We have some exciting news to share.

When we return to school after the half term break, Monday June 7, 2021,  we will have new caterers with lots of healthy and exciting dishes on the menu.

The website for Olive Dining Ltd says: “Our ethos is focused upon delivering exciting and innovative menus by cooking exceptional food from high-quality, raw ingredients every single day.

“Not only is it our priority to ensure young people appreciate our food, but we strive to make our dining experience both enjoyable and educational.”

We can’t wait!

Olive Dining Newsletter June 2021

A very special award was also presented this week to one of our students, Emmanuel, from the Mizen Foundation.

St Bonaventure’s has worked for many years with the Mizen Foundation. This is an organisation that works for peace, hope and forgiveness in memory of Jimmy Mizen who was killed the day after his 16th birthday in 2008.

His parents, Barry and Margaret, have become great friends of the school.

At Jimmy’s own school, they set up a special award – The Sparkle Award – and this year wanted to extend this into a small number of other schools.

They asked us to put forward a nomination for this award – someone who lives in the way Jimmy did – an individual who is kind, caring and helpful, someone the school thinks has sparkled.

Mr Hayes and Mr Caddy knew straightaway who that student was so put forward Emmanuel’s name and added: “Emmanuel is a selfless young man who is a huge source of support to his friends, particularly at the time of Kayjon’s passing last year. He works hard in lessons and has forged excellent professional relationships with staff. He is thoughtful and caring with his peers too.

“We were proud and honoured to put his name forward.“

Well done Emmanuel for sparkling.

Home testing is still as important as ever during the pandemic for our students.

Our students are aware of this and have been given a pack of 7 tests to resume their home testing and we’d like to thank them for their cooperation.

The most important thing is to record results with the NHS even if the test is negative.

At St Bonaventure’s we will continue to send regular GoogleForms.

Home tests now need to be confirmed with a PCR test. If there is a positive case, it is important that it is emailed to outofhours@stbons.org so that we can accurately record and deal with this.

Our website has a special section with all the details on there including how to test.

I want to wish you all a peaceful and holy Easter period.

Little did we know this time last year, as we entered lockdown one, that we would still be facing up to the challenges presented by Covid. It has been a year that has tested us all in one way or another. I know that some families have been affected more by the loss of loved ones and the long term impact of illness. I pray that these families will find peace and we keep their loved ones in our prayers at this time.

The efforts of our pupils, families and staff over the past year have made me proud. Many have had to show strength and resilience to find new ways of working and supporting each other. Many actions that would have seemed very alien to us all a year ago have become the new norm and as a community we have tried to turn potential obstacles into opportunities.

Thank you again for all of your support, by pulling together we can continue to do the best for the children we serve. I believe that our pupils will continue to flourish and become people who reach their full potential and are ready to go into the world and make positive contributions to the common good and social justice. I have been pleased with the attitude with which our boys and girls have returned to school this term. They are a credit to their families and themselves.

During Lent we have been focusing on our journey towards Easter. Pope Francis recently reaffirmed the importance of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. He wrote “Fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as preached by Jesus (cf. Mt 6:1-18), enable and express our conversion. The path of poverty and self-denial (fasting), concern and loving care for the poor (almsgiving), and childlike dialogue with the Father (prayer) make it possible for us to live lives of sincere faith, living hope and effective charity.” For me the message of hope at this time is important. As a community of faith we must continue to focus on the future with hope in our hearts even in very testing times.

I pray that our children will have hope that, rather than being a lost Covid generation, they will aspire to go on and achieve great things. Please remember that we are here to help in any way that we can.

Please get in touch if you need our support.

Happy Easter and God Bless.

Christopher McCormack

Headteacher. 

Students finish school at 12.30pm today for the Easter holidays don’t forget.

They will bring home with them the latest copy of the school magazine too that has the return to school date and other important dates on the back page.

Our Headteacher, Mr McCormack, wrote to all parents and carers this week as our students returned to school and face to face lessons once more.

He wrote to thank them for their cooperation and support and added: “Both pupils and staff have been fantastic and it is lovely to have them back in school looking so well.

“Testing is going really well and has enhanced our already effective Covid measures. Teachers have been so glad to be teaching face to face and the lessons have proved how hard pupils were working during lockdown and what a fabulous job parents have done in supporting the boys and girls.”

He finished off by thanking everyone for all the messages of support that have come in to school this week.

Our Headteacher, Mr McCormack, spoke this week about the end of homeschooling and the staggered and safe return to school from Monday, March 8.

This long-awaited return has taken detailed planning and he wanted to thank staff and parents for their cooperation during the difficult past few months.

Of course, students have been superstars too and their resilience and the the way they have adapted to the changes thrust upon them has been truly humbling.

We always knew our staff, students and parents were wonderful; these past few months has strengthened that belief.

We want to thank them for their continued support.

May God bless them all and keep them safe always.

St Bonaventure, pray for us.

Mr Bartlett and Mr Robinson  loaded up our school minibus with parcels and packages this morning, December 16, with food, essentials and treats to take to Newham Foodbanks and Homeless Projects.

All staff  and 6th Form students have been collecting items for weeks to make up the food parcels as part of their Advent Charitable Giving push.

Highway Vineyard Church received a visit today and staff there were pleased to receive the donations.

We also donated:

Mr McCormack added: “We will always support our local Foodbanks who do so much to help the less fortunate at this time of year.”

The GCSE and A Level Exam Certificates from Summer 2020 are ready to be posted home.

These will begin to arrive in the next few weeks so please can you make contact with school if you have moved and need to change the address of where the certificates will be sent.

Due to the current restrictions on visitors to school, it is not possible this year to collect these in person too.

Thanks for your understanding.

Mrs Ashton.

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.

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