4 March 2022

We are part of a great tradition

In its 25th year, World Book Day will highlight the importance of all children having the opportunity to own and be inspired by inclusive stories, written by authors and illustrators who are representative of the society we live in.

Headteacher Message

Pope Francis asked for Ash Wednesday to be a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. On Wednesday our pupils had an opportunity to begin their Lenten journey as we celebrated Mass in College. We have seen true Bedian spirit after launching our appeal for Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the appeal.

I have really enjoyed talking to so many families over the last few days. Career planning is well on the way after the Universities and Careers fair. On Wednesday night we celebrated the wealth of musical talent amongst our pupils as we transformed our academic hall into a concert hall. What an amazing evening!

Enjoy your time with your family this weekend.

Mrs S Pike

Headteacher

Theme of the week

Sixth Form Students Seek Their Professional Careers

This week has been a very busy one for our Lower Sixth, who attended two events to help them explore their Higher Education and Career pathways.

On Tuesday 1st March we held our Universities and Careers Fair. Over two hundred people attended, including students in the Upper Fourth, Lower Fifth, Upper Fifth, Lower Sixth and their parents.
Representatives from the Universities of Stirling, Bangor and Leeds gave talks on applying to university, which were especially well attended.

It was a great privilege to welcome alumni John Boylan and Deo Kalombo back to St Bede’s to talk about their careers in Law and Engineering respectively, as well as to hear from local accountants AMS.
Earlier in the day, one of our parents, Dr Ho, gave a talk to prospective medical students; they enjoyed being scanned with ultrasound as well as hearing about the collegiate nature of medicine and the many different opportunities in the profession.

On Wednesday 2nd March, our Lower Sixth attended the UCAS Discovery Exhibition at Manchester Central. They met representatives from most of the universities in the United Kingdom and representatives from the NHS, Armed Forces and employers who offer degree apprenticeships.

We see the Sixth Form at St Bede’s as forming part of an arc that takes students from the Upper Fourth through GCSE to A Level, then on to Higher Education and a rewarding career; we would warmly welcome support from parents, alumni and the wider Bedian community in making this possible by sharing their career knowledge.

Spring Concert

This week has been a very busy one for our Lower Sixth, who attended two events to help them explore their Higher Education and Career pathways.

See the video summary here

On Wednesday 3 March students from St Bede’s College entertained a packed Academic Hall with an amazing arrangement of music and song for the Spring Concert.
The evening opened with the college Orchestra’s performance of the Star Wars theme tune and closed with the Mission Impossible theme tune. This was followed by Nika Y’s beautiful performance of ‘Red Flowers on the Mountain’ on the Guzheng, a Chinese traditional instrument. Then the crowd were delighted by the girls’ singing group’s wonderful staging of ‘Falling Slowly’, which was followed by Niamh’s emotional rendition of ‘She Used to be Mine’.

Everyone attending was dazzled by the solo performances from; Matthew playing an ‘Aria’ on the Saxophone and Reuben ‘Waltz From Serenade for Strings’ on the violin. The audience was then treated to ‘La Campasita’ by Karena and Martha on viola and violin respectively. Then William sang the world famous ‘Who Will Buy?’ from ‘OLIVER!’
A world premiere performance followed with Yoshi and Jasmine’s own arrangement of ‘Strawberry Moon’ on Alto Saxophone and Piano, it was a performance that pulled on the heartstrings of everyone in the hall. Soon the handkerchiefs came out with Lilly’s soulful singing of ‘All of Me’.

The newly created woodwind ensemble followed with the world renowned ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Connie then sang a version of ‘Hallelujah’ which was adapted to include reference to Lent and Easter.

The final two piano recitals left the audience speechless and in awe of the sound filling the room. Hilda’s performance of ‘Sonata B Flat Major k.333 1st Movement’ was dazzling and Kelly’s recital of ‘The Lark’ was mesmerising. It was very nearly a Mission Impossible for the orchestra to end the evening after Kelly’s piece but they did an excellent job.
It was a fantastic evening of music and song and we are very much looking forward to the Summer Concert.

Saturday Fixtures

The St Bede’s footballers enjoyed a Saturday morning back at Fortress Brantingham. After a combination of recent adverse weather and illness unfortunately the U15’s & seniors matches were lost. Luckily the U12’s, U13’s and U14’s matches survived and enjoyed a very competitive Saturday morning against Ripley St Thomas.

U12’s
Won 5-2

Goal Scorers: Dan C X1, Laurence X 3 and Marco X 1

POM : Laurence T

U13’s

Won 7-4

Goals : Joe X 1, Luke X 2, Femi X 2 and Connor X 2

POM : Luke

U14’s

Lost 4-2

Goals: Antonio X 1 and Noah X 1
POM : Tom C

Girl's Football Prep

Two Draws and Won 4-0

Goals : Larissa x 2

Learning To Play the Ukelele

The whole of the Prep from Nursery Class to Prep 6 have enjoyed the last few weeks learning to play the Ukulele with Mrs Housley. They have been learning about different chords and combining them to make music. Prep 2 have been able to play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ and Prep 5 have been combining three chords together in a loop to make a melody.

The children have made so much progress already and it is fantastic to see their enjoyment of their music lessons and their thrill at being able to all play along and make music together.

Top Tips For Talking

Safeguarding

Praying and Supporting Ukraine

On Monday pupils and staff from the Prep and College came to a ‘Light Fever’ service in the Chapel to pray for peace in Ukraine. The pupils came in great numbers and waited in line during their lunchtime to light a candle before the Blessed Sacrament and offer a moment of silent prayer. Mrs Hibbert commented “It was a powerful moment and extremely emotional to see the pupils' concerns for the civilians in Ukraine. Many tears were shed. I truly believe the fruit of all the prayers on Monday has been the incredible response we have received by families to the collection for the refugees in Poland.”

Please keep the wonderfully kind donations for the Ukraine refugees in Poland coming. Thank you for all the donations received so far. The JustGiving appeal has reached nearly £1,453 in a matter of days. You can donate clicking on the button below.

Ukraine Crisis Appeal

Ash Wednesday

Lent began with masses for the Prep, College and Sixth Form. Fr Micheal Deas, Fr Joe Evans and Fr Mark Paver celebrated mass with the pupils and pupil chaplains leading the readings.

It was momentous, after two years of not being able to have Congregational singing due to Covid regulations, to finally be able to have hymns sung at Mass. Pupils were invited to vote for their favourite hymns. After hundreds of responses the winning hymns were ‘Amazing grace’, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’ and ‘You are mine’ were chosen by the pupils.