This summer, St Bonaventure’s achieved the School Mental Health Award which is delivered by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools and awarded the Gold standard for our outstanding mental health and wellbeing provision.

Here is the press release explaining a bit more about the award.

It was recognised that St Bonaventure’s provides a wide range of activities to boost the wellbeing of pupils and staff, including wellbeing sessions and conscious raising assemblies for students, and a comprehensive support package for staff which promotes positive mental health. Pupil voice is utilised to ensure that tailored support is provided to students. As a faith school, they recognise the central role religion plays in supporting the wellbeing of the school community. Opportunities for personal reflection are built into the school day, alongside the spiritual support provided by the school chaplain.

Professional development around mental health has been given high priority and investment by St Bonaventure’s, who have worked closely with Headstart, CAMHS, Place2Be, Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society, and the Anna Freud Centre to provide tailored support to students, parents and staff.

St Bonaventure’s Headteacher, Christopher McCormack said: “I am extremely proud that our work has been recognised. Now, more than ever before, we need to have positive and proactive strategies in place to be able to support the young people in our care, as well as our staff and help them in every way we can. Achieving this gold standard is testament to the work that is being carried out in St Bonaventure’s to help promote positive wellbeing and remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues.”

A focal point of the school’s mental health and wellbeing provision is promoting positive mental health and providing students with opportunities to discuss their mental health. Michelle Roddy, the school’s mental health lead said: “We have worked closely with Imperial College’s ‘Open Minds – a student led organisation who provide interactive workshops on mental health which aim to increase awareness, reduce stigma and improve help-seeking behaviours. We also celebrate our school community through initiatives such as International Women’s Day and Community Appreciation Days which enable pupils to recognise the importance of gratitude and its positive impact on their wellbeing and feelings.”

The award was established in 2017 by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools – part of Leeds Beckett University – and social enterprise Minds Ahead.

The Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools aims to strengthen pupils’ mental health by supporting schools to make a positive change at all levels of the UK’s education system, improving students’ outcomes and life chances.

Professor Damien Page, Dean of Leeds Beckett’s Carnegie School of Education, said: “Achieving this award is not just recognition of a whole-school approach to mental health, it’s a recognition of the school’s commitment to improving the life chances of children.
“We’re truly proud to have worked with St Bonaventure’s in this vital work and look forward to further collaboration.”

Nationally, more than 1000 schools have signed up to take part in the mental health award.
Dean Johnstone, founder and CEO of Minds Ahead said: “This award shines a light on the excellent work schools are doing to promote mental health for their community of children and adults.

“It is thrilling and humbling to learn about St Bonaventure’s and the many other schools engaged in the quality award process. I’d like to offer my congratulations on this deserved recognition.”

Staff and students were celebrating this morning, August 12, after a fantastic set of GCSE results after what’s been an unusual, difficult and challenging 18 months for these boys.

There were lots of smiles and happy faces as the lads collected their results from school and staff were on hand to share their joy and support them as ever.

Mr Hayes, who is the Key Stage 4 Leader commented: “It has been fantastic to see so many happy young men this morning. They have worked incredibly hard over the last two years overcoming a whole range of challenges. There were so many smiles as they saw the rewards of their work over the last two years.”

Our Director of 6th Form, Mr Templeman added: “We’ve been really busy this morning as so many students achieved great results and wanted to stay with us for the next step of their education.”

Congratulations to all the Class of 2021 students.

Today, August 10, we are celebrating the achievements of a fantastic cohort who have faced up to the challenges of the past two academic years with fortitude and resilience.

This morning was a joyous occasion and it was lovely to see the student and teacher efforts rewarded with a fantastic set of results.

As Headteacher, it is humbling to see them complete their time with us and achieving the grades that enable them to move onto their chosen path of education and training in some of the country’s most prestigious organisations.

We are certain that they will go on to achieve their life ambitions and will contribute to the common good within communities where they live in the true spirit of St Bonaventure’s.

Mr McCormack.

Congratulations go to our newly elected Head Boy William who collected his special black tie today (July 5) from Mr McCormack.

He was joined on the friary lawn for a photocall by his Deputies, Jeremy and Guylian who collected gold ties.

John is the third Deputy and will collect his tie later this week.

Mr MrCormack added: “We look forward to them leading the school community with the passion and vision shared at their interviews. We feel certain they will carry out their duties to the highest standards.”

Well done to them all.

We are pleased to introduce our new Senior Student Leadership Team to you all today (June 28.)

After intense interviews last week in school, Nathaniel was chosen as Head Boy and Farhana as Head Girl.

They are pictured here with their Deputies; Kevin, Tolu, Ethan, Oluwole, Rishi, Aaron, Fidel, Tharsika, Zara, Sukhveer, Faizah, Amani and Phillipa.

Congratulations to them all and we look forward to working with them in the forthcoming year.

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.