St. Aidan's Catholic Academy

✨ Carlo Acutis Canonised! ✨
On 7th September 2025, history was made.
Carlo Acutis, the tech-loving teen who brought the Eucharist online, was canonised by Pope Leo XIV in a beautiful ceremony at St Peter’s Square. He is now officially the first millennial saint! 🙌
🖥️💖 Known for his deep faith and digital creativity, Carlo created a website documenting Eucharistic miracles — inspiring thousands around the world. He lived simply, loved deeply, and offered his suffering for the Church before passing away at just 15.
👟💬 His motto?
"To always be united to Jesus: this is my life plan."
📿💫 Carlo’s canonisation was part of the Jubilee Year 2025, alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati, another young saint who lived with joy and compassion.
🙏 May Saint Carlo Acutis guide our generation to holiness — online and offline.
📍

Calling All St Aidan's Alumni!

Our alumni community is growing! We’re inviting all former pupils to our Alumni Reunion—a chance to reconnect, share memories, and take one last tour of the school before demolition.
Could you help build a timeline of our history or inspire the next generation? Our boys thrive when they see role models from their own school and community. Your story matters!
Know an ex-student? Share this post & encourage them to join us!
🔗 Sign up here

TIP Tuesday
WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW about
SNAPCHAT. Snapchat is a photo and video sharing app which also allows users to chat with friends via text or audio. Many young people now use snapchat - learn how to stay safe!











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International Women's day! 8th march

Famous women in computing!
Mary Wilkes: The First Personal Computer User
Born: 1937 | Known for: Developing the first personal computer
Mary Wilkes was born in Chicago and graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 with a degree in philosophy. She was told in the eighth grade by her geography teacher that she would be a computer programmer when she grew up. Mary helped develop the LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), regarded as the first personal computer. She even had one in her home—a groundbreaking concept at the time. As a programmer and technical writer, Mary paved the way for the development of user-friendly computing, making technology more accessible to the average person.

International Women's Day

Famous women in technology who have changed the world!
Annie Easley: A Pioneer of Hybrid Technology
Born: 1933 | Died: 2011 | Known for: Code development for hybrid car batteries
Annie Easley attended Xavier University where she majored in pharmacy for around 2 years. She then began her career at NACA (later NASA) as one of only four African American employees at the time. She worked on code that contributed to energy-efficient batteries and space technology. Easley actively encouraged more women and African Americans to enter STEM fields, inspiring countless individuals to pursue tech careers.

Congratulations to John-Paul who complete not only his Bronze Award but also the Silver Inspirational Digital Enterprise Award This is a great achievement and John-Paul put in a lot of hard work to complete a series of online challenges and, ultimately, gain industry-recognised Awards that will help John-Paul stand out from the crowd. John-Paul's commitment, enthusiasm and independent learning is nothing but excellent.

Congratulations to Camron Baldwin who complete not only his Bronze Award but also the Silver Inspirational Digital Enterprise Award This is a great achievement and Camron put in a lot of hard work to complete a series of online challenges and, ultimately, gain industry-recognised Awards that will help Camron stand out from the crowd. Camron's commitment, enthusiasm and independent learning is nothing but excellent.

ICT/Computing Apprenticeship opportunity for Y13 student who have a driving licence!
L3 IT Technical Engineer Apprentice – HPE CDS – £18,018 + company car/allowance – Durham DH1 1SL- job post
HPE CDS
Durham DH1 1SL•Hybrid work
From £18,018 a year - Full-time, Apprenticeship
Full job description
L3 IT Technical Engineer – HPE CDS – £18,018 + company car/allowance – Durham DH1 1SL 37.5hr/w

NOTE: This is a mobile role that requires the apprentice to have a full driving licence.

This is a two-year Apprenticeship Programme with Hewlett Packard Enterprise CDS

Who We Are:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the global edge-to-cloud company advancing the way people live and work. We help companies connect, protect, analyse, and act on their data and applications wherever they live, from edge to cloud, so they can turn insights into outcomes at the speed required to thrive in today's complex world.

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Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open, and intelligent technology solutions as a service. With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Networking, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance.

HPE Customer Delivery Services (HPE CDS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise) provide the support delivery for HPE and we are currently looking for smart apprentices who are eager to learn by joining our two-year Apprenticeship Programme. Working for us is an excellent opportunity for proactive team players who take the initiative to contribute to the continued success of HPE in the UK&I marketplace.

A career as a Technical Field Engineer allows you the opportunity to gain exposure and growth expertise on a wide palette of cutting-edge technologies while being involved in delivering business-critical projects. Our apprenticeships provide you with an opportunity to gain real-world experience and make meaningful contributions from the outset. You’ll get assigned meaningful projects, gain exposure to leaders, and connect with other apprentices. Key aspects of our apprenticeship programme include learning and professional development, social and networking events.

The successful candidate will work remotely from home but should be prepared for regular travel to various locations. A company car or cash allowance will be provided by the company.

What you’ll do:

Fully funded L3 IT Solutions Technician apprenticeship with HPE CDS and LearnTech.

Typical duration to gateway: 13 months (followed by up to 3 months for the End Point Assessment (EPA) period)
Apprenticeship level: Advanced (Level 3)
Programme: IT Solutions Technician
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FUN FACT FRIDAY - Always Aspire to be the Best - Famous Computer Scientist - Did you know Tim Berners-Lee, an ENGLISH computer scientist, is best known for inventing the World Wide Web! He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, he was honoured with the 2016 Turing Award for his ground breaking contributions. Sir Tim is also credited for creating the world’s first web browser and editor The WWW is a collection of web pages that run on the Internet.
Happy Friday!

IT Apprenticeship - great opportunity for
s an IT apprentice, you will be an essential part of the team, responsible for providing IT support for hardware, software and network issues, password resets, user set-ups and more. This will give you the chance to work in a varied role, gaining experience from industry professionals to kick-start your career in IT.

This position is within either two schools within the trust, depending which one is closer:

St Wilfrid's RC College, Temple Park Rd, South Shields NE34 0QA

St Aidan's Catholic Academy, Willow Bank Rd, Sunderland SR2 7HJ

In this role, you’ll work towards your IT Support Technician Level 3 apprenticeship, delivered by our expert training team at Baltic Apprenticeships.

A Typical Day in the Job:

Provide day-to-day helpdesk support by responding to user inquiries, troubleshooting hardware, software and network issues and documenting solutions
Work on server management tasks including configuring, installing and maintaining server hardware and software and resolving server related issues
Perform data central work by managing and maintaining data centre infrastructure, monitoring operations, implementing security measures and conducting data backups
Serve as an IT Helpdesk resource, assisting users with password resets, account setups and access management
Fix computers, iPad and G-Suite related issues by diagnosing problems and implementing appropriate solutions
Full training and support will be provided by your workplace mentor and from the Baltic team.
Desired Qualities, Skills and Knowledge:

Passion for IT
Ability to communicate
Ability to work as a team
Committed to learning
Experience with hardware such as building a PC
Grade 4/C in Maths & 5/C in English GCSE

Salary, Hours & Benefits:

£12,313 per annum – Moving to new rate in April 1st 2025 – £14,500

Level 3 Apprenticeship opportunity for ICT /Computing students
Software Development Apprenticeship
What You'll Do:

Collaborate with experienced developers to design, develop, and test software solutions.
Learn and apply programming languages such as Python, Java, or JavaScript.
Contribute to real-world projects, from idea generation to deployment.
Debug and improve existing codebases to enhance performance and scalability.
Attend workshops, code reviews, and training sessions to expand your technical skills.

What We're Looking For:

We don’t expect you to be an expert yet! Here’s what we value:

Passion for Technology: You love coding, tinkering, or building things.
Eagerness to Learn: You’re excited to dive into new challenges and grow.
Problem-Solving Skills: You enjoy breaking down problems and finding solutions.
Basic Programming Knowledge: Familiarity with any programming language is a bonus but not required.
Team Player: Collaboration and communication come naturally to you.

Hours, Salary & Benefits

£14,000 per annum
Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm
25 days holiday including bank holidays
Potential opportunity for a full-time job role upon completion
Mentorship from seasoned developers
Opportunities to attend industry events and conferences
Access to cutting edge tools and technologies
Desired Qualities, Skills and Knowledge:

Grade 6 in Maths and 4 in English is essential for this role
Great communication skills
Ability to work under pressure
Logical thinker with strong attention to detail
Good time management skills
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TIP TUESDAY! Enable multi-factor authentication
According to Microsoft, 99.9% of compromised accounts don’t have multi-factor authentication enabled, which leaves them vulnerable to attacks by bad actors (HACKERS)
Enabling multi-factor authentication is simple and takes just a few minutes. Below are links to instructions on enabling multi-factor authentication on a few common email and social media platforms:

Facebook -https://buff.ly/2RmIzJR
Gmail Account - https://buff.ly/3byPSrX
Instagram - https://buff.ly/2uztkWM

Microsoft Outlook - https://buff.ly/3ChEEup
Yahoo - https://buff.ly/4hfMHH7

But don’t stop there! Enable multi-factor authentication on bank, insurance, medical, mortgage and payment apps to protect against bad actors.