Author: nallen

Well done to Mrs West and her team for creating yet another amazing school show! Frozen Jr has wowed audiences and our pupils have been incredible. Thank you to all those back stage who helped to make the show possible and to everyone who came along to support our students and staff.

Costumes by Molly Limpet’s

There is now a further recruitment drive at Saint Benedict due to expansion

We are recruiting to a number of roles due to exciting multi-million pound expansion plans.

Current vacancies include:

Closing Dates: Sunday 25th June 2023

Teacher of Maths

Teacher of Design and Technology

Please visit the vacancies section of our website for more information Vacancies – St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust (srscmat.co.uk)

Saint Benedict students have won a once in a lifetime opportunity to sing on the same stage as West End stars, in front of a 2,000 strong audience at a European theatre festival.

Thirty-eight pupils will perform a song from Frozen at Music Theatre International’s Junior Theatre festival, Europe’s biggest celebration of musical theatre for young performers.

Hundreds of youth groups and schools from across the country submitted applications to be in with a chance to perform at the festival and take part in workshops with West End professionals, as part of a programme backed by Disney.

News of our students’ success was shared on social media and prompted a kind-hearted donation of costumes for the performance, all the way from America.

Mrs West, Director of Performing and Creative Arts at Saint Benedict, said she burst out crying when she found out that her students would be performing at the festival.

She said: “I couldn’t speak I was so choked. I was just thinking about how this will mean so much for our children and it will enable them to see what opportunities there are for them in the arts, and what can happen if you believe you can do something.

“This is a once in a lifetime event for them, how often will they get to perform on the same stage as West End performers in front of 2,000 people.

“I tweeted a video of the students’ reaction when I told them the news and then a few days later I got an email from a lady in America whose theatre group had already performed Frozen. She has all the costumes and has offered to ship and lend them to us for free, which is wonderful.”

The festival takes place at the ICC in Birmingham on Saturday, April 29^th and our students will take to the stage in the afternoon, followed by two performances from West End stars.

Mrs West said: “We are taking students from Years 7 to 12. In the morning they will do some work with other youth groups at the festival and in the afternoon they will take part in dance, drama and music workshops with West End professionals. Then they will do some tech on the main stage, followed by their performance.”

Students will sing the song ‘Fixer Upper’ on stage, a song from Frozen that they submitted as part of their application to perform at the festival.

Ryan Macauley, producer and director of the MIT Junior Theatre Festival, paid a visit to Saint Benedict to help students prepare for their performance.

He said: “Saint Benedict was chosen to perform at the festival because the application from the staff there was exemplary and the children are all ages and from all backgrounds and they are doing it together. We really saw that in the application and they deserved the chance to perform. We will have workshops from Aladdin, Les Mis and Wicked and there will be West End directors and choreographers.”

Student Lucy Finnegan, who is playing Anna, said working with Ryan had been a great experience.

She said: “We were all so excited when we found out that we were going to perform at the festival and to work with someone like Ryan has been amazing. We wouldn’t normally get the chance to go through our performance in so much detail.”

Mrs Boyce said: “This is another fantastic achievement for the Performing and Creative Arts Team. At Saint Benedict, we recognise the positive impact the Arts have on young people and we are incredibly proud of our pupils and staff who have won this competition.”

The students will be performing Frozen as our school show at Saint Benedict, in Duffield Road, Derby, from 1^st to 5^th July 2023. Information about tickets will be released soon. Please keep checking our websit efor more details.

Recruitment drive at Saint Benedict due to expansion

We are recruiting to a number of roles at Saint Benedict Catholic Voluntary Academy in Derby due to exciting multi-million pound expansion plans.

Current vacancies include Higher Level Teaching Assistant – Physical Needs and Learning Support Assistant (Level 1).

Please visit the vacancies section of our website for more information Vacancies – St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust (srscmat.co.uk)

World Book Day at Saint Benedict began with our traditional quiz, which this year was based on the popular TV show,  Richard Osman’s House of Games. Form tutors and students had their competitive heads on, with  a winning form from each year group receiving a prize.

And the winners were….

Year 7 – 7T Mrs Wallace

Year 8 – 8S – Mrs Bateman

Year 9 – 9C – Mrs Wilson

Year 10 – 10S – Mrs Bell

Year 11 – 110 – Mr Atkinson

Sixth Form –  SF.AS Miss Slater

At breaks we ran a 50 pence book sale, giving students the opportunity to purchase books of interest or swap one of their own if they preferred. At the same time students had the opportunity to see their English teacher dressed as a well-known literary character – can you guess who?

The ‘We Are Writers’ 2023 book was launched on World Book Day, with a competition to design the cover open to all students. This opportunity was offered to students in their Art lessons and the winning entry will have their design featured on the cover and receive a complimentary copy.  The standard of previous competition winners has been amazing, with one design chosen to advertise the ‘We Are Writers’ project nationally, so no pressure Mrs Snow and Mrs Wilson!

Students also had the opportunity to produce a piece of creative writing based on our mission statement, ‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the word on fire,’ and entries will contribute to the book. In their English lessons, KS3 students focused on celebrating their identity, and KS4 students shared their dreams for the future.  Later in the year, there will be an opportunity to purchase the book, which is filled with these stories, poetry and other interesting insights into the life and mind of a teenager. It is a valuable keepsake, allowing students to look back and reflect upon their writing in years to come. All students who submit a piece of writing will have their work published!

Dr T Burrell                                                         Mr K Greig

Librarian                                                              Head of KS 3 English

A Sixth Form student at Saint Benedict has won one of the top prizes in a national essay writing competition.

Kinga Mierzejewska, in Year 13, entered the National College of Humanities essay writing competition and came third out of 500 entries. She won £250 and was offered the opportunity to visit the college in London.

The Sixth Form student decided to enter the competition after hearing about it through school.

She said: “There were eight essay titles to choose from and I chose the History one which was ‘How does humanity adapt to climate change?’. I thought I could link it to other subjects and research the different themes throughout history.

“When I entered the competition I didn’t expect to hear anything back, I just thought I would try it out. Then the college rang me and told me I’d come third and that they would like to meet me so I went to London. I was shocked but quite happy.

“I am not 100 per cent sure what I want to do next yet but I think I would like to go to university and study languages.”

Mrs Boyce congratulated Kinga on her achievement.

She said: “Kinga’s award is magnificent and a real reflection of her hard work and dedication. We are incredibly proud to have Kinga in our Sixth Form and know this is just the very beginning of her experiencing success – there is more to come for Kinga!”

A Saint Benedict student who was once told he would never walk or talk is celebrating after winning an award.

Noah Gash scooped the Inspirational Young Person Award at the Derby Youth Awards run by Derby City Council.

The award recognises a young person who has overcome a great barrier, or has shown great courage, becoming an inspirational role model to other young people within their community, or the city.

Noah was seriously ill from birth and spent a significant amount of time in hospital, where he was told he wouldn’t be able to walk or talk.

Now he attends mainstream school at Saint Benedict, is a sports leader and has completed his Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. He also volunteers on local litter picks due to his passion for the environment.

The 15-year-old said he was thrilled to win the award which was presented to him at a ceremony at Rolls-Royce Pavilion in Derby.

He said: “I found out I’d been nominated when my mum called me into the kitchen. I actually thought I was going to get into trouble but she told me I’d been nominated by school for an award. I felt so proud when I won, it was amazing. My mum and dad were really proud of me. I was really, really proud of myself.”

Noah’s mum Jo said he thoroughly deserved the award after everything he’d been through.

She said: “When Noah was born he had to be resuscitated and although we took him home, two weeks later he was diagnosed with suspected meningitis and was in hospital again. We came home after that and then he started vomiting and losing weight, this continued for a couple of months. He ended up spending four months in hospital because he was failing to thrive but they couldn’t find out what was wrong no matter what tests they did.

“One consultant told us he would never walk or talk and he was also diagnosed with dyspraxia. He saw a geneticist at Nottingham City Hospital and we found out that he had two chromosomal abnormalities.

“He would stop breathing in the night every so often and he needed specialist food and medication. He had physiotherapy and occupational therapy, he had splints and would fall over all of the time but we decided we would treat Noah just like our other children. He couldn’t talk for a long time and we used to sign with him. He went to a mainstream primary school and he has a real ‘can do’ attitude and wants the same things as everyone else does for their future.

“When it came to secondary school we looked at special schools but he did much better than expected in his SATs at primary school so came to Saint Benedict. He always takes part in the 1,200 metres at sports day and never loses. Noah’s sister Molly says that he is her hero.

“He was really excited when he won the award; he was just so happy and he was the most grateful recipient.”

Noah has a passion for the environment which comes from dad, Mark, who is an ecologist, and wants to inspire children across Saint Benedict.

The teenager, who is studying for his GCSEs, said: “I do assemblies and litter picks. We made bird feeders from plastic bottles and we have planted trees. I would like two students in each form to be able to plant a tree on school grounds, all the way from Year 7 to Year 13.”

Mrs Boyce said: “We are so proud of Noah for receiving this award. He is an inspirational pupil and contributes daily to the life of Saint Benedict Academy in all he does. I am confident Noah will go on to receive more awards and recognition for the work he does at other points in his education and life.”