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ACADEMY NEWS

COVER PHOTO:SPONGE A TEACHER FOR UNICEF

20th MAY 2016

BE YOURBEST

Best wishes

Principal’s Report

Sara Davey - Academy Principal

The Year 11 GCSE examinations have how begun in earnest and I would like to congratulate all of the Year 11 students taking part for the studious, focussed and professional manner they have shown in their attitude to sitting them. Furthermore I would like to thank the rest of the school for the consideration they are giving to their peers by maintaining the excellent behaviour standards they display every day here on campus, moving quietly through the corridors during lesson changes and keeping calm whilst letting off steam in the playgrounds at break. This lack of distraction really helps the students taking exams and I’m sure they appreciate it.

Despite the examinations, Academy life also continues as normal and this newsletter is once again full of all the amazing learning and opportunities that our students are able to access. Personally, it was an amazing experience for me to accompany Mr Fish to Buckingham Palace this week to collect a plaque in recognition of our work as a Duke of Edinburgh centre, allowing our students to have an amazing array of new experiences building confidence, resilience and life skills in new friendship groups.

Last night we held a highly successful Guided Choices Options Evening for our current Year 8 and 9 students. They had the opportunity to talk to the staff who will be delivering the massive range of GCSE subjects we are offering in Years 9,10 and 11 next year. Hundreds of students and parents attended which created a vibrant and entertaining evening for all. Most importantly though, my colleagues and I had the privilege to help guide our students in the first steps of a process that will help them to shape their futures.

As ever, we have welcomed many visitors to the Academy again this week to share their skills and experience with students. There have been too many to mention individually but it was a pleasure to welcome back Olympic medallist Heather Fell who helped some of our budding sports stars to create individual training programmes to support their aspirations. The week then finished off with a visit from the MP for our constituency, Derek Thomas, who chaired a debate on the issues we all face in considering our place in Europe. The arguments presented were lively and informative, helping everyone to understand both sides of the argument.

Our Year 7 students have been working with Emily Moder and Samantha Fiallo, both 12th Grade students from High Tech High, one of the world’s most innovative schools, located in San Diego, California. They are working with our REAL Projects team to share their personal experiences of the benefits of project based learning in their own education.

BEINVOLVED

REAL Learning

Students today embarked on a lesson that was the culmination of their work on Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer and they will be making a presentation of their investigations into the painting “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” using a variety of methods next week.

They have also been working with some of our students to produce a short documentary of their visit. This documentary will be shown at the Newlyn Film House on 8th July.

BEINSPIRED

A Midsummer Night’s Dream ReviewOn Thursday 12th May, a group of students went to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Hall for Cornwall. It was performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company; some of Truro’s local school children played fairies and local actors played the parts of the mechanicals.

The play was brilliant; all the music was live and the characters portrayed their parts perfectly. Some of the cast, such as the nymphs, were children and Mustard Seed was played by a dwarf who gave a hearty kick to Lysander for insulting Hermia about her lack of stature. The leader of the fairies wore a beautiful red dress, and lived inside a piano. The head nymph, Puck, was invisible and mischievously eavesdropped on conversations; she caused havoc throughout the play.

The tale took unexpected twists and turns ending up with the four main characters hating each other and lying unconscious in a wood by the interval. The play was based around love and Puck used various potions to break and then heal the lovebirds’ hearts.

Overall, I enjoyed the play although when Bottom was turned into an ass his costume wasn’t that donkeyish! It didn't even have a tail! Despite all the Shakespearean language, I could understand the moral of the play, if not all the conversations!

Report by Tilly Stephens, 7 Yellow

Report by Florence Sibley, 8 Orange

Hall for Cornwall Theatre Trips Round-up

This is my review on all the plays I've been to see. The first one I went to see was ‘The Witches’ which I really liked; it was full of laughter and imagination.

The second one I went to see was ‘Gangsta Granny’. What I liked about ‘Gangsta Granny’ was that it was full of imagination and amusement. I liked the fact that they made the audience join in.

The last one I saw was ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was the best performance because it was so funny. I really liked the clothes, the lady with the spiky hair and the dwarf who came out and hit the man for being rude about short people.

BECREATIVE

Arts Award Review

For our Arts Award event review we went to The Exchange in Penzance. The Exchange is an art gallery which is also an Arts Award venue, so they were very welcoming. The gallery is based in the old telephone exchange, hence its name. The gallery is a really nice building. At night the glass panels on the side of The Exchange light up making the whole street look almost magical and inside the gallery is really nice as well.

The exhibition, on 11th May, was Chemigrams by Peter Lower. As well as viewing the exhibition we also attended the workshop afterwards from 3.30 till 5.30. I went with Cathy and Jenny, two other Arts Award Silver students.

The artist, Peter Lower, works using chemigrams. This is a process half way between painting and print making. It uses photographic paper and developing chemicals. The use of chemigrams is an interesting style as you never really know how they will turn out as they are all very different.

I thought Peter Lower’s work was really good. He has been making chemigrams for quite a while so he had experimented with different styles, techniques and materials.

We were very fortunate to see the exhibit while Peter Lower was there running a workshop. The workshop taught us how to create a chemigram and we made some ourselves, as well as looking at some of his work and him telling us how he created some of them differently for new, creative effect each time.

Report by Azura McSally

BECREATIVE

Graphic Designer of the Week

Ritchie Payne in Year 9 is the week's 'Graphic Designer of the week' award.

Ritchie has been developing a brand for his business idea which includes the design development of his own website, business cards, magazine front covers, bags, T shirt designs and further merchandise as seen in his final photo shoot.

The triangular logo design has been influenced by Russian Constructivist Art so it's great to see the link between Art, Design and Graphics.

Ritchie has created a very professional looking range of products during his GCSE Graphic Design course which any design company would be impressed with!

Winning Poster

Congratulations to Danny Fyffe, 7 Yellow, who is the Winner of the recent Humanities competition.

Massive congratulations from Mrs Coode and the Humanities team!

the question is what would you do if it was your family?

The refugee crisis is real!

BECOMPETITIVE

Recently the Mounts Bay Junior Badminton Club Championships took place at Penwith College on Saturday 14th May. Thirty six players competed in Under 11, Under 13 and Under 17 tournaments.

There was some fantastic badminton played. Many Junior County players from within the Club were competing against their fellow Club members.

Notable achievements for Cameron Aubrey (TRURO) winning his first ever badminton title in the Under 11 Boys Singles. Elys Searle (ST IVES) winning the Under 11 girls singles title. Henry Jackson (CARBIS BAY) winning a fantastic 3 end battle in the Under 13 boys singles final against his doubles partner Sam Perkin (CARBIS BAY). The Most Improved Under 13 Player Club Cup was awarded to Alec Netley-Reseigh (SANCREED) for the second season running. Alec having won the County Under 11 doubles with his partner two weeks ago.

In the Under 17 Tournament notable winners were Jason Chan (PENWITH COLLEGE) winning his first Club singles title in his last season at the club. Alice Pritchard and Matilda Black (both MOUNTS BAY ACADEMY) retaining the Under 17 Girls Doubles Cup, and Matilda winning the U17 Girls singles cup for the first time. The surprise player of the tournament was Caryk Murley (MOUNTS BAY ACADEMY) and first year County Under 17 squad player who being unseeded won through a difficult group, and won his semi-final against the number 3 seed before having a great final against Jason.

Mounts Bay Junior Badminton

Surf Champions

On Friday 6th May, the Mounts Bay Academy surf team headed to Gwithian beach, hoping to defend our title in the third annual Penwith Schools Surf Competition. The surf was big and challenging for the team, with 4-5 foot waves breaking on the beach. Fourteen Mounts Bay students competed in four different categories, with many of them progressing through to the finals. In the girls Years 7-11 category, Iris Tanner came third, Molly Pritchard second and Bonnie Whitelock first. In the body boarders Years 7-11 category Stan came second, and Alfie Brown first. In the boys Years 7-9 category Thomas Reeves came third, Huck New second and Woody New first. Finally, in the Year 10-11 boys Woody New came fourth.

After a great day of surfing and competing, Mounts Bay Academy came first in the schools, retaining the title with some great work from the team.

All surfers who came in the top two now qualify for the Cornwall Schools competition on 29th June in Perranporth.

BECOMPETITIVE

Report by Luke New

BECOMPETITIVE

On Tuesday 17th May the Under 13 Boys and Girls Tennis teams competed at the County Tennis competition at Newquay Heron Centre. There was tough competition in both events and there were a number of 'love' match victories for Ellyn Calverley and Zoe George, there were also many tight games.

Well done to all involved and thank you to Ian Mathews for taking the teams.

Tennis Teams:

Under 13 Boys - Jack Cross, Joe Benson, Henry Jackson, Jaime NietoUnder 13 Girls - Ellyn Calverley, Zoe George and Iris Tanner

County Tennis Action

On Tuesday 17th May the Junior Boys and Inter Boys Athletics teams competed at the Cornwall ESAA athletics competition at Carn Brea. This forms part of a a national competition and the standard was high, 20 schools right across the country were competing.

There were some excellent individual results including 1st place in the 100m for Theo Simpson and 1st place in the Discus for Harry Hocking in the Intermediate Boys. Overall the Junior Boys finished 5th and the Intermediate boys finished 7th. These results are even more impressive with the fact that many of the team members were running up a year. Hopefully next year Mounts Bay will finish even higher up the leader board.

For more pictures from the event click here to see the website.

ESAA Boys AthleticsReport by: Mr Strong

High Performance Students

Four out of five MBA High Performance Programme students who were nominated by Mr N. Eddy have been selected to take part in the Talent Inspiration Programme from Wednesday 31 August - Friday 2 September 2016 at Loughborough University. They are Grace Brock, Maia Fashokun, Dylan Halls and Harry Hocking.

TIP brings together 300 young aspiring county and regional level athletes from across the country to participate in both residential and non-residential learning experiences. The annual three-day residential experience for 14-18 year olds from across the country.

These are amongst the very best athletes who consistently demonstrate outstanding qualities on and off the field. Practical and theory sessions are delivered by former Olympic athletes or international players and experienced Team Managers; making the experience very exciting and unique.

BEINSPIRED

Exciting Danish Exchange Trip on Offer

Mounts Bay Academy and our Danish partner school, Lille Skole in Helsingør, will be taking part in a cultural exchange in 2016/2017 and we are looking for students who will be in Years 8, 9 and 10 in September 2016 to join us.

Lille Skole is a small independent school in the coastal town of Helsingør which is best known to us as Elsinore, the home of Hamlet’s castle. It is a lovely, friendly school with 220 students, across 10 classes, ranging from 6 to 17 years old. There is a strong emphasis on students taking part in international travel and project based learning.

Our students will be exchanging with students in class 9, who are aged between 14 and 15 years old. The students understand English very well, most speak it confidently as many of their lessons are taught in English and so many of their cultural influences are from America and the U.K. It is a fantastic opportunity for their students to improve their fluency whilst staying with host families and enjoying a week in a school of nearly a thousand students. They especially enjoy the experience of having to wear a uniform for the week.

Our students love not having to wear uniform to school for a week. Whilst at Lille Skole, students will have the opportunity to work and socialise with their hosts all week. Lille Skole plan to run a Future Schools workshop, alongside class 10 and their German exchange visitors. This will be brilliant for students taking, or considering taking, German at GCSE, as they can practise their language skills and build international friendships. We will also visit the beautiful city of Copenhagen with our hosts who can show us all the places of interest as well as allow us time for a bit of shopping!

Last year, we visited Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen’s equivalent of Alton Towers, after a day in the city, which the students enjoyed very much. A visit to Kronborg Castle is a must: here students can see an exhibition of past productions of Hamlet and learn about Shakespeare’s connection with Helsingør.

BEINTERNATIONAL

BE

The recent redevelopment of Helsingør’s wharfside area into a heritage and cultural space has led to the architecturally stunning Kulture Yard, which houses a modern open plan library, open piazza area and maritime museum.

To see some videos of trips we have taken to Lille Skole in the past, have a look on our Firefly page here.

We plan to visit Lille Skole from 19th to 23rd September 2016. Travel from Penzance to Bristol will be by school minibus and we will take the train from Copenhagen to Helsingør, where we will be met by our host families. The cost of the trip is £225 and includes everything except pocket money.

We would like to invite you and your child to an informal evening in our school hall on Monday 23rd May at 6.30 p.m. where you can meet students who have been on the exchange and ask them about their experiences. You can also ask me any questions you may have about the trip, as I went last year, and about being a host family. If you cannot attend the evening but are interested in the exchange then please feel free to contact me: lmarsden@mountsbay.org

If you are keen to reserve your child a place on this trip please email Mrs Marsden.

For more details click here to see the exchange trip page on Firefly and download a copy of the exchange trip letter.

BEINTERNATIONAL

BEADVENTUROUS

On Monday this week Mrs Davey and Mr Fish travelled to Buckingham Palace to join the celebrations for the 60th Anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Along with the Diamond Anniversary celebrations it was also a Gold Award Presentation; where successful participants are given their Gold Award certificates by a member of the Royal Family. We joined the Devon and Cornwall cohort on the lawns of the Palace and were given a quick talk by none other than Ray Mears!

He congratulated the Gold participants and gave them some wise advice for moving onwards in their life journey. He then presented every Directly Licensed Centre with a plaque - soon to be mounted here in the Academy. Very soon after that Prince Edward arrived in our group and chatted to the Gold participants about what they did for their Awards and to the Leaders of the Directly Licenced Centres (e.g. MBA), about what we had done for our Diamond Challenge events. A very exciting and interesting afternoon!

Diamond Challenge - 60km Bike ride

Last Friday after school the following pupils, in two teams of six, completed 120km on their bicycles. Between them they have raised £80 for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Well done to all and thanks to Mr Jack for his help. Riders were: Jack Edwards, Callum Kitchen, Michael Osmand, Tom Hosking, Jack Cross, Iris Rainbow, Sid Rainbow, Tom Prosser, Mr Jack, Mr Fish.

Bronze Expeditions:

This coming weekend sees the first Qualifying Expedition for Bronze DofE. The Year 10s will have a busy weekend conducting their expeditions on their own without direct adult supervision. The weather is looking a bit damp so be prepared everyone!!

Reports By Mr Fish

BEA WINNER

Maths Quiz

Last week’s solution: 64

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

Whoever submits the most correct answers over a semester will win an iTunes voucher – prizes are also awarded to the top scoring parent/carer/staff.

House Competition

Blue: 31 PointsYellow: 21 PointsRed: 20 Points

Green: 15 PointsPurple: 15 PointsOrange: 9 Points

Click here to submit your answer

This Week’s House Totals

Closing date for Entries: 26/5/16

BEA WINNER

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

Competition

Congratulations to Maisey Sky Lumbers. who wins a Edge of the World Bookshop Voucher.

Click Here to enter the competition

Maisey Sky in the Media Studio

This week’s word is: Catastrophe

Origin:

mid 16th century: from Latin catastropha, from Greek katastrophē‘overturning, sudden turn’, from kata- ‘down’ + strophē ‘turning’ (from strephein ‘to turn’).

BECHARITABLE

Sponge a Teacher

As part of the Academy’s fundraising efforts for UNICEF, Miss Tripp, and a team from 9 Blue, organised a ‘Sponge the Teacher’ event on Friday lunchtime. Participants were asked to donate money in exchange for the opportunity to throw a wet sponge at the teacher of their choice.Fortunately the sunny, hot weather was perfect for the activity with nobody really minding getting a little water on them.

A few brave teachers volunteered to take part, and not one of them escaped without a good drenching! Credit must go to the PE staff, who have obviously taught the students how to throw objects with great precision and force!

Dance Club Years9&10

MONDAY3:30-4:30

Gymnasium

Thedanceclubwillbeworkingonarequestbasis.SendrequeststoMissWalterswhetheritbehiphoporcontemporarylyricalorBeyoncéoramusical–Thechoiceisyours!Pleaseseehttp://mountsbay.fireflycloud.net/dance-clubforsomeinspiration

Location To Be Confirmed

Interested in joining us in 2016?

CORNWALL COUNTY CHOIRS

For details contact Mr Payne. wpayne@mountsbay.org

Mounts Bay Academy, Boscathnoe Lane, Heamoor, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 3JTE: enquiries@mountsbay.org���|���T: 01736 363240���|���F: 01736 352326