St Ambrose College

Immersion Re-launch

We are delighted to be re-launching our much-missed Immersion Programme to Sierra Leone!
We have invited our current Year 11 and 12 students to apply to take part in an Immersion planned
(tentatively!) for February 2023.

Developing World Immersion is a programme which invites students to visit Edmund Rice projects,
communities, schools and ministries in the developing world and, in doing so, forge relationships of
radical solidarity, mutual affirmation, and friendship with people made poor.

Successful candidates can expect to visit Sierra Leone for 7-10 days as part of a group of around 14-
18 students and staff. The focus of our Immersion will be on our sister school, St Ambrose Academy
in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city. We will work closely with staff and students at the Academy
and explore ways to develop our relationship with the school. We will also have plenty of
opportunities to explore the realities of life in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Students will be challenged and taken out of their comfort zones; they will return emotionally and
physically exhausted; they will question their role in the global community. But, if they allow it to,
Africa will change them for the better.

We have asked applicants to outline why they think Immersion is right for them by addressing the
following questions:

– What is your understanding of the Immersion Programme?
– Why do you want to take part?
– What impact do you think Immersion would have on you?
– What impact do you think Immersion would have on our school community?
– What qualities would you bring to our Immersion team?

We simply cannot wait to bring our team together and start planning for this life-changing
experience. It has been too long since we have met our much-loved colleagues at St Ambrose
Academy, and we are so excited to see them again!

Inclusivity Week

Our Year 12 and Year 13 students organised a fantastic Inclusivity Week to lead us into the
Half Term break in an attempt to enhance understanding of some important issues in our
school community.

Coordinated by Harry Leaver in Y13, a committed group of around 25 students met regularly
to plan activities for the week, reach out to external speakers, and organise charity
campaigns.

One of the most popular Inclusivity Week activities actually began a month before the week
itself! Mohammed Ayub and Ben Garvey organised a FIFA tournament which was open to all
students. Attracting over 100 entrants, it was brilliant to see Year 7 pupils mixing it in matches
against 6 th Formers! Following the daily excitement of the knockout phases, the
competition culminated in a tense final in front of a packed Lecture Theatre more akin to
the Stretford End than St Ambrose! Mohammed and Ben’s hard work raised an incredible
£600 which will be donated to the anti-racism in football charity Kick It Out and the refugee
support agency Salford Edmund Rice Volunteers.

During the week itself, students showed incredible courage in presenting to all year groups
about the inclusivity issues which have affected them directly. It was incredibly powerful to
witness our young men speaking about racism, homophobia and Islamophobia and
referencing the support they have received from friends and teachers. All of this was, of
course, framed in a Christian context: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male
or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

As well as student-led presentations throughout the week, we enjoyed lectures from
Mohammed Ullah (the Muslim Chaplain of Manchester University and MMU) and Augustine
Ihm (the charismatic Reverend of St James’ Church in Manchester). Abdul Kafagi in Y13
spoke wonderfully about Islamophobia in wider society. Michael Nwaiwu, the Head Boy,
organised a screening of ‘A Class Divided’.

There were numerous ‘opt-in’ opportunities for students and staff, such as Mr Cook’s
Student Voice workshop on Inclusivity, a photographic exhibition on homelessness, a
refugee workshop from Caritas, and an Interfaith Meeting for our non-Christian students.
The theme of Inclusivity was even reflected in prayer and liturgy each day thanks to Miss
McManus, Mr Murray and those 6 th Form students who delivered Thursday Thought to
other year groups.

It is brilliant that our students have such passion for inclusivity that they will take a lead on
such things. All those involved deserve huge credit, but a special mention must go to Harry
Leaver, Abdul Kafagi, Joe Kelly, Rory Roderick, Callum Timmons, Noah Hayes, Smawar
Waraich, Thomas McFarlane, Rodney Rodrigues and Harvey Richardson for their role in the
presentations and to Ben and Mohammed for their organisation of the FIFA Tournament.

Stations of The Cross

We are delighted to have been able to bring every Form Group into our School Chapel
during Lent so that they can reflect on the Stations of the Cross.

It is still not easy to gain access to our local church, Holy Angels, so we have put up Stations
and accompanying reflections in the Chapel ourselves! It has been wonderful to see
students of all ages reflecting on the true meaning behind the Stations.

In addition, our Chaplain has been running lunchtime sessions for Y13 to engage even more
profoundly with the scripture associated with Jesus’ Passion. Too often during Lent we
forget the human side to the story; the experiences of Jesus and other characters in the
events like Mary, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica and even the soldiers.

The students have really enjoyed exploring the modern context to Jesus’ journey to the
cross. Here is a short reflection we have used during these sessions, as well as some of the
‘alternative’ images on display in our school . . .

Collections for Ukraine

Our staff and students have responded amazingly and with huge compassion to the crisis in
Ukraine, with so much generosity shown to those forced to flee the conflict. Working with
the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, Dnipro, in Manchester, we filled our Lecture Theatre with
requested items to be donated to border points in Poland.

Initially, this was supposed to be our Lenten fundraising project but, such was the incredible
response from staff and students, we had to call time on donations after the first week! Our
lovely Y12 students helped Mr Cook and Mr Murray fill the minibus to the roof! The
volunteers at Dnipro could not believe how much had been collected in such a short time
and assured us they would get everything to people who really need it.

We are also aware of the need to show solidarity with all those affected by the conflict,
though, and Miss Edwards has organised for her Form, 8E, to record video messages for
students in Odessa. They will share their messages of solidarity and support with other
Trafford schools at a live ‘Unite For Ukraine’ Zoom event on 25 th March.

We are thankful to everyone who donated items to the cause; your generosity, as ever, is
overwhelming. Thanks also to those students who have attended prayer vigils in the Chapel.
As Pope Francis requested of all Catholics globally, we dedicated our prayers and intentions
during the week of Ash Wednesday to peace in Ukraine and for all those living under the
cloud of conflict throughout the world.