Wednesday 2 October 2013

St. Boniface's College Headteachers blog for wb7.10.13



Another busy week at the College,

I hope that you have now all received your log on information regarding ParentMail, a texting system for parents. Other schools tell us that this has been used as a primary source for information to parents and speak very highly of it. I do hope that you will avail yourselves of this service by following the very simple technical guidelines – I actually did it myself and it took less than 2 minutes, should you have any problems then please do contact the College. The log in window is open for about 8 weeks, after this a new password will be needed for those who have not previously logged on.

With this new communication method the College now has several ways in which it can keep parents abreast of activities involving their son or daughter:

·         The weekly Blog – available via the College website, www.stbonifaces.com

·         A termly newsletter

·         The termly College Diary

·         Use of the pupil planners, monitored by tutors

·         Access to up to date information via the Sims Learning Gateway, SLG. If you need a password please contact Mr. Baines.

·         The St. Boniface’s College Facebook page, please contact Mr Scott if you would like access to this

·         The ParentMail texting service

·         A return to parent/teacher evenings, and

·         Mentor Days.

I hope that, along with me, you now feel that there are several varied opportunities for all stakeholders to play an active part in the learning process. I now believe that communication routes have never been stronger between school and home and would urge you to use whatever route is easiest for you when needing to contact the College. There  is a firm belief that any matters causing concern are dealt with prior to becoming problems and the sooner we know of any such issues the sooner we can resolve them for the good of all.

I will be sending home a brief newsletter this week highlighting some of the changes that have occurred post Ofsted and would ask that you take a few moments to read it please. We are in the process of updating our school management system, SIMS, with pertinent information regarding free school meals children and those children who have a parent, or parents, working in the armed forces. For both categories within the last 6 years would apply, what we call “ever 6”. For those of you who this may apply to a return slip back to College would be greatly appreciated – all details can be found in the newsletter.

Our College website www.stbonifaces.com now has a section for each year that indicates what your son will be learning in each subject for each term. This has arisen from parental requests in the past and I am very pleased to see that it is now available. Suitable texts are also recommended for each subject for each year, again parental requests. This information can be found under “curriculum”, “subject content” from the homepage.

 Finally from me a reminder that the school will be closed to all pupils on October 17th due to two of the teaching unions taking industrial action – with so many staff unavailable and my hands being tied by legislature I am unable to provide the safety provision required. More details are in the newsletter coming home this week.

 

A note from Mr. Trimmer:

'Lord of the Flies' School play rehearsals are well underway with a strong cast working with myself, currently adapting the play for a performance before the Easter vacation 2014.  The final product will be a dynamic mix of original script with newly devised scenes developed by the cast.  Rehearsals are every Thursday and if any late arrivals still wish to join in then please see Mr Trimmer.

 

Year 7 Inter House Football

The annual inter house football competition for Year 7 has started this week. There are 10 games altogether, played over five weeks. Each house plays four games, one against each of the other houses. Everyone is invited to play and most Year 7 students will represent their house in one or two of the games. With two Games played Kiely are leading Barrett on goal average. Two more games, Tuesday and Thursday, next week.

F.Edwards

 
Geography Fieldwork Trip
We were really lucky to be invited to Plymouth City Museum this week for a collaborative project with Professor Iain Stewart and his Geology Masters students. This was a very exciting opportunity for us at St Boniface’s and 12 students from Year 8 and 9 were selected and taken to the museum to investigate a fieldwork trip in our very own city centre.

Professor Iain Stewart is a legend in his field. A renowned Geologist, he has presented a number of television and radio series such as “Earth - The Power of the Planet” and more recently “Volcanoes Live” and “Rise of the Continents”.

During the visit we were working with the Professor and his students on a “Geography Fieldwork Project”. This will then be followed up in a “Geography Club” with Mrs Beales to produce resources to be used across schools in the South West! Our students could be part of Fieldwork History!

All of the students had a fantastic day and really enjoyed themselves. Great thanks to Plymouth Museum for hosting us and Professor Iain Stewart and his fantastic students for guiding our boys in their geography fieldwork experience!


 
Mrs Beales – Geography Teacher.

 

 

You may not have noticed this concert at the Theatre Royal Plymouth on Sunday 13th October at 7pm. It is in an odd place in the Theatre programme but is supposed to be amazing. Michael will be reading from War Horse and will be joined by two of the musicians and their haunting songs from the production.

Libby Allman
Children's Book Specialist

 

A note from Miss Sanford in RE:

Just something to add to your blog this week; boys in 110 produced outstanding pieces of home learning this week. They were given a topic from the beliefs and values module in RE and had to produce a revision session in class.

The boys were: Jack, Harry, Will, Dan, Brandon and John.

 

Year 7

Year 7 have had yet another very busy week at St Boniface’s! Students have been continuing their hard work and effort and this is again so pleasing.

Home learning is now a firm part of the student’s timetable, with a range of weekly and monthly projects in place. Please could I ask all parents that you ensure that students are completing all home learning and that you are signing the planners weekly. Please remember if your son is struggling to adapt to this more structured homework system, we have a number of homework clubs available for him to attend, both in the Library or the Learning for Life Centre every day after school.

This week’s assembly was presented by Mr Beaumont from Gideons. The assembly was an opportunity to explain to the boys that sometimes we all need some extra guidance and students were treated to their own copy of the testament for use when they are feeling in need. I hope they look after this lovely gift. We are very much looking forward to the next tutor’s assembly on Tuesday with 7E and Miss Heduvan.

Some of our Year 7 “HMS Heroes” students were extremely lucky to visit HMS Sutherland, a Royal Navy Warship on Tuesday. This is as part of the HMS Heroes scheme we have at St Boniface’s to support those students with one or more parent in the Armed Forces. The students were an absolute credit to the school, and the Petty Officer who provided the tour went on to say out of all of the schools he has shown around the ship, St Boniface’s were the most polite and well-mannered group of students, so well done boys!


 

Year 8

How time flies! Another very busy week in the life of Yr. 8 at SBCC. Many thanks to all those students who have worked hard, played hard and made me smile!

Mrs Davidson led our assembly last Friday on the theme of Honesty. I hope the strong message contained in the assembly hit the mark because it is such an important principle to life by, no matter how difficult it may be to own up to something that you have done wrong. Congratulations to Will who was presented with a certificate to mark his progress in music. By the time you read this blog Student of the Week certificates will have been presented to Kameron for his achievements in science with Mr Lord; to Henry for the story that he created that kept 8V royally entertained during the week; to Tom for his reading expertise and to Sam for his personal bravery in reading aloud to 8V.

Congratulations to Harry for achieving his Marine Engineering 3rd Class qualification with the Sea Cadets last weekend. By all accounts, a very challenging two days!

Well done to Eroni, Mathew and Dayne who attended a mainly Yr. 9 Gifted and Talented event at the museum during the week. All three seemed to have had a very enjoyable day.

Finally, well done to the Year group in the way they participated in the Harvest mass held in St Peter’s church today, Thursday. Thanks to Father John and Mrs Chapman for organising the service and to the boys who helped with the readings, the distribution of the hymn books and the offertory.

B. Tucker

Year 9

Well here we go again another week over, the term is racing past as we enter week 6 (Wk. B), Thank you for all the parents who have contributed towards our harvest festival collection, we are starting to accumulate a sizeable donation, however, it is not too late to donate and we could always do with more.

In our campaign to continually drive up standards I will be focussing again on behaviour and uniform this week to ensure standards within the year group do not slip as we get further into the school year, to this end can I please request that students do not wear canvas or trainer styed shoes, these are not permitted as uniform, the requirement is for black leather shoes with a heel.

One or two students are testing the water as far as behaviour and have quickly been placed on class report to ensure learning is not disrupted as a result of their actions, and their behaviour will be monitored closely. Congratulations to those students also who have accumulated a number of merits for their academic achievements.

As I write the year group are currently receiving a presentation from the British Army with the Army Careers Advisor also in attendance answering any queries the lads may have involving possible career paths in the service, this is one in a number of similar styled career sessions that will available as they start to embark on future  lessons and career paths.

Finally, this week, Congratulations to James  9B who passed his Black belt in karate the four hour long exam was as you can guess hard work , he did 150 push ups alone during the exam,  rather him than me.

Until the next blog entry, I hope you have a good week, enjoy the good weather, and try and stay dry!!

L. Mcloughlin

 

Year 10

A good week albeit a little wet around the College. Students welcomed back Mr Neethling from paternity leave wishing him well in singing assembly with Justin Bieber's "Baby" and Guns n Roses "Sweet Child of Mine".

The Year 10 peer mentors have been working well, and Fletcher S. In 10E has been leading on sports training with the Y7s during tutor time.

Thank you to Mrs Hudson for arranging a presentation from the Army this week. Very informative. Additionally Work Experience preparations are advancing well and many students are now signed up with an employer. Congratulations to Jack H. Who was the first to sign up!

A quick reminder for parents - please make sure your son has a waterproof coat to wear to school, and a hearty breakfast before setting off. A big thank you for all of your support - the year group are doing well with rewards and are showing a positive improvement with home learning.

Mr. Scott

 

Year 11

A number of year 11 boys are part of the cast in the Christmas pantomime ‘What the Dickens!’  We’re all looking forward to this year’s production as we have some budding stars amongst the year group.  The year 11 Drama students will be attending the Theatre Royal’s production of Alan Bennet’s   People, in November.  They will also be participating in a workshop at Plymouth’s TR2 and meeting the cast  of the production of ‘Midsummer Night's  Dream’  on the 8th and 14th of November, respectively.  

Mr. Redferm

Post 16

This week is a key time to apply to UCAS. A day on Monday exists in Mrs Slades computer room to complete your application. You need to have registered online and complete the online form. Please bring a note of exam boards of your GCSE and AS levels.

If you need advice or your parents require student finance advice then please contact me at the College.

It is an important time as it is now hard to change courses, as it is hard to catch up. If you are not enjoying a course contact the Sixth form team.

A wide range of volunteering opportunities still exist. A typical A level student should have at least 3 hours per subject per week. In order to do well you should also be working about 3 hours a night.

Students should now be using Study areas to work.
Mr. Tew

  

PE Extra-curricular Clubs Timetable

 
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNEDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
BEFORE SCHOOL
0730 - 0815
 
 
Breakfast Club
Fitness, Basketball and Badminton (all years)
 
 
LUNCH TIME
1345 - 1415
Fitness Suite and Basketball (all years)
Fitness Suite and Basketball (all years)
Fitness Suite and Basketball (all years)
Fitness Suite and Basketball (all years)
Fitness Suite and Basketball (all years)
AFTER SCHOOL
1530 - 1630
Rugby (Years 8 and 9)
Basketball Year 7
 
Rugby Year 7
Circuit Training (all years)
Table Tennis (Years 7 and 8)
Rugby (Years 10 and 11)
 

 


Monday 7th October 2013
 
Fitness Club (lunchtime)
STEM (after school) -  (Mr Smart)
Geography Clinic (lunchtime)  - (Miss Beales)
13:35 – 14:20 – Christian Union – (Chapel)
13:35 – 14:20 – Quiz in the Library – Years 7, 8 and 9
13:35 – 14:20 – Card Club – (Back room in LfLC)                               
15:00 – Maths Drop in Session Room A37 – (Mr Allerton)
15:00 - Year 11 Higher GCSE Homework , Catch up and Revision - (A29)
 

Tuesday 8th October 2013
 
13:35 – 14:20 – Card Club – (Back room in LfLC)
13:40 – Year 7 Inter-house Football
Drama Club (lunchtime) – (Mr Trimmer)      
Workshop Sessions Catch up (lunchtime) – (Mr Griffin)
Geography Clinic (lunchtime) – (Miss Beales)
 

 Wednesday 9th October 2013
 
11:35 – Year 7 Group 1 Social Group - (Chapel)
12:35 – Year 7 Group 2 Social Group - (Chapel)
13:35 – 14:20 – Card Club – (Back room in LfLC)
13:35 – 14:20 – Panda Knitting Club – Miss Gosling’s room
15:20 – 17:00 Year 7 Rugby Club
School Play – Lord of the Flies (after school) – (Mr Trimmer)
Workshop sessions catch up (lunchtime) – (Mr Griffin)
Geography Clinic (lunchtime) – (Miss Beales)
 
 
Thursday 10th October 2013
 
Year 9 Rugby (after school)
Geography clinic (lunchtime) -  (Miss Beales)
13:35 – 14:20 – Card Club – (Back room in LfLC)
13:40 – Year 7 Inter-house Football
15:20 – 16:30 Miss Gosling’s Art Club
Whole School Photo – 11.30
 

                                          Friday 11th October 2013
                                                             
Android Club (lunchtimes for Years 9 -11)- (Mr Neethling)
Geography Clinic (lunchtime) – (Miss Beales)
 

 
 
I start with thanks, and then give praise
For all your kind and loving ways.

Today if sunshine turns to rain,
If a dark cloud brings some pain,
I won't doubt or hide in fear
For you, my God, are always near.

I will travel where you lead;
I will help my friends in need.
Where you send me I will go;
With your help I'll learn and grow.

Hold my family in your hands,
As we follow your commands.
And I will keep you close in sight
Until I crawl in bed tonight.

Amen.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment