As I write this update, the Sixth Form block is a chaotic maelstrom of teenage limbs, gasping and sprawling to get their hands on the precious treasure laid out before them. It just goes to show - you’re never too old for a good, old-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt. 

It’s a lovely (albeit hectic) end to a packed and eventful term. Having chosen to introduce a second round of Year 13 mocks, we have been so impressed by the commitment and dedication shown by many of our students. Whilst these mocks were intended to be supportive - we promise! - there’s no denying it’s been a challenging couple of weeks leading up to the Easter break. 

Year 13 students have been casting a jealous eye across at our Year 12, who have been on two separate trips this term. We can only apologise - for obvious reasons, we weren’t able to take them away last year, as much as we would have liked to. Towards the start of the term, the entire year group - every single one - were taken for a day of looking to their futures at UWE’s state-of-the-art Frenchay Campus, and a couple of weeks later we were on the bus again, this time heading to Ashton Gate for the National Apprenticeships and Universities Fair. This was not only a chance to snaffle as many free pens as possible (although there were some highly impressive hauls), but to have some important and mature conversations about pathways. We were so impressed by our students’ conduct and attitude on both these excursions. 

There have also been lots of exciting goings-on back at school. Many of our Sixth Formers have risen to the challenge of raising money this term. Year 13 gathered together a rabble of staff and students for a fantastic quiz after school (the Sixth Form team emerged victorious, but we don’t like to go on about it), while Year 12 have put on bake sales, sweet sales, and crochet sales, all for a range of good causes. 

Huge thanks to the students who have stepped up to deliver assemblies this term: to Amalie for speaking passionately and knowledgeably about Neurodiversity, to the Fair Trade Team who encouraged us to think about where our food comes from, to Zaeem who earlier this week shared the importance of Ramadan to his own faith, and that of the wider community. 

Finally, a big highlight this term was the visit of Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary and Fire Services Matt Parr in the final week. We were hugely fortunate to be regaled with tales from his remarkable life, rising from a misspent childhood through the ranks of the navy to captain a submarine at just 34 years, before beginning his incredibly important current role, overseeing public services. What an honour to hear his story. 

Easter is a time to rest and recuperate, but our young people (particularly those in Year 13) must ensure they remain engaged in their studies, with final exams starting in the early weeks of Term 5. The final sprint is well and truly underway. Several subjects will be putting on revision/coursework sessions over the break (students will know if this applies to them), while all the resources needed to get ahead and stay ahead in the run-up to exams are available online via Google Classroom. 

And once it’s all done, we’ll get together on July 1st for our Leavers’ Party - a light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to the Sixth Form community for another great term, and wishing everyone a restful break. 

Mr Davies, Head of Sixth Form

Congratulations to Stephenson House who remain on top in the House Championship. Their lead at the top is narrowing and Yousafzai, Turing and Pankhurst have all made gains on their lead meaning that the House Championship is closer and things are shaping up for a competitive and exciting run into the end of the year. 

The ethos competition this term focussed on punctuality and the result was extremely close between Pankhurst and Yousafzai House. Yousafzai pipped Pankhurst to the post and were awarded 200 house points but Pankhurst House deserves a special mention for the enormous improvement they have made in this area of school life. Congratulations to them. If they are able to continue to improve in this way, there may be a huge upset on the cards at the end of term 6.

House Sports this term have allowed students to compete against one another in hockey and football and there have been some nail-biting matches. Pankhurst again have hugely improved their performance and commitment to House Sport and have enjoyed their successes which will no doubt, give them a boost for the forthcoming ninja warrior and rowing competitions that will take place at the start of term 5.

Fun Fix Fridays have had a STEM theme this term and British Science Week, Pi Day and the Rubik's Cube challenge have all been in the spotlight for Friday Fun.

We continue to value reading highly in the House Championship and the Accelerated Reader competition was won this term by Pankhurst with Turing in second place. World Book Day was celebrated with a hilarious masked reader competition where staff donned a disguise and read a passage from their favourite books. Mr Court's lemon head and some slightly unsettling disguises from the senior team will stay with students for a long time to come I am sure.

The competition is hotting up and we are excited to see how terms 5 and 6 play out. Will Stephenson hang onto their lead? Will Pankhurst continue to improve? Can Yousafzai and Turing do what is needed to take the lead? We can't wait to find out!

Mrs Crocker, Assistant Headteacher

It’s been an interesting term for Pankhurst House. Whilst we remain 4th in the House Championship we have had much to celebrate. I was really pleased with our attitude to the Ethos Competition which this term was based around lateness. As we all know punctuality is a matter of good manners and it was pleasing to finish second in this competition which was really closely fought. All of our tutor groups improved the number of lates they had this term which is what I asked for at the start.

It was also pleasing to see our Year 8 girls finish first in their respective spring sport competitions; well done! A special mention should go to our Year 7 boys who came second and were unlucky not to win and to our Year 10 girls who also finished second, which is their highest ever place. Again, well done!

We had the opportunity in our assembly on Monday to celebrate Maisie Hasell and Shay Melias winning the time capsule competition and I was really pleased to announce that Jonasz Malcolm has gone through to the National Rotary Club Writing competition.

8P was the tutor group of the term having made a big effort to lift their standards over the course of term 4. We’re looking forward to term 5 and will continue to put pressure on Turing House in third place by trying to win every competition in term 5 and 6! Hopefully we’ll return well rested and up for the challenge after the Easter break.

Mr Murdoch, Head of Pankhurst House

As another term draws to a close it is lovely to take time to reflect on all of the contributions to the house as well as the wider school community. In Stephenson House I am proud of how students immerse themselves in these and it is a huge privilege to be able to see the growth of the young people in our house. Whether it is creating a decorative door for World Book Day, representing the house in sport, raising money for charity or just being the best version of themselves.

It was lovely to see students from a range of year groups working on the World Book Day door decorations and the leadership shown by Sophia Harper 10S2 in making this happen should be applauded. The ability to first and foremost produce an amazing display is a testament to her as well as managing the project with the help of budding artists from across years 7-10. The theme of Greek myths was a tall order but the team worked so hard to put this together. Seeing them on the day working together was lovely and the vertical aspect of houses is a great opportunity which should not be missed. We ended up finishing joint first with Yousafzai so a big well done to the team of Sophia Harper, Tahreem Ahmed, Alice Brochot-Sharpe, Harry Brown, Angel Chinn, Chester Delve, Ruby Fowler, Sophie Hicks, Issy Healy-Hart Victoria Karczewska, Milly Marlow and Isobel Marlow. Stephenson book door photos one and two.

The house sport competition continued this term and both football and hockey have always been traditionally strong for Stephenson House. The most important thing for me as head of house is that we were able to get teams out with huge numbers representing the house across a number of different year groups. A big shout out to year 8, 9 and 10 boys who won their football competitions as well as the year 10 girls who also were victorious. 

The ethos competition this term was around punctuality to lessons and I have spent this time talking about the value of respect and how it is important to be on time to lessons and school. Despite a poor start in this competition we ended up reducing our lateness as we went through the term and finished level first with Yousafzai. However, due to Stephenson having slightly less students, it went on average so we finished in third place.

Outside of school there were a number of our students who attended the swimathon at Parish Wharf in Portishead. Apparently they broke the record for the number of laps which is fantastic, more importantly they raised a huge amount of money for charity. A big well done to Evelyn Staley, Shannon Barker, Maisie Bobby, Poppy Butler-Wheatcroft, Maisie Thorn and Jessie Brackstone.

We finish the term still in the lead in both the overall house competition and the house sport but Yousafzai, Turing and Pankhurst are hot on our heels and we will need to continue to show determination in everything we do to ensure we are the best version of ourselves.

Finally, I wish your families a restful Easter break and hope that the sun shines brightly for all of us over this period.

Mr Thomas, Head of Stephenson House

The well-earned Easter Break is upon us! 

So now is the best time to celebrate the many “highs” of term 4 and reflect on areas that need to be challenged and improved. I have been really impressed with the effort that the majority of house members have put into moving Turing House forward as a group, whilst also pushing personal boundaries of achievement. So “Thank You” Turing House members for all your hard work.

A vital part of house success is the support that I continue to have from the tutor team and House Leaders Maida Mohamed and Tacie-Ann Francis. Their efforts must not be underestimated.

It has been customary for me to use our house “Core Values” as headings to summarise the achievements from each term. I think it is a good way to remind everyone of these values, but at the same time demonstrate that they have true meaning to the students who perform so well in these identified areas. So I will once again highlight some fantastic achievements by Turing students.

The Inter-House competition has, once again, brought out the best in Turing House. During the World Book Day, there was the House Hub Door Decoration Competition. Turing House finished in second place; the contributions and ideas from Y10 and Y8 were outstanding.

Inter-House sport really moved into the upper gears this term with the spring competitions in football and hockey. Turing students displayed commitment, team work, unity and fair-play. Year 7 boys achieved first place in football, having turned around a fourth place from last term. This was equalled by the Year 7 girls as they finished strongly in second place. Year 8 boys and girls battled hard for their fourth place positions, however, the stand-out feature of their performances was the monumental effort to make an incredible turn-out possible. The Year 9 Turing competitors gained third place in boys football, topped by first place for the girls in their hockey. Year 10 boys and girls experienced the tougher end of Inter House, with the boys securing fourth place while the girls were disqualified for not fielding their second team.

As a result of the efforts of all of those who participated, Turing House is now in a very credible third place. We are definitely capable of turning this into a second place or higher. 

On the arts front I would like to congratulate Grace Jenkins 8T1 for her achievement in the Rotary Young Writer Competition. Grace won the intermediate category and her entry has been put forward for the national final. Here is what the judges had to say about her piece of work: 

• “Grace uses an interesting poetry/ prose mix addressing a range of issues.”
• “An interesting prose poem.”

I would now like to turn to an area that requires the attention of all house members; the house ethos competition which this term focused on punctuality. Disappointingly Turing came in fourth position only securing 50 points out of a possible maximum of 200. A small number of Turing House students are really letting down the overall effort being made by others. Yousafzai claimed a maximum of 200 points, replacing Turing in second place. The challenge to all house members is to turn this disappointment around in the remaining two terms, with a possible 400 points up for grabs in the ethos competitions and more points available in two remaining terms of house competitions. The fight for the house championship is far from over and with everyone displaying the house values of unity, determination and acceptance, I am sure this can be turned around in our favour. So let’s all pull together and get involved in every way that we can:

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team”

Finally, on an uplifting note, it is also important that we recognise the Magnificent Termly Turing students. These students have once again consistently demonstrated one or more of Turing's values (Unity, Acceptance and Determination) and sustained this over the whole of term 4. Their attitude and behaviour are an example to all students at St Katherine’s. Well done to:

• 7T1: Harrison Forder
• 8T1: Grace Jenkins
• 8T2: Thomas Earle
• 9T: Roary Gallagher
• 10T1: Alex James
• 10T2: Isaac Bowers
• 11T: Tacie-Ann Francis

I hope that everyone has a well-earned break over the Easter Holidays and returns to school with fresh enthusiasm and energy for the challenges of term 5.

Mrs Price, Head of Turing House

Yousafzai have had a brilliant term 4 with the house championship and we have settled quite nicely in second place with Stephenson feeling well within our grasp! 

Therefore there have been loads of highlights to mention. Finally we have won an ethos competition, worth 200 points for the winner; this term we have been focusing on punctuality, ensuring we are being on time to all lessons. Our hard work paid off! We have also continued to see some brilliant achievements in house sport with Yousafzai coming second overall for the spring term. The boys did well coming second for years 8, 9 and 10 and the year 7 girls did fantastically coming first.

To mark and celebrate World Book Day, Yousafzai decorated the doors of technology (our House Hub) as the book cover of Alice in Wonderland. Charlie Beavan was the brains and creativity behind it coming up with a brilliant design and Naomi Burr drew an incredible replica of Alice. This all meant that we came joint second with Stephenson in this competition. Samuel Jones has also excelled this term with regards to the house competition. He learnt over 100 digits of pi and completed the rubik's cube in less than 40 seconds! 

There have been a number of students who have secured the accolade of reading a million words. These are Ula Murdoch 7Y1, Lara Mohan 7Y2, Ella Johnson 8Y and Wiktor Lietzau 8Y. A huge well done to you all! Please continue to encourage your Yousafzai child to read as much as they can and make sure they quiz their book and complete their reading log. 

The battle for the elephant has continued and ends its journey in term 2 with 7Y1!

As always, we finish the term with our celebration of achievement assembly. We always celebrate two individuals from each tutor group who have had an exceptional term. Well done to: 

• 7Y1 - Ula Muroch and Freya Bowers
• 7Y2  - Teddy Lane and Ami Kaman
• 8Y  - Zai Hulton and Ameilia O’Reilly
• 9Y1 -  Oscar Pearson and Morgan Marsh
• 9Y2 - Theeban Mahesan and Naomi Burr
• 10Y - Maya Churchill and Leah Wardingley 
• 11Y1 - Melissa Bartlett and Charlie Evans
• 11Y2 - Bella Wake and Charlie Beavan

We have had the reminder in assembly this term of just how precious and important our education is and how it can open so many doors and avenues for us. We reflected on how Malala wouldn’t settle for the aspirations that others set for her but instead challenged herself to ensure she got the best for herself. We had the joy of having two of our year 11 students, James Wamulo and Will Stratton, speak to us about their aspirations. They explained how these have changed over the years and how school has helped them in ensuring they have high aspirations for themselves. This was a small reflection on how brilliant our year 11 are and how committed they are at getting the best out of their education - this has been demonstrated in how hard they have worked and revised for their last set of mocks. We only have one full term left with them! 

It is has been a real joy to have in-person assemblies back and a wonderful privilege to see the whole house all together on a Wednesday morning. It reminds me have fortunate I am to be head of Yousafzai House and what brilliant students we have in our house. Thank you to each and every one of you who makes Yousafzai what it is, and thank you to the parents and carers for your ongoing support. 

Have a really good break all! Happy Easter to those who celebrate it and Ramandan Mubarak to all our Muslim students and families.

Miss Andrews, Head of Yousafzai House

• This term we've had an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. For the last two years, terms 3 and 4 have been the lost terms where students have consistently missed out on the opportunities that spring time provides. Spring fixtures, events, clubs and practices have all disappeared into the abyss for the last 24 months and this term lots of our older students have finally had the opportunities to pick up where they left off back in March 2020.
• In the penultimate week of this term Years 7, 8 and 9 all experienced Spring House Sport for the first time. 400 students from across the school turned out to represent their houses on the football and hockey pitches and we had some brilliant competition across the piece. Congratulations to Year 8 in particular for posting the highest turnout percentage of all of the year groups!
• Indoor cricket has continued this term with our U13 and U15 girls teams both reaching the North Schools play-off stages of the competition. Our U13 and U15 boys both qualified for the Somerset County Indoor Premier League Cricket finals and both sets of players enjoyed their outing at the County Ground down in Taunton. Both teams put in great performances and can be hugely proud of the fact that they are both ranked as one of the top four teams in the county! What a fantastic springboard for the outdoor cricket season which will soon be upon us.
• Hockey, netball, rugby, football and basketball fixtures have continued in earnest and there are now almost 350 students who have represented the school this term in at least one sporting activity. There has been a particular focus on Year 11 this term as we start to mark the end of their time with us. It was lovely to see girls out enjoying their last netball fixtures for the school including their annual tournament and also great to see the boys signing off on the football pitch against Sidcot last week. There are a handful of fixtures left at the time of writing so I would really urge Year 11 to make the most of the last few opportunities that are available to them. 
• Fin, Sam, Marcus and Otis have been busy climbing in the last round of the South West Schools Bouldering League. I was lucky enough to catch them in action recently and all four of the boys have put in superb, sustained efforts over the past few months down at the Climbing Academy. We are eagerly awaiting results but regardless of the final outcome, I am hugely grateful to this group for their vertical endeavours! Special mention to Fin Kelly for organising the team for the competition and for helping his team mates with some expert guidance. 
• Arguably our biggest success of this term came just a few days ago when the Year 8 girls were crowned North Somerset Hockey champions after a thrilling set of performances at the Year 8 tournament which was held at Clevedon. Due to the tournament involving reduced numbers there were also lots of Year 8 hockey players who missed out this time around. A special mention should go to them for their contributions to the team. There is lots of strength in depth amongst the Year 8 girls’ hockey team and we are really excited about seeing them all in action when they move to 11-a-side. Huge congratulations to all of the girls who played in the winning team. 

As always, we're just scratching the surface of term 4 and if you want to read and see a whole lot more, there is only one way to do it - get yourself signed up to our termly PE newsletter by visiting this link.

Mr Cook, Head of PE

We need examinations invigilators during exam seasons (including 'mocks') through the year. Hours are flexible between 8 am and 4 pm and can vary according to your availability and the examinations timetable. 

Contract: Casual, required as soon as possible

Further information about the school, the post and how to apply can be found on the school website.

To apply for this role please go to: Exam Invigilator

St Katherine’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The post is subject to DBS Barred list and Enhanced Disclosure checks.

Closing Date:  Midnight 24 April 2022.

• 25 April: Students in school for Term 5
• 28 April: Dance festival trip to Weston Playhouse
• 28 April: Iftar at BCCS
• 30 April: D of E practice walk
• 02 May: May Day Bank Holiday
• 14-15 May: D of E Expedition in the Mendips
• 16 May: GCSEs and A Level examinations begin
• 16 May: Parents/ Carers Association meeting, 18.30-19.30
• 26 May: Year 7 Parent/ carer evening
• 27 May: END OF TERM 5
• 6 June: Students in school for Term 6

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)