1 July 2022

Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader

The Library at St Bede’s has played and continues to play, a fundamental role at within the College. For more than 150 years and for many generations of Bedians, it has been a place of learning and of discovering the pleasure and benefits of reading

Librarian, Karen Poolton, shares with us the treasures hidden in this magical space. A woman who loves reading, who always dreamed of being surrounded by books and of passing on this passion to others, she will soon be saying goodbye to St. Bede's and we would like to thank her for all these years of dedication and, above all, for passing on her love of reading to us.

Headteacher's Message

Sports Day, Twelve Night, Prep Music Festival and School trips! It has been a great last week for me at St Bede's College and wonderful to see how our pupils are flourishing. I would like to say a huge thank you to my Bedian family for all of their support and kindness. Be happy, enjoy life and make the best of every opportunity you are given.

Mrs S Pike

Headteacher

Theme of the week

Life Goals

“Your Peace will rest on them” Luke 10: 1-9

Challenge

What are some of your goals in life?

University, job, travel? It is great to have aims, as they give purpose to each day, but the ultimate goal is the Kingdom of God. You were made for God’s Kingdom. How can you use your gifts and talents this week to bring glory to God?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that you love me. Help me to remember that I am a child of God and that you are with me always. Amen

Reading Rewards!

Our Upper Third pupils have been working on their Reading Passports in their lessons in the Library throughout the year, choosing books to read and completing tasks on those books. They are encouraged to read what they enjoy but also to try out different genres.

Those who completed tasks on eight books were treated to a book of their choice and some chocolate to enjoy. Well done to all!

Harry Potter Lunchtime

A little bit of St Bede’s was turned into Hogwarts this week as pupils and staff enjoyed a lunchtime of Harry Potter themed activities in the Library. Wand making, potion mixing, quill writing and a quidditch game were all on offer along with a quiz, cakes and “butterbeer”. Mr Wilson and Oliver proved their in-depth Harry Potter knowledge by winning the quiz and Carey’s calligraphy was outstanding.

It was a lovely way to end the term and Mrs Poolton will have fond memories of her last Library event before retirement. Thank you to all pupils and staff who attended, particularly to the team of pupil library assistants who helped to make sure everything ran smoothly. - Mrs K Poolton

Primary Engineer Rail Project

Today was the final day of the Primary Engineer Rail Project for Prep 5C. Andy Caiger, an engineer from Alstom train manufacturing company, came to help with the final assembly. He was also the independent adjudicator overseeing the racing of the trains. It was great that Andy could be involved as he had visited us at the start of the project and assisted Prep 5C with initial stages of manufacturing the chassis.

Prep 5 have been working this term on this national rail project supported by the Primary Engineer program. They have manufactured the trains in pairs and today they completed the builds. We then staged a series of races to determine the fastest, and therefore most accurately constructed train.

We also tested the trains ability to pull loads.

After several races the Prep 5C winners were... Jess and Zander, well done!

Mrs Yearley and I were very pleased with all the teams, they all successfully manufactured a working train. - Mrs S. Manning

Death Row Talk

This term the Upper Fourth were lucky enough to be visited by a speaker with an in-depth knowledge of the topic we had been studying in Religion - Capital Punishment and Death Row. This was an incredible learning experience as we got to hear the experiences of a woman who opened our eyes to a different side of this very controversial topic.

Mary Hardiman is from Stockport and works as a counsellor, but also as a pen pal to American prisoners awaiting their execution. She started writing to these prisoners through the charity Lifeline after hearing an inspiring speech at a Catholic conference. She explained that her faith in Jesus is her inspiration for developing these friendships; especially his example of reaching out to the outcasts like Zaccheus the tax collector. Despite being despised by most, Jesus chose to visit his house. She believes this act of compassion and mercy teaches us to reach out to the worst in our society.

Overall, Mary Hardiman’s speech on this topic was very intriguing, and offered an insight into the issue that could not be found in any textbook. She taught us that we shouldn’t automatically profile criminals as solely bad people who should only be known for committing a crime; but as ordinary people who have made mistakes, whose whole life should not be defined by that one action.

- Lola and Isabella

Wax Museum

Prep 5 held their annual Wax Museum in the Academic Hall and for the first time since lockdown parents were able to attend and see their children perform fantastically. We had such a wonderful array of historical icons. Representing the arts we had Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, John Lennon and Bob Marley. Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Martin Luther King were in the hall representing the Civil Rights movement with Muhammad Ali, Kobe Bryant and Jesse Owens from the world of sport.

The children had to research their chosen character; then they had to write and learn a monologue for their character. This is so beneficial for their development and confidence and Prep 5 were absolutely fantastic, entertaining the whole Prep School from Nursery Class to Prep 6 before family and friends joined them at the end. Well done Prep 5!

- Mr J Joyce-O’Keeffe

See the video here

Immersion Trip

I finally had the opportunity to go to Normandy last week, having originally been booked to go in June 2020 but the trip was suspended twice because of Covid. I had an amazing time! The ride to Normandy was very tiring, we left St Bedes at 6:00 and got to our destination at 1:00 in the morning!

We stayed in a beautiful Chateau, with wild rabbits, chickens and even pigs, you felt like you were truly in the countryside. They spoke to us only in French, which was a really good way to get us comfortable with the language and it became a second nature to us. On the first day we went to some markets in the town. Talking to people who lived there and who were selling their products made me appreciate the culture of the country even more. After lunch we walked up to Mont Saint- Michel. It was such an amazing piece of architecture, inside and out. There were so many shops inside it felt like a Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

The second day we did three activities at the Chateau: orienteering, archery and bread making. At dinner they got us to try snails, and I have to say they weren't as gross and slimy as I thought they would be.

The third day we went to the D-Day landing museum. It was incredible! It is such a good way to educate people about a key historical event. We had lunch at a memorial site and then in a 360 cinema, it showed pictures of the war and how it affected the people of France. The last thing we did was go to the American memorial site. I found this a very powerful place in the fact of how many there were and how big it was. There were breathtaking structures, it was a true testimony to all those who gave up their lives for us.

The teachers who came with us were very patient and kind with all of us: Mrs Welch, Mrs Morillo, Miss Kane, Mr Piskorz and Mr Pogliano. On the bus ride back our driver put on some music and we ended up doing karaoke. It became sort of a school party bus, which made the bus ride fly by.

Normandy was such a great place to visit and I will remember it forever.

- Mrs S Carberry-Power

Be Committed

One of our former pupils, Emily, came in to talk to our aspiring medical applicants this week. Emily left St. Bede's with 3 A*s and is currently studying medicine at the University of Bristol. She came to talk to pupils in the Lower Sixth about the application process and give tips for the upcoming entrance examinations. The pupils were prepared with lots of questions and found it incredibly helpful to speak to someone with first-hand experience.

- Mrs R Prince

Go Bedians!

Jack and Tyler were selected to represent Scotland Under 16s at a training camp in Inverclyde last weekend.

Unfortunately, Tyler was injured and was unable to play but still met up with the squad and coaching staff.

Jack was selected as captain and scored in a 2-0 win.

In addition to this, both brothers have also been selected for England U15s earlier this year and we are very proud of their achievements.

We just wanted to wish both Jack and Tyler the very best at the Scotland camp.

Read Here the June Issue of our Careers Newsletter

Sports Day 2022

On Tuesday 28 June we celebrated this year's College Sports Day. It was a fantastic event and lovely to see so many parents supporting the College and their children. It managed to stay dry and, although a little cloudy, the pupils spirits were high. It was great to see so much effort made by all the pupils with a representative from each house in each race. We saw a great Bedian spirit and sense of community among the pupils who supported all participants through from Upper Third to Lower Fifth. Magdalene House were the overall winners but the best thing taken from the day was that sport is accessible for all. I was also delighted with the leadership skills shown by our Lower Sixth executive. - Nikky McKormack

An Unforgettable Day

Friday 24 June was Sports Day in the Prep. In the morning EYFS and Key Stage One gathered in the astro-turf playground for a round-robin relay of multiple sporting activities. Each activity saw the children working in teams to tackle challenges that involved them running, throwing, balancing and jumping. The sack race, space hoppers, hurdles and javelins all tested the children's core muscles and skills while they had so much fun. They were helped by Prep 6 and cheered on by families and friends. It was a grand occasion enjoyed by all.

The afternoon saw Key Stage Two head to the games fields for their Sports Day. Each year was split into groups to compete against in each event; track and field. The competition started with the 80m hurdles which was a close fought contest between all competitors. This was followed by round-robin field events of high-jump, long-jump, shot-put and javelin as well as the 400m and 150m sprints. The weather held out with just some slight rain near the end. The children enjoyed taking part and friends and families were in full voice cheering them on. - Mr J Joyce-O’Keeffe

Watch the reel

Friendship Goals

Prep 4 performed a beautiful assembly last week about the importance of friendship. They spoke about the qualities needed to be a good friend and played 'Lean on Me' confidently on the ukulele. They quoted a 19th century poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The only way to have a friend is to be one!" They handed out friendship tokens to be shared throughout the school.

- Mrs Horsefield

We know we have some very talented students, but we want to be even more aware of all their successes, including the ones they achieve when they walk out of the door of our buildings.

Please contact the relevant department head and send us photos and information about your child's achievements. We'll be proud to share it with the whole Bedian family.

#Be part of a Great Tradition #BeBedian

bedesnews@sbcm.co.uk

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True Bedian Spirit

Prep 5 pupil Bally travelled to Thailand with his family. Whilst there Bally watched the news and saw that one of the orphanages in the upcountry of Thailand did not have enough money to raise their children due to Covid-19. Bally was very saddened by the news and decided he wanted to make a difference to their lives and make a donation to them from his pocket money and from money he had won in from entering music and art competitions.
The children in the orphanage were very happy to meet Bally and receive his generous donations. Bally has shown true Bedian spirit by caring for those less fortunate. This is a wonderful thing to do.

Vikings

Prep 3 travelled back to Viking times last week with the help of a very fierce and fascinating Viking. Olaf entered the classroom on Thursday morning and talked to the children about where he had landed and also where he had come from! He brought with him many interesting artefacts to study including antlers, drinking horns, bowls, combs and deer furs. These were all shared across the classroom and discussed during the morning session which the children thoroughly enjoyed.

The afternoon session involved the children re-enacting a Viking battle against the Saxons using shields and Spears. The Academic Hall had never heard noise like it! They were very much in character and grasped the battle formations very well. In the end, the Vikings were victorious as they were so many times in the past. Luckily Prep 3 arrived back to the present day just in time to go home! - Mr McGrath

Lower Fourth Celebration Assembly

There was much to celebrate at the final Lower Fourth celebration assembly of the year with Holly E, Liliella C and Yancy C receiving their hard-earned Headteacher's commendations from Mrs Pike. Other awards saw Vinanya K, Joshua P, Luca C, Joe M, Malaya F, Amara S and Kemarni D being recognised for achieving the most positive points in their forms on ClassCharts this term. Finally, the overall winners for the pupils who had achieved the most positives in the year group went to Holly E, Donell C and Hamza B with Yancy C taking 1st overall with an incredible 95 positives since returning after Easter.

- Mr L Mitchell

Well Done Girls!

The U13 girls’ athletic team competed against 15 schools in the Manchester Schools Athletics meeting and the girls finished fourth. Pictured are medal winners Ella, third in the shot put, Olivia, third in the high jump, Carey, first in the 1200m and Eniola, Zara, Carey and Olivia who were third the relay. Overall position to follow. An amazing achievement! - Mrs N McCormick