Newsday

Fifteen Year 7 students took part in the exciting challenge of ‘Newsday’ on 11th March. This is a national schools competition run in association with the Guardian newspaper, encouraging students to take on the role of journalists for the day. The event involved reporting on the breaking news stories that day, as well as making sure that the finished newspaper made it to the publication deadline! The group of budding journalists had spent several weeks prior to the actual event preparing features on topics as varied as the environment and fashion. They conducted interviews and took photographs in order to create leading articles for ‘The Voice’ – their chosen name for their newspaper.
On the actual competition day, the participating students worked brilliantly under pressure to produce the newspaper, showing real organisational skills and writing talent.
Well done to all involved!

Kate Henderson

Good luck Josh & Billy!!

Yet again two St Wilfrid’s students have made it into the final of ‘Wakefield Junior Amateur Chef of the Year’ again which will be held this Saturday, 1st March, at Brasserie 99. They will be up against two other students from Wakefield Girls High and Airedale High School. Josh Angell and Billy Roche are up for the challenge of regaining the title of ‘Wakefield Junior Amateur Chef of the Year’ for St Wilfrid’s. The boys are keeping their recipes a hidden secret to surprise all on the day. Earlier today Josh said “It’s a fantastic opportunity to show my skills and ideas. I’ve always enjoyed Food Technology and I would love to win to get the chance to work in a professional kitchen.” Billy would love to realise his ambition to work in the food industry and said “Food is a career I would love to follow and winning the competition will give me the chance to see how a professional kitchen work and hopefully give me lots of new skills and ideas that I can use back in school for my GCSE coursework.” The judges of the competition include Wakefield Mayor and a Food Critic. The winner will get the chance to display their talents in one of the tents at the Wakefield Festival of Food and Drink.

Leigh Wright

Junior Amateur Chef of the Year

On the day that Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced cookery lessons are to be compulsory in England's secondary schools for children aged 11 to 14, St Wilfrids pupils attended an exciting cookery demo by Chefs from Brasserie 99. As part of Wakefield Festival of Food and Drink 2008 pupils will again be entering Junior Amateur Chef of the Year. Can we be as successful as last year and win? Our budding Jamie Olivers and Nigella Lawsons attended the demonstration by chefs Simon and Paul who demonstrated good kitchen practice and made a fantastic pasty in just a few minutes. Suma Wholefoods were there to educate pupils about the healthy, sweet and delicous taste of dried fruits such as apricots and mango, as well as the nutrious use of lentils and beans. The prizes are a fantastic iPod, plus a weeks work experience atBrasserie 99 alongside a top chef as well as a trip to Alton Towers and a meal for 4. Good Luck to everyone who enters!

Matthew's British Biology Olympiad success - wish him luck!!

The BBO is a competition open to all 6th form colleges in the country, and about 1500 people sat the first exam. Sixth form student Matthew Stammers received a Gold Medal from the first round, and was selected to sit the second paper. He has subsequently finished in the top 12 candidates,and has been selected for the practical training at Birmingham University over Easter. Four people will then be selected to represent Britain in the International Biology Olympiad in Canada.
This is an outstanding achievement for Matthew. The vast majority of successful competitors are from the top private schools. The exam papers are extremely difficult, and include material that is far in excess of what we do at A level. Matthew has shown a phenomenal understanding of the subject, and we wish him luck in the next stage of the competition.

Cook off competition!

On Thursday 15th February Charlotte Thorpe and Ben Oldroyd went head to head in a competition cook off at Wakefield Restaurant Brasserie 99. The competition was held as part of the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival and was organised by the Primary Care trust to help promote healthy eating in schools and to highlight the importance of eating fresh, seasonal, locally produced ingredients. Charlotte and Ben were each assigned a chef to help them prepare their own two-course meal for the competition judges headed by Wakefield Lord Mayor Cllr. Darren Travis. After a great deal of discussion and taste testing Ben was awarded first prize with Charlotte the runner up.

The following Saturday, Ben cooked his winning menu again in front of an audience of 80 in the marquee erected for the festival in the city centre. Ben said that although there were far more people watching him in the marquee he found the actual competition day had made him much more nervous. Both Ben and Charlotte had an amazing experience and coped admirably with the pressure of such a high profile event.