Mock Trial Competition

On Saturday 16 March, a committed team of Year 9 students took part in the regional heats of the Young Citizenship Mock Trial competition. Our team, which consisted of prosecution and defence lawyers, witnesses, the defendant and a legal adviser, had been preparing their case over the last few months. The case related to a man on a night out, who was charged with actual bodily harm against a taxi driver.

The mock trials took place in Reading Crown Court. This provided the students with a unique and rare opportunity to be inside a real court room. We fought hard against six other schools and despite not being successful in going through to the next round, each member of the team should be commended for their commitment and courage.

BartholoNews 20 March 2024

Year 9 Students get their day in court and Patterson are victorious in the first House Science Competition in this week’s BartholoNews

Area Cross Country results

Congratulations to all students who took part in a slightly unforgiving Cross Country course last week at Mary Hare, a beautiful setting but a challenging course, which they all took on board with grit and determination.

Girls

U13 Girls

2nd place out of 9 schools

Runners were Jessie McCurtin, who finished in a superb 3rd position, Hattie Mason, Rose Cooper, Mabel Roberson, Olivia Dow, Darcey Herdman, Alice Kirby, Sunna Mahmoud, Maya Buczkowska, Freya Ilsley and Sophie Yorston.

U15 Girls

2nd place out of 9 schools

Runners were Anna Hall, 9th place, Chloe Yorston, Daisy Wallis, Lauren Baily, Emmeline Lloyd, Eva Mahoney, Sofia Hughes, Mariella Frood, Violet Hughes, Georgia Hillyer and Ellena Clare.

U17 Girls

1st place out of 7 schools

Runners were Isla Clare in fabulous 1st position, closely followed by Katya Burgess in 2nd place and Olive Muir in 3rd place which were brilliant finishing positions, Brooke Thomasson, Izzy McAnally, Anna Delavere, Georgia Knight in a well deserved 6th place, Chloe Shore and Erin Cameron.

U20 Girls

1st place went to Kirsten Fraser, which was a superb achievement back on the Cross Country circuit!

A tremendous and very successful team effort from you all – very well done and thank you!

 

Boys

The boys completed a clean sweep, winning every age group team category.

 

U13 (Year 7) – 1st out of 10 schools

U15 (Year 8 and 9) – 1st out of 9 schools

U17 (Year 10 and 11) – 1st out of 7 schools

U20 (Year 12 and 13) – 1st out of 2 schools

 

Top finishers included:

U13 – Rupert Knight 3rd, Alex Rowe 4th.

U15 – Antonio Valdivia 1st, Jacob Tang 6th. A special mention must go to Henry Wilson who led for most of the race, but sprained his ankle on the last section – and still carried on to finish 10th.

U17 – Haydn James 6th.

U20 – Charlie Adams 1st, Aston Howse 2nd.

 

You did so well and we are really proud of you all for your fantastic achievements.

Berkshire School Games

On Friday 8 March, St Bart’s hosted the Berkshire Primary Schools Indoor Athletics finals. Eight different primary schools from around Berkshire came to St Bart’s to participate in this event held by staff and Year 10 and 11 Sports Leaders.

In the morning, the Year 10 Sports Leaders had an early start, arriving at the sports hall at 7.15am to help set up and learn about their roles for the event. Six primary schools (Year 3 and 4) then took part in a range of fun track and field events which were officiated by the Sports Leaders. In the afternoon, eight Year 5 and 6 primary schools got involved in a number of track and field events which were organised and run by the Year 11 Sports Leaders.

The event, which has now been hosted by St Bart’s for several years, had a great atmosphere from all of the children and was overall a huge success.

Athens Trip

Tell me, muse, of the St Bart’s trip to Greece! The A Level students of Classical Civilisation and some guests from other subjects embarked on a PanHellenic Odyssey of Epic proportions. We went to Athens, seeing the theatres, Acropolis and museums, along with the prison of Socrates, ancient Agora, and finally made our own Greek comedy/tragedy masks and watched a performance of Aristophanes’ comedies. We then departed for Delphi, which was absolutely incredible and a favourite among the students. This was followed by the site of Olympia – the original site of the Olympic Games, which we recreated – before a meandering return to Athens via Agamemon’s palace at Mycenae and the healing cult of Epidaurus and its world-famous theatre. The St Bart’s Instagram page (muses_tell_me) has photos and videos of all this and more.

Some students reflected:

“This trip to Greece was absolutely amazing, and I had so much fun. I didn’t expect we’d manage to visit so many different places and attractions over six days but the trip was so well organised and I learnt so much more than I knew before.”

“Such an amazing trip, I could literally go on and on about it, the teachers were not as strict as they are usually required to be, being able to play games with us in the evening (and to see their true personalities was pretty amusing). I was so upset to be back in England, I wanted to go back as soon as we landed. The experience was one that I will always remember, seeing all of the sites was so interesting and to be with all of your friends was amazing. “

The trip would not have been possible without the help of Mrs Jenner and Miss Floyd and the admin staff. All of the students were fabulous and the trip was truly unforgettable. Next year”¦Italy?

MFL Theatre Productions

On Wednesday 28 February and Thursday 7 March we had the pleasure of welcoming an MFL specialist theatre company called Onatti. This company performs plays in French, German and Spanish, suitable for beginners and immediate level learners. The play we saw in German was called ‘Der Babysitter’ which tells the funny story of a babysitter agreeing to allow her ex boyfriend to come and help her but after an argument she walks out leaving the teenager in charge of the baby. In some of the scenes, the actors even invited the students to participate. This is what Matilda in Year 10 had to say about the event.

“I really enjoyed the play that was put on, it was engaging and easy to understand even for those who had only just started learning German. It was impressive for only two people to be acting, and the set and costumes were very well thought out and intricate. My favourite part was the audience participation. They frequently invited members of the audience to participate, this kept everyone engaged and led to many laughs.”

The French play ‘Le Cours d’Art’ was equally as amusing with the actors acting out what happened when five students were shut in an art classroom with no means of escape- both Kuda Y10 and Maria Y9 were great sports.

We are extremely grateful to the Parents’ Association who have funded these events for all MFL students in Years 8, 9 and 10.

The Spanish play takes place on Tuesday next week and we are really looking forward to it.

 

Sixth Form House Cup Update

 The revitalised Sixth Form House Cup has been a huge success this year and we are now well over the half-way point. The new format includes a wider range of activities and sports to ensure that all students are able to participate and represent their house. Since December, we have had multiple House Dodgeball events, House Film, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, House Netball, House Basketball, Fun with Numbers, a Spelling Bee and most recently, House Girls’ Football.

As the Patterson Sixth Form House Leader, I am extremely disappointed to report that currently Curnock are leading the race to win the Sixth Form House Cup. However, Mr Roberts is more than delighted! This is thanks to their numerous wins in House Dodgeball (always beating Patterson in the final!), winning House Rugby and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Evers have won two events, the Spelling Bee and House Netball, playing some excellent Netball, and Patterson have won House Basketball and Fun with Numbers. Davis should also get an honourable mention for winning the Senior House Film competition with two wins a in row. We still have many House events to look forward to over the coming months, including Boys’ Football, Rounders, Debating and a mini Sports Day. It’s been a wonderful year so far with a variety of students involved. Congratulations to all Houses and participants on making it so fun and enjoyable to be part of.

Miss M Bilcliff, Patterson Sixth Form House Lead

 

Barclays Girls Football School Partnerships 

On Friday 8 March, St Bart’s supported the ‘Let Girls Play’ biggest ever football session. The ‘Let Girls Play’ campaign was launched in October 2021 to support England Women’s Football ambition to provide girls with equal access to football and inspire communities and schools to make change.

 

On Friday morning, two Year 9 half year groups and one Year 7 half year group participated in a football festival on the Astro. It was a great event with approximately 180 girls playing football throughout the morning to support this campaign.

 

As a school, we have been supporting this initiative to encourage more girls to play football. The girls thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and had lots of fun playing football as well as contributing to the campaign.

National Schools Lacrosse Championship

Congratulations to the Senior Lacrosse team who took part in this weekends National Schools Lacrosse Championship at Aldershot Garrison.  On day one the team competed well against the top schools in the country (including the eventual winners, Moreton Hall) and qualified for Division Two for the second day. After being undefeated in their group they convincingly won their last 16 tie against Abbotts Hill. However they then narrowly lost 4-3 in the quarter finals to the eventual winners, Fettes College. Thank you to Mrs Leach and Miss Thorne who made this possible.

Well done and congratulations to the following: Grace Conington, Freya Morse, Izzy Quesada-Getgood, India Duly, Francesca Parson, Immy Moon, Izzy John, Emily Cox, Sophie Livingstone, Charlotte McDonald, Josephine Winchester, Alice Johnstone, Ellie Upton, Annabel Maclean, Immy Duly and Katya Burgess.

St Bart’s welcomes our Patron of Reading, Peter J Murray

It was a delight to welcome our Patron of Reading, Peter J Murray and his wife, Kath, back to St Bart’s on Monday 4 March to celebrate during the week of World Book Day with our Year 7 students. Pete had the students enthralled with an amazing, albeit slightly scary and spooky presentation, which featured his latest book, “The Darker side of Wight”. Telling fantastic stories about his life growing up in Rotherham, teaching at Cheam School amongst other places before becoming an author and detailing the inspiration for his new book ‘The Darker side of Wight’, the students were hooked in to his ghostly tales.

We then had a book signing the next day for all those students who had ordered a book, and the library was abuzz with discussion and excitement! Pete commented on how engaged the Year 7 students were.

We would like to pass on a huge thank you to Pete and Kath – it is always a pleasure to welcome your energy and enthusiasm to St Bart’s! Also a big thank you to Mr Randall, Head of English, and Mrs Hewetson in the Library, together with our Finance team for sorting out the online payments as part of the author visit and book purchases.

St Bartholomew’s School, Andover Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 6JP

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