Old Birkfeldian Newsletter Lent Term 2017

Old Birkfeldian Newsletter Lent Term 2017

Contents • Message from the Principal • News from our community • What they did next…

• Teachers and their service...

• Do you remember?

• Old Birkfeldian Calendar

Dear Old Birkfeldians, It has been genuinely lovely to see so many of you returning and visiting the College over the past months and also contributing as Visiting Speakers for our Year 11 and Sixth Form students. A huge thank you to the following OBs Christian Alexander, Ellie Pniok, Martin Chilcott, Dominic Christian, Daniel Lewis and Oliver Lilburn, Your accounts of your careers, experiences, success and failure have a huge impact on our students as they face higher education choices and the world of work.

August saw most of our Year 13 students gain places in universities across the country including York, Edinburgh, Oxford, Leicester, Bath, Loughborough and Birmingham to name just a few! In September we opened our new Sixth Form Centre and in October we celebrated the 30th St Joseph’s annual School Boys’ Rugby Festival – it was fabulous to see so many of you here throughout the weekend. As I write, we are looking forward to the College’s annual musical, Fiddler on the Roof, sold out over the 3 nights and with a cast of over 60 students – this should bring back some good and possibly otherwise memories for some of you!

From the Editor

Meanwhile I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months and particularly at the inaugural Old Birkfeldians’ Ball on Saturday 27 May, and at the annual Arts Festival and OBs’ Cricket Match towards the end of the Summer Term.

I would also encourage your contributions to our Careers Fair on Wednesday 15 March and the continuing Visiting Speakers’ Programme – if you are interested in either please contact the College’s Futures Co-ordinator, Mr David Kemsley, at d.kemsley@stjos.co.uk.

Our new website has launched www.stjos. co.uk. Please take a look – you will also find a link to the Old Birkfeldians’ page.

We thoroughly enjoy hearing about your families, careers and adventures –please continue to stay in touch and keep Jo Davey, the College’s Alumni Co-ordinator and the College updated.

Right now is a very exciting time to be an Old Birkfeldian. Since September, we have developed a new database to increase communication, strengthen connections and help support the natural service and care each Old Birkfeldian has to our school community.

Over the Rugby Festival weekend we introduced a hospitality room, offering Old Birkfeldians the chance to receive their official badge and sign up to the database.

Refreshments were on offer throughout the weekend. It was wonderful to see so many come to reminisce and show their unwavering support. The sense of community and love for the College spread across the campus and led into our evening reception and firework display. The reception was held in the new Sixth Form Centre and was accompanied with speeches from the principal Mrs Clarke, as well as several students who spoke about their passion for the school. The occasion punctuated a joyous weekend, uniting us all as a ‘family’ of Old Birkfeldians. The bar was open until late with mini bus runs taking people off to their final destinations. An Irish band highlighted the festival mood and Old Birkfeldians talked of their times at a school that helped ‘shape’ who they are today.

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With very best wishes,

Mrs Danielle Clarke Principal

Alongside the hospitality over the weekend we had the Old Boys’ Rugby and Old Girls’ Hockey matches. Held on the Friday evening of the festival weekend, the matches saw many familiar faces come together to create a warm, friendly and competitive atmosphere, taking us all back to our days playing sport at school.

In December, we launched the inaugural Christmas Quiz Night for Old Birkfeldians, past and current staff and friends, led by Mr Mark Patterson. The evening was an incredible success and brought together our whole community for a fun and relaxed event. Coming up on May 27 we have our Old Birkfeldian Ball, which promises to be a very special evening, as well as the celebration of 50 years of our wonderful Chapel on April 29. On behalf of the Old Birkfeldian community, I would like to thank everyone for their continued service, care and support. We look forward seeing you at events reminiscing and sharing in the joy created within our St Joseph’s College family.

Joanna Davey Old Birkfeldian Co-ordinator

News from our community…

As part of our new Newsletter we feel it is important to share stories with you, stories you can relate to and which will take you on a trip down memory lane.

Last term we had our annual ‘Music and Poetry Evening’, which many of you will remember performing in during your time at the school. It was a wonderful evening held in our new Sixth Form Centre. The evening took us on a cultural trip through all forms of the written word, being performed by Prep School right up to Sixth Form students.

Parents, staff and Old Birkfeldians also shared their own poetry and music.

Paul Andrew after a lifetime’s service to our school in his teaching career. After teaching at the College for thirty-three years, over one hundred terms in his trademark red socks, Mr Andrew was wished the warmest farewell and happiest retirement. As a parting gift, the whole school surprised him by wearing red socks for the day!

Since Christmas we have had exciting celebrations in the community for Chinese New Year, welcoming the Year of the

Rooster. We had a vibrant assembly with the infamous dragon travelling around site to visit the students.

As we go to press, we are approaching our College musical, which this year will be ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. It is an exciting time for students as you will remember and we know we will see many of you there at Dance East supporting them.

In December we had our Carol Service; a wonderful coming together of our whole community. We had the traditional ‘Once in Royal David City’ solo to start the special evening and this was shared by all students, staff, parents. It was wonderful to see so many Old Birkfeldians join us as well.

The Carol Service led into the final few days of term and the annual People in Need Campaign, culminating in the distribution of 230 hampers to local families and the homeless. We also said a fond farewell to

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What they did next

Clare Gardiner In 1996 I joined St Jo's for Sixth Form. It was the year the school merged with Jesus and Mary. I was very excited to finally be at the same school as my mum and brother and more importantly at school with boys!

Very quickly strong friendships were formed and I loved playing in the mixed hockey team, hanging out in Mr Worsley's study room and playing in the first girls’ rugby team. In the Sixth Form we ran our own coffee shop and each day had a different team; each week we would compete with each other to see whose day was most successful, so I quickly enlisted the baking skills of my mum to rustle up cakes for me to sell. Soon my team was winning!

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I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and so therefore would use my free periods to go to Goldrood to hear the Junior children read. For me, being a teacher isn't just about delivering a curriculum; it's about helping to create young people who have the right skills to move forward with their learning and ensuring that they have the right qualities as people.

The teachers we had were very dedicated.

I can remember Mr Jones, the Business Studies teacher, coming in to teach us when he had slipped a disc. In order to deliver our lessons he had to teach lying on the floor!

The Sixth Form was a hub of energy and enthusiasm and that certainly came from the top in the shape of Mr D who was always

around for a chat or a debate.

The girls I was friends with then I still am and we regularly get together for a cuppa and a chat and even though our lives are all busy and different we still manage to make time for each other.

I have worked at St Joseph's for the past 12 years and during that time have had my own children, who now attend the school. They love coming here and I know they are having the best opportunities to learn and grow.

What I loved and still love about St Jo's is it's community caring feel, where no matter your age and position you look out for one another and bring out the best in each other.

Charis Hunn-Smith I was a pupil at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before the merger with St Jo’s in 1996 and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to stay on at St Joseph’s until I completed

by A levels.

I was certainly inspired by my teachers at St Joseph’s and have fond memories of so many of them – too many to name here – but Mr Ryan, Mr Chandler, Mr Andrew and Ms Goyer all stand out. Of course, the biggest influence of all was Michael Davey, and I know this is true for so many alumni. He and the other teachers really did breathe life and ideas into us and I will be shaped by them forever. It also wasn’t just my sister and me, as students, who were part of the College family: our whole family was very much seen as part of the community and we are all still welcomed as such at the Rugby Festival every year.

I had an idea I might go into teaching when I left school, but I was by no means

convinced and it was more of a default option that (I mistakenly thought!) would allow me plenty of time to travel and holiday well. After taking a joint honours BA in History and English, I spent two years working and backpacking before finally committing to teaching. I really enjoy all the challenges it throws at you: it certainly isn’t an easy career but it is infinitely rewarding and I draw on my experiences at St Jo’s pretty much every day. After qualifying, I worked in a mixed comprehensive in Surrey, before moving to Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston upon Thames as Head of English. The experience of working with some of the most able and most motivated young women in the country was exhilarating but entirely exhausting! I have recently moved back to East Anglia, where I am Assistant Head Teacher at Stoke College, a school that feels like home because it shares so many of St Joseph’s principles and qualities.

Damien Warren Current Career Teaching at Ashville College (An independent school in Harrogate, North Yorkshire)

Teaching subjects Maths and Physical Education

Years Teaching 12

How my time at St Joseph's has helped me in my current career as a teacher My time at St Joseph’s taught me just how much difference a good school with good teachers can make to its students.

I will always feel in debt to St Joseph’s as it gave me the opportunity to be taught by inspirational teachers, like Mike Davey, who genuinely cared for their students and gave them opportunities to express themselves in a variety of ways both inside and outside the classroom.

I still find myself challenging my current students to ‘Dare to disturb the Universe’, just like Mike Davey did with me.

St Joseph’s really was one of the main reasons why I felt motivated to go into teaching.

To try to make a positive difference in young people’s lives really is a privilege and more than just a job to me. Something I definitely learnt from my time at St Jo’s.

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Teachers and their service Martine Simmonds Have I really been here 29 years? That sounds like a long time...

I remember coming here with my brand new teacher kit. I was full of ideas, things to do to make a difference. I thought I was the teacher and you, the students, were my pupils. How wrong I was. My head was so full of how things 'should be', there was very little room for how things 'were'. The gap in those early days between what I thought I needed to teach and what the students actually needed to learn was wide.

There were times when bridging it was difficult. There were even times when it seemed impossible and I thought I had made a mistake.

I have been privileged to have had in my classroom many, many fine young people.

Twenty-nine years ago some of them began to teach me how to teach. From then I learned true teaching is a special partnership. I look back with gratitude. I entered a profession dedicated to assisting young people to achieve their potential, revealing or finding the best in themselves.

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As I leave it, I am taking many of you with me. You will live on in my memories.

I'll always remember the things we achieved together.

As a teacher, you get the opportunity to interact with multiple students on a daily basis. While some of these students may be the most frustrating part of the job, they may also be the most rewarding.

Everyone knows that you don't go into teaching to make a lot of money - people become teachers to make a difference to the students that are in their class, to teach them that they can accomplish their goals and become whoever they want to be in this world, and I hope I achieved that goal.

My fondest memory would be the special relationship between the students and teachers and that is why St Joseph’s is so unique. Coming to school in the mornings did not feel like going to work, but rather the place I was missing during my summer holidays!

What memories should I share with you? I find it difficult to choose. They are so many.

Of course they are the big events like when

St Jo’s won the Rugby Festival for the first time, when I first attended a school musical, or Xavier (my house, then) won their first Sports Day… But my best memories are the little everyday gestures, the ‘Hi, Miss’ I hear all the time as I walk through the school or being offered a cake made in Food Technology , the Old Birkfeldians coming to have a chat during the Rugby Festival.

One of the boys giving me (when I went on maternity leave) a sign saying: ‘Baby on board’ to put in my car, when at the end of the Five Nations Tournament every single boy from my Year 8 class put a wooden spoon without a word on their desk!

(France surely did not lose the tournament that badly!) , the embarrassing time on St Joseph’s Day when my hair caught fire, and not a single pupil took the mickey out of me but everyone asking if I was alright. ( It was not the case in the staffroom where I heard all sort of jokes such as: ‘You’re the hottest teacher ha ha, ha’). I think all of you know I can talk, so I could go on – but you’d get bored.

Do you remember?

Judith Scott The Chapel at St Joseph’s College is a most special place. Anyone fortunate enough to attend the school or work here is straightaway aware, as they approach along the drive, that at its heart lies a remarkable building, around which is strewn the growing and developing school community.

The Chapel was built primarily as a permanent replacement for the temporary, prefabricated building that by the 1960s was no longer fit for purpose, but it was also a response to a new call from the Vatican to re-energise society with the values of faith. The design process, a collaboration between the headmaster, Brother Elwin, and the architect, Max Cross, between 1965 and 1967, was a thoughtful attempt to reconcile architectural modernity, the liturgical changes required by the Second Vatican Council, Catholic tradition and of course, cost. The intention was to create the sense

of a collective mission, shared by both priest and people, and this idea dominated the design; the internal octagonal sense created by the double roof construction gives the sense of space and inclusivity.

The final design was a ‘dramatic and unusual timber structure designed in two parts’ which was manufactured precisely elsewhere and erected speedily on site.

Douglas fir beams in steel shoes supply the main frame and boarding was laid under the copper roof to create the internal space.

Gleaming copper was selected for its beauty, but also as a flexible and long- lasting roofing material, and surmounted by a cross, visible from the Chantry estate as a statement of intent. No expense was spared in the fixtures and fittings; the altar is Portland stone; the oak congregational benches were designed in Ireland, the stained glass came from Germany and the organ was designed

by Frank Bradbeer, a leading exponent. The suspension of the organ on a single arch,

was particularly inspired.

In building the Chapel, the Brothers offered ‘the best we could afford for His service’ in the hope of a ‘beneficial effect upon the religious life of the school’. It was dedicated for service in 1967 and was universally approved by parents, who helped foot the bill.

The Chapel has been in constant use ever since and to stand within its walls remains a joy.

My research into the Chapel formed part of my study towards the award of Post Graduate Certificate in Architectural History, Oxford University, taken last year. For those further interested, I am publishing a booklet on the history of the Chapel to mark the 50th anniversary of its construction.Please contact the Alumni Office if interested in purchasing a copy.

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Calendar Summer Term

Christmas Term

Old Birkfeldian Ball Saturday 27 May The evening will consist of arrival drinks and canapés, with a local saxophonist providing background music.

This will then lead us into a celebratory three course meal, followed by dancing with a live band, 'Motown Gold'. There will also be the fun of a photo booth to capture memories of the evening.

7:00pm for 7:30pm Carriages 12:30pm Black Tie and Ball Gowns Tickets £50 - obs@stjos.co.uk

Old Birkfeldian Rugby Match 20 October 2017 National Schools Rugby Festival 21 – 22 October 2017 Christmas Quiz December 2017

Arts Festival ‘Unplugged Celebration’ 2 July, 5:00pm until late This event will include a hog roast and bar, charity cake sales and lots more! The event is a week-long celebration of the Arts. Old Birkfeldians are welcome to perform and share their art with us also.

Old Birkfeldian Cricket Match 2 July, 1:00 pm

We are working hard to develop our calendar of events at the College. Any ideas or input are very welcome at any time to help us to continue to strengthen our community and build connections for us all to enjoy.

Remember what makes us feel different...

Thank you for your support in the relaunch of our special community thus far; talking with people on a daily basis and hearing their love for our school has been a total privilege.

We welcome any thoughts, feedback or contributions you may have at any time; our community is very much led by us all and anything that can help strengthen it is warmly invited.

Please get in contact with any stories, memories, pictures or ideas you have. We are always looking for Old Birkfeldians to come back to school and speak with current students about their journeys and careers.

Nothing is more powerful for our students than hearing fellow Joeys’ love for their school and what it has taken them on to do. If you feel this is something you would be interested in, please get in touch, you would be so very welcome.

‘If you have any news or questions for The Old Birkfeldian please contact the editor, Joanna Davey by email: obs@stjos.co.uk

Please look out for official Old Birkfeldian merchandise coming soon.