Parents' Newsletter
Summer Term 1
It certainly has been a half term filled with purpose, reflection and achievement as we move through the Summer term at Cardinal Pole Catholic School. In particular, our Year 11 and Year 13 students have now begun their GCSE and A-Level examinations. This marks an important stage in their educational journey, and I would like to commend them for the maturity, resilience and commitment they have shown throughout the year in preparing for this period. The purposeful atmosphere across the school, alongside the focus shown through revision sessions, independent study and intervention programmes, has been extremely encouraging. We continue to hold all of our students in our prayers during this examination season. I was especially pleased that our school community came together for the recent Pre-Exam Masses for both Year 11 and Year 13. These were important opportunities for students to pause, reflect and approach the weeks ahead with confidence, faith and gratitude. They served as a reminder of the strength of our Catholic community and the importance of supporting one another through significant moments in school life. Alongside this, students across the school have continued to benefit from a wide range of opportunities beyond the classroom. Our Year 12 Envision students should be incredibly proud of winning their recent competition, presenting with confidence and professionalism before a panel of judges. Similarly, students in Years 9 and 10 greatly benefited from the opportunity to work with representatives from Clare College, Cambridge, while our Year 10 students gained valuable insight into the world of work during their visit to the British Horseracing Authority. These experiences reflect our continued commitment to ensuring that students are not only successful academically, but are also inspired to think ambitiously about their futures and the positive contribution they can make to society. As always, I would like to thank our staff for their continued dedication and our parents and carers for their ongoing support and partnership. Together, we remain committed to ensuring that every student is given the opportunity to SOAR, academically, personally and spiritually. Yours in service, Adam Hall
Executive Headteacher
🎨🍪 "Year 8 students have been getting hands-on across DT and Food Technology, experimenting with natural dyes using colours from materials such as red and white onions and elderflower to create striking, sustainable tie-dye patterns inspired by nature. They have also been honing their food technology skills by baking their own ginger biscuits, and the results looked and tasted absolutely delicious!"
✝️🙏 “As a school community, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Father Patrick celebrated Mass with Year 9 before a number of our students attended Mass at the Immaculate Heart of Mary & St Dominic.
We are especially proud that two of our students had the honour of serving on the altar during this special celebration.” ~ Mr Tisi
Higher Education - Studying at the University of Cambridge
The workshop helped to debunk common myths surrounding university life and gave students the opportunity to develop and test their critical thinking skills through a really well-structured and engaging session. A massive thank you to Kate Whitaker, Clare College, Cambridge and the University of Cambridge for taking the time to inspire our students!
I began my new role as Lay Chaplain at Cardinal Pole this half term and it has been an incredible blessing to meet so many staff and students in such a short space of time. The faith, gifts and talents of our students and staff are very clear here. This is a very special community.
As the exam season begins, we hold our Year 11 and Year 13 students in our prayers. We were pleased to celebrate two Pre-Exam Masses this term, for Year 11 on Friday 1 May and for Year 13 on Friday 8 May.
These were important moments to pause, to give thanks for all that has been and to place the weeks ahead into God’s hands. We are grateful to Fr Patrick for celebrating both Masses and for his insightful and inspiring homilies, and to our student readers and altar servers.
Alongside this, our Year 12 students have taken part in a series of workshops with UK Jewish Film. Using film as a starting point, these sessions explored British Jewish identity and encouraged students to think carefully about how to recognise and challenge antisemitism. Students have engaged thoughtfully with these themes and have appreciated the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the diversity of our borough and how we can stand up for and support one another.
In a recent CPD session under the strand of Making it Stick, we were invited to reflect on the importance of routines. For students and teachers alike, we thrive off the regularity and comfort that routines provide, whether as part of school policy and culture, or the particular feel of an individual teacher’s classroom.
This led me to think about how teachers go about creating productive habits to maximise outcomes and enhance learning culture.
In the CPD, we looked at the research that sits behind the wisdom of clear routines, particularly how these link to raising students’ self-efficacy and relieving the burden on teachers’ time in order to get to the learning.
In the first instance, it was helpful to reflect on the various factors that impact on students’ cognitive load, whether intrinsic or extraneous, and how tacit expectations at key points in the lesson can help reduce strain and free students to engage with the content of the lesson.
An area that is sometimes overlooked is the equal and linked benefit of routines to teachers’ own working memory. In any given lesson, teachers have their attention drawn to a number of different actions and priorities, and where routines are not in place, this can lead to a clouding of the message and an ineffective use of lesson time.
At Cardinal Pole, we have had a renewed focus on Golden Nuggets, the key areas of content we expect all students to know in any given lesson, and making sure that teachers return to these facets throughout a lesson to ensure that they are ingrained.
Having unspoken expectations at each point of the lesson enables teachers to keep a clear head and to explain, anticipate, diagnose and check for mastery, rather than being bogged down in explanations that do not relate to the core matter of learning these Golden Nuggets.
It goes without saying that establishing these routines is no small endeavour and requires insistent, consistent and persistent application over time.
However, as we move into the second half of the Autumn term, the benefits of tacit expectations are evident in their allowing for more time to be given to moving the learning on.
I was also given pause for thought on how these routines might later evolve once habits have been embedded, in order to further challenge student understanding and deepen learning in the long term.
John Lunn - Head of MFL
We are really proud of all that Najlah has achieved so far. From getting involved in school life to being recognised for her efforts in PE, she has already made a fantastic contribution to the Cardinal Pole community. Here is what she had to say:
“At Cardinal Pole I really enjoy PE and English and I do Basketball club. This year I won a Jack Petchey Award for PE and it was an amazing experience. I was really proud to receive it. When I get to Year 9, I am looking forward to trying out things I’ve never done before and taking on new opportunities.”
Contact US
Website: https://www.cardinalpole.co.uk/
Location: 205 Morning Ln, London E9 6LG, UK
Phone: 020 8985 5150