In February the school ran its annual ski trip- this year to Artesina in Northern Italy.

The thirty two pupils from St Bede’s and Byron had a wonderful time in the picturesque Alps. Along with Mrs Rich, Ms Brown, Mr Landsbury, Mr Johnson and Mr Bentley the pupils arrived on the slopes as anxious amateurs and left the snowy peaks as confident and competent skiers.

Fortunately, at the beginning of the week the pistes were ideal for skiing: blazing sun and freshly fallen powdery snow. It meant that pupils learnt new techniques very quickly and the instructors were full of praise for the pupils’ enthusiasm and progression. Towards the end of the week, thick white fog had enveloped the slopes and heavy snow obscured visibility. The Italian instructors took groups around the slopes off piste for some slower cross country skiing. It meant more tumbles but there was a heightened sense of adventure to it all.

As well as learning to ski with professional instructors on perfect slopes the pupils visited the nearby resort of Prato Novosa one evening to go tubing and ice skating. Tubing is when you hurl yourself down a ski slope… in a rubber ring!  The staff watched from the side-lines warming their shivering hands around mugs of hot chocolate as screams and giggles echoed around the frozen starry skies.

The staff cannot praise the pupils highly enough. Their behaviour was exemplary and their willingness to learn was commended by their instructors; they were a credit to St Bede’s and Byron College approaching every challenge with enthusiasm and humour. The Italians now say ‘Me skis’ instead of ‘my skis!’

We hope to see more budding young skiers on the slopes in 2014. Information regarding the next trip will be available in the coming weeks.

In March the St. Bede’s Young Engineers club were at the National Science and Engineering Competition finals in London. We had 7 people competing with three projects in the Engineering and Technology categories. All students did extremely well and the judges were impressed by the innovative ideas we had on show but we were pipped at the post. Over the three days we were at the show over 50,000 people were said to have been at the event.

We also had four students representing the Young Engineers club competition who for the second year running had a visit from Prince Andrew the Duke of York. He spent a long time at our stand talking to members of the club and Mr Glover about the quality of work we had on show. He was impressed and was interested to learn the club had been running for 7 years and the amount of success we have had. He asked questions to the students about how this has helped them and how it will direct them towards a career in STEM related areas. He also took interest in the aspirations of one of the team (Anna Ebblewhite) who would love to work in an F1 team and said to her, let me see what I can do about that and get back to her, his aide left her a business card (so watch this space!)

Earlier this month 22 of our students took part in a collaborative venture with English Martyrs which took the form of intensive training led by a group of talented teachers of performing arts called the Young Americans. Our pupils sang, danced and acted in front of hundreds of people in the Borough Hall in Hartlepool to the delight of parents and friends. This will be a memory to be cherished for a lifetime: for some an exercise in gaining self confidence; for others a leap of faith but for everyone a chance to showcase talents seldom seen in public .

An experience definitely to be repeated!

Special thanks to Mrs Wilding and Mrs Stones who supported the students over two very intense days. The photographs don’t do the performances justice – seeing is definitely believing –it was awesome!

From a conversation with my year 10 English class some time last year there was planted the seed of an idea that grew into reality when we visited New York during the Easter holidays.

And so it was that at 3.00 am on Easter Sunday, an excited group of 25 year 11s and 4 staff met to begin our journey; following all the months of planning,  saving, wishing…the time had arrived.

After touching down at Newark airport, we made our way to our hotel in Midtown Manhattan determined to make the most of the five hours we gained because of the time difference and not give in to any pangs of tiredness that might creep in. We were soon on our way to Central Park; the adventure had begun.

We had a tremendous time visiting Ground Zero, The Rockefeller Centre; St. Patrick’s Cathedral; The Empire State Building; Times Square; a breathtaking, if very cold, harbour cruise to see the Statue of Liberty at close quarters as well as viewing the iconic New York skyline. A four hour tour, with our wonderful guide, Jarred, took us to all quarters of this magnificent city. He was most impressed at how much better behaved, polite and interested our students were than their American counterparts – cue very proud teachers!

Students shopped ‘til they dropped; the American economy enjoyed a massive boost during the course of our visit judging by the vast quantities of bags and parcels; thankfully there was no luggage weighing on our return journey. We walked, according to my pedometer, a grand total of 35 miles!

The trip fulfilled all expectations; year 11s were excellent ambassadors for St. Bede’s and attracted many friendly comments in their apple-green hoodies. They were a pleasure to be with and made me very proud of them. The time flew by incredibly quickly and it was a tired but happy group who returned five days later with memories to treasure.

Lent is about reflection. As a school community we asked one another what sort of person did we want to be and what kind of world did we want to help create.

This reflection was a mere starting point and from there tutor groups, year groups and groups of friends set about raising money.

Mrs Carr and a group of students prepared our Friday Fast day ‘Lenten Lunches’ which were delicious. Students and staff sat together and shared a simple (but incredibly tasty) soup lunch on consecutive Fridays in Lent. These lunches alone raised over £250, with funds going to St Cuthbert’s Care. Good to see the students were more ladle than idle – great work!

This year’s Comic Relief was the best ever thanks to the planning and enthusiasm of Miss Pearson and Miss Collinson. They both rallied staff and students to organise events such as wacky hair days, cake sales and Mr Dickson not to tell any jokes (that is a relief!) The highlight for many was the T-Shirt design competition. This was won by Chloe Brown in Year 11. Chloe’s winning entry was turned into T-Shirts which was worn by staff and students on the Friday. Over £400 was raised for worthy causes.

Mrs Rich and a group of students did some egg-celent charity work when they organised an Easter egg raffle for the Make A Wish Foundation, which helps children with life-threatening medical conditions. The raffle was drawn after the whole school mass on Maundy Thursday and there was no yolk on Matthew Foster who won the huge (very free range) chocolate egg. Well done to all of those involved.

Although Lent and Easter is the most important time of our school year, the work spearheaded by our school Chaplain goes on all year. Liz works all tutor groups to prepare a Mass every Thursday lunchtime and the new chapel at the heart of the school is fully operational (we even had Father Hastie using an i-pad for Mass – how cool is that!?).

We caught up with Liz who only started at St Bede’s this year, to ask a her a few questions about her and her role.

On Friday Mr Dickson chose the fantastic design from a winning entry by Chloe Brown from Year 11.

I am trying to calculate how much we have raised which is looking at around £130!

Can I please make a final plea that if you have not paid for your t-shirt could you bring your money to the Science prep room as soon as possible.

Have a great day,

The school alongside its 12 Catholic Partner Schools from Hexham & Newcastle were delighted to exhibit work for the fourth year running in Durham Cathedral.

Inspired by “Gospel Stories” our artists alongside another 100 students have spent the last few months creating exciting art work in a range of media including paint, textiles,ceramic, print and photography.  Each piece explores the theology that is the heart of our schools’ ethos and shows how young artists interpret biblical events, messages and themes.

Sara Crawshaw, Director of Partnership praised the young people who have clearly invested considerable time, thought and skill in creating art work to form the Partnership exhibition; “To be able to exhibit in Durham Cathedral is not only prestigious, but also hugely significant as the region awaits the return of the Lindisfarne Gospels.”

Previous exhibitions at the Cathedral have attracted hundreds of people who have been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging to our young artists.

As well as the 4 main pieces included here from 4 of our final year GCSE students 8A1 also produced some promising work. Mr and Mrs Pearson (no they’re not related) are to be commended for helping to nurture the students to create such powerful work.