Visiting speakers joined us last week to raise awareness amongst our Year 7 and Year 10 students about their Year Group charities. David Maidment, founder of the charity Railway Children, spoke movingly about the plight of street children around the world and the work of his charity to help these children find safety and security. Caroline Howkins, from the World Wildlife Fund, spoke passionately to Year 10 tutor groups via Zoom about the work of the WWF in protecting endangered habitats and species around the world.

Armed with an understanding of the work of these groups, it is our hope that our students will engage meaningfully in social action in the future to support the valuable work they do in our world.

Miss Foster will be the first Welsh woman to officiate in a major tournament this summer as she has been selected to referee in the UEFA Women’s Euros! 

Bishops’ held it’s first Extra-curricular Fair this week which was a roaring success with over 250 sign ups for clubs!

Students represented their clubs and advertised what each club included and how to sign up, there were tables from a wide range of clubs including Maths club, Pulse, Cadets, Other Worlds, D&D and more.

If you missed the fair and want to know more about the great clubs we have running at Bishops’ you can see a full list on the Student Dashboard, or you can contact Mr Metcalfe to find out more.

The current situation in Ukraine is very difficult to understand and can be very difficult to explain to your child. With the prevalence of information, it is difficult to get our heads around what is actually happening. The Department for Education has published resources to help combat misinformation and help you communicate facts. Click here to read the information from The Department for Education. 

You can also find good advice on explaining the situation from charities such as Save the Children and Unicef who have produced helpful advice.

The images we are seeing from Ukraine are heart breaking and can easily leave us feeling helpless. Giving our children practical ways to help can be extremely beneficial. One practical way to support the people of Ukraine is to support the Disasters Emergency Committee who are running an appeal.

The DEC consist of 15 Major charities including Christian Aid, Tear Fund, Cafod, Oxfam, the British Red Cross and Save the Children. You can donate to the appeal here: https://www.dec.org.uk/
Of course, we can pray and the Church of England is encouraging us to pray for the peace of Ukraine. Christian Aid have produced some good prayer resources which can be access by clicking here.

Rev. Paul North School Chaplain

In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next step after school, we will now be using Unifrog; an award-winning, online careers platform.

All students in Years 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 now have access to this excellent website.

The Unifrog platform is designed to promote aspirations and to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures and has a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own personal account that provides a wide range of information related to their interests and aspirations.

Key Features:

• Exploring Pathways: personality quizzes, career and subject profiles, MOOCs and webinars
• Recording – self-reflection and extracurricular activities and key employability skills
• Opportunities – search tools showing live vacancies/courses/ placements for apprenticeships, universities, FE, virtual work experience
• Applications – tools to help students build applications for a range of pathways (e.g. CVs, Persona; Statements, Common App Essays.

Students have already logged on to the platform during personal development days and in tutor times. We have set up a parent login so that you can use Unifrog as if you were a student yourself to support your child throughout the process.

Click here to log in and use the code: BBCCparents

Every year in March, here at Bishops’ we celebrate World Book Day. On the 3^rd March, in English lessons across years 7-9, students had the chance to celebrate their favourite books by writing and performing their own songs and we had some amazing efforts and we definitely have some song writers and performers in the making! In assemblies across the week, Mrs Bates shared the magic of World Book Day and our wonderful library, and even treated students to the English department’s own song ‘It’s World Book Day’. At lunch time there were lots of activities in the library, including a book quiz, and a short story reading by our very own Mr Coffey. Finally, this year saw a record number of entries to our Extreme Reading competition for KS3: so many students sent in pictures of themselves reading their favourite books in weird, wonderful, and wild places! Well done to this year’s winner: Noah and our runners-up: Charlie, Louie, Phoebe, and Isaac .

Thank you to everyone who got involved to help celebrate World Book Day this year!

On 15^th February students took part in their second Personal Development Day. Students from across the school had the opportunity to learn about things that will allow them to grow as people.  The days are aimed at pushing students to think beyond their curriculum and reflect on becoming the best version of themselves. The sessions were planned with three key ideas in mind. Dignity and Respect. Hope and Aspiration and Wisdom Knowledge and Skills.

These sessions included:

Year 7-  Body. Mind and Spirit

Year 8 – Personal Finance

Year 9 – Next Steps

Year 10 – ‘Risk’, Relationships and Sex education

Year 11 – College and 6^th form taster days

Year 12 – Edge Hill University Trip

We were so proud of the students’ attention and engagement in the day as they thought navigated through the day with a real sense of enthusiasm and purpose. Upon speaking to the students they seems to have had really instructive day which have given them lots of information and food for thought about the person they want to become. Some of their feedback is shared below.

“I loved the 100 challenge because I got to dance with my friends and it made me feel happier and healthier”. (Year 7 Student)

“My favourite part of the day was when I went in the prayer space because it was relaxing” (Year 7 Student)

“I learnt about the difference between debit and credit and that will help me balance my account in the future”. (Year 8 Student)

“I learnt a lot about the differences and how to work out a balance, a credit and a debit. And learning how to tell the difference between them. I really enjoyed learning about the gender pay gap and why it exists”. (Year 8 Student)

“I learned what career opportunities there are and what the next best step is to take” (Year 9 Student)

“My favourite part was doing the quizzes on Unifrog and looking through the suggestions and picturing what my life would be like when I will be 30”. (Year 9 Student)

We will look forward to our final Personal Development Day on the 3^rd of July.

This week is Children’s mental health week (February 7th – 13th). Place2Be has teamed up with BAFTA Kids to create two virtual assemblies for Children’s Mental Health Week 2022, supported by Oak National Academy.  There are separate assemblies for  primary schools and secondary-aged students to help young people across the UK take part in the week and explore the theme of ‘Growing Together’.

The primary school assembly, hosted by Lindsey Russell, features pupils from Rosslyn Park Primary School and Seascape Primary School in conversation with dancer and presenter Oti Mabuse. The assembly for secondary and high schools, hosted by Emma Willis, features students from Folkestone Academy and Carrick Academy in conversation with Shadow and Bone actor, Kit Young, and CBBC’s The Dumping Ground actor, Kia Pegg.

Both assemblies will be available on the Children’s Mental Health Week website from 8am on Monday 7 February. The assemblies will also feature special messages of support from high-profile surprise guests, to be revealed on the day.

Find the assemblies and other resources here: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

This week we will be asking adults and chidlren to consider how they have grown and how they can help others to grow. At home this week please take the opportunity to talk to your child about how they have grown and changed. Also encourgae your child to do something postive for their mental health, this could be drawing, meditation, cooking or exercise.

This term, students at Bishops` will be `springing into social action` by supporting the Year Group Charities that they voted for before Christmas. Mrs Cairns has been launching this social action initiative through assemblies this week. Using Desmond Tutu`s concept of `ubuntu` (`humanity towards others`), she has emphasised the importance of putting Jesus` teachings of love into action to improve the lives of others in our own community and in our wider society. As they progress through the spring term, our hope is that students in each year group will `spring into action` for their chosen charities by raising awareness and funds for them. So, please watch this space for future social action projects led by tutor groups and year teams! In the meantime, if you would like to make a donation towards your child`s year group charity, you can do so at any time through the school gateway. The charities being supported in each Year Group are:

Year 7 Charity – The Railway Children

Year 8 Charity – The Salvation Army

Year 9 Charity – The Samaritans

Year 10 Charity – WWF

Year 11 Charity – Hospice of the Good Shepherd