kevicc sports day 2013oldtotnesians.com/courier_summer_2013.pdf · 2014. 1. 7. · in design...

King Edward VI Com munit y Col lege TOTNES King Edward VI Community Col l ege TOTNE S

courierKEVICC Sports Day 2013

ISSUE No. 172 ISSUE No. 172

Working With Primaries

History Challenge, Yr 7, 8, 9

Big Bang Design Innovation Success

Summer Issue 2013

The Courier - Summer 2013 - www.kingedwardvi.devon.sch.uk

This term the College has embarked on an exciting journey. We have launched our co-operative trust, the Dart Valley Learning Trust. A characteristic of co-operative trustschools involves including the whole College community in shaping and enriching thelearning of our young people. The aim of our Trust is to raise student aspirations andachievement. Being a co-operative trust school is an approach; a way of thinking, learn-ing and organising how we operate. At the heart of this approach are the co-operativevalues: self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equity, equality and solidarity.

Co-operative learning is a valuable teaching and learning strategy with the power of‘learning together’. We also know that developing Young Co-operatives, which buildprojects in a way that encapsulates co-operative values, helps young people to learn theimportance of membership, fairness, social enterprise and social responsibility. It also develops student leadership skills.

The College held a community launch event for the Trust on 22 June in the Totnes Civic Hall.

The launch event began with music and song from the College’s Folk group Young Co-op-erative. This Young Co-operative is one of five fledgling Young Co-operatives that we are developing at the College.

Not only did we share the achievements to date of these Young Co-operatives, we talkedabout how the community could support these developments at the College. In turn, we hope that our students will also inspire the community.

from the principal Kate Mason

Thanks to the Parents’ Association who are funding the

following projects…..

In Design Technology a Sublimation Starter pack allows the trans-

ferral of images using a specialised A3 printing process onto a

range of different end products. The application of this high qual-

ity commercial technique would allow students in a range of sub-

jects and groups across the college to produce personalised and

commercially desirable items.

In Drama, we have received a substantial grant which we will be

using to re-vamp a small rehearsal space . We have bought an in-

tegral sound system, and we will also be investing in some

proper theatre lighting.

The Kennicott Garden project has received funding for two proj-

ects: An egg incubation system which will increase the poultry

flock and the development of a new polytunnel for cut flowers.

The space at Kennicott garden remains a great opportunity for

the provision of a range of cross curricular teaching and learning

experiences for both teachers and students within the school

and a most valuable resource for teachers of science.

The newly formed "Visual Arts Co-Op" were successful in their

bid to help them get started on their first projects including

schemes to make public art in and around Totnes. They are plan-

ning to spend the money on materials and professional

expertise.

Outdoor Expeditions have been supported by a grant which will

go towards training for staff and helpers in Moorland Walking,

Camping and Outdoor First Aid. We anticipate that this sub-

stantial contribution to up-skill staff will result in better quality

expeditions for more participants in the future.

The annual Achievement Evening has been sponsored by the

Parents’ Association particularly the commissioning of bespoke

awards that will be presented to students from Year 7 -10.

For more information, please see ourpage on the KEVICC website, or contactus via our secretary, Lee Friese-Greene

at [email protected]

a word from the parents association . . .parents voice

The Courier

King Edward VI Community CollegeAshburton RoadTotnesDevonTQ9 5JX

Telephone: 01803 869200Fax: 01803 869201www.kingedwardvi.devon.sch.uk

Editors:Sarah [email protected] [email protected]

Design & Layout:Catherine Middleditch

A WORD FROM THE PRINCIPAL

PARENTS VOICE

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COLLEGE

SUBJECTS

Textiles

Drama

Religious Studies

History

Photography

Art

SPECIAL FEATURE

Ten Tors Challenge

Duke Of Edinburgh

Sports Day

WORKING WITH PRIMARIES

KEVICC IN THE COMMUNITY

FEATURES

Dance

Design

Garden Projects

Sixth Form

Music

NEWS FROM OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE

SPORT

Swimming

KEVICC Football Team

ALUMNI

Mary Lidstone Charitable Trust

Old Totnesians

Where Are They Now

Leavers Ball

Staff Farewells

2

2

4-5

6-11

6

6-7

7

8-9

10-11

11

12-15

12-13

13

14-15

16

17-19

19-23

19

20-21

22

23

23

24-25

26

26

26

27-31

26-27

27-28

28

29

29-31

Contents

a word from the parents association . . .

NEXT ISSUE:

Content Deadline:Nov 29th 2013

As I sit here, 9,000 miles away in West-ern Australia, I am reminded of a per-sonal belief: “Joy, in most cases, is foundwithin simplicity.” And nothing is moresimplistic, or more joyous, than return-ing both to your mother country andyour father – something I, at this mo-ment, have the privilege of appreciating.

Something else to appreciate, in a simi-larly extensive quantity, is the spectrumof opportunity for students to thrivewithin KEVICC, continuing to exceedboth themselves and the expectations oftheir capabilities. A definitive example ofthis was Sports Day, an event I did notspectate but most certainly heard; thecheering was extraordinarily loud, amagnificent encouragement for all com-peting to apply every ounce of effort.Another event that shared in the ex-hausting, but equally prosperous, re-wards of Sports Day was the Ten Torsweekend – evidence of the devotion andtenacity fuelling such an event wasfound in how many participants completed it.

You need only look in the followingpages to find clues as to the benefits ofbeing a KEVICC student. Go ahead and surprise yourself.

Liam Heitman-Rice


college news > news from across the college . . .

URAFIKI Fund Raising

Our year 10 students and Tutors havecontinued to raise money for the locallybased charity URAFIKI. For the past fouryears, all ten individual forms have beensponsoring a child from an impoverishedKenyan community to attend school.This year, fund raising initiatives have in-cluded a penalty shoot-out competition,a ‘guess the baby’ contest, a DVD sale and a fun beach trip to Goodrington.

Summertime Cake DesignProject for Arts Award

Well done to Year 9 students who visited

nearby Puddavine Care Hotel earlier this

term.

They had planned a Summertime Cake

Design Project as part of their Silver Arts

Award, and wanted opinions on how

well their cakes were designed, and how

they tasted. The designs all had a sum-

mertime theme with leaves, flowers,

butterflies and even beachballs used as

different symbols of summer.

The Doughnut Delivery byDoughnut

Out of a 160 applicants for Palm 105.5’s:‘Bun Run’, RS staff and students werepleasantly surprised on Friday 14th ofJune, when Matt Rogan telephoned thedepartment to inform them, they hadbeen picked for a delivery of delicious doughnuts,

The entry into the competition wasmade by trainee teacher Caroline Hard-ing from Marjon University who is beingmentored by the department. Carolinedecided to enter the competition as athank you to the department for all theirhard work, dedication and support foryear 11s during many weeks leading up to the exams.

Matt said: ‘Corina and I were taken backwith the warm welcome given to us bythe students and it would be a pleasureto come back to the school in the future.’

Whilst almost all staff and year 10 stu-dents have contributed to this fund rais-ing effort, extra special thanks andpraise has to go two absolute ‘superstars’ in Sabrina Wilding and Izzy Perks.Along with some friends, these two stu-dents took it upon themselves to spendhours and hours preparing, baking andthen selling a MASSIVE collections ofcakes to raise a whopping £180! Well done girls.

Real Ideas Organisation

KEVICC is delighted to announce that

the College is working with the support

of Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) to de-

velop opportunities for young people in

the arts through innovative approaches

to the Gold Arts Award.

The Gold Arts Award is an excellent

qualification that provides a strong

framework to support young people

committed to arts and culture. It aims

to broaden young people’s horizons: ex-

tending their creativity, communication,

teamwork and leadership skills.

RIO Brand use guidelines For further advice and support please contact Jenny Bishop, Marketing Manager for RIO on 08458 621288 or email [email protected]

Readathon

A HUGE congratulations to all the KS3students who took part in this year’sSponsored Readathon and raised£344.50 for seriously ill children.More than 100 students spent twoweeks reading in their spare time toraise money for children’s charities, aswell as enjoying a visit from young per-son’s author Chris d’Lacey and membersof staff who shared extracts from theirfavourite books.

Comic Relief

KEVICC teachers got into the spirit of‘doing something funny for money’ asthey staged a version of the Time Warpto raise money for charity. The ideacame from Jo Crook, Teacher of Drama,at the College who thought that it wouldbe a great opportunity to get a range ofstaff from across the College to stage afun performance for the students.After a busy rehearsal , the colourful cos-tume and lively dance routines of thefinal performance was met by hearty applause from the audience.

As one student said: ‘It was brilliant tosee teachers in a completely differentway to how we see them in the class-room. It was a really great idea andhopefully will have raised lots of money.’

Junior Mathematics Challenge

Recently Year 7 and 8 students took partin the Junior Mathematics Challenge.This gets students to think about mathe-matics in a slightly different way. It looksmore at problem solving and finding aquick way to do something , unlike somemore traditional mathematics. EwanBaker came top in the school, which is anamazing achievement for a student inyear 7. Dylan Todd, Joanna Quinsey, andStefano Catalano also received gold certificates.

Let Maths Take You Further

This year Mathematics students fromyear 12 had the pleasure of a day out atthe ‘Let Mathematics take you further’conference at Plymouth University. Theday was organised by the Further Math-ematics Support Program with the aimof making students aware of the way inwhich Mathematics can help them with their future careers.

Here are some comments from the students:

• There was a very thought provokingtalk at the end about statistics. Did youknow that you only need 23 people in aroom to have a 50% chance of two of them sharing a birthday?

• Since I have learned of the differentprofessions that maths can lead to, it iseasy to understand how graduates inmaths have an easier time finding a joband receive a higher average salary than most other graduates.

Here Come The Girls

A really successful charity show was heldat the Devon Academy of PerformingArts on the Dartington Estate just before half term.

Organised and run by the Year 11 BTECPerforming Arts Group the event washeld to raise money for the charity‘Women’s Aid’, the key national charityworking to end domestic violence against women and children.

The Year 11 students were supportedduring the evening, both on and offstage, by the Year 12 and 13 ProductionArts, Performing Arts and Musical The-atre students of the Devon Academy of Performing Arts .

The event was very well supported byfriends and family and a grand total of£200 from ticket sales and refreshmentswill be sent to the Women’s Aid charity on behalf of all who took part.


sub-

Nights at the Circus -AS Drama Piece

The play Nights at the Circus is an adaptation of Angela

Carter’s Novel of the same title. As a baby Fevvers, the central

character, is left in a bag outside of a brothel and is taken in

and brought up by Lizzie; as she grows up she develops wings.

She uses her individuality to make a living for herself. She ex-

ists alongside the inhabitants of the underground world;

Fevvers is a modern girl, who insists that no man will ‘rule’

her. She is independent and feisty. Jack Walser is a cynic who

sets out to reveal Fevvers as a fake and a fraud. He also rep-

resents the modern world and only believes in that which can

be explained through rationality and scientific proof. He is

mesmerised by Fevvers and ends up following her to Russia

when she joins the circus.

The Curious Incident of the Dog inthe Night time -AS Drama Piece

Originally a children’s book written by Mark Haddon, the story

revolves around a young autistic boy called Christopher

Boone. The story begins with Christopher discovering that his

neighbour’s dog has been murdered and, through his investi-

gations, Christopher discovers more about his own life than

he could have ever imagined.

subjects > drama

The Seven Stars

Fashion Show

A Level Textile students at KEVICC have been busy preparingthe fruits of their year’s hard labour for a fashion show andwere thrilled to be part of this fundraising event. Following aninvitation from Alison Alexander and Julia Fox of Totnes Cos-tume Museum to parade their work in The Seven Stars Fash-ion Show in aid of Totnes Caring, students entered three categories under the broad theme of recycling clothes.

Year 12 students have spent the year researching and pro-ducing ideas around the theme of 'Cakes and Sweets' for theircoursework. Their final piece could have any textile relatedoutcome but had to use an old shirt as a starting point. The re-sults were varied and suitably wild as befits this very expres-sive and artistic approach to the course and ranged from ‘sweet’ shoes to ‘pom-pom’ cream dresses.

The contributions from a range of year 13 students reflect thethinking and ideas that evolve from a more intense second-year of study. Themes such as ‘Woodlands’, ‘Mediaeval Ar-

mour’ and ‘Meat’ have promoted the making of superb outfits.

Year 13 students will be continuing their studies in Fashionand Textiles on the Foundation course at Kevicc where theyhope to gain entry to the top colleges around Britain to become the designers of the future.

subjects > textiles

subjects > science

sub- subjects > religious studies

Mrs Snodin’s Super Sikh Stories

“As part of our Religious Studies this term, we have beenstudying the religion of Sikhism and the stories of the Sikhleader, Guru Nanak. We have then transferred this infor-mation and made them into puppet plays. These storiesshow lots of morals and meaning about life and equality. Italso shows what a great inspirational leader he was from avery young age. We have had to work in teams and work co-operatively and effectively.”

Ed Coles Y7

“I really enjoyed doing everything to get ready for our pup-pet show, especially doing our actual puppets. I think ourpuppets were really creative and I think it was good that wemade different types of puppets. I also enjoyed everythingelse that we did in preparation for the puppet show, e.g.background, script, bread, cake and the writing explainingwhat’s happening. I thought everybody else’s puppet shows were great as well.”

Lizzy Whelan Y7

Not Your Usual SuspectsLiam Heitman-Rice,11GY2

Three Year 13 Drama students – Sam Birch,

George Vinton and Ashok Lynn-Bertoli – have

made history by being the first group of KE-

VICC students to have ever had a piece of

coursework (in this case, a play) accepted to

be officially presented outside of school.

Their play, ‘Held For Questioning’, is a black-

comedy arising from a provided stimulus (the

Oscar Wilde quote “Nowadays people know

the cost of everything but the value of noth-

ing”). It was additionally inspired by popular

culture programs such as ‘The Inbetweeners’

and ‘Fresh Meat’. The story is a university-

set conflict between the three characters

and the questioning of their friendship. Look-

ing over these characters from present-day

adulthood to their uni days, the play reveals

the darker sides to these otherwise quite

unassuming individuals as the audience is

given more clues as to who committed the

play’s mysterious crime - a rewarding

unravelling of truth.

subjects > drama

Science Week

Science Week at KEVICC was full of bangs and surprises as students from acrossthe College took part in a range of activities both within the classroom and inworkshop sessions. They were invited to complete quizzes, undertake experiments and watch exhibitions of birds in flight.

The National Marine Aquarium visited Year 7 and 8 lessons where students in-vestigated designs for submarines focusing on James Cameron’s deep sea ex-ploration challenge in the Mariana Trench. They explored ideas about forces,pressure and density as they designed basic submarines that could sink, float and hover.

Local primary schools were treated to lessons from Hogwarts School of Witch-craft and Wizardry with chemicals, potions and explosions in great abundance.

The Science team apologise if anyone at KEVICC thought they were under threatfrom ‘he who should not be named – it was all in the interests of training the future wizards of Science at KEVICC.


subjects > history

Year 7,8 and 9 students who have shown potential for History

were invited to take part in the History Challenge. This year

keen historians from local primary schools were also invited to

take part, resulting in the Challenge having representatives

from both Dartington and Marldon Primary Schools. In groups,

they were required to be Memory Masters, Picture Ponderers,

Word Wizards or Interpretation Investigators on a predeter-

mined person or event from Medieval Times. Our third after-

school session saw each group try their rival teams’ ability in

the skills area they had prepared.

In Year 7, details on the life of Richard the Lionheart were com-

mitted to memory; images on the Battle of Hastings were

analysed; accounts of the Magna Carta contrasted and

conflicting beliefs about Joan of Arc scrutinised.

In Year 8, the reign of Bloody Mary was memorised; images of

Genghis Khan analysed; accounts of the Blue Stockings com-

pared and Darwin’s theory of evolution was investigated as in-

deed was Benedict Arnold. In Year 9 Apollo 13’s travails were

memorised; images of Al Capone examined; the career of the

Beatles studied; and Che Guevara’s character explored.

In Year 7, the scores were pretty close, with Evie and Mia win-

ning by half a point! To celebrate the completion of the con-

test, and as a further opportunity to understand the use of

physical artefacts in History, the students were taken to Totnes

Castle.

After only a short walk from College, we were able to explore

the classic Norman Motte and bailey castle, noting later alter-

ations before climbing the steps up its steep mound to the

stone shell-keep to appreciate the sweeping views.

Gifted and Talented - HISTORY CHALLENGES

subjects > history

In Year 8, the final result saw Jack, Joe, Kit and Shay win by

half a mark! To celebrate the completion of the contest, the

students were taken to Berry Pomeroy Castle. They investi-

gated the changes and continuity between the medieval cas-

tle and the Tudor house, taking note of the machiolations,

gunports, and curtain wall, whilst the dungeons proved to be

the perfect place to make others jump! As the castle is re-

puted to be one of the most haunted in Britain, we listened

enraptured to the audio guides ghostly tales of the White Lady

and Blue Lady who are meant to haunt the ruins!

In Year 9, the winners were Ayesha, Hannah, Madeleine and

defending champion Ollie! There were no real losers though

all had demonstrated knowledge and understanding in en-

quiry, source analysis and interpretation in line with National

Curriculum Level 7 and above.

On quite possibly the sunniest day of our Summer so far, the

Year 9 History Challengers made it to Dartmouth Castle. Our

visit allowed us to focus on the role the castle has played in

guarding the entrance to the Dart Estuary and the port of

Dartmouth for six centuries - and pose with the weaponry!

Much fun was had in the shop, and we had to indulge in ice

creams as we appreciated one of the most picturesquely-

sited fortresses in England for the last time before

departing.

Miss C M Gray – History G&T Coordinator


subjects > photography

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Yvetta Russ

Year 10 Art Trip to Cobbaton

Combat CollectionIn previous years, our year 10 students have visited and drawn

from the vast collections at The Imperial War Museum in Lon-

don. Anyone who has visited this museum will know what an

incredibly inspiring and thought provoking place it is! Unfor-

tunately it was closed this year for a major “re-furb” and

the Art team had to try to find somewhere else to visit.

We plumped for the Combat Collection in Cobbaton, North

Devon, where our students and staff had a wonderful day. It

might not be as grand as its richer and more famous London

cousin, but it proved equally “useful” to our GCSE students as

they all came away with a number of quality observational

drawings to help bolster their portfolios.

subjects > art

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special feature > ten tors challenge

My Experience of Ten Tors Challenge - Meredydd Rix

I’ve been involved in Ten Tors since I started at KEVICC in2011; it was an opportunity to make new friends, have funand break away from the intellectual pressure of tests, essaysand reading. On all three fronts it was a resounding success.

In 2011/12 I trained to do the 45 mile challenge but dropped out of the team due to its proximity to exams.

This last year I decided not to take up Ten Tors again, due toend of term examinations and academic work load. At leastthat’s what I thought! Some time before the event I was re-lentlessly pursued by Richard, our ‘coach’, who eventually co-erced me into making the sixth team member for the full 55 mile challenge.

So after a minimal amount of training and preparation, ourteam found itself in Okehampton for the big day. Ten Tors Challenge had begun!

Soon Dartmoor became very Dartmoory, a relentless sea ofbeige lavishly topped with a generous quantity of ‘eau depeat’. Viewed from the comfort of a building or a car, or ex-perienced on a rare sunny day, such a landscape may be ‘ro-mantic’. I came to the conclusion that that mentality was afallacy which took two forms. Viewed by those outside, Dart-moor is seen as romantic simply due to its rugged hostility andrelentless brown landscape; anyone who has the misfortuneof stepping foot there quickly realises their prior surmise is in-correct. Viewed by those who live and work in Dartmoor, theromantic mentality is a cloak under which to hide from the in-hospitable wilderness of bad weather, poor land and saddening poverty.

My failed attempt at satire aside, I love Dartmoor. I alwayshave. Why? Well it’s the romance of its rugged hostility and relentlessness, of course!

River crossings were our next challenge. The Ordinance Surveymarked a series of fords which we had endeavoured to crosswhen we planned our route the night before. When we arrivedat the first ‘ford’ it became evident that we were going to get very wet.

“You’ve got no choice but to wade through!” shouted one teamon the other side. “It’s waist deep!” yelled another drenchedparticipant over the roar of the water. Wade we did. Needless to say, we too found ourselves saturated.

We continued to Tor four, South Hessary. While running downthe boulder-laced side of a hill, I twisted my ankle and knee fur-ther, falling to the floor with pain. Hoping it would subside, Idragged myself to my feet, and continued in a manner mostunusual for me; I didn’t complain once for the next six or so miles! We at KEVICC are made of stern stuff!

I managed to keep up all the way to South Hessary but after ashort break I realised the inevitable; this pace, with my ankle asit was, was completely unsustainable. After an impossible de-cision – I’m remarkably indecisive! – I too decided to call it a day.

So, after thirty miles I departed and made my way to a smalland particularly ineffective army tent at the bottom of the tor.There were apache gunship helicopters hovering above myhead, but to my utter disappointment a minibus was presented as my transport back to camp.

The next morning, after an annoyingly undersized lie-in! – thefirst teams’ progress streamed over the loud speakers. Our teams arrived in order, first 35, then 45.

Our position grew tense as the afternoon drew on. The armyspeakers updated us observers with predicted times of arrival.KEVICC 55 was not mentioned. At around four o’clock our teamcame in, bedraggled, shattered, but there. They’d made it!

A Ten Tors Experience

It’s pretty hard to forget an experience that involves lack of

sleep, walking all day and constantly having cold, wet feet.

However, it’s all worthwhile when we are in hysterics on

the way home; remembering embarrassing and funny mo-

ments, and feeling a huge sense of achievement. No doubt

about it, without our tons of snacks (which probably leave

us heavier than when we started our Ten Tors training) we

wouldn’t have made it through.

We trained for six months; ten miles used to be impossible

and now it is a walk in the park. Along the way we have learnt

so many new skills, like how important it is for a team to al-

ways work as one, how to tell which way up the map goes

and how to survive a whole forty-eight hours without using

THE DREADED TROWEL.

When it came to the actual event, despite only having slept

for one hour, the excitement of waking up at five to Chariots

of Fire was not dampened. The spectacle of over three-thou-

sand students shouldering their fluorescent bags and waiting

tensely for the starting gun is a sight not to be missed. Every-

one felt emotional as we watched the teams take their first

steps of many. For us back at base, it was so exciting to watch

the screens which tracked the progress of the teams. We

could only wish to tell them how proud we were and how

well they were doing.

Let’s not forget Bazza (Mr Barry), Jon and Angie who have

put up with our many moans and groans and taught us the

vital skills that we couldn’t have done the walks without.

They have been there for every walk and we all feel hugely

Nothing compares with the pride of seeing your own teamsstride across the Ten Tors finish line, beaming or wincing,wet or dry. It was the first time KEVICC has had teams in all3 distances, so the delight in seeing them all come home wasmagnified. I have nothing but the utmost admiration and re-spect for these young people who choose the determinedpursuit of an incredibly difficult challenge, who accept hard-ship, misery and suffering as part of a journey towards suc-cess made greater by the difficulties endured. Through-outthey have shown the most precious of attributes; tolerance,compassion and good humour and have been the very best of company.

The teams were:35 mile distance: Katie Medd, Josh Aptroot, MeadowFisher-Crisp, Will Paterson, Katie Adams, Libby Ray.45 mile distance: Connor O’Shaugnessy, Felix Robinson,Joe Souch, Tom Tysoe, Matt Swiss, Matt Anders 55 mile distance: Dustin May, George Hadow, PatrickHadow, Rupert Clark, Alessi Heitman-Rice, Meredydd Rix

These are the finest people you could care to meet.

Richard BarryKEVICC Ten Tors Team Manager

special feature > duke of edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions

On 29th June 24 KEVICC students, and two we borrowed from

Kingsbridge, set out on four Bronze level walking Expeditions

in the South Hams. The weather was good, and all groups

started well enjoying the countryside and coast-line from

Slapton Sands & Salcombe to Bantham & Bigbury.

The heat, sunshine and hilly terrain took their toll however,

and many participants were exhausted by the time they ar-

rived at their campsites. They dug deep however and broke

camp efficiently the next morning to start their second day.

Meanwhile a group of sixth formers (Bruce Clarke, Maia

Cronin, Claire Lester, Maddie Budden, Rowan Halkes) put the

final touches to their preparation for their 4 day expedition on

Dartmoor, which they have to complete ‘unsupported’. This

not only means no hitch-hiking, but also that they must carry

all their food and provisions for the entire trip.

All the students working at their DofE awards this year have

been amazing, and I will really miss our trips to the great out

doors!

The Bronze groups were:

Joshua Aptroot, Ella Green, Katie Adams, Kitty Clarke, Liberty

Ray, Matt Anders, William Paterson, Katie MeddChloe Hocking, Matt Cunningham, Matthew Swiss, RebeccaBillis, Rosie Newman, Thomas MahyEilidh Cathcart-Wootton, Kerstin McCammont, Emma Noyce,Rhia Smith, Zara KrischerAmoria Horning, Bethan Goodchild, Issy Perks, Katie Daymond,Grace Budden, Martha Harris-Davey

grateful towards them, especially as they have given up their

free time to train us.

Caitlin Pether, Angharad Pether, Freya Brindley-Rowell & Kitty

Clarke

special feature


Sports Day is always a fantastic event for the whole school to

enjoy and this year’s sports day was certainly one of the best.

Last year was a great year for sport with the biggest sporting

event in the world held in London. Unfortunately it was one of

the worst summers ever in terms of weather and conse-

quently our own sports day never took place. The PE depart-

ment this year were poised for a similar situation to happen

following a wet start to summer seasons but thankfully we

had a fantastic day with plenty of sunshine.

The spectators were nothing short of spectacular dressing up

for the occasion and presenting some wonder-

ful banners to cheer their house team. The

mood was positive and fun and throughout the

day the spectators cheered and supported all

of our athletes. In amongst the spectators area

we had charity stalls raising money for URIFIKI

and a special Elderflower cordial that had been

grown in the KEVICC garden and made by Mr

Edwards and our students for everyone to

enjoy.

Throughout the day the crack of the starting

pistol set the heart rates soaring and the ath-

letes were off on the track events, which were

particularly exhilarating to watch and some of

the students’ talent was extraordinary.

Just before lunch we had our new addition to the programme

– the all-inclusive relay. This was a wonderful event in which

students participated with enthusiasm and were cheered on

by spectators right down to the last moment.

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon the Art De-

partment managed a project for the spectators to get involved

in which was to produce House banners depicting the day’s

activities. Some of this fantastic work is going to be on display

next to our Olympics Mural by the sports hall very soon.

special feature > sports day

KEVICC Sports Day

The day ended with the traditional staff/Kennicott students

relay, a celebration of performances and the presentation

of the trophies, some of which have a long history in the

school. Mrs Mason presented the trophies to various stu-

dents for their achievements throughout the day. Some of

the highlights involved Lillian Goddard breaking the school

Year 10 Girls Hurdles record which has stood for 21 years by

nearly a second and the 300m record which has stood for

12 years by over 3 seconds. The Year 9 Boys relay team beat

the school record of 55.60 from our last sports day in 2011

recording a team time of 54.05seconds.

A very special recognition went to Hannah Souch in Year 10

for her endeavour throughout sports day. She was awarded

the Anchor Cup which is in memory of ex-student Tom Per-

rin. This cup was kindly donated by Mr and Mrs Perrin in

2012 in memory of their son who was a devoted sports per-

former, a talented student and a lovely young man. The An-

chor Cup is awarded to students who are role models for

always trying hard to achieve their potential, who partici-

pate in sport with passion and enthusiasm and who inspire

others in a variety of ways.

The house winners for the day were Snape with 1048 points,

second place went to 2011 winners Gyles with 1034 points.

Babbage house were third with 1022 points, Scott came

fourth with 1000 points and Davis finished with 878 points.

We are most grateful to many people for making KEVICC

Sports Day 2013 a success.

We are already looking forward to next year!

Carly Perring

Team Leader of Physical Education


working with primaries

Design and Technology at KEVICC

Since Christmas, Oak Class at Broadhempston School hasbeen to KEVICC for a DT project to make rocket cars. Mr Weston decided we would be able to work quicker thanhe had thought. I was put into a pair with my friend Mollie.

I was surprised that we were allowed to use all the equipment and it felt like Mr Weston really trusted us.

I really enjoyed doing DT at KEVICC .

By Ella Goddard and Safiya Joscelyne Y5

A Fantastic Themed Week!

By Camille Street, Year 5, The Grove Primary School

In school, we take part in a range of subjects, events and activi-

ties. One of these events is called “Themed Week”. Themed

Week is when a variety of different activities are spread out

across the school with different teachers. It takes place every

afternoon from Monday to Thursday. Friday is used to finish off

the week with an assembly where children can share their ex-

periences and celebrate their achievements with children

older and younger than themselves.

The most recent Themed Week (10th – 14th June), was titled

“Experts!” The purpose of this week was to try to give the pupils

an opportunity to try something new and become an expert in

an area of their choice. The groups came in all different guises;

art, photography, outdoor and adventurous activities, survival

skills, hairdressing, cartoons, fashion, summer sports, cars and

mechanics, animals and drama! Miss Fernyhough’s Outdoor

group managed to gather quite a lot of people each day by of-

fering adventurous activities life archery, zip-lining, climbing and

much more. I took part in the reading, writing and cartoons

group where I could sit down quietly and let my ideas and

thoughts spill onto paper.

Every single student in the school had something to say about

their experiences, whether it was about discovering new

hobbies, making new friends or simply having fun!

Singing Celebration Day for theTotnes Learning Community

In June this term, KEVICC hosted a wonderful morning of Gospelsinging, bringing together schools from the Totnes Learning Com-munity to sing as individual schools and then together in one big performance.

Children from Berry Pomeroy, Dartington, Diptford, Landscoveand Stoke Gabriel worked hard for several months on learning

gospel songs to perform, including two to sing togetherunder the direction of Ginny Edwards of Diptford Primary.

It was a great occasion with our Theatre full of excited children, and singing that everyone enjoyed.

It also included the very first performance by KPAC - KEVICCPerforming Arts Company. They were stunning! They per-formed an extract from Matilda by Roald Dahl and left allthe primary school children longing to join the group.

There were also spell-binding solo acts by Y7 students LucySamuels performing a song from Matilda and by CallumMcGinnis performing Little People from Les Miserable. We'll be seeing them on stage again soon.

Polly Morrow

kevicc in the community

OCR Leisure ActivitiesOn Friday mornings you may have encountered a very keen

bunch of KEVICC and Bidwell Brook students eager to explore

new ways to use their leisure time and which for some, will

be part of a qualification.

During the winter term, the group visited the Totnes gym and

each week learnt how to independently use a new piece of

equipment. The brighter weather gave the opportunity for a

go-kart trip along the Dartington cycle path, with the group

supporting each other in negotiating steep bends, muddy pud-

dles, bikes, dogs and walkers along the way! There was a very

high spirited game of boule on Vire Island which drew quite

a crowd of onlookers and a train journey to Newton Abbot,

where the students had to read the timetable and work out

for themselves which was the right train to catch back in time

for lunch!

It’s been a great opportunity for our students to be out in the

community, to host and support their peers from Bidwell

Brook and to forge some strong and lasting friendships. In the

words of one student “We learn some awesome stuff and had

fun!”

Community media project wakes the

ghosts of Dartington’s Modernist past

Media students at Kennicott have been working with the Na-

tional Trust and Soundart Radio to create a soundscape of

memories for an autumn exhibition at High Cross House on

the Dartington Estate. The project, called ‘Living Memories’,

has involved the students capturing stories and experiences of

people who have been associated with High Cross House, one

of the UK’s finest examples of Modernist architecture, since it

was built over 80 years ago.

The driving force behind the project is Caroline Kendall, Vol-

unteer and Community Involvement Officer for the National

Trust English Riviera portfolio. She

was keen to get KEVICC students in-

volved in ‘waking up the ghosts of

High Cross House!’ The Media stu-

dents have also been working with

Lucinda Guy, from Soundart Radio,

the Totnes community radio station.

Lucinda has been running work-

shops at KEVICC on using sound

recording equipment, interviewing

and listening techniques to help

people to really share their stories.

Participants in the recordings will in-

clude people who went to school at

Dartington, or were evacuated there

during the war, as well as those who

have been involved since High Cross

was opened as a museum and

gallery in the 1990s. The finished

recordings will be put together to

create a sound installation that will

be part of the High Cross House art gallery exhibition this

autumn.

If you, or anyone you know, have any memories of High Cross

House that you would like to share please contact Caroline

Kendall on 01803 840298 or Caroline.Kendall@national-

trust.org.uk

SailingIt’s always great to hear from our Community. Here is a letter

we received from the Stoke Gabriel Boating Association...

I am writing to say how proud we are of some of your students;

Rowan Halkes, Larisssa Connabeer and Eve Gadd.

During the half term holiday, the Stoke Gabriel Boating Asso-

ciation ran a sailing course for forty local primary age children.

Rowan, Larissa and Eve joined us as Assistant Dinghy Instruc-

tors. All are accomplished sailors in their own right, and grad-

uates of our Junior Sailing Course. But this year they undertook

a weekend training course to become Assistant Instructors and

then volunteered up to five days of instruction on the course.

Rowan, Larissa and Eve demonstrated such maturity, enthusi-

asm and leadership throughout the course. They supported

complete beginners, more experienced sailors and two of our

participants who have autism. Rowan in particular showed

amazing sensitivity, understanding and empathy to our

children, supporting them to become independent sailors.

The Courier Autumn 2012


Love and Fire - a Totnes Play

KEVICC were delighted to welcome back the Playgoers Soci-

ety of Dartington Hall to stage their new Totnes play Love

and Fire. The play was set in 1945, 1990 and the present day

- three generations; two families, one town …

Marley Sweett, Y7 student, came to watch:

Love and Fire, a Totnes Play, was all about the history of

Totnes fires and mainly the East Gate fire of 1990. When the

play had finished, I was surprised by how much I had learned.

I thought it was clever how they set the seats out with six

rows on each side of the Theatre, and three projectors. There

was one to the right, one in the front and one behind our

seats and this made me feel like I was actually there in the

High Street.

The play was set in three different times in history - I liked

that because it was different and clever, even though it could

get confusing at times. But then it all linked up at the end.

I just thought the play was cleverly thought out and brilliant.

Hannah Souch, KEVICC Y10 student, had a part in the play:

I really enjoyed being a part of Love and Fire. The Director

(Richard) was amazing and so full of energy I felt completely

at ease.

All of the cast were great, and it was really interesting to see

all the history behind Totnes. I feel very honoured to have

been the first ever person to play Jess and I hope there are

many more to come!


The Courier - Spring 2013 -

Ariel Centre Gallery

It has been another busy few months in the Ariel Centre

Gallery. Following on from successful student exhibitions

earlier in the year, including “The Italian Job” (an exhibition

about the Art department trip to Tuscany last summer), we

have seen a variety of shows from a range of artists. These

have included a fantastic exhibition of work by past and

present students from SANDS school Ashburton, a display of

stunning paintings by ex-KEVICC student Miranda Benzies

and works by other local artists Sarah Scaife and Helen

Sands. In keeping with the way the gallery works at the col-

lege, all three of these artists delivered FANTASTIC work-

shops and talks, helping our lucky students to understand

their work.

We were also fortunate enough to have an exhibition of work

by all of the South West Academy of Fine Artists in their show

“The Lens and the Easel”. Paintings and drawings were accom-

panied with photographs of the artists taken by Michael Carter,

himself a member of the group. During the exhibition, KEVICC

students were treated to a presentation/discussion with two

of the artists on show. Greg Ramsden SWAc and Tracy Whit-

bread Swac both talked on the theme 'From Figurative to

Abstract and on to Expressionism'.

Upcoming shows to look out for include work by our departing

Artist in Residence, Suzy Waldron and our “BIG DRAW” exhibi-

tion entitled “Our Town”.

Sprung

SPRUNG, the annual dance showcase, is always a fantastic opportunityto see the work completed throughout the year at the College. This yearwas no different as the array of movement styles and subject matterwere a testament to the reflection and hardwork of all the dancers in-volved. In addition to the performance itself, students were part of thechoreographic process which meant that they really owned their piecesand showed great confidence in performing this in front of family and friends.

Here is what some of our Year 7 students thought about the show:

‘There was a wide variety of different dances from students in Year 8through to Year 13. We could not take our eyes off the stage, it was mesmerising and incredible.

Our favourite dance was the one telling the original story of the Sand

Man, not the story we were told as children. (The Sand Man sprinklessand into your eyes so you can go to sleep). This story took a very dif-ferent approach. The mother and the children were attacked by SandMen who ate their eyes! It may sound gruesome, but the way it wastold in a dance was beautiful, amazing, scary, sad and inspiring - all rolled into ten minutes.

We also loved the Red and White Queen piece which was based on the Alice in Wonderland story. ‘


features > dance


features > design

Bizinga! Year 7 Big Bang Design

Innovation Success.

A team of four Year 7 students (Maya Bent, Gemma Espinosa,

Teya Sheppard, and Darcy Stewart) exhibited Bird Pod forms at

this year’s annual Big Bang Event organised by the Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics organisation at Ex-

eter University. The students were awarded first prize in the

Best Engineering Submission for all age categories, including

Sixth form students in the South-West region. Further to this

they gained qualification for the national finals event in London

or Birmingham later in the year.

The exhibits for bird pods utilised the college three-dimensional

printer system to rapid prototype design solutions as prepro-

duction models. Part of the project brief was to develop ideas

that were inspired by modernist architecture and design with a

softening of forms in response to contemporary market pref-

erences. The final exhibits were the collective and cooperative

outcomes of a number of Year 7 classes. All students devel-

oped their ideas using three-dimensional computer aided

design software. These visuals were then used to assess the

designs and to pitch the designs to their peers. Designs were

selected by all the students involved in the classes giving

them the opportunity to develop their communication,

diplomacy, negotiation skills and an experience of democ-

racy in action. Selected designs were then manufactured just

as real product designers develop concepts in industry.

The successful KEVICC team amazed judges with their cre-

ativity, clear communication and application of this new

technology. The team are looking to develop their concepts

further with the support of local businesses and industry

mentors in time for the national finals.

Year 13 Big Bang Success

At the same event Mark Ellison, a Year 13 Product Design stu-

dent who has devised a carriage system for raptors that ensures

they remain cool during warm weather, gained a prize for ex-

cellence and qualification to the National Finals of the Big Bang

competition. Mark, who works at the Totnes Rare Breeds Farm,

identified the problem through observation at the venue and

experience of handling birds. The finished design has been

tested a number of times and has kept the occupants cool in

warmer weather periods. Birds overheating can result in ani-

mal fatalities and Mark was keen to develop a concept that en-

sured animal welfare was at its heart. Mark worked with

specialist water cutting experts in Plymouth to manufacture

some components of the design before fabrication. He intends

to use the system to transport birds to and from events

over the summer at fairs and displays.

features > design

Jeremy Ireland, an ex-student of KEVICC, has recently

graduated from Brunel University in London gaining a

First in Product Design. Jeremy, as part of his final

year, developed a buoyancy aid to be provided to

school children in high flood risk areas such a

Bangladesh. Over 18,000 children drown each year in

this country alone. The design combines a household

stool with that of a buoyancy device that would be

thrown in to save the child. The main body would then

be retrieved using a retractable cord. The design has

already won development monies from the Dyson

Foundation and Jeremy was the winner of the Brunel

Universities Dragons Den Competition. Jeremy hopes

to travel to Bangladesh next year to evolve the prod-

uct further in conjunction with UNICEF. Jeremy re-

cently presented his final viva presentation to Year 12

students to inspire them to further their studies at

higher education level and to illustrate where design

specialisms can lead. Jeremy will be exhibiting his

work at the prestigious Young Designers Fair in Lon-

don next month which celebrates the work of the best

graduate design students in the country.

Lifesaving Design Wins Numerous Awards

Groundforce Projects

Kennicott garden space has benefitted enormously this yearfrom the enthusiasm and dedication of students in years 7and 8 who opted for ‘goundforce’ as an extended project op-tion. There were some great ideas to come out of the group,ranging from experiments with growing techniques, pond andbee surveys, garden design and poultry rearing. Year 7 PEPgroup worked fantastically as a team to clear the old applewood and create a brushwood fence and to raise crops ofbroad beans, runner beans and pumpkins. A big thank youto visiting students from St. Johns CoE Primary School whohelped plant the pumpkins ready for harvest in Septemberlater this year. Of considerable merit were Callum Toull’s beepatch; Sophia Heath’s sensory garden website, (visit athttp://sensorygardens.weebly.com/); Jacob Hempton andMitch McCann’s banana fertiliser experiment and Izabelle Wright and friends’ chicken rearing endeavours.


The Courier Summer 2013

Kennicott Garden Growers Cooperative

This year has seen the launch of Kennicott Garden GrowersCooperative which is a small group of people assuming re-sponsibility for organising the garden space at Kennicott andhoping to develop the project further. The group enjoyedmuch success when they grew, potted on and sold varieties ofpepper and chilli plants to staff and students to raise fundsfor the project. The pop-up pepper shop was taken to theschool’s cooperative launch event held at the Totnes Civic Hallwhere some important links with the wider Totnes commu-nity were forged. Cooperative members asked the commu-nity for ideas as to what they would like to experience in aschool community garden. These ideas were put togetherwith more gathered on sports day in exchange for Elderflowercordial made from flowers gathered around the school site.

Here are just some of the ideas that found their way on to the wishing tree:

• Bee hives• Pig rearing• Create an ideal habitat for species under threat/dangere.g. hedgehogs• Environmental education workshops and green wood-working sessions• Garden parties• Open air theatre performances• Making swings with rope and wood• Small ecobuilds• More opportunities to learn outside• Plant and run a flower nursery.

It is hoped that many of these ideas can be realised in thefuture but will require some people power to put in place. Ifyou think you could contribute some time to these ventureswhy not join the Growers Coperative. Come along to meet-ings next term to get involved.

Sophia Heath Year 8

features > garden projects

features > sixth form

Year 13 Leavers Ball

The Year 13 leaver’s ball once again proved a huge success, notleast due to the tireless efforts of organisers Francesca Heaver and Bronte Hackford.

Stunning dresses, (very) high heels and smart suits juxtaposedwith the magnificent marquee on the lower lawn at Kennicott,

STEM ambassador runs Year 12UCAS workshopA couple of weeks ago our sixth form science, technologyand maths students were lucky enough to be visited by a‘STEM ambassador’, Ian Fraser, from the Nottingham area.

Ian had been a judge on the Big Bang South West at ExeterUniversity where KEVICC once again had great success andhe kindly came down to Kennicott to run a University appli-cations workshop for science, maths and technology students.

features > music concert

The Music Department Summer Concert this year was a high-

light for the term, with a stunning degree of professionalism

together with a varied programme of real quality. The per-

formers were all full of talent and enthusiasm, both individual

performances and ensembles.

The evening started with the excitement always generated by

Drumline, directed by Kathy Banks, and both the first and sec-

ond halves of the concert closed with our wonderful new KE-

VICC Performing Arts Company (KPAC). Chamber Orchestra, di-

rected by Leonie Luff, was a joy to hear, as was Lewis Riley's

Jazz Band - both would welcome new members in the Autumn.

The self-sufficiency of KFC (KEVICC Folk Club) is familiar to us

all now, but their performances are fantastic! And the Percus-

sion Ensemble's performance of Son of a Preacher Man was

way above what you'd expect to hear at a school concert.

Ian’s no nonsense approach and dry sense of humour scoreda hit with our Year 12 students and a few of their comments follow.

‘The presentation was very informative and I found it helpfulto have a previous application officer giving us ideas on howto present our experiences in an eye-catching and ordered manner.’

‘The parts of the workshop that were particularly illuminatingwere a range of phrases and wordings that could create a more professional sounding personal statement’

Dave Waistnidge

courtesy of ex-student JamiePalfrey and ‘Marldon Marquees’.

Conversation was vibrant and’home grown’ live music,along with the DJs, ensuredan enjoyable, and late, night was had by all.

Oh and an excellent turn outby staff determined todemonstrate that they hadnot lost their dance floormoves also entertained. Bythe way Fran/Bronte, mymedical bills are in the post!

Dave WaistnidgeDeputy Head of Sixth From


news from outside the college

Deadly Mission Madagascar

Last summer I went to Madagascar to take part in the filming ofa TV show I had got selected to be in, called Deadly MissionMadagascar. The show was about me and 7 other kids’ reactionto conservation in Madagascar. This has recently been shown on the BBC.

From over 3000 applications, I was selected to do an over thephone interview. Next we had to go to one of five places aroundthe country to have a “test day”. I went to Cardiff, where wehad to put up a tent, talk to some selectors and hold certain an-imals (mainly invertebrates like a whip spider). And from those they selected 8 people to go and 2 reserves.

Over the 5 week period that we were in Madagascar we went to5 different filming locations. I personally saw 8 species of lemurand many other types of animals. It wasn’t all easy. We plantedaround 500 trees and walked up huge jungle hills. We went to aplace called Kingavato where we stayed at a research centre. Inthe time we spent there we radio tagged lemurs and bats andvisited and painted a school. After that we kayaked to the Val-ibo research centre were we spent a night looking for nocturnalanimals and caught and took measurements on mouse lemurs.We then travelled to Ankarafansika where we tried to see fossa,went on a lake with crocodiles and played football against a local school.

Whilst there we helped at the Durrell Foundation with endan-gered turtles. The next day we travelled off road in trucks to re-lease the turtles. The lake is sacred to the Malagasy people. Theelders performed a ritual before we set the turtles free. It wasreally cool as it felt like we had REALLY helped. Then we spent al-most a week on Ile Sainte-Marie (a tropical island) where we

went snorkelling, whale watching, fishing and put an artifi-cial reef in the sea. Finally we spent the last 3 days planting trees and then we went and saw Indri lemurs.

The most special part of the trip for me was when we sawand fed the Indris, as I was the third person ever to feed one (after only our guide, Joseph, and Sir David Attenborough).

If I went back to Madagascar I would hope to see Aye-Aye asI was not in the group that did. It was probably the best month of my life.

People should care about Madagascar because it is com-pletely unique and I hope the programme has helped to show that.

By Yoran Sheppard Year 9

James Turner lands lead role

KEVICC student, James Turner has landed the lead role in a new

film ‘The Nightman of NeverMoor’. Set in a fictional Devon vil-

lage the film follows the relationship between eleven year old

Nick Neary, played by James, and his estranged father, against

the backdrop of strange happenings in the village of Nevermoor.

James began his acting career when he began at the Torbay Act-

ing Factory at the age of 7. His first break came when he was 10

when he was involved in an internet soap opera called ‘Mum-

spower’, made to show working Mum’s solutions to debt and

everyday problems.

Earlier this year, James was successful in another audition for a

short film entitled ‘ Eight Limbs, Two Heads’ which was being

TR2On 21 February 2013 I at-tended an audition for theNational Youth Theatre, thisone held at the TR2 (TheatreRoyal) Studios, Plymouth.This experience inspired meas another step forwards to my career in Theatre.

We started the day with aninformal workshop wherewe played focus, name andreaction games (many stu-dents will know some ofthese from drama lesson),followed by whole and sep-arate group tasks that reliedon teamwork and partisan-

ship. These tasks developed as the workshop progressed,honing in on different skills and allowing the instructors tosee how you worked as an individual, as well as how you in-teract with others. It was worth auditioning purely for theexperience you receive during the workshop, as the atmos-phere created by so many people with the same interests as yourself is truly invigorating.

The second part of the audition was to perform a two minutepublished monologue of your own selection to the instruc-tors. Although terrifying, the best thing you can possibly dois to be yourself and completely throw yourself into thewhole performance. I personally thoroughly enjoyed takingpart in this and am sure there are many others who would benefit from this opportunity.

Auditions are open to anyone from the age of 14-25 and for full details visit their website: www.nyt.org.uk.

Rosie Issitt Y10

news from outside the college

produced by a group of local film makers. This experience

taught him a lot about the technical side of filming.

It was following this project that he was approached by one

of the film directors to star in a music video for an up and

coming band called the ‘Yes Cadets’, a Belfast based band

about to embark on a European tour. The song, ’Seconds in

a Minute’ won the popular request vote on Radio 6.

James has starred in many College Productions, including

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and with the KEVICC Performing Arts

Club (KPAC) in July when they will be performing a medley of

songs from the world of Musicals.

Alessi Heitman-Rice

A former student of KEVICC, my 19 year old brother AlessiHeitman-Rice is moulding an admirable reputation for him-self as a talented videographer, preferring to make time-lapse photography films that he says turned out to be “a lotmore time-consuming, trickier and challenging that one maythink. It took me at least four months to create my first time-lapse film, Going Home [a hit on YouTube that garnered him2nd place in an international competition].” Earlier this year,he visited Bali with our father; of the experience he says it“gave me a massive insight into the world of film and televi-sion, as I somehow managed to bump into Charlie Boorman,spending a couple of days on set with them”. (He also saysbeing on TV “was a bonus”!)

In the future he would like to be “making short promotionalfilms for companies,” as, “This Summer, I’ll be making a pro-motional video for Glas-Denbury Festival”. Alessi credits hispassion for filmmaking to “the help of the exceptional staffmembers” at KEVICC, and he is sure to further extend his al-ready impressive reputation in the future.

Liam Heitman-Rice Y11


Devon Swimming Gala

sporting news

KEVICC Football teams closedthe season with an excellentrange of sporting accolades

The Sixth Form team, Kennicott XI, secured their second

league title in the last four years defeating Westlands

School 3-2 in their final league match of the season.

This continues their success from last year where the

side won the Devon Cup and were third in the league.

Despite losing two or three key players from that squad,

several lower sixth players made their mark this season.

Not to be out done the Girl’s U16 team made it to the

County Cup final for the second year in a row and whilst

they did not claim the top spot this year, they played

very well in poor conditions and showed great determination

throughout.

To finish off the sporting trio, fifteen Year 9 students em-

barked on the school’s annual Soccer Tour to Weymouth

over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The positive attitudes of the players, along with the con-

tinually respectful manner in which they conducted them-

selves throughout the course of the tournament, did not

go unnoticed either as the team were awarded “Best

Sporting Team” by the tournament organisers.

Well done to all our teams.

We had the pleasure of taking 9 students to the Devon SEND

Swimming Gala hosted by the WESC Foundation in Exeter.

This was the first time KEVICC had participated in an event of

this nature and for several of our students it was the first

time they had swum a whole length in a 25m pool!

All the students went above and beyond our expectations

and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, swimming in several

events each. Warren Lethbridge, Stella Arnott and Ffion

Shore all won their individual races. Misha Kary, Kate Walm-

sley, Jordan Hyde, Oscar Jones , Kenny McGarry and Paul

Andrew all got at least one 3rd place each.

“I felt really happy swimming and excited to win. I’d love to

do it again”. ( Ffion Shore yr7)

“I loved being a swimming Power Ranger”. (Oscar Jones yr7)

The students also took part in a variety of Relay Races some of

which involved collecting floating objects as well as objects at

the bottom of the pool. Every one of them showed fantastic

teamwork, sheer determination and great sportsmanship. They

were all very proud of their achievements and the whole expe-

rience was one they will remember for a very long time.

Lorna Souch

alumni

Trustees introduce the Mary Lidstone Charitable Trust

A new grant scheme comes

into being for September

2013, through the newly

formed ‘Mary Lidstone

Trust’.

Each year the scheme will

help several financially dis-

advantaged students of to

access higher or further

education.

Below one member of the

staff team at KEVICC shares

her memories of the man

who made this possible

through his very generous

gift to students of the

college.

‘Everything happens for a reason’.My story about Roy Lidstone,

by Tineke Ellis, Sixth Form Manager

Have you ever read ‘the five people you meet in Heaven’ by

Mitch Albom? I personally feel I was meant to cross paths with

Roy Lidstone …

Kate Mason asked me and Lyndsey Kane, then Head of Sixth

Form, to meet with and interview Roy Lidstone. When we met,

I warmed to him immediately. His wife Mary, had passed away

the previous year and he expressed to us their joint wish to

donate their money to KEVICC, to enable under-privileged

students to go to university and to provide them with a

chance to do something they truly wanted to do and pursue

something they felt passionate about.

Mary and Roy loved children and would have loved children

of their own. Roy had come from a troubled background,

however his childhood experiences made him the strong, de-

termined and hardworking person he was. Roy felt enor-

mously lucky to have met Mary; he was 18, Mary was 16. Roy,

from Devon, was based in Yorkshire at the time studying at

the Army Apprentice College. Once he qualified, he worked

at various army bases throughout the world as a Signals and

Communications Engineer. He continued his training and was

promoted regularly. Mary was a Nurse, but retrained as a

Secretary to join Roy whenever he was re-located, working in

Germany, Malta, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, USA to name

but a few. As you can imagine, Roy had some incredible tales

to tell. Roy and Mary had been happily married for 54 years.

Lyndsey and I met up with Roy together a few times. I, how-

ever, continued visiting him on a weekly basis. I very much

enjoyed seeing him and listened to his stories with great in-

terest. The last couple of months of Roy’s life, I worked with

him to put together a book about his life. Unfortunately this

wasn’t completed. The idea was that students got to know

about his life and realise that anything is possible as long as

you put the effort into it.

Like Eddie in ‘the five people you meet in Heaven’, Roy

touched the lives of a lot of people. Roy certainly did that with

me. I am sad he is not around anymore but I am truly

honoured to have met and got to know him.

Roy and Mary’s legacy will make an incredible difference to

several students’ lives each year at KEVICCs, for many years to

come.

Old Totnesians Presentation

Members of The Old Totnesians Society continue their support

of the Learning Support Department at King Edward VI Com-

munity College. Gift vouchers were presented to those stu-

dents who had been nominated by staff as having made the

greatest effort or noticeable achievement over the past aca-

demic year. The members were particularly pleased to be able

to meet some of the students who were nominated for this

year and to hear of their work. The students were accompa-

nied by Glenda Penrice (Assistant SENCO). Old Totnesians

Barry Warren and Roger Foord-Evans who is also a Governor of

KEVICC presented the vouchers to the students and praised

the work of the department in supporting young people in the

college.


Old Totnesians

Members held their Spring Reunion at the end of April 2013

at The Royal Seven Stars Hotel, Totnes. Nearly 50 members

and guests were present for an informal lunch with age

ranges from the President’s three year old twins right

through to some who were in the 80+ age bracket. It was

good to see the interaction between all who attended who

had the one common connection of having attended a

Secondary School/College in Totnes.

The Society has also presented a number of books to the Ken-

nicott Library which were made the subject of a display by Li-

brarian Mrs Gerry Prior. It is hoped that the books will be of

interest to students giving information now and inspiration for

the future.

Remember we have a modest amount of money available each

year from which we can help students or staff with trips, proj-

ects or to obtain some equipment that the normal College

budget will not support. If you think we can help or want to

find out more please give Barry Warren a call or email. The

more of those who have left the College who join the Society

means the more we can do to support those who are there

today. Look on our link on the College website for more in

formation.

For further information about your Alumni please contact

Barry Warren, Honorary Secretary on 01884 34670 or

[email protected].

From a young age, Liora loved drawing dresses and dressingup and, during her time at KEVICC, Liora made outfits for her and her friends to wear on nights out and at festivals.

Along with her friend, Aby Schaefer, Liora even made prom dresses for friends.

Liora has always enjoyed combining different fabrics and colours and fitting them on the body.

AT KEVICC, GCSE textiles was always Liora’s favourite class.After Leaving KEVICC, Liora went on to take a short tailoring course at Stone Fabrics in Totnes.

Liora studied Creative textiles and Art and Design A-Levels atExeter College. She experimented with found objects and re-cycled industrial materials, mixing them with fine fabrics to create unique textiles and theatrical garments.

Environmental and social ethics have always been very impor-tant to Liora. At the age of eighteen, with the help of AbySchaefer, Liora set up and taught four upcycling fashion work-shops for teens. The workshops culminated in a charity fash-ion show at the Seven Stars Hotel in Totnes, which raised over£1,500 to help maintain a school for young children in Sri Lanka.

Liora then moved to London to pursue her career in fashion atCentral Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. Liora gradu-ated in 2012, with a First Class Honours Degree in Fashion Design with Print.

Liora’s graduate collection was made using sustainable naturalfabrics that can be produced in the UK, such as hemp, jute andwool. The collection also included upcycled clothes and house-hold waste such as tin and plastics bags which were used for embellishment.

After graduating, Liora won the Esthetica/Veolia resource com-petition with Central Saint Martins College. This enabled herto produce an Autumn / Winter collection in 2013, which wasshowcased at Estethica during London Fashion Week in February.

The collection was made using Veolia’s old, used uniforms, such as hi-vis jackets and navy trousers.

Liora is currently working on a new Spring / Summer collectionthat will be shown at Estethica during London Fashion Week in September 2013.

Liora said that:

"Its really great that the Totnes Textile museum is promotingupcycled/sustainable fashion and new designers.

It's fantastic to be able to come back to my home town and show what I've been doing."

alumni > where are they now?

alumni > leavers day

Leavers Day was a great example of an oxymoron, the tears

of sadness followed by the smiles of joy, it proved to be for

many a rollercoaster ride of emotion.

Break time saw the end of lessons, and smiles as there would

be no more homework, no more Maths and English! The

strawberries and cream went down very well with the help

of the wonderful canteen staff, whilst photos were being

taken indiscriminately of groups of people whom we may not

see again.

Break time came and went, and it was on to the final assem-

bly: Objective: Laughter and Tears. With the help of a fantas-

tic tutor team this objective was easily met. As ‘School’s Out’

played it really was the end.

On to the Prom. The venue; Dartmouth Golf and Country

Club, beautiful and ready for what turned out to be a night of

‘intense’ dancing for the whole evening. Dance offs with the

staff and moving to the likes of Swedish House Mafia the

evening was fantastic.

As I stood back to watch the banter, fun and laughs, it all be-

came very clear, this was the end of an exceptional year.

Jason Beynon

Head of Year 11

www.sambakerphotography.co.uk

Year 11 Leavers Day

Roger Clake

When, in 1967, the young Roger Clake joined KEVICC, PrinceCharles was still a teenager; Sandie Shaw had recently won theEurovision Song Contest with ‘Puppet on a String’; and Englandwere the reigning World Cup champions. Admittedly, he wasonly 11 years old but, both for this local boy and the school, it was the start of something big.

Generations of local students will recognise Roger’s unruffled,good-humoured approach which provides the foundation forfruitful working relationships; likewise with colleagues and par-ents. Regardless of status, he gives everyone the same kind at-tention and respect. Roger would likely attribute this equabilityto hours in the vegetable garden, where professional anxieties are banished and the World put to rights.

A fashionable management guru recently identified ‘a com-pelling modesty’ as a valuable leadership trait. Roger personi-fies this quality. We wish Roger and his wife, Lin, all the very best for the future Thanks Rog, great innings!

Ros Taylor

Ros Taylor will depart KEVICC at the end of term after fourteen years’ service.

Ros joined the Geography Department temporarily for Easterterm 1999 but she made such a good impression she wasasked to stay and has since been an integral member of thedepartment. Ros has held a part-time contract but has alwaysshown a full-time commitment an attribute that both staff and students alike have recognised.

Ros is a true geographer at heart with a wealth of subjectknowledge, is an excellent teacher who students find inspira-tional as a result. Many go on to study Geography at ‘A’ Leveland beyond, and this patently speaks volumes about her brilliance as an education practitioner.Ros brings the warmth and the passion from the Caribbean

through her personality into the classroom, and students respond to it well.

Good luck Ros! Keep laughing and dancing through your carnival years.

alumni > leavers


alumni > leavers

Jackie Mullard

The Food Technology curriculum over the last twelve years hasevolved and changed dramatically under the guidance and direc-tion of Jacqui. It now encompasses skills and knowledge devel-opment about food creation and nutrition in the home and inproduction on a large industrial scale. Jacqui brought with her highexpectations and standards from commercial practice and the students at KEVICC have benefited from this Jacqui is a whole-hearted educator and has given students access to an enhancedcurriculum well beyond timetabled time. These opportunitieshave included multi-cultural days, the annual Totnes Carers Christmas Party and regional cooking competitions.

Jacqui’s drive enthusiasm, dynamism and passion for her subjecthas become instilled in many of her students and this is the legacyshe leaves the college. She truly deserves a happy and exciting retirement.

Colin Gillespie

Colin Gillespie has been a central part in the evolution and de-velopment of the Design and Technology Department over thelast twenty-five years. He has always worked relentlessly andunselfishly to give students the best education passing on hislove for Product Design. His commitment is unquestionable de-voting energy, enthusiasm and time to supporting students intheir development. Colin has been a caring teacher who is sensi-tive to the needs of student’s welfare as a tutor and teacher. Heis highly regarded in college and across the local community byparents and ex-students. Colin has brought his unflappable nature and soft Irish humourto the team and he will be greatly missed. We all wish him thevery best for a stress free environment in the emerald isle.

Elizabeth Deal – Kennicott Science technician and legend!

Liz Deal, our science technician of 18years is to retire. Liz has sim-ply been magnificent over the years; her blend of common sense,good advice readily given, and quirky humour is enormously ap-preciated by all who have had the pleasure to work with her, and that includes both students and staff alike.

Gareth Smith

Our current Head of Maths, Gareth Smith, will be leaving us afterthree years to take a new post as an Assistant Head at TavistockCollege. His impact has been significant and he has overseen a

transformation in our Maths department that has seen re-sults improve considerably to an impressive 72% last year.With this year’s results already looking equally impressive,he can leave knowing that he has had a major impact on the lives of many of our students.

He is a fantastic classroom practitioner and well-liked bythe students. On Monday mornings, he often appeared abit bruised and battered from a weekend playing rugbybut at College he will be remembered as a gentle and con-siderate teacher, a true gentleman in his field. His good-humour in the staffroom, and his tea making first thing inthe morning has always been faultless and his team willmiss him considerably. We thank him for all of his supportand we offer him this simple piece of advice on how to impress in his new school: ‘do your top button up’.

Helen Staddon

Helen arrived back in 2005 as a newly qualified teacherand has developed over the years all of the skills one would look for in an outstanding Science teacher.

Helen has always put herself forward to go the extra mile,above and beyond the call of duty. She helped to intro-duce the Environmental Service AS at KEVICC, which hasbeen a popular and successful new course; she has re-cently overseen the G & T provision in Science; she or-ganised and ran an ecology field trip to Honduras for KS5students and this year she is organising a trip to Madagascar.

Helen is a great person to work with. She is professional, caring and helpful and she has a great sense of humour.

Sam Faro

Sam is truly born and bred KEVICC. Not many know thatSam was a student at KEVICC and she did part of her teacher training here and her first job as a NQT.

Since arriving here in 2006 she has seen a meteoric rise tostardom. Very few teachers have shown as much com-mitment to self-improvement as Sam. She simply wantsto be the best teacher for her students and has worked

alumni > leavers

tirelessly to achieve this. Now she has been promoted to Headof Science at Newton Abbot College, she will be one of the youngest Team Leaders of Science in Devon.

Richard Barry

From the day Richard taught his first lesson at KEVICC, back in2008 when he was here on interview for the job of Teacher ofPhysics, it was clear we were going to be working with an exceptional and inspiring person with many qualities.

Richard has an incredibly in depth knowledge of his subjectfrom quarks to quazars. He takes Physic topics which many finddemanding to understand and wraps them in fun, intrigue andexcitement by his imaginative teaching methods. Not everyteacher would think to teach about forces by dangling them-selves with abseiling equipment from a tree while a student hoists them up to the next branch.

You will be able to ask many students of the Ten Tors teamswhen they are seventy years old – “Do you remember MrBarry?” and of course the answer will be “Yes, he was the bestteacher”.

Natasha Barnes

When Natasha was here on interview for her job at KEVICC backin 2009, the student panel voted unanimously to appoint her.The students always get it right. We all knew we had found someone really special.

Natasha loves Science, but what she loves more is to help stu-dents to love it too. Behind the scenes, she spends hourspreparing engaging lessons and working out new ways of helping students to learn.

Natasha really encourages her students and listens to them,constantly thinking of new ways to reward her students for doing well.

Pilar Fernandez

How fortunate we are that Pilar decided to follow a career inteaching here in England rather than her home country, yes you

guessed it, Spain. Pilar is a truly exceptional and unique per-son. Being a Chemistry teacher who has worked in the chemical industry in itself, makes her a rare breed.

Pilar is sharp, discerning, full of energy, full of ideas (and opinions), tough, resilient and courageous.

Hilary Brownlow

Hilary has been with the department for 3 years after joiningus as an NQT. In that time she has become a fantastic teacherand her work teaching statistics at Kennicott has been mostwelcome. She is leaving us for a new job at Exeter Collegewhere she is going to be GCSE coordinator. We are sure thatshe will do an amazing job there and she will be sorely missed. As will her baking!

Karen Rainbow

Karen joined KEVICC in 2000. She is an enormously popularteacher who has a reputation for getting the very best out ofher students at all key stages. Last year her GCSE class did ex-ceptionally well and this was in part due to Karen’s relentlesspushing of the students as well as her total commitment to helping them do well .

Ian Peach

Ian Peach has taught at KEVICC for 18 years. In this time hehas inspired countless Germanists (and other linguists, too).Moreover, Ian has been a valued member of the Kennicotttutor team for sixteen of those years. His gentle sense of hu-mour and erudite wisdom have been hugely appreciated bystaff and students alike. His years as a tutor have been char-acterised by his quietly determined care for his students. Allthose at Kennicott will miss him. We will ensure that hisbrass plaque is always shining!

Tom Excel

Tom has been an invaluable member of the PE team forthree years. During his time here he has driven the depart-ment’s passion for sport and participation and inspiredmany students. Tom has particular interests in Rugby andCricket and is always keen to see students excel in sport. Inhis third year at the college he took on the role of joint sec-ond in department in charge of KS4 core curriculum.

He leaves to continue his work as a PE teacher at PenrynCollege in Cornwall to be closer to his family. Penryn Collegeare getting a fabulous teacher. We wish Tom all the best forthe future.

Ellie Steed and Jodie Mitir

We also say goodbye to two teachers who have covered ma-ternity leave and have, during their short time made a massive impact in Textiles and Dance.

Our best wishes also go to...Maria Climent-Donat, Olivia Perkins, Cath Longhurst.

kevicc sports day 2013oldtotnesians.com/courier_summer_2013.pdf · 2014. 1. 7. · in design...

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