Our choir and our Sixth Form pupils were thrilled, in the first week of this month, to have the opportunity to participate in a Full Council meeting at Swansea’s impressive Council Chamber room. Pupils had been invited to present on the Festival of Peace at the Leader of the Council’s request. It was wonderful to see the way in which our pupils shone at this event, speaking with warmth and clarity (despite the formality of the Chamber!) and singing exceptionally. Following the presentation and the two choir items, the Chair of the Council and the Leader offered a vote of thanks to the school. This is viewable online at the meeting link here (presentation from 7.50; vote of thanks from 18.45). We have received lovely feedback from the Councillors present and it really was a pleasure to share a flavour of what our Festival of Peace entails with all of the councillors of our city.
Shortly after this lovely occasion, at which our Head Prefects and the Sixth Form Leadership Team (who lead the School Council) spoke so beautifully, we completed the process of appointing the remainder of this year’s full School Council, as mentioned in my last blog post. Those pupils, drawn from every year group, have roles covering every aspect of school life, from faith and worship to our eco work, our anti-racist practice, wellbeing and much more besides. With a high degree of interest from our pupils and some truly excellent applications, it is a pleasure to see our pupils taking an active role in making our school the best it can be.
Speaking of the work of our Faith Councillors, it was this dedicated group of pupils who last term shaped our new school prayer. They have really captured what is important to our school and what makes our school special in their work. You can read our school prayer here and pupils have copies of this also in their Pupil Resource Booklets. The Music Department is now looking at the possibility of setting this to music as a new school hymn, so watch this space …
This month also saw a vibrant celebration of a very successful Shwmae Day, in which resources for staff and the activities for pupils promoted the use of the Welsh language. In addition, we celebrated our Annual Upper School Presentation Evening. Here, pupils from last year’s Year 10 to last year’s Year 13 (many of the latter now studying for their degrees in universities throughout Wales and the remainder of the UK) received awards for effort and achievement, and also for living out the school’s values in their daily actions. The Caritas Award was this year awarded to a whole group of pupils, our Junior Legion of Mary, who have carried out such exceptional work since their establishment several years ago.
In this month dedicated to the Holy Rosary, it was very special to unite with Catholics around the world in praying the Rosary for peace, as we did on the 14th October. Pupils led those assembled in the Chapel in praying together during our breaktime, providing all of us with a beautiful moment of stillness, prayer and solidarity.
As we look forward to the remainder of this term, and to the lovely events that usually mark this particular point in the academic year, we invite you to ‘save the dates’ for some of these, and in particular those which lie outside the school day, namely:
Thursday 28th November— our annual Christmas Fair – always a most festive event!
and our three Carol Services this year, rather than the usual two! -
Monday 9th December—Benediction and Carols and the Sacred Heart – this is always a beautiful, reflective and prayerful evening of readings, music and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, held in the parish in which our school is located, Morriston’s Sacred Heart
Thursday 12th December—Christmas Concert—BVS Choir and the Phoenix Choir of Wales: we are delighted to have been invited to perform with the Phoenix Choir of Wales for an evening of festive entertainment. Our choir is working hard in their rehearsals already!
Monday 16th December— Annual Cathedral Carol Service (with the combined choirs of BVS and the cluster schools). This long-established and very popular annual event will once more bring together the choirs from Swansea’s Catholic schools in our programme of Nine Lessons and Carols. Where last year the choirs collaborated on an exceptional performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria, this year we have the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah to look forward to!
We hope to see lots of you at these events, and in the meantime, wishing you a relaxing and enjoyable remainder of the half-term break!
Mrs Pole
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