On Friday, St Bart’s marked the 2-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine with a wreath laying ceremony in the school’s Heritage Garden and stood in solidarity with our Ukrainian students on this difficult day.

Dr Fitter thanked our students for their huge contribution to our school community and local MP and government minister, Laura Farris, delivered a message of support and laid flowers on behalf of the people of Newbury. Head students, Bella Warner and Armand Graham, spoke of the immense sense of awe they felt for the resilience of their Ukrainian peers and laid flowers on behalf of the school community.

Year 13 students, Pavlo, Danil and Maksym (Year 12) delivered a powerful poem in Ukrainian and English, whilst Masha (Year 13) kindly thanked St Bart’s staff and students for the way they’ve been welcomed. Masha and Karyna (Year 11) then laid a wreath in memory of those who have lost their lives to the war and those who have bravely fought to defend Ukraine.

Dr Fitter said; “It is important to our school community to mark this anniversary and our continued support of Ukraine and, in particular, our Ukrainian students. These students joined St Bart’s under extremely difficult circumstances for themselves and their families and yet they have still brought so much to St Bart’s, their peers and their studies. They all deserve a bright future”.

Before half term, Evers and Davis Houses regaled us with a plethora of fabulous performances in their annual House Evening.

From Elodie and Lenka who began the evening dancing to ‘Rolling in the Deep’, to Andrea Wong stunning everyone with her Chopin rendition on the piano and the Year 9 students’ alternative “Romeo and Juliet” sketch, it was clear that there is a lot of talent in Evers and Davis.

One of the highlights of the evening for many was the 7D1 Lip Sync Battle in which we saw students competing against teachers and staff. The Evers and Davis team were joined by Assistant Head Teacher, Miss Thorne, amusing us with their Spice Girls performance, complete with costumes.

Several other tutor groups also performed en masse, including 7E1 with their ‘Dragons’ Den’ sketch, 8D3’s rap and 7E2&3 joined together to present ‘Call me Maybe”.

Amongst the many musical acts we heard from a jazz group who brilliantly performed the standard ‘Take Five”, Callum and Eleanor with a soulful ‘Just the two of us’ and group ‘White Noise’ rounded of the evening with an energetic Blur medley that many of the students joined them on the floor to bounce along to.

Well done to the Evers and Davis teams for putting on such a great evening. Thanks also to Mr Weller and supporting students for their sound, lighting and backstage expertise. Finally, thank you to all who attended and helped raise more than £700 for the House Charities, West Berkshire Mencap and Swings & Smiles.

Documentary maker and reporter, Mirek Gosney, joined us at St Bart’s last week as part of our Beacon School programme of activities around Holocaust Memorial Day.

Speaking to our Year 12s during their enrichment session, Mirek described his recent documentary, ‘Building Hitler’s Empire’, which delves into the true story of the Nazis’ forgotten forced and slave labour programme. The documentary considers the perspective of Mirek’s own Czech great-grandfather, Miroslav Jeřábek, who was conscripted and sent to work in Germany. Mirek spoke to our students about economic exploitation, often involving global corporations, and about the difference between slave labour and forced labour, which offered some pay and freedom. He also explored the theme of forgotten voices, justice and recognition and whether you can ever truly compensate for some experiences.

Mirek also shared his experience of the making of documentaries and his reflections on his research and decision to remain a neutral voice. Following the talk, Mirek answered questions from our students and spent time sharing advice with those interested in journalism and film and documentary making.

Our thanks to Mirek for giving his time and sharing his story.

The Textiles Department’s termly competition continues”¦ The St Bart’s Sewing Bee! Every term a student from each class is awarded the Textiles ‘Sewing Bee’ and is given a certificate and a Textiles themed prize. This award is not just for great quality work, it is for being an excellent Textiles student as a whole, including organisation and demonstration of the Bart’s Values within lessons. Last term, Year 7 students last term produced some fantastic monster stuffed toys and Year 8 students a cultural patterned drawstring bag.

 Well done to last terms’ winners and runners up!!

Y8

Runners up: Alfie Terry, Lucy Oliver, Paige Warren,  Luc Weaver, Ada Swift Marshall, Martha Waterfall, Elsie Smith, Lottie White, Lara Tubbs, Olivia Vajdova, Hanika Prashanth

Winners: Harriette Sheffield, Theo Scott, Sam Taylor, Elodie Wright

Y7:

Runners up: Imogen Rumens, Abby Hodkinson, Elliot Stevenson, Bella West, Abigale Laidlaw-Field, Darcey Herdman, Alex Rowe, Rosie Gibbons, Caitlin Black, Tanishka Shiravadekar, Jana Alharbat, Evie Wakeham

Winners: Millie Pinnock, Joseph Hunter-Smart, Alice Rumens, Rafferty Muir

 

As part of the St Bart’s Apprenticeship Programme, once again we proudly partnered with Vodafone to deliver an apprenticeship support masterclass for 45 St Bart’s Sixth Form students at the prestigious Vodafone Headquarters Conference Pavilion. Vodafone managers, employees, graduates and apprentices took students through a ‘mock’ version of an apprenticeship assessment day to prepare students for making strong applications to major companies. Students discovered more about Vodafone’s apprenticeships, learnt about what employers are looking for in applicants, gained personalised feedback on interview technique and participated in a series of Group Tasks specifically designed to put their teamwork, problem solving and presentation skills to the test.

Jake Randall, Vodafone Data & Insights Specialist Apprentice, said: “It was a great experience to once again facilitate a mock assessment day for St Bart’s School with Vodafone, and to see how much we helped some of the visiting students in their preparation for life after further education. As a second-year data analyst apprentice I was very much bucking the trend by pursuing an apprenticeship over the conventional university route. I am on a great scheme here at Vodafone and I have realised all the benefits it can offer. I was really keen to share my experience with other young people and give them the best opportunity to jump on the apprenticeship bandwagon. We’ve built a great mutual relationship with St Bart’s School, with young people’s futures placed firmly at the centre. We look forward to continuing to work with St Bart’s.”

Owen Chetwood, Year 13 St Bart’s student, said: “Visiting Vodafone HQ and learning from brilliant members of the Vodafone team was such a valuable experience and has really motivated me to apply for a Level 6 degree apprenticeship at a top company. The interviews and in-person group assessment activities made clear exactly what an employer is looking for in an apprentice, and hearing the stories from the apprentices themselves was inspiring. I would highly recommend this day to sixth form students next year.”

Mr Wilder, Deputy Head of Sixth Form, said: “We are hugely grateful to Vodafone for sharing their outstanding venue and their knowledge and advice. We are lucky to be the only school in the area to have this close relationship with Vodafone and utilise the invaluable opportunities they provide for our students in their ambitions to secure these competitive placements at major companies across the UK. Our students were outstanding and gained so much from the experience. Last year, we had students who secured Level 6 degree apprenticeships at top companies such as AWE, FMB Engineering and M&S, and we will continue to support students in the apprenticeship programme this year. We have had so much interest from students for this type of initiative and I can announce that we will be repeating this apprenticeship support masterclass day in January 2025 to allow as many sixth form students as possible to participate. It is fantastic when local employers can offer their time in this way to support our young people. We’d love to hear from any other companies who feel they could work with our Apprenticeship programme in any way.”