Year 13! Join our Alumni so we can keep in touch with you and your classmates after you’ve moved on to new adventures.

Week 8 - Key Student Messages

Please read through the following key messages for Week 8: 

Welcome to Week 8. Well done and thank you for such a fantastic first half term to the academic year. On Wednesday we have one of the biggest nights of the year in Sixth Form Open Evening where we will showcase the very best of our community. We appreciate all the volunteers supporting this evening. 

Mr Wilder’s Quote of the Week

“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” - George Bernard Shaw

University Widening Participation 

The University of Bath have launched their Pathway to Bath Programme. This is for year 12 students who meet the widening participation criteria and seek to develop their skills for university. The programme provides students with the opportunity to work with experienced staff and current students, explore a chosen subject in-depth, develop key academic skills for university study and beyond. Students gain insights into what teaching and learning is like at university and have the opportunity to apply for a place on a free 3-day residential visit to campus in the summer. You will be eligible for a guaranteed conditional offer.

House Music

We wish all those competing in House Music the very best this week. It looks set to be yet another brilliant event. All day rehearsal scheduled for Monday 20th October - please see the following schedule: House Music Schedule. Best wishes, Mrs Robertson.

Sixth Form Netball

Mrs Shopland’s 1st Team Netball girls have a busy schedule of fixtures this week. Netball training is on Tuesday after school. The District Cup campaign begins on Wednesday away at Kennet followed by the National Schools Competition on Saturday! Good luck girls! 

Sixth Form Rugby

Mr Sullivan’s 1st Team Rugby boys move forward in the National Cup after a hard fought victory in Gloucester last week. This week the boys have a huge County Cup Quarter Final match against Reading Grammar on Wednesday 2:15 Kick Off on Luker Field. 

C-Coding Club

Want to learn the programming language used in rockets and jets? Come along to our afterschool club in W215 on Tuesday 4/11/25 to learn the C Programming language. You will not only be gaining a head start on university material, but also learn something new which lets you best understand computers and how they work. We recommend that if you do Y12/13 Computer Science, or plan to take an engineering course in University or you just have an interest in computers and how they work. Please email Mrs Terry - kterry@stbarts.co.uk. Denis and Abhinav have done a brilliant job setting this up.

Gaza Appeal

Students have decided to run two fundraising events, where all money goes to Unicef to provide aid for children impacted by the war. We are organising two upcoming fundraising events: 

1. Cake sale - Thursday 23rd October - 12:10 - Common Room - Please support this as best you can - bring cakes/buy cakes 

2. Sponsored Walk/Run the length of Gaza - 12th November Period 5. Get into teams of 6-8 to walk/run the length of Gaza in your Wednesday P5 slot on 12th November. Please complete the attached sponsor form - I have printed these out to help yourself from the 6th common room. 

Debating Society 

Mr Langton, Mr Castel and Mr Wilder run the debating society every Tuesday after school in W111. As Mr Langton said in assembly, we will be entering various prestigious competitions this academic year such as the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Debating Competitions as well as European Youth Parliament. The Debating Society is for those who want to have fun, try something new and learn a valuable skill. If you don’t want to debate, come along to watch. Get involved - another great opportunity.

Sixth Form Production

Sixth Form Production rehearsals - come along Tuesdays after school in the main hall if you would like to be in the ensemble of the play. It would be amazing to have as many people as possible involved. Please email 19epeake@stbarts.co.uk if you are interested in acting. The performance will be on the evening of 9th December, with a day of tech rehearsals in the week before this. People interested in helping with the tech side of the production should email 19emahajan@stbarts.co.uk, any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Vodafone HQ Apprenticeship Support Day - 14th January 2026 - Expression of Interest

On 14th January 2026, we will be taking 50 sixth form students to Vodafone HQ in Newbury. If you are interested in coming please complete the google form (below). At this stage I am just getting an expression of interest. This is open to both year 12 and 13, however, the priority will be given to year 13 students who did not attend last year. Please note that you will need to make your own travel arrangements to and from Vodafone HQ. Please complete the following: Vodafone HQ Apprenticeship Support Day Expression of Interest 2026

Careers drop-ins - Year 13

Mrs Garrety runs drop-in sessions on Monday period 3 (Enrichment - please attend session in the hall first) or Friday 12.10-12.50. If you need help with your personal statement, university choices or have other career queries, just pop in to W050 (off R2) during those times. No appointment required. Year 12s will have career appointments later in the year.

Attendance Focus

Attendance is the most important factor for success in A-levels. Fact. A reminder that it is critically important that you attend your lessons, tutor & enrichment sessions. If you do not attend AM/PM tutor sessions, this will have an adverse effect on your attendance records which we may have to provide in references for universities and companies. Get in at 8:30am and set yourself up for a productive day. We will be setting Friday P5 Detentions with Mr Bastable for those students who do not adhere to this. 

Don’t forget about our wider reading initiative- Five to Thrive- where you get rewarded for reading, whether it is for your A level subjects or reading for pleasure. Collect one of our Five to Thrive cards in the Library and when you have read/listened to five things (fiction or non-fiction books, newspaper articles, JSTOR articles/ journals, NEA research, even a Podcast eg PoliTips), get them signed off by a teacher or the Librarians. Then put them in the box on the Library desk and be in with a chance of winning some Amazon gift cards! 

We also wanted to remind you about the research resources available to you through RMUnify and in the Library- apart from all the fiction and non fiction books we have. Here is a brief guide about what is available at your fingertips and login details where necessary. Please remember to use your school login credentials where possible when accessing these resources/databases to ensure full access, even when working at home. 

Need help with tech? There are some very helpful student videos on RMUnify - click on this tile:

The Purple Press - first issue

More information here: MASSOLIT video essay competition