Christmas Newsletter 2018

Message from the Principal

As our Christmas Term draws to a close, it is wonderful to reflect on the events that have taken place, opportunities provided and the many achievements of our superb students and staff. As ever, it is impossible to include everything and everyone, but I hope you enjoy the highlights shared in this newsletter.

The term started with strong academic results in our Year 6 KS2 SATS, Year 11 GCSEs and Year 13 BTEC, EPQ and A-levels – with these students going on to a range of exciting and prestigious destinations. We wish all current Year 13 students well, as they apply for university places and await their Oxbridge interviews.

Year 11 students have completed their GCSE mock examinations, with Year 13 students’ A-level mock examinations in January; consistent daily revision over Christmas will be required. In January, GCSE after school revision classes commence – another ‘must’ this time for Year 11 students, to ensure maximum success in August 2019.

Our 32nd annual Rugby Festival took place in October, attracting large support both on the campus and online, with the following statistics achieved by the end of the weekend:

• 36,000 views of the live streamed matches

• 43,000 views of the Rugby Festival website from 77 countries

If you are interested in one of the various sponsorship packages we have available throughout our two-term rugby season, please contact Mrs Lucy Bolton at l.bolton@stjos.co.uk or check www.festival.stjos.co.uk.

You should have received a copy of the College’s new Strategic Development Plan (SDP) - this is also available on the College’s website. It includes an ambitious and exciting plan for capital projects over the next three years, including the opening of a new sport pavilion, a reconfigured sports hall and new boarding accommodation.

With regard to the Chapel, we await the return of the Certificate of Lawfulness lodged in October with our local planning authority. Once the Certificate is approved, we will be

able to proceed with the first of three phases of work required to ensure that the heart of our community is restored and back in use by September 2019.

Alongside the capital projects outlined in the SDP, the College is able to fund £300k of the £750k cost of the Chapel works. We are in addition, very grateful to have received a most generous pledge of £75k to kick-start our fundraising campaign – shortly we will be inviting our community, both past and present, UK and international, to support with the remaining £375k.

As I write, with the festive season upon us, we are very much looking forward to our Nativity plays, Christmas Bazaar and annual Carol Service, this year being held at St Mary-le-Tower in Ipswich. It is worth noting that whilst Ed Sheeran is the Patron of the church’s Choral Foundation, our very own Euan Chalmers (Y12) is one of the church’s Choral Scholars. We are also delighted and proud to be performing at a Christmas Concert with our German partner school in Paderborn in December in their stunning chapel.

All students return on Tuesday 8 January for the start of the Lent term. A reminder: our annual musical Hairspray takes place at DanceEast, from 29 January to 1 February. Staff and students are working hard and looking forward to sharing four nights of outstanding performances. Tickets are available via www.danceeast.co.uk.

I thank parents and staff for their continued support and commitment to the College and wish all families a happy, peaceful and blessed Christmas.

Mrs Danielle Clarke Principal

Focus on a Teacher

Mr Richard Battye Teacher of Mathematics

St Joseph’s College is a very special place to me; I was educated here in the 1980s along with my four brothers and two twin cousins. The Lasallian traditions are still strong here, in that there is an emphasis on service to our community coupled with so many opportunities for spiritual and personal development through service to others and participation in College events. I have countless fond memories of happy days here growing up; I made some dear and lifelong friends and I consider myself so fortunate to have been taught by some inspiring teachers, particularly David Bates, without whom I would never have been able to unlock many of the mysteries of A-level and Further Mathematics. I left St Jo’s to study Mathematics at the University of East Anglia, where I gained my honours degree.

Having left UEA and attempted a somewhat short-lived career in banking, I soon concluded that teaching would be my route to a happy and fulfilling career. It was the best decision I have ever made because I am passionate about Maths and I really empathise with students who need it to be unlocked for them. There is nothing more satisfying than witnessing those ‘light-bulb’ moments. My teaching philosophy has always centred around my firm belief that children who are happy, feel safe and are able to express themselves as individuals, learn best. I have spent most of my teaching career in Clacton, with the exception of two years spent here from 2012 to 2014. It was a real privilege to work alongside colleagues such as Mike Hockley and Nigel Chandler, who taught me as a boy.

I have been married to Helen for nearly 22 years and have two wonderful children, James and Rose. James was also a student here and is currently in his second year reading English Literature at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Rose is thoroughly enjoying being a Year 8 student here at the College.

We live in Frinton, where I grew up, and this is another place I love. We spend a lot of our spare time walking on the seafront and enjoying the facilities of the many sporting (and non-sporting) clubs in the town. I love sport but watch it more than I play it and look forward to one day having time to get my golf handicap down to anywhere near respectable!

A Superb Festival Crowned with Try of the Tournament Award

St Joseph’s College Rugby Festival has grown exponentially, both in the number of visitors to the campus and in the number of online views. The 32nd running of the event has seen, to date, over 50,000 website visits from 77 countries.

RGS Newcastle won this year’s Festival; the first time they have lifted the De La Salle Trophy. They beat the pre-tournament favourites, Millfield, 17-9 in the final, making it back-to-back finals defeats for the Somerset side.

It was a fantastic tournament for St Joseph’s, progressing to face the might of Millfield, Brighton College and Dulwich College in the Cup groups. We did not reach the final, but had reason to cheer when winger Louis Martin’s try was acclaimed as Try of the Tournament.

Mr O’Riordan said, ‘This was a weekend of top quality rugby played with superb sportsmanship with the elite of schools’ rugby represented on our outstanding sport pitches.’

Mrs Clarke added, ‘The positive family and community atmosphere, as well as the quality and incredible growth of this event, are a reflection of the school and its journey to date. It was fabulous to welcome so many visitors, including former students, families and staff, as well as local businesses.’

Thank you to all of you who came and supported the event. Matches and highlight videos are available on our Youtube channel and at festival.stjos.co.uk

Photos by Mike Bowden

Top quality rugby played with superb sportsmanship

Centenary of the End of the First World War Marked With Solemnity and Hope

The 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War was commemorated at both the annual Service of Remembrance and an Armistice Concert held at Quay Place, Ipswich.

At both events, visiting musicians from our partner school in Germany, Gymnasium Theodorianum, Paderborn, added hauntingly beautiful music. Central to the Remembrance Service was the theme of loss on all sides and the desire for reconciliation. Prayers were read in German and English by Principal Mrs Clarke and visiting German teaching staff, borrowing each other’s language.

Visiting German students and their St Joseph’s hosts later made a visit to Shotley Royal Naval Cemetery to pay their respects to First World War German and British sailors who died in the waters off the east coast. There was also a trip to the House of Commons and to Westminster Hall, where they met historian Lord Bew. On a lighter note, friendships were further cemented during a relaxing evening’s bowling in Ipswich.

The Armistice Concert included poetry and readings, and classical pieces for orchestra, solists and choir, including moving renditions of Stille Nacht, In Flanders Fields and a The People that Walked in Darkness from Handel’s Messiah.

The evening culminated in a stirring performance of Benedictus from The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, delivered by the combined choirs and orchestras of St Joseph’s College and Theodorianum.

The visit by our German partner school was a huge success for all concerned. It also brought the television cameras to St Joseph’s College when Anglia TV filmed rehearsals for the Armistice Day news bulletin.

The camera also turned on Deputy Head Girl Lia Taylor, who was filmed reading her poem, Carpe Diem, inspired by a trip to the First World War battlefields. Lia’s evocative poem has earned her national – and even international – praise.

It won her a trip to Germany and a place at a reception hosted by Sir Sebastian Wood KCMG, the British Ambassador, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, President of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK) and the Never Such Innocence organisation.

Never Such Innocence aims to engage children and young people across the world with the centenary of the First World War through poetry, art and song. During this final year of the centenary, the organisation has embarked on a youth-centred UK-German creative arts project called Together. Young people were asked to create messages of hope and unity. The judging panel selected Lia’s poem, ‘Carpe Diem’, written when she was in Year 11, as winner of the 14-16 years category.

It was also included in a commemorative booklet presented to the congregation of the Armistice Service at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of the Queen and the German President. Lia attended the Abbey and was interviewed by a second television crew – Sky News.

Staff in the Spotlight

Mrs Joanne Hake Director of Admissions, Communications & Marketing

Growing up in the West County, I experienced a rather idyllic childhood living just outside Taunton in a very close-knit family. My father had a small boat and from the age of five I spent many happy hours bobbing around the coast.

I adored school and was always keen to be involved. Some very inspirational teachers made a big impact on my life. I was particularly taken with performing arts and always took part in school productions, later joining the local Youth Theatre group. I was also a regular assistant at school open evenings, perhaps anticipating my future career?

Inspired by the family company, I studied Business and Finance, majoring in marketing. As a teenager in the 1980s I was exposed to an advertising explosion, with the battle of Pepsi and Coca Cola, the OXO family and the ‘will they won’t they’ Gold Blend coffee campaign. I was always interested in how companies promoted themselves and the tactics they used to encourage us to buy.

At BT in the ‘90s shoulder pads were big and so were the sales targets, but I am forever grateful for the months of sales and marketing training which helped to kick start my career.

At the end of 1994, BT offered its staff the chance to be part of a crew on the BT Global Challenge Around the World Yacht Race. Over 5,000 staff applied and I was fortunate enough to be selected to sail on the Cape Town to Boston leg.

I started work at King’s College, Taunton, in 2000 as a Commercial Manager and in 2005 was appointed Director of Marketing. I loved my varied role: from photoshoots to newsletters, videos to advertising campaigns, science festivals to signage projects, Westminster Abbey to websites, prospectus design to BBC Songs of Praise.

Having made the commitment to set up my own marketing consultancy last year, I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to come and work at the College for six weeks in January 2018. I settled in very quickly and found St Jo’s to be a very welcoming community with a lovely buzz. What started out as six weeks resulted in my permanent employment in May 2018 and I could not be happier.

News from the Prep School

Small Changes to Save the World

A fantastic poem by George Klingsick Grieg (Y6) has won The Society of Heads Poetry Competition for Years 5 and 6. General Secretary, Mr Clive Rickart wrote, ‘The standard of work was incredibly high and George is to be congratulated on his significant achievement.'

George’s poem, written when he was in Year 5, is an upbeat assessment of how we can all play our part in minimising environmental damage.

Our Planet

I’m only a child, but I’m hearing every day, the planet is really changing, but not in a good way.

They tell us to recycle, as all rubbish counts, and if everybody does it, it will lower the amounts.

Don’t waste water while you’re brushing your teeth, turn off the tap and think. It could save gallons for our planet, instead of flowing down the sink.

Vehicle emissions pollute our skies and really make us cough. If we went for a walk or got on our bikes, it really would pay off.

We can help by buying organic food and going to a farmer’s market, or even better, grow our own and have the fun of sowing it.

Planting a tree will improve air quality, this is what we are told, so plant one today and we can all watch it grow old.

I’m only a child, but I’m learning every day, if we all make some changes, we can help our planet stay.

By George Klingsick Greig (5 JAP)

Children Bring Their Big People to School

Children love to have the opportunity to share their day-to-day experiences at school with their family members. This term, Grandparents’ Morning, Parents' Lunch and Stay, Play and Learn have allowed even the youngest members of our Prep community to host their adults.

The grandparents attended assembly, lessons, break time and more lessons before they got their lunch, but the parents went straight to Refs to tuck in!

Our Nursery and Reception children were very excited to welcome both parents and grandparents to ‘Stay, Play and Learn’. The session focused on early literacy development. Children and adults enjoyed a range of activities, such as play-dough, letter writing in glitter, role-play in the cosy cafe and creating paintings inspired by the Owl Babies story.

Fun and Learning in the Great Outdoors

The EYFS children thoroughly enjoyed a trip to Christchurch Park. They loved travelling on the minibus there and back. We saw ducks swimming on the pond and watched a team of tree surgeons cutting branches off some exceedingly big trees. We looked at the War Memorial and went on a long walk. The children also enjoyed squirrel spotting, collecting conkers and finding different coloured leaves. We talked about the changes that are happening during the season of autumn and shared the story 'Shark in the Park'. Then we played hide and seek with some shark figures.

An Eruption of Artistic Talent

Our Year 3 and 4 girls and boys have been exploring the artist Jackson Pollock in their Art lessons and have been experimenting with his drip painting technique. They have linked this knowledge to their current topic of ‘Extreme Earth’ and have created their very own versions of Extreme Volcanoes. The artwork brought a fearsomely fiery landscape to the Prep School Hub.

Minding Their Ps and Ds...

Dressing up in costumes inspired by the initial letters P and B – in honour of Pudsey Bear – and polishing off the treats on a cake stall was all in a day’s work for the Prep children. Together they raised well over £300 for Children in Need: £200 from having a day out of uniform and £140 from the sale.

Nice work, Pumpkins!

Halloween pumpkins figured large at St Joseph’s this year. Our boarders carved them into weird and wonderful designs to decorate Goldrood, while the Nursery children took a longer view and grew their own in our vegetable garden. They helped make the pumpkin into a very popular soup and decorated the shell in St Joseph’s colours.

Hats Off for the Mayor

Prep School Council representatives from Years 1 to 6 found interest throughout their visit to the Mayor’s Parlour to meet the Mayor of Ipswich, Councillor Jane Riley. The children had prepared some pertinent questions, and were interested to discover how Cllr Riley had come to be elected and all about her role and responsibilities. Highlights of the visit were undoubtedly looking at the artefacts, such as the ceremonial sword, and trying on the Mayor’s hat.

Maasai Warriors Stride out with Students

The Maasai are regular and very welcome visitors to the College as part of their fund raising and awareness building tours. This time there was an informal supper, allowing many of our parents and friends to meet the visitors and see them perform their traditional dances. The sponsored walk raised over £5,000 for the Osiligi Charity Projects.

Pupils strode out in the early October sunshine accompanied by six Osiligi Maasai Warriors on a sponsored walk raising funds to improve the lives of some of Kenya’s most impoverished youngsters. Generous sponsorship has previously enabled St Joseph’s to support a summer school at the Osiligi Obaya Primary, as well as to assist financially towards the building of a dormitory and the provision of culturally relevant reading books.

Joint Effort Results in 135 Christmas Shoeboxes

An amazing 135 decorated shoeboxes packed with good things were collected for the start of their journey to children who might otherwise receive nothing this Christmas. Thank you to all who contributed to the 75 Prep School and 60 Senior School shoeboxes. They will make a huge impact. Special mention to Thomas Ho (Y8), who donated five shoeboxes, and Gigi Gebhard (Y7), who donated six. La Salle won the house competition.

Setting the Cogs in Motion

Year 5 loved working in the Senior Science block investigating gears and pulleys as part of the regular curriculum. Beyond that, an after school STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Club takes place on Thursdays and children in Years 3 to 6 have weekly engineering lessons.

Prep School Sport

It has been a busy, successful and brilliant sporting term in the Prep School. We have played over 100 fixtures and have experienced the full range of emotions in thrilling performances on the netball, rugby, football and hockey fields. Alongside this, we have sent children to represent the College in indoor athletics, cross-country, squash, table tennis and swimming.

We welcomed Mrs Logan into the coaching team at the beginning of the year and she has built on the amazing platform Mrs Hughes, Mrs Bestly and Mrs Gardiner established with the girls in recent years. The playground is flooded with netballs and crazy catchers each break and lunch time, and the girls have delivered some stunning performances this term.

Participation has been at an all-time high, with every child representing the College at sport regularly during the term. The small-sided games, encouraged by national governing bodies, have ensured children have meaningful experiences and develop their skills and self-confidence in safe and secure environments. We would like to thank all the teachers, parents and friends who have supported Prep sport this term. The nurturing atmosphere and support at each event has created positive learning experiences for all our children. It has allowed them to take risks and experiment. This in turn encourages decision-making, creativity and leadership.

Our sports clubs have again been fantastically well attended. Children have been able to be active and healthy before school, at lunch and each evening. The breadth on offer has grown again to include KS1 multi-skills, table tennis, ballet, dance, netball, yoga, rugby, crosscountry, tennis, squash, football and karate. There really is something for everybody.

Next term we look forward to the U8 & 9 boys playing rugby, both tag and contact, while the U9 girls will play hockey. The U11 girls are looking forward to their netball term and the boys have a busy spring planned for their football season. Following the fantastic visit from Northbridge House, we will also be hosting St John’s School, Southsea again in early February. We look forward to welcoming them for football, hockey and rugby and hope to be able to return the favour by visiting them for a short tour in the near future.

Suffolk U11 Netball has called up Bonnie Bolton (Y6) and Catie Lloyd (Y5) and they have been busy training.

News from the Senior School

Lending a Helping Hand in Malawi

On 28 September, I went to Malawi, Africa, with my parents. My mum has very strong connections with the charity LSU, which she co-managed for about three years. My older sister, Emily Berry, who some of you may know, had been about three years prior to me, in 2015. The charity does lots of good work for communities in Malawi and are linked to the band Rudimental, who were also out to the projects in 2015.

My trip started by flying to Ethiopia where we had our connecting flight to Liliongwe. From the start I could tell how this part of Africa is technically behind us. All visas, passport control and some baggage inspections are done by hand – written out. There were very

few computers and everything took ages to complete.

On one day of the volunteering we went out to a nursery which had been set up as a project for kids to go to school. In the school area, which had roughly about six or seven classrooms, we focused primarily on the nursery. The nursery had rust marks from the tin roof, which is a luxury, that had dripped down the wall from the rainy seasons. Other buildings have just got straw roofs which don’t even cover the whole roof area. We spent the day helping out and painting the inside so it looked better and swept up all the dirt, muck and everything on the inside so it looked cleaner. The class had roughly 90 children under four-years-old, who had not even been taught to hold a pencil. Most didn’t speak English, only Chichewa, which is the country’s main language. We sat their teaching them

how to hold a pencil and gave them books. They liked the interactive books. One had a mirror in it and most of them had never seen themselves before, so watching their faces light up made you feel very good.

Later on we went to an adult literacy class. These classes are very important as they encourage the adults to send their children to school and help them to learn. They were learning how to speak English. These lessons help them to read medicine packages, for example, which are usually in English. The day was very productive. We had seen and helped a lot, given out donations of clothes and created a good start to the upcoming days we had there.

In total I went out for eight days and I learnt a lot. It was a very eye-opening experience.

Xavier Berry, 10TEV

A Force to Be Reckoned With

The young engineers of Year 8 dreamed up some ingenious gadgets when the class was tasked with creating toys incorporating magnets. Some of the craftiest designs included Kirtsten Horton's skier descending a slope strewn with boulders, Jasper Platt's fully working hovercraft and Harley Hayman's fiendishly difficult swinging darts board.

Paella, Patatas and Real Madrid

Nineteen GCSE Spanish students and three members of staff travelled to Salamanca in Spain for a five-day language and culture trip. There were daily sessions of Spanish grammar and conversation (three hours!) before the party explored this UNESCO World Heritage city, renowned for its ancient buildings and university, the oldest in Europe. After lessons we had a short break before lunch, which for the Spanish is the biggest meal of the day. Paella was on the menu for the first day, and received mixed reviews. Afternoon group activities included learning how to make a tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette), salsa dancing, city tours, a visit to the Art Deco museum and trying chocolate con churros. One afternoon was spent in the nearby town of Avila, famed for its preserved eleventh century city walls. There we met with Spanish students from a school Ms Strong had taught at, and we had a treasure hunt activity to complete in the main square. For many of the students, the pinnacle of the trip was on the last day, when we toured Bernebeu Stadium, home of Real Madrid.

Paris Mon Amour

Our Paris Art and Culture Tour lived up to its name, with a schedule jam-packed with memorable and inspirational highlights: the Eiffel Tower, a trip down the Seine, Notre- Dame, the Louvre, the Picasso Museum and Montmartre for starters….

Visits to the Musées de L’Orangerie, Rodin and D’Orsay followed and on to the Georges Pompidou Centre, home to the National Museum of Modern Art. Other contemporary treats included the Galeries Lafayette department store, Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Café.

By now fully immersed in Parisian ambience, the party moved on to Euro Disney, where the City of Lights produced a spectacular fireworks display.

Autumn Concert

Thank you to all the musicians who took part in the Autumn Concert. This reprise of items that had fared so well in the Suffolk Festival of Performing Arts gave another insight into the breadth of performing arts talent within St Joseph's College. The audience was taken on a journey from Handel to Christina Aguilera, passing Chopin, Verdi and Jerome Kern along the way.

He said young people were exposed to knives and gang culture through social media, adding, ‘It’s quite scary, the fact that people my age are out there dying, taking part in this activity when they really should be in some sort of education to boost their life chances rather than gang culture.’

Now, Isaac is organising discussions with councillors, MPs and other civic leaders in Suffolk to discuss the issue - and is planning an event in March to raise awareness further. He also announced plans to create the town’s first youth council, with all schools represented.

Lunch is for Wimps

There was wheeling and dealing, plus hard negotiation and handshakes when the Sixth Form Share Trading Society got down to business. The eye shades seemed to bring out everyone’s inner Godron Gekko. Watch out Wall Street!

A World Full of Universities

The Sixth Form Centre hosted a small International University Fair run by IEW (International Education Week). We had representatives from universities in Italy, Spain, Holland and Canada. The possibility of studying abroad proved inspirational for a number of our students. One possible route they heard involved studying Design in Milan, where lectures are in English but there is every opportunity to absorb the Italian language and lifestyle simultaneously. Sounds idyllic.

A-level and GCSE Product Design successes

With the arrival of summer, students breathed a sigh of relief as they proudly put the finishing touches to their controlled assessment work. This was particularly true for A-level students Henry Bullock and Toby Twinn, who took on the massive undertaking of building bespoke office furniture and a quad-bike trailer for farming utilities. As Henry said, ‘It was exciting to see my parents’ reaction as the final product fitted into place’. As for Toby, his product involved a lot of welding. His final testing involved asking his client to undertake a series of quad-bike tasks, including moving some very cute lambs from one field to another.

At GCSE level, part of the controlled assessment involved making a novel design of stereo amplifier. Students Taylor Locke and Stacey Huang embraced the idea, and developed high quality, high specification products inspired by the Burj Al Arab in Dubai and George Orwell’s 1984.

Senior School Sport

Rugby

The U14 and U15 Biarritz training camp included a match against a local school side, which St Joseph’s won. The tour also included cultural visits, a dash over the border into Spain and grabbing the opportunity to try out the surf.

Even before the term began, the College’s rugby teams had all attended pre-season training. The week culminated in a competitive festival for the U15 side, whilst the U18 1st XV went unbeaten in their first visit to Brentwood School’s Pre-season Festival.

There were some early successes across the College, but as the season progressed many of the teams found themselves struggling for numbers due to an ever-growing injury list. In response, it has been fantastic to see a number of players who do not normally represent the College stepping forward to ensure sides could be fielded. Team of the term goes to the unbeaten 2nd XV. Most promising is the age of a number of the 2nd XV players, showing the strength in depth within the squad and promising exciting times ahead.

Boys’ Football

It has been an encouraging start to football at St Joseph’s College and we will strive to continue to improve in all aspects of the programme. The boys have taken to it in a very professional manner and have demonstrated the ambition to make the St Joseph’s College Football Academy the best Independent School football programme in the country and beyond.

We have already seen some team and individual successes throughout our age groups. Our U18s lost narrowly 4-3 in their first game together to established footballing school, Kesgrave, winner of many many county competitions.

The U15s reached the last 32 in the country in the ISFA national cup, losing 1-0 to Bede’s School after dominating the whole game with a mixed team of U15s and U14s.

A special mention to Miguel Richart Tudela, selected by the Ipswich Town Academy, who will join Alfie Eldridge and Josh Stokes in the ITFC professional academy set-up. Jack Kirkconnell has been selected for the ITFC Elite PDP programme and selected for the Suffolk FA Schools U16s.

Our U14 players reached the County Cup quarterfinals. Again, a positive start from a team mixed of U13 and U14 players. Manny Duran U14, Justin Byles U14 and Brighton Morrison U13 have all been selected for the ITFC Elite PDP programme. Good start boys, let’s keep moving forward!

Girls’ Football

Two of our girls have stepped up to play in the boys’ teams: Eloise Ward was part of the U15 boys’ squad that played so well in the ISFA national cup competition. She has also been selected for the girls’ ISFA England National Schools U16 team, playing a year above against other national teams!

Erika Lempek U13 has played for our U14s County Cup boys’ team and scored a goal in a 7-0 win to reach the quarterfinals. Erika has also joined the Norwich City Girls’ Elite PDP programme!

This is just the beginning of football for the girls of St Joseph’s College. Our full girls’ programme is due to launch in September 2019. Keep an eye out for some fantastic news in the next few weeks!

Hockey

The 1st XI started their season at a County Tournament over two days and finished in fifth place. There was an exceptional work rate from all and it set a benchmark for the rest of the season. This proved mixed, with losses against Ipswich High School and Ipswich School, a tightfought game against Royal Hospital School that ended 0-0 and a strong team performance to win 2-1 against Culford. Strong team effort from the girls this season with very good team morale.

The U15 players were unbeaten apart from the return match against Woodbridge School. The U14 hockey team competed in the County Tournament and finished sixth. There are some brilliant hockey players emerging from these teams. The U13 and U12 hockey teams started with an unbeaten run of matches, with fantastic team performances against RHS, IHS and Framlingham. In the County Tournament the U13s were unlucky to be knocked out just before the semi-finals. The girls have demonstrated some excellent hockey this season and worked hard to put what they have learnt in practice into their matches.

Netball

The U19 team played an early tournament. They took each match in their stride and produced excellent netball against some tough opposition. They worked brilliantly as a squad and had an excellent work-rate throughout each of the matches. The girls finished third to go through to the county finals, where they finished sixth overall. They should be very proud of their performance.

In other netball tournaments this term, the U16s won, the U15s came second and the U14s finished fourth. Looking ahead to the rest of the season, with more training the girls should feel confident to perform well in their matches next term.

Cross Country

Several of our children competed in the Royal Hospital School Cross Country. Well done to all those who qualified for the next round, in particular Imogen Bowyer and Ben Howlett , tenth and eleventh respectively.

Squash

Competing in the Schools Squash Competition, the girls’ U14 team won the Regional Stage 1 competition after winning 42 out of 45 games convincingly. Emma Logan, Jess Logan, Sophie Singer, Zoe Tanner and Amelie Clarke have all represented Suffolk in squash.

Table Tennis

The U13 boys qualified for the Regional competition after winning the County Finals. Well done to Eddie Patterson, Jimmy Holdcroft, Connor Holdcroft, Miles Kerr and Freddie Cloud. The U13 girls and the U19 boys came second in the County finals.

So St Jo’s

So Many Possibilities – So Please Don’t Be Shy!

The PTA is undergoing a refurb!

We are excited to be launching So St Jo’s (Supporters of St Joseph’s). Comprising a group of volunteers drawn from all sections of the St Joseph’s family, So St Jo’s will meet informally to discuss and plan innovative events and other inspiring ways to support the College and the wider community. Please come to our launch party on 25 January at the third coffee morning of the Lent term.

Look out for the dedicated St St Jo’s Facebook page – your go-to resource for information on events and ways to be involved. Coming soon.

Pictured are current parents Niall Tanner, Liz Lloyd and Sarah Gebhard, who will be spearheading the drive.

Grounds for Celebrating

The grass really is greener at St Joseph’s College – and that’s official! Our school, widely known for the quality of its sport and the beauty of its campus can be in no doubt about the foundation of that fame: the hard work and dedication of our grounds team.

The team scooped top prize in the independent schools category at the Institute of Groundsmanship Industry Awards 2018, facing Abingdon School, Oxford, in the final. Congratulations to Head Groundsperson, Mr Hamilton, and colleagues Mr Nunn, Mr Bentman and Mr Baker. We all wish Mr Nunn a speedy recovery after his recent accident. Get well soon Clive!

Old Birkfeldians

Sun Pours Down on One of Our Largest OB Gatherings

The Principal, Mrs Clarke, welcomed Frank Yah back to St Joseph's College in September. Frank left St Joseph’s in 1960 to pursue a career in dentistry in San Francisco and was back in England for a holiday. Frank has only just retired at the age of 76 and was looking in great shape!

What a pleasure to see so many Old Birkfeldians at this year’s Rugby Festival. It was hard to miss some of them – sporting very natty red and white blazers in tribute to the home side. In fact, the Festival proved to be one of the biggest reunions yet. The weekend began on a high with the Old Boys’ and Old Girls’ rugby and hockey matches. Well done to the Over 23s who won the Michael Davey Cup and, levelling the scores, well done to our current 1st XI for winning the hockey match 2-1.

We would like to thank all our Old Birkfeldians who came and supported St Jo’s during the weekend. The sunshine certainly helped the party atmosphere and the opening of the lovely Serenity Garden provided a particularly memorable note.

Boarding News

What a fantastic term we have had in boarding this term! Right from the outset our new and enthusiastic teams of Housemasters, Assistant Housemistresses, eager Gap students and both of our wonderful matrons have taken to the role with excitement and vigour.

Trips

We were thrown in the deep end when we took our new boarders on our first activity to Go Ape. Staff and students alike were swinging from ropes and jumping across poles high above the forests of Thetford. It wasn’t one for the faint-hearted and some of the staff and boarders found the course a real challenge!

We have enjoyed many other activities this term since that first adventure, and, thankfully, not all of them have left us with our hearts in our mouths, but all were intended to develop relationships between the boarders themselves and between the staff and boarders. Over three months have passed now and we really are a family. Activities such as bowling, pumpkin carving, dining with Maassai Warriors and pottery design have brought us all closer together. With the Christmas Panto and Boarding Christmas Party just around the corner, it promises to be a fantastic finale to 2018 in Goldrood and Mews!

The Great Boarding Bake Off 2018 - Goldrood v Mews. Such excellent teamwork, with creations looking amazing and tasting fabulous. It was too hard to decide so we settled for a draw.

House and Food Committee

We all know the importance of being listened To. As in any house or family setting, there are usually things we’d like to change. With this in mind, we have set up House Committees across boarding to enable us to hear the views of our boarders. Members of the House Committees spend time listening to the views of every single one of our boarders before feeding back at committee meetings. This gives us the best opportunity to understand how our boarders really feel and what matters to them. Examples of issues raised so far are the use of electronics and mobile phones, the use of the Google Chromebooks and the opportunity to watch football games.

My Boarding life in Mews

The first day I arrived at Mews boarding the memory was really beautiful. The first boarding staff I met was Mr Kerridge. He is a really lovely person in Boarding as he gave me a lot of help. We built a strong friendship. One thing is unforgettable – Sir knows I study photography at A-level, so he always tells me where there is beautiful scenery and shares brilliant pictures with me. I also made some very strong friendship in Boarding, like Joe and Josiah. Joe helped me to do my media project. Josiah always opens the door for me.

All in all, the boarding life is colourful. We have a lot of interesting activities to do almost every weekend. I'm really enjoying my life in Mews with nice people, with a good environment and friendships in the beautiful sunset.

David Xu, whose photograph is shown below.

Sleep Tips for Teenagers

A minimum of eight to nine hours' good sleep on school nights is recommended for teens.

Here is how to make sure your teen is getting enough sleep to stay healthy and do well at school.

Limit screens in the bedroom

If possible, do not have a mobile, tablet, TV or computer in the bedroom at night, as the light from the screen interferes with sleep.

Having screens in the bedroom also means your teen is more likely to stay up late interacting with friends on social media.

Encourage your teenager to have at least 30 minutes of screen-free time before going to sleep.

Exercise for better sleep

It's official: regular exercise helps you sleep more soundly, as well as improving your general health.

Teenagers should be aiming for at least 60 minutes' exercise every day, including aerobic activities such as fast walking and running.

Exercising out in daylight will help to encourage healthy sleep patterns, too.

Cut out the caffeine

Suggest that your teenager drinks less caffeine – found in drinks such as cola, tea and coffee – particularly in the four hours before bed.

Too much caffeine can stop them falling asleep and reduce the amount of deep sleep they have.

Do not binge before bedtime

Let teenagers know that eating too much, or too little, close to bedtime can lead to an overfull or empty stomach. This can be a cause of discomfort during the night and may prevent sleep.

Have a good routine

Encourage your teenager to get into a regular bedtime routine. Doing the same things in the same order an hour or so before bed can help them drift off to sleep.

Create a sleep-friendly bedroom

Ensure your teenager has a good sleeping environment – ideally a room that is dark, cool, quiet and comfortable.

It might be worth investing in thicker curtains or a blackout blind to help block out early summer mornings and light evenings.

Talk through any problems

Talk to your teenager about anything they are worried about. This will help them to put their problems into perspective and sleep better.

You could also encourage them to jot down their worries or make a to-do list before they go to bed. This should mean the are less likely to lie awake worrying during the night.

Avoid long weekend lie-ins

Encourage your teen not to sleep in for hours at weekends. Late nights and long lie-ins can disrupt your body clock and leave you with weekend ‘jet lag’ on Monday morning.

For further information and tips visit the NHS UK website: /live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/sleep-tips-for-teenagers