Both Year 9 and 10 Rounders teams take the gold at the District tournament.

On Monday 19th June Miss Cameron and Miss Esterhuizen took the Year 9 and 10 Rounders teams to Monks Walk for the District Rounders tournament.

The Year 9 team played Mount Grace and Chancellors in their pool games winning both to progress to the semi finals vs Stanborough. In a close game, our Year 9 team did very well and showed excellent batting skills to really take control of the 2nd innings and progress to the final vs Yavneh. Again, two very similar sides in terms of their fielding skills meant it was a close final up until the last few minutes where BHGS showed good composure and some good catches to finish in 1st place and become District Champions.

The Year 10 team played Onslow and Stanborough in their pool games with both opposition schools testing the BHGS team in different ways. After a few initial nerves by the BHGS team, the girls rallied round and improved their communication to help win both games and progress to the semi finals. The BHGS team continued to improve in confidence and skill level throughout the tournament and won their semi final vs Yavneh to move into the final game vs Onslow. As both teams had played each other in the pool rounds there were a few tactical changes to both fielding sides and placing their hits became even more important in an attempt to try and find space. Both teams did very well in taking advantage of the oppositions mistakes and consistent bowling became the difference between Onslow and the BHGS Year 10 team. In the end, the game was very close but our BHGS Year 10 team emerged as winners and finished the season as District Champions.

A big well done to both teams for their excellent performances – a great way to finish off the year!

Year 7 Careers Event – Sustainability with Tesco

We welcomed Tesco into the school to run a fast paced Careers event on Wednesday morning for Year 7.

Our Year 7s were put through their paces by being given a work-related task brief to complete in just two hours. This task was to design a product and advertising campaign message for using our wasted food sustainably. The task included the big issue of our futures – how to make our lifestyles sustainable – a great challenge for the young generation coming up. Also, the challenge set was designed to help develop key career skills and showed our Year 7s what employers are looking for in the future. The tasks focused on team working, problem solving, initiative, creativity and presentation/communications skills.

Our Year 7s rose to the challenge and Paul Grogan, from the Tesco Development Programmes team, commented “Bishop’s teams delivered some of our best ideas and presentations to date”. High praise from a large local employer. The sustainable products designed by our pupils ranged from new ideas on roast dinners to international themed dishes. The advertising food stories covered poignant moments with grannies to celebration of birthdays. The best designs all unlocked a prize of a £5 Tesco voucher.

Year 7 had a fun and informative morning understanding how they can help build a sustainable future by reducing food waste. Also, our Food Tech team popped in to see a wide range and originality of food ideas and all teachers witnessed the effective pulling together of teams and confident presentation skills. We have some innovative cooks and confident speakers among our Year 7 cohort!

Year 7 enjoy an enlightening talk by author and eco-journalist Sarah Roberts

In 2021-22, Save the World Club participated in some of the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaigns and were selected by Scholastic to receive a free workshop with environmental expert and eco-journalist Sarah Roberts.

Sarah is also an author and refers to herself as a ‘storyteller’. Sarah has travelled the world – from coastal rainforests to the African bush – working with wildlife everywhere she goes. On her adventures she discovered that even in the most isolated ecosystems on the planet, you cannot escape the impact of pollution on the natural world. In 2014, she set up an education outreach project to raise awareness of the issue, and published her first children’s book, Somebody Swallowed Stanley, which has been used in schools around the world to teach young people about plastic pollution.

We were delighted to welcome Sarah via Zoom to speak to Year 7 on Thursday 18th May. Sarah’s informative talk engaged and inspired the students. They were shocked to hear that every turtle has plastic in their body due to plastic pollution in our oceans. Also, that so many salmon die before they reach their breeding ground because of the micro-plastics they have swallowed.

Year 7 were brilliant at asking Sarah lots of questions and have been inspired to create a display, which will be up on the Humanities office window after half term!

We took our Food GCSE students on a journey through some of London’s most popular food destinations with a chance to learn about the history and culture of the area. It was a school trip they will never forget!

Last week, we took our Year 10 GCSE students on an exciting school trip on a food tour to London. We took them on a journey through some of London’s most popular food destinations with a chance to learn about the history and culture of the area. It was a school trip they will never forget!

We started off at Spitalfields Market which is one of London’s oldest and most famous food markets founded in 1197. Our students learnt about the history of the market and how it all started from a hospital originally! The tour took students from Spitalfields Market to Banglatown on to Brick Lane where they learnt about the culture and history of this interesting area. They all had the opportunity to taste a variety of different food from a Bangladeshi Deli. They tried Samosa, Pakora, Chicken Tikka Rolls and Onion Bhajis. Next we headed to Truman’s Brewery and discovered it was once home to London’s largest brewery which started in 1669. It is now East London’s choice of destination for the public and businesses and the students could see how it has changed so much. After building up an appetite we walked to a beautiful chocolate shop called Dark Sugars where we heard the story of its owner, an African lady called Nyanga who began her business in Spitalfields Market with a small amount of truffles. The word spread amongst the local residents and market visitors that an African woman was bringing a taste of Africa in the form of chocolates. After many successful years, Nyanga packed up her truffles and spent three years researching cocoa on her family’s farm. She returned bringing her experience  from Ghana to the streets of East London. The students were told the story from cocoa bean to their chocolate bags and how chocolates are made. They were fascinated! We were able to choose a variety of chocolates to sample and a rather large hot chocolate!

During our tour we were amazed and in awe of the street art painted by some very talented artists and spotted broccoli on the walls outside of shops and on walls. We learnt the history of the ‘Broccoli Man’ who has an art shop in London selling broccoli in picture frames! It all started when the ‘Broccoli Man’ once had an idea to paint whole broccoli and display them on the streets of London which became so popular amongst Chinese tourists that he was asked to create them as pictures. This has now spread worldwide and he is selling ‘broccoli art’ all over the world!

The next stop of the tour the students had the opportunity to visit ‘Beigel Bake’ which provided the historic tastes and traditions of the Jewish East End, mixed with the flavours of an ever evolving multi-cultural community. We tried Salt Beef Bagels which were enjoyed by everyone. ‘Beigel Bake’ is a popular choice by Prince William and Princess Kate who visit there often and we were very happy to be sharing this experience too. We wondered why ‘Beigel’ was spelt differently. We learnt that ‘Beigels’ are made the traditional way being boiled first to get that chewy texture, modern bagels are not always boiled.

Amongst many other tastes and delights of more food vendors, we finished off with a Bubble Tea at a Taiwan café which we think was the perfect end to a fabulous tour.

The Talk Eat Walk Eat tour was a magnificent way for students to explore the London food scene and learn about the city’s history and multi culture at the same time. The students tasted some of London’s most delicious food while gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation for the people and places that make London such an exciting place.

Talented musicians perform at Lady Salisbury’s Coffee Morning at Hatfield House.

On Tuesday 28th March, six of our talented musicians braved a rainy walk down to Hatfield House’s Old Palace in order to perform at Lady Salisbury’s Coffee Morning. This was a fantastic opportunity to represent Bishop’s in splendid surroundings. The coffee morning was to raise money for Breaks Manor Youth & Community Centre & St. Etheldreda’s. Our audience was treated to wonderful performances from the following students: Holly armer and Ellie B (Year 11) singing a vocal duet from the musical Evita, Em W (Year 9) performing a beautiful piece of Grieg on the piano, Kiruga J (Year 11) performing a movement from Reade’s Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite on the clarinet, sensitively accompanied by Grace M (Year 9) on the piano, and Sophie G (Year 10) singing Popular from Wicked. The girls did themselves and the school proud, giving some very polished and confident performances. A number of members of the public commented on how beautifully they played, and how it was lovely to also hear some instrumentalists performing at the coffee morning for the first time. Congratulations to all six performers!