Y10 Business Christmas Market

Over the Autumn Term, Year 10 Business Studies students learnt about business plans as part of their GCSE course. Students were challenged to generate a business idea where profits were high and costs low – with all profits going to House charities!  The students created a business plan outlining the various aspects of their business, from the idea to the financial viability of their business.

On Thursday 19 December, the students were part of a very festive Christmas market in the hub, where they were able to bring their business ideas to life. The students did an amazing job and there was a total of 12 stalls in the hub! The stalls ranged from a festive tombola to hot chocolate and lots of treats and goodies in between! They raised an amazing £273.74, which will be split amongst the House charities. A massive congratulations to ALL students that took part; the effort, teamwork and dedication to this task was amazing! The students who raised the most money were Hala Alharbat, Divyanshi Malik, Aanya Dwivedi and Miraya Srivastava who have won themselves Amazon vouchers – Well done!

‘I think the Market Day was really fun to do and it was a great experience to sell to students for charity. We worked really hard for it and we spent weeks planning. The students were really nice and thank you to everyone who bought from us on the Market Day.’ – Hala Alharbat

‘The Christmas market sale provided an invaluable opportunity for us as Business students to apply our knowledge in a real-world setting. My team and I invested considerable time and effort in our project, and we were all pleased and humbled by our success. At the outset, we did not expect to win or generate a profit, particularly given the calibre of the other business ideas showcased. We are deeply appreciative of the support we received and extend our sincere thanks to everyone who made a purchase from us’ – Aanya Dwivedi

‘For me the market day was an enriching experience, where students were given a real-life experience, and I learned useful entrepreneurial skills. I was thrilled to see the enthusiasm in the students coming together to help and raise money for the charity. I would like to thank all of my friends, teachers and the school community for giving us this opportunity and I am proud to have contributed to such a meaningful cause’ – Divyanshi Malik

Generate – Student Art Exhibition

We’re thrilled that nine of our talented students have had work selected to be shown in a professional gallery setting for GENerate 2025 at The Base, Greenham. The exhibition celebrates the imagination and creativity of young local artists from across West Berkshire, North Hampshire and South Oxfordshire. Congratulations to Rosie and Eugene from A Level Photography; Elliot, Danielle and Alice from A Level Art; Bernadette from A Level Graphic Communication; Lily from GCSE Art; Lily from GCSE Textiles and Tilly from Year 9 Textiles.

The exhibition is free to attend and will run from 10-26 January 2025. Opening hours are Tuesday –Sunday, 10am-5pm – for more information please click here.

Swimmingly Sucessful

Congratulations to Lucy (13P3), Olive (11C1) and Chris (13C1) who all qualified for the South East Winter Regionals Short Course Swimming Championships in Winchester recently. Lucy competed in the 50m backstroke and Olive in the 100m and 200m breaststroke with Olive achieving personal best times. They had only just returned from an intensive residential swim camp in Devon with their club, Newbury District, so this was a huge achievement. Well done to you both.

Chris who swims for Abingdon Vale Swimming Club qualified for eight events, 50m and 100m Freestyle, Back stroke and Breast stroke plus 50m Butterfly and the 100m Individual Medley. Following successful swims in the heats Chris qualified for the finals in both the 100m Back stroke and Individual Medley events, achieving PB’s across his other swims. Chris has his sights set on qualifying for English and British National Competitions next summer. Sounds very promising Chris. Well done and keep us posted!

CCF Wishes You a Merry Christmas

This term, Year 10 Navy cadets have been learning about communication. On Friday last week they put their new skills to the test by using naval flags to spell out: MERY XMAS! (We only had one ‘R’ flag!)

CCF Navy Update

This term, our Year 10 and 11 CCF cadets have continued to build their teamworking and leadership skills with a variety of outdoor challenges. These have ranged from decoding secret messages using radios, through to building masts to hoist signal flags. However, the highlight was undoubtably two separate field days to Theale lake. Our Year 11 cadets spent a morning paddleboarding, having to pass a series of challenges, including tuck jumps and headstands on the boards; before enjoying an afternoon of dinghy sailing. Our Year 10 cadets meanwhile had their first field day experience, with a full day of dinghy sailing. They were taught how to rig a boat, before getting out onto the water to practice their gybes and tiller techniques. Fun was had by all.

Key Stage 4 Awards

Our annual KS4 Awards Evening was held on Thursday 28 November. We were thrilled to celebrate last year’s Year 11 students’ remarkable achievements with both students and parents. Led by our Assistant Headteacher, Mrs Cordiner, the ceremony was opened by a message from our Headteacher, Dr Fitter. Subject Prizes for both achievements and progress were given as well as Major Awards for contributions to many aspects of school life beyond the academic. The Vice Chair of Governors and the Chair of the Foundation Trustees were in attendance and were delighted to take part in the celebrations.

An impressive 54 students received a special mention for achieving 8 or more 7-9 grades at GCSE whilst another 16 were awarded prizes for best progress. The evening was concluded by a vote of thanks, delivered by one of our alumni, Emma Lalande. Emma is now a very accomplished Oxford University PDH student in Interdisciplinary Biosciences and she inspired our students to pursue their dreams, despite any obstacles.

It was wonderful to see the school hall filled with prize-winners and nominees, alongside their parents, staff and governors. It was a very fitting occasion to celebrate a truly outstanding group of students.

Students who were not able to attend our evening can find information on GCSE Certificate collection here.

French Immersion Trip

For the first time since the pandemic, we are delighted to say that the MFL department had a very successful trip to France with 33 students at the end of last week. The trip was jammed packed with activities for four full days starting at 5am on Friday 29 November.

The group stayed in Boulogne-Sur-Mer and did cultural trips to Calais, Le Touquet and Lille; visiting a boulangerie, a chocolaterie, Le Musée des Beaux-Arts and they saw the Christmas markets in Lille. The highlight for the staff was to see our students conversing in French with their French pen pals at different events throughout the four-day trip.

The French students come from the Jean Jaurés school in Étaples, Le Touquet, and it was great to start to build links again with a partner school. Our students took part in speed-dating, a scavenger hunt and a disco at the weekend and then had a full day in school with their French pen pals on the Monday before returning to St Bart’s late on Monday night.

Our students were an absolute credit to us and were complimented wherever we went for their ability to understand and converse in French and for their excellent standards in behaviour. Despite the extremely early start (!), all in all, it was a total pleasure to take our students away. A huge thank you to Miss Wright (and Mrs Sheikh) for organising the trip and to Mr Force-Jones who also accompanied the students.

Here is what one of our Year 11 students, Josephine Wheeler, had to say about the trip:

“All together I found the trip to France highly enjoyable. Being able to be immersed in the French culture, interact with people I would not have otherwise met and test out my language skills in a unique and refreshing way, was really special. The days were jam packed with fun and new activities, and I was never bored! My personal favourite was going to the French market and then using the things we bought to make our Saturday lunch and also going to the Christmas market in Lille. Meeting our pen pals was another great experience; I found everything we did not only a wonderful way to incorporate my French speaking skills, but also enjoyable just to be there. This experience will stay with me as an unforgettable memory.”

CCF Autumn Updates

Adventurous Training Weekends Autumn 2024

Year 10–13 CCF Cadets have had the opportunity to take part in one of two weekends hiking/camping this term.

In September, 11 cadets completed two days on Dartmoor. Leaving Friday lunchtime, we travelled to the campsite and then enjoyed a fish and chip dinner after setting up the tents.

On Saturday, we had a 18km hike across the challenging South Moor, with great opportunities to learn how to navigate and choose better routes through tricky terrain. Both groups used these skills to successfully locate the well-hidden (in the middle of nowhere!) Ducks Pool letterbox (Dartmoor’s version of a geocache) and returned to camp in good time. There were also encounters with the Dartmoor wildlife, including the rare siting of an adder and many wild fungi. Mr Talbot was the expert in spotting these! The Year 10 cadets then had their first experience of army ration pack meals.

Sunday’s activities included a shorter walk, with more bog and some woods. The weather was kind, and the rain didn’t set in until the last half an hour of our walking.

In November, 25 cadets travelled to the Isle of Wight for a different walking experience and army beds instead of tents. The weather was ideal for walking with no wind or rain (the weekend before Storm Bert!) and we were able to enjoy the views across the channel and back to the mainland as we walked along the cliff tops. One group also managed to find “bramble alley”, to add some discomfort and extra challenge to their walk on Sunday. There were also several encounters with the local farm animals – pigs, cows, sheep, horses, and also the odd (model) dinosaur.

Both trips were a great success and we look forward now to the upcoming Ten Tors training (see Mrs Scourfield ASAP if you are in Year 10 or 12 and interested in getting involved with this) and to a full week trip at the start of the Easter holidays – if you are in CCF, keep an eye on the notices for more information about this soon.

Year 11 Interview Day

The Year 11 Interview Day offered students the chance to experience a ‘real-life’ interview with a representative from the world of work and to work on their employability skills and interview technique. Prior to the day, Year 11s used their PDP sessions to examine the skills required for work, research career choices and to produce CVs and letters of application. On the day itself, each student benefited from an individual mock interview and feedback on their performance from our interviewers.

The event is supported by the Education Business Partnership, and this year the organisations interviewing the students included AWE, Barclays, BWB Technologies, Gardner Leader,  Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Horsey Lightly, Infineum, Network Rail, Priors Court Foundation, Royal Air Force, TEK Systems, Tutoring Company, University of Winchester and Vodafone. It was fantastic that the volunteers also included former St Bart’s students, Hozan Edwards (B2B Technologies), Ellie Evans (AWE), Sabrina Luck (Vodafone), as well as Lois Ryan and Beth Parker (both from Gardner Leader) – now passing on advice to the next generation of St Bart’s students!

The feedback from students was fantastic. Here are just some of the comments:

  • “It has given me a greater understanding of what is expected at an interview, what to prepare and what to say.”
  • “I think this experience has helped to make me feel more confident about interviews and given me a better understanding of the interview process.”
  • “Extremely useful, I learnt a lot and I didn’t need to be so nervous.”
  • “It was a great first-time experience and I will be more confident knowing what to expect for next time”
  • It was incredibly insightful, enjoyable and helpful in learning about the interview process.”
  • “I really enjoyed it and found it useful as I now know how to act and what to talk about. I feel really confident and prepared for the future.”
  • “Very positive, I had a lovely interviewer who made me feel more confident!

Psychology Trip – Marwell Zoo

On Tuesday 22 October, A Level Psychology students visited Marwell Zoo. The day included a lecture on animal behaviour, which gave students insight into how psychologists generate theories, through studying animals, which are then applied to humans. Students were given the chance to conduct two observational studies, one on penguins, and another on two animals of their choice. After analysing and presenting results, students then got the opportunity to spend some time exploring the zoo, which was enjoyed by all.

 “My favourite part was seeing all the different species of monkeys”

Izzy (13D3) 

  “The trip did not disappoint; it was exciting to go to the zoo and observe the animals while learning very interesting facts about them”

Aidan (13E2) 

 “The lecture taught me a lot about animal behaviour and I loved seeing all the zebras and rhinos running around”

Chloe (12E2) 

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

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