Thirteen-year-old Rosen Bello from 8 Heath was today awarded the latest Jack Petchey prize for his selfless nature.

Rosen single-handedly organised a Fun Day in Dagenham recently in aid of the charity CAFOD. All proceeds went to the worthy cause.

His generous nature and heart of gold makes him a popular choice for the May award.

Rosen is deciding what to do with his £250 award money.

After a day and a half of intense interviews by Mr Robinson, Ms Qurrey, Mrs Burke and Mr Hayes, the new student leadership teams have announced.

Jamie Halliwell, 15, from 10 Colman was named as the new Headboy with the accolade of Deputy Headboys going to Kharma Kamwegie, Klaudio Prela, Henry Ogoli, Matthew Brako, Alan Kakassary, Dean Francis, Lawrence Ssonko and Jaiden Ettiene-Simmonds.

The Senior Prefects were chosen also.

Students are urged to get to know the new  team and they will be wearing their distinctive badges making them easily distinguishable.

Well done to the new student leaders.

Headboy

The Deputies

The Senior Prefects

Ravenscroft  Primary School Year 5 students spent the last two days with our Science Department learning new and exciting scientific concepts.

They learned about physics and engineering and how to build cranes, bridges and towers. West Ham Park  provided an ideal venue to study ecology and a bug hunt hunt through mown and long grass to look for different species of insects was very interesting.

On the second day, Chemistry was on the curriculum and the youngsters had a difficult task of a survival in the desert scenario where they had to work against the clock to salvage water or risk dying of dehydration. They could only use debris and wreckage from a notional plane crash to help them and they had to use all their knowledge they had gleaned to complete the complicated scheme.

The children really enjoyed this new way of working and were engrossed in the lessons.

At the end of the two days certificates were given out and one of their teachers, Dipo Oni, who is an alumnus of St Bonaventure’s having left in 2004, delighted his class by volunteering for a fireball gas experiment. 

Our 6th Form Year 12 students led some of the teaching and themselves received Gopher Training Awards.

This is the second year Ravenscroft has visited St Bonaventure’s for Science workshops.

Rosen Bello in 8 Heath decided he wasn’t going to wait until he was in Year 10 until he could join the CAFOD group in school, he wanted to do something positive to raise funds for the charity now.

With his mum’s help, Rosen decided to organise a Family Fun Day in Dagenham this weekend, May 28, with him running a sweet stall and his mum a make-up stall.

This is the first time Rosen has attempted anything like this and he says he is looking forward to it and raising lots of money. 

Headteacher Mr Halliwell said: “To organise something on this scale is fantastic for a 13 year old boy. I love the fact that he didn’t want to wait another two years to start helping the charity. “ Rosen’s Head of Year, Mr Senior added: “He has impressed me with his determination and drive.”

Parents and students are encouraged to go along and support the Fun Day at Woodward Hall on Saturday.

Our Brilliant Club students from Years 8 and 10 visited Oxford University’s Somerville College  recently for their graduation ceremony .

The boys spent the day being shown around the campus and attended study skills and academic taster sessions. They met with student ambassadors and thoroughly loved their day.

Here are some photos from the day.

Our candidate in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, Year 10’s Lawrence Ssonko, will represent St Bonaventure’s this evening, May 18, in the Newham Regional Finals of the competition.

15 year old Lawrence from Stratford went to Maryland Primary School and will give it his best shot tonight at the competition at Chobham Academy.

His speech entitled, The Power of Compliments, is certain to be thought provoking and entertaining and we wish him the best of luck.

Teachers and students will be going along to support him tonight along with Ms Corriette who he is seen pictured with here.

It was a real privilege for our Year 9 football team to participate in the Lycamobile at the famous Boleyn Ground this weekend as the stadium has been an integral part of East End life since 1904.

Generations of St Bonaventure’s students have supported and still support West Ham United and our Year 9 pupils were excited to be able to play on the same ground as Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking and local boy Mark Noble.

We didn’t come away with any trophies on this occasion but the emotion of the day was very apparent and might have affected their play. They were all very pleased to be given the opportunity to play on the Boleyn turf before it is demolished and the club moves to the Olympic Park.

Well done to Darnell, Peter, Kasim, Ebube, Jeffrey, Jamal, Daniel, Anthony, Jerry and Prince for giving it their all on the day and are seen here pictured with old Bonaventurian George Chukwuma before the competition.

Our Year 9 football team are playing at the Boleyn Ground this Sunday in the Lycamobile Cup.

It’s thought to be pone of the last ever tournaments to be played at the historic ground as West Ham United will next season play at The Olympic Stadium in Stratford. It will be exciting and sad at the same time but everyone is feeling nostalgic playing on the famous turf.

We have high hopes for this competition as last year our Year 7 team were crowned the winners after playing Emmerson Park Academy from Hornchurch.

Play is between 11.00am and 4.00pm on Sunday, May 15.

 We will keep you posted how we did via our social media on Sunday.

Some of our Year 7 students took part in The Faraday Challenge sponsored by The Jack Petchey Foundation earlier this week at Stepney Green College and won a BBC micro:bit competition.

The win means they are now through to the final on July 18, 2016.

The Faraday Challenge by The Institute of Engineering and Technology hold STEM activity events aimed at Year 7 students to encourage creativity, team working, problem solving and the application of technology to real life situations. 

The BBC micro:bit is a small programmable device, a pocket-sized computer that can be coded, customised and controlled to bring digital ideas games and apps to life. Measuring 4cm by 5cm it is designed to be fun and easy to use. Its applications are endless and all that is needed is a student’s imagination and creativity.

Nineteen of our computer geeks went along and came up with two prototypes – a tilt monitor that elderly members of the community can use as an alert and a counting device to use on public transport  such as buses and trains to restrict access and avoid overcrowding and enhance public safety. Both unique and innovative ideas.

Computer Science teacher Ms Sumayyah Malek took the boys and commented: “Everyone was impressed with our designs and the quality of the boys’ supporting paperwork which I think clinched it for them.”

She added: “They are really excited and looking forward to the final in July.”