Not many schools can say they have special blessings from three Popes over the past 120 years but that’s exactly what St Bonaventure’s can proudly claim.

The school has just received a personalised blessing from His Holiness Pope Francis to bless the Headteacher, staff, students and community on the occasion of our 140th  anniversary that begins this summer. 

This wonderful blessing has just been framed and has been added to the corridor outside Mr Halliwell’s office along with the blessing from Pope Paul VI that was bestowed on the school in 1977 for our centenary but never displayed until now. 

The blessing from Pope Leo Xlll, dated 1896, was discovered in a dusty corner of our cellar about a year ago and has now been restored and framed and added to the other two blessings outside the Head’s office for everyone to see.

Mr Halliwell said: “I am honoured to have three Papal blessings spanning over 120 years and knowing that three Holy Fathers have blessed and prayed for our school, it’s students and staff makes me feel very humble indeed.

“2017 is a very special year for us and although the school has changed dramatically in the 140 years since it was founded, the love and care our students receive has not changed and staff still strive to get the best out of them every single day in a bid to improve their life chances. Pope Francis’ special blessing will invigorate us all to “Live, Love and Learn in the Presence of the Lord” –  as our motto states – every single day.”

The newest craze to hit teenagers – fidget spinners – is proving to be incredibly distractive and annoying to teachers and students during lessons in school.

Boys who have the spinners are having them confiscated when they are playing with them in class so the advice is to leave them at home and not bring them into school.

Teachers have already taken a lot of them off students but parents are being asked to support the school on this issue and tell their sons to save playing with the toys until they get home.

April’s Jack Petchey Award winner was today named as 10 Wall’s Nathan Kobi.

Nathan is a very determined student who has shown resilience during his 4 years at St Bonaventure’s. He has impressed staff with his positive attitude and he never lets his Cerebral Palsy affect his attitude to his studies despite him being in constant pain. He regularly needs Botox injections into his legs to help him with his pain and in a bid to increase his mobility. He never complains nor lets this hinder his daily life.

He participates fully in all his lessons including PE and is a popular student.

It is for these reasons that he has been given the special  recognition.

Nathan, along with all this year’s winners,  will receive a medallion at a special ceremony at the O2  in September when his family will be invited to attend.

Nathan is thinking how he wants to spend his £250 prize money.

It’s hard to imagine that teachers and staff were ever cute little babies and toddlers I know, but that’s exactly what students are being asked to do and match up their baby photos with names in a competition to raise money for TELCO for refugee families in London.

The competition is the brainchild of 8 Forest’s Ethan Suppaya and he has been working extremely hard gathering the photos and putting them together.

12 year old Ethan asked Director of Religious Education, Mr Lewis, to help him out and put together entry forms.

Entry is 50p and all students and staff are encouraged to enter and put a name to the 25 faces.

First prize is a £20 Nando’s voucher with other prizes for the runners-up.

Forms have been given out to Year 7 and  8 and all other Years and staff can collect forms from the staff room or Mr Lewis.

The deadline for entries is May 19, 2017.

Mr Lewis went on the explain: “Ethan is heavily involved with raising awareness of the plight of Newham’s refugees and the Refugees Welcome campaign and when he approached me about how we could raise some money this seemed like a fantastic idea. He added: ” I’m sure it will be a popular competition but It’s not easy to match up the faces with the staff but I’m sure lots of people will want to have a go and submit answers.”

The big reveal will be before we finish for the Whit half term.

Good luck everybody.

Two of our Year 13 students, Nathan Vondee and Joseph Boateng, found out last week that they were successful in gaining internships with The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

Mr Jarvis explained: “We sent up a series of employability and networking workshops with RBC for our Year 12 and Year 13 students. This culminated in students applying for internships that included a £2000 a year bursary for all three years they are at university plus periods of paid work experience throughout their time at university.”

This is a fantastic achievement for Nathan and Joseph especially as hundreds of students apply from schools across London.

Well done.

6th Form students Jack Gay and John Dawes are pictured here looking very smart and clean but all that will change next weekend when they will be caked in mud as they take place in the ‘Tough Mudder’ challenge which is described as “probably the toughest event on the planet.”

Rather them than me but these lads are really looking forward to the endurance race which features a series of hardcore obstacles over 10 – 12 miles and designed by British Special Forces to challenge the toughest of the tough.

The 17 year olds have been training hard and have never done anything like this before but they are both really looking forward it.

The race is being held in Henley-on-Thames in Oxford next Saturday, May 6, and John went on to explain: “Teamwork is very important and all participants look out for each other and encourage each other to keep going which is what I like. There’s undulating hills, thick mud, water and a range of mind-bending challenges to test your mental grit so it’s not going to be easy but we’re ready for it.” Jack added: “Some former Bon’s students will be taking part with us so we should have plenty of support.”

A Just Giving page has been set up for people to donate and support the students. The official charity partner is the ‘Help For Heroes’ charity and Jack and John need to raise as much money as possible for the cause which was set up in 2007 to help provide better facilities for British Servicemen/women who have been wounded in the line of duty.

The link is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/TM17

WHEN students returned after the Easter break today they were  joined by 20,000 new recruits in school creating a buzz around the corridors but the newcomers won’t be taking part in any lessons and they are all assigned to the one classroom…on the roof.

As you’ve probably already guessed, these are no ordinary pupils but honey bees – the school’s very own St Bon’s Bees.

A special weather-treated cedar hive containing a Queen honey bee and a nucleus was installed over the holidays in an apiary.

The modern no mess, no fuss Flow Hive boasts a clear end-frame so the honey can be clearly seen when it’s ready to harvest as well as making checking the health of the colony easier for specially trained beekeepers in school.

The extraction process is gentle and less stressful for the bees and they hardly notice any disruption as they remain undisturbed and happy. Having the honey on tap is so much easier and the husbandry easier for the beekeepers too as Headteacher Mr Halliwell went on to explain: “We have joined the London Beekeepers’ Association, Epping Forest Beekeepers Association and The British Beekeepers Association so have lots of support and are really excited to get started with our urban hive.

“We have done lots of research and went to see the hive they have set up at The Petchey Academy in Dalston which is working really well. Likewise, West Ham Park is home to several hives and they have been very useful with their help and information. In fact, we have received lots of support and advice and we think it’s really important to educate our students and raise awareness of the issues affecting bees. We have planted seeds to help attract bees to the flower beds on the Friary Lawn and once our colony is  established we plan to sell small pots of honey to staff and students. This could be something Mr Murray and our Young Enterprise Group might want to develop in the future.”

He added: “I feel that helping honey bees and building the plight of bees into the curriculum is very important. Future generations need to aware of the problem that honey bees are at great risk.  Over the past 15 years, colonies of bees have been disappearing, by doing our bit to help rectify this, our students will be made aware of the problem, learn how to care for bees  and hopefully gain an interest in ecology and the natural world.”