ISSUE 1 / March 2024
Dear friends at the Divine Mercy,
welcome to our very first school newspaper. Thank you so much to all our amazing journalists, and to our head journalist Mrs Connolly for making this possible.
I can’t wait to read this edition and hear all the stories that our talented children have been digging up.
I hope you all enjoy it too.
God bless,
Mrs C Campbell
The Divine Mercy News journalists made the headlines when they became recording stars at BBC Radio Manchester at MediaCityUK recently.
And they also bumped into well-known actor, Will Mellor – star of numerous TV shows including Coronation Street and Mr Bates v The Post Office.
The journalists were visiting the state-of-the-art BBC studios before going into the studio to record a set of questions to be played on one of the future shows.
This was a fantastic opportunity to see what went on behind the scenes of the nation’s biggest broadcaster and to get some exclusive tips to take back to Divine Mercy News headquarters.
Once recording was complete and the programme producer was happy with the result – no re-recordings were needed from the professional team – they were then taken to see the various sets, including BBC news.
A visit to BBC Sport was also on the agenda where they saw journalists at work, sourcing stories for the sport bulletin.
Headteacher, Mr Campbell accompanied the team of reporters and said: “This is a fabulous experience for our children and I know it will really benefit them.”
Mrs Connolly said: “It’s wonderful to instil an enthusiasm for journalistic writing – and literacy in general – in these inquisitive and dynamic students.”
Hold that front page… future journalists emerging!
A welcome from Mr Luke, Divine Mercy Eco Warriors leader
Firstly, and most importantly, we are ALL Eco warriors.
We live on this planet together and we all want to continue living on a healthy, stable planet for us humans and the other living things that make up our natural environment. The world we live in. Our world.
The Divine Mercy Eco Warriors, from each class, attend regular meetings in school to plan how we can help our school family be as kind to our planet, fellow humans and the rest of life as possible.
We have now completed the environmental review of our school through an extensive list of questions to see what we are doing well… and those not so well.
We have almost completed our action plan, which is always an ongoing process, and this will help guide our actions for the remainder of the school year.
We would like to say a big thank you to all the other students who have helped with this.
So far we have:
We want this to be a regular Eco column in The Divine Mercy News that will help you help our natural environment. We will show you how to save money at home while being kind to the earth.
Remember, we are all Eco Warriors.
Thank you
The Eco Warriors Team.
The whole school family has been learning the power of sign.
Pupils, teachers and support staff have been lucky to have had the amazing Gemma from Sign Me Happy leading our school assembly every Wednesday morning.
It’s no secret that our whole school community loves to sing, but we’ve been doing it with our hands.
Gemma has introduced British sign language to The Divine Mercy through the most exciting sing and sign assemblies.
We learned to sign Blinded by Your Grace by Stormzy, Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, and a set of Christmas songs.
Thank you Gemma for a wonderful experience.
In each edition of The Divine Mercy News, we will be finding out about our staff members.
Yes, we know they are brilliant. But did you know..?
Mr Dev is the chef extraordinaire who not only feeds our bodies, but our soul with his wholesome, nutritious and very tasty meals.
What’s your favourite colour?
Red
What’s your favourite film?
Pulp Fiction
What’s your favourite food?
Italian
What’s your favourite drink?
Lemonade
Which team do you support?
Manchester United
What are you scared of?
No comment
What’s your favourite brand?
Nike. Stone Island
Our school’s awesome Steel Pan band continues to amaze everyone with their talent.
Here they are playing Spanish Eyes… and it’s only their first practice of the song! We’re sure you’ll agree, it’s such an uplifting sound. Roll on summer!
A little over a year ago, our Y6 girls football team had never played competitive football.
But now, these superheroes are a force to be reckoned with in the beautiful game.
They’ve represented our school in many tournaments, including the Manchester Women’s Derby.
Striker Priya said: “I absolutely love playing in the team and it has really helped me grow in confidence in lots of ways.
“We practice every Monday at Platt Lane with our coach, Mr McGloughlin and we take it very seriously, but also have lots of fun too.”
Manchester United fan, Priya says her favourite player is local lad Marcus Rashford, but her inspiration comes from Manchester United player and Lioness Ella Toone.
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the very first edition of our online newspaper!
As a team of journalists, we are so excited to tell you what’s been happening in our amazing and exciting school. You’ll find out about our brilliant teachers’ likes and dislikes, our Eco club, Steel Pan band, school visits and lots more. We really are an extremely busy and creative bunch at Divine Mercy!
We have enjoyed putting together this issue and would like to say a big thank you for taking the time to read it.
It will be a different team of journalists writing the next issue because everyone wants to be part of this unique creative experience.
We hope you enjoy it.
Thank you,
Tahira and the team
