Urgent messages
Change to Library Opening Hours – Bennies Day, Friday 20 March
Due to Bennies Day celebrations, the Senior Library will be open from 9:00am and will close at 3:45pm on Friday 20 March. Please plan your visits accordingly.
Thank you for your understanding.
Senior Library Team
Posted on Wed 18th Mar 26 by Senior School LibraryLibrary News
Word of the Week
Indomitable (adjective)
Definition: It means impossible to subdue or defeat and is used to say someone is strong, brave and difficult to defeat or frighten.
Origin: from the Late Latin 'indomitabilis' meaning 'untameable' or 'not able to be subdued'. Originally used for wild things, it evolved to mean unconquerable spirit.
Sentence: A quietly indomitable figure, she vowed to keep protesting to the end of her life.
Chosen by: U5Y
Book of the Week (Fiction): Wildlands, by Brogen Murphy
Twenty-five years into the future, no humans are allowed in the Wildlands - a vast area in Britain where wolves, lynx and bison roam free. The only exception is a high-speed train line between London and Glasgow that crosses right through the heart of the project. Thirteen-year-old Astrid and her little sister, Indie, are onboard when their train slows to a brief, unexpected stop...and they find themselves accidentally left behind. Stranded in this place of astonishing natural wonders and terrible dangers, they have only a rucksack, a phone without signal - and each other. As every wrong turn takes them deeper into the Wildlands, do they have the ingenuity and determination to survive?
How far would YOU go to find your way home?
For fans of: dystopia, survival fiction, action-packed stories, geography & nature
Book of the Week (Non-Fiction): Finding my Way by Malala Yousafzai (920)
Thrust onto the public stage at fifteen years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Malala Yousafzai quickly became an international icon known for bravery and resilience. But away from the cameras and crowds, she spent years struggling to find her place in an unfamiliar world. Now, for the first time ever, Malala takes us beyond the headlines in Finding My Way—a vulnerable, surprising memoir that buzzes with authenticity, sharp humour, and tenderness.
Finding My Way is a story of friendship and first love, of anxiety and self-discovery, of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are.
Article of the Week
The machine learning engineer: ‘Just be keen’
What does it take to work in machine learning? Sneha Sen, 27, is a senior machine learning engineer at London-based financial technology (fin-tech) company Cleo.
By her own admission, Sneha’s path to her chosen career was unconventional. Many of her colleagues who work in technology have degrees in maths or computer science. But at school, Sneha’s passion was languages.
She took three languages at GCSE, followed by A-levels in French, German and maths. She was fascinated by how languages work. “I just got really into grammar,” she says.
Completing an extended project on how children learn languages, Sneha discovered linguistics, the scientific study of language. She knew she wanted to study at Cambridge — and so she set about doing everything she could to learn more about the course.
After emailing a Cambridge linguistics professor, they introduced her to students studying linguistics, whilst a UCL professor offered her a week of work experience.
At this point, Sneha did not know what she wanted to do with a linguistics degree. She forged ahead anyway. “The jobs you can get might not even exist right now,” she explains. “So it’s best to just be interested in your subject and trust that things will work out.”
In her second year at university, she took a module in computational linguistics, exploring algorithms and how computers learn language. That summer, she completed an internship at the Computer Laboratory in Cambridge. It was her first introduction to Python coding, and something clicked.
When she began applying for graduate schemes the following year, she knew that she wanted to use her linguistics skills in a practical way. She was taken on as a tech trainee data scientist at Education First, using natural language processing to explore the errors language learners make.
Then disaster struck. Six months after she started her first job, the pandemic hit. Sneha’s whole team was made redundant.
She used her time to take free courses online in algebra, statistics and machine learning. Soon she had a new data science job at an insurance company, before taking on roles at a language learning app and then a small company creating teaching resources.
Two years ago, she made a pivot into machine learning engineering when she applied for her current job at Cleo, a personal finance app. Her first project involved improving the “quick reply” actions in the company’s chatbot. Watching her work be rolled out for millions of users was incredibly satisfying.
On a typical day, Sneha arrives at the office at 9am. Her team has a morning “standup” to discuss the tickets they are working on. Then she spends the rest of the day training models, helping others with their code and perusing the office’s unlimited free snacks.
Data science and machine learning is a well-paid profession. Graduates can expect to earn at least £35k at the start of their career, while seniors will easily earn six figures.
But there can be downsides to working in start-up or scale-up. Some experimental work may never go anywhere, whilst jobs can be at risk as founders search for funding.
Sneha hopes that in five years’ time, she might be a principal machine learning engineer. She is still deciding whether or not she wants to manage people, but in many tech jobs, you can progress without having to manage.
Get creative
Sneha’s top piece of advice is to follow your passions and look for opportunities, from work experience to internships. If you are interested in a tech job, make sure you stick with maths. And keep up to date with the field — AI has changed the world since she started, and she has to work hard to stay on top of new developments.
https://theday.co.uk/the-machine-learning-engineer-just-be-keen-2/
The Day log in details:
Username: librarian@stbenedicts.org.uk
Password: Bennies2021
Lower 4 messages
Research Poster Project
This is an opportunity for all pupils to extend your knowledge and explore any area that you are interested in.
The Task:
• To research an area that you are interested in - it may be something that caught your attention in one of the subjects you study or something you came across outside lessons - the choice is entirely yours; choose something you are excited about.
• To summarise and present you findings in a Research Poster.
The poster should be real and size A2 and contain the following elements:
1. Why you chose this field; what sparked your interest
2. What you found out
3. References - how you researched, where you got your information
4. Evaluation; what went well, what you particularly enjoyed, what you could improve; how you could take things further
The Research Poster Project should be completed over Easter, and brought to the Helikon Centre in the first week back after Easter.
Come to the Helikon Centre if you want to see some examples of past Research PostersPosted on Tue 17th Mar 26 by Mr S Scicinski
Monday Faculty Cafe
Monday 16 March 2026
L4 and U4 Research
Poster Presentations:
Aeroplanes – Anish Verma
The basics of music theory – Sam Scott
The legend of Zelda timeline – Reuben Lask
The impact of American involvement in the Vietnam War – Ryansh
Agarwal
All welcome Pizza, KitKat, juice
Posted on Mon 16th Mar 26 by Mr S Scicinski
Tennis sessions before Easter
Mr Coles and Mr Cattaway will be running tennis sessions on the last two Mondays of this term at the School Playing Fields:
Monday 16th March 4.30pm - 6pm
Monday 23rd March 4.30pm - 6pm
These sessions are only open to pupils in Form 3 - Lower 5th. Those interested in attending must bring their own racquet to participate. For more information, please contact Mr Coles in the PE department.
St. Benedict’s Essay Competition 2026
Writing persuasively and originally in a non-fiction setting is a valuable, many faceted skill.
It requires a thought-through view on the issue in question, careful and honest scrutiny of one’s own understanding and reasons for a particular viewpoint. Then, the ability to communicate this engagingly and persuasively in a way that is coherent and balanced, before arriving at the desired conclusion.
As an opportunity for pupils in F3 and L4 to demonstrate and develop these qualities, St Benedict’s runs an annual St Benedict’s Essay Competition.
The title for this year’s essay is ‘If you had to bury a
time capsule, what would you put in it?’.
All pupils in F3 and L4 are encouraged to enter, by submitting a piece of
original writing of between 500-800 words, excluding references.
To enter the competition, please register via the on-line
form:
St
Benedict's Essay Competition Lent 2026 – Fill out form
Mr Ramsden will run a workshop explaining how to write a good essay on Tuesday 3 March 4.15 – 4.45pm in the Helikon Centre.
The deadline for completed essays is Wednesday 25 March. Completed essays should be emailed to Mr Scicinski.
Posted on Tue 24th Feb 26 by Mr S ScicinskiWhole school messages
Friday fixture
7.00: Football v. Cardinal Vaughan (1st
XI, at Hanwell Town FC)
All welcome!
Weekend fixtures
SATURDAY, 21ST MARCH
Football fixtures v. Cardinal Vaughan:
2nd XI away kick-off 11.00
3rd XI away kick-off 11.00
U15 ‘A’s away kick-off 9.30
U15 ‘B’s away kick-off 9.30
U14 ‘A’s away kick-off 9.30
U14 ‘B’s away kick-off 9.30
U13 ‘A’s home kick-off 9.30
U13 ‘B’s home kick-off 9.30
U12 ‘A’s home kick-off 9.30
U12 ‘B’s home kick-off 9.30
Netball: Lord Wandsworth tournament (1st VII)
Netball fixtures v. St. Augustine’s:
2nd VII home centre pass 9.00
U15/U14 ‘A’s home centre pass 9.00
U15/U14 ‘B’s home centre pass 9.00
U15/U14 ‘C’s home centre pass 9.00
U13 ‘A’s home centre pass 9.00
U13 ‘B’s home centre pass 9.00
U13 ‘C’s home centre pass 9.00
U12 ‘A’s home centre pass 9.00
U12 ‘B’s home centre pass 9.00
‘Battle of St. Benedict’s’ (Senior and Middle School foil, Senior épée, Middle School sabre)
SUNDAY, 22ND MARCH
School Fencing Championships: ‘Battle of St. Benedict’s’ (Senior sabre, Middle School épée, Junior School foil) Posted on Thu 19th Mar 26 by Mr. Thomas
Middle School Art Show
You are warmly invited to attend the Middle School Art Show on Wednesday 25th March, 4-6pm in the Cloisters. There will by a wide selection of work from all 3F, L4 and U4 pupils including work produced in the Animation, Textiles, Fine Art and Design & Make clubs. We hope you will be able to join us in celebrating the fantastic creative achievements of our school community.
Posted on Mon 16th Mar 26 by Miss LintonThinking Forum
The new Thinking Forum is:
Should social media be banned for children U16?
