News

• Thursday 19 May 2022 Year 10 Geologists visit the Lapworth Museum Fifteen of our wonderful Year 10 students represented the school fantastically today! They spent their morninglearning about the geological history of Birmingham, and our climate and wildlife, having a backstage tour of themuseum's archives and taking a guided tour of the University. After a sunny lunch break on the field they had afantastic talk from Dr Tom Dunkley Jones on the science behind climate change.
• Saturday 14 May 2022 DofE Bronze Practice Expedition to Bell Heath Well done to the 28 Year 9 and 10 students who took part in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition last weekend. We camped at, and walked the area around Bell Heath Boundless Outdoors centre and students got a chance to put their navigation, stamina and survival skills to the test! This expedition has put students in a fantastic position for their qualifying expedition when we go to the Lickey Hills in June, fingers crossed that the weather is just as good!
• Friday 13 May 2022 Science Ecological Practical 8DI took part in a Science ecological practical today, a first for their teacher, Mrs Lavelle. They used quadrats to estimate the quantities of plant and animal species (as well as other things like litter) in a small area. They found daisies, dandelions, litter, woodlouse and even a Mr. Stephenson!
• Thursday 12 May 2022 An evening of music, prayer and worship at St Chad's Cathedral Last Thursday 10 students attended a religious concert at St Chad’s Cathedral.
• Tuesday 10 May 2022 Year 11 Celebration Mass Tuesday, 10th May, saw Year 11 join together before starting their exams to celebrate Mass as a group.
• Friday 6 May 2022 KS4 Debate - May 2022 A massive well done to the Year 10 Key Stage 4 Debate team for their joint victory last Friday!
• Wednesday 4 May 2022 Visit to St Paul's Primary in our Lumen Christi MAC Last week, 10 year 7 students went to St Paul’s Primary school to spend time with the year 5 class.
• Wednesday 4 May 2022 Lumen Christi PE Tournament On Wednesday, we welcomed children in year 5 at our partner primary schools in the Lumen Christi family to Aquinas to take part in an indoor athletics competition. After a short warm up dance in the Sports Hall demonstrated by Head of PE, Mrs Tierney and with assistance from our students, the young students were split into two groups; one half headed off to the gym to complete their field events with the other half staying in the Sports Hall to complete their running events. At the halfway stage with the two groups swapping over, St Brigid's took a narrow overall points lead from St James. In the end, it was a jubilant St James who took home the victory with a whopping 200 points. As Mr Martin announced the winners, the pure joy on the faces of those young children was a sight to behold. Every single child who attended the event deserves tremendous praise; we look forward to seeing them in our school in the future.
• Friday 29 April 2022 Soli House - April 2022 Soli was an amazing experience as it helps produce more affectionate feelings towards God and eachother. Also it helps us to become a better community/family of stacs.
• Friday 8 April 2022 Easter Mass It was a joy to prepare for a whole-school Mass for the first time in 2 years. The year 7 and 8 choir have been learningworship songs over the last few weeks. We have many talented singers and musicians who prepared themusic. Readers from various year groups lead the readings and prayers of the faithful. 6th form students carried thecross at the opening procession and lay down the crown of thorns, and hammer and nails.
• Thursday 7 April 2022 6th Form Students Achieve 100% Attendance This morning we recognised the sixth form students that have 100% attendance this academic year. We celebrated in the SBC with doughnuts. A special mention to Mia V (12 ABI) who has never missed a day off school in her entire school career!
• Tuesday 5 April 2022 Year 9 looking forward to the future at the University of Birmingham On a sunny but windy day this week four Year 9 students - Aiden, Eliza, Kayla and Varsha - enjoyed a campus day experience at the University of Birmingham with Mr Gay the school’s Careers Lead. As part of the university’s Forward Thinking programme the students took part in a team building making paper aeroplanes competition (STACS came second!), watched a play all about the benefits of going to university, listened to a talk about student life, finished a scavenger hunt around the whole campus, learnt some circus skills and ended the day with a yoga session! The Forward Thinking programme aims to encourage students to raise their aspirations and widen their horizons. Hopefully everyone on the programme will one day end up studying at university and living their best lives!
• Saturday 2 April 2022 Gold DofE Expedition - Offa's Dyke (2nd - 5th April) Early on Saturday morning, our first Gold expedition in three years headed off to the Shropshire Welsh border to undertake their pre-Practice Expedition.
• Friday 1 April 2022 A great experience at Alton Castle On Wednesday 30th March 80 year 8 went to Alton Castle for 3 days on a religious retreat. Students came into school in their own clothes with their luggage, prepared for a retreat of a lifetime. The students left at 9:30 for the coach; it was a 2-hour journey. Once the students got to Alton Castle, they went to a discovery centre and were welcomed warmly by the team. The students were spilt into two groups to do some team building activities to get accustomed to their new home for the next few days and each other. We were split up into our respective venues: boys into their dorms, girls into the Pugin room. In the Pugin room the girls had their welcome assembly where they were introduced into the religious aspect of this retreat and what they would be doing there; then the children switched places, enthusiastic to begin activities. After lunch, we were introduced to our groups: Pugin, Talbot, Kenelm, Scahill, De Verden, and Carmel. Each group was set onto their main activities: Surviva
• Monday 21 March 2022 ARETE OUTDOOR EDUCATION TRIP - SNOWDONIA, WALES On Monday 21st March, we took 38 adventurous year 9 students to the depths of Wales for the week. The Welsh coach company delivered us to Llanrug in good time (even though the M5 was closed from Frankley, so we had a slight de-tour around Birmingham!). On the beautifully sunny journey, we got to experience the stunning scenery as we approached the mountains, and arrived safe and sound to be whisked straight out for some rock climbing in the beautiful sunshine.
• Monday 21 March 2022 St James' visit STACS for STEM Event Stimulating design and engineering creativity in Year 5 pupils from St. James Catholic Primary School this morning before testing their flight paths. Well done everyone!
• Friday 18 March 2022 6th Form BIG Sleep On Friday evening last week students and staff started to gather at 6pm to take part in our annual BIG sleep for thehomeless. On a day which seen nearly £3000 raised in one day for our school fantastic Lenten charities (Mary’s Meals& NICE) 40 students and staff took part in an overnight camp to raise money for Tabor House in Digbeth, the only 24hour shelter for the homeless in Birmingham.
• Thursday 17 March 2022 Birmingham Connect Conference Yesterday our students attended their first in person Birmingham Connect conference for the Commonwealth games! They were able to experience new sports and question panels of people within sport! Bring on the games!
• Tuesday 15 March 2022 Macbeth live at the Shakespeare's Globe On Tuesday, 50 year 10 students had the wonderful opportunity to see ‘Macbeth’ performed live at the world-famous Shakespeare’s Globe, experiencing the play as the original Jacobean audience would have when it was first performed (including the audible reactions of the audience to the unfolding drama)! They enjoyed an exceptional 90-minute performance which included music, dance and stage-fighting, as well as brilliant acting, to bring one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays to life. Our students not only displayed exemplary behaviour whilst in the theatre but also engaged fantastically with the performance - some students were even quoting the lines as they were being said on stage! Along with seeing the play itself, students got to enjoy the sights of London as we drove through the capital and then walked along the River Thames to the theatre where they could view an impressive cityscape on the other side of the river. Thank you again to the staff and students
• Tuesday 15 March 2022 Year 6 Parent Induction mornings We were delighted to welcome the parents of our new Year 6 students into school this week. Parents of our new intake listened to Mr Martin explain a little of life at St Thomas Aquinas and then they had an opportunity to have a walk around the building to see the school on a normal working day. Parents really appreciated the chance to speak to staff about their child and enjoyed looking around with our exceptional team of guides.
• Friday 11 March 2022 MP for Northfield visits STACS Today we had the pleasure of meeting our MP Gary Sambrook.
• Thursday 10 March 2022 University and Apprenticeship Fair On Friday 11th March, Year 12 visited Edgbaston Cricket ground for the annual University and Apprenticeship Fair. On hand were a number of universities and apprenticeship providers, who offered information about their courses, answered questions and gave out lots of free pens and bags!
• Wednesday 9 March 2022 Indoor Athletics at Colmers School On Wednesday 9th March, some of our year 7 and 8 students took part in the indoor athletics school games at Colmers school. Our students did us proud! The girls finished third and the boys finished second! Excellent start to the athletics season!
• Tuesday 8 March 2022 Prayer Partners visit St Peter's On the 8th of March,some students and I went to Stpeters catholic primary school. When we went there, some parts of the school building had changed. Most importantly, I saw some of my teachers which made me feelnostalgicand so did my friends.
• Monday 7 March 2022 St Peter's visit STACS for STEM Event Year 5 pupils from St. Peter's Catholic Primary School spent Monday at Aquinas, designing and making motorised air boats with flair and creativity of a very high standard from recycled materials. 'I really enjoyed the wonderful experience. 'We haven't made things like this before' wrote Sofia.
• Thursday 3 March 2022 Happy St Davids Day Happy St David’s Day and Shrove Tuesday. We’ve kicked off our Lenten charity Mary's Meals UK with a pancake sale raising £166.46. Well done staff and chaplaincy students for all your efforts. Mr Martin enjoyed his Nutella pancake.
• Wednesday 16 February 2022 SYNOD Conference On Wednesday we were invited to spend the day with Mrs O'Driscoll, Ms O'Malley and the new chaplaincy change-maker group as we journeyed together discussing the Synod questions sent by Pope Francis.
• Tuesday 15 February 2022 Year 11 Girls Basketball League On Tuesday after school, the Year 11 Girls Basketball Team played in a league and remained undefeated for all their matches. Congratulations goes toEva,Mariah,Malaya,Ellie,Keisha and Marisha.
• Tuesday 15 February 2022 Prayer Partners visit to St Columbas Primary School I was invited to go to St Columba's Primary school with eight other year 7s to help prepare the Year 6 children for their Confirmation.
• Friday 11 February 2022 Catholic Schools Football Tournament Both teams played incredibly well and were very unlucky to both finish 2nd in their group stages. In a battle for 3rd place for the whole tournament, both the boys and girls team played amazing football but unfortunately lost meaning both teams finished a respectable 4th out of a total of 10 schools.
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