Unfortunately our U15 B Team National final against Cardinal Heenan School from Liverpool has been cancelled due to the current strict lockdown restrictions in their city.

“Although we are bitterly disappointed not to be able to play in this final, I am incredibly proud of the boys for their hard work and achievements this year.

“These boys have become the first St Bon’s football team to be crowned National Champions.” Said Mr Firth.

Well done to them all.

Mr Firth is incredibly proud of the boys and rightly so they have done amazingly well.

👏 🏆👏🏼⚽️🏆👏🏼⚽️🏆👏🏼⚽️🏆👏🏼⚽️🏆👏🏼

The Under 15 National Final for B teams has been rearranged for next week on Wednesday, October 14, at Lilleshall National Sports Centre near Telford in Shropshire. St Bon’s boys have won all six of their National Cup fixtures so far without conceding a goal. This includes away wins at Monks Walk School (Hertfordshire), Forest School (Waltham Forest) and Van Dyke Upper School (South Bedfordshire).

The boys have been equally formidable at Wanstead Flats, seeing off Simon Langton Secondary School and Bishop Thomas Grant Secondary School on their run to the final.

Having already created St Bon’s history by being the first team to reach a national football final, the boys will be looking to go one step further and bring the trophy back to East London in what would be a fitting tribute to their departing coach Mr Ashman.

I’m sure you’ll join with me in wishing them the very best of luck next week. They wil be in our thoughts.

School has had to close today, Wednesday, October 7, due to a problem with the water outage in the local area that is affecting a large number of schools, homes and businesses.

Staff and students have been told to work from home today and updates will be given via SchoolComms.

Thank you for your understanding.

Over the next few days we plan to feature a series of soundbites recorded for us by some of our alumni on why they love St Bon’s so much  

Today’s alumnus is former Headboy James Appiah who popped in to school yesterday, October 1, to speak to our Headteacher and say farewell before he makes his way to Cambridge University.

it was fantastic, as always, to see  a former student  and James also met up with our Director of 6th Form, Mr Templeman, who commented: “ We are delighted to wish James well before he moves into his accommodation at Cambridge. His mum and dad could not be prouder as he begins his Human Social and Political Sciences degree at Pembroke College.

“James is already signed up to the African Caribbean Society and has formed a good support network of Year 2 and 3 students. We wish him well and hope he can continue to inspire our girls and boys in the future.”

Best of luck at uni James.

CHECK OUT  OUR FACEBOOK PAGE TO SEE THE VIDEOS

Year 13 student Jack Baynes was joined by students from all over England and Wales for an online celebration hosted by St Mary’s University this week.

He was joined on Zoom by his parents, Mrs Parker (his Form tutor) and Mr Lewis. Cardinal Vincent Nichols offered his congratulations to every student that entered entered the competition, including a large number of our Year 13 RS students. They had to plan, prepare and write their essays during the summer when they were working from home. He said a special thank you to all parents who have supported students during this time.

The Vice Chancellor of St Mary’s, Anthony McClaren, spoke about how challenging and difficult the topic of euthanasia was and how students took risks just in taking part.

It was made clear how impressive it was that Jack made the final shortlist and he will be receiving a £20 prize and certificate in school.

Mr Lewis said: “I am incredibly proud of Jack’s achievement. His essay showed a real passion for RS and I know that this award will give him a real boost as he continues his studies this year. Well done to all those who entered this year: Edward Ndow, Anda Lazur, Sumayya Alam, Muhammad Haque and Prince Owoeye. St Mary’s have commented on the very high standard of all entries from the school.”

It was fantastic this weekend to see a former student of ours, Chuba Akpom, being signed for the great Northern Club, Middlesborough FC.

Twenty four year old Chuba remains in close contact with our school and often comes back  to visit to inspire the next generation if Bonaventurians. He is always very positive and in 2015 when he was playing for Arsenal this article appeared on their website and magazine that mentions St Bonaventure’s.

“Akpom attended St. Bonaventure’s School in Forest Gate, a school with a healthy production line in footballers that counts the likes of Chris Hughton and Jermain Defoe among its former alumni. In fact, such was Chuba’s prowess in front of goal that he ended up breaking the latter’s school goals record.

“St. Bon’s is probably one of the top schools in the area, so everyone wants to go there. We always had a good football team, athletics team and basketball team. There were a lot of good coaches but I think the main reason for its success is that everyone loved football so much and there was a massive passion for it.

“That’s what the teachers told me,” he says with a grin. “I can’t remember exactly how many I scored. I wasn’t aiming for it but I remember coming in one day and being told that I’d done it – I was buzzing because I knew that he had scored a lot. At the time I was scoring four or five goals a game.

“I still go back there now, to do talks and meet the kids. There are some who look up to me now so I have to conduct myself right and show them that only hard work can get you here. When I talk to all the young kids, I just tell them to keep working hard and not to let anyone tell them that they can’t do something.”

Everyone at school wishes him well in Teesside and The Boro.

Our Headteacher,  Mr McCormack, had this message for all Year 11 students who collected their much anticipated GCSE results from school today.

“I am so proud of the achievements of all the boys this year. They have been a wonderful cohort who have faced up to the challenges of this unique year with a sense of purpose and dignity. I am confident that they will take this spirit forward with them, go on to do great things and contribute to the common good.

Happy Feast Day to all our staff, students and their families and our governors and those  in the wider St Bon’s community.  

This is  always a special day for us all and this year is no different although obviously different. 

We are still holding a special mass so don’t forget to join us online this year for the live-streamed celebration at 2.30pm today with alumnus Father James McKay from Custom House who always makes these occasions so wonderful.

Please join in with us all if you can, it will be comforting to know we are all together like old times this afternoon for an hour in prayer and celebration In Sanctitate et Doctrina  – In Holiness and Learning.

Our school song sums today up beautifully: “With courage strong and true, we step into the fight, we listen, care and get involved, in the world our mark to make…So let us live to change the world, let us love with  all our heart, To learn the truth, to guide our lives In Sanctitate et Doctrina.”

Have a blessed and safe day whatever you are doing.

St Bonaventure, pray for us.

Mrs Wheatley has successfully completed the charity Place2Be’s ‘Mental Health Champions – School Leader programme’.

She worked with Ms Roddy and the trainer Matthew Audley in identifying and developing the school’s strategic approaches while also reflecting on her own leadership within the frame of positive mental health for the whole school community.

Along with auditing existing mental health and emotional wellbeing activities and identifying priority areas for improvement, Mrs Wheatley developed her knowledge and understanding of child development theories and how they can be applied and understood in a school context.

The trainer said that, of all the participants on the training course, Mrs Wheatley was ‘the revelation’ and that she greatly impressed him with her insight and contributions.