European Day of Languages

On Thursday 26 September, it was the European Day of Languages. At St Bart’s, in the MFL Faculty, we like to celebrate all languages all week! We have had a lovely week celebrating the richness and diversity that learning different languages brings. Year 8 and Year 9 had an assembly to show how languages can open doors to new opportunities and how much it can enhance your professional profile if you have a language on your CV. We also explored our general knowledge about customs and traditions in other countries via a tutor time quiz. The canteen celebrated by preparing dishes from around the world with the Mexican enchiladas being the firm favourite I think! Year 7 and Year 8 students created their flags to show the differences in cultures of the languages they are learning here at Bart’s or shared the culture of the language that they speak at home. The flags joined together to make a wonderful bunting that certainly brightens the MFL corridor, making it a vibrant and welcoming space to enter. At the Open Evening, the Year 6 parents and students voted for their favourite and I am pleased to let you know the winners were:

Runners up:

Matilda E (7C3)

Matilda P (7C3)

Aanya (7C3)

Michelle (7D2)

Tilly (7D3)

A huge thank you to all the students who took part in the competition. Also, a huge thank you to the parents who support Languages and help us promote the celebration of diversity and empathy that comes from understanding different languages and cultures.

St Bart’s Scoops Sports Awards

We are delighted to announce that several St Bart’s students and a member of staff have been awarded West Berkshire Schools Sports Awards. They were nominated in the Summer Term in a variety of categories and then shortlisted and invited to attend the awards evening where the winners of the categories would be announced.

The evening was opened with a special welcome from Maxine Smiles Cooke, School Sports Network Manager, and then followed by an eye watering performance from Felix Clements who was a Breakdancing semi-finalist on last year’s Britain’s Got Talent.

Invitees were also privileged to hear an inspirational talk from Lesley Owusu who represented GB at World, Commonwealth and European Stages in the 400m.

The presentation of awards followed with plenty to celebrate.
Congratulations to the following students and team who thoroughly deserve their awards, presented by Felix Clements and Lesley Owusu, for outstanding performances and commitment to their sport and leadership throughout last year.

Sports Performer of the Year: Beth Maclean (11D3)
Beth was highly commended and presented with a trophy for her outstanding netball achievements, which include her selection to the Surrey Storm short squad, competing at the School Games in Loughborough and winning a gold medal.

Beth also achieved very highly in athletics where she achieved excellent results in the 800m and javelin and qualified to represent the County.

FA Footballer of the Year: Isla Clare (11D2)
Isla Clare was highly commended and presented with a trophy for her outstanding achievements in Football. She played for Swindon and later in the season was offered a 1-year contract with Chelsea U16s, which is a fantastic achievement. We all wish you good luck for this year and future years ahead.

Young Leader of the Year: Amelie Goodwin (11C1)
Amelie Goodwin won this award for her excellent leadership skills and dedication to supporting numerous after school clubs and festivals, including School Games opportunities and support in primary schools. She has been an inspiration and is an excellent role model.

FA Football Team of the Year: U16 Girls Football Team
Our U16 Girls Football Team won this award due to their hugely successful season which included getting through to the last 16 of the English Schools Cup and County Cup finalists.

Huge congratulations to them all, they should be very proud of their achievements.

Last, but not least, Mrs Leach, Teacher of PE, won an Outstanding Contribution to the Partnership Award for her work as a School Sports Co-Ordinator. Head of Department Physical Education, Miss Ostinelli, said “We’re thrilled that Mrs Leach’s work has been recognised with this award. She has worked tirelessly to promote participation in sport for all students by organising alternative PE co-curricular activities, working with feeder primary schools and developing opportunities for student leadership in PE. She’s an integral part of the team here at St Bart’s and inspires colleagues and students alike. Her award is very much deserved.”

Well Done Ella

Congratulations to Ella (13P1) who represented her pony club last Friday at Blenheim International Horse Trails.

Ella and her horse jumped a brilliant round in the arena eventing 100 competition with an unlucky pole down to come 25th out of a 110 in the class.

 

BPhO Computational Challenge 2024

Huge congratulations to Year 13 students Aayush Joshi and Sohaib Alam who have been awarded a prestigious Gold Award in the BPhO Computational Challenge 2024.

The BPhO encourages the study of physics and recognises excellence in young physicists through annual competitions. In order to compete for a Gold Award, Aayush and Sohaib attended a series of weekly online talks on Computational Physics given by Dr Andrew French of Winchester College. These sessions were held in order to train and expose applicants to a range of areas of computational physics before the release of the competition and its theme in April.

This year’s competition theme was on modelling projectile motion, with applicants completing nine different challenges in a programming language of their choice.  Aayush and Sohaib chose C++ and began the first challenge by plotting the horizontal and vertical displacement calculated using suvat equations (A level Physics and Mathematics curriculum). Towards the end of the challenges, the students were using verlet integration to model bounces, as well as modelling the path of a projectile experiencing air resistance with different cross-sectional areas. This is extremely advanced physics and coding, and is a truly a fantastic achievement.

Students’ Summer Achievements

While the summer holidays provide an opportunity to rest and recuperate, it’s also a perfect time to put more into your interests and hobbies. Three students have been doing just that.

During the first week of the summer holidays, Olive (11C1) swam at the Swim England National Summer Meet in Sheffield. She qualified for three events – the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke. Olive had 3 great swims and she made the finals in two of her events finishing 10th overall in her age group for the 100m breaststoke and 7th in the 200m. She also achieved new personal best times in these distances. Overall it was a very successful first National level competition! Congratulations Olive.

Congratulations also to Jessie (10C1) who was selected for an U15 England Football National Camp in the summer holidays. This was a huge achievement and Jessie thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The hard work and sacrifice she’s shown for so many years is paying off!

We’ve reported in the past about Harry’s (8C2) promising DJ career. This summer Harry played festivals such as Boardmasters and Carfest, and made celebrity DJ contacts such as Chase & Status and Judge Jules. He opened Reading Pride and finished the summer playing at a Newbury festival. Well done Harry!

Exam Results To Celebrate

We are again celebrating another year of fantastic exam performance by last years’ Year 11 and Year 13 cohort. The progress made by Year 11 students from when they started with us in Year 7 was once again extremely high and they deserve to be immensely proud of their achievements. Their hard work and dedication, supported by their parents and their teachers, has truly paid dividends.

Photos by Newbury Weekly News

At GCSE, over 83% of all grades were at grade 4 or higher and over 35% were at grade 7 or higher. A total of 54 students achieved at least 8 GCSEs at grade 7 or higher, with Lily Walke, Arpit Bhabra, Isaac Rutter, Megan Purcell, Martha Fitch, Shreya Tripathi, Jacob Glendenning, Sam Dickens and Clara Zeferino achieving an extraordinary total of 70 grade 9s between them. The cohorts’ performance ensures that students can smoothly progress to further study, with all doors open to them.

In Year 13, 30% of all grades achieved were at A* to A, with 10% of all grades being A*, and over 79% of grades were C or better. 45 students gained at least 3 A*/A grades or better, with 11 achieving at least 3 A*. Special mention must be made of the achievement of Alex Scourfield, Eleanor Jeffery, Edmund Tyler and Miguel Zeferino who all gained at least four A* grades.

Photos by Newbury Weekly News

Six students who held offers from Oxford or Cambridge have the grades required to start their courses. More than 200 St Bartholomew’s students will be taking up places at universities across the country and many others have secured places on competitive apprenticeship programmes. Whether students have progressed to St Bart’s Sixth Form, taken up places at college, university or on an apprenticeship programme, or are travelling other new pathways, we wish them all the very best as they move on to the next stage of their lives. Their successes lie not just in their academic progress, but also in the way in which they have been a real asset to the school as a whole, acting as excellent role models who have made a really positive contribution to the wider school community.

Davis Third Time House Champions!

Last week in our first full school assembly, students waited to hear the results of last year’s House Championship. Our Houses have a fantastic history stretching back over 100 years and this decades’ old competition is an integral part.

In the 2023/24 Sport Shield, covering over 150 matches and 13 different sports, Davis were victorious with Curnock narrowly pipping Evers and Patterson to 2nd.

The Citizenship Shield considers attendance, awards and charity work, and Patterson beat off contenders, Evers, to win this for the second year running!

The Arts and Enrichment Shield was won by Curnock, having swept the board in House Drama, Dance, Arts and Junior Film competitions.

The Sixth Form Cup is competed for by Sixth Form students only, and includes various leadership opportunities, report scores and Sixth Form sports became another tussle between the top two houses, with Davis edging the win over Curnock.

The Academic Shield is the final component decided, with exam results and milestones considered as they come in. Again, Davis were victorious with Evers coming in 2nd.

So overall, Davis is our worthy winner, taking the House Championship Cup for an incredible third time.

House Head for Davis, Miss Suggitt, says, “Wow! Wow! Wow! Davis are House Champions for the third year in a row! A huge congratulations to all of Davis! So much effort has gone into winning this, whether it’s taking part in a sports team, getting incredible results, putting in excellent effort into your lessons, getting involved in House Art, Dance, Drama, Music, Film, fundraising for Swings and Smiles and so much more! We are so proud of all of our Davis students. Davis Leavers really are Future Leaders! Here’s to another year of excellence!”

The scores have been set back to 0 and the race is already well under way with Year 7 earning House points during Summer School. Good luck everyone!

PE Sports Personality of the Year

At the end of the Summer term the PE Department hosted their annual Sports Personality of the Year awards evening with tickets being a sell out before the night started! The evening celebrated all our students’ success and achievement in sport this year, both inside and outside of school, which made for a fantastic evening.

A huge well done to every student who has represented our school at a fixture or festival this year; we are really proud of everything you’ve achieved and cannot wait to see what this year brings. All of our main award winners are listed here:

  • Year 7 Male SPOTY: Zach Shore
  • Year 7 Female SPOTY: Hattie Mason
  • Year 8 Male SPOTY: Charlie Bortoli-Holmes
  • Year 8 Female SPOTY: Emme Lloyd
  • Year 9 Male SPOTY: Jacob Tang
  • Year 9 Female SPOTY: Violet Hughes
  • Year 10 Male SPOTY: Max Charlton
  • Year 10 Female SPOTY: Bethany Maclean
  • Male Sports Leader of the Year: Patrick Williams
  • Female Sports Leader of the Year: Amelie Goodwin
  • Boys Team of the Year: Year 10 Cricket
  • Girls Team of the Year: Inter Girls Athletics

Huge congratulations to all award winners, including Coach’s Player, Most Improved Player and Players’ Player for each sport.

Girls’ Area Athletics Results

Congratulations to both the Junior Girls, Years 8 & 9, and the Inter Girls, Year 10, who took part in the recent Area Athletics competition at Palmer Park. There were some outstanding performances which culminated in two excellent overall team positions. The Junior Girls were placed 2nd out of 12 schools, with Downe House School winning, and in the Inter Girls we were placed 1st out of 11 schools.

Very well done to all athletes and thank you for your hard work and determination on the day.

Special mention goes to the following girls who having achieved 1st or 2nd place as an individual in their event and have now been selected to represent the County Championships on Saturday 8 June: Ffion Pritchard – long jump, Hazel Cook – discus, Beth Maclean – 800m, Isla Clare – 1500m, Olive Muir – 1500m. Good Luck to you all.

We look forward to bring you the boys’ results after half term.

Flame Fortune at Young Enterprise Final

On Thursday 16 June, our Young Enterprise company, Flame Fortune, were one of eight teams competing at the regional final in Buckinghamshire. They were one of two companies representing Berkshire, having won at the area final in April. The other teams came from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Since setting up last September, Flame Fortune have completed all aspects of running their own enterprise. They have to come up with their own idea, sell shares to raise capital, conduct research, source supplies, manufacture the product, promote the company, participate in selling events and manage the finances. Alongside this they have participated in a range of Young Enterprise competitions – Dragon’s Den, Best Business Plan, Best Trade Stand (which was judged at the Young Enterprise trade fair in Bracknell), Best Company Report (which they won!).

Managing their participation in this programme, alongside their A Level studies, is a fantastic learning experience for the students. Skills of time management, organisation, communication, resilience and patience have certainly been developed!

Fifty-two Young Enterprise companies were set up in our South Central region in September. Although Flame Fortune did not win through to the National final, to be one of the final eight in the region is a brilliant achievement. They are the first St Bart’s team to do this! All finalists were presented with a trophy to recognise this achievement.

Well done to all the team – Sakshi Kamra, Sreelakshmi Sreejith, Barney Owen, Alec Dukes, Robert Lambert, Mikey Cloete, Tom Grimbleby, Laura Swanson and Jennifer Bibin, for a great effort!

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

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