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  Term 3 Newsletter - February 2021  
  Message from Mr Humphreys, Headteacher  
 

St Katherine’s is a superb community, filled with wonderful people. During these times of Learning@Home and social distancing, the kind gestures and calls we make to check in on each other, make each other laugh has made a difference.

Wellbeing within our community is very much in our consciousness during this time and our screen free day last week was warmly received within our community. A huge thank you to those who shared their days and these will be shared and celebrated online and in assemblies.  The day reminded us of how easy it is for all of us to become ingrained in a cycle which, like everything after a period of time, becomes tiring.  With this in mind, we will be confirming further plans for Term 4 to break the cycle and help support us all.

The focus on fitness this term has rewarded many and no doubt reminded some of the importance of exercise within a daily and weekly routine. We all know the science of exercise makes sense but sometimes motivation is the barrier. Thank you to Mr Thomas and Mr Dawes for making us get up and get out and logging our miles, and for those already out, to go even further. Great to see a mix of staff, students and parents/carers taking part - it is never too late to get involved!

The Parent/Carer Association have asked on more than one occasion how they can support the school and we are pleased to share that we have established a St Katherine’s Hardship Fund. We are passionate about making sure all students have a broad experience at St Katherine’s and any support through the fund will go towards helping a student who might have otherwise gone without, ensuring that each student’s time at St Katherine’s is their best time ever and without barriers to their daily enjoyment. We will share how the money has been spent along with the difference it is making throughout the term. 

We look forward to receiving news on how schools will return at the very beginning of Term 4 and are very much looking forward to reuniting our community.

Wishing everyone an active and restful February half term.

Justin Humphreys, Headteacher

 
  Art students get creative during lockdown  
 

As during the previous lockdown, when the majority of St Katherine’s students have been Learning@Home, we have received a wealth of exciting and outstanding creative pieces completed by pupils from all year groups. Some of the work showcased here forms an important element of students’ GCSE and A Level coursework portfolio, some of it has been made in response to online art lessons and projects, while some of it has been completed by students in their own personal time. 

Participating in creative activities at home, alongside other learning, has multiple benefits for health and wellbeing. We feel incredibly proud of all that St Katherine’s students have achieved in art, with some stunning outcomes.

Follow the St Katherine's Facebook page and Twitter feed to see more "WOW" art work.

Ms Tallis, Head of Art

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Elise Caddick, Year 13

Elise has been exploring the line between beauty and elements that make us feel less comfortable. Here she has used a mixture of bright colours and pretty floral imagery with shapes that are suggestive of human inner organs, such as the stomach, colon and intestine.

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Jimmy Church, Year 12

This beautiful delicate flower painting by Jimmy has an 'otherworldly' quality about it. The structure of the petals and stamen take on an almost abstract dimension whilst the texture captured on the flower's surface adds extra intrigue.

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Rosa Thomson, Year 11

Rosa has created some stunning portraits with different materials for her personal project based on the human form/portraits. Here she has used watercolours to create a dramatic image. 

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Isabella Wake, Year 10

An expressive and highly skilful painting using acrylic paint created by Isabella. This painting is based on natural forms.

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Francine Allford, Year 9

Here is an exceptional digital art piece created by Francine Allford.  She has created this at home independently, using her imagination to capture the human form using vivid colours and design within her piece.

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Millie Horn, Year 8

This pencil study by Millie is in response to a task that forms part of the current Y8 Alien project, exploring the work of Yinka Shoniabare and the feeling of alienation that we all experience at times. Millie has created this creature herself and has drawn this successful piece using accurate tonal shading to create a brilliant 3D effect.

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Ella Johnson, Year 7

During lockdown Ella has been doing some research into the different birds she can find on walks and in her garden.

She has created these beautiful studies. Well done Ella, - what a brilliant way to combine beautiful artwork and scientific investigation.

 
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  Screen Free Wednesday  
 

We have recognised the static nature of learning@home and feel it is crucial for students to take a break from the screen where possible. Therefore, we held our first screen free day on Wednesday 3rd February, coinciding with Children's Mental Health Week. Students were asked to complete different activities based on the following themes:

  • Creativity hour
  • Reading hour
  • Relaxation hour
  • Fitness hour
  • Interaction hour
  • Learning hour

It has been lovely to hear that students and their families have enjoyed taking time away from the screen. It has also been brilliant to see some of the great screen-free activities shared with us. They have been enjoying nature walks, exercising, baking, drawing and painting, getting creative, learning new skills, playing music, crafting - for more please see the St Katherine's Online Community website.

Students on site were also able to take a break from the screen for the day. They made some beautiful blue hearts for the garden, baked some gorgeous scones and created thoughtful cards.  

Feedback from students and their families has been very positive:

"I think the screen free day really helped me to not feel like every day was just being repeated and nothing was going to change. It gave me something to look forward to."

"I think it had a positive effect on mental health as well as providing an opportunity to prioritise both mental and physical wellbeing."

"I really enjoyed screen free day and would love to do it again."

We will keep you updated about future screen free opportunities and would love to celebrate the different activities that students (and parents!) complete. 

 
 
 
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Standing Proud and Speaking Out

Sixth former Paige Leakey discusses the ongoing work of Team Pride, and why LGBT+ history month is as essential as ever:

I have been leading Team Pride for a few years now and it has been such an honour to work with so many incredible students, changing the school for what I hope to be years to come. Team Pride is a student-led group that promotes equality within school and supports LGBT+ students. It was set up by my brother Alex Leakey, a gay student, who worked with teachers to provide training from the charity Stonewall to protect LGBT+ students in St Katherine’s School. After this, the lack of awareness around LGBT+ support was highlighted and this was the start of Team Pride. The group ran assemblies, and led Pride Week in school to raise money to support charities like Stonewall. 

Every year, without fail, people ask me why there is a month dedicated to the LGBT+ community. The most simple answer is that reports suggest that a quarter of the world’s population believes that being LGBT+ should be a crime. Every year we take this time to remember the work that others have done to provide us with the rights we have today. We acknowledge the progress which has been made and we live with privileges that many of us would love to share with those less fortunate. We think of people in Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen who still face the death penalty for being LGBT+. We must strengthen our community in aid of those who are not able to do so themselves. 

From the late ‘80s until 2003, Section 28 prohibited teachers from supporting and protecting LGBT+ students within schools.  Abolished just 17 years ago, this barbaric and inhumane piece of legislation had an adverse impact on the diversity of the curriculum for years. We acknowledge Team Pride would not be able to exist during Section 28, and are extremely grateful to have this community and platform within school. Even so, studies shockingly suggest that half of LGBT+ pupils hear offensive slurs 'frequently' or 'often' at school. And so, education around inclusivity remains as vital as ever. 

In a time where two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime because of their gender identity in the last 12 months in Britain, we are determined to ensure St Katherine's is a safe environment for everyone. As well as this, Team Pride aims to help young people build confidence so we can change the fact that currently 42% of LGBT+ university students hide their identity in fear of discrimination. We want St Katherine’s students to feel pride, now and forever. 

 
 
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Rotary Young Photographer competition

In December 2020, students from local schools entered the Rotary Young Photographer competition. This is a national competition organised in three stages: local club, district and national. 

Once again St Katherine's students were very successful in the competition, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 restrictions. Students were often working from home rather than in school and the competition had to be organised digitally, rather than via printed photographs as has been the case in the past.

This year's theme was "Wild Nature". Winning entries for the local Portishead Rotary club stage were selected by Jane Rees ARPS, an experienced nature photographer. Entrants had to submit three photographs each accompanied by a statement on how they interpreted the theme. 

The St Katherine's students were entered into the senior division and are all in Year 11, studying Photography for GCSE. Well done to all those who entered, we're very proud of you - especially Ms Weatherson!

Senior winner was Katie Thomas. Katie described her first image "this links to wild nature because the bird is wild and is a moving target. I chose this image because I think it's a good perspective of the bird." Her choice of image 2 "links to wild nature because you have a natural background to the image as well as the bird. I chose this photo because I think the sun has a successful impact on the final image." Her final image "links to wild nature because I captured the wild bird's movement successfully. I chose this photo because of its difference to most of my bird images."

Jane Rees explained "I placed this first for a number of reasons. It completely fulfilled the brief. Birds in flight are one of the most challenging of all photographic subjects and I commend Katie for undertaking it so successfully. She managed to get three birds in three different positions, and all were competently taken." 

Second place: Nathan Webster with his three sunset photographs; image1image2image3.

Third place: T J Peppard with black and white photos of brooding tree dotted skylines; image1, image2, image3.

Highly commended: Ruby Stephens with her blended portrait and tree images; image1, image2, image3.

Commended: Evie Dexter with her vibrant wild flowers shots; image1, image2, image3.

For further information on the competition see the Rotary Club of Portishead website

 
 
 
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New reading millionaires

Massive congratulations to our term 3 millionaires:

Year 7: Alexa Barnard 7P, Evelyn Staley 7S2, Otis Burnett 7S2 and Manon Herzog 7T2

Year 8: Isaac Gambrell 8P1, Eva Hayes 8S and Elodie Whalley 8Y1

These words came from one of our amazing multi-millionaires;

'Becoming a multi-millionaire gives you a great sense of achievement. It's still important to focus on reading things that you enjoy, not just focusing on how many words you've read though.'  Ella Bartovszy 7T2

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Our amazing librarian

Students, parents and staff alike appreciate how fortunate we are to have the phenomenal Ms Wyld as our school librarian.

Many of us are losing ourselves in a good book during lockdown, recently Ms Wyld put together a selection (complete with personalised notes for each recommendation) for fellow bookworm Emily Sell, Year 8, so she could carry on reading while she doesn't have access to our library. Emily's mum said her daughter couldn't wait to get started on the new novels!

Ms Wyld said "Emily is a voracious reader, we have had some fantastic book chats and she really keeps me on my toes! It's a joy to come up with new titles for her to try. It really is one of the best bits of my job, trying to find the right book to encourage students to want to try more."

Thank you Mr Reid!

A huge thank you to parent Ian Reid for his generous donation of 33 laptops to our school on behalf of his workplace. Not only did he think of St Katherine's, he spent a considerable amount of time and effort preparing the devices for us and even delivered them to school!

Our school IT team has been working hard to prepare the laptops for students' use and we will get them to our families who are most in need and where an additional device will ease pressures within their household.

Equal access to education has been exacerbated during the pandemic and we have worked tirelessly as a school to secure devices for all our students and families who need them. Fortunately, our move towards increasing our provision of Chromebook trolleys over the last two years left us in a better position to support our students and families, but there is always a greater demand. Mr Reid's generous donation will help meet this demand and the impact of this for an individual will be significant. 

Thank you again!

 
 
 
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Lock down mileage challenge

During the last lockdown it became apparent that lots of our students (and parents/carers) were using their daily exercise allocation to get outside and cover some serious mileage! In an attempt to turn this into something even more positive, Mr Thomas and Mr Dawes have organised the St Katherine's Lockdown mileage challenge. 

The challenge has a few different elements. Firstly, Mr Thomas would never pass by the opportunity for a competition, so house points are awarded for each mile covered. Parents/ carers have been invited to attach themselves to their child's house and staff can earn points for their houses too!

There are individual leader boards for walking, running and cycling as well as year group, staff and parent leader boards.

We have also been looking at how far we can travel as a school community with an accumulation of all the miles submitted. 

At the time of writing we had received 947 entries covering 7381 miles! This includes 1996 miles cycled, 1346 ran and 1192 walked. The lockdown journey has now taken us beyond Hong Kong and we're on our way to Sydney!

Yousafzai are currently leading the points per mile competition with 11122, followed by Turing with 10288, Stephenson on 6263 and Pankhurst with 4850.

Let's hope for some great weather during half term so we can all get outside and take part. Can anyone knock Owen Moss, Year 9, (pictured above on his bike during the Screen Free Day last week) off the top spot for the Walking Challenge? Or catch up Mr Humphreys who is way ahead in the Cycling Challenge?

Don't forget to log your walks, runs and cycles to ensure your house receives the points and keep an eye on the Mileage Challenge Updates posted on the St Katherine's Online Community website.

 
 
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Careers support

Careers support at St Katherine's has been going from strength to strength this year and every year group will have careers sessions as part of their PHSE sessions. During the autumn the focus was on year 11; they had many guest speakers including from Bath University and local colleges to speak about HE options as well as apprenticeship talks and advice and guidance on appropriate career paths. 

From Christmas the focus has been on years 7, 8 and 9. Aardman did a presentation on how to get into animation and what career path you would chose to get there. UWE did a careers talk and we have had specific career insight talks from lawyers and civil servants. 

This week all students were given access to talks, videos, information and quizzes as part of National Apprenticeship Week, to help them understand what an apprenticeship is and if it is the right career path for them. Students over 14 were invited to join the virtual National Apprenticeship Show where they could engaged with employers to find out what apprenticeships are available to them and what different employers offer.

St Katherine's is planning to launch Unifrog at the end of February. Unifrog is a complete destinations platform and it brings into one place every apprenticeship, university course and college course in the UK, as well as career opportunities. Unifrog makes it easy for students to write their CVs and Personal Statements and record their key skills. Initially this will be launched with Year 12 with a view to every student having an account by September 2021. There will be designated sessions in school to focus on Unifrog for all year groups.

The Careers team produces a monthly bulletin that is emailed out to every student and parent/carer giving information about current opportunities including (but not limited to!) virtual careers shows, virtual work experience and  live apprenticeships opportunities. New information is regularly added to the careers page of our website so do make use of all the resources. 

 
 
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  Sixth Form Update  
 

Yet another strange and surreal term for all involved draws to a close. It seems bizarre to be approaching the last week without actually having been in a room with any of our Sixth Form students, but these are the times we live in, and I reflect on this term with a great deal of pride and admiration for each and every one of them. 

Year 12 and Year 13 have embraced the challenges of a full term of home learning and all the ongoing uncertainty with grace and resilience. We continue to work together to focus on wellbeing. Three of our student leaders recently put together a podcast sharing tips and strategies for survival during lockdown which was shared with the whole school, while Head Student Ellie McCarthy has begun a weekly wellbeing update as part of our ‘Monday at 10’ newsletter. Here’s an extract from her latest message:

“As a student too, I’m excited to say this is our last week of term and that means a plentiful rest is not far ahead for us. With that in mind, these last few days of school are just as important in making sure you are feeling happy and at your best.

I wanted to touch on feelings of  high levels of anxiety at the moment or just in general feeling more stressed and try to help you get through this because none of you deserve to feel this way.”

It has been so inspiring to see Ellie share these motivational messages with the whole cohort. Meanwhile Ellie, her fellow head student Stephanie Thomasset and myself recently welcomed students from Year 7 to 11 into our weekly Friday Quiz, which was a real pleasure - their enthusiasm really is infectious!

An exceptional achievement this term has been the successful submission of UCAS applications for the whole cohort. The dedication shown by the Sixth Form tutor team, supporting these young people in taking this vital step towards a successful future, cannot be overstated, and the rewards are already being felt as the offers roll in. So many students now have their thoughts focused on going on to their first choice higher education institutions - a welcome boost in the current climate - while we will continue to support all the students embarking on alternative pathways. 

We are very proud that Wren Talbot-Ponsonby and William Want have received offers from Oxford and Cambridge respectively. A wonderful achievement. The hard work starts now to ensure they achieve their grades and take these incredibly exciting opportunities. 

We will take some time this week to reflect on happier, more communal times - thanks to all the students who have shared photos with me! - before a well-earned half-term break. I’m sure parents, carers, staff and students will agree that, as with our recent Screen Free Day (highlights of which can be seen above), the opportunity to get away from our laptops will be most welcome. Term 4 will, of course, mean a return to the screen, but it will not go on forever, and a brighter future is in sight.

Mr Davies, Head of Sixth Form

 
 
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Lockdown workouts

We have all had to adapt to different ways of teaching and learning during the last year. PE lessons look very different at the moment to when we have a full cohort of students in school, lots of different equipment needed to run live remote workouts. Well done to Miss Ball who managed 4 hours of classes back to back on this day back in January! We hope students are enjoying the lessons, well done for joining in and keep your eyes on your PE Classrooms.

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Sports centre roof

Repair work was well underway on the sports hall roof back in January while we had far fewer students on site. It involved a LOT of scaffolding to reach the roof safely!

 
  Headteacher commendations for term 3  
 
 
 

Key Stage 3

Year 7: 

Cerys Voisey, Hannah Green, Alexa Barnard, Evelyn Staley, Manon Herzog, Otis Burnett, Victoria Reid and Luke James. 

Year 8:

Oscar Caton, Joel Martineau, Emily Sell, Harvey Anstey, Nakye Ivey, Jack Palmer-Givan, Roary Gallagher, Cameron Mclean, Isaac Gambrell, Eva Hayes, Elodie Whalley and Evie Roberts.

Year 9: 

Hope Roberts, Dillan Faulkner, Cosmo Browne, Logan Dunn, Frank McCann, Jemimah Douglas and Rochelle Woodruff.

 
 
 

Key Stage 4 and 5

Year 10: 

Amrit Gill, Mia Melias, Matthew Brennan, Ahmed Hassan, Adam Britton, Amber Howie, Matthew Parsons, Eliza Shilton-Smith, Kaiya Greenwood, Dylan Hewitt, James Wamulo and Sadie Harvey.

Year 11:

Chloe Weaden, Isabelle Howie, Jessica Stanley, Rosa Thomson, Chloe Iles and Ellie Ojo.

Sixth Form:

Filipe Rodrugues Costa, Edith Powell, Abbie Ring and Paige Leakey.

 
 
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  House Championship  
 

The House Championship continues throughout lockdown and is a powerful way to keep our community together while we are apart.

Everyone at St Katherine's feels incredibly proud of our students who are working hard in the face of adversity.The resilience and responsibility they are showing is a testament to the amazing young people in our community and the work that has been produced at home is incredible. Staff have continued to recognise hard work and excellence by awarding positives to those students that go above and beyond. The term 3 ethos competition has been decided by the average number of positives awarded this term to each house and the results are as follows:

1st - Turing House average number of positives = 39.97 (200 points)

2nd - Stephenson House average number of positives = 37.70 (150 points)

3rd - Yousafzai House average number of positives = 34.24 (100 points)

4th Pankhurst House average number of positives = 31.93 (50 points) 

Tuesday 9th February 2021 was Safer Internet Day and students have been designing posters to publicise the event in the lead up to the day. Congratulations to Emily Sell in Pankhurst House, whose design was chosen meaning Pankhurst win this important competition with Yousafzai House in second pace and Turing in third.

Fun Fix Friday competitions have gone live and students have had the opportunity to play against one another in a range of competitions that are simply there to make them smile.

So far this lockdown we have played Pictionary, decoded Dingbats, built card towers and pitted our wits alongside the Sixth Form in a quiz hosted by Mr Davies.

There is more on the horizon too with our first 'Trashion Show', a fine dining baked bean challenge and a Mars rover themed creative writing competition. All of this in addition to the Lockdown Mileage Challenge that is keeping us fit and active. I can't wait to see how far we can travel before we all come back together sometime soon.

Well done to everyone who has represented their House this term. 

Have a great half term!

Mrs Crocker, Assistant Headteacher

 
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  Pankhurst House Update  
 

Pankhurst House were disappointed to have fallen from second at the end of term 1 to fourth at the end of term 2. Nonetheless there are many things to celebrate. Emily Sell (8P2) and Hannah Green (7P) lead the school for the most number of praises earned this year with Emily having 707 and Hannah hot on her heels with 631. Well done both! Emily also deserves special mention for setting a school record of the most praises in a week with 94, a stunning effort. The top ten praise earners for Pankhurst this term are: 

  • Emily Sell 8P2  222
  • Hannah Green 7P  152
  • Ryan Rice 7P 118
  • Alice Burley 7P 116
  • Roxie Garrett 8P2 111
  • Jack Spencer 8P2  110
  • Lexie Parsons 8P1  110
  • Amelia O’Reilly 7P 109
  • Zac Evans 7P 107
  • Elisie Stenner  7P 107

It is obviously difficult for students at the moment but I have been really impressed with the efforts of the majority of Pankhurst students with their studies at home. We have launched a new praise postcard in term 3, a 'lockdown legends' postcard and I have been pleased to send cards to all these students for their efforts and commitment over this term 3 lockdown:

George Petrie; Roxie Garrett; Dylan Hammond; Molly Green; Alice White; Issy Prime; Elliot Sycamore; Morgan Temple; Emily Sell; Jess Sharpe; Marton Urban; Harry Hodson; Daisy Money; Hetty Cleaver; Daisy Medder; Mo Warsame; India Sydenham; Millie Stratton; Elsie Stenner; Jack Spencer; Sylvie Savy; Maddie Huxtable; Ariel Rugman; Ryan Rice; Olive Pearson; William Parsons; Lexie Parsons; Elina Jackubaite; Will King; James Jackson; Logan Dunn.

Especially heartening is the number of year 11 students in Pankhurst who are being commended for their efforts. 11P were my tutor group of the term this term and thoroughly deserved it having earned more praise points and commendations than any other year 11 group. Our thoughts are with them as they negotiate their final year of GCSE.

The one competition we did win was the Safer Internet Day poster so I will finish as I started by saying well done to Emily Sell for winning this competition for Pankhurst!

Mr Murdoch, Head of Pankhurst House

 
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  Stephenson House Update  
 

Students in Stephenson House continue to work hard and engage in lessons despite the majority now working from home. I have been impressed with the way in which students have been determined in their approach to their learning. It was great to celebrate some of these young people who have attended 100% of the online lessons provided by the school (please see below).

  • 7S1- Annie Skeates and Daniel Vinkler - 100%
  • 7S2- Otis Burnett, Isy Healy Hart, Bethany Niemczyk, Agata Syzmial, Ashton Taylor and Corey Walters - 100%
  • 8S- Noah Bulmer, Oliver Hecker and Jack Palmer-Givan - 98.4%
  • 9S1- Joe Crawford, Dilan Faulkner and Noah Pearson - 100%
  • 9S2- George Garland, Sophia Harper and Harvey Niemczyk - 100%
  • 10S- Ali Mahmood, Alicia Majzal and Scarlett Newby - 100%
  • 11S- Ben Mortlock, Phoebe Palmer-Givan and Joseph Williams - 100%

A target for us in Stephenson House has been to try and move from third to 2nd in the house championship and this has been largely successful with us moving within 28 points of Yousafzai who are in 2nd. Hopefully in term 4 we can catch them and then target Turing!

There have been many successes for students in Stephenson House which have included;

  • 2nd highest number of praises/ lowest negatives
  • 2nd in quiz
  • 2nd in online pictionary

It has been a pleasure to recognise students in the house that have represented our RED (Respect, Equality and Determination) values and these students have been given a new award called the ‘lockdown legends’ :

Maisie Bobby, Cosmo Browne, Noah Bulmer, Angel Chinn, Joe Crawford, Safa Culuslow, Vanessa Gerebenes, Eve Griffin, Sophia Harper, Eva Hayes, Harvey Niemcyzk, Phoebe Palmer-Givan, Ali Mahmood, Oliver Hecker, Felix Huertas, Bethany Niemczyk, Jack Palmer-Givan, Victoria Reid, Zuzana Vinklerova, Ari Westerberg, Pearl Westerberg, Joseph Williams, Daniel Vinkler, George Garland, Scarlett Newby, Agata Szymial, Ashton Taylor, Annie Skeates, Benjamin Palmer, Joshua Healy-Hart, Isobel Healy-Hart, Otis Burnett, Sam Andrews, Corey Walters, Noah Pearson, Dillan Faulkner and Ben Mortlock.

Let’s hope that next term will see the return of all students to the school site and I wish all young people and their families a restful and safe half term break.

Mr Thomas, Head of Stephenson House

 
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  Turing House Update  
 

I hope you all managed to rest and celebrate Christmas in a positive way. A real time for family, friends and celebration also fell victim to these challenging times. 

The unsettled nature of day to day life has continued into Term 3, with the abandonment of any plans to return to school, the return to full lock-down and its impact on the school community. However, I would like to thank you as parents and carers for the support that is being given to those in your care and to the students themselves. St Katherine’s students have remained motivated, engaged and focussed on their learning, despite the many obstacles that they encountered. For those that are still finding it difficult, remember the dedicated and motivated pastoral and academic staff at the school are here to support you in as many ways as we can.  I would like to remind you and make note of the outstanding efforts of the Turing House Tutor Team. Our House Leaders have also stepped in at every opportunity to help.

In recognition of the efforts being made by students, we have launched the new Heads of House "Lockdown Legend reward". The award is being given by Heads of House for outstanding effort and commitment by those deserving students. So….COME ON ALL YOU TURINGS, let’s see what you can do. This term's Turing House Lockdown Legends are:

  • 7T1 - Marcus Perry and Cerys Voisey
  • 7T2 - Ella Bartovsky, Thomas Earle, Manon Herzog and Jackson Burbridge
  • 8T - Costantinos Antonio, Evie Roberts, Oscar Caton and Bess Stevens
  • 9T1 - May Anderson, Lucy Holloway, Hope Roberts and Max Varney
  • 9T2 - Henry Fairholm, Winnie Fey, Phoebe Oakman and Mikka Pittaway
  • 10T - Hollie Andrews, Adam Britton, Amrit Gill, Ruby Walsh, Tacie-Ann Francis, Matthew Parsons and Madida Mohamed.
  • 11T1 - Farida Awil, Sean Devlin, Tilly Hardwell, Deya Reynolds, Ruweeda Sahardid, Harry Slape, Euan Sutton and Isobel Taylor
  • 11T2 - Ava Baker, Jolie Breakwell, Katie Clarke, Isabelle Howie, Jess Stanley, Max Stevens and Natalie Stringer

Tutors have continued to award their Tremendous Weekly Turings, with those having received it this term below. These students have been recognised by their tutor for demonstrating one or more of the core values of Turing (Unity, Acceptance and Determination). Their achievements are an example to all. Well done all of you!

  • Year 7: Cerys Williams, Marcus Perry, Mylie Brice and Joe Freeston
  • Year 8: Costantinos Antonio, Zac Kington, Evie Roberts, Grace Baker and Riccardo Benoni
  • Year 9: Lucy Holloway, Tom Stancliffe, Joseph McLoughlin, Max Varney, Reuben O'Donnell, Owen Moss, Henry Fairholm and Jena Walker
  • Year 10: Adam Britton, Maida Mohamed and Charlie Flay
  • Year 11: Ezra Kay, Abdi Culusow, Rafael Rodrigues, Isobel Taylor, Tilly Hardwell, Jamie-Leigh Bell, Natalie Stringer, Ava Baker, Jessica Stanley and Izzy Howie

The following students are the highest Turing Praise Earners in each tutor group. These students have shown what can be achieved by contributing to school life in every aspect of the academic and wider curriculum.

  • 7T1 - Cerys Voisey
  • 7T2 - Ella Bartovsky
  • 8T - Oscar Caton
  • 9T1 - Hope Roberts
  • 9T2 - Mikka Pittaway
  • 10T - Adam Britton
  • 11T1 - Deya Reynolds 
  • 11T2 - Ava Baker

There has been a fantastic effort made by many students to continue their commitment to reading during this period.  I am so pleased to recognise the following 7T2 students and their achievement:

  • Reading Millionaire - Manon Herzog 7T2
  • Reader Multi-Millionaire - Ella Bartovsky 7T2 

I now turn my attention to other great achievements in the inter-house competition. I would like to thank all of those Turing students who have participated and urge those that haven’t, to get involved and be part of the success of Turing House. 

The results are as follows:

  • 1st: Highest positive ration
  • 3rd Safer Internet Day (awareness competition)
  • 1st Place Dingbats  
  • 2nd Place Card Tower 
  • 3rd Place Pictionary
  • 3rd Place Quiz

Finally, I would like to sign off with words of encouragement and support for all of Turing House’s students, parents and carers who have done such a brilliant job of “Keeping Calm and Carrying On”. I look forward to seeing you all during Term 4, when we go again, full-on, like Turing House always does.

Mrs Price, Head of Turing House

 
Theeban pizza 2.jpg
  Yousafzai House Update  
 

What a strange term it has been! As a Yousafzai team we have missed seeing our students this term enormously. However, we have been so impressed with the majority of Yousafzai students and how they have engaged with their online learning. It has been great to speak to them each fortnight to hear how they are getting on. They all deserve a well earned break over half term and hopefully we will see them at some point in term 4! 

Even though we haven’t been in school there has still been lots going on. There have been regular Fun Fix Friday competitions which students have enjoyed: Theeban Mahesan won the Sixth Form quiz, Leah Wardingley, Rochelle Woodruff and Elyssia Douglas won their rounds of online pictionary, Cayde Jackson came second in the dingbat competition. We had some great entries for the internet safety poster competition too where we came second. - A massive well done and thank you to all those students who participate in the house competitions!

The other big competition that is still ongoing is the mileage competition. Thank you to all Yousafzai students, staff and parents who have been logging their miles! The Wardingley family have represented Yousafzai exceptionally well in all three disciplines of walking, running and cycling. Others who have appeared on the leader board this term are: Joel Martineau, Charlie Dexter, Will Stratton and family, Frank McCann, Naomi Burr, Madame Aubret, Miss Sutton, Mr Britton and Mr Rakauskas. A great effort by all - let’s keep logging those walks, cycles and runs!

All of this hard work means that we remain at second place in the House Competition, behind Turing. 

We have had our celebration of achievement assembly for the term and there were lots of things to be celebrating! Our Malala greats are those individuals who tutors have identified as being exceptional this term. These were: 

  • 7Y - Archie Vine and Eva Gillam
  • 8Y1  - Zach Furniss and Dahira Odaway
  • 8Y2  - Theeban Mahesan and Mae Kingston
  • 9Y - Leah Wardingley and Alex Sharpe
  • 10Y1 - Jay Mobbs and Sadie Harvey
  • 10Y2 - Elyssia Douglas and Bella Wake
  • 11Y  - Joe Betty and Asha Storer

Learning@Home is difficult to get used to and so we celebrated individuals who have shown resilience to get on top of online lessons. Well done to you in showing such determination to get the most out of your education - even online! 

This term we have seen the introduction of Lockdown Legends postcards. These are students I have personally identified as being absolute superstars during this time of learning@home - this is often due to their exceptional attendance to lessons or their efforts in engaging with school activities outside of lessons. The individuals who have secured one of these this term are:

Charlie Beavan, Joseph Brooks, Naomi Burr, Lewis Cole, Seth Cook, Noah Davis, Dylan Deadman, Harry Gaskell, Louis Gaskell, Alfred Gisborne, Daniel Hewett, Dylan Hewett, Cayde Jackson, Mae Kingston, Theeban Mahesan, Joel Martineau, Frank McCann, Lyla Moore, Tannaz Saljughi, Alex Sharpe, Eliza Shilton-Smith, Will Stratton, Bruno Thomasset, Sonny Toto, Isabella Wake, Emily Want, Joel Wardingley, Leah Wardingley, Waide Watson, Elodie Whalley, Alice White, Max Whiteside-Knott and Muhammed Zikrrya. 

In our assemblies we have been reflecting on the challenging circumstances that we have found ourselves in this term and this year. We have been thinking about how we respond to them and how we can use them as an opportunity to be changed and shaped into better versions of ourselves - to learn to not give up and adapt to different situations. Again, I am so proud of Yousafzai house and how they have faced this term and have absolutely smashed it, - I wouldn’t want to lead any other group of students!

A huge thank you to all the parents and carers for supporting your child this term with their learning@home - whether that has been requesting ICT support, picking up the phone to us or getting them off the screen at the end of the day and dragging them for a walk and some fresh air. 

I hope you all have a wonderful half term break and will see you in term 4 - definitely online, hopefully in person!

Miss Andrews, Head of Yousafzai House

 
  Term 4 dates for your diary  
 
  • 22 February: START OF TERM 4
  • w/c 22 February and 1 March: Fairtrade Fortnight
  • 01-05 March: National Careers Week
  • 04 March: World Book Day
  • w/c 15 March and 22 March: Year 12 mock exams
  • w/c 22 March: Pride week
  • 22-25 March: Year 7 Bikeability
  • 01 April: END OF TERM 4
 
  Keep in touch  
 

There isn’t enough space here to showcase the huge variety of student experiences and achievements this term. Keep up to date by visiting the ‘News and Events’ section on the school website, check the school Facebook page or follow us on Twitter (@stkathsschool)