Urgent messages
Lower 4 messages
Open Morning
Thursday 17th September
The following are helping at Open Morning from AM reg until break:
Tala Abbas (L4B), Samuel Akinsanya (L4B), Tselmuun Bat-Erdene (L4O), Evie Beake (L4O), Frida Blanco (L4G), Theo Brown (L4C), Maddy Cardelli (L4C), Lucas Clark (L4O), Cosmo Cleveland (L4C), Matteo Collins (L4H), Daniel Cristobal Laurrieta (L4G), Amelia de Silva (L4O), Edelyn Ditmar (L4G), Donya Dolatshahi (L4C), Gabriela Geodjenian (L4H), Joseph Georgiou (L4O), Sammy Gilbert (L4C), Joe Gipp Traverso (L4O), Barney Gorringe (L4C), Philippa Graham (L4Y), Ayaan Gulati (L4B), Kara Gupta (L4Y), Matteo Hanna (L4C), Sybil Hargreaves (L4O), Ruby Harridge (L4B), Zack Harris (L4B), Jackson Harris (L4H), Edith Haynes (L4H), Zak Heanen (L4G), Eden-Rose Jean-Baptiste (L4C), Niamh Kelly (L4Y), Giorgia Khera (L4H), Taran Khera (L4Y), Isadora Kirkpatrick (L4B), Vihaan Mathias (L4Y), Eva Mazur (L4B), Carlo Mehrabi (L4O), Anna Melo Korynska (L4G), Mariam Mesrati (L4B), Mayu Mihayashi (L4G), Asahi Miura (L4Y), Alexandra Norman (L4Y), Ernest Ollendorff (L4Y), David Pantea (L4C), Mark Pantea (L4H), Elysia Papathanasiou (L4H), Thomas Paul (L4G), Siena Rahim (L4B), Rishi Raykundalia (L4B), Aiva Regis-Moore (L4B), Ben Rhoda (L4H), Carl Saour (L4H), Millie Scambler (L4G), Pendle Selway (L4H), Flynn Skinner (L4Y), Isla Taplin (L4C), Ben Thomson (L4O), Eoin Tierney (L4B), Ayaan Usmani (L4B), Savanna Vamathevan (L4G), Aran Virdi (L4O), Ivy Weeks (L4Y), Olivier Winiarek (L4B), Max Yazdi (L4O)
Chaplaincy Formation
Friday 18th September
The following are absent from all lessons for the Chaplaincy Formation Day. Please go to the Cloisters at the start of Period 1:
Edward Graham (F3), John Khadouri (F3), Joseph Kennedy (F3), Carolina Autran Botelho (F3), Stefan Collis (F3), Rehmat Azad (F3), Zaira Keraj (F3), Mia Haxhija (F3), Juan Suarez Torres (F3), Millie Codrington (F3), Ella Ostaszewska (F3), Fintan Avella (F3), Amelia de Silva (L4), Amelia Kyagulanyi (L4), Anna Melo Korynska (L4), Bella Davis (L4), Elizabeth Kan (L4), Elysia Papathanasiou (L4), Kara Gupta (L4), Lautaro Potter (L4), Lucas Nwaokolo (L4), Mariam Mesrati (L4), Matteo Hanna (L4), Niamh Kelly (L4), Philippa Graham (L4), Ryan Salehi (L4), Siena Rahim (L4), Tazmin Rege (L4), Theo Brown (L4), Thomas Paul (L4), Tselmuun Bat-Erdene (L4), Alexandra Norman (U4), Anastasia Norman (U4), Anaya Dhillon (U4), Artina Hashemi Nasab (U4), Azariah Abel (U4), Benjamin Mpofu (U4), Carl Ihezie (U4), Dylan Avella (U4), Emmeline Love (U4), Harry Campbell (U4), Jenni Bosher (U4), Kitty Hall (U4), Lisa Kluemper (U4), Lowry Gorman (U4), Maria Bignell (U4), Momoka Tejima (U4), Penri Powell Cotter (U4), Reuben Adebutu (U4), Simone Radebe (U4), Sophia Norman (U4), Tom Pollard (U4), Uma Sidhu (U4), Varvara Nedostupenko (U4), Doireann Keogh (U4), Alejandro Smith Verona (L5), Claudia Scott (L5), Danny Boyle (L5), Harvey Bissett (L5), Kasper Muraszko (L5), McKayle Adewuyi (L5), Ronnie Sunderland (L5), Sheelun Jing (L5)
Whole school messages
Library News
Word of the Week
Semantic satiation (noun phrase) – semantic (adjective), satiation (noun)
Definition: When repeating or looking at a word for a long time makes it temporarily seem strange, unfamiliar, or meaningless.
Origin: Semantic comes from Greek semantikos, meaning “meaning” or “significant.” Satiation comes from Latin satiare, meaning “to fill” or “satisfy.”
Sentence: After staring at the word ‘school’ for a minute, I experienced semantic satiation and it suddenly looked like it was spelled wrong.
Chosen by: F3B
Book of the Week (Fiction): People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence
Three 13-year-old strangers are connected by one big secret. Nervous Ayrton was stolen away from his mum as a baby. He was returned safely, but now Mum won't let him out of her sight. Curious Stanley has a Forbidden Grandmother. His mum won't even talk about her. Homeless Sen has finally found a place to live, but she'll be out on the street if she upsets her secretive landlady. What happens when their paths cross...?
For fans of: page-turning mysteries; stories with depth; family
Book of the Week (Non-Fiction): Welcome to AI (006.3), by Matthieu Dugal and Owen Davey
The most complete guide to AI for youngsters, covering everything from Ancient Greece to ChatGPT.
In this fun,
simple, and vibrant non-fiction book, technoscience expert Matthieu Dugal,
creator of documentary AI: To be or not to be, shares the epic
history of artificial intelligence and gives answers to the biggest head-scratchers:
• How does AI already help us, at home and at school?
• Which robots from your favourite movies may soon be in the real world?
• What are avatars?
• …and many more
Article of the Week
Bayeux’s back! Tapestry fever grips UK
Is history written by winners? An extraordinary artwork has returned to Britain for the first time in almost a century. It provides a fascinating window into how history is told.
In early July, over 80,000 people joined an online queue to book tickets, waiting up to nine hours for the first release. They were queuing not for Oasis, nor Taylor Swift, nor even Glastonbury. They were waiting for tickets to see a 950-year-old piece of fabric.
This Thursday, the British Museum will unveil its exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry — a 68m long cloth that narrates the Norman Conquest of England. It is usually housed in Bayeux in Normandy. This is the first time the tapestry has left France since the 11th Century.
It might be the hottest exhibition of the year. Reactions have been ecstatic. King Charles III said it symbolises an “entente amicale” between the UK and France. The Times’s critic Laura Freeman called it “a magnificent, spine-shivering experience” and “a show to tell your grandchildren about”.
The tapestry tells the story of a brutal confllict. But its own tale is full of twists. It is largely believed that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the half-brother of William the Conqueror. Opinion varies on where it was made.
Most historians contend it was created in England, likely by women from Canterbury, in part because it is not technically a tapestry but a piece of embroidery. Anglo-Saxon England was famous for this art form.
At some point it was moved to Bayeux, where it languished until 18th Century antiquarians took an interest. During the French Revolution it was confiscated to be used for covering army wagons, before being saved by a lawyer. Napoleon exhibited it in Paris to drum up support for his own invasion of Britain.
In World War Two, when Germany occupied Paris, leading Nazi Heinrich Himmler ordered it to be taken to Germany. Allied forces managed to save it just in time. It has been displayed in a purpose-built museum since.
It is often claimed that history is written by the victors. The tapestry is a key example. It was created to celebrate the Norman victory — even though it was made by Anglo-Saxon women.
The tapestry does not flinch from showing the violence against the defeated Anglo-Saxons. One section shows a woman and child fleeing a burning building. But otherwise, says historian Catherine Clarke: “It shows little of the wider impact of the battle on English people”.
We think of history as fact. And some of it is: few doubt that the Normans won the Battle of Hastings, for instance. Yet history is often a constructed fiction, cobbled together from the stories left behind by others — often those with the power or privilege to write.
But whilst the Bayeux tapestry comes from the winners’ side, there are also plenty of accounts of the Norman Conquest told by the Anglo-Saxons. The Life of King Edward, written between 1065 and 1067, gives a real time reaction to the conflict from an English perspective.
When William died, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle — written by Anglo-Saxon monks — criticised his greed and cruelty. Sometimes the conquered do get a voice. You just have to listen for it.
Is history written by winners?
https://theday.co.uk/bayeuxs-back-tapestry-fever-grips-uk/
The Day log in details:
Username: librarian@stbenedicts.org.uk
Thinking Forum
The new Thinking Forum is:
Do you think people in the past had it easier or harder than we do now?
Think, discuss then write your view on a piece of card and pin it up on the board by the Helikon Centre.
Monday Faculty Cafe Talks 1.05pm in the Helikon Centre
Monday 14 Sept 2026
L4 Research Poster Presentations:
Benefits of the beach – Tselmuun Bat-Erdene
Space mining – Ayaan Gulati
Dreams - what are they? – Grace Hickman
The invention of the light bulb – Mason
Patel
All welcome Pizza, KitKat, juice
NOTE: due to large numbers, entry is by ticket and
limited to 40 places – pick up a ticket on the Monday either before school or
at breaktimen from Mrs Gorman (nextdoor to the Helikon Centre)
The Pickering 400 Club
A huge well done to all of our Pickering students who earned more than 400 House Points last year, as of 1 May!
To celebrate all your hard work, effort and contributions, we’re inviting you to a full-on Sundae Bar celebration!
Friday, 18 September 1:15pm
Geography ICT
Lower 4th: Pendle Selway, Ruby Harridge and Aiva Regis-Moore. Upper 4th: Harry Campbell, Azariah Abel, Dylan Avella, Momoka Tejima, Orlando Salisbury, Benjamin Mpofu, George Bigland and Federico Baratta. Lower 5th: Elsa Munoz Alvarez and Ethan Finnegan. Upper 5th: Abi Bricknell, Tom Hill and Feras Asami. Lower 6th: Aoife Clark.
There will be a second celebration later this term, recognising the additional House Points earned through July of last year once the tables are finalised.
Posted on Tue 8th Sep 26 by Ms Zuhlke