We celebrated a very beautiful Feast Day Week of Blessed John Henry Newman, leading to his Canonisation by Pope Francis in St Peterâs Square on Sunday (13 October). We pray his words today.
âSome Definite Purpose.â
God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.
We ask for the Intercession of Blessed (Saint from Sunday onwards!) John Henry Newman, that our College Community may continue to grow in the realisation that we are called and chosen by the Lord to love, serve and follow him as we journey through the October Month of Mission and the Year of Vocation.
Brother Andrew, SCJ
College Chaplain
 This years Living Arts Network project has been a huge success, Creative Solutions have worked with over 300 students, building communities, installing British Values and Catholic Virtues through creative art and photography.
Each school has a final piece of art which will become a legacy of the project for years to come.
Be- John Henry Newman College
Be- Community
Be- Proud
#LivingArtsNetwork
The Living Arts Network was formed by JHNCC in collaboration with its local primary schools, and aims, over time, to increase the impact of arts and creativity across network schools. Its core aim last year was to improve studentsâ written and spoken word, increasing their vocabulary, alongside speaking and listening skills. We had a hugely successful project 2016-2017 and this high caliber of the arts is something that we feel strongly about and want to continue through our community. This yearâs project will focus on the British Values of âMutual respectâ and âRespect of Different Cultures and Religionsâ, this will also be accompanied by two Catholic Virtues âCompassionate and lovingâ with âCurious and Activeâ.
The LAN is made up of the lead school JHNCC, and 5 primary schools:
St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, St. Anthonyâs, Corpus Christi, St. Anneâs.
This year we have worked with a prestigious company âCreative Solutionsâ who have created large scale pieces of art with the intention of bringing the community together.
We have a day of Celebration on the 6th July, where students work will be showcased in an art gallery style.
Hope and Truthfulness:
Students were able to use the idea of Hope and Truthfulness to create and perform a short Physical Theatre motif using scripture for their inspiration.
Students choose one of their own pieces of scripture from the 4 options and developed their own physical theatre piece by using this as a stimulus.
Students used their Dance and Drama skills to create a piece of Physical theater relating to the scripture.
Br. Andrew has trained up the Chaplaincy Team to allow them to lead Prayer4U, students follow a script where they prayer with and for another member of the community. The atmosphere in the chapel on a Friday lunch time is quiet, peaceful and reflective.
Prayer4U has been successful this year and the Chaplaincy team are now keen to expand this.
The John Henry Newman Impact day programme this year has had a significant focus on enabling our students to investigate the ways in which our faith in Christ impacts on the relationships we aim to grow with each other, including our vocation to married life. Our school mission statement is the foundation of all we do at John Henry Newman but has a particular significance within the most important relationships we hold in our hearts
This year, a college, we embarked on our first Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. A a year of planning, risk assessments and lots and lots of fundraising lead to 16 fantastic year 10 students setting off with myself and (the equally fantastic) Miss Hickox and Miss Welsh at the beginning of May half term.
At John Henry Newman our student council meets regularly and we have some great ideas from the team.
The Soli House Catholic Residential Retreat was an incredible experience for the students but also the staff that joined them.
We celebrate the Coming of the Holy Spirit:
Our Dance team choreographed a dance piece based on the Gospel. Students analysed the scripture and brought the words to life through dance.
âRenew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen.â
Each week a class in KS3 celebrate Mass with Fr. Kevin and Br. Andrew, each mass is topical relating to the liturgical Catholic Calendar.
Each Mass is prepped in their previous R.E lesson, this allows students to be fully prepared for Mass, create prayers of intersession and practice to ensure Mass runs smoothly.
Each class Mass has been a huge success across the year and students are enjoying leading and fully participating in Mass.
One of the big ‘hot topics’ this year is addressing British Values and Catholic Virtues. 5 of our local primary schools have already signed up to an arts project, looking at those very same topics, however we wanted to give all schools the opportunity to have a day of performance and workshops away from the Living Arts Network.
Workshops and performance will be free of charge to all schools working towards a common concern that has been raised in relation to supporting children in their understanding of ‘tolerance and respect/dignity.
With this in mind we commissioned Riverside Performing Arts Drama Company to produce a performance which highlighted the issues involved from both a British Values and Catholic Life perspective.
The performance was largely based around a modern retelling of the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ which of course holds many of the issues relevant to today’s modern world.
The performance was also followed by workshops throughout the day and finished with the children presenting their own piece about how they should treat people they might not relate to/from a different culture, in their own communities.
The day was a huge success for all involved.
âThank you so much for your wonderful support with the appeal this year. All of the 85 boxes that we managed to build are now on their way to make someone’s Christmas a magical one filled with hope and the love of our school community.â
Mrs Parsons
Head of RE
Letter from Pepita Hanna:
Your students were a pleasure to work with; they volunteered to join in with the primary Childrenâsâ performance which they performed excellently. They were also incredibly articulate about their involvement in the Living Arts Network as Arts Ambassadors and explained what impact this experience had had on them personally and academically. They were really confident in speaking to all the twenty-five Arts Council national Directors and answered their challenging questions about the importance of arts and culture for children and young people.
All of the Directors spoke to me at the end about how meeting the other young people, had really helped them to think about how to engage more young people in their strategic conversations, as well as what were the key issues to consider in developing the Arts Councilâs next 10 Year Strategy. They really valued the opportunity to see children and young people performing and talking to them about their arts experiences and why the arts are important to their lives. All the Directors were, as were we all, so impressed with the young peopleâs confidence and ability to talk to a group of adults about their ideas and views.
I particularly would also like to take this opportunity to thank Claire for her brilliant organisation skills, particularly at short notice. She not only organised your students but also liaised with the primary school and with me to accommodate the needs of the Arts Council Directors. This opportunity would not have happened without Claireâs support and I really appreciated all that she did.
Once again thank you so much and it is a pleasure working with your students and staff on the Partnership Investment as well as this recent experience.
Pepita
Pepita Hanna
Associate Director, Partnerships and Investment
To celebrate the Feast Day of John Henry Newman, our college created prayers to celebrate the day. All prayers were displayed in our main foyer where we continued the celebration with song and Dance.
â I wish we could have this every Fridayâ (Year 7)