EDCLUB is a charity, founded by three teenagers to give disadvantaged children a way to learn English and communicate with the world outside the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.  An award winning “TED talk” by Prof. Sugata Mitra inspired the EDCLUB initiative. His project empowered kids in low-income areas in India to self-educate, by providing them with computers and Internet access. This opportunity encouraged the kids to explore and learn. This idea has then been adapted for the children in Kenya.

On Wednesday 10 February, students were encouraged to get away from their desks and take a photograph of 'the first signs of spring'. The response to this was terrific and we have put together a large online gallery of these images. It is such a cheering sight that we thought parents would be glad to have access to them.

Georgina (8C2) and Molly (7P3) decided to raise money for the Izzy Wilson Smile Fund by running a marathon over a week, finishing on Valentine’s Day in the rain! They completed miles at lunch breaks and after home school. They have raised £3,000 so far for the charity which was inspired by terminally ill, 11 year old Izzy who wished to raise money to make children's stay in hospital as happy an experience as possible. Georgina and Molly’s Just Giving page is here. Well done girls!

We shared some useful NSPCC guidance around keeping safe online with you in the 13 January 2021 issue of Batholonews. To mark ‘Safer Internet Day’, Thames Valley Police circulated some useful guidance for young people and their parents/carers on ‘Cyberbullying and Online Harassment’

An advice sheet for parents and carers and another for students can be found by clicking on the links.

If your child, or anyone they know, is facing cyberbullying or online harassment, please encourage them to seek advice from this guidance or to contact their Tutor or House Office.   

Charlie (8C2) ran more than 151.67km last month. Charlie set himself the challenge of running every day and that is exactly what he did. He is proud to have made a virtual journey to Exmouth; a very special place to his family. Charlie committed himself whole-heartedly, either running at lunchtime or after his last lesson and then also at the weekend, come rain or snow!

Congratulations Charlie on your superb achievement. We hope this will inspire others to get out running!

We are pleased that our partnership with Ulafu Secondary School, Kenya is taking shape. After almost a year out of school due to Covid-19, Ulafu Secondary School Community are back to school despite the challenges of Covid-19 containment measures.

Your messages and letters of thanks continue to delight and raise the spirits of staff at St Bart’s. Thank you!

“Just wanted to express our thanks for all of your hard work and support ensuring that our son is continuing to get the level of education we’ve come to expect from St Bart’s. The school is doing an amazing job.”

“Everyone has gone above & beyond and I could not be more grateful for all everyone is doing.  Thank you again”

Despite a very tricky year the students at St Bart’s have continued to be creative and produce some super work across the mediums of Fine Art, Graphics, Photography, Textiles and Product Design. We sorely missed having our usual end of year exhibition at the school but we have been given the opportunity to showcase 12 pieces of work on the Open Studios website. We will be regularly changing the images over the coming months so that more students’ work is included.

Every Friday, 8am

The PE Department are delighted to announce that they will be running a weekly breakfast HIIT training workout every Friday at 8am.

The first session on Friday 22 January, with Mr Harmer, was a great success and we had 29 staff and students take part.

There are many physical and mental benefits from taking part in exercise

The Science Faculty have put together an outstanding website to provide some extra curricular stretch and challenge for students for those that want something beyond their normal remote lessons. It shares resources and links such as quizzes, recommended websites and experiments that you might be able to carry out at home as well as challenges for A Level students. You can find the page here.