Sixth Year Student Journalism and Opinion in Saint Aidan's High
We have presented the Mental Health Matters Campaign to the S6 Captains and the Mental Health Committee, and we in JMAC plan to collaborate on MHM together to get it out there for people to see. And we have started to think about designs and other ways to promote the brand.
We have completed other works as well, such as the Enterprise Story and The Young reporters project
More Coming Soon…
Last week there was a very special event in St.Aidan’s High School. A fundraising week. SCIAF did a collaboration with UK Aid, every pound that is donated to SCIAF – UK aid will match those SCIAF donations. St.Aidan’s is giving £800 to SCIAF meaning SCIAF will get £1600 in total. The money is collected in R.E classes using the WEE BOX. Students donate money in return for certain activities in the classes for example watching a movie or extra study time.
The reason for this SCIAF fundraising week in September is due to during lent we were not able to do charity work because of the lockdown in March.
SCIAF – Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund – does many fundraiser and campaigns to help poor families grow their food, stand with communities to build peace and promote justice as well as educate the poor to help them fulfil their lives.
Mark booker, an education officer who would often come to the school to do retreats, is contacting the school thinking of ways how to do these activities due to the Covid-19 Restrictions. One of those retreats would be ‘care for the environment’ with 2nd year in return to raise money for SCIAF. The students donate money before–hand as payment for the retreats which then the money will be donated to SCIAF.
St. Aidan’s has been doing charity work for years now, they have been successful to fundraise a very large amount of money to various charities and we are looking forward to work with many more charities and organisations in the future.
This week in JMAC
We where able to put the S1 Confirmation and the SCIAF story up, and were able to finish the Enterprise story.
As well as finally getting to do the Mental Health Matters Presentation which is today!
More soon…
As the spooky day of October draws near, you would probably start thinking;
“How am I supposed to celebrate Halloween this year??”.
Due to the new restrictions and the outbreak of Covid-19 makes celebrating Halloween difficult, No parties, No get togethers. However, there is one thing we’ve always been doing to get into the spooky mood. Watching movies! If its horror, thriller or simply a Halloween movie, it does not matter, in the end it always gets you the mood! Here is My Top 5 Movies to watch on Halloween;
1. The Nightmare Before Christmas
The very well known family movie that’s a mix of Christmas cheer and Halloween excitement. Who doesn’t adore the animated character, Jack Skellington and his accidental adventure into Christmas Town?
2. The Shining.
A well known Thriller classic! The acting will definitely give you Goosebumps and the amazing cinematography will keep you immersed in the movie like no other. It’s a brilliant movie and you should watch it if you haven’t already and if you’ve watched it then… Watch it again! It’s a great movie to watch on Halloween, you won’t regret watching it!
3. Corpse Bride
This movie definitely gave me a few shivers, the eerie atmosphere throughout the whole movie made it extra spooky along with the animation style using stop-motion. The concept of the film is very unique. The story of this film is quite unsettling and grim, something you wouldn’t really expect from an animated film. However, Its a Tim Burton film, so you would definitely know what to expect! (Unless you’ve never watched a Tim Burton film).
4. Coraline
Another famous Tim Burton classic that’s very well known for its unsettling scenes that often gives younger children nightmares, at least it certainly did for me. The lingering creepy atmosphere adds so much to the film, making you constantly anxious that something might jump out!
5. Scream
A well known film from the 1990’s. A horror/mystery film about a killer murdering multiple people in the area using similar methods. This Concept is now considered a lot more cliché than it did when it first came out. So many of films follow this concept now to the point it’s not as enjoyable anymore. However you can’t go wrong with one of the originals of this concept!
Since I was really young I always loved watching movies, I spent a lot of my time watching them and exploring different genres. As I gotten older I haven’t had the time to watch as many movies as I did when I was younger, but I still enjoy watching them whenever I have that time. I enjoy looking at the small details in films and the soundtrack of the films!
St Aidan’s High emerged from the arduous lockdown conditions when the school celebrated the Confirmation of some of our new First years.
Seen as one of the final steps in their path as a Catholic, this is a task usually conducted in Primary Schools. However, with the issue of Covid-19 a number of students from St Brigid’s Church had missed this opportunity.
Fortunately, the high school was glad to take on the task and assist the First Years through the process. It was a new experience for the schools RE department, yet they went to great lengths to do this for the students. Speaking to Ms. Hynes, the RE teacher who took charge of the confirmation, she said. “It’s something quite different and maybe it will have an effect on how they engage with RE here at High School.”
When asked about how the First years seemed to be handling all the preparations it seemed the first years were quite nervous but were enjoying the attention. Throughout the process they got to know many people throughout the school including the teachers, the school Chaplain’s as well as getting to know their buddies.
The buddies, who were taken from the S6 CARITAS class, were glad to help the younger students. The CARITAS students advised the S1s through the process helping them to remain calm and not to get too overwhelmed as they got prepared. We spoke to some of the buddies, one of which said, “It’s very important that they’re getting to do it, and I’m grateful for the fact I’m a part of that.” Another one of the buddies also replied saying. “It built relationships between First and Sixth year that ordinarily wouldn’t be there.”
Ultimately the students enjoyed the process which took them another step closer to God and helped them create connections and relationships.
This week in JMAC
We were able to put our S6 Captains story in the paper!
And we have a some big new development for a Mental Health project and various stories, such as stories on The Enterprise project, S1 Confirmations, SCIAF Fundraising and World Book Night.
Stay tuned…
