Author: roctave

In March we launched our second annual Easter Egg Appeal which saw students and staff across the sites purchasing chocolate Easter eggs, big and small, and handing them in to our onsite donation points. The appeal gained lots of attention from students as they continued to demonstrate a great attitude towards almsgiving and outdid themselves with donations!

Come Community Day, more than 300 eggs were rounded up and hand delivered to the Demelza Hospice in Eltham. We were greeted by the amazing nursing staff who gladly helped to unload the special delivery and reminded us of the immeasurable impact that such gifts would have on the children they care for. We would like to thank all who contributed to this virtuous cause and also to think of the families affected by children suffering serious illness and would like to thank organizations like the Demelza Hospice for all the work that they do. 

We were jubilant to finally have the ability to hold our cross-site Sports Day for our learners last week, which saw many of the sixth forms gifted athletes turn out to the sporting event, keen to claim the title of CTK Champions! 

Events began at each site at 1:45pm with Badminton, Football and Table tennis taking place over at St Mary’s, Netball at Aquinas and Basketball hosted by Emmanuel. Once the coaches of students arrived at the relevant sport-hosted site, students were informed of the round-robin style set of rules and eagerly took to their sporting locations. 

This was a wonderful opportunity for students from the pre-existing CTK Football, Basketball and Netball teams to come together and show off their skillsets.

The cross-site event also gave students the ability to converse and mingle with their fellow CTK learners. 

So, which CTK campus was crowned the victors? After hours of sporting amusement, the scores were as such: 

This means, with a total of 65 points the CTK Sports Day 2022 Winners are ….

St Mary’s! 

We would like to say a huge congratulations to those involved in the sports tournaments and a very well done to all at St Mary’s for not only their dedication and effort shown towards great sportsmanship but also for bringing home the title!

The last day of the Spring term saw countless activities taking place across the three sites and all in celebration of Easter Community Day! 

ECO: We were pleased to see students incorporating the sixth form’s Eco-friendly ideals into the Easter Community Day by involving themselves in various eco projects that day. One activity involved up-cycling used jam jars and other recyclable masonry to create tea-light lanterns. These were then hand painted, ready to be taken home and used as an eco-friendly alternative to an electric lamp. 

In another mini-Eco Project, students took to the outdoors to hang bird boxes around the sixth form in the hopes of encouraging more bird wildlife on site. The students showed much enthusiasm as they painted and decorated the boxes before picking the perfect locations to hang the new bird homes. 

Cultural: The Easter Community Day continued to be a success with plenty of cultural activities taking place across the sites. This included the likes

of henna hand painting and even live performances in the main hall with renditions of beautifully recited gospel songs. But it didn’t end there. The talent- showcasing continued in the LRC as tactical-minded students took on both peers and staff in a nail-biting chess tournament

Fundraising: The day saw multiple fundraising activities taking place and we couldn’t be more proud of our students for the initiative and generosity shown towards charity work. We were delighted to see students from the ALS department run a sweet stall that raised money for Demelza Hospice, a charity that we have worked with many times in the past supporting the work they do with the families of terminally ill children. 

Another group of students raised money by putting on sporting tournaments whereby entrants would pay a small fee to gain access to the Sports Hall and go head-to-head with an opponent in games such as table tennis and badminton.  

The list of activities was endless and both staff and students alike had great fun, raising over £500 for charity and fully immersing themselves in the spirit of the Easter Community Day! We would like to thank all staff and students for their commitment to making the day special and for all the hard work they have put in over the past term! 

We were thrilled to learn that current CTK St Mary’s learner, Tony, has just accepted his offer to study Engineering at Oxford University. Tony is an upper sixth learner who is currently studying A Level Maths, Further Maths, Art and Physics. We organised a talk with Tony to see how he’s been enjoying CTK St Mary’s and what his future plans are. 

How are you enjoying your current subjects? 

“Overall, it is challenging but the content of these subjects is very interesting, which makes the subjects themselves enjoyable!” 

What has been the most challenging thing about your studies? 

“The most challenging thing has been finding a strong work-life balance.” 

In what ways have your teachers supported you at CTK? 

“My teachers at CTK are amazing! They are always willing to talk me through difficult concepts by simplifying them and ensuring that I develop my understanding of them.” 

What are you looking forward to most at Oxford University? 

“At Oxford I hope to network with new people and also acquire more specialist skills, such as programming.” 

What are your plans after you finish further education? 

“I really aspire to be an engineer at Telsa, that would be amazing!” 

What would you say to students who wish to study at CTK in the future? 

“Always try to learn ahead of the class and make full use of the fantastic resources given to you by the great teachers.” 

Well done Tony; we hope you enjoy your course at Oxford University and have a great time. 

CTK St Mary’s was visited recently by Bradley March, a senior football and sports development officer, from the Charlton Athletic Community Trust. CACT (Charlton Athletic Community Trust) is a great organisation that works within local communities that uses football as a means to improve health, education and employment, whilst also reducing crime. Bradley spoke meaningfully about the skills, knowledge and qualities that are required to become an effective sports coach as well as his career in the industry and the work that CACT do for the local community. 

Ms Shooman-Taylor, organiser of the presentation, emphasised its importance for the learners. “This was a fantastic talk and exceedingly useful for both our lower and upper sixth BTEC Sport learners.” She states, “for the upper sixth it is helpful because the extra knowledge this will provide towards their Sports Coaching unit is invaluable, and for the lower sixth it will give them a great idea on the types of progression they can expect after studying with us here at CTK St Mary’s.” 

The talk was part of CTK’s external speaker programme, where we invite interesting and educated people to share their stories and teach our learners. We have many more speakers lined up for the future and we will keep you informed of them as they occur on our social media pages. 

We welcomed the celebration of LGBT+ History Month here at Christ the King this February with a variety of activities and displays which sought to illuminate some of the amazing actions members of the LGBT+ community have performed throughout history. 

In the LRC (Learning Resource Centre) we have had wonderful displays installed detailing both prominent historical figures from the LGBT+ community as well as more recent individuals who have achieved something remarkable. Many people have found these displays incredibly interesting and thought provoking. An example of someone on the board was Nicola Adams, who was the first openly LGBT+ woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in the boxing competition. 

The LGBT+ Society, a student-led group acting as a safe and secure environment to talk about issues relating to the LGBT+ community, has also been discussing LGBT+ history, as well as the positive changes to civil rights in recent history and the landmark events that led to where we are now, including the 1969 ‘Stonewall Riots’ and origins of the Pride in England to name a few. 

Our 10:10 reflection at the start of the month was also dedicated to LGBT+ history month, which emphasised the importance of respecting human identity, dignity and worth, and that whoever we are, our self-understanding can be affected by our past, present and future. 

CTK is an establishment that reveres acceptance and respect, and we are delighted to be able to be able to shine a light on the importance of the LGBT+ community and the positive impact they have made in making our world a better place. 

At Christ the King we are big proponents of social action in our communities and are regularly running events and activities for the benefit of charities in and around our local communities. Below are a few of the recent social action events that have been taking place across the CTK (Christ the King) sites. 

Recently learners and staff were encouraged to wear expressive clothing in aid of “Dress to Express Day”, a day that aims to raise both money and awareness for the charity Young Minds, a charity that seeks to ensure all young people and their families receive mental health support, if they need it. This day raised over £350 for the charity and cannot wait to see this money put to good use. 

In a similar vein, students also took part in “Onesie Day”, which saw learners attend their sixth form in all manner of humorous onesies. This event was run by the learners themselves and was in aid of Mindout, a charity focusing on improving the mental health of people in the LGBT+ community. 

Learners also ran a heart-shaped lollypop stand in the canteen, with the profits going towards the charity Tender, a charity whose mission is to help young people who are the victims of domestic abuse. This was another charity selected by the learners. The total sales managed to raise a fantastic amount of £70 for the charity. 

The grand total from these events was over £400, and we are so immensely proud of our learners for running events like these, whilst simultaneously committing to their studies. It demonstrates how deeply they care about social action and how much making a difference means to them. 

We eagerly await the opportunity to inform you of more acts of charity and social action occurring around the sixth forms in the future. 

Christ the King is proud to announce the launch of our Easter Appeal, a fundraiser seeking to raise both gifts and money towards two amazing charities, CAFOD and Demelza.  

CAFOD (Catholic Aid for Overseas Development) is a Catholic organisation that aims to assist anyone in the world who requires aid. Demelza is a charity that assists families with young members suffering from terminal and very serious illnesses. 

The appeal is set to run throughout lent and encompasses a variety of social action initiated by our learners, including a chocolate Easter egg appeal, a GoFundMe donation page and a milkshake stand amongst many more. We are honoured to be organising such an event and are excited to be able to update you once we have news on the status of the appeal. 

If you would like to donate items or funds to the appeal, you can do so in a variety of ways: 

• If you would like to donate monetary funds, please follow the link which will take you to our GoFundMe page, where we are raising money for the two charities. 
• If you would like to donate chocolate eggs to the appeal, please bring them to either the chaplaincy, or the reception where they will be collected by the team. 

We would like to take this moment to thank our fantastic chaplaincy team for organising the appeal and continuing to facilitate and run events throughout its course. 

Canterbury Hall

Student Head of Hall- Shanaya Reynolds

Deputy student Head of Hall – Isis Osei-Kusi

Walsingham Hall

Student Head of Hall – Adeola Ojora

Deputy Student Head of Hall – Damar Brown

York Hall

Student Head of Hall – Debby Phillip-Akintunde

Deputy Student Head of Hall – Rodney Agyemang

Durham Hall

Student Head of Hall – Aliyah Akinola

Deputy Student Head of Hall – Izundu Ariri

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is marked each year on 27th January – the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. On this day, schools, communities and faith groups across the UK join together in national and local events to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and of even more recent genocides. 

Deacon Javier, our Lay Chaplin, lead a Holocaust Memorial service at each site which staff and students attended.  The service was extremely moving and highlighted the Nazi Persecution and the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, in the hope that there may be One Day in the future with no genocide. 

We were privileged to host a talk with two holocaust survivors, Paul Sved and Ivan Shaw, who both have fascinating stories about their experiences as young children living in cities under Nazi control. Both speakers, now in their 80’s, gave up their time to speak to CTK lower sixth students as part of the Sixth Forms 10:10 programme. Their stories were extremely moving and highlighted the sadness in their childhood and their victimisation of Nazi persecution. The pair went on to give a recap of their oppression, the time spent away from their families as young children, the day they finally managed to escape Nazi occupation and how they remarkably went on to lead normal happy lives. 

Our students were fascinated by their stories and amazed by the bravery of the survivors. One student said “The testimonies gave me a very harsh yet interesting insight into life during the Holocaust. We’ve heard from historians but not often the survivors and it allowed me to understand the atrocities that were taken upon the people of that time and helped me understand the misfortune they went through. Even with all his discomfort he prevailed and taught a valuable lesson on how two very different views can affect the whole of human history.” – Kanye Cross-Gordon, CTK St Mary’s student. 

We would like to say a big thank you to the Holocaust Educational Trust for arranging this session with us and to the incredible guest speakers for sharing their memorable stories with us at this time. 

The Football Team over at St Mary’s have been honing in on their skills recently and assessing their strategies on the pitch. As part of their analysis, the team took to the field to conduct a research project looking into the effects of pressure on players when it comes to performance and penalty kicks. The players took turns to experience both positive and negative commentary from their team mates right before they took their goal kick. They also experimented with taking kicks in silence to see how that may also affect their psyche.

It was noted that all three conditions had some sort of impact on player’s performance, with some player’s cracking under the pressure and some performing notably better with positive encouragement.

We are glad that the team are able to utilize the vast playing fields here at St Mary’s for training and research activities such as these. However, did the team’s research have any impact on their game-play?

Last week, the team travelled to North Kent College with hopes to consolidate their mid-table position. The team gave a strong performance and even had a chance to put their research to the test when it came to a penalty free-kick. The CTK striker made the most of the newly adopted techniques on minimising the pressure felt in free-kick situations managing to successfully score the 4th goal of the match giving us a 4-1 victory against our worthy opponents. The outcome of this game boosts us up to 3rd in the tables as we hope to continue our winning trend in the remaining fixtures.

Well done to the team!

Social Action including fundraising is important to all CTK St Mary’s students. Students have been exploring new ways to raise money for charity. Recently students supported ‘Power the Fight’; a youth-centred charity which aims to support local communities in the fight against youth violence. This was a charity chosen by the students themselves. 

Students Jane Adegbesan and Tabitha Onafowokan feel passionately about the charity’s mission and put a great deal of hard work into organising an event which involved making a arrange of milkshakes.  The highly successful event took place in the Chaplaincy and proved very popular with both students and staff. 

The milkshakes included flavours such as Oreo, Hershey’s and Kinder Bueno, and were delicious. The day was a great success and both Jane and Tabitha were extremely happy with the outcome. 

“We’ve been planning this event for quite some time.” States Jane, “We’re extremely happy the event has been successful, and we can’t wait to provide the charity with these funds. Power the Fight means a lot to us, as we have friends who have personally benefited from their work, and we hope it goes a long way!” 

The sale managed to raise a fantastic £132 which will now be donated to the ‘Power the Fight’ Charity to help them in their mission to end youth violence. A massive well done to the student fundraisers as well as the staff and students that contributed! 

The work of our CTK Eco Group continues to go from strength to strength. The Eco committee meet regularly to take forward the Sixth Form’s Green agenda. In a recent meeting they discussed changes they could make to reduce our impact on the environment. Recently, the group have been looking at the impact of meat farming and the damage that such heavily laboured factories can do to the environment. 

The outcome of these meetings has inspired students to consider eating alternative foods that have little-to-no impact on the environment, as it helps reduce the impact too much meat consumption has on both the human body and the environment. 

The reps launched a competition across the three CTK sites, which looked at identifying meat free dishes that each site wanted to take forward. Entrants had to plan a recipe for their tastiest meat-free dish which would be cooked in the canteen. We await to hear the outcome, but recipes included: vegetarian Pizza, meat free chilly, cauliflower curry along with Quorn based alternatives to traditional meat-based recipes. 

The sixth form also received a visit from the Education and Engagement Officer for the Big City Butterfly Project. This is an exciting new project that aims to inspire Londoners to discover butterflies and moths, and connect them with nature and their local green spaces. As well as offering habitat management advice, they have also offered to run a butterfly ID workshop for staff and students. This is an opportunity to gain skills and knowledge to help increase butterfly monitoring across the project area. 

What a lovely way to welcome the Christmas month by attending our first ever Coffee Morning with local parish, St Lawrence’s. As part of our outreach mission to maintain a presence within the community and ensure we are doing our bit to support charities in the local area, we have began Coffee Mornings with our local churches, taking place on the first Wednesday of each month. The outings are attended by Miss Katama, the St Mary’s chaplain as well as a group of Chaplaincy reps.

The morning is advertised within and around the parish and is aimed at local residents as well as the elderly, and takes place straight after morning mass. A selection of cakes and sweet treats go on sale for all to buy and the proceedings are collected by the parish to distribute back into to the community.

Here’s to many more Coffee Mornings and making a difference in our community!

St Mary’s open day was on Saturday 13^th November this year and we were joined by a massive amount of prospective students.

The student ambassadors worked tirelessly and professionally to chauffeur individual groups of prospective students around the building as they answered questions and showed our guests to the relevant subject areas. 

Staff also played a key role on the day, interacting with interested students and taking them through the subject course. Some subject ambassadors remained in their classrooms to support their teachers and give the prospective students a real feel of what it would be like to study A Levels or BTEC’s by giving them an introduction to the classroom facilities as well as showcasing their fantastic work. 

Each hour-long tour ended with a talk with the site principal Ms Camilla Crampton as well as Executive Principal Shireen Razey. During these talks, both students and parents were given an in-depth presentation on the full range of subjects and opportunities that St Mary’s has to offer. 

We were overwhelmed by the wealth of complementary and positive feedback relayed by our visitors. We would like to say thank you to all the students and staff who contributed to the success of the event and again, thank you to the delightful prospective students and parents who attended.

We are delighted that upper sixth student Rachel has decided to join the campaign to become next Young Mayor of Lewisham. Rachel currently studies A Level Business, Media and Sociology and has big plans for change in her borough. We’ve been catching up with Rachel about why she wanted to get involved.

Interviewer: Rachel, what inspired you to run for Young Mayor?

Rachel: The thing that inspired me to run for Lewisham your Mayor, was growing up, seeing things that I wanted to change within my neighbourhood. I was literally born and raised in Lewisham borough, I’ve seen the good, the bad and I’ve decided that I want to grow up and be able to fix the bad.

Interviewer: If you were to become the next Young Mayor, what do you hope to change or achieve?

Rachel: I want to affect the lives of young people like me, who aren’t as fortunate and maybe don’t have as much support as I do. I hope this campaign, whether I win or not, is a voice for them and lets them know that there is someone out there thinking of them.

Interviewer: What do you friends and family think of your campaign?

Rachel: My friends and family are very supportive, especially my friends. They’re really proud that I’ve decided to take a stand!

Interviewer: What do you hope to do after you leave CTK?

Rachel: I’d like to pursue Media at university. My college has been very supportive, I love the media department, I’m there all the time!

Last week, our staff students and students got baking (and buying) in support of our Macmillan Cancer Research Bake Sale fundraiser! Student reps at each site gave their support by posting fliers, setting up the bake sale tables and serving up the delicious treats on the day. Some staff members even got baking, arriving with parcels of freshly baked cakes! 

We are always so proud of the efforts shown by our staff and students to support and raise money for charity and we can happily announce that the grand total raised for Macmillan Cancer Research is £258.86 

The Bake Sale proved to be a fantastic success and we are humbled and grateful to our amazing staff and students!