Inclement weather procedure
As we are predicted snow over Sunday and into Monday of this week, please be aware of our 'wintry weather procedure' (available HERE) Any closures will be reported here on the school website as well as on Radio Leicester and Capital FM
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the Year 11 Debating Team who took part in the English Speaking Union Debating competition at Landau Forte College on 24 January and won! The team has been invited to take part in the Regional Final at Malvern College on 10th March.
Year 11 Debating Team
English Martyrs Presents:
A TOMB WITH A VIEW
A Comedy Thriller by Norman Robbins
27th – 28th February 2012, 6pm
In a sinister old library presided over by a portrait of a grim faced, mad old man, a lawyer reads a will involving a vast fortune to an equally sinister family. One has werewolf tendencies, another wanders around in a toga of Julius Caesar, and a third is a gentle old lady who plants more than seeds in her flowerbeds...This “Addams Family meets Agatha Christie” play is full of twists and turns, and by the penultimate scene there are more corpses than live characters among the cast.
Directed by Luke Barrow
Performed by Year 11 and Sixth Form
Tickets: Available in the main office.
Adult £4, Child £3, Family discount - £10 for 2 Adult + 2 Child Tickets!
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Eilish Hughes, Y13, who has been awarded a place to read History at Girton College Cambridge next year. Eilish attended her interview at Cambridge in December and had to compete against a field of highly accomplished hopefuls from schools in the UK and throughout the world! Eilish currently studies English, History, Art and Drama and is one of the Arts Officers.
Parent Governor Election
Congratulations to Mrs Marie-Louise Hodgson and Mr Stanley Munikwa who were elected governors of the school on Tuesday 10th January.
Thank you
Thank you to all those students who lead the beautiful festival of readings and carols held on Wednesday 21st December. The Festival was led by the Senior Orchestra; the Schola Cantorum; the Choir; the Gospel Choir; the Pop Choir; the Junior and Senior Steel Pans Ensembles with Sixth Form Officers leading the team of readers. Many parents and visitors commented that the service was a wonderful celebration of the Advent and Christmas message.
Raising the profile of the European Union
Congratulations to Tom Pickwell and Aleksandra Kosiacka of Year 12 who represented English Martyrs at a Mock EU Council on November 17th at the prestigious venue of Lancaster House in central London. Our 'adopted' country was Hungary and our two students debated topics with 26 other countries regarding the recent Arab Rising and sustained economic growth in the European Union.
This annual event is part of our International School calendar; for further information on other events and links to our partner schools, please contact Mr M. Purslow at school.
Football Success - STOP PRESS! - 17th November
Further Congratulations to our Year 10 Boys' Football team who won the FOURTH round of the National Schools Cup defeating John Port School 4-3 at home on Thursday 17th November. Once again we say Well done boys and thanks to Mr Straiton and Mr Richards for coaching the team!
While it is still early in the season, the Year 10 Football Team remain unbeaten! So far they have achieved three straight victories in the National Schools Cup and a good win in their opening league match which creates a solid platform for the rest of the season. A good team ethic, a strong sense of camaraderie backed by solid individual performances remain the key ingredients to the team's success.
Girls TAG Rugby Festival - 17th November
Well done to the Year 10 girls who represented the school at the Year 9/10 TAG Rugby Festival. They were drawn in a hard group consisting of Soar Valley, Mount Grace, Brookvale and Lutterworth. They won their game against Brookvale and lost the other three but their game gradually improved throughout the tournament. There will be another opportunity to play in a conditioned contact version of the game in February 2012.
This is the first time English Martyrs' has entered a girls' rugby tournament and it was wonderful that so many students were able to take part and acquit themselves so well. Thank you to Miss Wagstaff for coaching the team.
Advent Retreat: A diocese wide retreat is being held at The Briars on the weekend 9th-11th December. Young people interested in going should visit http://www.ndcys.com/ for details. 
Rugby Triumph
Congratulations to Y7 and Y8 Boys' Rugby teams who won the City Cup (November 2011). Well done boys on this fantastic achievement!
Schola Cantorum sings at Selwyn College, Cambridge
On Thursday, 3rd November, the Schola Cantorum visited Selwyn College, Cambridge and sang evening prayer "Evensong" with the college's professional choir of undergraduates. This was a very beautiful and prayerful occasion and the first time our choir have sung with singers of such a high standard. Everyone gave a wonderful account of themselves and the choir has been invited back to Selwyn College in the future!
GCSE English Language Revision Morning - Monday 9th January 2012
The English Faculty has organised a revision morning on Monday 9th January, (the last day of the Christmas holiday) in order to help students prepare for the English Language GCSE Examination on Tuesday 10th January.
The morning will start at 10.00 a.m and conclude at 12.00 p.m. It will be divided into two sessions: one will focus on Section A: Reading; and the other on Section B, Writing.
Students who wish to attend must return a request slip to the Student Services Office by Wednesday 24th November.
"Best ever!”
Students at English Martyrs are today celebrating the school’s best ever GCSE results with a stunning 93% of students achieving 5 passes at grades A*- C and 67% achieving 5 passes A*-C including English and Mathematics. The school has much to celebrate as these results follow record breaking A Level results achieved last week which improved for the third consecutive year.
Principal, Marius Carney, said: “I am delighted that all of our students have achieved so well in a wide variety of courses. There are many notable personal successes. These results, our best ever, are a result of diligence and application on the part of students and the tremendous commitment of our very gifted staff. We give thanks to God for all these talents so well used."
A Level Results
A Level students at English Martyrs School are celebrating a year of outstanding success with a 99% pass rate, 77% A*-C and 21% of students achieving the highest A* or A grades. The results represent a further rise in achievement year on year over the last three years. For the first time a number of students also took the “Extended Project” qualification which also saw very high achievement.
Mr Carney writes: “I am really delighted with the exceptional performance of students this year. It is encouraging to see that most of the students have gained their first choice of university place with students going to study all over the country in universities such as Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle. At English Martyrs we are very blessed with a hugely talented and dedicated staff and I would like to thank their teachers for all the hard work which has contributed to students’ success.”
Update: - The School Calendar 2011-12 is now online.
Arts Festival 2011
During the last two weeks of the school year the community is celebrating our annual Arts Festival. The Festival provides a opportunity to enjoy a range of arts opportunities which enable students to be both good performers and audience member. Festival activities also help students to develop self confidence; to deploy their leadership skills; to work with visiting professionals; to go to the West End; to visit interesting places of culture; to develop learning in a variety of new environments; to develop work related learning skills.
Visitors this year include the author, Mark Robson, Ten Ten Theatre Company, 18 business leaders who will be working with Year 10 and a BBC Radio 4 outside broadcast team.
The Festival will end with a Mass of Thanksgiving for the whole school community on Thursday, 14th July.
Download the Arts Festival Leaflet and Calendar
The Eco Martyrs at the Sustainable School Design Conference
The Eco Martyrs were very lucky to be able to link with Dr Fiona Charnley and Colleagues from DeMontfort University in learning about how to improve the sustainability of the school buildings. We met with Dr Charnley on three separate occaisions to learn about designing sustainable, energy efficient buildings. Dr Charnley was so impressed with the work of the Eco Martyrs, she invited us to present at the Sustainable School Design Conference held at DeMontort University. The Eco Martyrs rose to the challenge and can be extremely proud of their performance.
Article- https://mail.englishmartyrs.leicester.sch.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.dmu.ac.uk/news_events/news/current/110617_Greener_Schools.jsp
Sixth Form Officers appointed 2011-12
Interviews were held and the following students have been appointed:
Charlotte Brown - Head Girl
Joel Barnett - Head Boy
Marie-Claire Hynes - Deputy Head Girl
Daniel Leung - Deputy Head Boy and Spiritual Life Officer
Florence King - Captain of Sports
Eilish Hughes - Arts Officer
Sarah Bolam - Deputy Arts Officer
Congratulations to you all.
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Some of our students enjoying steel drum lessons