Ali Sparkes – Author Visit

We were delighted to welcome the children’s author, Ali Sparkes, to school on 28 November. Having published over 40 books for children, Ali shared her writing journey with us, including her early childhood writing which received rave reviews… but only from her friends! Ali talked to Year 9 about her latest novel, ‘100 Summers’, and gave students the challenge of figuring out a few ciphers. We were shown the obvious downsides of a code where 1=a, for example, and the advantages when you use a book as the decoding key – say, for example, one of Ali’s (as long as your friend/handler/boss has the same edition).

In the afternoon, Ali led a small workshop, giving students the opportunity to write their own title, blurb and first page and then vote on which one was the most compelling.

“I was grateful to attend the workshop in the afternoon. We voted on which front cover, blurb and short extract we liked most out of four of her books and then we paired and made our own title, blurb and short extract. It highlighted how important the front cover, blurb and short story are in influencing someone to want to read a book. I bought her book ‘100 Summers’ as the front cover looked very dramatic and mysterious and the blurb was very enticing! I can’t wait to read it!”

Holly Fry (9P1)

 Students are really fortunate to have opportunities like this, and we are grateful to Ali for coming to visit.

Year 10 Football

Congratulations to both the Year 10 A and B team football players who took part in their finals night on Thursday 5 December. Despite the wind and the rain, the girls did not allow this to dampen their spirits!

The A team were playing against Kennet School A team for 2nd place play off and their game was certainly very evenly matched. Kennet dominated the first half but the St Bart’s girls came back determined in the 2nd half, which was tightly contested. A late goal from Kennet meant they were the winners, with a 3-2 victory.

The B team were playing Kennet B team for 4th place play off. Despite not having a full side, the girls were superb and took to the pitch determined to play their best – even at half time, both teams worked tirelessly in the second half to take the lead but a final score of 2-2 was a fair result for both teams. Well done to you all.

Sovereign Award for Kat

We’re delighted to share this photo of alumnus, Kat Wright, receiving an international St John’s Ambulance Award in recognition of her achievements with the organisation. The Sovereign is the top award from St John’s. Kat’s certificate was signed by King Charles before it was presented to her by the Princess Royal at a ceremony in London last month. Only nine other cadets in the UK have received the award this year.

Kat won the National Finals of the St John’s Ambulance National Youth Public Speaking Competition in 2023, speaking about neurodiversity awareness. She joined St John’s following an assembly from them in Year 7. Despite being “quite shy” she took on leadership roles, gaining confidence and putting in 6,000 hours of volunteering! Kat is set to study International Social and Public Policy with Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from 2025. Well done Kat on this remarkable achievement.

CCF Navy Update

This term, our Year 10 and 11 CCF cadets have continued to build their teamworking and leadership skills with a variety of outdoor challenges. These have ranged from decoding secret messages using radios, through to building masts to hoist signal flags. However, the highlight was undoubtably two separate field days to Theale lake. Our Year 11 cadets spent a morning paddleboarding, having to pass a series of challenges, including tuck jumps and headstands on the boards; before enjoying an afternoon of dinghy sailing. Our Year 10 cadets meanwhile had their first field day experience, with a full day of dinghy sailing. They were taught how to rig a boat, before getting out onto the water to practice their gybes and tiller techniques. Fun was had by all.

Evers’ Chocolate Raffle

Jack (7E2) has organised a raffle for a big chocolate hamper in time for Christmas.

Tickets are £1 each and are available to students in the Evers House Office and on ParentPay too.

All proceeds go to the Evers House Charity – West Berks Mencap.

Winning ticket will be drawn in the last week of term!

Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel Fund

On Friday 6 December, St Bart’s Year 7 and Sixth Form students took part in the Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel Fund, supported by Greenham Trust. The initiative, which has run since 1897,  saw schools and community groups come together to hand out nearly 2,000 Christmas goodie bags as a seasonal thank you to local elderly residents.

Our Sixth Formers, Sophie, Joshua, Shivam, Bethany, Edith, Tori, Natalia, Jenna, Grace P, Taya, Ellie, Rory, Amilia, Finley. Lyra, Swarnika, Sophia, Anna. Grace T, Lily, Ella and Katya helped to unpack the parcels from the delivery vans with Mr Wilder and Mrs Taylor. Whilst accompanied by Mr Bandy and Mrs Cox, our Year 7 students, Noah, Katie, Charlie, Tilly, Miles, Winnie, Nevaeh and Shay, helped by our Year 13 House Captains Emily, Sreelakshmi, Charlie and Isaac, headed out to make the first deliveries to the happy recipients’ doors!

Mr Wilder, Co-Head of Sixth Form, said “This is a fantastic initiative and one that the school is very proud to play a part in. We want all students, from Year 7 through to Year 13, to strive to demonstrate our school values, to build communication and leadership skills and to learn that they can make a successful contribution to our society. This a great opportunity for our students to take some time to make a difference, meet other volunteers and to be part of the community coming together and spreading a bit of festive cheer. Congratulations to all involved.”

With huge thanks to Phil Cannings, Newbury Weekly News, for sharing with us his brilliant pictures of the event.

Alice in Wonderland

Curiouser and Curiouser…

Our School Production 2024, Alice in Wonderland, was performed to packed audiences on Monday and Tuesday evening. Students from all years took part, with weekly rehearsals running from this September. Alongside those acting, our students also took on the challenges of costumes, staging, set, sound and lighting. This year the staging meant that the audience were in the midst of Wonderland, with the actors performing in and around the hall, as well as on the stage. There was even an opportunity for audience participation, with the front row having the chance to vote if it should be ‘off with her head’! The production called for some clever casting, direction and set design, with an on-screen giant Alice, a three-student caterpillar, the disappearing Cheshire Cat and some inflatable flamingos!

Mrs Howe, Head of Drama, said: “The School Production is a celebration of drama at St Bart’s and we had great fun with this year’s chosen script. It was a brilliant ensemble which enabled more of our students to take on speaking roles and shine on stage. It was particularly pleasing that so many of our Year 7s chose to get involved, as casting took place during only their second week at St Bart’s! The challenge this year was to realise Lewis Carroll’s weird and wacky world of characters using the resources available, and to do so, we had to draw on the ideas and talents of our actors – whether it was our Mad Hatter, Sleepy Dormouse or tyrannical Queen of Hearts! Also, of huge importance were the skills of the students managing the technical gallery, and the energy and organisation of our stage hands.”

This was a brilliant and energetic showcase to see out 2024.

Congratulations to all involved and especially to our two Alices, Ada Swift Marshall and Jessie Murphy.

Our thanks to the wonderful Drama Department who directed and produced – Mrs Howe, Mrs Parkington and Mr Glancy, with Mr Weller in the tech gallery. Our thanks also to staff in the Expressive Arts Faculty for musical support, set, costumes and the programme. We’d also like to thank Maria Robertson (Didcot Girls’ School) and Mrs Williams (St Joseph’s College, Reading) for their help with costumes and props.

BartholoNews 11 December

Well done to the cast of Alice! We review their performances and find out about the Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel visits in this week’s BartholoNews.

Statwars Success

At the end of last term, over 40 year 9 students took part in the Statwars data challenge during their Science lessons. STATWARS® is a data project open to primary and secondary school students. The STATWARS: Climate Change Challenge empowers and educates students to tackle climate change using data they capture themselves. Students used the Carbon Footprint Calculator to calculate their own carbon footprint, then used this data to identify three changes they can personally make in their daily lives to help tackle climate change. They created infographics based on their data and these were submitted to the Statwars team for judging.

We are delighted to announce that St Bart’s won the Overall KS3 Award, netting £300 of eco-resources for the school! Special mention to Ellie and Eleanor who also won a £30 prize for the best data analysis, and Divyanshi, Jenna and Ciara who were highly commended by St Barts for their poster entry.  All students involved will receive a certificate.  We hope to enter again this year and continue our winning run!

Economics Conference

On Tuesday 26 November, the Economics department took 30 Sixth Form students to a conference in London. This conference was a fantastic opportunity for students to get an insight into the real world of economics and the links with the world of politics. Students listened to various examples of how the theory they have learned is being applied in the real world. There was discussion of the recent budget, a defence of the Liz Truss budget and some insight into the impact of immigration. They also were able to hear about some new thinking in Economics, which considers the impact of economic growth on the planet.

The speakers at the event were

  • Ed Balls, Former Shadow Chancellor and ITV presenter
  • Hugh Pym, BBC Health Editor (Pictured right with Thomas)
  • Paul Johnson, Director for the Institute for Fiscal Studies
  • Professor Madeline Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory
  • Professor Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics
  • Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs
  • Tim Harford, Financial Times Columnist, BBC Broadcaster, Author ‘Undercover Economist’
  • Carl Emmerson, Institute of Fiscal Studies
  • Grace Blakeley, Writer at Tribune magazine, author ‘Venture Capitalism’

Archie, (13C3) said, “The diverse variety of topics and views presented at the conference were fascinating to hear about.”

 

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

Telephone: 01635 521255 | Email: office@stbarts.co.uk | Full Staff Contact List
Y7-Y11 Attendance: 01635 576372 | Y12/13 Attendance: 01635 576366
Privacy Notice for Students | Privacy Notice for Staff