St Bede’s Catholic College

Long Cross, Bristol BS11 0SU

Tel: (0117) 3772200 Fax: (0117) 3772201

E-mail: stbedes@bristol.gov.uk Visit our Website: www.stbedescatholiccollege.org

NEWSLETTER 122 6th May 2011

2010
PRIZE GIVING MAY 2011

Mike Norton (Editor of the Bristol Evening Post) was our guest speaker
at the annual Prize Giving ceremony held yesterday evening. He gave
the audience a fascinating account of his career to date and how
pleased he is to be working back in his home city. The warmth the
audience felt towards him even survived his declaration of his local
football team allegiance! Pupils were left in no doubt about his
passion for education (he is an ex-pupil of St Bernadette’s Secondary
School, Whitchurch) and the way in which educational success gives
you more choice about what you do with your life. He was the first
member of his family to go to university (he studied English at Hull
University – where he enjoyed a number of conversations with the
university’s librarian, the poet, Philip Larkin) and made it clear to
pupils that if they are capable of studying at that level, then they
should do so. Ms Hughes spoke about the college’s great successes of
the past year and, echoing Mr Norton’s address, quoted St Catherine
of Sienna: ‘be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on
fire’.

Prizes were presented to more than 150 pupils who were given
awards for high achievement, excellent attitude, public spirit and
service to the community.
Although the names of many of the prize winners were known before
the evening, there were some that were announced at the ceremony
itself: Edmund Magner (Science Award), Alex Whelan (Sports Award),
William King (Year 11 Award), Charlotte Haswell, Mike Moroz, Ben
Murphy and Kinga Burzyrska (Vice Principals’ Awards) and Euan
Shanahan (Principal’s Award). A huge number of children received
nominations from staff and a scrupulous effort to be fair was put into
the decisions behind the final list. We hope that pupils deserving of an
award, but who did not receive one this year, will be recognised at
Prize Giving celebrations in future years.
 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
th
9 May GCSE exams begin
th am Year 8 Girls HPV vaccinations
11 May
4.30-7.30pm Year 7 parents’ evening
12th May – 15th May Year 10 Kintbury Trip
"ROUTES INTO LANGUAGES SOUTH WEST" POP VIDEO
COMPETITION
Ben Pembery, Ben Whitfield (Year 8) and Abi Alexander,
Sarah Orr (Year 9) went to the Taunton conference centre
recently with Mr Dunn, for the prize giving for the "Routes
into Languages South West" pop video competition. This is
an annual competition that is open to all schools in the
whole of the south west. We were delighted that two of
our songs were shortlisted for the top prize (shortlist of 4
songs) and that Ben Pembery and Ben Whitfield won the
top prize for their song entitled "Problemas en el mundo".
Sam Pembery aided in the production of the song. Abi and
Sarah received the runner up prize. Victoria Midda was
also part of the group. During the ceremony we were
treated to live music from previous winners plus video
conferencing speeches
from Graham Watson MEP
and Dr Lid King amongst
others. The prize received
by the two Ben’s was a
glass trophy and a
certificate plus £100. Abi
and Sarah received a
certificate and £50. Both
Ben Pembery and Ben
Whitfield will have to keep practising their song ready for a
possible invitation to perform it live for next year's
ceremony!
The videos can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhmPK6nI8M and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_CswAb6mjE
CONGRATULATIONS
In February, Michael Savery 8PKL, achieved the school's
top score in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. As a result
of this, he went forward to the 'Olympiad' round in March,
sitting the paper designed for top Year 9 mathematicians
across the UK. We recently received his results. Michael
was awarded a merit, which is an outstanding
achievement. Well done Michael!
MATHS CHALLENGE
On Friday 8th of April, a group of two Year 8s and two Year
9s went to St Katherine’s School, Pill to participate in the
UKMT Maths Challenge against 20 local schools.
Congratulations to Michael Savery, Julian Caldwell, Annie
Burden and William Matthesan - St. Bede’s Catholic
College came in 4th place!
BRAIN TEASER
Two ducks in front of a duck, two ducks behind a duck, one
duck in the middle.
Question : How many ducks are there?
REMINDER FOR PARENTS RE SAFE CAR PARKING
Could parents dropping off or picking up children do so on
the Long Cross, in the interest of the safety of all our
children. Please also remind your children of the need to
exercise great care crossing the road. Under no
circumstances should they walk/run out between the
buses.
It would also be appreciated if parents are respectful of
our local residents and under no circumstance park in such
a way as to limit their access to their homes.
ST BEDE’S FOOTBALL COMPETITION RESULTS
Over the past 3 terms, the PE dept has been running a 7 a
side competition for Year 7, 8 & 9 and 10 & 11. With over
150 games being played at lunchtime and a whopping 300
goals being scored in the finals held last week. Well done
to the massive 250 pupils who had taken part over the
past 18 weeks. The winning teams were in Year 7
Peterbourgh, Year 8 & 9 Cardiff City and Year 10 & 11
Arsenal.
BRISTOL FESTIVAL OF SPORTS
On Wednesday 6th April, over 80 pupils were taken to the
Coombe Dingle Sports Complex for a sports festival. The
pupils participated in a range of different sports including
Flag Football, Extreme Golf, Judo, Street Dance and
Ultimate Frisbee.
The school had to represent a country and choose South
Africa because of the links and charity work the college is
doing with Sister Martha in her schools in South Africa. All
pupils wore green to represent the county and the Art
Department kindly designed three flags for the pupils to
wave.
The pupils experienced trying a variety of different sports.
LAST BRAINTEASER ANSWER
No. the down draft from the duck’s wings will exactly balance
their weight. You can’t avoid Newton’s first law; Action and
Reaction are equivalent and opposite.
WISE WORDS
Always be prepared to take advantage of an unexpected
opportunity.
Roger Harris