St Bernard's Newsletter

Dear Families,

Welcome to the last newsletter of this academic year. Once again, it is full of the gifts, talents and achievements of our amazing young people. We truly are blessed as a school community. This issue is packed with a flavour of the holistic Catholic education that we continue to be committed to offering all students who come through our doors.

It has been, as always, a very busy year and summer term. We are very proud of all of our students, and in particular, our examination years and the way in which they have coped with the demands of the examination season and all that it brings.

These last few weeks since the end of the exams have enabled us to celebrate as a community in a variety of ways. Our Leavers' Masses and assemblies as well as our Gala Ball were all wonderful events to mark our students' time on the five and seven-year journey of being a student at St Bernard’s. There have been tears of course but also lots of joy and excitement as students prepare for the next stage in their lives.

I would like to end this issue with thanks and gratitude to the amazing staff team at our school. We are one staff - teachers and support staff, all committed to working to make our school the best it can be and supporting each other in this endeavour so that our students may grow and flourish in love. I hope that you will take the opportunity to thank those staff members who have supported, cajoled and encouraged your child to be the best version of themselves. Whilst humility is a lovely quality of our staff, I feel it is important to give credit where credit is due and praise all of their continued hard work and effort.

To conclude, please enjoy this last issue of the academic year 2023/24. We look forward to seeing you in 2024/25 for more opportunities to share our school community with you.

I wish you all a happy and peaceful summer

Warmest regards

Mrs Moise-Dixon

Headteacher

The Brentwood Diocesan Education Service hosted the Catholic Schools Citizenship Awards 2024 on Friday 12th July 2024 in Brentwood Cathedral. Students were invited to nominate pupils with outstanding awareness of good citizenship.

All students at St Bernard’s are nominated by their peers and presented with their award by Bishop Alan at a wonderful ceremony at Brentwood Cathedral. A huge congratulations to Aisling, Merril, and Maddie.

Aisling has been nominated for being an all-around amazing person. She always goes out of her way to help others - students and staff alike. There is never anything too much for Aisling to help with. She was a familiar regular figure on our Lenten walk enabling the school to raise £1000 for CAFOD. She is a liturgy prefect and a talented athlete representing the school in netball and Great Britain for Karate.

Merril has been nominated as she embodies the virtue of service in all that she does. She is a member of the Southend Youth Council and does much to support the local community including taking part in beach and park cleans. Merril actively participates in the religious life of the school as an altar server, reader and general support for setting up whole school Masses.

Whilst new to our school this year, Maddie has been nominated for being an extremely caring and down-to-earth individual who lives out the school motto ‘to love one another as I have loved you.’ She never hesitates to volunteer for any support needed within her form group or across the school and local community. She looks after the form groups' communication and even looks after the form plant, ensuring it is regularly watered and receives plenty of sunlight. She even goes as far as buying her soil to maintain it.

After weeks of planning, the cultural committee put together "Cultural Week" with many activities throughout. They had created a cultural menu for many other students to experience the taste of their cultures. They had put together the very popular and famous event of the week, the fashion show.

Many students had come to audition and perform in front of their peers and very much loved the experience.

Over the years, the fashion show has always been what students are looking forward to and this year they did not disappoint. From excellent singers to dancers and catwalkers, everyone had been able to celebrate each other’s culture. During the activities planned, many did workshops regarding instruments like the steel drums and bongos, as well as spoken word/rap workshops and belly dancing.

A student has said “It is an engaging experience”, whilst another said, “Even though I wasn’t good at the dancing I had fun learning about cultural dances”.

Our 'Race-to-the-line' winners represented St Bernard's for the regional final at Hove Park School in Brighton on the 26th of June, where Susan, Olivia, Kawsor and Niamh worked hard to produce a car for the race.

We were pipped to the post by three Brighton schools, but our girls were a credit to the school demonstrating resilience, teamwork, and camaraderie. This experience has been valuable for us all. We look forward to using our experience to support next year's entrants for the competition.

This half term, the area outside the library was transformed into a vibrant museum as Year 9 students proudly displayed their World War II projects, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. This significant event, which took place on the 6th of June 1944, marked a pivotal moment in history.

The Allied forces launched a massive invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France, which played a crucial role in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II.

The displays included projects covering a variety of topics such as propaganda, the home front, evacuation, spies and subversives and the D-Day landings themselves which captivated the attention of everyone who walked past. The students were asked to include an element of family history in their project and if possible, share details of the experiences of a relative. Therefore, the exhibition was not only an educational experience but also an emotional one.

We asked the school community to vote for their favourite project, and once the votes were counted our deserved winner was Kelly Malikula. Gabriella Rose came in second place and Alexia Thomas was our final runner-up.

Thank you, Year 9, for your outstanding efforts in bringing history to life. Your projects not only honoured the past but also enriched our school community's appreciation of the courage and resilience shown during World War II.

As we approach the end of the academic year, the Chaplaincy has been diligently preparing for the new academic year 2024-2025. Despite these preparations, we have successfully planned and implemented several noteworthy initiatives.

Big thanks to the PTFA for their beautiful and meaningful contributions to our Masses. The addition of new brass candlesticks for the altar and spring-loaded candle holders for our chapel has greatly enhanced our worship experience.

June and July are very busy times for celebratory Masses which began with a Mass on the 26th of June for our students who received their Confirmation this year. Students were given a congratulatory card and a Bl Carlo Acutis prayer card. Mass was followed by a Tea and was a fun-filled way to end the school day.

The Year 13 Leavers Mass was celebrated in our Chapel and the Year 11 Celebration Mass in the Assembly Hall. The Celebrant for all three Masses was Fr Paul Fox. Thank you, Fr Paul.

Catholic Social Teaching workshops were organised by Chaplaincy and delivered by CAFOD to many of our Year 7's and 8's in June. These were very well received by both students and teachers, and we hope to do more of these to supplement our curriculum in the new academic year. Food donations from all Forms are underway for SVP’s Kindness Kitchen in Southend-on-Sea. These donations will be presented during the Offertory at the School’s Feast Day Mass which is being celebrated on the 19th of July.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the students from every year group for their invaluable contributions to the Chaplaincy and their active participation in various initiatives.

Can you tell us about the sports teams and clubs available at St. Bernard's?

We offer a breadth of activities for the students to participate in and encourage students to get involved irrespective of their ability or experience. Sports practices take place before school, at lunchtime and after school and these include Netball, Football, Cross Country, Badminton, Basketball, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Athletics and Rounders. Please look at our practice timetable that is published at the start of each term.

What achievements in the PE department are you most proud of during this academic year?

We are really proud of the achievements the girls have had across a number of sports this year. The year 7 Netball team demonstrated their potential by finishing 3rd in the Borough. The cross-country team also competed at the Boroughs and finished 3rd. We started football teams in years 7/8 and 9/10 and trained across the spring term as well as playing their first competitive matches. We look forward to next season playing competitively in the Borough leagues and Essex Cup. Our athletes have shown amazing commitment to training by walking to our playing fields each week to train as well as attending before school and lunch practices. This led to our most successful season, finishing 3rd in the Borough, winning an East Anglia Regional Final and 14 students representing the Southend Borough at the Essex Schools Championships. We look forward to finishing the school year on a high with Sports Day on Thursday 18th July.

What is your vision for the future of physical education at St. Bernard's?

My vision for Physical Education is to offer a broad curriculum that is inclusive, engaging, challenging and enjoyable. We have redesigned the Key Stage 3 curriculum for next year so that students experience a wider range of activities and begin to develop core skills for GCSE PE. We have been exploring using our playing fields at Bentall's for PE lessons, with the intention of taking classes off-site for activities such as football, cross country and athletics. We are in the process of fundraising for a second minibus which will allow us to expand both our curriculum and extra-curricular provision giving students greater opportunities. We have two very able groups for GCSE PE next year, so I also look forward to seeing the students achieve fantastic results and potentially study A-Level PE.

Message to students and parents as we look forward to the upcoming school year

My singular message to students and parents for next year would be to get involved and find your passion. The benefits of participation in sports are vast and do not only provide physical benefits but also help students develop socially and mentally.

As a school, we work hard to ensure that our attendance is as high as possible because attendance does impact your child’s learning and the results, they may end up achieving. We take a holistic approach working on any barriers that are or can prevent your child from having excellent attendance. We are proud to announce this has been working:

Attendance averages

• National Attendance Average: 92.9%
• Southend Overall Attendance Average: 93.2% Year to date.
• St Bernard’s 94.64% Currently sits 4th highest out of 11 schools.

The following forms had the highest averages of attendance for the year, they were awarded with tins of celebrations as we believe it is worth celebrating!

• Year 7 – 7R 96.98%
• Year 8 – 8H 96.68%
• Year 9 – 9H 97.04%
• Year 10 – 10A 95.89%

Looking forward to seeing what we can achieve next year!

Having completed a very successful Silver Expedition this year and we approach the end of the Bronze Award I have started the final planning for our last Gold Expedition. I do this with some sadness but also with immense pride. The DofE at St Bernard’s was set up in 1992 by Mr Mike Elmes MBE. When I joined the School in 1994 I used to assist him with typing up the expedition paperwork and hearing of the exciting and challenging events on the Expedition.

As DofE became more popular and successful Mr Clancy and I started to help out on Bronze Practice Expeditions along with Mr and Mrs Atkinson and Miss Squirrell. Not having the opportunity to take part in the DofE when I was at school I learnt on the job. By 1998 I was a full member of the Team helping on Thursday nights with Ms Smyth, Mr Page and Mr Attwood to deliver training and supporting route planning. Now my trainers, Mr Page and Mr Attwood, both Mountain Leaders were instructing me on how to supervise groups safely through their expeditions and I was now also supervising Silver groups.

Until 2007 participants who wished to complete a Gold Award had to sign up for an Outward Bound DofE group. In 2007 Miss Squirrel gave the go-ahead for us to run our own Gold Expeditions in Yorkshire and the Lake District. More challenging times for the staff with tougher navigation. That first year I was sent up Helvellyn from Glen Ridding via Striding Edge! Thankfully I did this in the mist and couldn’t see the narrow path across the ridge! But I was successful in checking on the group before they headed up to their wild camp.

Around the same time Ms Smyth, Mr James, Mr Clancy and myself spent a year of training with other local enthusiasts in order to complete our BEL training. This was a really good time. The staff from St Bernard’s were split and joined 4 teams of 4. I still, see two of my teammates whilst attending training or expeditions locally and one of the others now leads the Southend Open Group.

Staffing on DofE changed over the years and Mrs Brook and Mr Elmes joined us. In 2016 I took over the role of DofE Co-ordinator and then DofE Manager from Mr Elmes when he retired and in 2019 five of us undertook the Mountain Leader Summer Training in Snowdonia. This was followed by Hill and Moorland Leader the following year.

Covid came along and brought with it further challenges. How can you train 70 Bronze participants whilst retaining social distancing? The answer split the group in half and run this over two nights. I am incredibly grateful to the staff, including Ms Clarke and Miss Webb, who gave up two after-school sessions to help me. It took these groups slightly longer than the usual 9 months to complete their Expeditions. However, these took place – Silver in July, Gold in July and August (yes, two teams had to isolate when members caught Covid!) and Bronzes at the beginning of the new term in September.

Thank you also to the parents who transported participants, in the Gold case, on four consecutive days, so that participants could complete their Expeditions.

Over the last few years, school life has got busier leaving staff less time to get involved in things like DofE. It’s a shame as DofE offers so much to participants and volunteers. Yes, there are stresses involved with taking large numbers of teenagers out into the countryside for a weekend but we can all benefit from the peace of walking through fields, enjoying the wildflowers and just slowing down a bit. So good for our mental health. Yes, our bodies get tired but it means we have used them and will have a good night’s sleep afterwards.

I have watched our Gold groups head off up mountains in wind and rain filled with trepidation. I have also seen them return with confidence and big smiles for what they have achieved. I remember two sisters who, exhausted after a long day 3 on their Gold were ready to ‘jack it all in’ and go home and were incredibly annoyed with staff who refused to let them back on the minibus! We met these girls the following year in Keswick.

They were on holiday with their mum and brother and had brought them to show them where they had been walking and to appreciate the wonderful scenery.

I was counting up the other day how many participants we had seen through their DofE experience. We average around 65 participants at Bronze each year. That’s about 2,000 Year 9 students who have completed their Expedition. About 50% go on to Silver and since we took responsibility for our own Gold Expeditions 80 participants have finished their Gold Awards and have been invited to St James Palace or Buckingham Palace to receive their Awards. At least a dozen of our Gold girls have supported the Team on Expeditions and with Bronze training. You know who you are and ‘thank you’. Many of these girls have been ‘bitten by the bug’ and have gone on to other things. They have walked the Coast to Coast route across the UK and have followed the pilgrim trail across Spain.

Many have travelled around the world. Indeed, one of our helpers has recently returned from her travels to Australia and she cycled home across Europe. Although St Bernard’s can no longer run DofE groups themselves there is still an opportunity to sign up for DofE. Remember, these are the minimum ages for you to do an Award but you have until you are 25:

• Bronze – Year 9
• Silver – Year 10
• Gold – 16-25

If this is something you really want to do you can contact the Southend Open Group which currently runs sessions from the Civic Centre. Their email address for further information is info@southenddofeopengroup.co.uk. As I always begin by saying, DofE is not for everyone and only 1% of Year 9 students will actually complete the Award but those who come along and give it a go find out just how many opportunities it can open to them.

Thank you to everyone past and present who joined us on this incredible journey. In August I will be meeting up for a long weekend camping and walking with Volunteers, past and present, and I will be thanking them for the valuable contributions they have made.

See you out in the fields.

Mrs Clancy – DofE Manager

I am a Foundation Governor and Vice Chair having been appointed in June 2021. I previously held the position of Parent Governor at Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Primary School.

I live in Hullbridge with my wife Claire and daughter Alice who is currently in year ten. I am often asked, “What do governors do?”

Simply put they are responsible for overseeing the management of the school. This focuses on budgeting, staffing, strategic aims, policies, scrutinising educational outcomes and working alongside the head teacher, senior leadership team and support staff.

I see education as a partnership between schools, parents other stakeholders to ensure that we can deliver a quality education and equal opportunities in learning for all children.

The governing body needs people from all backgrounds and I would without hesitation encourage those who are interested in applying to do so provided you are willing to give up your time. It is a great honour to represent the school and I see first-hand the hard work and effect the teachers and support staff do to keep the pupils inspired so they can achieve greatness.

When not engaged with governance matters, I am a Solicitor with over twenty-five years of experience practising law. I previously worked in a high street practice specialising in property litigation, landlord and tenant disputes and compliance matters. For the past ten years have been working for a legal indemnity insurance company.

In my spare time, I am a taxi driver taking my daughter to dance and drama classes, auditions and rehearsals. I am a West Ham football fan and enjoy watching the cricket whilst drinking a pint of real ale or Guinness.

Thank You.

The PTFA would like to thank you for supporting us over this past year. Sadly we haven’t been able to put on as many events as we would have liked due to volunteer shortages – we are a very small team, currently just 4 Mums make up the PTFA - and so to that, in order to run more fundraising events next academic year we need your help!

We Need Your Help!

We are looking for someone to help with running our social media – so if you are clever with Canva, super at Social Media, a Maestro at Marketing and are available to volunteer approximately 4 hours per month we would love to hear from you, please contact us on: St Bernard's PTFA stbernardsptfa@gmail.com

We are also looking for volunteers to assist us at School Events and our Pre-Loved School Uniform (PLSU) Shop these events are usually in the evening or PLSU Sales run at the same time as Parents' Evenings, we help sell refreshments, and raffle tickets or run the PLSU shop and are always grateful for an extra set of hands to help us out. If you are interested in finding out more please contact us at St Bernard's PTFA at stbernardsptfa@gmail.com

Donations of Pre-Loved School Uniform (PLSU)

Our PLSU Shop depends solely on the donations we receive from you, so as we come to the end of the academic year we ask you to think of us.

The uniform should be in good condition – but no longer fits your child – it should still be in good enough condition for us to re-sell – think would you be happy for your child to go to school in the item?

We ask that you kindly wash and dry the items before you donate them (there are no laundry options for PTFA volunteers to do this at school) they

do not need to be ironed as we steam them before we re-sell.

Donations can be handed into School Reception or direct to PTFA at events we are present at - we will be accepting donations throughout the year at school events & Parents' Evenings.

Easy Fundraising

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Please sign up for Easy Fundraising today - free monetary contributions for the PTFA for very little effort – £2000 has been raised via easy fundraising for St.Bernard’s PTFA so far.

Sign-up is simple just follow the instructions below:

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stbernardswestcliffpta/?searchSessionId=2af58770-e40e-4078-ae07-cb26a00e2e1d

New students in Year 7 and Year 12 are to attend school on Wednesday 4th of September. The rest of the school will return on Thursday 5th of September.

All students should be lined up on the playground or the MUGA according to their year group by 8:40 AM.

Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School is located in Leigh's heart along Manchester Drive, a short walk from the London Road. With its welcoming community atmosphere, it's a perfect choice for children entering Nursery in September 2024.

The school is proud of its family feel, which spans generations, and our vast grounds for children to play. Excelling in music, sport, science, and a balanced curriculum, This could be the ideal place for your child to flourish.

Thinking about your child as they grow, children at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School

transition easily and happily into our Reception classes.

Father, we pray for all students and staff in our school. As we come to the end of the school year, may we all be proud of everything we have achieved. We pray for families who are going through troubled times and those who are losing loved ones. Touch them with your healing hand. As we start our day today, help us to remember that we can continue to do great things with your strength and guidance.

Amen

Email: office@stbernards.southend.sch.uk
Website: stbernardswestcliff.org.uk
Location: Milton Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 7JS UK
Phone: 01702 343583