ACADEMY NEWS5th DECEMBER 2014

EXPLORE

BE YOURBEST

Mounts Bay Academy is delighted to have achieved 68% 5 A*-C in 2014, a 4% increase when compared with 2013. These results include all the Year 11 students exam successes not just their first entry. However, this year the Government has created new rules for calculating the benchmark figure of 5 A*-C which has resulted in a reduction in results for many schools in the county and the country. These results will be published in January, and we are delighted to be near the top of the league tables for Cornwall in the revised measure.

Principal’s Report

Since September 2014 the Academy has continued to be a very popular school in the area with buoyant admissions into all Year groups. We have welcomed 42 new students from many of the local schools including Bolitho, HDS, Cape Cornwall, Helston and St Ives. One of the main reasons cited by our new parents for moving to Mounts Bay is the fact that it is the only school in West Cornwall with an Outstanding Ofsted rating in Achievement, Behaviour, Teaching and Learning and Leadership. This grade was recently confirmed in a Challenge Partner Review held in October 2014.

Other reasons parents quote for moving to MBA is the size of the school, which means our curriculum offer is extensive with 50 courses being offered at Key Stage 4, and also our wide diversity of students. A recent Year 9 student who moved from London in September said, “This is an excellent school and the teaching and learning is of a very high quality.” A student who was having difficulties in another Cornish school said, “It’s OK to be different here”. We pride ourselves on forming positive relationships where students are known as individuals.

A Popular Choice

We have high expectations on standards of work, behaviour and uniform and this ensures that many students exceed national averages including our special needs and Pupil Premium students. We believe all students can grow their intelligence by working hard and we believe that intelligence comes in many forms. I will be travelling to our new partner school in Holland next week to write a course for staff and students that focusses on the idea of developing a ‘growth mindset for all’.

BEIN CHARACTER

Movie Character Dress-up Day

Staff and students threw themselves into role today when they took part in a movie themed non-school uniform day. Proceeds from the day will go towards the school production of Annie which will be performed at the Academy next year. Watch out in the newsletter and on the website for more details.

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is a great book which you will love if you enjoyed Harry Potter. It is set in the magic land of Middle Earth. Sauron wants his evil ring back, but it’s in the little hands of a brave young hobbit named Frodo. Frodo and his best friend Sam have to travel to the glorious Kingdom of Rivendell to hand over the ring to the Elf King Elrond. But will they have to travel further? I recommend this book to Year 7s and upwards.

BECURIOUS

Book Reviews

Patrick is happy living with his mum. She lets him do what he wants, pretty much, and it's only when his gran comes to stay that he has to get down to his homework and go to bed early. Then Patrick meets Mosi, a quiet, polite boy who, along with his parents, is waiting for his asylum application to be processed. He discovers Mosi is terrified of someone. But who is it? Patrick and Mosi strike up an unlikely friendship. In trying to help each other, they will face situations that are both terrifying and dangerous. And Patrick will find out that there is much, much more to Mosi than at first appears.

You will find Mosi’s War by Cathy McPhail in the Blue section of the library.

Secrets, romance, murder and lies: Zoe shares a terrible secret in a letter to a stranger on death row in this second novel from the author of the bestselling debut, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece.

Fifteen-year-old Zoe has a secret—a dark and terrible secret that she can't confess to anyone she knows. But then one day she hears of a criminal, Stuart Harris, locked up on death row in Texas. Like Zoe, Stuart is no stranger to secrets. Or lies. Or murder.

Full of heartache yet humour, Zoe tells her story in the only way she can—in letters to the man in prison in America. Armed with a pen, Zoe takes a deep breath, eats a jam sandwich, and begins her tale of love and betrayal.

You find Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher in the red section of the library.

Review by Alfie Vernon 7 Red

Rather than publish reading results by form this week, I thought it would be a nice change to put some names to those figures and celebrate individual success.

Since September, the group of students I am celebrating today have passed an amazing 457 Accelerated Reader quizzes between them at 85% or above. It has been fantastic looking over all the great books they have been reading. Our most popular reads are: the Geek Girl series, Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Fault in Our Stars, anything by David Walliams or Jacqueline Wilson, the Divergent trilogy and The Hunger Games trilogy. Well done to all of you.

BECURIOUS

Jess Lawry, Teegan Hatten, Alexander Hosking, Amber Berwick, Alice Thacker and Loren Trevorrow

Noah Goros, Iris Rainbow-Quatraine, Isabel Wilton, Charlotte Bell, Nathan Osborne-Williams, Amber Symons, Madeline Thomas, Freya Thorgood-Dowell Olivia Blake, Gemma Coleclough and Ella Tattersall.

Ruby Dylan, Jacob Lake, Joe Manser, Alfred Merigan-Maule, Josh Reeves, Finn Slater, Josh Turner, Alfie Vernon, Cory Johns, Jake Seaton, Reece Bowden, Hudson Hewett, Tilly Hocking, Isaac Thompson, Perran Tustin and Maisy Sky Lumbers.

Ellyn Calvely, Lilyjane Roderick, Annie Badjan, Benji Cahalane, Toby Osborne, Jack Styles, Skylar Finch and Jade Moss.

Ellie Clark, Amber Sanders, Eseld O’Neill, Rebecca Oakes, Levan Siney, Hugh Williams, Ged Yates, Josh Bainbridge, Grace Brock and Dylan Picot.

Brad Balding, Woody New, Holly Berwick, Allanah Mayho, Jenny Dash, Lily Wadham-Duke, Daniel Bettens, Kenan Hewish and Crystal Trevennen.

BEINSPIRED

On 6th November 2014 14 cadets from Penzance Sea Cadets travelled up to London. Seven of these cadets, Tom George, Kieran Hughes, Adam Oliver, Esmee Campbell, Erin Billington, Kaitlyn Terry and Finley Terry, are Mounts Bay Academy students.

We went up to London to participate in the London Remembrance Event. This included taking part in the parade past the Cenotaph on the Sunday and Tom George was chosen, along with other cadets, to be part of the service at the Royal Albert Hall on the previous day. Tom said, “This was an amazing experience for me and I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet Ed Miliband.”

On Remembrance Sunday (9th November) all cadets from South West Area (31) took part in the parade, marching past the Cenotaph with our poppy wreath which was then placed along side the many other wreaths at the foot of the Cenotaph. Erin Billington said,“It was an honour to be part of such an important event, knowing that the Queen was present and that we were representing the whole of South West Area Sea Cadet Corps. It was exciting but nervous at the same time.”

Report by Erin Billington and Kaitlyn Terry

Cenotaph Honour

Report by Kaitlyn Terry and Erin Billington

BECREATIVE

On Saturday 29th November the Mounts Bay Academy Choir and Concert Band performed at the switching on of the lights in Penzance. With everyone wearing a bit of Christmas sparkle the choir started with a few Christmas classics followed by some amazing solo and duet performances. The choir was then joined by the talented concert band for a few songs which the audience really enjoyed. We then had some more solo and group performances with the audience growing in size throughout.

The audience really enjoyed the performance and were singing and ‘bopping’ along to their favourite Christmas songs. After every song we got a good cheer and the whole performance was very successful. Well done to everyone that came along and took part.

Christmas Lights Switch On

Report by Anya Burlton

On Friday 20th November the Year 11 BTEC Dance group went up to watch the Moscow City Ballet at the Hall for Cornwall in their production of ‘Giselle’. The dancers were incredibly talented and polished and the live orchestra enhanced the traditional ballet theme. The choreography, although very traditional, was inspiring and the dancers’ technique was outstanding. The tragic story of Giselle was portrayed beautifully in the performance and the relationships between the characters were expressed through their emotional dances.

Breathtaking Ballet

Report by Bridie Simons

Photo by Mrs Jones

Everyone who watched, thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it was great to watch a more traditional dance show as it's different to what we generally do in our course.

BECREATIVE

On Thursday 4th December we were excited to welcome back into Mounts Bay Academy the internationally renowned singer songwriter Sarah McQuaid. Fresh from a tour of America, and in the middle of her current UK Tour, Sarah and Martin Stansbury, her tour manager and sound engineer, spared the time to run a workshop on Stage Craft with some of our own performers. Sarah talked about the elements of performing well on stage, referring to all she has learnt over the last 25 years touring the World.

At the end of the session we had performances from Woody New, Huck New, Ewan Ford, Nat Dwelly, Olivia Stephens and Jacob Powley, who were then given feedback and possible ideas on how to develop their own stage techniques.

We are now looking forward to her concert at The Acorn Theatre tonight.

Sarah McQuaid Workshop

Continuing the development of the Gold Arts Award programme in Mounts Bay Academy, two of our Year 10 students independently booked a workshop this week with Chris Kevern from Kevern Photography. During the afternoon Chris spent time with Darcy Blewett and Tegan Shutt talking through their approach to running a professional photo shoot, as well as the techniques required to get a good picture.

Arts Award Photography Shoot

We then had Year 8 band Small Town Hooligans performing on stage for a 'live event' shoot, followed by several of our Year 10 girls getting dressed up for a '50s fashion' shoot.

It was a great session, with great feedback from Chris.

On 26th November 2014 Mounts Bay entered the West Cornwall Schools FA Boys U12 5v5 competition. This National event sees an array of schools taking part in County qualifiers across the country. Mounts Bay won their District competition which was held at Truro School and will now compete at the South West Regional Finals in February 2015 at Torbay.

Overall, the team worked really well together, winning six games, drawing once and losing only one game overall. The winning squad members were Lewis Gregory, Josh Reeves, Charlie Willis, Logan Trevains, Huck New, Alex Barrett and Josh Turner.

Visit our website to see a full list of scores and scorers.

BECOMPETITIVE

Twickenham Trip

It was a very early start on Saturday morning for the students heading to watch England v Australia, at Twickenham.

We arrived in plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere ahead of the game. Will Trenoweth and Perran Tustin described the atmosphere as "electric".

The game was full of 'big hits' and some excellent fast following play by Australia. England defended well and used their advantage at the scrum to make a number of scores in the first half. England continued this in the second half and despite late scores by Australia, England won 26-17. The group eventually arrived back at Mounts Bay very tired, just before midnight!

Hockey Champions

Years 11 and 10 Hockey players took part in the U16 County mixed Hockey tournament on Thursday. The team played some great hockey and were rewarded with retaining the title of county champions.

Well done!

Report by Mrs Trevail

Report by Mr Strong

5 A Side Winners

Report by Mr Lawrence

BEINTERNATIONAL

Over the last few days we have been settling in to life in a German family. It has been very exciting and we have tried lots of new foods traditional to the area as well as learning about the music and language of Swabia.

As well as attending normal German lessons with our exchange partners, we have all presented work on our Cornish language and music to the group. Our German exchange partners also taught us about their music and language and we were able to conclude that there are several similarities between our two cultures. In fact, our project title is, “Different in the same way”. We are continuing, throughout the week, to present our findings which will appear on our very own website!

Today, we spent time working on the project before heading to Munich for a guided tour and a visit to the university. The university was of such interest to us as some of us had researched Hans and Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement in our German lessons in year 7. They were key figures in the White Rose movement which was a resistance group operating out of the university. When they were caught distributing leaflets declaring that Germany was fighting a losing battle, they were arrested, put on trial and subsequently executed. It was eye opening for others in the group, both English and German, that didn’t know about this part of German history. The university has a a small museum which we visited as well as a number of memorials, including one very interesting one which consisted of permanent leaflets embedded into the pavement leading into the university building. We have never seen a memorial like this and found it to be a fitting tribute to them.

From the university, we headed to Marienplatz for our guided tour of the city. The tour guide was really funny and was able to give us lots of information about Germany’s third city. Among the sights were the Opera House, the Hofbräuhaus- where Hitler gave some of his first speeches and the Town Hall. The tour culminated in a quiz at the end of the tour which Stan won.

Augsburg Visit

He is now the proud owner of a Hits of Munich CD! We also had some free time with our partners in the Christmas market to take in some of the sights, sounds and smells. We then headed back to Augsburg via train to spend the evening with our German host families. The weather has been very cold here, between freezing and 2 degrees most days and we are expecting a little bit of snow on Saturday.

Best wishes from Augsburg,

The Year 9 German Comenius Group

BEINFORMED

Helping you to fly!

Directors of Progress have been busy leading their pastoral teams to identify where additional skills workshops, interventions and toolkits, could help some students make even greater progress towards their target grades/levels.

From Monday 8th December, we are very pleased to be able to offer a very broad range of opportunities to students who we feel will benefit from some timely, specific interventions. If your child has been identified as someone who could benefit from such support, you will receive a text message from MBA saying that your child has been offered some additional mentoring support. Students of all ages, abilities and profiles have been included because we want everyone to reach their full potential.

If you receive such a text (please do tell us if your mobile number needs updating on our system!) your child will already have been spoken to and he/she will be able to tell you what has been offered, when it will take place, the duration and frequency of what is available and what the benefits of this will be. In addition, your child will have been emailed a letter that we ask you to read. Please use their iPad to access this via their Academy email account. You do not need to do anything further, unless you wish to withdraw your child from this opportunity. In which case, please email your child's Director of Progress and they will ensure that your child is removed from the session.

At the end of the intervention a progress report will be communicated to you and your child.

Student Services Team

Argentinian Exchange Trip

We are delighted to be able to offer yet another new and exciting student exchange programme - this time to Argentina! It is open to students in current Years 9 and 10.

In October 2015, Mrs Davey and Mr Dale will be taking a group for a two week exchange to our partner school in Corrientes, Argentina. This will be a wonderful opportunity to experience vibrant and diverse Latin American cultures and students will be very warmly welcomed by our host school and their families.

Mr Dale and Miss Hick recently visited the school during half term to plan next year's visit and it promises to be an action-packed adventure. In addition to living with host families, students will experience a range of outdoor education style activities, learn about the many indigenous cultures of the area, they will consider the impact of colonialism's legacy, develop their skills in the Spanish language and visit some breathtaking scenery - google Iguazu Falls! Assemblies will take place in the next few weeks to give students more details and an initial Parents' Information evening will also be held after Christmas.

BEINFORMED

Over the last few weeks schools all over the country have held assemblies about their anti-bullying. Bullying affects every school, but we are so fortunate to have such low numbers of incidents of deliberate, regular and hurtful behaviours towards others at MBA. That is due to the fact that we have a fantastic group of students who genuinely form strong

relationships with their peers and also Academy staff. Recent external inspectors 'Challenge Partners' made a point of congratulating the Academy on creating such a kind, caring and considerate ethos. Thank you for the part you play in this.

Did you know that each week we collect data on anything we consider to be poor and unacceptable behaviour? We run a 'tight ship' and our Consequences Hierarchy states what is and what is not tolerated. This week's figures show that an incredible 96% of

students have received no punishments/ sanctions AT ALL. When one considers that means that 928 students have been model citizens, that is fantastic! How many schools can claim that? Behaviour is OUTSTANDING because very very few lessons are disrupted, outside areas are safe and bullying incidents are extremely rare. Thank you for making it 'the place to be'. Remember though the theme of assembly this week is: if you do need help/support - tell us - we ALWAYS act. Your happiness is important.

Progress Review Day

All parents are invited into school on Monday 5th January for an appointment to discuss their child’s overall progress. We will be using an ONLINE booking service to allow you to make an appointment at your convenience.

You will shortly receive a letter with details about the online booking service and the name of the member of staff assigned to each student (usually form tutor, but may be their Director of Progress, Learning Support Manager or Mrs Payne).

Please read the letter carefully and go to: http://mountsbay.parentseveningsystem.co.uk to book your appointment. The system is live from 9am on Monday 8th Dec until 10pm on Tuesday 16th Dec. If you have any problems with using the booking system, please contact the school.

BEA WINNER

Translate the word of the week from either French, German, Spanish or Italian and send your answer to ktripp@mountsbay.org to be entered into the weekly competition.

Use the word of the week in your Language lesson and get a credit from your teacher!

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle:

If 125g of tea makes 100 cups of tea. How much tea do you need to make 1 million cups?

Last week’s solution:

800kg (1/4 of 800kg is 200kg. So 600kg plus 1/4 of the total makes 800kg).

Could you write next week’s puzzle?If you would like to set the numeracy puzzle for a future week click here. You will win house points.

Win an iTunes voucher

For each correct answer throughout this semester we will put your name in the hat for a chance to win an iTunes voucher – the more correct answers, the more chance of winning.

House Competition

Purple: 4 PointsRed: 2 Points

Orange: 2 PointsYellow: 1 PointGreen: 0 PointsBlue: 0 Points

Click here to submit your answer

Last week's answer was caterpillar

The winner was Harvey Hewitt. Well done!

Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00

BEA WINNER

To enter, simply write an original sentence correctly using the word Joie de Vivre Send in your sentence using the link below.

Competition

Congratulations to Ellie Clark who wins a WH Smith Voucher.

Click Here to enter the competition

Ellie receives her prize.

This week’s word is: Joie de Vivre

Definition: Hearty or carefree enjoyment of life.

Etymology: French literally joy of living - first known 1889.

BEINSPIREDBEENTERTAINED

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Mounts Bay, Boscathnoe Lane, Heamoor Penzance, Cornwall TR18 3JT

Principal Mrs S Davey B.Sc. M.Ed

T 01736 363240 | F 01736 352326 E enquiries@mountsbay.org

www.mounts-bay.cornwall.sch.uk

MBS-LH2011-Grey-AW.indd 1 08/06/2011 21:24

www.mountsbay.org

SEND IN YOUR NEWS

Coppers for

The charity drive to support Crisis has been in overdrive this week as students have been donating their loose change.

Currently Purple House, followed closely by Green and Orange lead the way in the race to raise the most money.

The collection will finally be counted on Monday 15th December.