News

World Number One Para-Fencing Champion! VB pupil, Josh, sets sights on Olympics 2020

Venerable Bede C of E Academy pupil Josh Waddell (Y10) recently returned from an international wheelchair fencing competition in Hungary.  At the competition he competed in both the foil and epee, often fencing against adults.  Josh performed well in the events despite competing against older and more experienced fencers – he is the youngest competitor in the Senior events – with his performance in epee proving to be his better event.

At the competition, he received official confirmation of his world ranking for 2017 and was presented with a trophy naming him as the U17 Men’s Epee World Number One.  This is a fantastic achievement and one that Josh, his family and friends, and all at Venerable Bede are, rightly, proud of.

Despite his already considerable and impressive achievements, Josh is not one to rest on his laurels.  He is working towards a new goal – to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games!  However, as with many sports, wheelchair fencing is expensive: there is equipment to purchase, entry fees to competitions and travel costs to meet.  Whilst Josh can access the training and coaching provided by Team GB, many of the other costs are met by family – an average competition can cost around £2,500.  To help Josh realise his Tokyo ambitions, the family have set up a ‘Justgiving’ crowd funding page to try and raise the money to meet the cost of attending future competitions which is essential to maintain world ranking as well as for qualification for Tokyo.

Over the next several months, Venerable Bede will be working on a number of projects to try to raise additional funds as well as continuing to support him through his education – Josh is also a hard-working student who hopes to work in the field of sports psychology in the future. Josh embodies our core values of joy and perseverance and we hope that with our support, and that of others, he will be able to live out our school motto, ‘Soar to the heights together’.

Details of the crowdfunding page can be found by following this link:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/joshwaddellfencing

On this page you can read full details of Josh’s story.  All donations will be gratefully received and all of the money raised will go to support Josh in achieving his goals.

Anti-Bullying Group recognised by the City

Visit to the Mayor’s Chambers for VB bully buddies!

On Friday the 16th of March, 8 of our Year 8 ‘Bully Buddies’ (our club for pupils eager to take on training and develop strategies) were invited to visit the Mayor’s Chambers (also known as the Civic Centre) to receive an award. This award recognised the fact that Venerable Bede has proven to be the most effective school in the region at decreasing instances of cyber-bullying!

The event began with a presentation outlining some of the suggested strategies to help to prevent bullying in school followed by the presentation of the award.

The pupils took advantage of this trip as an opportunity to meet with and share ideas with their peers from similar groups organised by other local schools, such as Southmoor Academy, St.Aiden’s Catholic Academy and Thornhill Academy.

For our Year 8 ‘Bully Buddies’; this was a truly remarkable day as they had the chance to meet the mayor herself, Councillor Doris MacKnight. This wonderful opportunity was enjoyed by all who attended, with one pupil commenting, “This has been a very special day, one I will remember for a long time! I was really interested to talk with the other anti-bullying groups along with Mayor MacKnight, swapping ideas for how we can keep moving forward, fighting bullying”.

Prince’s Trust Update

Enterprise Project

Before the Christmas holidays last year the year 11 Prince’s Trust Group raised £200 by selling Santa hats and badges to pupils and staff.

Josh, Cailan, Kieron and Hannah put a great deal of work into organising the sale and decided that any profit they made would be donated to the local Salvation Army.

Julie, a member of the Salvation Army, came into school to deliver a presentation about the work they do locally and was delighted to receive the cheque from the pupils.

Beamish ‘Go Wild’

During March, our year 9, 10 and 11 Princes Trust pupils had the privilege of attending the Prince’s Trust’s Achieve day at Beamish Wild. This day was organised and funded by the Prince’s Trust as a way of recognising the achievement of pupils from across the North East who are working towards the PDE (Personal Development and Employability skills) Achieve qualification.

The Venerable Bede pupils very much enjoyed taking part in Archery, Den Building and Create Stack activities. Through these activities pupils developed their communication and team building skills as well as putting into practice endurance and resilience.

“I really enjoyed the activities. I also enjoyed working together in a team” Ben.

“…I loved the stacking, it was very scary but it was the most fun I have ever had!” Marshall.

Sunderland School Cross Country Successes!

Pupils from year 7-10 recently attended the Sunderland Schools cross country championships which were held at Farringdon Academy. All students who attended performed extremely well and there were some significant performances from those who ran.

In the year 7 competition, our girls’ team (above) were outstanding with all six team members finishing in the top 22 runners; with 4 of the 6 finishing in the top 10. The stand out performances were Mary Ellis 3rd, Megan Neal 5th, Charlotte Milburn 8th and Lucy Taylor 9th.

There was also success in the year 7 boys competition.

Luke Bell won the race and is the Sunderland Schools champion for 2017.

The Girls’ Year 8 and 9 event saw Olivia Callaghan (year 8) finishing second overall, which is a great achievement as she was running against girls who are a school year older. Abby Towers and Evie Morton also made the top 10 finishing 5th and 7th respectively. In the boys competition, Aaron Bird (Year 8) and Liam Chrystal (Year 9) were notable performers.

Our second Sunderland Schools Champion came in the Year 10 & 11 Boys’ race where Josh Davis led from start to finish winning by some distance.

John Oliver finished a very impressive 3rd on a tough course.

The pupils who finished in the top 10 in their races have been selected to represent Sunderland at the Inter-Counties Championships at Brandon later in the year.

Head of PE, Mr Atherton said, ‘The pupils have performed extremely well and there have been some fantastic achievements. Cross country has been on the curriculum this half term and this has really benefitted the performance of our pupils.’

Lesotho Feature

Lesotho 2018

Entering Lesotho through the border with South Africa is always exciting. The roads are dustier and bumpier, the pace of life is slower and more laid back, and the people are very friendly.

One of the great pleasures in all of this is seeing the pupils’ reaction to entering the country; it’s a long journey, they are tired and yet, as soon as we cross the border their energy levels rise, the excitement is evident and all you can hear is the discussion of what they can see through the windows.

This adventure is a significant life event for these Year 10 pupils. They absorb the sounds, sights and smells. They witness the poverty of the lives of their Basotho peers, they come to terms with living together in a group for two weeks. They also have the dubious pleasure of living out of a suitcase.

On their return the pupils are exploding with stories and tales to tell of their trip away and many often say that it dramatically changes their outlook on life.

Pupil Voice

“When I arrived in Lesotho, I realised that I need not have worried about the language barrier as their English was very good and the people were very welcoming.”

Charlotte

“The child headed household weekend was really good as it gave us the chance to connect with the children.”

Aaron

“It was a life changing experience, that reminded me to appreciate all the opportunities available to me.”

Louise

“When I arrived in Lesotho, I realised that I need not have worried about the language barrier as their English was very good and the people were very welcoming.”

Adam

“Our trip to Lesotho was truly amazing and we were very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet such inspiring and welcoming people.”

Ellie

“When I arrived in Lesotho, I realised that I need not have worried about the language barrier as their English was very good and the people were very welcoming.”

Adam

Lesotho 2019

The planning and fundraising for Lesotho 2019 is already well underway. As usual we are going to hold a range of events to support the project. These include ‘bag packs’, band nights, car washes, raffles, cake sales and many more fun and exciting activities.

Part of our Lesotho programme is to host a child-headed household weekend which includes lots of enjoyable tasks for the Basotho children to take part in. We also visit St James’ Primary School so we hope to raise enough funds to enable us to complete some decorating whilst we are there. “God’s Love Orphanage” also benefits from our project. This year we donated some of our funds to help with the upkeep of the building and support some of the older children through their education.

We thank you in advance for your support and encouragement during our fundraising.