St Bonaventure’s Sixth Form has once again achieved academic excellence with their
best ever set of Post-16 exam results, even higher than the last two years of teacher
assessed grades.
Headteacher, Chris McCormack said, “The jump from GCSEs to Post-16 is not an easy one,
especially whilst studying through a pandemic. But with our 6th Formers’ intense focus on
their studies and their commitment to achieving their goals, they have secured themselves a
brilliant set of results. We are so proud of them and wish them the very best of luck in their
future endeavours.”
St Bonaventure’s has achieved 33% A*-A grades, 67% A*-B grades, 90% A*-C grades,
100% A*-E grades. This places St Bonaventure’s Sixth Form in the top 10% of schools in the
country. The school has continued to build improvement year on year within the 6th Form
and these results reflect that.
Alongside our best ever Science results across all the three disciplines, Biology stood out
with 64% of students achieving A*-B, and there were outstanding results in the Humanities
including Politics with 64.3% A*-A, Religious Studies with 66.7% A*-A, and Economics with
82.4% A*-B. In BTEC Sport 100% of students achieved at least Distinctions with many
Distinctions starred.
Nearly half of our students will be joining Russell Group Universities, and Aaron Lardi-Boakye
has secured his place at Cambridge to study Land Economy after receiving A*, A, A grades. A
number of students have also elected to undertake degree apprenticeships including those
at Morgan Stanley, Accenture and IBM.
Student highlights include Manuel Leye-Huerta who got 3 A*s and an A and will be going to
Imperial College London to study Mathematics and Haseeb Rauf got 3 A*s and will be going
to Bristol University to study Law. Muhammad Kausar Ahmed, Kobi Concepcion, Kazi Amani
Hussain, Kaliyah Ogun, Ethan Suppaya-Palomino all got 2 A*s and 1 A.
Cambridge-bound Aaron said, “I am absolutely ecstatic. I can’t believe it. None of this would
have been possible without the school. The community, the academic approach, the support
– it is truly amazing.”
Ethan said, “I’m feeling overwhelmed, but relieved. I am excited about going off to UCL to
study Philosophy. I am so incredibly grateful for everything the school has done for me over
the last seven years.”
Elsie Mowles, who is off to Southampton to study English, said, “I am absolutely over the
moon with my results – it was such a good surprise! I worked hard, and it has paid off. I can’t
say thank you enough to my teachers. They have been amazing.”
Farhana Begum said, “I’m feeling so happy. I’m going to Warwick to study International
Relations and Politics after getting AAC in my results. I’m so glad I came to St Bon’s – I
wouldn’t have done it without the support of the school and teachers.”
Amani Hussain, who is taking up a 4 year apprenticeship at Morgan Stanley, said, “There
are no words to describe this feeling. I got 2 A*s and an A. I had a massive support system
here at St Bonaventure’s and I am incredibly grateful.”
Director of Sixth Form, Mr Templeman, said “I am so proud of our Year 13s for their
discipline and drive to succeed; it has all paid off. Students arrive with a wide range of GCSE
grades and with the pastoral care that is offered here, they thrive and feel supported
throughout their 6th Form journey. As ever it allows them to fulfil their potential and make the
most of their two years with us. I know they will all go off to achieve amazing things.
Although in some ways this is the end of their journey here at St Bon’s, they will always be a
part of our family and legacy. I wish them all the best and we hope that they come back and
visit us soon!”
The PTI held a subject enrichment residential at Downing College, Cambridge, at the weekend (July 2-4) for Geography, Art, Music and English Departments and Mr Graham and Ms Nair accompanied three of our students on Sunday where the boys joined students from Stewards’ Academy, Harlow, to answer a series of questions posed by the teachers.
Our Deputy Headboys from Year 10 and a Year 9 pupil represented St Bonaventure’s and spoke about their experiences of learning during lockdown. They also spoke about makes good teaching, how teachers can best support their students and discussed their thoughts on assessment and creative learning in the classroom.
Ms Roddy is an English Development Partner for the PTI and she was asked if St Bonaventure’s would participate in the pupil panel and she agreed as she felt this was an excellent opportunity for schools and school leaders from across the country to hear first-hand about the experience of learners.
Ms Roddy added: “Many teachers approached me to commend our boys for their contributions and said how thought provoking the boys’ responses were. In particular, the Curriculum Leads of Geography and Music said they found our boys’ reflections invaluable to their own teaching and said they will be taking the boys’ reflections back to their own schools.”
Our Year 10 and 12 CAFOD teams were invited to the CAFOD Supporters Annual Parliamentary Reception in Speaker’s House at the House of Commons in Westminster last night, June 8.
It was a magnificent opportunity to meet other CAFOD teams and dignitaries including Mr Speaker the Rt. Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP.
Christine Allen, who is the Director of CAFOD, and Catherine McKinnell MP was there as well as other volunteers.
They mingled with CAFOD staff and clergy from across England and Wales and explained the work they have been doing.
The location was awe-inspiring and the students were thrilled to be in the State Dining Room which had hosted the Prime Minister the day before last night’s event.
Ms Ali added: “Our students had a fantastic time meeting other like-minded students and leaders in such an historic setting. It was an exciting evening and one they will never forget. We are so proud of them for all they have achieved to date and the evening validated what they are doing is so important and will inspire them to keep striving to make a positive difference working with CAFOD.”
We are thrilled to introduce you to our new Head Boy and Head Girl who will lead our new Senior Student Leadership Team for the academic year 2022- 2023.
Best wishes on them on their new roles.
The team gathered on the Friary Lawn for a photocall this week and are looking forward to the challenges ahead.
Well done to them all and we wish them well and look forward to their help and support in the new academic year.
Well done to our Year 9 basketball superstars who won their game against Vale Royal’s Helsby High School with a full time score of 97-58 on Friday, May 13, in Manchester at the National Finals.
Thanks to Coach Oniereti for his support, hard work and skills in getting our teams to the Finals.
We heard this week that this super talented Artist who is in Year 12 had a piece of her artwork accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts for their exciting online exhibition.
The artwork is entitled ‘Rye Lane Snail Merchant, After Parmigianino’ and is simply wonderful.
The Royal Academy received over 21,000 submissions for consideration this year and we are so proud that her work will feature in the Royal Academy Young Artist Summer Show.
The Artist says she wanted to propose a thoughtful reaction against the idea of figurative work laying claim to authenticity based mainly on the nature of the work’s subject and resisting a drive towards postmodern humour.
We can’t wait to see it online amongst all the other pieces.
Headteacher, Mr McCormack, was thrilled to officially congratulate this Year 10 student in school today, April 26, who represented the England Under 15s Basketball squad in a tournament in Alalior in Menorca during the Easter holidays last week.
He performed superbly well scoring the winning basket in the final which was won by just one point.
He was also England’s top scorer and chosen as one of the best five performers in the tournament one of the ‘Mythical 5’.
Mr McCormack said: “The entire school community is incredibly proud of his outstanding achievement and it is reflective of all his hard work and commitment to his sport.”
He is back performing with his teammates at school in the National Cup this Friday, April 29, and we wish him lots of luck.
Thanks to our generous parents, carers, staff and students, we raised an amazing £1227.50 including gift aid during our Culture Day recently.
Fifty percent of the money raised is now on its way to the CAFOD Ukraine Emergency Appeal with the remainder being set aside for CAFOD’s General Emergency Fund.
It was a wonderful, enjoyable day and we are grateful to everyone who gave so generously and supported this event. The donations will make a real difference.
To finish off Culture Day in school yesterday, March 23, and as part of Year 12 enrichment, our 6th Form students arranged a Cultural Showcase that was described as amazing and delightful.
There were show-stopping performances from the 6th Form band as well as a Mauritian dance, songs performed in Spanish and Tamil, Indian drums and dancing.
The students were also treated to a performance from teacher, Ms Clarke-McGhie, of her new recording entitled ‘I’ve Got You.’
The show opened and closed with a fashion show that highlighted the vast cultural diversity of our 6th Form.
Many students and staff took the opportunity to have henna designs painted on their hands by our very talented 6th Form students. “It was simply wonderful and everyone that attended had a fantastic time” concluded Ms Rahman.
Sounds like a perfect ending to a perfect day.
