A group of  our RE Matters students went along to the East London Buddhist Cultural Centre yesterday, March 6, as part of the student SACRE programme.

They were joined by girls from Plashet School and the Azhar Academy for the meeting at the temple in Maybury Road in Plaistow.

They spoke to Buddhist monks, Venerable Mangala and Visudhi Chitha and discovered more about their life.

A lovely tasty lunch followed.

I’m sure you will all join with me in wishing our superb Under 16 basketballers all the luck in the world as they face Aylesbury  Grammar School in Buckinghamshire this afternoon, February 28,  in the quarter final of the National Schools’ Competition.

Good luck to coach Onireti and Mr Ancora and the lads.

Tomorrow, February 15, is the last day for Year 11 students to submit  their completed application forms to join our dynamic 6th Form in September.

Don’t delay…get them in today (or tomorrow.)

A team of nine young engineers from Years 8 and 9 in St Bonaventure’s in Forest Gate went to RAF Hendon yesterday, February 13, with teachers Mr Bennett and Ms Logier to take part in the London final of the Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge and won.

The day started out well for St Bon’s as they won the Speed Challenge in the morning which gave them confidence as they competed  against Grammar, Independent and other comprehensive schools from across the capital.

Their robot travelled over 4 metres in the fastest time – an impressive 1.64 seconds faster than any other team.

A series of team-building and robot design challenges went really well with the schoolboys eloquently explaining how they designed their robot and the challenges they had to overcome.

They had to give a presentation regarding a humanitarian problem and the technology that needed to be used to help solve it. The students decided that drones could be used and explained their reasons for their choice.

Mr Bennet went on to explain: “The most important challenge of the day was the challenge mat when their robot had to complete eight separate tasks in under five minutes. They used a very complex programme to tackle these tasks which seemed to impress the judges. They were delighted to be selected as the winners and their victory was very much deserved as they had worked incredibly hard to reach this standard.”

St Bon’s will now take part in the national final in Birmingham on March 14 and represent London.

Today, February 14, the Headmaster of St Bonaventure’s, Mr Halliwell, called all nine champions into his office to congratulate them on their win and presented them with Headteacher commendations for their brilliance.

He added: “ I am so proud of them and I believe they have what it takes to impress the judges next month in Birmingham.”

The students are: Jerald, Jhonatan, Ainis, Brendan, Luigi, William, Jaskirat, Josef and Clarence.

February 14 is not only associated with young love, hearts, roses and such like but did you know that in addition to his romantic association, St Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeepers?

Here at St Bon’s, we have a well-established colony of very happy bees so it’s Happy Valentine’s Day to our very own beekeepers, Mr Young and Mr Halliwell and thank you for all that you do harvesting the honey and looking after the hives ensuring the bees are healthy all year round.

Mr Robinson is out with our Year 8 indoor athletics team today, February 12,  at Crystal Palace where we have just heard  the fantastic news that they have qualified for the London finals.

Well done team.