2022 Lent Newsletter

Lent Term Newsletter 2022

Message from the Principal The Lent Term at St Joseph’s is always a special part of the academic year as we navigate the darkness of winter to the light of spring, the joy of Easter and the anticipation of the summer months ahead.

Despite a significant spike in Covid cases earlier in the term, we have endeavoured to return as quickly and safely as possible to a normal routine and provision for our pupils. With sports fixtures, day and residential trips, including our Arts trip to New York over Easter, and a fabulous College musical – we feel like we have our school back!

Year 11 and 13 students have been working hard to secure the best grades possible this summer and to prepare for the first set of public exams in two years. I know that much additional revision will be completed over Easter and am pleased to note students signing up to our Easter GCSE and A-level revision courses.

The Easter holiday will be busy on campus with our Nursery and Boarding houses open and sport and academic camps running.

Next term, we very much look forward to a large number of events, including our Arts Festival, Prep School production, Cricket Week, Rugby 7s and Netball festivals, Sports Days and Prize Givings – please see the Parent Portal for all key dates.

I do hope you enjoy the content of this Newsletter, as we share with you an overview of our students’ adventures and achievements since Christmas.

Wishing all families an enjoyable Easter break.

Mrs Danielle Clarke Principal

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A Word from Mrs Wood Dear Parents, Another term seems to have come and gone in no time; we even managed to weather storm Franklin and successfully navigate our way back to online learning for a day. As a Prep School we have been delighted to have far more opportunity this year to work on whole school projects and share activities between year groups, once again building the special family bond that the pupils so enjoy between all the age groups.

Our Prep School Eco Committee is an example of this and goes from strength to strength. This pupil-led programme is taking responsibility for carrying out impactful environmental actions within the Prep School. The Committee, led by our Year 6 Eco Prefects, has met to complete an Environmental Review of the school. Once the committee had answered all of the questions, we were able to identify our areas of strength, namely Global Citizenship, Biodiversity and School Grounds.

We also identified our areas for improvement as Waste, Energy and Marine. Already plenty of Eco action has taken place. A new tree was planted in the Prep School grounds and the children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 planted daffodil bulbs in the area surrounding the tree. The whole of the Prep School embarked on an inter house Litter Pick, which was both enjoyable and productive.

Across the school pupils have joined the Big Battery Hunt, recycling over 1,400 batteries, and each day crisp packets are collected at lunchtime for recycling.

A fitting end to the term included our annual Easter Egg Hunt and our pupils were delighted to perform for you at the Easter Extravaganza. I sincerely hope that everyone gets the chance for a little bit of rest and recuperation during the Easter break, returning ready for our action packed summer term.

Mrs Vanessa Wood Vice Principal – Head of Prep School

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Students Gain Cultural Capital on London Tours Making up for time lost to the pandemic and lockdowns, our Year 7, 8 and 9 students threw themselves with gusto into their respective combined Arts, History and Science London tours and proved what an astonishing amount of ground can be covered by enthusiastic teenagers over two days. (Well done, indeed, to their accompanying staff members!)

Year 7 took in the Science Museum, the National Gallery and Frozen the Musical on their first day, followed by the British Museum and the Tower of London the next.

Year 8 spent their first morning at the Natural History Museum, followed by the V&A and the Science Museum after lunch. They crowned a practically perfect day with an evening performance of Mary Poppins. Friday took them to the National Maritime Museum and the Tower.

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Not to be outdone, Year 9 followed the sophistication of their first stop - Tate Modern - with the ghoulish delights of the London Dungeon, then on to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical retelling of the Cinderella story. Day 2 saw them exploring the treasures of the British Museum before discovering the wonders of the deep at the London Aquarium.

A hotel stay and meal at a brasserie in Covent Garden completed the itinerary for all our happy and very well behaved students.

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News from the Prep School

World Book Day – Read All About It Having been told that an accomplished woman should have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, and possess a certain something in her manner, address and expressions (phew!), Mr Darcy famously replied: ‘and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.’

We are with Mr Darcy and believe everyone benefits from reading. Our students, from Nursery to Sixth Form, and staff all took pleasure in proclaiming their love of reading on World Book Day. For our Prep pupils, a day in pyjamas set the perfect cosy tone. Sharing books was key, including older boys and girls listening to younger ones reading, having stories read aloud by staff, and children parading the dioramas they had created to represent their favourite titles and characters.

Our resident author, Tianna (Y7), shared her own published work, ‘Hamsters Don’t Get Lost’ with Year 3 and 4.

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Prep Children Confirm It’s a Wonderful World The children of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have revelled in their Woodland Explorer sessions this term. They had a tremendous time taking part in the RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch and as signs of spring started to appear, they took the opportunity to make some observational drawings of daffodils.

Members of the Infant Hygge and Wellbeing Club enjoyed painting pinecones to make nature-based decorations for the trees in our forest area.

The girls and boys of Year 3 and 4 have been learning about acoustic engineering. Year 4 made a model of energy moving along a wave and then shared it with Year 3.

Our Year 5 and 6 pupils worked in pairs to design aeroplanes in their engineering lessons, culminating in a flight-testing session. They discovered which pair had the most successful design in terms of distance flown. Who knew that the fundamentals of physics, design and engineering could be so much fun to master!

The Prep children marked British Science Week with a STEM House Challenge. They worked in teams to imagine and create a new plant that might be found growing on Mars. There were certainly some very imaginative ideas, with everything from plants of happiness to ones with poisonous roots that eat asteroids and will destroy all other forms of plant life.

The children had to present their ideas in a final show case which was adjudicated by Mrs Wood. Lots of house points were awarded and everybody had great fun working together.

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Gearing Up as Today’s Cyclists

Light Fuse and Watch the Imaginations Ignite

Our Year 6 students had a lot of fun – some of it in the rain - learning how to stay safe on the roads thanks to their Bikeability course.

Bikeability is the Department for Transport’s national cycle training programme, teaching practical skills and an understanding of how to cycle safely on today’s roads.

Our Year 6 agents were joined by visiting pupils, many of whom will joining St Joseph’s in September, for a day of challenges.

Our popular Mission Impossible event allows children to prove to themselves how ready they are for the transition to senior school. Along with academic challenges related to spy craft, there was plenty of active adventure, with climbing, trampolining and archery. Plus a fizzing bomb-shaped pudding at lunch time.

Sophie Lives Up to the School’s Latin Motto, Demonstrating Faith, Hope and Tenacity Sophie (Y6) travelled with Senshuken Shotokan Karate Club’s squad to Stoke on Trent to compete in the Central Region’s Championships hosted by the Karate Union of Great Britain. She reached the semi-finals in each of her categories but it was her sheer determination and stamina that saw her through to be awarded a bronze medal in kumite, full contact fighting.

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Tiger Smiles All Round A chorus of ‘Xīnnián kuàilè’ greeted the visitors to the Prep School when some of our Chinese Sixth Form students dropped in to perform a traditional dragon dance and distribute red envelopes to mark the beginning of the Year of the Tiger.

Prep School Sport Rugby

Hockey

The U8 and U9 rugby teams have enjoyed a fantastic start, with many of the boys playing rugby for the first time. Both teams have taken part in some exciting fixtures, as well as several games where coaching and development were the priority. All the boys should be immensely proud of their progress and development.

This was clearly shown in the performances of both teams in games against Holmwood House and Ipswich High School with the development of our defensive shape and structure as well as terrific support lines. The boys displayed our core values of aspiration, respect and confidence throughout.

The U8 and U9 girls have developed their team play from the start of the season, in particular with their attacking and defensive principles, which have been evident in many invasion games.

The coaches have worked on stick skills with the girls this term and this has greatly helped their proficiency to pass the ball around in space, which in turn created chances for the team to score. The U9 A hockey team travelled to Littlegarth to play in a tournament. The girls may have started with a loss but their heads did not drop and they went on to win their next two matches 4-0 and 2-0. The last two matches were very even and ended up as draws. The girls played some excellent hockey, linking passes and pushing into the attacking D as well as displaying strength in the defence. There is more to come from this team in the future.

Football The emphasis for our U10 and U11 football teams this term has been on aspects of team play, as well as developing more advanced skills such as passing, dribbling and shooting in game conditions. It has been exciting for our pupils to represent the College on numerous occasions. A highlight this year was the U10 and U11 display against Holmwood House in the last game of the season, where they were really able to put together everything they have learnt from the coaches.

Netball Our netball teams have taken all opportunities to develop in a competitive netball fixture list this term. The focus this season has been developing the girls’ skills, such as shooting and passing.

Their improvement towards evolving their skills has been fantastic and this has seen the squad play better from game to game.

A highlight was the display against Ipswich High School, where each of the pupils played in many different positions, whilst continuing to work very much as a team to score the goals.

Multi Skills Day The Prep pupils all took part in a multi skills morning, run by the Year 6 girls and boys. Everyone worked hard and discovered many new sporting skills, both as players and first time coaches.

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Avid Audience for Young Menswear Designer London-based menswear designer and fashion lecturer Basil Lam OB returned to St Joseph’s College to talk to Textiles, Art and Photography students. Along the way he offered much encouragement and many useful insights into getting yourself known in the world of fashion design.

Basil, who left the College in 2015, was extremely popular at St Jo’s and made an almost royal tour around the site, greeting old friends amongst the staff and new ones amongst the students. He used slides to illustrate his journey from broad inspiration to finished concepts as he worked on ideas including redefining the trench coat and the influence of film noir.

He described the long process of working up initial concepts into finished designs, with the fitting process becoming increasingly important as he reached MA level. He stressed the power of social media in getting one’s work a wider audience.

Our students were particularly interested in hearing about fashion shoots – the choice of locations (beware, these could appear very altered at different times of day) and the selection of models (Basil favoured professional dancers who, not surprisingly, added dynamism). One student asked how he coped with rejection and he replied it was in the nature of the creative industry that not everyone would love your work.

He stressed the importance of research. This could not simply be done on computer – screens offered little idea of texture or weight, for example.

Even mainsteam museums and libraries were not enough; creativity was best served by students going out and about, finding specialist galleries, and seeking out museums and collections devoted to particular cultures.

Basil’s label, @ka.wai.lam, has already featured widely in top flight fashion press, including Vogue Italia, which published part of his graduate collection, Melancholy for Lost Youth, and Fashion Crossover.

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Mars Here We Come The Science Faculty celebrated Science Week with a range of activities throughout the Senior School. Our Year 7 – 9 students used their Science lessons to look at Mars exploration in different ways, trying to understand and solve some of the challenges that scientists have to face when considering building a colony on the Red Planet. Some of our students used electrical energy to split up a weak solution of sulphuric acid, producing oxygen and hydrogen, to explore electrolysis.

Year 10 students received insights into two different healthcare-related careers from Jennifer Cook, a radiotherapist, and Jonathan George, a physiotherapist, both former pupils of the College. Our Sixth Form scientists had a Zoom call with former Head Boy Mr Jonathan Hobson OB, a consultant ENT surgeon, opening their eyes to the world of medicine and the life of a doctor.

With a poster competition and a tutor group quiz, it was a wonderful week of discovery for our young scientists.

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Staff in the Spotlight Mr Tyler Head of Cricket I grew up playing multiple sports, including cricket, football and rugby. Football was, for a long period of time, the biggest sport in my life as a youngster, and only recently did I stop playing. At a very young age, however, I was introduced to cricket by my Grandad and since then it has become not just a hobby but a job.

The opportunity to do something that you enjoy as a job is often underrated. I was never of a good enough standard to take my cricket anywhere professionally but have had the opportunity to work with people who have or are currently playing at that level. I went to a school that did not really do cricket, nor have the sporting provision there is at St Jo’s today. I cannot help but wonder if I might have been able to play at a slightly higher standard had I attended a school like this. Often, I will use this as a driver when trying to create the best opportunity for the students here.

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I have worked at St Joseph’s for seven years, beginning as a part-time cricket coach in 2015. I began coaching in several part-time roles, including Suffolk Cricket and a Professional Coach at Copdock & OI Cricket Club. I returned to education - at the University of Suffolk - whilst remaining at St Jo’s and was then offered the Head of Cricket role, something that I was very proud to achieve.

To this day I still see it as a privilege to have such an opportunity.

I also currently hold the role of Seniors’ Head Coach at Copdock & OI Cricket Club, leading the 1st team to what I hope will be a successful season in the EAPL this year. It is not just another exciting summer for me in cricket but also for me personally. They say some of the most stressful events in life are getting married and moving house. I have the pleasure of completing these just days apart, which is something I am very much looking forward to doing during the first week of the Easter holidays.

Focus on a Teacher Mrs Barker Teacher of Prep Music I always knew I wanted to be a primary school teacher and loved the idea that I could bring my passion for music and the creative arts to the children I taught. I completed a degree in Music at Keele University and then a PGCE in Primary Education at Birmingham City University.

However, after eight years of classroom teaching, a pandemic and having a baby during lockdown, I realised that teaching music and drama was the dream role which I wanted to pursue. This led me to join St Jo’s as Prep Music Teacher. Working in the Prep School has allowed me to continue to work with primary aged children but now focus on the subjects I love.

After promising my parents I would practise every day, I began taking piano lessons aged seven followed by clarinet and musical theatre singing lessons. I’m not sure I quite kept my promise but my love of music and performing never wavered. In January, I was awarded my Associate Diploma in Musical Theatre performance which was the culmination of two years’ work. I think my husband is glad I have now stopped singing the same songs on repeat! I still enjoy playing the piano and exploring different genres.

Moving to Suffolk from Staffordshire nine years ago allowed me to indulge my passion for West End theatre even further. I love to visit London and watch a new show.

Along with my unhealthy obsession for Les Mis, I love Six the musical, Rent and Everyone’s Talking About Jamie. My Mum is my theatre buddy, and I cannot wait to share the joys of live theatre with my son Felix.

Engaging with the arts has enabled me to access many wonderful experiences. From performing in local theatre shows, to competing on the BBC’s Last Choir Standing, to directing school productions and musicals. The possibilities are endless. My advice to our wonderful students is that it is never too late to take instrument or LAMDA lessons, join the choir or audition for the musical. It is amazing where the arts can take you if you get involved!

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News from the Senior School

MP Praises Students’ Critical Thinking Tom Hunt MP, who followed his mixed independent/state education in Cambridge with degrees from Manchester and Oxford, said he was delighted to speak to our Sixth Formers and to tell them about his role on the education select committee. Mr Hunt said he advocated for special educational needs and disabilities; he recounted his recent experiences in Bangladesh.

The students were eager to ask questions - ranging from the Covid response in Europe to the cost of living situation and its local impact. They also raised interesting points on the NHS backlog and pay rises for NHS workers.

‘It’s always great to see our young people engaging in politics and thinking critically about the political scene. This is something I am always keen to encourage,’ he said.

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Eleven, Twelve, Dig and Delve

Intermediate Debaters Make Their Point

We have some budding archivists in our Year 7 and Year 8 HPQ enrichment class, Dr Rice was able to report. The Higher Project Qualification candidates were invited to delve into the papers of Queen Elizabeth I on a visit to the National Archives at Kew! Introducing our students to primary sources at such a young age is inspirational and will be highly beneficial to their future studies.

Cameron, Bella and Daisy (all Y9) – our Intermediate Debate Team – performed magnificently to become Rotary champions of East Anglia. They out-argued The Perse, Cambridge, and St Clement’s High School, King’s Lynn, in the final.

Our Senior Debaters, Zoe (Y11), Tanaquil (L6) and Ethan (L6), who won the district competition for the third year running, were narrowly pipped to the post in their regional final by The Leys, Cambridge. Well done all round, and so say all of us!

Bravura Performance Earns Awards

Royal Academician Singles Out Georgia’s Artwork

Alex (Y8) entered two classes at the Sudbury Festival of Music - Piano Solo of Grade 7 Standard (Liszt ‘Consolation’ 2) & Piano Solo U14 Two Contrasting Pieces (Debussy ‘Arabesque’ 1 & Gillock ‘Bourbon Street, Saturday Night’) and won them both! He was also awarded the Gilly Harris Memorial Cup for Most Promising Pianist, which covered six different classes, and the Kathleen Garrett Award for Most Promising Player. An absolutely brilliant result.

Let’s hear it for Georgia (Y7) whose artwork was handpicked by world-renowned artist Eileen Cooper RA for first place in the Year 7-9 drawing category of the national ‘Young Art’ competition out of 5,000 entries! This is an incredible accolade. Well done Georgia!

He was one of the 22 St Joseph’s students who travelled to the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh to hear the Kyan String Quartet performing works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

Most of the students in the party are studying GCSE or A-level Music and this was an excellent enrichment opportunity, which they all thoroughly enjoyed.

Congratulations as well to the following students whose work has also been selected for display at the Royal College of Art in April: Sophie (Y6), William (Y9), Kirsten (Y11) and Katy (L6), whose stunning painting was highly commended.

The exhibition, Looking Out, will be held at the Royal College of Art in London from 26 - 29 April. Thanks to all of our talented students who took part.

Bee-ootiful Plans Bloom to Support our Beleaguered Pollinators With spring bulbs having burst into flower, the new St Jo's Buzzin' Garden, planted by the students in the eco-club last term, has been offering a good source of food for the bees coming out of hibernation. There are also two bird boxes nearby made by students from scrap wood, ready for nesting.

Mr Rowland's science lab is beginning to resemble a jungle as seedlings are filling up their pots with new growth. These flowering perennials will look amazing once planted in the garden and will help increase the biodiversity of the school grounds.

Cosmos seeds were planted into peat free compost. Peat bogs are a precious habitat for wildlife as well as being a crucial carbon store that will help us reduce the effects of climate change. When the plants are growing, they will also take carbon out of the atmosphere as they photosynthesise. The flowers will help pollinating insects, further increasing the biodiversity of the school grounds for us all to enjoy.

Jozef (Y8) is shown separating cosmos seeds from last year’s flowers to be sown now as annual flowers in St Jo's Buzzin' Garden beside the Science building. These fabulous plants will flower in the summer and will keep on producing stunning colour into the autumn. The bees will love them! #StJosBuzzinGarden 15

Students Accept Challenges in Maths, Spanish and Learning to Learn Five mathematicians Jump into the Next Round Congratulations to our Year 9, 10 and 11 students who achieved success in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Special mentions to Joanne, Tom, Toby, Liana and Bonnie, who have qualified for the Pink and Grey Kangaroo follow-up rounds of the competition.

Learning Skills Receive a Boost

Translators Stand Up to be Counted

Year 9 took part in the first St Joseph’s College Metacognition Day. The students attended five sessions, each showcasing a different study or revision technique, from how to make effective flashcards to boosting listening and collaborative learning skills. The Year 9s were put into different groups to show how our learning can be affected by the group we are in and also to give them the opportunity to learn from new collaborations.

Well done to all the talented linguists who made it to the final of the translation bee. The brave finalists stood in front of the year group to translate as many sentences as they could in one minute - not easy, especially under pressure! The finalists were Maya, Corbyn, Katie, Hannah, Samantha, Isaac, Izzy, and Alex. Congratulations to winner Isaac, runner-up Izzy and Hannah, who came third.

As this is a crucial time in their development, students reflected on how they learn and what they could do, both in class and at home, to boost their overall level of achievement. They demonstrated amazing enthusiasm and maturity as they moved through the sessions, especially as they articulated their feedback. The Metacognition Day will be followed up with mini-sessions throughout the rest of the year.

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Well done, as well, to every Year 8 student who stood at the front of the class to take part in the first round. They had learned 72 sentences in Spanish in the present tense and had to translate as many as possible in 60 seconds. This was a daunting task, embraced with enthusiasm.

Senior School Sport

Netball Netball has returned to St Joseph's College with a bang!

From performance to participation, everyone has had the opportunity to don the new netball dresses introduced this year and represent the College. We have welcomed the addition of keen netballer Miss Barrow to the department, which has allowed us to extend our provision.

As well as team training for each year group and their designated Games lessons in which we have integrated our key philosophies of the game, we also now provide a rising stars programme for our talented netballers in Years 7-9 and a netball clinic open to all at lunchtimes. We have continued to provide one-to-one and small group sessions to our seniors during the timetabled day, a great opportunity to focus on skill development for the individual athlete.

Years 7-10 A and B teams have represented the College exceptionally well in the Suffolk Schools’ leagues. Despite some not having played netball in two years and others being new to the sport. We have also been able to introduce a senior second team to complement and train alongside our performance first team squad.

Our first team has travelled across the region in the AOC league, with highly competitive matches and a standard that improves year on year. At time of press the squad sits second in the league, with two games to play. Our seniors are eagerly looking to their next challenge, the inaugural St Joseph's College Netball Festival on Saturday 28 May. This is a huge opportunity for them to further cement St Jo’s as a netball performance centre and we hope it will become ingrained into the wider College life as another opportunity for the families of St Joseph's to join together.

Suffolk U13 Satellite Academy - Catie, Sofie, Imi and Esme; Junior Regional League Performance - Caitlyn, Lola, Natalie, Gabrielle, Emily and Florence; U17 London Pulse Performance Hubs - Gabrielle, Caitlyn, Lola and Lauren.

Team achievements in their leagues: U12A secured a place in U13A league next year; U12B secured a place in U13B league next year; U13A - 3rd; U13B - 1st; U14A - 2nd; U14B - 1st; U15A - 1st; U15B - 1st; Second Team - 3rd; First Team 2nd in AOC league.

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Triathlon Competing in his first race of the triathlon season, a sprint distance cross duathlon at Thetford Forest, Ben (Y10) achieved an outstanding result. This was also Ben’s first race in the Youth category, competing with adults, and it consisted of a 4km run, followed by an off road 10km bike, and a 4km run. Not only did Ben win his age category but he finished in first place overall!

Rugby This term saw our 15 a-side season draw to a close with a fantastic trip down to our partners at Brunel University and the Ealing Trailfinders Academy. Our 1st XV were given a tour of the brand new facilities at Brunel, ahead of a fixture against Henley College, which saw St Joseph’s finish as narrow victors. This was a fitting end to the season for what will have been the final competitive fixture of some of our Year 13 players’ time with us.

Despite the completion of our 15 a-side season, there was no time to dwell as our 7 a-side season kicked off earlier than ever before. In what is a condensed season, the focus is most definitely on preparing for Rosslyn Park National 7s. Every age-group has shown potential, with many of the teams reaching the latter stages of knock-out competitions on multiple occasions. The first silverware of the 7s season was awarded to the U14 team, who won the Plate in the Ipswich 7s tournament. We are now looking forward to seeing how all of our teams fare at the National 7s competition.

Football Congratulations to the U13, U16 and U18 boys’ football teams who have all progressed to the quarter final stages; games to be played within the next week and good luck to all involved.

Equally well done to the U15 girls’ team who got knocked out at the same stage despite a strong performance, losing 4-2 to Kesgrave.

Also great to see the U13 girls with a small influx of fixtures at the end of the season which gives us a great opportunity to build towards next year.

U18 girls have qualified for the ISFA National Final on 25 April following a hard fought 2-0 victory over Surbiton High. Goals from Erika and Eloise see us through to compete for our first national title at 11-a-side. We will face Rossall School in the final.

Finally congratulations to Ashdon for his continued representation of ISFA U17s and Kaci Jai who has been playing for both ESFA and ISFA and has received a call up for the England U15 training camp.

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Equestrian Our equestrian team travelled to Norfolk for the National Schools Equestrian Association National Qualifying show. Evie (Y7), Matthew (Y8), Scarlett (Y8), Imogen (Y9), Ema (Y10), Freya (Y10) and Florrie (U6) competed in team events throughout the day with excellent results:70cm Qualifier 3rd (qualifying for the Plate final despite being one rider down); 80cm Qualifier 1st (qualifying for the National Finals); 90cm Qualifier 1st (qualifying the National Finals); 1m Qualifier 4th (qualifying for the Plate final, again with only a team of three). Individual Plate qualification places were also achieved

by Scarlett, Freya, Ema and Florrie in the 1.10m final. The finals take place in the autumn.

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Community News

A Tribute to 20 Years’ Service With 20 years’ service under her belt, Mrs Barker is a highly valued member of the St Joseph’s College catering team.

Principal Mrs Clarke popped into Refs in the lull between breakfast and lunch to present her with flowers and a present to mark her two decades at St Jo’s. Her service included a stint working at the Nursery to fill the breach in an emergency and a sideline as a talented poet. Thank you for everything, Mrs Barker.

Take a Bough Mr Bentman The early spring storms took a toll on some of our trees - with six succumbing to the blast, including beech, sycamore, poplar and oak. Two further trees involved College intervention, although they are council owned. Fortunately, we have resident tree expert Mr Bentman, who quickly made all secure and worked his way through the arboreal casualties.

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A Warm Welcome Back for Young OBs Look who came to see us on Valentine’s Day: OBs Reagan Hao and Tiffany Huang revisited teachers, Sixth Form and boarding and it was lovely to see them. Reagan has just graduated from UCL with a first class degree in Chemical Engineering, whilst Tiffany is in her final year of Marketing and Management at Essex University. We can’t wait to see what they do next!

A Little Insider Knowledge Can Help!

With GCSE option choices just around the corner, our Year 9 students have a lot to consider. We were delighted to welcome a host of volunteers – all current parents – who told the group about their own careers and what subjects had proved most relevant.

Sectors described included farming, recycling, HR, marketing (covered

by Governor Mrs Fox, pictured), architecture and the law. The students moved around carousel-fashion and were able to ask the people best placed to answer their work-related queries.

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Boarding News The Lent Term in Boarding Boarding has been a busy place since the last College newsletter, starting with an active Christmas period.

Many international students who were unable to return home stayed with us throughout the holidays, and three students from other schools joined us for the festivities too. There were all the usual traditions of decorations, Christmas trees, gifts and lots of delicious food. Although Year 13 students tried to maximise study ahead of mock examinations, there were still plenty of opportunities for trips out, and fun in house with many organised activities.

On New Year’s Eve, it was lovely to see students getting into the spirit of a jazz themed murder mystery dinner, with everyone taking on suspicious character roles and acting out a complex plot. Mrs Rowlands masterminded the whole Boarding Plus programme and her continual cheeriness allowed everyone to enjoy a Christmas away from home.

With all the boarding community reunited after the break, we had a hard-working term. Years 11 and 13 students have been increasing their work rate, benefiting from the structured and supervised revision. We have also been delighted to welcome some day students to join us for dinner and revision to focus on their studies. However, students work best when there are also opportunities for breaks from study. For many, the access to sports facilities provides this reviving change of pace, with rugby, football, tennis, basketball and cricket all featuring 22

heavily. We have seen an increasing intensity in training particularly from our boarding basketball team, with the benefit of access to the sports hall over the weekends, as well as professional coaching every Wednesday evening.

The team have tested their skills in some local fixtures this term; the highlight being the double win (home and away) against New Hall.

Our boarding programme includes lots of weekend trips and activities too and is influenced by requests made by the boarding house committees. A trip to Anglia Go-Karting, led by Mr Cinnamond and Dr Rice, was a popular choice.

Students enjoyed experiencing the speed of the track, as well as the opportunities for many selfies in their racing gear! Near the end of term, a new addition to the boarding programme was ice-skating in Chelmsford. Of the 23 students joining the trip, most were wearing skates for the first time. Everyone improved very noticeably in short order, but there were some impressive displays of confidence and speed from Teddy, Ruben, Jason and Josh. Jasmine, Joanne and Dani all showed real style as they moved calmly around the ice. Johnson showed true Joey spirit by skating well whilst looking after less confident participants. The real stand out talent was Jimmy. He surprised us all with a skill level and confidence that was apparent as soon as he stepped on the ice. He had a natural ease in his movement, whether skating forwards or showing off with his ability to skate backwards. We were impressed!

As we reach the end of term, we look forward and are making plans. Although progress is being made for new boarding houses in the longer term, we have in the meantime begun a real refresh of The Mews and Goldrood. New curtains are being hung in all bedrooms and new carpets are arriving soon. A bright new colour scheme is coming together in communal areas and lots of displays and artwork are being refreshed too, giving a revived sense of energy to the houses.

In Mews, Jasmine is leading the student redesign of the games room, with a big proposal to be implemented in coming months. With the lighter evenings and warmer weather now starting to arrive, we shall also be making a splash over the Easter holidays with some bright planting around the gardens. We look forward to enjoying the summer term in boarding; staff and students both agree it is the term we all enjoy the most. Living in the beautiful grounds of St Joseph’s, having access to all the facilities on our doorstep, and with end of year parties and trips to enjoy - we are sure the term ahead won’t disappoint!

Dr Stimson Mews Housemistress

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We take happiness seriously At St Joseph’s we support the intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional growth of every pupil.

Children who thrive are the happiest of all.

PREP OPEN MORNING Saturday 14 May Family tours also available, to find out more please visit stjos.co.uk or email admissions@stjos.co.uk Independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 2–18 Nursery open all year round

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