Month: May 2019

Over the last few months, 5 of our Level 2 BTEC Business Studies students have been competing in the Big Idea Challenge. In February, the boys went up against their fellow classmates, pitching their business idea “Enough is Enough”.

They won the first stage of the competition here at the college and were progressed to the finals. They have since visited the Natwest office in the city to refine their idea with their mentor and have had their pitch professionally recorded. Next month they will be attending the grand finale ceremony in Mayfair and need your help to win the People’s Choice Awards. Simply click on the link, watch their pitch and vote for “Enough is Enough”! http://bit.ly/2I5DlQt fff

The Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, Anne Milton MP, visited Christ the King: Emmanuel on Thursday 9 May, to look at the work Christ the King is doing as part of the Centres for Excellence in Maths programme.

Christ the King was one of 21 national centres chosen from across England by the Department for Education for the programme.

 Centres for Excellence in Maths is a national programme funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and managed on its behalf by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) with a range of delivery partners, including the Association of Colleges.  The programme aims to deliver a step change in maths teaching up to Level 2 in post-16 settings to help increase the number of young people leaving compulsory education with basic maths skills, up to GCSE and equivalent level. The ultimate aim is to help improve their employability and engage with further learning.

 Centres were selected as Centres for Excellence in Maths, as organisations with the commitment, capacity and system leadership skills required to drive innovation and improvement in both their institution and beyond.  Christ the King has a history of being a research driven College, having taken part in schemes such as the Mayor of London’s London Schools Excellence Fund (LSEF).

 As part of the project, Christ the King runs networking meetings with other local schools and colleges, takes part in evidence gathering, training and development and has access to support and challenge.  The aims of the network meetings are to share best practice and develop teaching approaches which focus on teaching maths to students up to level 2.

 Anne Milton visited the Emmanuel site in South East London and met with senior management, governors, ETF representatives, teaching staff and students.  She visited maths teaching classrooms to see the teaching approaches in action.

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Anne Milton said; “Maths is vital for work and everyday life and we know that achieving a good level in maths increases your chances of getting a job, an apprenticeship or progressing to further and higher education.  So it was fantastic to see our Centres for Excellence in Maths programme up and running at Christ the King Sixth Form College and helping arm students with the knowledge they need to progress.  It was a pleasure to meet with the staff and students today and I look forward to hearing more about the progress they continue to make.”

 Shireen Razey, Christ the King Co-Collegiate Principal and lead for the Maths Centre for excellence said;

 “Christ the King were delighted to welcome Anne Milton to the College today.  It was great opportunity for us to discuss the work we are spearheading, as a Maths Centre for Excellence.  Christ the King are proud to have been selected as a Maths Centre for Excellence from such a large number of institutions nationally and feel the project is invaluable in driving innovation and in helping Maths students improve their outcomes in London and the South East”.

 Paul Kessell-Holland, Director of Insights at the ETF, said, “The opportunity to re-engage young people with maths learning up to level 2 through the programme’s research and evidence is nationally important. The Centres including Christ the King, the ETF and our expert partners are working together to make sure the opportunity is taken full advantage of for learners now and in the future.

 “Delivering evidence-based practice and innovation, through sector-inclusive programmes like Centres for Excellence in Maths, supports the workforce development aim that the ETF is founded on.”

The University of Northampton Yellow Bus Tour recently visited all three CTK sites.

Students were given the opportunity to climb on board for interactive sessions on university applications with their Schools Liaison team. There was also the opportunity to speak to current Northampton undergraduates about their own experiences since joining the university.

The Tour was supported by a number of on air and online platforms as well as it being documented on social media.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) students from CTK were given the chance to spend an amazing day at the central offices in London of BNYMellon to learn how to Design an App in a Day.

The Design an App in a Day workshop took key elements from the Apps for Good course, guiding pupils through an interactive development model where they began with an idea and ended with a pitch, outlining their final prototype. Students had the opportunity to hear from BNY Mellon volunteers about a real-world challenge and then had the opportunity to come up with a tech solution. Students explored user needs and features, market research and user profiling before finally, creating drawn wireframes of their app ideas and pitching them back to the class and volunteers. Collaborative working, problem solving and communication skills were are all encouraged and developed during this innovative workshop.

Many students afterwards described the day as being the most productive workshop of their studies so far!

A member of staff was keen that the community at Christ The King made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. A group of sixteen staff and students set off just before Easter.

They quickly settled into the prayerful routine of the place which is in Bosnia Herzegovinia.  Christine the guide who accompanied the group up Apparition Hill carefully explained the history of the place from when our lady first appeared at Medjugorje in 1981 at which  the country was under the reign of Communism.  Fr Leon who is the English chaplain and who has visited Woolwich talked to the group of his own religious experience Visits were also made to Mary TV, Mostar and Cross Mountain. Personal experiences included the ineffable quality of the music at international services, the smell of the roses, and the meaningful conversations end encounters that occurred.

Our Lady asks pilgrims to promote Medjugorge as the spiritual centre of the world and that we carry out the following;  read the Bible, go to confession, receive the Eucharist, fast of Wednesdays and Fridays and say the rosary.  To help us remember we can carry five small stones from Medjugorge.  The community at Christ the King offers an annual pilgrimage as part of its Catholic life programme. This pilgrimage to was exceptional because of its uniqueness.  Everyone in the group returned home a little bit changed for the better and would recommend to all.  It was perfect in every way.  You will not be disappointed.

On a beautifully sunny day last Wednesday, Christ the King Sixth Form held its much anticipated annual Sports Day with events taking place across all 3 sites.

The competition between students was there for all to see but the gracefulness and comradery which shone through is something they all should be proud of.

On the football pitch, it was St Mary’s who ran out winners after achieving a hard fought 1-0 victory over Emmanuel with everyone getting the chance to be involved in the match and all enjoyed themselves.

Heading inside, onto the basketball court, a rivalry had been building over the past few months during the basketball season. Emmanuel had taken the early bragging rights but the St Mary’s team had come roaring back in recent weeks. It all came down to the final opportunity on Sports Day. With the Aquinas team added to the mix, it was sure to be an afternoon to remember. And so, with St Mary’s coming through victorious against both Emmanuel and Aquinas, they were crowned champions. With Aquinas pulling off a fantastic win against Emmanuel, they took a well-deserved second place, leaving Emmanuel third.

Netball and Futsal were both held at Aquinas, and it was Emmanuel who came away winning both events. The futsal was very competitive, as expected, with Emmanuel beating Aquinas 13-5 to claim maximum points.

Both Table Tennis and Badminton took place in the St Mary’s sports hall and it was a real hive of activity. Some very good talent was put on show with a lot of exciting matches taking place. In the end, a very skilful Aquinas team took the honours in the table tennis with Emmanuel pulling through against tough opposition in the badminton.

The new event this year ‘Mini Olympics’ proved to be a hit and was well enjoyed by all who took part. Events such as standing long jump, bean bag throwing, soft javelin throw and fun relay races took place with Emmanuel taking the gold ahead of St Mary’s in the male competition and Aquinas winning the female competition.

The ‘Gym Challenge’ ended up being very closely contested with the will to win being shown in abundance. Strength, flexibility, endurance and aerobic testing are all elements of the challenge and each competitor showed immense grit and determination in each. It was St Mary’s who scraped it in the end ahead of Emmanuel.

Overall, congratulations go to Emmanuel who triumphed on the day ending with 190 points followed by St Mary’s on 170 points and Aquinas with a respectable 140 points. Everyone who took part enjoyed the day and we look forward to a fresh competition next year.