SHEBBEAR COLLEGE NEWS MICHAELMAS TERM 2013

www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

2013RESULTS

D of EEXPEDITIONS

It’s History forTHE JUNIORS

Busy in theKINDERGARTEN

CAMP PYKE

TEN TORSTraining

World AIMS

Bhangra comesto Shebbear

SHEBBEARREMEMBERS

PEARL OF AFRICA CHOIR

UGANDA EXPEDITION

5th & 6th FormSOCIAL

Boarderson the Rampage

Let’s GoSurfing!

HEADMASTER’S WORDS

Dear Parents, Friends and Shebbearians (current and past),

Please enjoy this summary of the vast range of activities that have taken place at the College this term. We demand a huge amount from every member of the school community and you will see that once again they have responded with typical enthusiasm, dedication and determination.

I am sure the productivity of the school community has been helped by the fantastic summer we enjoyed this year. No doubt winter will soon reveal its teeth but I hope that these highlights of the term will engender a little warmth in the cold months ahead.

I have greatly enjoyed meeting new and existing parents and their guests at school functions, whether at academic meetings, on the touchline, at concerts or the many other events during the term.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, pupils and parents for making Shebbear the fantastic school it is and conclude by wishing you all a very Happy Christmas.

Yours sincerely,Simon Weale, Headmaster

ARTIST OFTHE TERM

Ellie Bird, 4th FormTitle: Autumn

RESULTS 2013The A2 results were excellent and nearly all of our Upper Sixth have gained a place at either their first or second choice university.

Well over a quarter of the grades achieved were A* or A with 75% of grades being A* - C.

Dan Lee gained an A* in Maths and A grades in Chemistry and Biology, securing his place at Bath University to read Natural Sciences. Sarah Balsdon is going to study Economics at Exeter having gained three A grades and Head Boy Rob Dunn will be able to follow his dream to be a paramedic by studying at Oxford Brookes University.

Other students studying further afield include Jason Liu whose A* and three A grades were more than enough for a place at the University of Hong Kong, Rose Frith who now has to put up with the ‘hardships’ of living in Paris for the next three years, and Anthony McGeorge, one of England’s brightest golfing hopes, who will take up a scholarship to the University of Western New Mexico.

Other students have opted to enter the workplace, notably Head Girl Grace Beal who performed with distinction in the exams despite a serious illness and will now join the teaching staff of Prior Park School in Bath. Our star performing department was Maths where out of eleven entrants, four students gained A* grades and two gained A grades.

Our GCSE pupils achieved over 40% of all grades at A* and A. Amongst the many impressive achievements were some truly outstanding performances particularly from Emilio Aliberti (8 A*s and 6 As), Julian Blaskiewicz (10A*s and 2As), Jack Honey (5A*s and 7As), Tom Hill (6A*s and 5As), and George Daniel (6A*s and 3As). These boys defied the national trend of falling grades in science by achieving 11A*s and 3As in their respective science GCSE exams.

Other pupils achieving at least eight A*s and As included Emily Dunn, Katie Trask, and county rugby player George Bone.

The Art department had 100% pass rate from A* to C with sixteen out of the nineteen pupils getting an A* or an A.

Three of our new Fourth Form deserve special mention – Nadia Blaskiewicz, Connie Bromhead, and Will Cox took their GCSE Maths two years early and all finished with A*. Will scored an impressive 120 out of 120 in his final paper.

Our GCSE PE pupils demonstrated a vivacious thirst for knowledge and determination to succeed and were rewarded with an excellent set of results with a 100% pass rate at A*- C grades (73% of students gaining A*- B grades); well done to you all for your superb achievements.

Above: A level students Dan Lee, Joe Furber, Saskia Weale and Harry Chibbett.

Above: GCSE students Tom Hill, Katie Trask, Julian Blaskiewicz, Francesca Stevens and Martha Johnstone.

Above: Emilio Aliberti, Jack Honey, Julian Blaskiewicz and Thomas Hill with Headmaster Simon Weale.

BOARDERS’ LASER COMBAT EVENINGAs the mist descended one evening, two squadrons of desperate warriors emerged from the shadows of the peaceful fields around the college.

With lasers and flashing lights darting in every direction, this was the beginning of a fun packed evening for the boarders.

The trees and hedges provided cover as the boarders stalked and chased their opponents. The wide, open spaces gave lots of opportunities to run and chase their opponents.

They all enjoyed the event and said that they had felt the full atmosphere and tension of the adventurous evening.

The troops returned to the boarding houses for a warming supper before bed.

were delighted to discover the variety of creatures which live in and around the pond.

They also explored the habitats of the birdlife, and discovered why Rosemoor is such a wonderful choice of home for robins. The children looked for evidence of worms, a supply of water, seeds and many other food sources which enable the birds to thrive.

UGANDA EXPEDITIONThis year’s expedition to Uganda was enriching for our students visiting Uganda from Shebbear College and also for the schools and charity organisations that we visited.

It was lovely to return to Bbira School, with whom we have been partners since 2008. We have also established relationships with other schools, Mengo Primary, Katosi Primary and Gayaza High School for Girls.

The students were immersed fully in Ugandan culture and spent over a week working specifically with organisations who support rural, poorer communities, teaching them valuable life skills.

One memorable experience for our students was our visit to Kira Farm, a residential vocational college. Here we met young Ugandans who have had a difficult start in life, who shared their experiences with us and taught us much about how privileged we are.

Mr Sanders and Mr Steel ended up coaching at the Nile Rugby Club, which has opened up a new dimension to forthcoming trips.

WORLD AIMSAction in Methodist Schools (AIMS), the global citizenship organisation, held its annual students weekend this term at the Frontier Centre near Northampton.

Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Blundell attended along with eight students. In all, over sixty students participated from the Methodist Schools Group.

The weekend included a fun icebreaker session, workshops on Jubilee Debt, Methodist Relief And Development Fund (MRDF), Tradecraft (linked to Fairtrade) and a fun practical session on the work of the Mission Aviation Fellowship which involved an obstacle course tackled whilst blindfolded.

The students also enjoyed activities such as fencing, high wires and ropes, raft building, kayaking and a nerve-racking ‘Big Swing’. Evening activities included a campfire and an interactive session on activism, dealing with how to get involved and campaign on issues such as those that had been discussed.

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNINGThe Macmillan ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ held at the end of September raised a grand total of £403.60

REMEMBRANCE DAYOn Monday 11th November at 10.45am we had our annual Remembrance Day Service in Lake Chapel.

The service was attended by all staff and Senior School years accompanied by the Year 6 children from our Junior School. We also welcomed some ‘Old Boys’ who wished to attend the service. The service was led by our Chaplain and our Headmaster and the Bursar also took part. Our 6th Form and Staff Choir gave a beautiful rendition of the anthem ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ as part of our act of remembrance.

The two minute silence was started by the playing of ‘The Last Post’ and was observed at 11.00am, ending with the ‘Reveille’ played by a 6th Form student. Two wreaths were laid at the alter and the names of all the Shebbearians who died during WW1 and WW2 were read out.

After the service the wreaths were taken by the Head Boy, Head Girl and the Chaplain to the Memorial Hall where they were placed next to the roll of honour and a prayer was said.

TRIPS to ROSEMOOR GARDENSYears 1 and 2 had wonderful trips to Rosemoor Gardens, a popular destination for the Junior School.

Their enthusiasm never dampened by the typical Devon weather, the children

Friday 15th November saw lots of hilarious activities taking place during break times.

This year’s Children in Need event was made even more poignant by the recent hurricane in the Phillipines, leaving many homeless and in need.

Once again we ran a week of fun events to help raise awareness and funds for a very worthy cause. These events included a raffle, face painting, cupcake competition, a music gig and stocks. We also sold some Children in Need wrist bands for extra cash! The mufti theme this year was pyjamas or onesies and we had an array of both pupils and staff walking around ‘ready for bed’ throughout the day. Mrs Cardoo’s onesie was particularly good as was Connie Gillies – the Pink Panther. A great effort from all involved.

Break time on Friday saw an excited mob descend upon The Quad where those favourite stocks had appeared overnight! It didn’t take long before a crowd had gathered around the stocks to witness Mr Newitt and Salah Gobara get a proper Shebbear soaking! Thank you to both chaps for offering their services.

The week was a great success and raised an amazing £700. The parents, staff and pupils have, once again, donated a huge amount of money for an incredibly just cause. A special thank you must also go out to the four girls who helped organise the week – Kitty Harding, Claudia Golland, Meg Ryder-Green and Summer Dunscombe.

SPORT at SHEBBEAR COLLEGE

trips to Longleat Safari Park, The Eden Project and London, to take in sights such as Trafalgar Square, the National Portrait Gallery, the M and M Store and Covent Garden, before enjoying a traditional feast in China Town. Other highlights included shopping at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol and of course Pizza Hut!

SURFING BOARDERSOur boarding pupils have been enjoying weekend surfing lessons this term at Widemouth Bay.

It is wonderful that the pupils are able to enjoy the beautiful part of the world that we live in, something that many other schools are justly envious of.

CAMP PYKEDuring the half term break, eleven of our overseas boarding pupils stayed at school in ‘Camp Pyke’.

This was a trial to see if we could put on a suitable mix of activities, both work and play, at school for pupils who, for logistical reasons, cannot make it home.

This was an ideal opportunity for the boarders to get out and about and see some sights around the country. This included

SPORT ROUND-UPOne term gone and the race for the title of ‘Sporting Team of the Year’ is already hotting up.

The First Form have only just started their sporting careers at Shebbear, but their rugby team have proved to be very competitive with several classically close encounters against our biggest rivals West Buckland (narrow win), Kelly (draw and a narrow loss), and Plymouth College (narrow loss). The star player has been Will Cunningham who has scored a hatful of tries and was the key player when the team won the inaugural Shebbear U12 Festival beating St Joseph’s, Kingsley, and Mount House in the process.

The First Form girls can look forward to a similar bright sporting future with a number of strong performances in their first season. Further up the school the First XV have found themselves matched at times against much bigger opposition, but have played patches of excellent rugby and will retain most of their players for next season. They have achieved three victories, a number equalled by the First XI Hockey Team under the leadership of Meg Furse. The renaissance of their fortunes has coincided with the arrival of new coach Alan Muller, Captain of the England veteran’s hockey team. His strong influence is palpable across the year groups especially at U15 and U13 level where both teams have been extremely successful and achieved excellent wins over rivals as strong as Plymouth College.

The U13 squad of girls is a formidable unit and they will definitely be one of the title contenders in the summer. However, as things stand the U13 boys team probably have the best record. They also won the Shebbear Festival, but enjoyed a string of victories against Mount House, Exeter Cathedral School, Kelly (twice), Kingsley (twice), an Exeter School XIII, Plymouth College, and West Buckland before they met their ‘Waterloo’ at Truro. No bad thing – they are only human. The points have mostly been scored by try machine Alessandro Aliberti and Will Cowan-Dickie, who kicks as well as any U13 around, but of course the team only works because of the seventeen players who regular turn up.

BUSY IN THE KINDERGARTENLearning takes on many forms in the Kindergarten and this term has been full of fun and learning activities.

The children have been learning about types of transport in a fun and interactive way. The stories and songs involved provide excellent literacy learning.

A large, interactive computer screen installed this term has provided the Kindergarten with a valuable, modern teaching aid.

The children have also spent time in the garden, preparing troughs and tubs for seed and bulb planting ready for Spring.

Celebrations and events this term have included the Harvest Festival, Children in Need, Remembrance Day and, of course, the Christmas Nativity.

HISTORY IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOLOur Junior School pupils have been learning lots of history this term with a variety of activities.

This included trips to Dingles Heritage Centre, the Victorian Heritage Centre at Morwellham Quay, a visit from a Roman Legionary and studies about the Titanic.

At Morwellham Quay, Year 6 pupils learned about life in Victorian Britain and in particular, the hardships that faced the working class families of the time.

As well as taking a trip down into the copper mines, the children were put to work, breaking rocks to find the precious copper. They were then sent back in time to experience lessons in a Victorian school before finally dressing up in authentic costume and taking a stroll through the town.

JUNIOR PGLOur Year 6 pupils spent an action-packed week of activities at Osmington Bay in Dorset.

They had a busy and exciting week taking on a range of challenges, many of which they were trying for the very first time. Over the course of the week the pupils crawled down underground tunnels, climbed a forty foot pole and jumped off the top, abseiled down a tower, fenced, shot rifles, fired arrows, sailed around Weymouth Bay, drove quad bikes, climbed ropes and slid down a giant zip wire.

Although it was an exhausting week, it was a wonderful experience and we were very proud of each and every one of them. As well as being great fun, they were polite, well behaved and very supportive of each other.

TEN TORS TRAININGTraining has begun this term for the 2014 Ten Tors Challenge.

Various training walks have taken place, each demonstrating valuable procedures such as advance planning, taking bearings, map reading and the safety value of staying on tracks. The training sessions have been undertaken in a variety of weather conditions which also illustrates the need for careful preparation.

VISITS FROMPOPULAR AUTHORSIn September we were visited by two renowned authors.

As part of the Appledore Book Festival, we enjoyed presentations by Paul Dowswell, author of over 60 books, and Gillian Cross, who spoke about her latest book ‘After Tomorrow’.

The Assembly Hall was packed full of pupils, many of whom had books signed by the authors after both presentations.

D of E EXPEDITIONSIn August, four pupils undertook a four day practice expedition towards their Gold D of E Award.

Alice Cowan-Dickie, Will Hill, Jed Light and Will Collins walked from The Valley of the Rocks at Lynton on the north coast of Devon to Minehead, a total distance of some 90km. The weather was good and they successfully completed the challenge, and are now planning their final expedition to the Lake District in October.

In September, twenty eight pupils undertook their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award practice expedition, starting from Tavistock and walking unaided to Hartford Bridge campsite for their overnight stay, before continuing to their finishing points the following day.

The aim of the expedition section of the award is to challenge the teams and all the individuals within those teams.

All of the pupils worked hard and should be very proud of their achievements. Now all of the pupils have to plan and prepare their routes for their final expeditions which will take place in the summer term.

BHANGRA COMES TO SHEBBEARIn November we enjoyed a day with popular Bhangra band RSVP.

The Junior School and most of the Senior years had the opportunity to meet the band in a workshop setting where they experienced and participated in this highly energetic and vibrant form of music. The band were excellent and the pupils took every opportunity to question them and learn about their music and its background.

Neither words or pictures can replicate the fantastic beat and vibrancy of the music we heard.

To tie in with these events the new servery in the dining hall was beautifully decorated in an Indian theme and there was curry and plenty of poppadoms for lunch.

In the evening the band performed a superb concert for 6th Formers and visitors and quickly got the whole audience up and dancing.

THE PEARL OF AFRICA CHOIRIn November we enjoyed a cultural musical experience.

The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir from Uganda were touring the UK giving performances to help raise awareness and improve the health, education and welfare of people suffering through disease, war and poverty in Uganda. The choir were able to visit the school during their busy schedule. They spent the whole day at the school giving workshops with Forms 1, 2 and 3 along with the entire Junior School and Kindergarten.

The children experienced the colourful traditional clothing, music and culture of Uganda. They learnt about a typical school day, how to count and sing in Ugandan, and were shown dance moves before taking part in some routines.

The choir performed a short concert at the end of the day which was also enjoyed by the Senior School and teaching staff.

5TH & 6TH FORM SOCIAL EVENINGThe 5th and 6th Forms enjoyed a social evening in September.

A hog roast was accompanied by delicious side dishes, desserts and soft drinks, following which the pupils put on their dancing shoes for a traditional Gaelic Ceilidh dance in the Memorial Hall.

FORM 1 TRIP TO ROADFORD LAKEIn September the new First Form pupils had a teambuilding day out at Roadford Lake.

The day was filled with fun and action, with many activities such as kayaking, raft building, archery and a high ropes course - a day out not for the faint-hearted!

DAMS & DIVERSIONSTaking advantage of the rural college grounds, some of our boarders have been out and about on campus.

Along with Pollard Housemaster, Mr. Sanders and his wife, they set out to pick blackberries, but this got boring so they set about doing what boys do best

- damming a stream and re-routing it around a large tree, before breaking the dam down at the end. These types of simple activities are very important as they get the boys out and about in their spare time.