So much to celebrate - Bishop Thomas Grant School

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Continued from the front page resplendent in scarlet cloth embroidered with gold. As they processed towards the altar the cross carried high gleamed in the glorious afternoon sun. This visual spectacle was enormously enhanced by the angelic voices of the school choir, which alone broke the golden silence of a beautiful and memorable autumn afternoon. Our new school flag, created by our own Art Department, Bishop Thomas Grant School Coat of Arms emblazoned against a white background, had every reason to fly proud and high: “Instaurare Omnia in Christo” – United together in Christ Following the Mass the Chair of Governors presented a long awaited award to Ms Murray and Mr O’Brien, both of whom have served Bishop Thomas Grant School for thirty years. The tumultuous applause from the congregation showed how much they are loved and appreciated. So much to celebrate, so much achieved over the fifty year-old journey of our school. Generations have come and gone and the faces change over the rolling years, but Bishop Thomas Grant School is a true family community with deep roots and traditions and its ethos and values as the Head said “remain strong and steadfast in the hearts of pupils, past and present alike”. Image collecting Oliver Perales and Ewan Leatham are taking photographs of just about everything in sight around the school, so that they can choose the best ones for a presentation. “We are are collecting images of the people and the buildings for our IT lesson,” Oliver told Nuntius. “We have already started to make a Power Point slide show, and we are going to add our photos to ones taken by other members of the group.” Ewan explained: “It’s all for Year 6 pupils in primary schools who want to come here. We are making a kind of tour for them. I enjoy using cameras and microphones. Thanks to Mr Ghumra for helping us so much.” Where are they now? The 1950s were a kind of golden age for school uniforms: hats were more common, and most boys’ knees were uncovered until the age of twelve or thirteen. Apart from that, there has not been an enormous change, with neat ties and blazers still representing traditional values. This photograph was taken in September, 1959, the very first term of Bishop Thomas Grant School. How many faces can you put names to? Ms Murray recognises her sister Julia, who is standing at the end of the third row up, wearing a hat. She would love to hear from anybody who knows more. The BTG Fiftieth Anniversary Committee is hoping to produce a souvenir anthology of photographs, reminiscences and anecdotes relating to the history of the school. Please contact Ms Murray if you have anything to contribute. Two Open Days are planned: on Saturday, 20 March, 2010, for those who joined the school between September 1959 and July 1975, and on Saturday, 26 June for those who joined between September 1975 and July 2009. To apply for tickets for these events, please go to the school website at www.btg.ac and download an application form. —2—
Dear Parents, Staff and Students This term has been particularly pleasing. I am very happy to inform you that the first intake of Year 12 students, in our newly established Sixth Form, have settled in extremely well, and are now enthusiastically engaged with an exciting new range of subjects and enrichment courses. Some of these students speak about the experiences of their first term on the centre pages, and it is obvious to me that they have a strong sense of commitment which can only lead to success, and they are typical. We had yet another highly successful year at GCSE level: the percentage of students achieving 5 or more GCSEs A* to C at Bishop Thomas Grant is 87% compared with a national average of 64% (2008 Nat). The percentage of students achieving 5 or more GCSEs A* to C at Bishop Thomas Grant including English and Maths is 60% compared with a national average of 48% (2008 Nat). This statistic is particularly impressive considering that over 50% of our student population in Year 11 last year had English as their second language. I would like to thank the whole school community for their hard work in helping our results to increase for the eighth consecutive year. We expect this trend to continue. My thanks must also go to the Fiftieth Anniversary Committee which has been working extremely hard to raise consciousness of our proud history as a Catholic school, and I am looking forward to meeting staff, parents and students from the past and the present on our two special Open Days this academic year. Our popularity in the local area continues to grow immensely. We now have more girls than boys in Year 7, which is particularly pleasing when you consider that we are surrounded by so many outstanding girls’ Catholic schools. At present, we have nearly 1000 applications for the 180 places available for September 2010. I am pleased to inform you that during the summer holidays there were a number of improvements made to the school premises: two new student canteens and a Sixth Form common room and study area are now in place, and the school library has been redesigned and refurbished as part of an ongoing plan. Further improvements to the library are scheduled to take place soon. It should contain 12,000 new books and a range of extra resources by Easter. The library is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm every day. Our new fire alarm and security system is now operational. We are moving towards a situation where all students will have their own laptops by 2013. The process has already begun for members of Year 12. The school is now fully wirelessed. I hope you had a happy Christmas and I wish you every success for 2010 Yours sincerely Louis Desa Creative entrepreneurs ‘Creative Kidz’ is the name of the Year 7 team which took part in the Young Entrepreneurs Market, which was part of Lambeth’s Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. Team members were Aleksandra Kondracka, Ewa Kunysz, Natasha Mahatantila, Joanna Predota, Alexandra Sanyaolu and Lucy Sturmer, who are pictured. They received an award for the ‘best customer service’ and second place in the ‘most profitable’ category. Market stalls were set up under the London Eye and outside The National Theatre after students were challenged to start up a business with a grant of twenty-five pounds. Students were selling alongside emerging and established entrepreneurs including the past winners of the Make Your Mark on the Markets campaign and female entrepreneurs who participated in Lambeth’s Brand Piano Project. Stalls included German sweets and sausages, hand-made gifts from the Amazon rainforest, Chinese tea, delights from Dubai, designer handbags and much more. “Having never done anything like this before, it was very scary. We didn’t know if anyone would be interested in buying things from us or whether the things we had made were any good,” said Ewa. “At the beginning of the competition we did not get any customers, so Ola and Joanna began dancing to try and attract attention. The rest of us laughed because we thought it would scare customers away. I think the reason we were so successful was because we had such a wide range of stock. We had handmade scarves, cards, carrot cake and handmade Christmas decorations. This experience was great! We learnt lots of things about running a business and this could help us in the future.” Creative Kidz —3—
Page 1: Volume 7 Issue 1 December 2009 ISSN
Page 5 and 6: Tribute to the Fallen Mr Parchot wr
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Page 9 and 10: Chatroom Rehearsals have begun for
Page 11 and 12: SPORTS REPORT Mr Myton writes: Foot

So much to celebrate - Bishop Thomas Grant School

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