Green Ribbon Cutting for Nature Reserve

Last week we were delighted to officially reopen the Nature Reserve in the glorious sunshine, after the school successfully completed a fundraising campaign on the Good Exchange to lay a new accessible and sustainable pathway. The Nature Reserve was first developed after the school moved onto the new site in 2010, but had fallen into disrepair over recent years and was no longer safe for students to enter. Following the laying of the new pathway, students are now using the space for lessons and for nature clubs, and are already enjoying the benefits:

Nell, Year 8:  “I really enjoy being in the Nature Reserve because it gets me outside and active, and I really like seeing nature being restored at our school.”

Guests at the event included The Deputy Mayor of Newbury, Cllr Sarah Slack, who cut the green ribbon to officially reopen the Nature Reserve. Also in attendance were representatives from many of the organisations that supported St Bart’s fundraising campaign, which included Englefield Charitable Trust, Friends of the Earth Newbury, Greenham Trust, Newbury Town Council, Peter Baker Grants, St Bart’s Parents’ Association, Veolia Sustainability Fund and West Berkshire Council.

Cllr Slack said, “It’s fantastic to see Dr Fitter’s vision to restore St Bart’s School nature reserve coming to fruition; benefitting the environment and everyone. This is a great example of what Newbury does well; local organisations coming together with the school to enable an inspiring initiative to happen. As a result, students can enrich their learning across all subjects in a live classroom, enjoy the enhanced ecology and biodiversity and chill under the ‘Positivitree’. Thank you to everyone involved in this project”.

Everyone was treated to scones and jam made by Year 10 students and an address from Dr Fitter, before making their way to the Nature Reserve so they could explore this special space for themselves. The school’s Nature Reserve includes a pond, positivitree, waterfall, meadow, orchard and horticultural area, and students from St Bart’s Conservation Club were on hand to show guests the many features, explain how they are used by students and also the schools’ plans for further improving and working in the area in the future.

Thank you to all the students who took part and represented the school so beautifully.

BartholoNews 16 July 2025

We cut the ribbon on our Nature Reserve and give you a round up of trips and visits in this final 2024-25 BartholoNews!

University of Exeter Alumnus Inspire Year 12 Scientists

Last week our science department were delighted to welcome two guests from the University of Exeter; Lucie Cottam, MSc Microbiology and Infectious Disease student and James Ellams, MSc Advanced Biological Sciences student and St Bart’s alumnus!

James and Lucie were here to speak to our Year 12 students aspiring to, or interested in, studying sciences at university. This was a great opportunity for our students to hear first-hand from James and Lucie about the experience of undergraduate study and how these shaped their routes into a Masters in Advanced Biological Sciences. As well as discussing the highlights and challenges of studying science at university, the talk included a discussion of the exciting opportunities and careers that a science degree can create.

Following the talk, James and Lucie also led the students in a hands-on practical session looking at SDS-PAGE. This is a gel electrophoresis experiment used to separate and identify proteins and is a common experiment at University in Biology and Biochemistry courses.

A huge thank you to Lucie and James for their time, for generously sharing their experiences and knowledge, and for inspiring the next generation of scientists!

Year 7 Summer Disco

A big thank you to the Parents’ Association for hosting a superb Year 7 Summer Disco last week. Students enjoyed some excellent tunes from our brilliant Year 11 DJ, Pip McGall – thank you Pip! Despite the hot weather, there was plenty of dancing to all the classic disco hits and even some impressive limbo-ing! Students enjoyed pizza, mocktails, ice creams, sweets and even the chance to try their luck on a tombola! What a great way to celebrate the end of a very busy Year 7.

Thank you to all the parents and staff who helped on the night – with particular thanks to Caroline Arnold and all her team.

 

2025 Biology Field Trip

Starting early on the morning of 30 June, all the Year 12 Biology and Environmental Science students embarked on a 5-day fieldwork trip centred in the coastal town of Aberystwyth, Wales. We spent our days working in groups of three, collecting data on many different species, including plants growing in the peat bogs and on the harsh sand dunes, aquatic invertebrates in the river Ystwyth and marine gastropods and algae along the rocky shore.

The rest of our time was spent at Aberystwyth University, where we were staying. Most mornings and evenings we attended lectures or performed lab work, linking to what we had learnt during our daytime fieldwork. One evening, some local bat experts took us on a stroll through the local area, where we used detectors to hear the ultrasound echolocation calls of bats.

Overall, it was such a fun week, which greatly improved our sampling techniques and knowledge of the very broad topic of ecology. It really opened our eyes to the vast biodiversity around us, inspiring us to do our part in looking after our planet and the amazing variety of life. Thank you so much to our teachers, who are all so passionate in their subject areas, and our coach driver, John, who managed to get us all there and back in one piece.

 

Brigid Joyce (12P1)

 

Summer School Games

Braywick Leisure Centre

The Summer School Games this year saw an excess of 1050 Primary students from schools across the whole of Berkshire taking part in a variety of sporting activities throughout the day. This is a superb event which celebrates participation in sport and competition.

Well done to our Year 10 Sports Leaders who officiated the Quad Kids Athletics Competition at this event. It was a scorching hot day on a very parched field which the heat was radiating through, but despite this the leaders led their events with professionalism and empathy, with several members of staff from the Primary schools commenting on how well our leaders had led the events and supported their students.

Very well done to you all and thank you for being such excellent ambassadors and representing our school so well.

Pelin Arda, Lucas Bailey, Pracket Bimbra, Sidney Bloodworth, Hannah Bosley, Elle Bright, Chris Broadfoot, Nicole Brookes, Mollie Coffman, Phoebe Conway, Deacon Cullum, James Dearing, Iggie Duly, Mariella Frood, Violet Hughes, Kittie Hutchinson, Amelia Martin-Doyle, Will Mason, Isabella Mercer, Freddie Robertshaw, Celia Shakespeare, Dougie Sumbler, Antonio Valdivia, Katy Wake, Henry Wilson and Fiona Karlsson.

Also a special thank you again to the Year 10 Sports Leaders for all their help and support at our two Sports Days last week. The Friday in particular was a very hot and long day but you were absolutely superb in the way that you helped to run the events and supported the students taking part – thank you!

Davis Win House Dance

Last week saw the return of our annual House Dance Competition, in which students across the years choreograph and perform their own dance pieces. The performances were in response to a stimuli set by our Dance Department. This year the stimuli were:

  • Year 7: The Movies
  • Year 8: A Bart’s Value
  • Year 9: Music by Lorn
  • Year 10/12: St Bart’s Artwork

We were delighted to be joined by St Bart’s alumna, Joanna Pires, who judged the competition. Joanna is a recent Dance and Choreography graduate of Falmouth University and a professional Performer and Choreographer in Ballet, Contemporary, Hip-hop, and Ballroom and Latin. It was so exciting to welcome her back and we are really grateful to her for giving her time and expertise to support the school. All our student performers did an amazing job, despite the soaring temperatures, but in the end there can be only one winner!

  • Year 7 – Davis
  • Year 8 – Curnock
  • Year 9 – Davis
  • Year 10/12 – Patterson

This means the overall winner was… DAVIS! Congratulations to Davis House! It was a fantastic celebration of dance and we are so proud of all those who took part. With huge thanks to our Dance Department, as well as Mr Weller and the Tech Team, our Site Team and our School Officers, who did such a good job of supporting the younger years.  We look forward to the Dance Showcase coming up in the Autumn Term!

2025 German Exchange

St Bart’s students were excited and pleased to once again see their German Exchange partners in June. The 25 students from our partner school, the Otto-Hahn Gymnasium in Monheim, stayed for a week with English families. As well as going on trips to Oxford and London, the German Exchange students spent a day in school and went on a joint trip to Bath with their English partners.

Their visit in June completed the return leg of the Exchange – our students went to Monheim in January.  Dates of the 2026 German Exchange and details of our 20th anniversary Exchange programme to Monheim will be announced soon. If you are studying German in Year 8 and above, keep an eye out for details in the next few weeks!

Can you support our Careers Fair?

The St Bart’s Key Stage 3 Careers Fair is held in the Autumn Term each year. The fair is attended by all our students in Year 7, 8 and 9 and it aims to introduce students to as many different job roles as possible.

Although it will be a while before our Key Stage 3 students start making career applications, introducing them to the different kinds of jobs that are out there is so important. We want students to feel inspired and empowered about where their lessons can take them. The fair is about encouraging students to think about the types of job roles available (many of which they might not have heard of before), the skills these jobs need and the type of work that might be appeal to them personally. Each year we survey the students following the fair. In 2024, 840 students attended the event and 528 gave us feedback. Here are some of the statistics from the questions we asked our students:

  • 37.7% found out more about a career they were interested in
  • 46.7% found out about a career they hadn’t considered before
  • 34.1% found out about a career that they didn’t know existed

It is clear these events expand students understanding of possible careers and experiences. Each year we receive amazing support from volunteers who give us their morning in order to attend and represent their job role. Many of those volunteers are former students and many of the volunteers come back year on year.

We are keen to grow our fair and add new roles. Can you help us?

We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would be interested to take part, whatever your job role. However, we have also asked our students about the type of roles they particularly want to explore. If you work in these areas please do get in touch:

 

The date of our Key Stage 3 Careers Fair 2025 is Tuesday 25 November (8.15am – 12.15pm).

Please contact Mrs Denise Seward if you can help, or know someone who can: dseward@stbarts.co.uk

Become one of our Alumni Luminaries Spotlights!

We have recently introduced a new feature to our school website: the Alumni Spotlight section is designed to shine a light on the many exciting and varied career routes our students take after leaving St Bart’s. As the saying goes ‘you can be, what you can see’ and this section is great feature for our teachers to share with our current students, in order to provide encouragement and ideas for their own plans and ambitions.

The more alumni and journeys we can feature the more powerful this section will become and so we are reaching out to ask if you would consider being in this section. If you are willing to share your story and be on the website as an alumni spotlight, please do fill out our spotlight form. Your involvement really can make a difference – please help us inspire the next generation.

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

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