom we have placed 2m spaced markings. As corridors are the most enclosed spaces that students are likely to use, we have taken steps to stagger timings, minimise student movements, and space students in distribution around the school.
Toilets may have been an area of concern for some parents, and again we are blessed with an abundance of toilet facilities in our new building. Each toilet has an easy clean push button flush and is obviously in an individual cubicle with an easy to clean lock. Every tap is percussive (push once for a timed flow) meaning that when you have finished washing your hands you do not need to touch the tap, and hand driers are zero touch fully automatic units. Numbers of students in toilets will be very strictly limited and each toilet block uses forced extraction ventilation for a rapid rate of air change. Outside each toilet is a staffed sanitisation station where each student will be supervised in the application of antibacterial gel.
Finally, we know also that parents may be concerned about how arrangements in the Dining Room are going to work, and we can reassure parents that we have taken a very cautious approach indeed. When first designing the Dining Room, we worked hard to make it a very social space, recognising the importance of lunch time as a chance to relax and socialise with friends. This meant that a radical departure was necessary to meet distancing requirements, and we have taken the step of removing all of the existing furniture and placing chairs at strict distancing on clearly marked positions.
Queue control has been carefully planned with 2 metre marked spacing throughout the queuing areas, and the provision of 'grab bags' to facilitate speedy service. Biometric fingerprint readers have been taken out of service, so no student will be required to touch them. The Dining Room has multiple sets of opening double doors leading directly outdoors to help promote circulation, alongside forced extraction and climate control.
Naturally, these comprehensive physical changes cannot be completely effective without behavioural change, and just as we have all had to learn to queue outside supermarkets, students must learn and abide by the new rules on safe distancing.
Every student will receive an induction on day one attending school under the new arrangements. During this induction students will learn what the new rules are and why they are important. The school behaviour for learning policy has had an addendum scrutinised and approved by Governors that sets out the new requirements. Students will be sent home until further notice if they do not follow instructions and follow social distancing requirements.
Further information on policy will be published shortly, but for now we wanted to give you an insight into the changes that we have put in place, and we hope that you take confidence from them. We are very much looking forward to welcoming students, albeit in smaller numbers, back into our school on Monday.
The Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, is holding an online conversation with the young people of the Liverpool City Region about the current and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives.
The event will take place on Wednesday 3rd June from 3:30pm to 5:00pm and the conversation will be led by young people.
Participants in the call will be able to submit questions to the Metro Mayor in writing during the conversation and also take part in online flash polls on all of the main issues affecting young people. They will not appear on camera or be able to speak via their microphone during the event.
The results of this conversation will help to shape the Metro Mayor's response to the pandemic, influencing plans and policies. He will also share the feedback with the Prime Minister so that the views of and issues raised by the young people of our area are heard loudly and clearly!
You'll need to register to take part in the event, and you can do that here:
https://app.livestorm.co/commonplace/conversation-young-people-mayor-covid-19
Please do get involved if you'd like to take part. Your questions are every bit as important as everybody else's!
On the third anniversary of the Manchester bombing we would like to share a dramatic response from some of our Year 10 students.
The piece tells the moving story of a family who experienced loss in the Manchester Arena attack, and was devised by the students, informed by interviews and research.
You can watch the performance here.
You are cordially invited to join us for the class of 2020 virtual Leavers' Ceremony, taking place at 3:15pm on Friday 22nd May.
As I'm sure you're tired of seeing, this year we're going to have to do things a little bit differently, but we have decided to follow our calendar and hold an event on one of the most important occasions of our academic year.
We would like as many people to join us possible, so we've taken the unusual step of publishing a prerecorded video on YouTube, meaning that everybody will be able to watch it at the same time.
We'll publish a story on the website going live at 3:15 which will have the link to the video in it.
The video will play perfectly well on your phone or laptop, but absolutely the best way to watch it if you can is on the telly, preferably with your family. If you have a smart TV you will find that it will very likely have a youtube app.
Similarly, you can also watch YouTube on a Chromecast stick, on a SkyQ box, on a Playstation, an X-Box or most Nintendo devices. Why not take some time now to familiarise yourself with how you're going to watch the ceremony tomorrow.
It will be available on demand, so don't worry if you're a little late starting and bear in mind that the ceremony runs for around 45 minutes, so get comfortable!
If you're watching with family, feel free to ask one of them to take a short video clip of your reaction and anything you want to say at the end. Maybe we can do something with them for your classmates!
Congratulations to all of our 'Star of the Week' winners, and this week we thank Sophia and Mollie for sending us in a pic!
Our winners are all showing continuing commitment to their learning as we continue with remote learning. Congratulations to all of them for their hard work.
Merseycare have launched a psychological support line for anyone over 16 experiencing stress, worry or low mood about the current situation.
Lines are staffed from 8am to 8pm and offers a listening ear. Call 0151 473 0303 and ask for the psychological support line.
Merseycare ask us to point out that this isn't an emergency line, and if you are in need of urgent support you can continue to call the 24/7 urgent mental health support line on 0151 296 7200.
This is a quick reminder to all parents that Culture Liverpool's 'Parenting through Covid-19' blog led by the City Council's Parenting Co-ordinator is well worth a read.
The blog covers the following areas;
- Local Organisation Support - CAMHS
- Top Tips
- Parenting Guides
- Pregnant or New Mums
- Home Learning
- Museums and Places to visit online
- Make Time To Play
- Ideas for Playing Together
- Six ways to maintain a routine
- Managing your own Wellbeing
- Employment Opportunities
And of course, most importantly, it's written in the local context, by the people of Liverpool for the people of Liverpool.
Our Transition Team are very excited to let you know that our Year 6 Interviews will begin next week.
Packs have been sent out to all 180 students who will be joining us in September.
The pack includes a letter from Mrs Rooney, Head of Lower school, information about what to expect and an activity pack preparing each student for the step up to secondary school.
Covid-19 will reshape many aspect of geography study, and this week students have been looking at the impact of the globalised fashion industry.
One of the areas that pupils study in Geography is globalisation - the ways in which ideas, goods, services and people are connected and moved around the world.
One of the examples we use to illustrate this is that of the fashion industry - how clothes we buy have links to places around the world.
Sadly, at the moment, many people employed in the production chain (clothes are often made in countries in SE Asia) are out of work, and some large fashion companies have not paid the factories for clothing orders placed before the pandemic struck, leaving stock going to waste and employees living on the brink of poverty, as described in this BBC article.
We have provided lesson resources on the Geography VLE this week for all of our Geography pupils to use to understand this situation more. If you want to directly support the workers yourself then the CEO featured in the article has fulfilled his promise, and while we're not endorsing the firm, you can find it here.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Bishop Vincent Malone, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus, who died earlier this morning at the Royal Liverpool Hospital aged 88 years. Fr Stephen Lee, the hospital chaplain, was able to administer the sacraments to him during the night.
Bishop Vincent trained for the priesthood at St Joseph's College, Upholland, and was ordained priest at St Oswald's Church, Old Swan, Liverpool on 18th September 1955. After a number of years spent in the teaching profession, mainly at Cardinal Allen Grammar School, Liverpool, he became chaplain to the University of Liverpool (1971) and then Administrator of the Metropolitan Cathedral (1979).
On 13th May 1989 he was named as Titular Bishop of Abora and Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, and received episcopal consecration the following 3rd July. His resignation as Auxiliary Bishop was accepted on 26th October 2006, shortly after his 75th birthday, but he continued in his role as Vicar General and Canon of the Cathedral Chapter long after that.
For many years Bishop Vincent commended to our prayers the souls of deceased priests and faithful in our archdiocese. May we now pray for him, bidding the choirs of angels to lead him into paradise.
Art students Holly and Paige in Year 12 have been developing their drawing techniques with striking results!
They have been expanding their portfolios by taking inspiration from other artists to refine their technique. have a look at the gallery below to see what they've been doing.
If you're a performer have a look at these two great competitions! If you're interested in entering either then contact Miss Douglas using your student email.
The North London Festival are holding a national competition in which you need to choose or write a one-minute monologue to act on video.
Entry to this competition is free.
Open to UK residents only.
Prizes are discretionary and will be awarded via age groups 7/8 , 9/10, 11/12, 13/15 & 16/18
All entries must be videoed landscape (so turn your phone on its side!) and sent to speechanddramanlf@outlook.com by no later than 10 pm on 29th May 2020
All entries must be introduced with the name of the competitor, age and title of the piece (so say that at the start!).
Monologues must be no more than 60 seconds and can be self-written or from an author/playwright.
No costumes, props or make up are necessary – you will not get added marks for this.
Winners will receive a Medal, Certificate and Gift Token
All entrants into this competition may be published on the NLF website and via social media channel – after receiving entries a video agreement form will be sent out and must be signed by a parent guardian of those under 18. No videos will be used publicly unless the agreement is signed.
The BFI are also holding an exciting competition which is a creative opportunity to have an idea made into a 2-minute TV show.
The winners will get expert masterclasses from top TV faces to help turn the ideas into two minutes of fantastic TV which will then be shown on your favourite channels across the UK!
Deadline Monday 25th May 2020.
Friday, 22nd May, 2020 was in all our diaries as the day for the Leavers' Mass for the Class of 2020.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to gather on this day in the Chapel. However, at 3:15 p.m. an online celebration is taking place and you're all invited! You can get the link for it on the school website on Friday - check back for more details.
Enjoy watching it with your families and continue the conversations on Instagram, WhatsApp etc!
Y13 students are invited to e-mail a maximum of 3 photos to Mr Anderson - manderson@stjulies.org.uk but they have to be in by Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. to be considered so act fast!
When all this is over, other celebrations will take place!
Eyes down for a full house! Help look after your wellbeing with this wellbeing bingo poster created by Miss Izquierdo-Collins.
Cross off the square when you've completed an activity and see if you can get the full set. We love to publish photos of our students so if you can take a photo carrying out an activity that you're happy to share on the website then please send it through to wellbeing@stjulies.org.uk using your student email!
Parent voice is very important to us and moving forward we want to make sure that we are supporting as many families as possible. We are working under very different circumstances and it is hard to replicate a classroom experience using remote learning.
It would be good to hear from parents to let us know what has worked well out of the activities provided over the last five school weeks (not including the Easter holidays) and what has proved difficult to achieve using remote learning. This information will help us to make adjustments to our remote learning programme and, where possible, provide additional support.
The survey should take no longer than ten minutes and comments are optional. The deadline to submit the survey will be Wednesday 20 May 2020. We will use this information to support any continued home learning over the final half-term and in preparation for the summer holidays.
Because every learner's experience and response is different, it would be really helpful to us if you could fill in the survey for each child you have attending St. Julie's if there is more than one. When you complete the survey for successive times you can feel free to skip through the more general questions that you feel you have already answered fully.
The survey can be accessed here.
Mrs McCourt has written to all Parents and Carers following the Prime Minister's announcement on Sunday 10th May. A copy of the letter is available here.
The letter also includes a link to a survey that we are asking parents to complete, which is available here.
Our second round of 'lockdown star' certificates have been issued and the photos are coming back in!
Congratulations to all of our hardworking stars for their outstanding efforts, and thanks to Cara and Brooke for sending in photos to us!
13th May is a special feast day for the Notre Dame family, and has been since 1906. But how does Amarillo bear on this?
All will be revealed at the Chaplaincy Website...
This is a reminder that Edge Hill University are offering some live sessions that are useful for students in Years 11-13 even if you're not intending to study there.
We've previously posted a link in the Careers Updates section, and you can find this resource linked in the VLE CIAG course if you need to come back to it.
You can find a timetable and how to sign up here.
Pearson had an amazing turnout for Tuesday's pilot live Maths lesson they have made some tweaks for future lessons. Don't be afraid to dip into lessons not planned for your year group as you may still find very useful content.
The full timetable can be found here, and the link to join the lessons is here.
All lessons will be recorded and made available to watch on the site shortly after the session.
The wonderful people at Springer Publishing have opened up access to over
400 University Level textbooksthat will help you in your studies now and give you a head start for University.
The most painful part of Freshers' Week is the first trip to the University bookshop to drop a lot of money on textbooks, so take advantage of this opportunity while you can!
We’ve been signposting our students on an individual basis to some great activities to help bolster both their knowledge and their muscle when applying for courses.
This week we're highlighting some of the resources we've linked to in the Humanities sector. Read on to find link to resources.
History
Geography and Tourism
During each week of lockdown, Mrs Whitfield has been putting up lots of recipes on the VLE for Hospitality and Catering classes to try out at home.
The students have been cooking at home and developing skills they have learned in school. This will not only help to improve the practical skills needed for their exam but is also a lovely way to relax after doing their home school work every day.
Some of our pupils have said how they have been cooking with their families (including younger brothers and sisters) and even taking their completed dishes to family members who cannot get out.
Our 'star Baker' last week was Chloe in Year 10 - Well done Chloe.
Charlee in Year 10 has also made a beautiful VE Day Victoria sponge that Mary Berry herself would be proud of!
National lockdown may have halted production for Eastenders and Coronation Street, but our Year 12 Drama students were not be deterred! Unable to work together in the theatre, the group have made the world their stage and devised and performed a piece completely on line!
Congratulations to them for their hard work and ingenuity.
During our Thursday reflection this week Mr Anderson took us on a walk through footsteps.
You can make the reflection yourself by visiting the Chaplaincy Website and seeking out 'Thursday@7'.
We may not be having weekly assemblies but we're still keen to recognise our hard working community members.
We've been sending some certificates home recognising outstanding effort and inviting the recipients to send us a photo if they want to.
The first pictures are in! Congratulations to Mollie, Tamaya and Georgia, three of our stars of lockdown!
The ThinkUKnow team at CEOP have released their latest activity packs for children and young people, offering short 15 minute activities for working through at home.
There are two activities for secondary age students, but we have included links for all ages in case you have younger children in the household.
4-5 year olds - click HERE
5-7 year olds - click HERE
8-10 year olds - click HERE
11-13 year olds - click HERE
14+ - click HERE
Provision for the Kooth counselling and wellbeing platform has now been extended to serve a lower age range encompassing students in all year groups at St. Julie's.
You can read more about the service, the change, and how to sign up and access the service in this document.
We’ve been signposting our students on an individual basis to some great activities to help bolster both their knowledge and their muscle when applying for courses. Many of these courses are offered by the National STEM Learning Centre and are of the highest quality.
We’ve also signposted to some great information for students in every Year Group about the Allied Health Professions. Did you know that seven of the ten fasting growing job roles in the UK are in the Health and Social Care sector? Read on to find link to resources.
Biology
Ethical decision making in care
Physics
The discovery of the Higgs boson
Chemistry
Psychology
The history of science and psychology
Consumer behaviour and psychology
Nursing
Ethical decision making in care
English
Sports science
Maths
Allied Health Professionals
These online webinars are to raise awareness of Allied Health careers. They are offered on a range of dates and times to introduce you to the 15 Allied Health Professions.
Year 12 and 13 students
Webinar 1 – Creating a back-up plan to medicine
Webinar 2 – An introduction to the Allied Health Professions for KS5
Years 9, 10 and 11 students
Webinar 3 – An introduction to the Allied Health professions for KS4
Year 7 and 8 students
Webinar 4 - An introduction to the Allied Health professions for KS3
Webinar 6 Parent and Carers’ Guide to careers in the Allied Health professions
To register, select a date and time for the webinar you wish to take part in; simply click on the link and fill in your email details. You will then receive an email to confirm registration.
The webpage can also be downloaded as a pdf here.
Stay at home activities for children and young people.
St Julie's award winning NOW Festival Performance is now ready for you all to see!
Back in February, St Julie’s Drama Company tackled this years theme 'Belonging', across the 4 night Festival in which 22 schools delivered powerful messages about where they belong and what belonging means to them.
St Julie's were brave enough to tackle a real story. Erin proudly told her story of having scoliosis and how physical health can link to mental health. There were some excellent moments of humour, raw emotion and even some audience participation that concluded with the whole audience up on their feet for a standing ovation.
And now you can take a look! Watch as Erin questions, ‘Where do I belong?’
St. Julie's Catholic High School