St bons newsletter april 14

St Bonaventure’sEASTER 2014

Spring in West Ham Park by Merisha Everiste

INSIDE THIS ISSUE…

ISSUE : 2

Newsletter

Panathlon Medal Winners

Wonderful Week of Words

Students Lunch with Jack Petchey

French Pen-Friends

World Book Day

The Graduates

Time Travelling Students

Berlin Trip

National Storytelling Week

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

We are finishing another exciting term at St Bonaventure's and this new Magazineillustrates just how busy it has been for the students. Everyone knows that St Bonaventure's provides a world class education and that our students make

progress with their learning, which places us with the very best schools in England. Whatmost do not realise is the range of activities that we provide that is above and beyond theusual learning in the classroom. I am sure that you will be surprised by all that ourstudents do.

As this Magazine goes to print, there are still activities occurring in school that can not bepublished. On Friday 28th March, boys in Year 8 attended a performance of "The MerchantOf Venice" in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. On the same day, we welcomed Lord VictorAdebowale into school to talk about his work with young homeless people. On Monday31st March, the great Catholic political activist Bruce Kent informed our students about hispursuit of Peace and the ongoing Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It is a sign of thegreatness of our school, that these important visitors want to visit and talk to ourstudents.

As you will know, we have been without a School Chaplain since the start of January. Wehave recently appointed a fantastic new Chaplain and she starts on Monday 28th April. JessBarnett has been working with the Salesians of St John Bosco and has worked as a SchoolChaplain previously. She brings with her a huge amount of experience of working withyoung people and her special devotion to St John Bosco will support us with the Catholicformation of our students. I know that you will all welcome her into the community of StBonaventure's school.

When we return after Easter, our examination groups will be quickly involved in their allimportant exams. They have been preparing with enthusiasm this year and the Saturdaystudy sessions and After-School boosters have been well attended. I am very proud ofthem and they deserve to be very successful. The data that we are taking in shows thatour current Year 11, 12 & 13 will achieve more than previous years. Please keep them in yourprayers over the next few months, they all need your spiritual support during this stressfulperiod.

If you have any suggestions for news items that you would like to see in the nextmagazine please send these to [email protected], your opinions will be gratefully received.

May the Holy Spirit be with you and your Family, in thismost Holy season as we celebrate Christ's victory over sinand death.

Paul HalliwellHeadteacher

PAGE 2 : ST BONAVENTURE’S NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT DATES

PE NEWS

PANATHLON MEDAL WINNERS

Four students had a lot to smile about after helping Newham win through to the finalsof the Panathlon Challenge and bringing home six medals in the process.Richie, Louis, Christopher and Justin took part in the games at Langdon School in a

special day of sports on February 4 and competed against schools from Redbridge andDagenham.

Richie won a gold medal for new age kurling. Louis won silver for polybat whilst Chrisachieved bronze in table cricket and gold for running. Justin got gold for kurling and silverfor running.

Miss Thomas and Mr Murray accompanied the athletes and were thrilled at their success.

The keen sportsmen are seen here showing off their medals.

Tuesday 22 April School starts at 8.45am

Tuesday 22 April Assessment Week Years 7 - 12

Wednesday 23 April Feast Day of St George

Monday 28 April School Mass at 12pm

Monday 5 May Bank Holiday. School closed

Monday 12 May GCSE & A Level exams start

Wednesday 14 May 4th Report posted home

Monday 19 May Year 8 Parents' Evening

Friday 23 May Finish for Half Term at 3:25pm

Monday 2 June Return to school 8.45am

Monday 2 June Assessment Week for Years 7 -12

Tuesday 24 June GCSE and A Level exams end

Thursday 26 June Year 6 Transition Day

Friday 27 June 5th Report Posted Home

Thursday 3 July Summer Concert 6.00pm

Tuesday 8 July Create and Innovate Week begins

Tuesday 15 July St Bonaventure's Feast Day

Wednesday 16 July Key Stage 3 Graduation at 5.30pm

Friday 18 July Last day of Summer term. Finish at 12.30pm

Year 7 - 97.5% • Year 8 - 97.7% • Year 9 - 97.4 %Year 10 - 97.2 % • Year 11 - 96.7%

Overall - 97.3%

ATTENDANCE FIGURES

ST BONAVENTURE’S NEWSLETTER : PAGE 3

CAFOD GROUP

FILMING WITH CAFOD

The CAFOD schools team is currently involved in preparing a new resource on theiremergency work which will give secondary students the opportunity to delve deeperinto their humanitarian work beyond the assembly materials that they already make

available when an emergency is declared.

Part of this new resource will be a short film to be held on the schools pages of theirwebsite for the use of secondary teachers throughout the country.

They heard about the fantastic workSt Bon's CAFOD group do and sawthat themselves after spending theday filming our moustache day. Theywere so impressed that they thoughtour CAFOD team would be the bestteam to film for this resource.

They filmed our students discussingemergency work and on a visit to

their offices in Romero House where they filmed them interacting with their humanitarianteam. They also found out about their work after a Skype call to Ethiopia.

The resource should be available later this year for all to see. Details will be published onour website news section.

LITERACY NEWS

WONDERFUL WEEK OF WORDS

Ateam of nine students faced nine teachers this term as part of the ArticulateChallenge that kicked of the Wonderful Week of Words across St Bon's in March. The tense match of words took place in St Francis' Hall in front of a packed audience.

Tensions were running high as each team tried to outdo the other but it was the teacherswho were the victors with a score of 106 points to the students' 86.

Everyone agreed it was fun, entertaining and an excellent way to improve their literacyskills. Miss Hamid organised the event and added: "It was a close call and the boysperformed admirably."

CHARITY NEWS

CASH NOT CARDS

Two local charities benefited from our staff not sending Christmas cards to each otherthis year. Instead of spending money buying cards, staff decided to continue thetradition that was started last year by Mrs Qurrey by donating however much they

wanted to her.

The money was collated and the final total was a fantastic £322 with £166 each going toRichard House Hospice in Beckton and The Kiran Project, a Leyton based women's refuge.

MFL NEWS

ITALIAN CLUB

These students seem very happy andproud and rightly so as they had justbeen given their official attendance

Italian certificates. The boys have beenattending our Italian club at St Bon's for overa year. Their enthusiasm and dedication have allowed this weekly language corner tohappen and be successful and special.

The club takes place every Friday at lunch break in the MFL Department. It is run by MissMascherin and Mr Wade with the occasional participation of Marco Marcelline a Year 12student. We have a core group of 15 boys who are in Year 8 and couple in Years 7 and 9 andthe students are making excellent progress...Fantastico!

TELCO NEWS

ST BON'S HELPS STRATFORD BECOME CITYSAFE

There is nothing more important than the safety of our children and last month fifteenof our Year 9 students became involved in the launch of CitySafe Stratford. Mr Pauroarranged for his TELCO group to attend Stratford Mall in a bid to help make our streets

and communities safer. The campaign is all aboutyoung people building relationships with the policeand local businesses and in March Stratford gavetheir commitment to help out.

Sixth form students from St Angela's and StBonaventure's also attended along with AlifAcademy children to ensure the shopping centre isnow a CitySafe Haven. Anyone who feels threatened or is in immediate danger can turn toone of the premises that displays a purple CitySafe sticker in its window and they will begiven help and assistance.

There are currently 600 CitySafe havens across London and that number is growing.

Mr Pauro added: "CitySafe gives us hope and helps protect our young people from harm.Our students really are excellent ambassadors for this campaign and take theirresponsibility very seriously. I am proud to be associated with them."

JACK PETCHEY NEWS

ACSHAYAN IS FEBRUARY'S WINNER

Young entrepreneur, 16 year old AcshayanSavundrarajan was named February'swinner of the Jack Petchey Award after

wowing teachers at school with his matureapproach to business and his work with schoolbased retail group, Incognito.

Achshayan has been working with two sixth formstudents, Teresa and Araniya to devise a businessplan to progress their clothing ideas.

Whilst Incognito is all about teamwork, Acshayanhas taken on the role of Lead Designer. It was hisoutstanding approach to this project along withthe work undertaken, the time spent and the amount of thorough research he did thatreally impressed teachers.

STUDENTS LUNCH WITH JACK PETCHEY

Joshua and Trey from Y10, Abass and Acshayan from Year 11 and Araniya and Teresafrom Year 12 were guests of honour at a very special lunch at The Jack PetcheyFoundation Headquarters in Iford in February.

The six budding entrepreneurs went with Mr Halliwell and Jack Petchey Co-ordinator, DiHalliwell, to discuss their ideas and meet the multi millionaire businessman himself whooriginates from Manor Park.

Jack was very keen to hear all about how successful Abass and his customised sock projectwas. Teresa, Araniya and Acshayan told him all about their newly set up business called'Incognito' where they plan to design, manufacture, market and sell items of fashionableclothing. They took a prototype of a design to show him too. Trey and Joshua impressedhim with their Enterprise Group called 'AIM' and their idea of a school survival kit for newstudents.

Jack, who is 88, was intriguedto hear all about the studentsas well as telling themsnippets about his life. Hewas impressed by their ideasand wanted to hear all abouttheir hopes for the future. Heis a great supporter of StBonaventure's and has a longassociation with the school.What came across reallyobviously at the lunch wasJack's interest in educationand his willingness to pass hisknowledge onto the nextgeneration. His motto is: "Ifyou think you can, you can."

Afterwards, Jack gave all six students a personalised signed copy of his autobiography'50/50 Man' which outlines his early life and success.

Mr Halliwell commented: "Jack's name is synonymous with success in St Bon's and thestudents said they felt really honoured to have been invited to meet the great man whothey have heard so much about."

JANUARY' WINNER

Year 12's Marco Marcelline was January's winner of the Jack Petchey Award.Marco speaks Italian fluently and works tirelessly to promote and support thedevelopment of languages with boys across the school as well as with students from

local primary schools.

He has a love of languages and gives freely of hisexpertise and time in a bid to instil the same passionfor languages amongst others. He is travelling toRome with the RE Department and a group ofstudents soon to support the teaching staff and helpwith dialogue with non-Italian speakers and acting asan ambassador for St Bon's.

Mr Halliwell went on to explain: "Although Marco hasvery little spare time with his busy Sixth Form studies,he is always willing to help others to get a betterunderstanding of languages. He is a very talented

linguist and has a lovely manner and his willingness to help others hasn't gone unnoticed.He is an asset to the school."

JORDAN ADDS ANOTHER STRING TO HIS BOW

Year 10's Jordan Anson was awarded the December Jack Petchey Award back inJanuary. He was nominated by several members of staff who felt he was deservingof the prestigious award for his dedication and determination to succeed in music

and his contribution to school life.

Jordan, 14, is an exceptional cellist and gives up each Saturday to play at the Centre ofYoung Musicians in Lambeth. Although he has only been playing cello for four years,Jordan is already wowing his tutors by reaching Grade 8. He applied to join the LondonSchools Symphony Orchestra in the summer and underwent a series of gruelling auditionslast autumn, playing pieces as part of an ensemble as well as a solo.

The LSSO is a world-renowned symphony orchestra with musicians drawn from students inschools across London and features professional conductors and soloists. It offers talentedLondon schoolchildren first class musical training and education.

Head of Music Miss Brockett and Ms Le Beau went to the Barbican to see Jordan performwith the orchestra at his very first public concert with the LSSO in January. Ms Brockett saysshe felt really proud of Jordan and to see him up on stage was magnificent. She went onto explain: "They played some complex pieces but Jordan took it all in his stride. He reallyis a talented musician who deserves the Jack Petchey Award."

Jordan bought music stands and sheet music with his award money for the benefit of thewhole Music Department.



LIBRARY NEWS

WRITERS' CIRCLE

Deep in thought....published authors, Ehiz, Erjon, Winston, Tristan, Tomi and Gerardwith their collection of poems, diary entries and short stories they put together forthe 'We are Writers' club book on the theme of Discovery.

This was the first ever book written entirely by St Bon's students. It was published justbefore Christmas andraised almost £500 makingit a huge success.

Meanwhile the next batchof budding authors arebusy putting together acollection of poems readyfor our next publication.

WORLD BOOK DAY

SWAP A BOOK PIZZA PARTY

150 boys brought in books and were selectedfor the pizza party in St Francis' Hall on WorldBook Day as part of the book exchange

organised by Ms Corriette. In fact, Ms Corriettewas inundated by students all eager to getinvolved and sample the infamous pizza. It wasso popular that it was decided to split the bookexchange into two sessions with the brownblazers getting involved in one session and theolder students swapping their books a weeklater.

Where's Wally? Can you spot him in thisphotograph?

MFL NEWS

FRENCH PEN-FRIENDS

This is the fifth year the French exchange with the Collège Pablo Neruda has takenplace. Just before Christmas, our pen-friends from Wattrelos , which is a small townoutside Lille, came to spend the day with us in St Bon's. After being welcomed by Miss

Qurrey, our Year 9 boys gave them a tour of the school as an ice breaker. Both sides had topractice the language they learned during several activities and made sure that their pen-friend would understand them.

It was a very enjoyable day which ended up with a concert from the string quartet andseveral soloists in St Francis' Hall. Our visitors were very impressed with our school and areeager for us to visit them in France. Our boys represented the school brilliantly and wereexcellent ambassadors for St Bon's.

I.T. NEWS

SHOW MY HOMEWORK

Two visitors from 'Show My Homework' visited school tosee some of our Year 7 students utilising thepioneering programme in Ms Malek's IT class.

SMH Marketing Manager, Sophie Vauthier, was impressedseeing our students easily accessing and getting the mostout of it. Ms Qurrey is a staunch supporter of SMH and feelsit is an excellent, simple yet effective tool for both students and teachers. She added:"Once seen, it will be forever used."

SMH has been attracting a lot ofmedia attention too. St Bon'sfeatured recently in The SecEdmagazine as well as TheNewham Recorder supporting itand more and more schools aregetting wise to its manybenefits and showing aninterest in using it also.

SIXTH FORM NEWS

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Recently, Sixth Form student Shannon Pellius visited The National Gallery with agroup of students. Here is her take on things:

“Our trip to the NationalGallery was very interesting. Ifeel as though I learnt newthings about the scriptures inLuke and John's Gospel.Every painting and piece ofart allowed us to change ourperception of the scriptureand think outside the boxrather than sticking to our prior classroom knowledge.

Each picture showed us the story as well as a deeper meaning, also portraying thethoughts of past artists through the type of paints and canvases they used and the coloursgiven to each character subjectively. I feel as though we all learnt about the expression ofreligion through art and that it was a good way of getting us out of the class room to helpexpand on the knowledge we already had. A huge thank you is in order to our teacher, Mr Pauro, for taking us to the gallery and helping us as much as possible in every areaneeded."

LIBRARY NEWS

CHESS CLUB

Miss Massett and Mr Nicholls' Thursdaylunchtime Chess Club is proving to be asuccess as there are currently 50 students

taking part on a regular basis making it one of ourbusiest extra curricular activities.

Mr Nicholls is a keen chess player and is always onhand to offer advice to the boys. The club takes placeevery Thursday in the library with students attending from all Year groups.

Anyone interested in joining the club should see Ms Massett.


WORLD BOOK DAY

BRILLIANT CLUB

THE GRADUATES

Twenty four of our Year 8students who took part in theBrilliant Club programme went

to Warwick University in February fora graduation ceremony. The Englishstudents had write an essay onJoseph Campbell's mono-myththeory whilst the science students had to discuss the links between inheritedcharacteristics and evolution to their own animal.

They all met up at the crack of dawn at school and travelled by coach to the distinguishedcollege accompanied by Mr Stanley and Mr Robinson, all eager to find out how they'ddone.

PhD students mentored the group and their essays were marked the same waygraduates would be at University with students gaining a First, 2:1, 2:2 or a Third degree.

All students passed and were thrilled to hear how well they had done...Brilliant!

YEAR 7 NEWS

YEAR 7 SKILLS DAY

Year 7 had a fantastic time on their Skills Day when they had the opportunity to beamazing tour guides earlier this term. They had lots of fun whilst learning new skillstoo. They worked collaboratively, developing their numeracy and literacy skills and

ensuring that the tours that they offered were vibrant, engaging and exciting.

They offered tours around different aspects of London for a variety of prices with a widerange of foods, even having theopportunity of meeting a fewLondon famous faces along the way.They had to tempt visitors that theirwas the best tour.

After looking at all the tours, thewinning team was named as 7Forest, seen pictured with Mr Cawley.

SCIENCE NEWS

ST BON'S BECOMES REAL DRAGONS' DEN

St Bon’s launched a competition back in January to nameits two latest additions. But these were no ordinarystudents. The newcomers were in fact bearded dragons

bought with the money October Jack Petchey Award winner,Year 11 student, Ryan Davis won.

Animal lover Ryan decided to buy a vivarium, heatingequipment and two lizards for the whole school to enjoy andnow they have arrived in school and are living happily in one of the science labs.

Students have been flocking to see the exotic pets and Head of Science, Lucie Racon,decided it would be a good idea to launch a competition to name the pair. She added: "Weneeded a male and female name that would suit the bearded dragons. They are verycurious and watch our science lessons intently."

The nameless pair were eventually given the names Falcor and Puff chosen by Alfiya inYear 12 and Miss McNulty. They have grown considerably since and are now settling in totheir new home and are still as curious as ever and are proving to be real crowd pullers.



SCHOOL NEWS

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

This August the World will mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the FirstWorld War. The war had a devastating affect and by the end of the war there werevery few people in the countries that took part who remained unaffected. The war

reached out and touched almost everyone's life in some way or other.

Forest Gate residents were among those who suffered loss and here at St Bon's manyformer students died for their King and Country.

A stone plaque showing our school crest dedicated to the memory of the oldBonaventurians who gave their lives in both wars now hangs in St Antony's Church.

As a mark of respect for those old boys who gave so much, St Bon's plans to keep a candleburning in reception at school from the end of June onwards.

Students Darran Henry, William Eneso and Tommy Morgan went along to visit the plaquein church recently to pay their respects as they represented St Bon's at the Armistice Dayremembrances in school last year. Darran, who's in Year 11, read a poem and prayers on thesolemn occasion with Tommy and William in Year 10 acting as guards of honour.

YOUNG ENTERPRISE GROUP

WORKIN' AT THE CAR WASH

Mr Nelson's Young Enterprise Group showed their dedication last month when theycame into school on a staff training day when they could have had a nice lie in andthe day off, all for a good cause of course.

They decided to seize the opportunity to make some money and boost funds by washingteachers' cars andbicycles. As the weatherwas sunny, the car washproved very popularwith the studentscleaning 17 cars and 4bikes.

Overall, they made £173which will be used tohelp manufacture theschool survival kits theyhave been devising andproducing.

YEAR 8 NEWS

YEAR 8 SKILLS DAY

The new term kicked off to a good start with Year 8 Skills Day providing fun andlearning whilst the students brushed up on their literacy and numeracy skills. Theirremit was to dream up and manage their very own fantasy football teams with the

responsibility of managing the budget, buying players, raising sponsorship and marketingtheir club. Enthusiastic Forms then had to sell their dream-team to a packed audience in StFrancis' Hall that consisted of fellow students, teachers and judges.

After a hard day's carefulplanning, powerpointpresentations were made.Imaginative names such as SnowForest, the London Hounds andElite Legends were thought of.Overall winners were 8 Gregorywith their London All Stars team. 8Bell were the runners up with 8Coleman coming third.

MFL NEWS

STUDENTS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES

On February 13, Fourteen eager Year 8 pupils travelled to the BFI on London’sSouthbank to attend a workshop on German Films. I wasn’t completely sure whatwe would find there, despite what Mrs Templeman had told us, but that soon turned

around when I arrived - everyone had such a wonderful time, it was an amazingexperience. The BFI felt very homely and the staff were very welcoming. In the morningwe saw clips of German films over the last hundred years, including the internationalfavourites 'Emil und die Detektiven' and 'Lola Rennt'. In small groups we analysed the clipsin detail and we learnt about everything from character development to camera angles,and we fed back our answers to the whole audience – in German as often as possible! Inthe afternoon we enjoyed a full screening of 'Wintertochter'. It was the story of a girl on ajourney to find her father; it brought out a range of emotions in us all, from loud laughterto deep sorrow. Afterward we stepped into the role of film critics by sharing our views onthe film, and finally we worked through some issues faced by the marketing departmentincluding planning film trailers, designing posters and discussing certification. Wediscovered that you don't have to understand every word to appreciate a film: you can alsouse music, subtitles and expressions to help you. Not only have I proved that I can speakGerman in front of a large audience but I will never look at a film – German or English - inthe same way again!

By Henry Ogoli, Year 8

SCHOOL NEWS

SOUTH AFRICAN VISITORS

We were visited by four teachers from St Benedict's School in Johannesburg inJanuary who had come to look at how our school functions. They wereparticularly interested in our IT, English, Maths and Science Departments.

Mr Skelton accompaniedthem on a tour of theschool. They chatted tostaff and students andwere impressed to seehow a busy inner Londonschool runs on a day today basis.


ENTERPRISE GROUP

CUPID'S CUPCAKES

AIM, our Year 10 EnterpriseGroup run by Mr Nelson,held a Valentine's Day

cake sale to help boost theirfunds and it was a great success.

£107 was raised by the break-time and lunchtime sales whendozens of cupcakes, shortcake,biscuits and muffins were onoffer for teachers and studentsto buy. Lots of help was given by Mrs LeBeau and Mrs Gilbey to make sure the goodieswere yummy and looked appealing too with jelly lips, hearts and lots of chocolateadornments to tempt buyers into parting with their pennies.

All money raised went towards manufacturing a School Survival Kit that the group isputting together and is due to hit the market in the near future.

STEM NEWS

TIME TRAVELLING STUDENTS

Twenty students stepped back in time recently when they became Victorian civilengineers for the day working on Joseph Bazalgette's pioneering underground sewersystem.

The STEM students worked with engineers from the Thames Tideway Project when theyvisited the London Metropolitan Archives at Farringdon in the City. They were given accessto archive material. This would help them put together presentations to convince anaudience that their plan to divert sewerage and waste from the Capital to the Thamesestuary was necessary and the only solution to the problem.

A politician, journalist, engineer and doctor acted as the audience that the four teams hadto sell their strategies to. They asked some really tough questions but the students'determination shone through and the stamp of approval was given for the seweragesystem to go ahead.

The students were then transported back to the 21st Century where each student waspresented with a Discovery Challenge CREST Award.

Miss Larkin went with the boys and said: "The students learned many skills including teambuilding, decision making, problem solving and using their initiative as well as improvingtheir presentation and communication skills. This really was learning outside theclassroom that these students will never forget."

PE NEWS

SPORTS SCIENCE STUDENTS TEST THE WATER AT OLYMPIC VENUE

Fourteen BTEC Sports Science students were invitedalong to the London Aquatics Centre at the OlympicPark in Stratford on February 25 as part of a special

Media Day when the doors were opened to the nationalmedia to go in and have a look around.

St Angela's and St Bonaventure's Sixth Form students wereamong only a handful of people invited along to see thetwo 50 metre pools and diving pool since the AquaticsCentre was redesigned by World-renowned architect ZahaHadid. Eighteen months on, the Centre has been adaptedto allow swimmers to take a dip in the same pool as thoseathletes from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The London Aquatics Centre was one of the most recognisable venues of London 2012,hosting swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and modern pentathlon.

To make their visit even more special, the students got to see2012 Olympic medal winner, 19 year old diver Tom Daleytraining for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The fourteen teenagers had a training session in one of thepools led by one of the swimming coaches followed by adiving session with a diving coach.

Students Emma Nwofor and Ben Maranan were interviewedalong with PE teacher, Mr Topping, by journalists who askedthem what they thought of the excellent facilities.

Mr Topping went on to explain: "To be invited to attend wasfantastic. The Aquatics Centre really is stunning and our students were impressed by whatthey saw. The facilities really are first class."

AFTER SCHOOL CLUB

STREET DANCE CLASS IS A HIT

The Friday After School Street Dance Club, run by Royal Academy of Dance's BenjiShogbolu that started in the new year is proving to be runaway success. Classes arescheduled to run until the end of the summer term and were arranged with funding

secured by MsArmstrong.

Pop along to StFrancis' Hall tojoin in.


GEOGRAPHY NEWS

6TH FORMERS BRAVE THE ELEMENTS

Agroup of AS Geography students kicked off the new term by spending a week on afield trip on one of the wettest, windiest and coldest week's of the year.

The trip to Slapton Sands in Devon formed a major part of the students’ preparation fortheir summer exam, as they will have to answer questions based on their field trip. Thisentailed studies on various aspects of Human and Physical Geography.

Stoically, the majority of the pupils, along with Ms Oehlman and Mr O'Connor immersedthemselves into the cold, swollen river, although no more than wellie boot height. Thiswas to collect data from the desolate Slapton shores to take samples of beach sediment.

The students were rewarded with a six mile trudge along the coast from Start PointLighthouse back to Slapton Sands where they investigated coastal defence strategies, hada tour of Hallsands known as 'the village lost to the sea’ and carried out environmentalimpact assessments on local villages. Evenings were spent in the classroom drinking teaand collating data.

The experience was fun as well as unforgettable and should provide students withexcellent recall skills when they're sitting in the warm exam hall in the summer andremember the bitterly cold January trip.

MFL NEWS

BERLIN TRIP

From the 7 - 11 November, the German A Level group were lucky enough to experiencethe German Capital of Berlin - mostly all for the first time. Despite it kicking off with a3 am start at Stratford Bus Station, the anticipation of the trip obliterated even the

slightest signs of tiredness.

We stayed in the imposing and rather aptly named "Grand Hostel" of Berlin which was aten minute walk away from all the action at Potsdamer Platz. This boasted a ski slope,christmas market, and Berlin's answer to Westfield.

The rooms in the hostel were luxurious. A contest was held, just for fun, of course, to seewho had the best room. The prize was handed over to the girls whose room boasted twofloors with a staircase.

One of the many highlights of the trip was undoubtedly the food. The smell of breakfastcooking downstairs was enough to lift even the most deepest of sleepers and with somuch choice available many of us struggled to keep everything to one or even two plates.

On the first day of our stay, we paid a visit to the Reichstag, Germany's Parliament. Wealso took in the sights of the Brandenburger Tor as well as the silence-inducing Jewishmemorial site which paid tribute to the millions of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Opportunities to use our German arose when we visited a school twinned with ours wherethe majority of students came from a Turkish or Arab background. They showed us aroundtheir school, and as is German tradition, ensured that we were well fed. Unfortunately theywere as eager to try their English with us as we were to try our German on them.

Along with trips to see the Deutsche Welle TV studios and various museums, we visitedthe Olympic Stadium where the Olympic Games of 1936 were hosted as well as the morerecent 2006 World Cup Final. It was here where Afro American athlete Jesse Owens wongold medals in the sprints in front of Adolf Hitler.

Berlin is a great city because it truly is where old and new meets. On every street, sightsof enormous historical interest such as Checkpoint Charlie sit side by side with McDonald's,souvenir shops and spellbinding Christmas markets.

The trip was truly an experience to remember, and we've all promised ourselves to goagain because as well as being Londoners, wir sind Berliner.

SIXTH FORM NEWS

THE THREE VOLUNTEERS

St Joachim's School in CustomHouse proved to be the idealvenue for three of our Sixth

Form students when they went totalk to three classes about thebenefits of volunteering.

Elizabeth, Farhan and Emma wentalong to chat to three classes, Years2, 5 and 6 and gave an enthusiasticpresentation and told the childrenthe different ways they give backto the community.

The children asked many questionsand seemed really enthralled,listening eagerly and giving themplenty of food for thought.

Emma is currently studying SportsScience whilst Elizabeth and Farhanhave both said they want to pursue a career in Secondary teaching.

Emma and Elizabeth both went to St Angela's and Farhan joined our Sixth Form fromForest Gate School.


AFTER SCHOOL CLUB

IT'S ALL GEEK TO ME!

Another success story this term has been the oddlynamed Geek Club that started earlier this year. EachTuesday after school, the club meet in Mr Pauro's room in

the RE corridor to discuss everything from superheroes withsuper powers to Pokemon, the latest video game to comics.Film clips to back up the arguments are often shown with thestudents getting involved in many heated debates.

Any topic is up for discussion and a favourite has been: Who is the best, Marvel or DCcharacters? …all in the name of research, of course.

Each week, numbers have grown with there currently being about 12 regular attenders.Year 8 student, Jamie Halliwell, who is a member of the School Council, suggested the ideafor the club at a School Council meeting and added: "Anyone who wants to talk all thingsgeek can come along and be made welcome."

PE NEWS

INDOOR ATHLETICS WIN

Massive congratulations this term to our Year 8 indoor athletics team who won theEast London Finals at the Copper Box stadium at the former Olympic Park. Theteam now go on to the London Indoor Athletics Finals at Crystal Palace in April.

Events included an obstacle relay, vertical jump, standing triple jump, standing long jumpand shot jump.

Well done and best of luck to team captain Dennis Jefia, Emmanuel Ajhiao, Zafar Dormt,Emmanuel Omolegan, Sean Rolle, Stephen Osei- Owusu, Arther Gwamba and Henry Jones.

CAREERS NEWS

CAREERS WORKSHOPS

Well done to five of our Year 12 students who attended a computing careersworkshop run by Tata Consultancy services last month. Aleena, Daniel, Jayden,Tolulope and Tyler learned more about cutting-edge developments in IT and

Computing including Big Data and Mobile Collaboration. They looked at the increasingimprovements in higher level IT skills in the graduate labour market where there is a skillsshortage of Computer Science and IT graduates.

More good news. Seven of our Year 12 students were successful in getting onto the LondonCollege of Fashion (University of the Arts) CAPS 1 Project. This is the first time we haveparticipated in this agreement and it is a fantastic opportunity for our students.

They took part in a week of fashion taster activities and portfolio advice and wereguaranteed an interview for their chosen London College of Fashion degree when makingtheir UCAS application for any of LCFs creative courses such as Fashion Design, Styling,Fashion Textiles, Tailoring, TV and Theatre Make- up or Photography.

Congratulations to Shanice, Paige, Jasmine, Chantelle, Amanda, Hayat and Charlene.

Chris JarvisCareers Advisor

LITERACY NEWS

NATIONAL STORYTELLING WEEK

Josh Solnick from Eastside EducationTrust came in during this term totake a masterclass on the great

American author, Edgar Allan Poe.Students from Years 9 and 10 weretreated to an enthralling lesson thatconcentrated on the classic novel 'Fall ofthe House of Usher.'

Afterwards the boys wrote their ownshort story based on Poe's style.

YEAR 10 NEWS

TASTER DAY TURNS OUT TO BE A REAL TASTER DAY

Redbridge College provided the venue for a Year 10 Taster Day when students got toexperience what a Redbridge College learner would do on a day to day basis.

They took part in Science, Business Studies, Health & Social Care, Sports Studies andCatering classes. One Business Studies lesson consisted of having to pitch a new beverageto a panel of three judges, making play-dough for children in Health & Social Care andworking out which body parts and muscles were used in various gym exercises.

Catering was the most popular session with the boys making vegetable stir fry and non-alcoholic cocktails.

The tutors commented on how friendly our boys were, with the Head Chef, Justin, beingparticularly impressed by their chopping skills.


St Bonaventure’sBoleyn Road, Forest Gate, London E7 9QD • Telephone: 020 8472 3844 • www.stbons.org

He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.Matthew 28:6

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St bons newsletter april 14