The newly implemented recycling system is great for our sustainability at St Bart’s, yet we must also question the source of all our waste as well as its disposal.

We can now effectively recycle items that are recyclable, but what about the crisp packets, the straws and the chocolate bar wrappers? The amount of general waste we are producing is declining, but the volume could halve if students’ lunchboxes did not contain so much unrecyclable packaging.

At around 8am almost 100 tired Year 10 and 11 students arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

A short bus ride took us to our modest accommodation, the Vanderbilt YMCA in Midtown Manhattan. After we had checked in
we went on a walk, in search of some of the iconic sights of Manhattan: Times Square, The Chrysler Building and Grand Central Terminal. We were guided by friendly locals, who were able to tell us a lot about of the history of the area.

Our Sixth Form Open Evening was held on Thursday 1 November. We really enjoyed chatting with so many of our own Y11 and meeting so many students from other schools who have been attracted by our academic record and our established reputation.

 If you were unable to make our Open Evening, or you feel you would like another opportunity to view the school, please do join us on Wednesday 21 November for a talk with the Head of Sixth Form, Mr Robbins, and a tour with our School Officers. Coffee will be served on arrival, from 8:30am, for a 9:00am start. We expect the tour to finish by 10:15am.

If you would like to book a place on the tour, please email sixthform@stbarts.co.uk or call 01635 576368.

We have new bins in the Hub, canteen, kitchen and Sixth Form area to make sure that food and compostable packaging is recycled separately from other waste. This is taken to be made into compost and top soil. We have also refocused our attention on recycling plastic bottles, aluminium cans and paper/cardboard. The ultimate aim is to reduce the amount of waste we send as 'General Waste' to the incinerator.  The first week of our new recycling initiative has been a success and we have reduced the amount of general waste by 15%. We think we can reduce this further to at least 30% in the coming weeks.

Our students from Year 7 to 13 are currently working hard, and having a great time, rehearsing for our school production of Grease: The Schools Edition!!

Tickets are now available from the Art Office priced £5 and £3 (concessions).

The whole of the Expressive Arts Faculty have been dedicated to making this show a huge success since the start of term.  The Drama Department have been busy directing and rehearsing with the main cast and chorus...

Davis House’s cornucopia of talent was overflowing on Friday night, as they celebrated their annual House Evening.  

The House Captains guided the audience through many performances, including singing, dancing, music and poetry, all performing under the bright lights provided by the technical team. 

Some of the highlights included an original dance, a short sketch called“Dogboy and Fishboy”, singing and poetry. 

As a school, we are lucky to have incredibly modern buildings and facilities. However, it is clear that we are not considering our environmental impact as much as we should. This is something we want to change and we are going to start by reducing the amount of waste we produce.

Collectively, we generate 7 cubic-meters of non-recyclable waste per week. This waste is incinerated, pumping extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to the global warming effect we are now all too familiar with. Even though we are a small part of the population, our impact is still significant.

Welcome to our three Foreign Language Assistants for the coming year.   We are delighted to be able to welcome back our Spanish assistant from last year, who is joined this year by new  French and German assistants  Hopefully the three of them will soon feel at home as the new "team" in the MFL Department.  We are so lucky to be a school that still has the chance to offer native speaker expertise to our students at all levels.  

On Tuesday 25 September and Thursday 4 October we went on our Geography field trips, to collect primary data for our A Level coursework. The days started off with early coach trips to Studland Bay and Oxford, followed by us independently exploring the relevant sites for data collection. 

We were all doing different investigations and it was really interesting to see the different collection methods used by everyone.

Last Thursday we celebrated the success of our students over the last three years, giving an important 'launch pad' for KS4 and examination courses. This annual event in the style of an Oscars ceremony was a wonderful evening where students, families and staff celebrated together.

A special mention must also go to the four pieces of entertainment, chosen by the Houses. The quality of music and dance we all enjoyed was stunning.

Congratulations to all concerned, and to our students, we look forward to celebrating your further and future success at the end of KS4!