News

This week all the pupils in Years 7-9 will be stepping onto a fantastic, orange truck and into the GSUS Live classroom.

Four year 11 students took part in Ditcham Park’s ‘Hopeful Earth’ conference this week. The conference involved ten schools from West-Sussex and Hampshire all looking to combat the current environmental issues. Students and teachers were treated to seminars from Philip Lymbery on Eco-farming and Jack Harris on Climate activism to name but a few. The day finished with students making a pledge towards taking more active steps in school to support climate sustainability.

We had a fantastic time last week showcasing all the great things that happen at Bishop Luffa School. Pupils were on hand in each department to show prospective pupils and parents all the opportunities they have in their learning at the school. We also opened our doors each morning this week, with Sixth Formers on hand to show visitors round on a normal school day.

During Open Evening, our budding Year 7 bakers impressed parents, carers, pupils and staff with their fantastic baking skills in the Great Bishop Luffa European Bake Off.  Many European countries were represented with creative designs and recipes, from Denmark to Portugal.  Parents, carers and students voted throughout Open Evening – 150 votes in total!

On Thursday 3rd October we welcomed author Andy Mulligan to the school as part of the first Chichester Children's Bookfest. His book Trash is popular as a class read in Year 7 so pupils from across Key Stage 3 were thrilled to meet the author and learn about the origins of the story. In total he spoke to around 600 pupils about how chance encounters with real children have inspired his books and all of them were spellbound by his stories - rarely has a hall full of pupils sat so perfectly still! One Year 11 also came along to meet him and spoke about the impact Trash had on her in her first year at Bishop Luffa. Andy signed more than 100 copies of his books on the day for pupils and there is now a long waiting list for his stories in the school library! Headteacher Austen Hindman said “Andy inspired our students by showing us the reality of life as a writer and sharing with us where he gets his inspiration from. Students were captivated."

On Wednesday four members of 8Wilson were pleased to welcome Saut Gultom who is part of the BEATS team working in Indonesia supporting children effected by the tsunamis. The school has supported this work through its Christmas Jumper Day charity fundraising. Saut visited the school with Sarah Page, founder of BEATS which is a local charity. Formed after the tsunami in Aceh on Boxing Day 2004 BEATS supported Children’s Homes in Medan: YACAN (36 children/students) and YASAH (120 children/students). Many of these children were victims of an earthquake on Nias Island in 2005. YASAH has a school of 430 pupils (Years R – 13) and the money raised by Bishop Luffa children helps to pay teachers’ salaries. Recently BEATS has supported victims of the Lombok earthquakes. The pupils from Year 8 talked with Saut and were able to contrast their education with that of the children in Indonesia.

Year 8 were treated to a special hands on presentation by Future DJs today. This is a new initiative to encourage all pupils to engage in hands-on music-making using the music they listen to outside school. This was well received by our students. The visiting DJs commended the behaviour and engagement of our pupils saying that ‘Bishop Luffa was the best school they had visited so far’.  The students were shown how the equipment worked and have a great time listening to the music being mixed.  One of our students, Dylan Hicklin (8Wilson) was invited to have a go on the decks and then the audience were invited to ask questions.

On Wednesday 4 September two Bishop Luffa students, Elyot Harmston (13Ridgeway) and Alec Parkin (10Andrewes), travelled with a group of 461 (Chichester) RAF Air Cadets to the Netherlands to take part in an important historic event. The Airborne March is the annual Dutch commemorative event in remembrance of the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. It is held in memory of the 1750 plus British and Polish soldiers who lost their lives in the battle and who are buried in the War Cemetery at Oosterbeek. 2019 is the 73rd Anniversary of the Airborne March and the 75th anniversary of the Battle for Arnhem. Elyot and Alec were proud to support their squadron and pay respects at the War Cemetery Oosterbeek, they also visited Airborne Museum Oosterbeek and the Dutch National Military Museum at Soesterberg.

Some of our A'Level Art students took part in this year’s Summer Exhibition at Arundel Museum. During the time that the exhibition was on approximately 7000 visitors went into the Museum and were able to see the artwork. It also featured in the Arundel Gallery Trail, which ran during the Festival.

This year four Bishop Luffa students got the fantastic opportunity to travel to West Virginia for the 24th World Scout Jamboree, the biggest scouting event in the world.