On the 27 September, I went to watch a Frantic Assembly production of ‘Metamorphosis’ in Southampton along with Year 13, 12 and 10 students who are studying Drama. This play is about a young man called Gregor who turns into a bug, and how his family cope with this Metamorphosis.This play explores themes of family pressures, isolation and change. Frantic’s classic use of movement retold the story expertly. They also explored the cost of living, which made the piece more relevant to a contemporary.

This was a captivating performance, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Go and see it if you get the chance.

Laura Swanson (Y12)

Highlights from our recent PE activity including: U14 and U16 Netball, Cross Country Festival, U13 Girls’ Football and Year 9 Rugby…

U14 and U16 Netball

St Bart’s entered two teams in the Pre-Counties Netball Tournament at Queen Anne’s Caversham. It’s a tough competition and St Bart’s were looking forward to the challenge.The U14s had a tough first game to start with but they composed themselves and lost narrowly to St Mary’s School and by only one goal to the The Marist School, before being beaten by The Abbey School. The girls showed great resilience and lots of potential. Player of the tournament was awarded to Violet Hughes.

The U16s got off to a flying start, winning against St Mary’s, 10-2, but were then beaten by Wellington College and The Abbey School. The girls regrouped and went on to win three more games against tough opposition, showing some great team work and versatility, stepping up every time they took to court. They finished a very respectable 4^th, and should be very proud of themselves. Player of the tournament was awarded to Anna Delavere.  The highlight for all the girls were the croissants and cookies provided by Queen Annes!

Cross Country Festival

Well done to the 30 students who took part in the Cross Country Festival at St Gabriel’s. Great fun was had by all. (See pic above)

U13 Girls’ Football

Our U13 Girls’ Football team played together for the first time last week in their English Schools Cup fixture against King Alfred’s School, Wantage. We unfortunately lost, 3-1, and Miss Bilcliff still isn’t sure how! The girls played really well together, considering it was their first match, creating lots and lots of chances which we couldn’t take. Alice scored our only goal with a great finish. Despite the result, the future looks bright!

Year 9 Rugby

Well done to the Year 9 Rugby team who drew 29-29 in a well contested friendly against Perrins School. Players of the match were Josh and James!

For this year’s harvest appeal, St Bart’s will be donating to two immensely impactful local charities- Loose Ends and Fair Close Centre.

Loose Ends is a fantastic drop-in Centre in Newbury, run by volunteers, which has served over 5,000 meals and distributed more than 2,500 food parcels in the past year.

Fair Close Centre is an independent Centre providing a friendly place for elderly citizens to eat home-cooked meals, supplied by volunteers, as well as activities for them to enjoy. They have also started a drop-in centre for families who are struggling and have arranged with West Berkshire Action for Refugees to allow them to share our facilities once a week so they can organize cooking sessions for asylum seekers currently living in hotels so that they can cook and eat together as there are no cooking facilities or communal dining areas in the hotels.

We spoke in the whole school assembly to encourage the school community to donate to help people in need.  The suggested donations are:

• Tins of meat or fish: minced beef, stewed steak, pie in a tin, tuna.

• Tins of beans, vegetables and potatoes.
• Tins of evaporated milk, custard, rice pudding, fruit, soup.
• Dry foods: biscuits, pasta and rice.
• Jars of jam, pasta sauce.
• Cartons of long-life juice, and long-life milk.

We, along with some Y8 students, will be delivering the food donations to Loose Ends and Fair Close Centre.  Please bring in donations to the House Offices by Monday 16 of October. Sixth Formers should take their donations to the Sixth Form Office. Thank you for your contribution.  We can really make a difference as a community to help others in our local area and the House that collects the most food will get a special non-uniform day!

Year 11 Geography students undertook fieldwork along the River Pang. They collected data such as width, depth and velocity to see how the river’s characteristics change downstream. Students braved poor weather and leaking waders to get the data needed for their Unit 3 exam. Shout out to 11A who were the best group of the week, although all classes represented the school brilliantly.

As the County Championship enters its final, doubtless rain-affected week, it seems a good time to report on the 1^st XI’s thrilling win in the ONA match back in July and some welcome recognition for the progress of Y12 keeper-batter Poppy Camplin, who – in breaking news! – has been called up to the Southern Vipers Emerging Players Programme for 2023/24.

After bowling the ONA out cheaply, with all the bowlers performing with credit, and Jimmy Herdman sending down rockets that must have touched 80mph, the school seemed confident of victory at the halfway mark on the last Wednesday evening of the Summer Term. Jack Davis, once again, was the only ONA batter to hold us up after skipper, James Bird, had been bowled by a rapid Herdman yorker. It was great to see Y13s, Elliot Crouch, George Greenwood, Nathan Delavere and Dan Rutt returning for a final time to wear the new school caps. This fantastic foursome have done so much to put senior cricket on the footing that it is, post-pandemic, and current players owe them a debt of gratitude. However, before we knew it, St Bart’s were four wickets down with zero on board as Callum Johnson, in particular, bowled with bite and guile.

Step forward Herdman and Bart’s Captain, Harrison Blakemore, who were not only calm in the storm but made the weather themselves with an astonishing unbroken partnership of 120 – full of forthright drives, crunching pulls and clever sweeps, which had to been seen to be believed. (Fortunately, Mr Robbins was a witness.) Thanks to all who took part and especially Mike Hart for umpiring and adjudicating player of the match (it went to Y9 Ben Lawson for his relentlessly accurate bowling), Will Herrington for organising the ONA side and, most of all, Tricia Ray for the ONA’s sponsoring of food in the Falkland clubhouse afterwards.

With a strong Y10 cohort and some new players in Y12, next season holds plenty of promise – and it will be hoped that Poppy can turn out for us in the second iteration of the Toby Radford Trophy, which received national press coverage in The Cricketer over the summer, if her commitments with the Vipers, the leading women’s side in the game, allow. Many congratulations to her and best of luck.