YOUR number could well and truly be up this Wednesday, May 16, as students participate in the UK’s first ever National Numeracy Day.

It will become an annual celebration of the importance of numbers in everyday life and will bring together individuals, employers, teachers and influencers to improve numeracy.

Poor numeracy can affect people’s lives and the wider economy and that needs to change.

In a bid to increase confidence in students, they will be given challenges in class with prizes given out. Every teacher in school will be participating and promoting numeracy in lessons with short activities, discussions or videos.

Curriculum Leader of Numeracy at St Bonaventure’s, Miss Murphy, went on to explain: “I want maths to become fun and part of our everyday life. Parents can get involved too by looking at supermarket deals and showing their children the savings to be made.

“I have lots of fun activities planned and I hope that our students benefit from knowing how to use numbers well. It will be a chance for them to improve their skills, learn new ways to work with numbers, be challenged, ask questions and above all not be scared of maths and have fun. Wednesday should be fantastic.”

Parents can follow this link to find out more https://www.numeracyday.com/whats-issue

Whilst we were all off enjoying the glorious sunshine of the Bank Holiday yesterday, May 7, fifteen of our Year  8 football players took part in the Jermaine Defoe Foundation tournament in Romford.

We had two teams competing St Bon’s 1 and St Bon’s 2 and the charity matches raised £225 for homeless people and vulnerable children.

For St Bon’s 1 Nana Akyaew and Tashawn Adams were the goal scorers and Stefan Aiwone made some excellent saves in goal.

St Bon’s 2 were undefeated all day which meant that Mekhi Charles-Armstrong got to lift the huge JDF trophy and bring it home to Boleyn Road and our glittering display cabinet in Reception. 

Zinnell Royes was in top goal scoring form and Joel Mputu won ‘The Player of the  Tournament’ accolade and received a personal award and trophy from Jermaine himself.

After the event, PE teacher, Mr Firth presented former Bonaventurian Jermaine with a gold coloured 140th anniversary commemorative tie.

What a fantastic result!

Thanks to Mr Firth for giving up bis Bank Holiday for his students too.

Three of our students, Dillon Linford, Jamie Halliwell and Amal Shabu, went to Brentwood Cathedral on Friday, May 4,to collect their Citizenship Awards after being nominated by staff in school.

It was a lovely occasion with Miss McNulty present as our guest of honour to see the lads picking up their trophies from Bishop Alan.

This annual event involved all the Catholic schools in the diocese and our recipientslooked really smart when they went up to collect their awards.

Mr Halliwell was there acting as Master of Ceremonies and added: “This is one of the highlights of the school year for me, hearing all the wonderful stories of courage, kindness and determination. Our students fundraising efforts  for CAFOD and ACIN and raising awareness for TELCO was particularly heartwarming and made me very proud.”

Year 10’s Kelvin Paul gave a very entertaining, eloquent speech on the Art of Procrastination at the Newham Final of The Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge at Sarah Bonnell School last night, May 2, and came away with third  prize.

He spoke clearly and concisely and the crowd seemed to really like his delivery. 

His trainee and mentor, Ms Corriette was there along with Mr Halliwell to support Kelvin as was Kelvin’s mum.

West Ham MP, Lynn Brown distributed prizes.

Mr Halliwell added: ” I can’t ever remember one of our students being placed in a Speak Out Challenge before so Kelvin has done remarkably well. I was really proud of him as he spoke beautifully and was oozing confidence. Obviously the judges thought so too.”

Kelvin is 15 and in 10 Heath.

There were smiles all round this morning as our wonderful Year 8 winning team showed off the Essex Cup.

Goal scorers Grant, Divin and Zinnell are pictured front centre with their proud teammates and Mr Firth and Mr Ashman.

The trophy is now being displayed in our packed trophy cabinet in Reception for all to admire.

Brilliant news!

Mr Bennett today, April 24,  nominated 14 year old Year 9 student, Geo Charles, for a Jack Petchey award for being an excellent, keen scientist who has shown an interest in the fish and bearded dragons in the science department.

Geo has devoted a lot of time to caring for the fish and aquarium in school and similarly the vivarium, always finding new ways to improve their living conditions and questioning their habitat.

Mr Bennett was impressed with Geo’s knowledge of Biology and is really pleased to see his love of science.

Headteacher Mr Halliwell this afternoon presented Geo with March’s Petchey award.

Geo  plans to buy a larger vivarium and equipment for the dragons to improve their habitat with his award money.

17 YEAR OLD 6th Form student, Klaudio Prela, has been successful in gaining a place on the coveted Aspiring Professionals Programme.

The programme is carefully designed to open up professions for those with the ability to join them in the future by offering support, mentoring, workshops and internships.

Klaudio wants to pursue a career in Engineering and getting involved with APP is a fantastic opportunity for him.