Dear Parents, Guardians, & Friends, During Advent it is important that we take time to say thank you for the gifts of our children. From world champion kick-boxers to charity fundraisers they have lived the school motto of “Luceat Lux Vestra”. Your support is appreciated as we build the foundations of an “outstanding school”. I hope all our children share in the joyous celebrations of this special season. Our Liturgies and Advent concert provide opportunities to prepare for the coming of the Lord. This continues in our parishes with the local Masses over Christmas. In the upcoming year there will be changes to the parishes as the restructure of the Diocese takes place. Please keep the clergy and Bishop in your prayers as they plan for the future. A reminder to our Year 11 parents who are contemplating where to send their sons and daughters next year. We are fortunate to be the only school in the district to be a feeder school to two nationally recognised Sixth Form Colleges, St Mary’s, Blackburn and Holy Cross College, Bury. I strongly recommend either of these two Colleges to you. Enjoy and celebrate Christmas. Yours faithfully, Mr McNally Headteacher

Our annual prizegiving ceremony took place on 12th November in the presence of the Mayor of Rossendale, Councillor Mrs Marilyn Procter and Mr David Procter, Cllr Marilyn Procter and Mr David Procter. The guest speaker was Mr Brian Pickup MBE and his speech was both inspiring and amusing. He urged pupils to work hard to achieve their goals and not to let what life throws at you stop you from fulfilling your ambitions. Certificatres, subject awards and special awards were presented to a wide selection of pupils who supported each other wholeheartedly just as they had done in their five years at All Saints’. The Catenian Association Award for Outstanding Public Examination Results was given to Georgia Stenton.

Mrs E Woolley - Senior Assistant Headteacher

December 2015

Presentation Evening 2015

Don’t forget Non Uniform Day on

Friday 18th December

School re-opens on Monday 4th January

On the 11th November the whole school came together to remember those who had fallen in war. The service was led by the students who recalled the story of the last soldier to die in World War 1, Henry Gunther, an American soldier who died minutes before the cease fire. Tegan Calderbank (9MT) and Josephine Braithwaite (9MT) sang ‘ The Green Fields of France’ which describes the atrocities of war and how partners felt at the losing of loved ones. Lily-Ann Baker (11A), our Head Girl, sang a beautiful rendition of “Abide with Me” which led the school into the time of remembrance with Mr Brenchley reading ‘We Will Remember Them’. The “Last Post” was played and a period of silence was observed. As our young people left the hall they placed a poppy in the garden at the main entrance as a sign of respect for those who had fallen.

Mr P Symes Lay Chaplain

We are very proud at All Saints’ that a number of our pupils that took part in the local Remembrance Sunday parades. Pictured on the right is Bradley Varley (11A) and on the left Thomas Curran (11R) who had the responsibility of standard bearers. Other pupils that paraded with uniformed services included: Alexandra Mawdsley (10R), Megan Fletcher (10R), Evander Jennings (10T), Leon O'Connor (8T), Joseph Quinn (8MT), Jacob Fletcher (8MT) and Cameron Taylor (8T).

All Saints’ Remembers

Visit our website: www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk

Don’t forget to order and pay for your

lunch with the kitchen staff before

Thursday 10th December

The young people of All Saints’ have excelled themselves this term with their kindness and generosity to charities both local and national.

At the end of the first half term an ‘Own Clothes’ day raised an amazing £461.33 for Cancer Research.

The Interschool Penny Pinching Challenge raised £177.54 for Rossendale Hospice. The Annual sale of Poppies raised £79.62 This makes a total of £718.59 for charity in one term. As well as monetary contributions, staff have collected ‘Handbags for the Homeless’ (see below).

These bags were filled with bathroom products to help the homeless and in all, seventeen very full bags were donated by staff. These will be distributed by Cornerstone in Manchester.

At the end of term we have our annual Hamper Collection for those in need at Christmas. Each form class prepares a hamper that will be distributed through the local parishes to those in need.

A grand total of £841.30 was raised by staff on the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride in July. All money raised went to The Christie, thank you to everyone who contributed.

A big thank you to all staff, students and their parents who have worked so hard for others.

Handbags for the Homeless

All Saints’ staff have prepared bags for the homeless this Christmas containing toiletries, scarves, gloves and chocolate. The bags are being collected as part of the “Handbags for the homeless” campaign. Sophy Watkinson, a parishioner of St. James the Less, is co-coordinating the local collection in conjunction with Cornerstones, a charity based in Manchester and often supported by All Saints’. Jacobson’s footwear kindly donated six new backpacks to our appeal and these will be distributed over Christmas to homeless people in the North West. Not to be outdone, a “man-bag” was also prepared by the male staff at school. What a great way to share our good fortune with others this Christmas time. Mrs C Atherton CL Religious Studies

On Sunday 15th November, the Bishop of Salford, John Arnold, visited St. James the Less Church to commemorate those from the Parish who died in World War One. School was represented by Antonia Fry (10A), Jonathan Fry (10T), Beth Ashworth (10A), Molly Dixon (10R), Cameron Taylor (8T), Emily Farr (10R), Hannah Farr (8T), Jacob Fletcher (8MT), Megan Fletcher (10R) and Alexandra Mawdsley (10R). Following Mass, a memorial service was held outside and despite it pouring with rain and the microphone breaking, our young people read with great decorum. They were a credit to their parents and our school.

Mrs C Atherton CL Religious Studies

All Saints’ Just Keeps on Giving!

Bishop of Salford Visit

On Tuesday 8th December Callum Lewis (10T), Megan Fletcher (10R) and Alex Mawdsley (10R) represented All Saints’ at a special Mass at Salford Cathedral to start the Year of Mercy for schools across the Diocese. Bishop John was the chief celebrant and 140 schools from across the Diocese were represented. The first part of the Mass was the Blessing of the Door of Mercy, made by Thornleigh College, Bolton, which will travel around all the schools in the Diocese throughout the next twelve months. Each school will have a special service to highlight this extraordinary Jubilee Year called by Pope

Francis. The door arrives at All Saints’ on the 17th March. The Pupil Chaplains are going to be working hard over the next few weeks to plan how we can promote the Year of Mercy in school and make all students aware of this special year. Watch this space for more information.

Mr P Symes Lay Chaplain

Maths Cookery Club Pupils in Year 9 have enjoyed a term of Cookery Club making Chelsea buns, maids of honour, shortbread and chocolate crispy cakes. They have practised their maths skills in time, measurement and ratio. Next term Year 8 will participate on Tuesdays.

Year 7 & 8 Maths Weekend The Maths weekend is filling up fast! There are only a few places left – if your child is interested please get in touch!! Activities include mountain-biking, abseiling, leap of faith, archery, problem-solving....and of course some maths!

Maths Equipment Please ensure that your child comes equipped to their maths lessons with a pen, pencil, ruler and scientific calculator. Father Christmas can always bring them if needed!!

Year 11 A Level Taster Sessions Alder Grange has offered to run some after-school A-level maths taster sessions in January and February to the top sets in Year 11. If your child would like to participate please return the reply slip.

Mrs K Egan CL Mathematics

News from the Mathematics Department

Year of Mercy

On Thursday 10th December, twenty of our high flying and ambitious Year 7 and 8 students competed in an exciting “Apprentice” style challenge to produce a school newspaper. By the deadline of 12 noon, each group of students had to produce a mock-up of a brand new student newspaper for All Saints’. Three groups of budding journalists were “fired” before a winning team was announced by our very own Lord Alan Sugar – “Lord” McNally! Watch this space for further news of a school newspaper written by students for students in the New Year! Mrs A Hindley English

Visit our website: www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk

Year 7 & 8 High Ability Conference – You’re Hired!

E-Safety

Parents and carers play a key role in supporting children to

learn about how to stay safe online and they are one of the first

people children turn to if things go wrong. Along with our new

e-safety policy we have also set up a new e-safety section on the

school website to help parents to stay on top of the wide range of

sites and devices that young people use.

Visit www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk for links to important e-safety and support websites and

parents’ guides to everything from Instagram to Cybersecurity.

Attendance.....Who’s the best??? It’s 7 MT!!!

Congratulations to 7 MT who have the highest rate of attendance this year so far with 99.13%.

Well done!

Mrs L Peters, Attendance Officer

Lancashire Cup Under 12s The Year 7 football team competed in the round robin regional competition of the Lancashire Cup on Friday 16th October. The girls convincingly beat Whitworth 3-0 and BRGS 3-1 which left us having to play Haslingden High in the last match. The girls battled against a strong Haslingden side and unfortunately were beaten 4-1 leaving All Saints’ in second place. Player of the match went to Holly Pegg (7MT) with goals coming from Isla Fisher (7R), Holly Pegg and Amelia Potts (7R).

Year 7 Netball The Year 7 girls’ netball team took part in the annual Rossendale Schools’ Netball Tournament on Tuesday 20th October. For some of the All Saints’ team this was their first time representing the school at sport and each player gave 100% effort. The girls managed to win one of three of their round robin games and came second in their group. Well done to the squad – Amelia Potts (7R), Holly Pegg (7MT), Nell Edmondson (7MT), Olivia Taylor (7R), Leah Nolan-Sant (7T), Edie Simpson (7R), Destiny Andrew (7A) and Eva Gardner (7A). Player of the tournament was Nell Edmondson (7MT).

Burnley Football Club Cup On Friday 6th November the Year 7

girls’ football team travelled to the

newly opened ‘Prairie Sports Village’

for the Burnley Football Club Cup

Competition. The competition took

place on a typical wet and windy

November morning. The girls made a

great start to the competition by

beating St Augustine’s B-team 2-0

with goals from Amelia Potts (7R) and

Nell Edmondson (7MT) but

unfortunately losing 2-1 in the two following games with goals scored by Isla

Fisher (7R). The All Saints’ commitment to succeed led to us finishing the

competition in third place as we won the final match of the morning 2-0. Well

done to the squad - Isla Fisher (7R), Amelia Potts (7R), Maisie Ashton (7R), Amy

White (7R), Holly Pegg (7MT), Nell Edmondson (7MT), Natasha McLeish (7MT)

and Leah Nolan-Sant (7T). Player of the tournament was Natasha McLeish.

Christmas in our feeder parishes:

St. James the Less Christmas Eve 6.30pm – Vigil

12.00pm – Midnight Mass

Christmas Day 8.30am – Mass

10.30am – Mass

St. Veronica’s Christmas Eve 5.00pm – Vigil Christmas Day

11.00am – Mass

The Immaculate Conception Christmas Eve 6.30pm – Vigil Christmas Day 9.30am – Mass

Bacup St. Mary’s Christmas Eve 5.30pm - Vigil

St. Joseph’s & St. Peter’s Christmas Eve

6.30pm - Singing of Carols 7.00pm - First Mass

Christmas Day 9.30am – Mass

Boxing Day 10.00am

Our Lady & St. Anselms Christmas Eve

(5.30pm - St. Mary’s, Bacup) 11.30pm – Vigil Christmas Day

10.00am - Mass

Girls’ PE News

Lancashire Cup Under 14s The Under 14s football team were drawn against Heysham High School for the first round of the Lancashire FA Cup. The girls left the dry, cold Rossendale to travel an hour and a half up the M6 to an extremely wet and cold Heysham. The team was raring to go and the game started off with an early goal at the two minute mark scored by Amelia Potts (7A). All Saints’ piled the pressure on in the first half and were rewarded with an excellent strike by Thalia-Jo Hartley (9R), to put All Saints’ 2-0 up going into the half term break. After a quick turnaround due to the increasingly bad weather, the All Saints’ team were put under pressure but managed to stave of the Heysham attack until an error and an assist by the strong wind led to Heysham getting back into the game. This gave Heysham new momentum and within five minutes they had scored again. The game was then forced into extra time as neither team could manage a further goal. All Saints’ were able to keep the Heysham team at bay during the first half of the extra time period but unfortunately a slip in concentration led to them taking the third and final goal of the game and a trip into the next round. Well done to the squad - Isla Fisher (7R), Amelia Potts, Maisie Ashton (7R), Holly Pegg (7MT), Nell Edmondson (7MT), Natasha McLeish (7MT), Leah Nolan-Sant (7T), Tiegan Woodrup (8R), Sadiyah Khan (8MT), Poppy Fox (8A), Thalia-Jo Hartley (9R), Zara Banks (9A) and Jesamine Barwick (9A). Player of the match, voted for by the opposition, was Zara Banks (9A).

Accrington Stanley Kinder Cup Final Having successfully beaten both Mount Carmel and Norden High School to come second in their group on the 15th October, the U13s girls’ footballers travelled to Accrington Stanley Football Club on Saturday 14th November, to play for third place. The girls played the final during the half time break at the Accrington Stanley League Game against Newport County. The team thoroughly enjoyed themselves and played some excellent football during the torrential downpour and successfully came third.

Year 7 Rossendale Schools’ 5-A-Side The girls travelled up the road to the hosting school of the competition, Alder Grange. All Saints’ were lucky enough to be able to enter two teams into this competition as we have a number of quality committed young footballers in the year group.

Girls’ PE News continued

Visit our website: www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk

Rossendale Schools’ Under 16s’ Badminton Due to a last minute drop out through illness, the All Saints’ team were a player short for the annual Under 16s Badminton Competition on Tuesday 17th November. The team thought that they would have to forfeit some of the games but luckily, our star of the week, Saskia Starkie (7R) volunteered to play for the U16s squad. With this added boost, the team consisting of Kerry Reeves (10T), Megan Fletcher (10R) and Mia Starkie (10R) played some great badminton against BRGS, Haslingden High and Alder Grange and managed to finish in a very respectable third place.

Blackburn Rovers Cup On Thursday 19th November, our Year 7 and 8 footballers ventured over to Blackburn Rovers. The teams were split into their own year groups playing in separate groups to one another. Year 7 were drawn against TIGHS, Central Lancaster, St Augustine’s B, Clitheroe Grammar A and Norden B. The Year 8s were drawn against St Augustine’s A, Clitheroe B, Greenbank, Norden A and Southlands. The Year 7s started in great form by beating St Augustine’s B team 8-1; goals came from Isla Fisher (7R), Holly Pegg (7MT), Nell Edmondson (7MT), Leah Nolan-Sant (7T) and

Amelia Potts (7R). They then took on TIGHS for a much closer game beating them 2-1 with both goals coming from Amelia Potts. In the following game the All Saints’ winning streak came crashing down as we were on the receiving end of a 6-0 drubbing. Determined to bounce back the girls vowed to bounce back stronger and came out fighting against Norden B with our goal machine Amelia Potts scoring one of her four goals within the first 45 seconds of the game. Isla Fisher added a further two goals with Holly Pegg finishing off the score line at 7-0 to the Saints’ team. An amazing twenty six goals were scored by the Year 7 team. Player of the tournament was Amelia Potts. Well done to the squad: Amelia Potts, Holly Pegg, Natasha McLeish (7MT), Nell Edmondson, Isla Fisher, Maisie Ashton (7R) and Leah Nolan –Sant. The Year 8 team came across some very strong opposition within their group games. In the first match they were drawn against eventual runners-up of the competition, Southlands, losing 3-0. Their next game was against the winners of the competition Greenbank, who were unstoppable in their forward attacks and unfortunately managed to score six goals past a deflated All Saints’ team. The girls battled on and were unlucky to lose 2-1 to the Norden team. With heavy hearts the girls continued to play on but had to face last year’s winners St Augustine’s A team and try as the might they were unable to stop the St Augustine’s well drilled team from scoring seven goals past them. After a change in goalkeeper, All Saints’ went into their final game of the competition determined to win a match. Their hard work and determination soon paid off as they were rewarded by a goal from Poppy Fox (8A), shortly before the final whistle, to give the All Saints’ team a well-deserved 1-0 win and three points in the bag. Player of the tournament was Poppy Fox. Well done to the squad: Poppy Fox, Sadiyah Khan (8MT), Teigan Woodrup (8R), Isabel Robinson (8T), Ansh Pindoria (8A), Holly Freeman-Shaw (8MT), Hana Riley (8MT) and Lydia Evans (8A).

Girls’ PE News continued

Year 10/11 Futsal competition

The Year 10 and 11 footballers were invited to their first Futsal Competition on Thursday 26th November hosted by Accrington Stanley Football Club. There was a slight change of venue at the last minute which meant that the original indoor competition now had to be played on the 3G surface at Accrington Academy. The weather conditions weren’t ideal for this tournament with cold wet fog descending onto the pitch as the first game commenced. All Saints’ faced Mount Carmel and Norden in the triangular tournament and the team enjoyed the challenge of the new football type competition finishing in third place. Well done to the squad: Mia Starkie (10R), Kerry Reeves (10T), Imogen Pilkington (11MT), Alena Pilkington (11R), Nicole Pusey (10A) and Sammi Woodrup (11A).

Year 10/11 Rossendale Schools’ Five-A-Side Football On Monday 30th November it was the turn of All Saints’ to host the annual Year 10/11 Rossendale Schools’ Five-A-Side Football Competition. Having started the day with a player short, Captain Sammi Woodrup (11A) managed to draft in Thalia-Jo Hartley from the Year 9 team to add to squad numbers. This proved to be a great tactical decision as Thalia-Jo performed immensely in the goals against Haslingden High’s first ranked team, managing to keep a clean sheet with the All Saints’ team winning 2-0 with goals coming from Kerry Reeves (10T) and Sammi Woodrup (11A). The All Saints’ team played with some great skills managing to score eleven goals between them thanks to the attacking partnership of Sammi Woodrup and Kerry Reeves.

Results were as follows: All Saints’ v Haslingden High 2’s 2-2 (Draw – K.Reeves x1, S.Woodrup x1) Haslingden High 1’s v All Saints’ 0-2 (Win - S. Woodrup x1, K. Reeves x1) All Saints’ v BRGS 3-4 (Loss - K.Reeves x2, S. Woodrup x1) Haslingden High 3’s v All Saints’ (Win 3-4 K.Reeves x2, S.Woodrup x2)

The girls just missed out on that first place but finished a very respectable second. Well done to the squad: Sammi Woodrup, Kerry Reeves, Emily Pegg (11MT), Imogen Pilkington, Alena Pilkington and Thalia-Jo Hartley.

Miss H Laverty CL Physical Education

Girls’ PE News continued…

World Championship Kick Boxing Congratulations to Sammi Woodrup (11A), Harvey Grenfell (9MT) and Kyrah Khan (7A) who have recently come back from Orlando, USA after competing in the World Kickboxing Championships. Sammi won team gold and individual gold and Silver medals. Harvey won silver in the individual continuous competition and silver in the in touch continuous competition. Kyrah won four gold medals in total; in individual continuous, in points, team continuous and team points. An absolutely brilliant effort by our three athletes, well done!

Miss H Laverty CL Physical Education

On Tuesday 24th November, ten of our Year 9 pupils were invited to an event at Blackburn University called 'Chemistry at Work'. They took part in several activities including creating their own cleaning product to show the pupils what opportunities there are in scientific careers.

Miss C Edwards Science

Pupil Success Stories

Chemistry at Work

Visit our website: www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk

On Tuesday 8th December, forty seven KS3 students enjoyed a rewards trip to see Cinderella at the Manchester Opera House. These hardworking individuals were invited to watch the pantomime due to the high number of points they have earned this term, showing a high level of commitment and effort to their learning. The students enjoyed singing along to hit chart songs, booing the ugly sisters and Torville and Dean performing the ‘Bolero’ live on stage. After the show, some Year 9 girls were even lucky enough to meet one of the dancers who signed their programmes. Congratulations KS3, you are a credit to All Saints’! Miss J Roddy Year 8 Progress Leader

Mrs Lloyd Mrs Lloyd has taught at All Saints' for over four years as Curriculum Leader for Music and in that time, not only has she made a valuable contribution to the school, she has also got married and had her first child, Owen. Her fun and enthusiastic attitude has ensured a musical plethora of performances have been delivered during her reign as 'Queen of music' at All Saints'. We all wish her every success at Oulder Hill School in Rochdale.

Mrs E Keen Assistant Headteacher

A Fond Farewell

Cinderella Trip

Visit our website: www.allsaintshigh.lancs.sch.uk

The staff and pupils of All Saints’ Catholic High School wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a

peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Mrs Keen It is that time of year when we must say goodbye to colleagues. Mrs Keen has been at All Saints’ since September 2004 when she joined us as a Teacher of Food Technology and has made a valuable contribution the school. She was appointed as Assistant Headteacher/Pupil Support in 2009 and has become a valued member of the Senior Leadership Team. During her time here she has not only been responsible for the food technology curriculum and the production of many delicious cakes but has also led many trips and events including the Year 11 prom and Alton Towers rewards trips. She has worked hard with all our pupils to ensure they 'shine'. Although we are very sad to see her go, we wish her all the best for the future and know she will be just as successful at her new school as she has been at All Saints’.

Mrs E Woolley Senior Assistant Headteacher

A Fond Farewell