First Tech Robotics Challenge

Before Christmas group of Year 8, 9, and 12 students attended a robotics scrimmage. This was the first event in the First Tech robotics competition, teaming up with other schools to build, refine, and test their robots. They received an inspirational presentation from the founders of Oxford Dynamics (Robotics company), who shared insights into robotics careers and future technologies. Throughout the day, our students built their robots, collaborated, problem-solved and learned valuable new skills. Most importantly, they had a great time and returned inspired to keep innovating!

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.

Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel Fund

On Friday 6 December, St Bart’s Year 7 and Sixth Form students took part in the Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel Fund, supported by Greenham Trust. The initiative, which has run since 1897,  saw schools and community groups come together to hand out nearly 2,000 Christmas goodie bags as a seasonal thank you to local elderly residents.

Our Sixth Formers, Sophie, Joshua, Shivam, Bethany, Edith, Tori, Natalia, Jenna, Grace P, Taya, Ellie, Rory, Amilia, Finley. Lyra, Swarnika, Sophia, Anna. Grace T, Lily, Ella and Katya helped to unpack the parcels from the delivery vans with Mr Wilder and Mrs Taylor. Whilst accompanied by Mr Bandy and Mrs Cox, our Year 7 students, Noah, Katie, Charlie, Tilly, Miles, Winnie, Nevaeh and Shay, helped by our Year 13 House Captains Emily, Sreelakshmi, Charlie and Isaac, headed out to make the first deliveries to the happy recipients’ doors!

Mr Wilder, Co-Head of Sixth Form, said “This is a fantastic initiative and one that the school is very proud to play a part in. We want all students, from Year 7 through to Year 13, to strive to demonstrate our school values, to build communication and leadership skills and to learn that they can make a successful contribution to our society. This a great opportunity for our students to take some time to make a difference, meet other volunteers and to be part of the community coming together and spreading a bit of festive cheer. Congratulations to all involved.”

With huge thanks to Phil Cannings, Newbury Weekly News, for sharing with us his brilliant pictures of the event.

Economics Conference

On Tuesday 26 November, the Economics department took 30 Sixth Form students to a conference in London. This conference was a fantastic opportunity for students to get an insight into the real world of economics and the links with the world of politics. Students listened to various examples of how the theory they have learned is being applied in the real world. There was discussion of the recent budget, a defence of the Liz Truss budget and some insight into the impact of immigration. They also were able to hear about some new thinking in Economics, which considers the impact of economic growth on the planet.

The speakers at the event were

  • Ed Balls, Former Shadow Chancellor and ITV presenter
  • Hugh Pym, BBC Health Editor (Pictured right with Thomas)
  • Paul Johnson, Director for the Institute for Fiscal Studies
  • Professor Madeline Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory
  • Professor Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics
  • Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs
  • Tim Harford, Financial Times Columnist, BBC Broadcaster, Author ‘Undercover Economist’
  • Carl Emmerson, Institute of Fiscal Studies
  • Grace Blakeley, Writer at Tribune magazine, author ‘Venture Capitalism’

Archie, (13C3) said, “The diverse variety of topics and views presented at the conference were fascinating to hear about.”

 

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.”

‘Spectroscopy in a Suitcase’

Year 13 Chemists were treated to a problem solving workshop run by Chemists from Southampton University. Our students had the opportunity to have a go at using an infra-red spectrometer that cost over £16,000. Alongside the results from this, students also completed a series of problem solving exercises to identify eight unknown chemicals. A real highlight of the afternoon was using the spectrometer to analyse a sample of aspirin that the Sixth Formers had made earlier in the term. Comparison with a sample of pure aspirin showed that the student sample was of high purity too.

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.

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) 

Flight Experience – RAF Benson

Eight CCF RAF Cadets recently attended a flight experience day at RAF Benson. Competition for flying slots is extremely tough with 1,745 cadets bidding for just 320 slots this term, so we were very fortunate to be allocated some slots.

After arrival and passing through RAF security, the cadets were shown a safety video and were taken through the emergency evacuation procedures, including how to wear and deploy a parachute in the very unlikely event of needing to abandon their aircraft. A few of them were feeling a bit anxious at this point!

The pilots introduced themselves and the cadets were kitted out in flight suits, gloves, helmets and some rather funky airman sunglasses and then awaited their turn to be taken up into the air in a Grob G115E trainer aircraft.

All the cadets had the opportunity to take the controls during their 20-minute flight whilst the ones awaiting their turn could follow their comrade’s progress on FlightRadar. Most asked their pilots to perform some aerobatics, including barrel rolls and loop the loops. The sick bags weren’t needed too often, thankfully!!

The cadets all returned safely to earth with huge grins on their faces in what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly a light aircraft.

William (11P3) said, “Thank you for the amazing RAF trip on Friday. I really enjoyed it, it was a really great experience. “

We have put in a bid for more slots for next term, so fingers crossed we can take some more cadets flying very soon!!

APO J C Talbot,

CCF RAF Section Commander

 

BTEC Sport Bath University Trip

On Wednesday 16 October, the PE Department took 29 Year 12 A Level PE and BTEC Sport students to Bath University. The students got to see a top sporting university and experience a lecture on nutrition delivered by a Sport and Exercise scientist, a strength and conditioning session, a lab session where two lucky students in each group got to do the VO2 max test and the Wingate test. This was followed by lunch and a tour of the university. A huge well done to Charlie and Jacob who did the dreaded VO2 max test and absolutely smashed it with scores of 54 and 66 respectively. To put that into context, elite athletes such as long-distance runners score between 65-80 and professional footballers are around 57. Jez and Adam did brilliantly doing the Wingate test too. The trip was a great experience for all students and we look forward to going again next year!

 

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

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