There have been big changes to the Pastoral Team this academic year and we have welcomed new colleagues who add capacity to the team so that we can best support children's mental health and wellbeing. 

We are delighted that Mr Scott and Mr Moore have joined us; Mr Scott provides pastoral administration support and is working in the Student Support Office and Mr Moore is Deputy Head of House alongside Mrs Ball. Mrs Crocker (Assistant Headteacher and Safeguarding Lead) has taken on the role of Senior Leader for Mental Health.

All staff have received training at the start of term and we are following a whole school curriculum focussing on improving students' resilience and self efficacy. Tutor time is being used to highlight to students the importance of their response to adversity and the belief in their ability to adapt and overcome challenges. 

Year 11 have a bespoke tutor time programme that includes tips and strategies to manage stress and anxiety, especially around exams and revision.

In addition to the help and support we are giving all students, we have increased our interventions for children who are finding the return to school difficult because of anxiety or low mood. We have increased the capacity of our school counsellor so that we can support more children with the greatest need. 

Our future plans include mindfulness sessions in tutor time, training key staff in Mental Health First Aid and recruiting students to be mental health advocates.

Once again students and staff took part in #HelloYellow on 9th October, by wearing something yellow and making a donation to show solidarity for those of us facing mental health challenges and to support the work of the charity Young Minds. We raised £176.85!

We are committed to supporting our students through these difficult times and beyond and are taking practical steps to allow students to face the future with optimism and self belief.

Mrs Crocker, Assistant Headteacher

A term like no other to begin my tenure as Head of Sixth Form at St Katherine’s culminated in our students switching to home learning for the final week. Student safety being our number one priority, sending students home was the only choice we could make, and we are confident that they will show the resilience we expect of them as they continue their studies remotely. 

Nonetheless, the sixth form have settled in brilliantly to the new expectations in school, with the sixth form block proving to be extremely effective in helping maintain ‘bubbles’. Students have particularly enjoyed our refreshed and updated common room space, which is now a modern, functional, collaborative work room. 

This week, a truly exceptional cohort of UCAS early applicants submitted their applications: 13 in total, a combination of medics, veterinary scientists and Oxbridge hopefuls applying for maths, computer science, music, maths and philosophy, chemistry and biomedical science. Applicants were given a series of interventions, including an application seminar from our partner college Exeter College of Oxford. Special credit must go to our exceptional tutor team for their tireless work motivating students and writing references. 

We recently announced our new Head Students, Ellie McCarthy and Stephanie Thomasset, following a very strong application and interview process. They have already begun work on promoting key issues, including holding our first Sixth Form Council meeting. Ellie is keen to champion Mental Health and Wellbeing, and has delivered a virtual assembly, is working alongside Year 12 students to create ‘safe spaces’ in the Sixth Form Block and online, and has effectively promoted the ‘Hello Yellow’ campaign from Young Minds. Steph’s great passion is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and she has been working alongside the EDI group to promote Black History Month within the Sixth Form, and growing Team Pride’s impact in the sixth form, and across the whole school. Ellie and Steph made a short video to introduce themselves as Head Students to the rest of the St Katherine's community.

All members of the sixth form can be proud of their efforts across Term 1. We look forward to welcoming them back after the break with renewed momentum. 

Save The Date!

On November 18th, parents (particularly those of Year 11 students) and students are invited to attend our virtual Sixth Form Open Evening from 6pm-7pm. We will be offering insights into a range of subjects, hearing many of our students share their experiences, and offering a small taste of sixth form life. Please register here - all are welcome! 

Mr Davies, Head of Sixth Form

The current situation we face has certainly provided teachers with new challenges in the classroom but we are relishing overcoming them! 

We have been really impressed with the pride that students have been showing in both their book work and assessed pieces of work. As you will be aware, students are now expected to take their books home each day to support their independent learning. This has meant that we are not able to look through books as we have done previously. In response to this we have now introduced "show me your work" tables in each classroom. This allows students to show their teachers their work (at a distance) during the lesson and allows teachers to give immediate, verbal feedback.

We have also worked as a teaching team to ensure that we check student understanding frequently each lesson. This includes a greater use of mini-whiteboards and questioning. Across the school, students are now asked to keep their hands down during questioning so that teachers can check every student's understanding. We are also working with students to encourage them to always respond to teacher questions, even if they think they may have an incorrect answer. This has been really important as it supports teachers in knowing what students do and do not yet understand. Finally, we have really high expectations during our questioning and teachers will continue to question students in order to develop the answers given.

Some subjects have faced different challenges to others. For example, students in years 7-11 are not currently able to complete practicals in science. Instead, teachers are demonstrating the practicals and have recorded a series of videos which can be viewed in the lesson and as a part of independent study. This has meant that students are still able to experience the practical aspect of their course. 

Miss Richards, Deputy Headteacher

The St Katherine's House Championship is off and running and Turing House have worked best as a team this term, allowing them to take the lead at the end of term 1. - Congratulations Turing!

The House Championship has had to adapt this year to make sure we can continue to compete against one another in these very strange times. So far we have held the following competitions:

• We celebrated European Day of Languages with an online quiz hosted by Mr Benchama, congratulations go to Pankhurst House and in particular 10P who scored the highest. 
• Year 7 students made their mark by competing in a gloriumptious tutor group challenge quiz proving their knowledge of the most phizz-whizzling squibbling on Roald Dahl Day. Well done to Stephenson House who showed that they are no Twits!
• We held our first Learn By Heart Poetry competition this year to mark International Poetry Day; staff and students from all houses recited their favourite poems. The overall winners were Turing House - congratulations to Grace Jenkins (7T1), Jessica Stanley (11T2) and  Miss McInerney who recited poems with confidence which was engaging, expressive and emotive.

As always the House Championship aims to reflect our school values, as part of this we recognise the importance of reading in the championship each year. The commitment to reading is highlighted by our termly Accelerated Reader competitions and this term Pankhurst House finished first. An honourable mention must go to Emily Sell (8P2) who is our first reading millionaire of the year. New to the House Championship this year is an academic competition that rewards tutor groups with the best completed reading logs. The winners of this in term 1 are Turing House. 

The biggest number of house points each term come from our ethos and values competitions. In term 1 our values competition was decided on the house with the highest average number of positive referrals per student. This was won by Turing House whose students have a staggering average of 93 positives each. Stephenson House came a very close second, with Yousafzai in third and Pankhurst in fourth place. 

Finally, our ethos competition for term 1 is attendance. The most important thing for students to do is come to school every day. In these very challenging times, this is more important than ever. Attendance across all four houses is very consistent this term and only 1% separates 1st and 4th place. Huge congratulations therefore must go to Pankhurst House who won this competition and earned 200 points. Yousafzai were in second place, Turing in third and Stephenson in fourth place. This victory takes Pankhurst into second place, very close behind Turing House.

There is all to play for in term 2 and we look forward to seeing our first sporting results of the year when students and staff compete in the cross country competition. Thank you to all of the staff and students for doing their best for their house this term and good luck for Term 2.

Mrs Crocker, Assistant Headteacher

Overall it's been a good first term back for Pankhurst House and I have been impressed by the effort and attitude of the vast majority of our students. While we were disappointed not to do better in the ethos competition, which looked at the average praises achieved by each student, we are proud to have the two highest praise earners in the school in our house. Well done Emily Sell (8P2) and Ryan Rice (7P)!

Other than the Roald Dahl quiz we have done well in the House Championship competitions so far. We won the European Languages quiz (well done year 10) and came second in the poetry recital competition. A special mention here again for Emily Sell who not only memorised a poem but also wrote it for the occasion. We came first in the accelerated reader competition which is excellent as we emphasise the importance of reading - reading makes us richer!

Also worth celebrating is our improvement in attendance this year, which saw us win 200 points in the attendance competition. This was a massive help to us reaching second place in the House Championship, only 16 points behind Turing, at the end of term 1. We're looking forward to term 2!

Mr Murdoch, Head of Pankhurst House

I have been hugely proud of all members of Stephenson House this term in what have been quite challenging circumstances. They have shown great determination (one of our house values) and in the words of Paul Stephenson “from adversity comes progress” and I can see that this is already the case for many students in our house.

A big focus for Stephenson House this term has been to be the best behaved house in school with the highest praises and the lowest negatives - best behaviour ratio. I have been impressed with standards that students in the house have set not only for themselves but for members of the whole school community. It was such a proud moment to see that we had the lowest negative behaviour of all the houses and the second highest praises!

I have been blown away by how well students have transitioned to Year 7; we have two amazing tutor groups in 7S1 and 7S2 led superbly by Mr Benchama and Mrs Huzzey. Their effort and pride in their work is a joy to see and it is lovely to hear such positive comments from their teachers throughout Term 1. It was also great to see them finish top in the Roald Dahl house competition!

10S has also impressed me Miss Douglass and me for a number of reasons. The most improved tutor group in terms of behaviour, the highest attendance out of all tutor groups in Stephenson House but also the determination and resilience they showed in the online learning over the past few weeks. A big well done to you all!

We have had six weeks of Stephenson Stars which have been awarded each week on a Friday to students who have shown one of our RED values of Respect, Equality and Determination. 

Term One Stephenson Stars:

Josh Healy-Hart, Victoria Reid, Fin Kelly, Benjamin Palmar, Charlie Threlfall, Arial Westerberg, Izzy Healy-Hart, Alexander Bhambri-Lyte, Evelyn Staley, Corey Walters, Scarlet Lewis, Beth Niemczyk, Chloe Elliot, Warren Hooper, Jack Dennis, Lauren Weeks, Reuben Peacock, Daniel Hawkes, Dillan Faulkner, Coby Barbosa-Goa, Harvey Pearce, Joe Crawford, Tehreem Ahmad, Charlie Thoburn, Dexter Peate, George Garland, Sophia Harper, Angel Chinn, Jacob Hanks-McMorrow, Mattijs Korswagen, Adil Mohamood, Molly Dashfield, Hussein Almewary, Mitzi Hines-Ewens, Jonathan Puati-Kambu, Scarlett Newby, Jack Thoburn, Muhsin Hassan, Calum Stock, Phoebe Palmer-Givan, Joseph Williams and Ben Bohin.

Finally, it was lovely to see Paul Stephenson recognised in a recent article in the Guardian linking into Black History Month, which we have celebrated and promoted at St Katherine's throughout October. It is a tremendous privilege for our house to be named after such an inspiring person, I strongly urge you to read the article if you have not already done so. Mitzi Hines-Ewans recited the poem "Hollow", about the toppling of the statue of Colston in Bristol, in a house competition last week. It is amazing to work with such creative students and celebrate the diverse community of both our school and city.

I wish all a relaxing half term and hope you all stay safe.

Mr Thomas, Head of Stephenson House

The start of this school year could not have come soon enough. The preceding events of March 2020 have impacted on all of us, but what better way to put the difficult times behind us and look forward, in a positive and determined manner. 

It is with the above in mind that I want to thank every single Turing student, and your parents and carers, for the amazing way that you have thrown yourselves into term 1. The members of Turing House have once again risen to the challenges and I would like to celebrate their successes. All of the achievements have been based on the house values and motto:

• Turing Values: Determination, Acceptance, Unity
• Turing Motto: “The strength of the team is each individual member, the strength of each member is the team”
• Turing Spiritual Animal: The Wolf for loyalty, pathfinding, never ending journey and sense of family.

Notable successes have been seen across Turing House, with students earning a considerable number of praise points, eight students have been truly outstanding, with Jena Walker topping the bill. Well done Jena!

Ty Bristol, 11T, 173 points. Jess Stanley, 11T2, 127 points. Adam Britton, 10T, 130 points. Hope Roberts, 9T1, 183 points. Jena Walker, 9T2, 193 points. Evie Roberts, 8T, 134 points. Joey Doherty, 7T1, 184 points. Luke James, 7T2, 183 points.

We have also identified 56 Tremendous Turings over Term 1, students who have exemplified our house values, well done to all of you. In turn, this has had a massive and positive impact on the overall Behaviour Ratio at St Katherine’s. Turing House is in second place with 92%. I think this reflects the concerted and sustained effort made by all house members.

Year 7: Lola Bevan-Petrucco, Bowen O'Callaghan, Anaiya Brady, Alex Caveille, Darius Ionescu, Marcus Perry, Manon Herzog, Joey Doherty, Malek Mengoud, Tom Earle, Luke James, Isobel Charwood.

Year 8: Victor Achim, Fern Clarke, Sakariya Ahmed, Riley Bristol, Evie Roberts, Sophia Hawkesby.

Year 9: Daniel Millward, Damian Zaru, Lucy Holloway, Belle Fey, Will Young, Ashton Shermer-Parker, Sol Flight, Phoebe Oakman, Jena Walker, Jack Jansen, Nahla Mengoud, Mikka Pittaway.

Year 10: Gabe Antolic-Furlong, Adam Britton, Yusra Ahmed, Nicole Conbeer, Hollie Andrews, Tacie-Ann Francis.

Year 11: Harrison Roberts, Samia Caraye, Farida Awil, Ethan Bose, Euan Sutton, Isobel Taylor, Ava Baker, Jamie-leigh Bell, Jessica Stanley, Izzy Howie, Jack Fogg, Yusra Hassan.

I have always maintained that the key to success at school for all students is directly linked to attendance. I am very proud to say that 101 students in Turing House achieved 100% attendance. This is so pleasing and will be reflected in the progress of these individuals. As a house, the percentage is 93.2%.

I am also impressed by the Behaviour Ratio of the house as an entity and individual Tutor Groups within Turing House. 9T2 are leading the way with the highest overall number of praise points, but I am proud of the totals being achieved by all Turing Tutor Groups:

7T1: 94%, 7T2: 97%, 8T: 87%, 9T1: 93%, 9T2: 97%, 10T: 90%, 11T1: 89% and 11T2: 82%

Turing House students have the highest Praise Point ratio per student in the school at 93.8%, a real team effort, supporting each other to behave well and commit to learning in lessons.

Finally, I would like to turn my attention to the on-going House Competition. Turing House has enjoyed great success in the Inter House Competition. I am delighted to say that this first term, our standards at Turing have not faltered. Although there is a long journey ahead, Turing House is at present leading the Inter House Competition table, on 376 points. Long may this dominance continue in everything that house members do.

I hope that you enjoy your well earned holiday and return to school in Term 2, invigorated, motivated and steadfast in your quest to do your best and show progression in every aspect of academic, house and school objectives.

Mrs Price, Head of Turing House

It is so good to be back at school following the lockdown period and have Yousafzai back together as a whole house. Although there are differences this year and it feels like separate year groups, I am so proud of Yousafzai House and how students have just got on with it.

We have enjoyed seeing each other on google meet for assemblies and virtually waving to each other! We have just had our celebration of achievement assembly for the term and we had lots of things to be celebrating. The Gisborne brothers made a real impression - with both Alfred (9Y) and Laurie (7Y) being in the top 3 highest praise point earners in the house and Alfred being in the top 10 of the school. 

Tutors nominated two individuals from each of their tutor groups to be names as ‘Malala’s Greats’ - these individuals have had an excellent start to the term and shown real resilience and how they value their education "like it is a diamond":  

7Y - Laurie Gisborne and Mabel Cook, 8Y1 - Zikkrya Muhammed and Elodie Whalley, 8Y2 - Oliver Jackson and Naomi Burr, 9Y - Alfred Gisborne and Rochelle Woodruff, 10Y1 - Waide Watson and Emily Want, 10Y2 - Jacob Duncan and Ellie-Mai Herbert and 11Y - Rosa Thomson and TJ Peppard. 

We celebrated a group of year 10 students who have made a fantastic improvement in their behaviour since last year and improved their behaviour ratio by at least 30%. These individuals were Jacob Duncan, Reggie-Lee Hayward, Alfie King and Daud Ismail. We have seen some huge increases in attendance as well from a couple of individuals: TJ Peppard and Tariikh Hussein. We are so proud of them and how they have shown real resilience and effort to make a change. Well done! 

We have had two weeks without Year 10 who have been the first year group to undertake learning at home. They have engaged fantastically and it has been a joy to have a phone call to check and see how they are getting on. Our year 11 students will be a real focus over the next month as they prepare themselves for their mocks. We need to support them to get the right balance between working hard but also resting and relaxing!

We are currently third in the house competition - with some work to do on our commitment to the academic and Fun Fix Friday competitions. I am so proud of each individual member who has contributed to the house in any way this term - Theeban Mahesan, Jacob Duncan and Dylan Hewett did a fantastic job in the poetry recitation competition. 

However, what I always say to Yousafzai is the house championship is not the most important thing. Who we are and who we are becoming is more important so our real focus is being the best versions of ourselves and making sure our behaviour and attendance is the best. We want to focus on being the kindest people that we can be and putting others before ourselves.

A huge thank you to all the students of Yousafzai House who have made a phenomenal start to the academic year and to all the parents and carers for your continued support.

Enjoy a well earned break and we’ll see you in November!

Miss Andrews, Head of Yousafzai House

We welcomed students back into PE lessons in September and have wasted no time fretting about the things we can't do at the moment. Things are different in our lessons and co-curricular activities but we are just making the most of every single day and enjoying being back at school! 

We were busy over the summer painting, decorating and refurbishing some of our facilities. Students will have noticed that the bottom courts have been resurfaced, giving us another great outdoor space. Basketball players will also appreciate the new hoops that have been installed on the top courts which now make for a much better game. Lots may have changed but our core business is still exactly the same - to give as many students as possible as many opportunities as possible to get active!

PE lessons started in earnest as we made the most of the brilliant September weather we were gifted. There were plenty of days where we were active and enjoying our amazing surroundings. Students have been covering rugby, netball, football, basketball, fitness, lacrosse, gaelic football, rackets, boccia and plenty more in their PE lessons and the PE staff have really enjoyed being back in front of our classes again.

We were adamant that we also wanted to offer students opportunities to get involved in activities at lunchtime and after school, despite the necessary restrictions. We have managed to timetable at least one lunchtime and one after school slot for each year group bubble. It has been lovely to see familiar faces as well as some newcomers and we would encourage everyone to make the most of the activities that are on offer. Special mention to Year 7 who have arrived in swarms to clubs - having 45 boys to Year 7 rugby practice was a real highlight!

As well as lessons and clubs, we are midway through our end of term house cross country events. It is great to get back to house sport and we are looking forward to a full, yet adapted, programme of competition this year. Good luck to everyone who is running for their houses in the final week of term. Year 10 need not panic either; although they haven't been in school for their event as originally planned, there will still be an opportunity to run when they return.

We are delighted to have appointed well over 80 captains and leaders to official positions of responsibility for teams, houses or senior roles this term. We are really looking forward to working with all of our leaders and really driving forward PE and school sport this year.

We've got lots of exciting things on the horizon for term 2 including house dodgeball, benchball, rugby and netball competitions, more clubs and practices, virtual leadership opportunities and hopefully a few more familiar activities. A huge thank you to all of our students who have cooperated in such a mature and responsible way this term while their teachers have found their feet. We are also hugely grateful to parents and carers for their continued support.

The start of the academic year 2020/21 may have been different but we are determined to make the best of it!

Mr Cook, Head of PE 

• 02 November: INSET DAY 4 - School closed to students 
• 03 November: Students in school for Term 2 
• 12 November: SKAMPS Virtual AGM, 7-9pm 
• 18 November: Sixth Form Virtual Open Evening, register here
• 30 November - 11 December: Year 11 mock exams
• 08 December: Year 9 second does HPV vaccination
• 09 December: Year 10 Parent/ Carer Evening
• 11 December: Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children appeal 
• 18 December: END OF TERM 2 Early finish – buses leave at 12.45pm

There isn’t enough space here to showcase the huge variety of student experiences and achievements this term. Keep up to date by visiting the ‘News and Events’ section on the school website, check the school Facebook page or follow us on Twitter (@stkathsschool)