IT WAS TRULY AMAZING - Bishop Thomas Grant School

2WHOLEHEARTED, UNSELFISHAND DEDICATEDMary-Pia Jeyarajasingham,Shane Leonard, EleanorMacmillen, Miguel LourencoPina and Rachael Sobowalewere in the Purcell Roomat the Southbank Centreon 10th June along withguest of honour CouncillorAdedamola Aminu, DeputyMajor of Lambeth.All five students, along with AdamJudd and Daniel Alphonso, weregiven the Jack Petchey YoungAchievers award this academicyear for their wholehearted,unselfish and dedicatedcontribution to the schoolcommunity and to their housecharities. Here are their comments:“The evening was formal yetenjoyable. This felt like the bestday of my life, the day I wasappreciated for what I did. (Mary-Pia Jeyarajasingham)“I felt as if I was getting somethinggood back as a reward for all thegood work I had done for charity.Students from Years 7 to 9 took partin a competition run by The Guardiannewspaper and Amnesty International.They had to write an articlehighlighting an issue of human rightsthat they felt passionate about.Ashta Ndombele(pictured) from Year 8was long-listed with apiece about domesticviolence against men andGabriella Emery from theExpress group in Year7 was short-listed, withher piece on the plightof the albino populationin Africa. She was in thefinal three selected fromover two hundred others.Gabriella was invited to spend the day at bothThe Guardian and Amnesty’s headquarters inLondon. She took part in a workshop, whereshe created her own front page of a newspaper,using hers and other short-listed articles.In the afternoon, there was an award ceremony,where she was congratulated on stage and partof her article was read out. In the photo she isstanding with the other two finalists.The evening was good fun, andthe pupil performances on stage,especially the singing and dancing,were excellent.” (Miguel Pina)“I won the Jack Petchey awardbecause I raised an outstandingamount of money for Lent. At theJack Petchey award ceremony, Iwas nervous collecting my award,but I was really pleased and in theend I felt confident because I wasrecognised for my hard work.”(Rachael Sobowale)“I would urge other students tohelp out in school and raise moneyfor charity too, and to always helpothers around them, because itis a good thing to help those whoare less fortunate that yourself.”(Shane Leonard)“On the night I was collecting myaward, I felt nervous, yet happyand proud. I want to thank theschool for nominating me for thisaward. It means a lot.” (EleanorMacMillan)Passionate abouthuman rightsGabriella with the other finalistsA breathtaking totalA breathtaking total of£7289.97 was raised in thecharity fundraising campaignduring Lent.The charities chosen by the studentswere the Salesian Sisters (MatthewHouse); The Mayday Hospital SpecialCare Baby Unit (Mark House);Spires, a local charity supportingthe homeless and disadvantaged;and Kids for Kids, an internationalcharity who help families topurchase goats in order to enablethem to become self-sufficient inunder developed countries.All of the students taking part wereenthusiastic and full of energy, butthe spotlight could be shone in thedirection of Martha Ewas in Year13 and Richard Paul in Year 9, whoraised three hundred pounds each.The students in the photograph toldNuntius how they had made themoney:“I did a sponsored run – six milesin Thornton Heath.” (Sean Cobb,Year 8)“I sold old toys and sets of footballcards outside my house in Brixton.”(Otto Cooper, Year 7)“I sold wrist bands, mainly tofriends.” (Mia Fernandes-Jethwa,Year 7)“I sold food like cakes, cookies andlow-fat muffins, mainly in breaks atschool.” (Richard Paul, Year 9)“The brownies I baked sold well atschool and at a local church hall.”(Isabelle Ouattara, Year 7)Ms Murray said that the followingdeserved a special mention: KarinaSabunaite, Chiara Alfonso, JoshuaAjisafe, Benjamin Asiedu and MarioMeza Zambrano.She added: “Of course eating healthyfood is very important, but this wasa one-off occasion. The studentshere are so generous, and the resultover-rode the food issues!”AparagraphfromGabriella’sentry:Many charitieswork in Tanzaniaimproving thelives of the270,000 albinos.But what can youdo? How manymore stories doyou need to hearbefore you leavethe popcorn onthe sofa with theremote and dosomething aboutit? How longwill it be beforewitch doctorsare brought tojustice? Tanzaniais not the onlypart of Africawhere albinoslive in fear…Dear Parents and StudentsAs I come to the end of my twelfthyear as Headteacher of Bishop ThomasGrant School, it is difficult to find thewords to express the sense of prideI feel, to lead such an outstandingcommunity of people – teaching staff,support staff, students, parents andgovernors.You should all feel exceptionally proud of thewonderful school you have helped to create.Each and every one of you has played theirpart. You will be hard pressed to find a schoolwhere the Gospel values and teachings of Christpermeate through its structures, curriculumand interpersonal relationships in the way thatit does at our School. Only recently, a Year 13student who will be leaving us this summercame into my office, overwhelmed with emotion.He said he was heartbroken to be leaving theA uniquenationalhonourMs Scott-Goodfellowwrites:School after seven amazing years. He went on tosay the School was his second family where hetruly felt safe, happy and loved. He further wenton to say that the School had inspired him towork hard, achieve highly and support him in hisjourney of faith. This fine young man, I am in nodoubt is destined for great things.At the end of the Summer Term, my warmestbest wishes go to the students and staff whoare moving on, especially to members of Year13 who have been excellent role models for ouryounger students, and to Mr Myton who will beleaving us after eight years to become AssistantHeadteacher at a school in Wimbledon. A trulyoutstanding teacher, Head of Department andHead of Year, we wish him well in his new post.He will be greatly missed.We continue to be hugely oversubscribed forapplications to Year 7 and our Sixth Form. TheBishop Thomas Grant School is oneof the best in the country at studentprogress at GCSE, according to SSAT,The Schools Network, for the thirdconsecutive year.The school has gained national recognition forbeing one of the top ten percent of schools inEngland for the progress made by its studentsbetween their Key Stage 2 results at primaryschool and their GCSE results at age sixteen.We are very proud of Mrs AnnSmith, Senior Laboratory Technicianand Support Staff School Governor,who on 2 June was honoured asa recipient of the Queen’s Awardfor Voluntary Service 2013 for herwork with 1st St. James’ Guides asAssistant Guide Leader.This unique national honourrecognises the outstandingcontributions made to localcommunities by groups ofvolunteers; it has the equivalentstatus for voluntary groups as theMBE has for individuals.Mrs Smith’s unit was nominatedby members of the public whowitnessed the benefits of Guiding forover one hundred and fifty girls inSouthwark who attend the weeklymeetings. Mrs Smith’s passion andmotivation both encouraged andenabled girls to play a more activepart in society to make a positiveimpact on their community.Congratulations!proportion of female students joining in Year 7has grown dramatically, to the extent that for thelast three years we have more girls than boys inthese year groups.I confidently expect our GCSE results to improvethis summer for the twelfth consecutive yearand for our Sixth Form results to improve forthe third consecutive year. You can see from theaward below that students continue to makeexceptional progress in this School.I hope you have a safe, happy and restfulsummer.Louis Desa HeadmasterA stunning performanceSSAT (The Schools Network Ltd)is an independent, membershiporganization that works with schoolsand partners to shape a world classeducation system. It represents almosttwo thousand members in England.Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT said:“Bishop Thomas Grant Catholic SecondarySchool should be congratulated for theirstunning performance in adding value to theirstudents’ achievements.It is one of the best schools in the country inoutperforming expectations for their studentsand improving their future prospects. There isplenty that other schools could learn from thissuccess.These results are testament to the commitmentand hard work of the students, teachers andleadership team, and a vindication of theirbelief in high expectations, good teaching andambition for every young person.Successful schools like Bishop Thomas Grantunderstand the value of data, such as thesevalue-added scores, in helping to ensure allyoung people perform to the very best of theirability.The value-added measures show how schoolsmake a difference and raise achievement aboveexpectations.”3