It has been a busy start to the New Year with students revising and sitting their mock examinations in Years 11 and 13 and Year 12 their AP1 exams. Preparations for Lent have commenced with Ash Wednesday taking place during half term.
I hope you have been following us on social media with all our various trips, extracurricular programmes and alumni connections, including Year 11 visits to Westminster Cathedral, American law firm, Baker & McKenzie, and visits from returning students including Aisosa Osifo who is now a junior doctor in Ipswich, his sister Faith who has just qualified as a barrister and Michael Lawson-Falomo who is currently President of The ACS (African Caribbean Society) at the University of Cambridge.
Our links with the local community remain strong as we continue to work with many of our local primary schools providing workshops for Years 4 and 5 including St Mary’s C of E Primary, St John & St James’ Primary, and Berger Primary. We have also been working with our neighbouring borough’s Catholic Secondary School, Holy Family in Waltham Forest.
As ever, our parents/carers have been supporting our partnership by attending our Parents’ Evenings for Years 7, 10, and 11 helping to ensure that our young people achieve the best possible outcomes.
I thank you again for your continued endeavours and wish you a relaxing half-term.
Yours in service,
ADAM HALL
HEADTEACHER
Headteacher's Award
The Headteacher’s award is amongst the most prestigious prizes awarded at our school.
Congratulations to Emmanuel (Year 10) for receiving the award. Emmanuel earned the award for his commitment and talent in music, he was further rewarded by the Mayor of London at City Hall. Well done Emmanuel, we are all very proud of you!
Library Competition
Blesslo in Year 9 and Phillippa in Year 7 impressed the judges of our Library competition.
They were asked to write a story that started with 'It was a dark and stormy night...' The girls who won Amazon vouchers, demonstrated great plotting skills & impressive vocabularies.
Jr NBA game
Year 8 boys in their Jr NBA game vs Mossbourne Community Academy. They opened their season with a loss, after a very spirited display, with two excellent 3-pointers from Frederick and Nicholas. Samuel led the boys in prayer before the game.
Nuclear Family Debate
Year 12 Sociologists recently debated on the importance of the nuclear family in society. The students presented articulate and confident arguments and developed their skills in using evidence, developing counter arguments and drawing judgments and conclusions.
President of Cambridge ACS
We welcomed our former student Michael Lawson-Falomo, the current President of Cambridge ACS.
The ACS members spoke to our Year 10, 11, and 12 students about their journey to the University of Cambridge, the admissions process, and what life is like at Cambridge. Our students enjoyed gaining insights into student life and the myth-busting offered by Michael and his colleagues.
Dr Osifo visit
We are always happy and grateful for our alumni visiting to give our current students advice and share their journey.
Aisosa (Dr Osifo) visited to help our Year 13 students who have interviews to study Medicine at university.
He also spoke to some Year 11 and Year 12 students about his journey and his work as a Foundation Doctor.
Faith and Lexie
It was great having alumni, Faith and Lexie in visiting our Year 11 and 12 students (and saying hi to some of their old teachers). They gave an inspirational talk on their journey through our school and their transition to the world of work.
Studying at University of Cambridge and UCL respectively they were keen to share memories, top tips, and advice on how to be successful.
Year of Prayer 2024
2024 has been designated as a Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. With its focus on the Our Father, it presents us with a great opportunity to go back to the basics of prayer.
Pope Francis wants to encourage every Christian to reflect on their life of prayer: what they pray, how they pray & why they pray. To deepen our own prayer life and love of God, and to help our friend reach out to God in prayer.
Year 11 Westminster Cathedral
Year 11 RE classes have started to visit Westminster Cathedral this half term to look at art and architecture that reveals the beauty of the Christian faith. After having a tour of the various chapels, they celebrated Mass with the gathered community and were personally welcomed by the priest celebrant. One Year 11 pupil said "It opened my eyes to the amazing artwork and sculptures we have in Christianity. Each part of the Cathedral has a story to tell." An excellent trip all around!
Preparing for Lent
With the Christmas season just ended we blinked and the Lenten season is upon us! The season will start during the half-term holiday, six weeks that are set apart to draw closer to God and seek him with greater intensity. This begs the question: “Where in my life have I gotten away from God, and what are the disciplines that will enable me to find my way back?”
Begin your Lenten journey by saying something honest to God and reflecting on what you might “give up” or rearrange to create more space and passion for this most important relationship. I look forward to the opportunities we have next term to grow in faith through prayer, repentance and charity.
Kimberley Fernandes (School Chaplain)
Prayer
Lord thank you for this half term and give us rest during our break
so we may return to school with a spirit of humility and gentleness.
Our precious and crucified Lord, I offer You this Lent.
I offer it to You with total abandonment and trust.
I offer You my prayers, sacrifices, and my very life this day.
I know You have much to say to me and much to do in my life.
Do with me, Lord, as You will.
I pray that this Lent will be fruitful.
Amen
At Cardinal Pole, there is a real emphasis on developing a love and appreciation for Mathematics in our learners. We aim to provide each child irrespective of their primary school starting points the opportunity to progress in Key Stage 3 and beyond, by developing our pupils’ numerical skills in conjunction with the application of these skills to problem-solve. Exposing our students to problem-solving scenarios after they have mastered the skills in each topic that is covered in the curriculum is what underpins our philosophy in Key Stage 3 Mathematics. Creating independent learners who can logically analyse problems, and then effectively use relevant information they have been provided with in a sequential manner, that solves the problem they are addressing. Much like how we problem-solve in the real world, and in different places of work and industry.
We believe passionately in the potential of each child learning Key Stage 3 Mathematics, and therefore careful consideration is given to how we aid and support each child’s Mathematical journey from Key Stage 2 Mathematics to Key Stage 3. When students are at Cardinal Pole they take part in the My Hackney transition project, in Maths we look specifically at how to analyse and represent data relating to Hackney, and what their future aspirations are in terms of careers they would like to explore in the future. Students are introduced to industries such as Medicine, Law, and Education to name but a few during the My Hackney Maths project. This means that from the first week of learning Mathematics at Cardinal Pole pupils are encouraged to aim high and work hard to fulfil their future aspirations developing their problem-solving skills.
In addition to a curriculum that seeks to develop the mastery of skills and application of mathematics, there are additional enrichment opportunities provided to students to take part in. Including the UKMT Maths challenge, and National Pi Day where all students are invited to take part in the annual Cardinal Pole Pi Day Competition. In the competition, students have to remember as many digits of PI as they possibly can. Our students love getting involved and are rewarded with pies to eat to mark the special day.
We love inviting students from primary schools in our local community to join us at Cardinal Pole ready to work with our expert teachers and use our subject-specific facilities. This term we have welcomed St Mary’s Church of England School, St John and St James CE Primary School, Berger Primary School and we look forward to welcoming Morningside Primary School, St Anne’s and Guardian Angels, St Elizabeth's Primary School, and we hope many more in the next term.
Year 4 and Year 5 students have taken part in a variety of workshops: Mr Stead awarded many Bunsen Burner Licences to students who experimented with how fireworks and sparklers are made using different solutions.
Students trialled with Mr Okosun the algorithm that proves the legitimacy of bank cards. Students investigated and were successful in discovering real and fakes!
Students took to the workshop to create their acrylic owl keyrings with Ms Delafield. Lots of hard work went into getting the shape just right! Mr Rumsey had students wondering whether the Romans had the best toilet system in history. Thank you to Mr Rumsey for a fantastic workshop with Year 5 from St John and St James Primary school.
Contact US
Website: https://www.cardinalpole.co.uk/
Location: 205 Morning Ln, London E9 6LG, UK
Phone: 020 8985 5150