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Year 8 Progress Leader
Mrs S. Rodgers
Form teachers
Miss O'Hare: 8A
Mr McCambridge: 8B
Miss Conway: 8C
Mr McAleenan: 8D
Mrs Kerr: 8E
Our students enjoyed their form class secret Santa and Christmas parties.
Monthly Achievement Point Winners 2023-24:
September
Well done to our Year 8 students who were awarded with a whopping 1763 achievement points during the month of September. What a fabulous start to their journey in SJBC!
A special mention to the following student who was awarded with the highest amount of achievement points in the year group and also students of the month for their form class:
Overall Achievement point winner
Leah Hughes 8D
Student of the Month
8A- Meabh Lappin
8B- Cadhla Hughes
8C - Lileigh Keegan
8D - Kevin Lopes Soares
8E - Saoirse Matchett
Amazing job! Keep up the fabulous work. Enjoy your voucher and sweets.
October
Overall Achievement point winner
Isac Anghel 8C
Student of the Month
8A- Dylan Rodrigues
8B- Isabella Pereira
8C - Emelia Mc Cann
8D - Noah Creaney
8E - Jordanio Amaral
Amazing job! Keep up the fabulous work. Enjoy your voucher and sweets.
November
Well done to our Year 8 students who were awarded with a whopping 1503 achievement points during the month of November.
Overall Achievement point winner
James O'Hagan 8C
Student of the Month
8A- Ethan Moreira
8B- Isabella Pereira
8C - Isac Anghel
8D - Leah Hughes
8E - Sáoirse Matchett Luna Guimaraes
December
Overall Achievement point winner
Romeu Rodrigues
Many, many congratulations to Romeu from 8B. Romeu is a very worthy recipient of a fabulous bicycle for his outstanding work ethic.
Student of the Month:
8A - Aoibhe O'Connor
8B - Cadhla Hughes
8C - Leah McKernan
8D - Letycia Boavida
8E - Ramon Novacovici
A massive well done to young Sasha Furtado 8C. Sasha won gold at her gymnastics competition. Keep up the great work Sasha 🙌🏻🙌🏻🥳 You are doing SJBC proud.
Well done today to the Year 8 basketball team who played at the Cleveland tournament. Our captains for the day were Sasha and Aiden.
Congratulations to Aiden Livingston on winning athlete of the term award! Aiden has shown great leadership. Keep up the great work for the rest of the year!🙌💪
The Year 8 boys came away with a 5-1 win at St Pat’s, Dungannon. They were a goal down but showed great maturity and resilience to turn it around and end up comfortable winners. James Duke scored twice for the third game in a row to secure man of the match. ⭐️
Congratulations to our year 8 boys on winning the Joe Canning Cup in a Gaelic football blitz held by St Paul’s Bessbrook! The boys showed great character to win a really tense final by two points against a strong Crossmaglen team!
Bushcraft Centre
As part of our Year 8 Induction Programme, students took part in various team building activities at the Bushcraft Centre, Oxford Island.
Our awesome adventurers had an action-packed day developing team working, communication and cooperation skills. They took part in an archery session, met Myrtle the python and immersed themselves in this spectacular woodland setting.
Well done to all our modern-day Robin Hoods!
Anti-Bullying Week kicked off with 'Odd Socks Day'. Staff and students came to school in their odd socks to show we accept and respect all differences.
Miss O'Hagan's 8A form class also delivered a very powerful message during assembly about 'Making a Noise' and speaking out about bullying. Well done!
Our year 8 classes have been working on the theme of Anti-Bullying Week 2023-‘Make A Noise’ 🚫 We had some excellent conversations and they produced some amazing work.⭐️
Our year 8 students, whilst studying their All About Me unit, produced and delivered fantastic speeches using their All About Me boxes. Each pupil painstakingly collected special items from home to show their classmates, and delivered heartwarming and thoughtful speeches. Very well done to all involved! ⭐️⭐️
St. Mary's Team Building
Our Year 8 students attended a team building experience in St. Mary's Youth Club. This experience allowed our pupils to forge friendships and strengthen relationships with their peers. This is considered an important element of the 'settling in' period. Fantastic team working skills were displayed by all. Well done!
Our Year 8 pupils had great fun participating in the Young Enterprise Step Up Programme. This gave them an insight into their new school and how it is run, familiarising them with all staff and the jobs they carry out. Well done everyone!
Our Year 8 students organised a clothes sale to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul society. They raised £86 and have lots of clothes to donate to SVdP too.
We invited Love For Life to deliver the ‘ iZone' Workshop to our Year 8 students.This external input enhances what we already deliver in relation to the Personal Development Strand of Learning for Life and Work in post-primary.
Love For Life has a long-standing reputation for engaging effectively in the specific area of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). All of Love For Life’s programmes are age-appropriate, offering accurate information in an engaging manner, helping children and young people to learn, reflect and develop in their knowledge, skills and attitudes in this important area.
Outside organisations, like Love For Life, support us in our delivery of RSE. This external input is welcomed by teachers and pupils - 96% of teachers surveyed by Love For Life “agree or strongly agree” that “pupils interact and learn more effectively as a result of the Love For Life programme input”.
The experienced and professional Love For Life team created a safe and secure environment in which our students had engaging and respectful conversations about strong healthy relationships. Below is an outline of the topics that were covered in the iZone programme:
· Self-esteem & uniqueness
· Managing changes
· Staying healthy and happy during puberty
· Identifying influences and dealing with pressure
· Positive relationships and conflict resolution
· Healthy online behaviour and interactions
· Target setting
· Love & romantic relationships
Our Year 8 students thoroughly ennjoyed the 'Bring IT On workshop' delivered by Sentinus. Students were given the opportunity to investigate the exciting world of career opportunities offered by the ICT sector in Northern Ireland.
Students enjoyed a 25-minute theatrical performance charting the lives of three teenagers and their early experiences with alcohol. This was then followed by a 35-minute interactive workshop exploring:
- The social and emotional causes of underage drinking
- Its impact on young lives
- Social influence and decision-making
- Where and how to help yourself and others
Our students were working hard developing their study skills during the session delivered by Learn Spark.
Key Areas Explored:
►Creating the ideal study environment and avoiding distractions
►Developing self-belief and a growth mindset
►Approaches to strengthen memory and recall
►Producing effective summary notes
►Using graphic organisers to deepen understanding
►Managing time and maintaining a healthy balance in life
►Managing exam pressure and stress
►Building and maintaining personal momentum
We would like to acknowledge and thank our fantastic Year 12 Peer Mentors who have been doing a fantastic job at supporting and guiding our new Year 8 pupils. Our year 12s will continue to support our Year 8s daily during form periods.
