MONTH YEAR
Autumn Term, Issue 6
30 November 2016
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Here we are, nearly at the end of the Autumn
Term with the Christmas holidays fast
approaching. There’s no such thing as a quiet term
at St Thomas the Apostle College and this month
has been particularly action packed for our
students from Year 7 right through to Year 13.
There is such amazing talent in our school and
such enthusiasm for learning in and beyond the
classroom. We have enjoyed such diverse events
as the Technology Department Race Car
Competition, Year 7 and 8 Ranking Exams and a
spectacularly impressive Sixth Form Open Evening
which was attended by over 150 visitors.
Sport is flourishing with our football and basketball teams doing outstandingly well this month.
As usual for this time of year, our Year 11 students
will soon be sitting their GCSE mock exams. These
exams are probably the most important exams
that your sons will sit prior to their GCSE exams
that start in the Summer. I know that you will
want to join us in wishing them all the best in
these exams.
I hope you will enjoy reading in lots more detail all
the amazing things our students have
accomplished in this latest Newsletter which will
be coming home with your sons (and daughters)
and which will also be published on our web site.
Dr De-Allie, Assistant Headteacher
Sixth Form
Open
Evening
The STAC 6th Form Open Evening
last Thursday evening was a valuable
opportunity for Year 11 boys and their parents to
investigate courses they are interested in applying
for next September.
It is hoped that all attendees left with a clear
understanding of the admissions criteria and
application process, as well as being aware of the
unique features here at STAC as we prepare our
students for prestigious university degrees and
ambitious careers over the next two years.
Any Year 11 students, or their parents, who would
like further details about the academic
environment, enrichment provision, Oxbridge
Pathway programme, work experience or university
preparation should contact a member of the 6th
Form team.
The important application deadline for Year 11
students is Friday 16 December. Application
forms are available on the 6th Form page of the
website and from the STAC office. Students will
then be invited to attend a formal consultation
meeting with senior members of staff in January.
Best of luck to all with their applications.
Mr J Walter, Head of 6th Form
Hamper Collection
30 November—16 December 2016
During Advent, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Saviour who came into the
world, not to be served, but to serve others. It is this message of service that we encourage in all
STAC pupils.
We are encouraging each student to make a contribution to a Christmas Hamper in their tutor group.
We hope that each student will be able to donate a minimum of one item to their tutor group’s hamper.
Please note these items do not need to be expensive, but are intended to be
given as gifts in order to share this season’s blessings.
Tutor groups in Years 7, 8 and 9 will be making hampers for families who are
in need in our local community, and who may not be able to afford or enjoy
some of these items this Christmas. They should bring in the following items:
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Christmas Cakes
Selection boxes
Biscuits
Small toys for children
Boxes of Tea
Coffee
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Boxes of Chocolates
Jam
Honey
Other Spreads
Long life-milk
Tutor groups in Years 10, 11, 12 & 13 will be
donating hampers to ‘The Passage,’ a hostel
for the homeless in Westminster and be
making hampers for single people. They should bring in the following items:
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Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Deodorants
Toiletries
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Shampoo
Conditioner
Body Wash
Shower Puffs
We thank you for your generosity in advance and wish you a blessed Christmas.
Mr Vaughan, Charity Coordinator
Page 2
UCL University Science Lectures
The Sixth form scientists this
term have been participating
in special evening lectures at
the prestigious UCL University.
By going beyond the curriculum our motivated and ambitious pupils hope to
push for the highest grades and to gain a place at some of the best
Universities in the country.
As you can see, the lectures attract huge numbers (over 400 pupils attended
this lecture on quantum photosynthesis on Friday 11
November) from all over London.
Students have already been amazed at how Biology and Chemistry changes in deep sea trenches and will also learn
what makes Planet Earth so special and why it inhabits life. The last lecture of the series will uncover the latest
discoveries from CERN (The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva).
Mr Hammond, Director of Science
Year 11 University of Cambridge Trip
On Saturday 12 November, a group Year 11 students, accompanied by
Ms Cooper and Ms Rodin, braved the rain and attended a lecture at the
University of Cambridge where they were given tailored and bespoke
advice regarding what subjects to choose at A-level and also how best to
prepare for the University admissions process.
It was delivered by university admissions tutors who were able to give
valuable insight into combinations of A-Level subjects that were favoured by
competitive and prestigious universities.
It was unanimously agreed that English Literature, Maths, History or Modern Foreign Language
were deemed to be the most useful and transferrable A-Levels across all degree disciplines and choices.
The boys made extensive notes and were treated to a glimpse of lecture style teaching which whetted their
appetite for the University experience!
Ms Rodin, Deputy Head, 6th Form
6th form students visit Peabody Trust Apprenticeship Fair
On Thursday 17 November, we took 14 Year 12 & 13 students to Kings Cross to take part in
an apprenticeship fair. They got to meet future employers from different industries such as
construction, administration, business, computing, accounting and many others.
The students enjoyed the trip and many have said they have a clearer idea on the career pathway that they
are looking to follow. A couple of Year 13 students will be actively applying for some of the opportunities
that they gathered information about.
Mr Todd, Head of Business Studies
Page 3
UKMT Senior Team Maths Challenge
On Wednesday 16 November, the two highest scoring Year 12
and Year 13 students from the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge
went to Queen Mary University to represent STAC in the team
challenge.
The team included me, Owain Proctor, Emanuele Guidi
and Alistar Blake.
The challenge consisted of three rounds of difficult problemsolving maths questions, different to what you learn in school,
which are a real challenge to answer.
We did very well in the first two rounds, answering 6
questions correctly in the group round and completing most
of the cross-number puzzle correctly, but struggled with the
third. This was a relay where we had to split our team into
pairs to answer questions. In the relay, the first pair answers
questions 1 and 3 while the second pair answer questions 2
and 4. Each previous answer is used to answer the next
question, so if one answer is wrong the next ones will be too!
We finished 16th out of 37 schools, which was decent considering we were up against all kinds of schools
from all over East and South London. Overall, it was an enjoyable but challenging experience that is really
worthwhile.
Omar Sesay 12 Clitheroe
Coca Cola Research Project
Four Year 12 boys were offered the prestigious opportunity to take part in a
research project at Coca Cola's main London Head Office.
The boys, Samuel Soladoye, Maxwell Chege, Dillon Williams-Anokuru and
Edgar Chemla represented STAC and their young enterprise business with great
esteem and took a huge amount from the experience.
Mr Todd, Head of Business Studies
Trip to London South Bank University
On 16 November, Year 11 Drama students took a trip to London South Bank University. Here
we were taught about what happens in a BA drama course and watched a live performance
called Caucasian Chalk Circle performed by 2nd Year degree students. This was about a young girl in a
dystopian society who has to make a tough decision that will change the course of her life forever. The
young girl (Grusha), a simple place servant, takes the responsibility of the Governor's son when the Royal
family flee to save themselves from the riots. In addition, we learned what to expect in a drama
degree course in university and how it is more about theatre which focuses on your performance skills on
stage like the sound/volume and the different styles you have in theatre, as such as using the style of
Antonin Artaud in your drama work.
Michael Ibe, Year 11
Page 4
Enrichment: Life Saving
Lifesaving is my enrichment course and I’m glad I made this
choice! Apart from the excitement of being in the pool and
not at a desk in the classroom, my swimming skills have really
improved.
This was the first thing Mr Titley wanted us to learn; what are the chances of being able to help
someone else if you cannot swim in the first place?
This lesson in itself applies to life in general and I appreciate
everything I am learning in this process.
I personally feel that lifesaving training should be something that
everyone experiences because you could find yourself in a
situation where you could potentially save a life or even depend
on someone else to save yours.
To say the least of what we have learnt in the past 3 weeks, depth
training, diving skills and buoyancy have been my favourite.
Every Wednesday we do something different, so there is never a
single moment of boredom in Lifesaving training with Mr Titley.
Sandra Platek -12 Gunstone
Enrichment: Time Out London
Myself and my Time Out enrichment colleagues recently had the pleasure of going golfing!
Golfing is not something I would normally think of doing in my own leisure time but I became open to the
idea after seeing how affordable and accessible it was (Peninsula Golf Range in Greenwich) despite my
previous assumption.
Now of course, we were no professional golfers, nor did we have much
golfing etiquette, but believe me, we had a blast pretending. It seemed
like we were surrounded by experienced golfers but we decided to focus
on one milestone at a time; firstly, actually hitting the ball then hitting it in
a desired direction.
We had a great laugh and the scenery was amazing. Just to make our
experience feel more competitive, we played a made up game which, I
won as I was closest to getting my golf ball in the target. Not to brag, but I
was the best pretend golfer amongst my enrichment group and this
experience has really made me interested in learning more about how to
really play golf and I may be perusing it in the future.
John Na’gang’a- 12 Griffiths
Page 5
Year 8
Well done to Year 8 for creating these fantastic
German Expressionist inspired portraits.
The boys have been working hard over the term
to come up with design ideas based on woodcut
prints.
Special mention to Giovanny, Tolu and Michael
for making such clear and even prints.
Year 7
The Year 7 clay Fantasy fish have been fired and painted. There have been some unique designs, special
mentions for Rhema, Joseph and Emmanuel. I really like the piranha inspired jaw on the design below.
Mrs Adegun, Head of Art
Page 6
STEM Club
STEM club is now up and running in G76
every Thursday after school.
The boys have begun building and
programming robots with Mr Hannan and Ms Campbell.
They have been learning all about new machines and using state of
the art CAD/CAM in the technology room!
These are the boys to look out for in the future! They’ll soon be
designing and making tomorrow’s newest technologies.
Keep an eye out for new application dates for Year 8’s opening after
Christmas. Mr Hammond will make an announcement in the new year.
Mr Hannan, Teacher of RM
Year 8 Trip to Nunhead Cemetary
On Thursday 10 and 17 November, the English department took the Year 8
cohort to Nunhead Cemetery, as a means of inspiration for their studies in
the Gothic Literature unit.
They will hopefully use this experience wisely when writing their own Gothic
Stories.
It was a fantastic two days, which luckily came with dry weather.
The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves, gaining a true insight into the
world of Gothic. They studied terrifying tombs, ghastly gravestones and mysterious monuments whilst truly
soaking in the atmosphere of a place rich in heritage and great beauty.
At one point we thought we had discovered a terrifying goblin hiding amongst the grave stones, but it
actually turned out to be Mr Bidder instead!
Both days were enjoyed by both students and staff alike. We look forward to reading some truly spooky
and terrifying Gothic stories from our budding young writers.
Mr Campbell, 2ic English
Reward Trips
Year 11 Reward Lunch
This will take place on Tuesday 6 December.
The menu has lots of treats in place!
Year 7-10 Bowling trip
This will take place on Wednesday 14 December. Afternoon off school to
bowl and a meal included!
Last few days to get achievement points- names will be selected at the end of this week.
Well done in advance to all those who have worked hard to gain a place.
Ms Pearce, Rewards Co-ordinator
Page 7
Previous Maths Puzzle
What number gives the same result when it is added to 1.5
as when it is multiplied by 1.5?
Answer: 3
The Winners:
Opeyemi Akinrinade (8.4) │ Andres Mauricio Rivera (8.2) │ David Urowayino (7.2)
Prize:
2 Achievement Points Each
Maths Puzzle of the Week
Page 8
School Production—The Jungle Book
This year, the Music and Drama Departments at STAC have
once again joined forces to produce a school production to
remember!
We are currently rehearsing The Jungle Book and welcome you to join
us in the jungle from
Wednesday 22 February to Friday 24 February 2017
We will be selling tickets from reception in the new year so keep your
eyes peeled!
The Lion King sold out very quickly last year and we do not want you to
miss out!
Ms Bumford, Head of Drama
Page 9
School Production:
The Jungle Book
This year, the Music and Drama Departments at STAC have once again
joined forces to produce a school production to remember!
We are currently rehearsing The Jungle Book and welcome you to join
us in the jungle from
Wednesday 22 February to Friday 24 February 2017
We will be selling tickets from reception in the new year so keep your
eyes peeled!
The Lion King sold out very quickly last year and we do not want you to
miss out!
Ms Bumford, Head of Drama
Page 9
Griffith
Gunstone
Jones
Rigby
3580
4900
3930
4810
House News
The house events are well under away with the house football competition, MFL dominoes and house quiz
challenges taking place. So far, the house events have been a major success with the boys. They have
participated very well in all the events so far from sports to modern foreign languages. The modern foreign
languages dominoes event was a huge success with the year 7-9 boys. Special congratulations to the
winners in each year group.
Year 7
Tontxu Valle Motoche
GRIFFITH
Elvis C Benedict Kyeyene
RIGBY
Joshua Frimpong
RIGBY
Steve Vardas
RIGBY
Year 8
Freddy Robles
JONES
Jhesy Cueva
JONES
Adedayo Adetona
JONES
Stephen Duesan Padilla
JONES
Year 9
Joshua Omilabu
RIGBY
Pradushan Packiyenathan
RIGBY
John Samuel Amasse
GRIFFITH
STAC Christmas Card
Winner!
Congratulations to Juan Pablo Rojas 9.1 for his winning
design which will be used for our STAC Christmas Card
2016.
Christmas Cards will go on sale from next week
—20p each—from the school office.
All profits will go to
CAFOD.
Page 10
Top of the Tables …. Again!
The Year 7s are forging themselves quite a
reputation in South London for their dominance on the
football field as well as dominance on the
athletics track! In the past ten days they have been crowned 7
aside champions, and top the indoor
athletics league.
The Year 7 football team entered two teams into the Regional
Southwark 7 a-side Competition on Friday 18th November. With
the boys being split into two teams of 8, it was a good chance for everyone involved to get a good amount
of game time. The ‘B’ team started with a good win against City Heights ‘A’ with Rodney finishing off a well
worked team goal that started from Abdul in goal, passes worked through Kyran, Joel, Arthur and a cross by
Denzel. The boys then draw their next game against Bacons College ‘B’. Their final group game see them
come against Sacred Heart, where they lost 1-0.
The only loss of the competition for the STAC ‘B’ team against the only team in the competition up to that
point with 100% win record. The ‘A’ team started off with a 1-0 win against Kingsdale ‘A’ and then drawing 1
-1 with Charter North. This was to be the only goal the ‘A’ team would concede in the whole competition
out of 7 games.
As the tournament went on, the boys found their feet and started to adapt to the 7 aside game with some
nice, smooth passing that the opposition could not deal with. Cameron in goal had his fair share of saves to
make but the majority of the games saw STAC ‘A’ pounding the oppositions goal with shot after shot. The
boys went on to defeat City Heights ‘B’, Compass ‘A’ and Harris Peckham ‘B’.
With the ‘B’ team failing to secure a best second place to progress through, the ‘A’ team won their group
and qualified into the semi-finals automatically. Where they played Kingsdale ‘A’. This was a repeat of the
group stages but saw STAC ‘A’ take more of their chances this time round and run out convincing winners
with a 5-0 scoreline.
The final saw STAC ‘A’ cheered on by STAC ‘B’ face Kingsdale ‘B’. The final was a very tight game that STAC
‘A’ dominated from start to finish but could not find a way through to beat the Kingsdale ‘B’ defence.
Finally with 2 minutes to go, Abu picked up a pass from Jack on the half way line, beating a defender by
cutting inside passed the ball into the path of Romain, who first time slotted it through to Agegnehu, who
smashed it hard and low into the bottom corner to win us the final 1-0.
On the track, after week one of the Year 7 Indoor league, the results stand :
1 STAC 103 Points
4 Sacred Heart 65 Points
7 City Heights 53 Points
2 Walworth 71 Points
5 Charter 61 Points
8 ARC 47 Points
3 Globe 67 Points
6 Bacon’s 54 Points
9 Compass 37 Points
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