bishop brian of tonbridge blesses the new school … 3...bishop brian of tonbridge blesses the new...
TRANSCRIPT
On Wednesday 9th February, Bishop Brian of
Tonbridge came and blessed our new school chapel
watched by the gathered members of staff, students, Governors and other guests. The
ceremony realises our wish to have a designated ‗sacred space‘ at the heart of the
school.
School Chaplain, Reverend Juliet Donnelly, considers this ―an oasis of calm – a place to
reflect on God and share communion and prayer.‖
Headteacher, Kathy Griffiths said ―The Chapel is a
place for both staff and students to enjoy some quiet
time and to reflect on who we are as a school
community. Faith underpins everything we try to
achieve at Bishop Justus, and we are delighted that
Bishop Brian, a long standing friend of the school,
has blessed the dedication of our chapel. That is a
real honour.‖
Bishop Brian also blessed a Maltese Cross in
memory of past student Jamie Zammit, who sadly
died in December last year. Jamie‘s mother, Donna,
was ―Overwhelmed‖ saying, ―this beautiful new
chapel is also a place of remembrance for Jamie – it makes me feel Jamie‘s still at
Bishop Justus in this quiet place, where his brother Tommy is also a student.‖
Welcome to our third issue of the Bishop Justus newsletter and as
you can see, we are as busy as ever. Next week we have students
on a school visit to Madrid and a ski trip to Austria; I am sure both
will be educational and enjoyable. We look forward to having the
students back safely to share their experiences with us.
May I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support
and I look forward to updating you on the progress of our academy
status after the half term break.
Wishing you and your family a restful week. I look forward to
welcoming students back on Monday 28th February at the normal
time of 8.40 am.
Kathy Griffiths
Chapel Dedication
O2 Young Voices
Classical Platform Success
Jazzed Up Safer Neighbourhood
Awards
Primary Jazz Workshop
Ripley Arts Centre Exhibition
Experience Easter Through Art
Tell Us Your Irish Story
We Need Your Vouchers
Kent Schools Swimming
Bromley Schools Gymnastics
Outdoor Gym Opens
Year 7 Visit Lille
Dates for your Diary
Bishop Justus Church of England School
Magpie Hall Lane
Bromley
Kent BR2 8HZ
020 8315 8130 Designed and produced by The Learning Resources Centre
Bishop Brian of Tonbridge blesses the new school chapel
Revd. Juliet Donnelly
The Maltese Cross in memory of Jamie
The Bishop Justus Jazz Band has also been
performing a morning assembly to the
children of Red Hill Primary School in
Chislehurst, as part of our ongoing support of
local primary schools through our Music
Specialism. The morning ended with an
electrifying performance of ‗Thriller‘ by
Michael Jackson complete with audience
participation!
The Bishop Justus Jazz Band was invited
to perform to an audience of over 300 at
the Safer Neighbourhood Awards at
Oakley House in Bromley. The event was
attended by the Mayor of Bromley and the
organisers were hugely impressed by the
standard of music played by the band.
Since September, Year 8 have been studying singing on a weekly basis and a number
of them had the privilege to sing at the O2 as part of the ‗Young Voices‘ event. This
year the concert supported the charity CLIC SARGENT – which helps children with
cancer.
The venue was filled with thousands of children of all ages, from different schools,
singing the same repertoire and supported by acts such as All Angels, Dionne
Broomfield, and Josh Osho.
Pupils attended a two and a half hour rehearsal in the afternoon and all then
presented their work in the concert that evening. The O2 was a complete sell-out which
helped make this a true spectacle and an experience the pupils will never forget. Bishop Justus students were part of a
choir of thousands at the O2
A second successful Classical Platform was held in our Lecture Theatre and proved to be a great
opportunity for students to perform classical repertoire in an informal setting. Some students
performed pieces for their grade exams and others chose lighter repertoire from film scores. The
students and staff in the audience said it was a very relaxing way to spend a lunchtime! We aim to
hold a Classical Platform every term from now on.
January saw the first ever Bishop Justus Portrait exhibition open at The Ripley Arts Centre in Bromley. The private view
was a great success and a fantastic celebration of achievement for the students whose work was displayed.
The exhibition contained portraits completed by students aged 11-18 of all skills and levels and aimed to display the
wide range and variety of work produced. The evening was attended by students, parents and the public and the
feedback from all involved was very positive and hopefully will lead to more!
Some of the comments from visitors included:“An excellent show – well done. Welcome to Ripley!” “Lovely to see the
children progressing and expressing themselves through
Art”
“What an impressive exhibition. The wide range of work on
display reflects the astonishing talent in the school and
the undoubted quality of the teaching. Many
congratulations.”
For more pictures, take a look at the gallery in the Media
Galleries section of our website.
The Jazz Band perform at Oakley
House
A selection of the pictures on display
The school are once again participating
in the Sainsbury‘s Active Kids and Tesco
for Schools & Clubs voucher schemes
this year.
Both schemes give us the opportunity to
purchase new equipment and resources.
So please make sure that you collect
your vouchers whenever you shop and
put them in the collection boxes in the
Learning Resources Centre.
The Mayor of London
in association with
Tourism Ireland and
Bord Bia has
launched a
competition to
celebrate St Patrick's
Day and raise young
Londoners' awareness of Ireland on the
theme of 'Tell us your Irish story'.
Children can win one of three cash prizes up
to £5,000 for their school or a family holiday
to Ireland! One in four Londoners has an
Irish grandparent, so there should be plenty
of tales to tell.
The deadline for entries is Friday 4 March
2011. Prizes will be presented on the main
stage at the FREE St Patrick‘s Day Festival at
Trafalgar Square on Sunday 13 March 2011.
For full information please visit
www.london.gov.uk/stpatricksday/schools
‗A large crowd of people followed
Him: among them were some
women who were weeping and
wailing for Him. Jesus turned to
them and said ―Women of
Jerusalem, don‘t cry for me but for
yourselves and your children‖‘
Luke 23 vs. 27-28
We often read scriptures and use
our imagination to consider the
context of the narrative. For me,
creating artwork linked to a
religious narrative was a way to
bring the content alive and felt like
producing a storybook with
pictures. Art can simplify complex
ideas and present things for
people with clarity.
My own painting was designed to
represent the moment Jesus
spoke to the women of Jerusalem
on his journey to the cross. The
vibrant colours I chose for the
clothing of the women of
Jerusalem were selected to
contrast with the negative
emotions of their weeping and
wailing. The colours were there to
create a stained glass image
familiar to worshippers throughout
history.
The aesthetic principle allows
people to engage with the beauty
of a piece of artwork and I believe
can evoke a religious experience.
Beauty can be perceived at
different levels, on the surface of a
canvas or in the meanings behind
the image. Either of these can
enable people to engage with
deeper spiritual concepts and
truths. It can be considered that
the eyes are the window of the
soul and artists‘ impressions of
narrative can help people to
open the window along their
spiritual journeys.
The production of artwork itself
can be an opportunity to share
ideas and challenge stereotypes.
As the context of the artwork was
to contribute to and be a focus
for worship during Holy Week, I
felt I had to do something
traditional and portray Jesus in a
certain way to meet people‘s
expectations. Yet others found it
a time to explore the stereotypes
and consider Jesus‘ cultural
heritage as a Jew and Nazarene.
Holy Week could be argued to be
the most important week of the
Church Year in the lead up to
Easter. If providing a visual
stimulus to support a person‘s
contemplation of the Stations of
the Cross can stimulate a
person‘s spirit then this can only
be a good thing.
Three students recently took part in the Kent
Schools Swimming competition at The Black
Lion Leisure Centre, Gillingham.
Natasha Hainsworth swam the 100m
Butterfly in a great time but missed out on
the finals. Charlotte Gregory swam the 100m
Breaststroke and set a new personal best of
1.37.19, but this was still not enough to
make the final.
Jessica Frankland was the star of the day,
swimming the 200m Individual Medley. In
the heats, she set a new personal best of
2.42.59 and was the fastest qualifier. In the
final she again swam an excellent race, but
was just beaten into second place with
another personal best time of 2.41.64.
Mia with her art work ‘Jesus meets the
Women of Jerusalem’
Other work created by students included ‘Jesus is Stripped of his Garments’ (left) and an
interpretation of ‘The Crown of Thorns’ (right)
FEBRUARY
Monday 28th — Term 4 Starts
MARCH
Friday 11th — Friends Family Music Quiz
Monday 14th — Friends AGM
Monday 21st — Year 10 Internal Assessment Fortnight
Thursday 24th — Year 8 Parent Consultation
Thursday 31st — Easter Cabaret Concert
APRIL
Friday 8th — Last Day of Term
Saturday 9th — Sorrento Trip Departs
Friday 15th — Iceland Trip Departs
The Bromley Schools Gymnastics Festival is one of
the longest running festivals in the Bromley Borough.
It is a dazzling showcase of skill and creativity by
primary and secondary school pupils who have all
worked extremely hard in class and extra curricular
clubs run by dedicated teachers.
This year, 25 schools
took part split
between a morning
and afternoon event
with parents, family
members and the
gymnasts making up
the audience. Bishop
Justus provided the
finale performance in
both the morning and
afternoon and were
fantastic. The crowd
reacted very positively
and oohed and
aahhed at the
somersaults and
backflips.
The team consists of
17 students from
years 7-11. Three are trained club gymnasts, but
everyone else has gained their skills from training at
school.
They have trained
twice a week since the
beginning of the
school year and will
continue to train after
this event.
An early start beckoned for Year 7 as they boarded the coach
to catch the Eurotunnel to France, then onwards to Lille.
The students enjoyed a trip on
the huge ferris wheel, some time
in the Christmas Market
shopping for presents and dinner
in a French Fast Food
restaurant. The day was a great
success and everyone returned
home safely full of stories to tell
their parents.
Some of the students wrote down their thoughts about the day:
―I really enjoyed the trip. I loved going on the ferris wheel,
although it was a bit scary. The market was good too, I bought
a lot of things.” Jacob Sheath
“One of the best parts about visiting France was the ferris
wheel. It was amazing, I never thought it would be so
tall. Another thing I really enjoyed was eating the crepes and
the Christmas market - they
were delicious!” Marco Arcuri
“I enjoyed the ferris wheel. It
was high and if you moved the
pod you were in wobbled. I also
enjoyed the Christmas
market. It was full of nice food
such as crepes. It also gave me
a chance to try out my French.”
Fraser Spooncer
“I enjoyed shopping with my friends. The ferris wheel was
scary at first, but the second time round it was really fun.”
Dylan Reeves-Fellows
“What I liked best about the trip to France was the ferris wheel
because it went so high. I also liked shopping in the market
because there was a lot of things to see and buy.” Felicity
Woolhouse
Students practised their French in the
shops and market
We are delighted to be the first school in Bromley to open
an Outdoor Gym. It includes a Treadmill, Ecliptical
Runner, Monkey Bars, Air Walker, Triceps Dip Station, Sit-
up Station and many more. Each piece of equipment has
clear guidelines for proper
use and information on
which part of the body it is
benefitting.
Head of PE Miss Hill said, ―I
am confident this will be a
real asset to all that use
the school.‖
Students ready for the ferris wheel
Students on the Outdoor Gym
Students performed a variety of skills
Students performed a variety of skills
Students performed a variety of skills