ISSUE : 15 CHRISTMAS 2018
St Bonaventure’s Magazine
Have a Blessed Christmas from 8 Colman's Blessed and all students, staff and governors at St Bonaventure's
message from the headteacher
Chaplain’s Yuletide Message
Dear Members of the St Bonaventure’s Community, You may be aware that the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Brentwood has recently published a pastoral letter on ‘Education Sunday’ and he speaks highly about the quality of education that is provided by our Catholic schools. He did also mention that he wants all Catholic schools to establish a MultiAcademy Trust within the geographical boundaries that we call Deaneries. For us, this is all the Catholic schools within the London Borough of Newham. These schools are now working together to negotiate how this MultiAcademy Trust will be formed and how it will work. One thing is certain, this collaboration can only strengthen the partnership that already exists between the Catholic Schools, each school will retain their own particular ethos and identity. The formation of this MAT will not impact in any negative way for the pupils, parents, carers and staff of the schools. The impact can only be positive for all involved. The premises will continue to be owned by the Diocese of Brentwood and all staff will be employed by the Multi-Academy Trust, rather than just the Governing Body of one school but the Trustees will continue to be within the Diocese of Brentwood. The impact will come from the manner in which each school’s leadership will work together for the benefit of the Newham Catholic Community. The increased support and the strength in numbers will be beneficial to all involved. The Bishop has indicated that he wants these MATs to be formed by 2020 and so the current Headteachers and Local Governing Boards will be working closely together over the next two years to ensure that this happens in a way that is not detrimental to any school and will ensure that our schools improve. At some point, the community will be involved in a consultation process and I will keep you all informed. This is an exciting time for ours schools. I wish you all a blessed Christmas. Please keep all school communities in your prayers during this Advent and Christmastime. God Bless You All Paul Halliwell Headmaster of St Bonaventure’s
Santa was not present at the birth of Jesus Christ! However, this year, I have chosen this powerful image of Santa kneeling at the manger of the newly born infant child Jesus, to remind us that ‘He’ is the Reason for the Season. The image of Santa Claus genuflecting, hat removed, in silent adoration of the Messiah, helps us to remember that we should try to remove the commercial aspects that an increasingly secular society give us at Christmas, and focus on the true meaning. God became flesh, and dwelt among us more than 2000 years ago. For that, every single human person would have the chance of life eternal. It is the quality of God’s love that we celebrate at Christmas. His love breaks through all the obstacles of politics and government, all the obstacles of human pride and pomp, all the displays of ego and power, as well as our indifference to the obstacles of poverty and ignorance, that threatens to hurl mankind down into the abyss of quiet desperation and hopelessness. May the birth of Jesus, who is Emmanuel, fill our hearts with wonder and praise, and give us the grace to proclaim Emmanuel, God with us, to a lonely and suffering world. My prayer for all of us is that Jesus, God with us, will fill us with his joy and peace this Christmas, and give us renewed hope in the coming New Year. A Blessed Season of Advent, and a Holy Season of Christmas to you and your families. Mr Connolly Chaplain
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FULL MARKS FOR OUR ENGLISH DEPARTMENT St Bonaventure’s has been awarded The Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) Schools Programme Mark for outstanding teaching in the English Department. The PTI launched the Schools Programme in 2007 to recognise and reward school departments that develop inspirational ideas and activities which enhance the teaching of Art, English, Geography, History, Latin, Maths, MFL, Music and Science, regardless of their pupils’ backgrounds or abilities. The programme is run as a membership group for school departments that choose to commit to increasing the challenge of their subject provision.
CLASS OF 2018 HONOURED Prize night on September 13, was a lovely occasion that saw the Year 11 Class of 2018 gathering one final time for a night of celebration and certificates. Old Bonaventurian and maths genius, ‘University Challenge’ contestant and celebrity, Bobby Seagull, came back as our Guest of Honour and to present prizes.
Our English department received the Mark in recognition of the hard work, dedication and innovative work staff do every day to get the best outcomes for their students. Curriculum Leader for English, Ms AdedoyinSalau, added: “We are delighted to have been awarded the PTI Mark and we will be proud to carry the Mark on all our marketing materials in school as evidence of our commitment to inspirational teaching.” Mr Halliwell commented: “The English Department should feel very proud.”
Joshua Alex was presented with the Bon’s Boy of the Year shield for overcoming a lifethreatening illness that saw him spending many months in intensive care at St Thomas’s Hospital. His determination to keep up with his studies showed a real strength of character and courage Mr Halliwell said.
It was lovely to see them together again and many parents and siblings attended.
A HUNDRED YEARS OF REMEMBERING Our school councillors represented St Bonaventure’s beautifully at East Ham’s Central Park for the annual Armistice Day remembrance ceremony which was extra poignant this year as it was 100 years since the end of the First World War. Our students were joined by other Newham Catholic schoolchildren.
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MR CORBYN MEETS THE GUYS Guy Fawkes was famously there on November 5 and on the very same day 413 years later 7 Atkinson visited the Houses of Parliament for a People’s Parliament workshop and tour. As an added bonus, the group bumped into the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, in Westminster Hall and he was happy to chat and pose for a photo with the lads and Miss Turner our Reprographics Manager.
A WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR STUDENTS Miss Massett’s Book Club went ‘up west’ on September 20 to see the magical production of Disney’s Aladdin at the Prince Edward Theatre in Old Compton St, Soho, and fell in love with the show. It was truly amazing Miss Massett reported with the production team managing to keep to the traditional story that has been well-loved by generations of people. She added: “Each scene was breathtakingly bright and colourful and the costumes and songs were stunning. Our students loved the special effects and thought it was a magical and wonderful experience.” It is hoped that the students will now remember what they saw in the theatre and go on to produce some interesting pieces of work inspired by the show.
BRIAN DEALS A WINNING HAND WITH HIS CARD CLUB IDEA October’s Jack Petchey award was given to a Year 7 boy. This is a very unusual step for a new student to be given such an accolade but this student impressed the Head so much the rules were broken to accommodate this excellent pupil. Brian Chyzowski who is 11 and joined St Bonaventure’s from Shaftesbury Primary School. Although Brian is a new Bon’s boy he has already demonstrated lots of enthusiasm and organisational skills and determination. He went to see the Head about starting a card club and set about designing posters and marketing them. The club is proving popular. “The club is a good way for new students to get to know each other” commented Mr Halliwell. He added: “Brian is very keen and he is to be applauded for his direct approach and can do attitude. “ Brian plans on designing and buying special badges and awards for his club with his £250 award money.
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SENIOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP TEAM These smart looking students wearing their easily-identifiable grey lanyards make up the SSLT team and are there to help 6th Form students and all St Bonaventure’s students. Headboy Jamie and Headgirl Ashanaye lead the team and we wish them well with their studies in Year 13 and their up and coming exams.
TUTORS’ KNOWLEDGE GROWS WITH STEVE OAKE’S HELP Ms Roddy, the Assistant Director of the 6th Form, was delighted to welcome Steve Oakes, the co-author of ‘The A Level Mindset’ and ‘The GCSE Mindset’ into school in September where he delivered VESPA training to the Year 12 Tutor Team.
predictors of educational achievement outcomes, St Bon’s 6th Form are excited to be partaking in this important research project which is being run in collaboration with the Psychology Department at Manchester Metropolitan University.
With the increasing attention being paid to non-cognitive attributes in education, based on the accumulating evidence of their importance as
TEAM BUILDING DAY A HUGE SUCCESS Gilwell Park in Chingford, the home of the Scout Association, was the setting for the School Council Team Building Away Day once again this year on a cold, damp day in November. After journeying in the school minibus, the students arrived excited but somewhat apprehensive about what lay in store. Their fears were unfounded when they quickly got down to brainstorming about their priorities and setting realistic goals for the year. Insightful tactics were given such as transforming causes into solutions, problems into visions and consequences into effect.
Ms Roddy commented: “Year 12 students will have weekly VESPA sessions as part of their tutorial programme and we look forward to the journey ahead.”
THE SWEET LIFE Year 9 German linguists heard all about German festivals this term and got a little taste (literally) of one particular popular and important festival. Zückertüte is a German tradition that primary/elementary school pupils aged six get involved with when they receive a special treat on their first day of school to welcome them. It is a rite of passage almost, similar to a graduation and parents invest lots of time and effort showering their children with gifts as it is a huge milestone for the children that needs celebrating. The large cone is filled with sweets, treats, school supplies and toys to help make their first day at school even more special. The tradition dates back to the early 19th century. Our Year 9 students enjoyed learning about a variety of German festivals - Oktoberfest, Christmas, Easter, May Day and so on and Miss Hillan decided to treat them with mini Zückertüte of their very own.
After a hearty lunch, students embraced a range of outdoor exhilarating bonding activities such as orienteering, the 3G swing and manoeuvring very high ropes such that the winter chill was quickly forgotten. They came away confident that the strategies learned will remain in the their memories for a very long time to come and they will be able to utilise the skills learned throughout the year to help them in their decision making. Ms McNulty
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SCIENCE LADS HAVE THE WINNING FORMULA A group of our scientists made it through to the next stage of the RSC Chemistry Mastermind Competition’s Essex heat this term. This was brilliant news as it was the first time St Bonaventure’s had taken part. Kairon Conception from 11 Bell, Shams Ullah from 10 Heath and William Mena and Selorm Amenu from 9 Gregory had to complete a gruelling test that was marked externally.
At the Heats stage in November, Dr Alan Osborne from the Royal Society of Chemistry came in to school to quiz the students and although the boys did incredibly well and impressed Dr Osborne they didn’t quite manage to make it through to the next stage. Mr Adenekan added: “Considering this was our first year of entry we did really well and I’m so proud of the team.”
Curriculum Leader for Science at St Bonaventure’s , Mr Adenekan, was thrilled when he heard St Bonaventure’s had been placed in the top 7 out of 41 schools that participated. He added: “I hope their success will encourage their love of Chemistry. They have shown a passion for the sciences and have done really well in their first attempt at the competition.” The boys prepared by having additional booster classes and tests to decide who would go on to represent the school.
YOUTH DISCUSS EUTHANASIA
AGNUS DEI
Clare Plasom Scott from the charity, ‘Life’, came in to school to speak to Year 10 boys about euthanasia this term.
It has been a busy term for the Agnus Dei Teaching School Alliance as we welcomed in many school experience placements and showed people who are considering teaching what life is like in a busy school.
The students found the talk informative and interesting and many of them were still discussing the topic during lunchtime. It was really useful and thought provoking.
We have also been running two cohorts of middle leader qualifications, with one group based at Cardinal Pole in Hackney, and our senior leader course. Colleagues from around the Agnus Dei Teaching School Alliance have taken part in various CPD sessions that we have led including GCSE RE, SEND, Teaching in a Catholic School, Leading a Mentally Healthy School. We also welcomed the team from Dove Self Esteem and had over 120 trainee teachers come in to get involved in the popular workshop. We look forward to hosting our Teach Meet event again next term, as well as more CPD sessions.
Mr Lewis said: "We invite ‘Life’ to come in to speak to our students on a variety of topics every year. It allows the students to think critically about important topics and the discussion gives them an opportunity to ask questions and find out more about this sensitive dilemma.”
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The Alliance also continues to support a range of trainee teachers who are working in St Bonaventure's and other Alliance schools and are already proving to be the next generation of successful teachers. All further information on the alliance including opportunities to train as a teacher can be found on the school website: www.stbons.org
RAISING AWARENESS THE TELCO WAY Our TELCO team that consists of students from Year 10 and Year 8 have been campaigning all year on affordable housing in our borough and met with 70 campaigners from Newham Citizens and parishioners from St Francis’ Church in Stratford on September 25. The group re-launched their call for an Olympic legacy that delivers in Newham. They want a legacy that includes 100 genuinely affordable community land trust homes, a real living wage and good jobs for local people.
Paul Regan, who is a member of Newham Citizens commented: “There are 24,000 people on the housing waiting list in Newham and many families work hard and still can’t afford to stay in Newham.” Our students were happy to participate and said: “We listened to people across our school last year and we found that the lack of affordable housing is affecting our students’ mental health. We heard of families having to move as far away as Newcastle and some students commuting to get to school every day from Croydon. The housing crisis affects so many in Newham and so we are doing all we can to campaign for genuinely affordable housing.” The campaigners marched to the Olympic Park where they met with the London Legacy Development Corporation to demand change. London Live TV turned up to cover the event and it appeared on the teatime news that night.
Newham Citizens is an alliance of 21 institutions across Newham who work together for the common good. They are currently running campaigns around youth safety, the real living wage, hate crime and community land trust homes.
ISRAEL IS A TOP MAN
SHAMS IS A SHINING EXAMPLE
18 year old Israel Owolabi from Custom House was named as our first 6th Form Jack Petchey award winner back in October.
10 Heath’s Shams Ullah was awarded November’s Jack Petchey Award by Acting Headteacher, Mr Templeman on December 10.
Israel is in Year 13 and is studying for his A Levels in Economics, Psychology and Computer Science. He is a member of the Senior Student Leadership Team and is the Deputy Head Boy. He is an excellent role model for his fellow students and mentors Year 12s. He is always polite and is an excellent student who has impressed staff since he joined St Bonaventure’s 6th Form from Kingsford Community School. Mr Halliwell presented him with his certificate today and said: “I only wish Israel had been with us for his whole secondary school education as he is a gentleman and it’s an honour to know him.” Israel took the SSLT group paintballing with his award money.
14-year-old Shams was nominated by Deputy Headteacher, Mr McCormack, for his outstanding work with the mental health service Headstart Newham that works closely with schools and the community to transform how young people and their families are supported. Shams represents St Bonaventure’s really well and is an excellent champion for the service. He is a mature and likeable student who inspires lots of boys in school to get involved with Headstart to develop and build coping strategies and resilience.
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THE WINNERS TAKE IT ALL
CAFOD TRAINING
This fabulous group were presented with their Jack Petchey Foundation golden medallions at the O2 on September 24.
The Year 10 CAFOD team undertook training with Peter Jones and Hilary Wraight and learned all about the different aspects of CAFOD's work: fundraising, prayer and education.
Geo, Julius, Liam, Noah, Sean, Elizabeth, Mr Young, Franz, Simon, Daniel and Romeo collected their awards in front of family and friends.
It was a great experience for the students and they got a lot out of it. The group have lots of plans for the remainder of the year.
Well done to the deserving winners.
AMBASSADORS TAKE THEIR DUTIES VERY SERIOUSLY Meet the new anti-bullying ambassadors. They look very pleased with themselves after passing their training on September 19 at St Catherine’s School in Bexleyheath. Mr Stanley took the boys and says they were brilliant and very mature. They will now be able to help students in school deal with potential situations and out into action what they learned. A huge well done to Gabriel Bitonio who was awarded the certificate for being one of the best ambassadors of the day.
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SPECIAL VISITORS MEET STUDENTS The Student Councillors were privileged this term to meet Newham Councillor Julianne Marriott, whose portfolio is Education, Children & Young People and Peter Gibb, who is the Head of Education Access & Infrastructure in Mr Halliwell‘s office. They were interested to learn how the students came to be members of the School Council, the frequency of their meetings and the scope of their responsibilities. Additionally, they were keen to find out what our students thought of three important questions; What makes a bad school, what makes a good school and what is needed to prepare for life after school? The students did not disappoint and answered in a capable, honest, mature and responsible fashion.
CHOCOLATE TREATS ALL ROUND FOR MS PRICHARD’S CHRISTMAS ANGELS Leading Practitioner for Languages Ms Prichard has been sharing her knowledge of German traditions and customs with her Year 7 German linguists all this term and the latest festive custom they learned about went down really well.
There were plenty of smiling faces all round as the boys went out to collect their filled shoes for the little angels to enjoy their yummy treats. Phew!
St Nicholas traditionally leaves chocolates, nuts and oranges on St Nicholas Day as a treat for good boys and girls in shoes that are left out by excited children in the hope they will be filled with goodies when they wake in the morning. Twigs and lumps of coal can also be left if the ‘kinder’ haven’t been so good all year but our boys were hopeful they had been little angels and St Nick would fill their shoes with nice treats. Our lads got involved and left their shoes outside the door of their classroom to be filled by St Nicholas.
What a fun way to learn about how our European neighbours spend this special season.
It was a tense wait and at the end of the lesson the anticipation was over and Ms Prichard was delighted to report that as her Year 7 class had all been well behaved this year the news was all good.
Thanks Ms Prichard or should that be Mrs Claus?
SPEAKER KICKS OFF THE YEAR IN STYLE In our first week back after the summer break, we welcomed the Right Honourable Lord German, OBE, in to school to speak to 6th Form Politics students. Michael German, 73, is a British politician whose career spans three decades. He is currently serving as a member of the National Assembly for Wales. He was leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2008.
ALUMNUS VISITS Sir David Amess came to place a pot of pink roses next to his mum, Maud’s, plaque and olive tree on the friary lawn in October to mark the second anniversary of her passing. Sir David is an old Bonaventurian and an MP for Southend West and stays in contact with school. He planted the tree last year and visits regularly.
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MR JARVIS’ CAREERS CAROUSEL
I CAN YOU CAN TOO A former pupil of ours, Nilesh Dosa, a consultant at Big-4 Professional and Financial Services firm EY, successfully launched the 2018/19 #icanyoucantoo mentoring /career coaching programme for 25 Year 12s (including 5 of our very own Year 12s) across selected schools in East London. Nilesh, whose career as a chartered accountant spans assurance, banking, consulting and now advisory for EY - helps leading companies with their future business direction. His prestigious programme consists of monthly meetings for our mentees at EY Canary Wharf and other leading City firms from Oct 2018 to May 2019. Our Year 12s taking part are: Suhaib (12 Forest), Salmaan (12 Heath), Nicolas (12 Colman), Emmanuel (12 Heath) and Dante (12 Colman.) This rare opportunity includes talks, workshops and advice from executives and recruiters from EY and other major firms on what leading employers look for. Giving students an insight into how employers recruit, CVs, interview skills practice, group assessments and how to network with employers in the City. During the process our lucky students will get feedback on their interview and presentation skills. They are also part of a professional e-mail careers advice and mentoring forum.
At the welcome event in October, two of last year’s St Bon’s mentees lent a hand – Kiran Sweeney (now an apprentice at UBS) and Joshua Akinsowan (an apprentice at EY.) In November, Rob Mattai who is a senior EY Management Consultant gave a talk on what financial services are, followed by Nilesh who covered how to talk about your strengths and selling your own personal brand. The night ended with a talk from Johnny Nelson - the former world boxing champion and now Sky Sports pundit - who travelled down from Sheffield to inspire all the mentee's with his message about resilience and learning from others. From the first two events at EY Canary Wharf we have had great feedback from our mentees with comments such as: “The talks are giving me the knowledge and skills I need” as well as: “It is very useful for my future career.” The #icanyoucantoo team are now busy helping our mentees practice telephone interviews and the next meeting in January will be hosted by Barclays.
Work Experience and Employer Insights - A quick round-up EY ERNST & YOUNG LLP SMART FUTURES – 2 WEEKS PAID WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENT DAWID (12 GREGORY) Successfully applied for 2 weeks paid work experience at EY London offices taking place October and February half term weeks. Dawid will also benefit from EY mentoring in Year 13. This placement resulted from our work with EY Foundation who came into school to brief or students in September and we hope for more successful outcomes for those that applied for the Easter and Summer placement weeks. CREATIVE MENTOR NETWORK - MENTORING INTERNSHIP WITH J.WALTER THOMPSON ADVERTISING AGENCY JOEL (14 FOREST) Through our partnership with the Creative Mentor Network 1 of our Year 13 leavers from last summer was selected for this 16 week project from August to December 2018. This linked Joel with an Account Manager at leading advertising agency J.Walter Thompson and included weekly visits at the ad agency and work experience contributing real ideas
WORtHY WINNERS At the TELCO Annual General Meeting 2018 this team consisting of our students won the Community Youth Action of the Year Award. They are deserving winners for all the work they do with Ally from TELCO. A fantastic accolade.
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12 KINGS BENCH WALK BARRISTER’S CHAMBERS - 1 DAY OF WORK EXPERIENCE / SHADOWING ASHANAYE (13 COLMAN) Ashanaye was able to shadow a Cambridge educated QC barrister for the day in November at his leading barristers chambers. The barrister Max Archer is a QC in high profile negligence cases involving major organisations where there is a human rights / international law aspect. BBC PATHWAYS DISCOVERY DAY SUHAIB (12 FOREST) AND HAZERA (12 FOREST) Took part in a BBC Careers Discovery Day in October via our links with MyKindaFuture. FASHION RETAIL ACADEMY MOCK INTERVIEW SKILLS DAY FELIX (12 ATKINSON) Took part in mock interview skills day for sales roles in October. CANNING TOWN KUMON CENTRE – VOLUNTEER TEACHING ASSISTANT SONIA (13 FOREST) Via our link with the KUMON Tuition Centre West Ham one of our Year 13s will be able to start work as a teaching assistant in Maths from January.
MR JARVIS’ CAREERS CAROUSEL
RE GUEST VISITS
TechStart Mentoring Programme
We welcomed the Bishop of Brentwood’s representative for Secondary RE teaching, John Adams, in to school on November 6.
Five of our Year 12 students took part in this innovative partnership between FactSet, The Brokerage City Link and St Bonaventure’s 6th form. Our students who took part were: Nicholas (12 Colman), Joel (12 Bell), Reah (13 Heath), Marcus (13 Heath) and Vilius (13 Atkinson.) FactSet are a FinTech company with 48 offices worldwide and 500 employees in London. FinTech
John spent the day speaking to students, teachers and student councillors and took part in assembly and lessons. John’s father attended St Bonaventure’s too we discovered and has fond memories of his time here.
(Financial Technology) is one of the fastest growing industries in the City which employs software engineers, programmers, data analysts and IT sales consultants who provide banks with their software, technology and market data. We were invited by The Brokerage to select A level Computer Science and IT 6th Formers - who were then matched with an experienced professional programmer, data analyst, IT consultant or sales manager for five meetings and a graduation ceremony at FactSets offices in the City – from October to December this year. With structured meetings our mentees were able to explore what a STEM tech career is really like and develop those allimportant employability skills. At the Graduation Ceremony each mentee delivered a ’Ted Talk’ STEM topic presentation to a panel of FactSet executives and Vice Presidents – our students delivered some great presentations on subjects such as the impact of AI (Artificial intelligence) on society and the world of work. FactSet were impressed with what our students had researched and how they delivered their presentations: Some of the comments from students were as follows: “The interview building session was very useful – we learnt how to structure an interview but also how to present yourself.” “We learnt about the star technique as a way of preparing for interviews and how to turn a weakness into a strength.” “I now know how to write a professional CV.” A big thank you goes to Kieron Locke at The Brokerage who has yet again linked us to another major employer and to the FactSet mentors who have opened up a wider range of possible career paths to our 6th formers and helped them with their CVs, interview and presentation skills. And finally thanks to our students who gave a big time commitment to the project and were so professional in the way they conducted themselves.
Award Winner Football crazy Divin Mubama who is 14 and in Year 9 was given the first Jack Petchey award of the year for September. Mr Halliwell called him into his office to tell him Mr Bartlett had nominated him for his consistent excellence in sport. He added that he is a brilliant footballer and fantastic role model. Divin represented England in the summer when his team played against Mexico. Divin encourages others in school to pursue their interest in sport and helps them do their best. Divin plans to take his team mates for a slap up meal at Europe’s largest Nandos restaurant in Westfield in the new year. Well done Divin.
Royal Bank of Canada Through our partnership with The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) we run a series of three careers and employability workshops for our 6th Former students to learn about investment banking careers and network with RBC employees. Those that attend the workshops can apply for RBC Academy internships / bursaries which include paid work placements with RBC and £2000 per year whilst at University. These are only available to the four schools taking part. The second workshop for 24 of our lucky Year 13s covered CVs and interview skills practice with 8 RBC executives drawn from many different parts of the business.
Rebecca Cragoe from The RBC Academy and Melissa Lucien from The Brokerage City Link were also able to give an overview of applying to the RBC Academy and tips on CVs and interview skills. Rebecca and the RBC volunteers spoke about the excellent, professional and thoughtful participation of our students and were really impressed with our Year 13s. We find out next term which of our current Year 13s will be successful but all of those who took part learnt lots about what major employers look for.
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SPORTS’ ROUND UP DIVIN MUBAMA One of our Year 9 students, Divin Mubama, has been selected to represent the u15 England Football team against Turkey. We were delighted to find out that he had been given the opportunity to win his second national cap in the space of only a few months. Divin also represented England against Mexico earlier this year. He made a noticeable impact in the game assisting the first goal in the 2 - 0 win. Divin also missed a penalty, however, I won't mention it. West Ham have high hopes for this incredibly talented and humble sportsman. I was delighted to nominate him for a Jack Petchey award this term too and he is an extremely worthy winner. CROSS-COUNTY & INDOOR ATHLETICS Cross-country and indoor athletics are two of the early sporting events in the academic calendar. We are always dominant in these disciplines locally, this year was no different. Our cross-country teams successfully defended our Newham title with a comfortable win. Dion Annan cruised to victory in the Year 7 race and Paul Ojo in Year 10 once again secured the title with his usual effortless technique. Both our Year 7 and Year 8 athletics team have qualified for the finals of the Newham Indoor Cup. Should we win the competition we will then qualify for the London Youth Games finals, please keep the boys in your prayers.
HANDBALL Our Year 10 handball team won the Newham Handball Cup, going undefeated against Kingsford, Little Ilford, Cumberland and Langdon. The team also included current national champions Ethan Tassin, Tami Alegbe and Noah Myers from Year 9. St Bon’s won their first game 3-0 against Little Ilford with goals coming from Ethan Taasin, Tami Alegbe and Marc Mendoza. St Bon’s then drew a tough game with Cumberland 1-1 with Marc Mendoza scoring our only goal. St Bon’s then won 3-0 against Kingsford with Noah Myers scoring as well as Marc Mendoza who scored twice. In their final and most important game, St Bon’s won 3-0 against Langdon with 2 goals from Marc Mendoza and 1 from Noah Myers to win the tournament. The boys will now play for a place in the London Youth Games Finals at the Copperbox Arena in March 2019. MVP was Nathaniel Achea who was superb in goal making excellent saves at all the crucial times. Captain Marc Mendoza was also excellent, scoring some great goals and was the tournament's top scorer. What a fantastic start to the year. I have high hopes for 2019. Mr Bartlett Curriculum Leader for PE.
MR ODLE IS GOLDEN...IT’S OFFICIAL Design and Technology Teacher, Mr Odle, became the school’s first ever teacher to receive the coveted Golden Apple Teacher Award.
it was a perfect way to mark this important anniversary. I love the fact that I get the opportunity to be a small part of these amazing young mens’ stories. They are truly world class and sometimes just need an advocate to dream for them until they can dream for themselves.” He finished off by saying: “Here's to the next 20 years.”
He was presented with his award at the final assembly in St Antony’s Church back in July. Voting was open to students only and they did so in droves when online polling opened. Mr Odle later commented: “I am still overwhelmed by the boys’ reaction and so proud to have been selected by the heart and soul of the school. The comments and then the reaction from the boys left me overwhelmed and so very proud. This year is my 20th year at St Bon's and to be honest
This accolade was devised to acknowledge and reward outstanding commitment and was one of the 2017/18 School Council initiatives that is now embedded in the cycle of our school year. Voting begins for the 2018/19 Award in the Spring. Watch out for further news in the Easter edition of this magazine and on our social media.
IMPORTANT DATES January 3 & 4 Staff training days. School closed to students
February 18–22 School closed for half term holiday
January 7
February 25
Students return at 8.45am
March 5
TeachMeetE7 event in school
March 6
Whole School mass for Ash Wednesday 12 noon
March 7
Year 9 Options’ Evening 5-7pm
April 4
Year 8 Parents’ Evening 6-8pm
April 10
Easter Liturgy & Assembly. Students dismissed at 12.30pm
Students return at 8.45am.Year 13 pre public exams begin
January 11
Whole school mass at 12 noon
January 24
6th Form Open Evening for Year 11 students 6-8pm School shuts early at 12.25pm to prepare
January 25
Late start for everyone at 9.45am
February 7
Year 12 Parents’ Evening 6-8pm
February 15
Deadline for 6th Form applications School closes normal time for half term holiday
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