July 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,

As I write this introduction to the summer term edition of Community News, Curriculum Enrich- ment Week for Years 7, 8 and 9, and Work Experience Week for Years 10 and 12 have just com- menced. Both events take an enormous amount of organisation and planning by our hugely committed teaching and support staff team but they know that all of the effort will be worthwhile when the students are given so many great opportunities to learn new skills or strengthen exist- ing ones.

As a school, we continue to place a great deal of emphasis on the development of personal, learning and thinking skills, both through the delivery of the taught curriculum and through our extensive range of extra curricular activities. These skills are life skills, skills that will help our students’ employability in the future and it always makes us very proud when we receive external feedback on the conduct of our young people.

Over the past week there have been many different trips and visits taking place, including the whole of year 10 going to London for Theme Day and forty students travelling to Wembley Arena for the Rock Assembly. Without fail, all of the students were impeccably behaved, leading to the coach drivers and coach companies praising our school extensively. In addition, we held our Year 11 prom at Boringdon Golf and Country Club and the feedback to our staff at the end of the evening was very positive:

‘We have never had any trouble whatsoever from your school. In fact, your students are proba- bly the best behaved we’ve ever had.’

I am certain that the ethos of mutual respect that we have at saltash.net is at the heart of the consistently good feedback that we receive. We trust our students to behave well and they, in turn, trust us to do all that we can to support them and give them, as Ofsted said, the best possi- ble life chances.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the support and encouragement you continue to give to your children and to the school. It has been an outstandingly successful year for saltash.net, but we could not have achieved all we have without your involvement in the life of the school. I do hope you will enjoy reading this edition of Community News and find of special interest the supplementary insert with its special focus on our colleagues retiring or moving to pastures new. I would like to thank all of our leavers for the excellent contribution they have made to the life of the school, whether it has been for one year or considerably more, and wish them all well with future plans.

I would also like to wish the best of luck to all of our students awaiting examination results on either A Level results’ day - which is Thursday 14th August - or GCSE results’ day which is Thurs- day 21st August. I am certain there will be much to celebrate once again!

Wishing everyone a very happy summer holiday.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs I Bryce Headteacher

‘A school with a view!’

Ofsted 2014

‘Students feel safe and their behaviour is outstanding. Students are proud of their school. They are polite, courteous and keen to achieve well.’

‘Students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted extremely well through a wide range of opportunities and experiences.’

‘The school’s commitment to developing international links is outstanding.’

‘Across the school, teachers are very conscientious and highly committed.’

‘The school’s mission statement ‘Believe and Achieve’ is evident in practice.’

‘Students’ attitudes towards learning are exemplary.’

‘Exceptional ICT practice.’

These extracts from the March 2014 Ofsted report seem to sum up all that is contained within this edition of Community News. For a copy of the full report please go to:

www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports Outdoor Ed Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme

This term has seen another Silver Duke of Edinburgh team successfully completing their expedition on Bodmin Moor. The team showed absolutely brilliant team work skills and really worked together to complete the expedition. The students walked on average about 18km each day and carried their kit for the whole 3 day expedition. They had a variety of weather conditions to compete against including heavy rain but also glorious sunshine. A huge well done to all involved.

Miss Higgs, D of E Coordinator

Religious Education

The Big Debate:

Thanks to Exeter University’s outreach pro- gramme, our Year 10 Religious Education students had the chance to find out about life as a university student and what they might study for RE related degrees. In April, two groups of Year 10s visited the university to take part in The Big Debate and Discover Ethics/RE Day. At The Big Debate, students from saltash.net and other schools were introduced to the uni- versity debating team and saw a show debate about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As well as being a popular social activity at the university, debating also helps stu- dents’ confidence and thinking skills. After- wards, the students researched issues such as same-sex marriages, illegal download- ing, the death penalty and lowering the voting age, before putting forward their views in university-style debates. This was a daunting experience, but all our Year 10s said they gained much from it. Putting forward an argument in a room full of strangers is no mean feat!’ said Head of RE at saltash.net, Jezz Pomfret. Drama ‘Jungle Book’ – a hit with audiences young and old!

The summer term production of ‘Jungle Book Kids’ at saltash.net community school proved itself to be a very popular show with people of all ages. Tickets sold out quickly for all three nights and audience members ranged from babes in arms to proud gran- nies and granddads.

The lasting appeal of the 1967 Disney film meant that many of the songs in the show were well known to the audience, but there were some surprising and delightful ‘twists’ in the direction by teacher of Dra- ma, Matt Oakes, and teacher of Music, Chris Eastman, not least the rousing final number of ‘When I Grow Up’ taken from a more recent musical, ‘Matilda’.

For the third year running, children from saltash.net’s partner primary schools were invited to take part in the combined key stage 2 and key stage 3 produc- tion. Pupils from Landulph, St Stephens, Burraton, Bru- nel, Weston Mill, Sir Robert Geffery’s and Bishop Cornish joined students from years 7, 8 and 9 at salt- ash.net to present a show which was energetic, hu- morous and extremely entertaining overall.

Excelling in the lead roles were Emily Horsham as Ba- loo, Olivia Higman as Bagheera, Bethan Hall as Shere Khan, Molly Banks as King Louie, Rachel Jonas as Mowgli, and Ellie Kevern as Kaa the snake. They were very ably supported by the other 50 cast and chorus members.

NEWS UPDATE:

The whole school production this coming Autumn Term is ‘OKLAHOMA’. Rehearsals are currently underway. English THE KERNOW YOUTH BOOK AWARD

A team of four students from saltash.net was invited to attend this year’s KYBA award held at the John Keay Theatre, St Austell in April. Each student read the six books on the shortlist between October and February, attended meetings and discussion groups at lunch and after school before awarding points to each book, from six for their favourite to one for the least enjoyed. All students wrote reviews of the books. The winner from our school was “North of Nowhere” by Liz Kessler.

On their visit to the awards ceremony Carys Scales (7BA) Harriet Hunt, Amelia Horne and Kaley Gibbs, along with their year 8 tutor Miss Millar, were able to watch presentations from other Cornish schools, video links and talks from authors but unfortunately this year’s overall winner James Bowen author of “Bob: No Ordinary Cat” was unable to attend. The students had an enjoyable day, inspiring some of them to do their own presentation at next year’s event. Thirty books are on the long list for 2015; the short list will be announced in September. Any student who wishes to take part in next year’s event should contact library staff in the autumn term.

Liz Madigan, Librarian

On 23rd June at Callington School a team of year 7s performed excerpts CARNEGIE DAY EVENT from the book “Roof Toppers” by Katherine Rundell, one of the titles short listed for the 2014 Carnegie Book Award. All titles nominated were allo- cated to participating schools in south east Cornwall and Plymouth for pupils to read, review and complete a presentation in any format in front of all schools attending.

Emily Ayers, Tabitha Beaumont, Nia Powell and Carys Scales compiled an i- movie presentation of the book about young orphan Sophie’s belief that somewhere her mum was alive because “there is always a possible.” The girls had to overcome a number of difficulties to complete their task: some students had dropped out prior to the day so roles were re-arranged, there were demands made on their time by other activities and a limited amount of time when they could all meet to rehearse. On the actual day, their presentation could not be shown on a big screen at the venue, so not to lose out they took an i-pad to each competing team for them to view. This is the first year the school has entered a team, coming third overall, an excellent achieve- ment considering some schools are veterans of five years and teams were composed of older pupils. Well done girls, you were all outstanding.

Liz Madigan, Librarian

Reigning Queen of Teen children’s author and Ker- now Young Book Awards finalist Chris Higgins visited saltash.net on the 3rd April to inspire our Year 8 pupils to write creatively and provide top-tips for any budding writers. Chris read from her latest nov- el, ‘The Day I Met Suzie’, to Year 8 to inspire some character writing, and then pupils got the chance to test-out the tips for themselves in some fun creative writing.

We also welcomed Landulph pupils, from Years 4 – 6, to join us in the afternoon for a special reading and Q&A session. Pupils prepared questions to ask Chris about life as an award-winning author, and had the chance to get copies of their books signed to take home.

An enjoyable day was had by all, and many pupils are now taking the first steps towards becoming pub- lished writers.

Kate Littledyke, Head of English English Young Writers’ Competition

Sixteen students have been confirmed as potential competition winners after entering 100-word mini-sagas to the Young Writers competition: 'Twist in the Tale'. They will all be published in the anthology 'A Twist in the Tale - Tales of the Unexpected', which will be sent to the British Library as well as being available in schools and libraries around the country. This is a fantastic achievement for all the students and encourages them to participate in more writing activities with confidence.

Young Readers

The Accelerated Reader programme continues to be successful in encour- aging students to read more widely. This programme is followed by all Year 7 and Year 8 students and has begun to show a positive impact on their writing skills too.

GTI Book Club

Each fortnight, during Thursday lunchtime, Miss Millar and Miss Owen have been joined by an enthu- siastic group of readers. The students, from years 7 and 8, have been reading a range of challeng- ing, modern novels and taking part in exciting activities! Oh, and did we mention that we have yum- my cakes and sweets as well? Our favourite book so far has been ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by Malorie Black- man. The story explores the theme of responsibility through the main char- acter, Dante, who unexpectedly dis- covers he is a father. We particular- ly liked the narrative structure of this book, as the story unfolds through different first person accounts. Oh and we have to mention the heated debates caused by the end- ing of Anne Fine’s, ‘The Tulip Touch’! Students clashed over whether the ending’s ambiguity was a good or bad decision on the writer’s part. A special thanks must go to Carys Scales and Reanne Chapman who each created an activity for the rest of the group to complete which took a lot of organisation and courage -- well done to you both! The club will continue in the next academic year so listen out for the details! Miss Millar and Miss Owen U14 Girls’ and U14 Boys’ football teams become County Champions Sport

The sporting success story at saltash.net continues apace with the Under 14 girls’ and U 14 boys’ foot- ball teams both building on the outstanding achievements of the U16 girls’ and boys’ teams to also be- come Cornwall county Champions in 2014.

The girls’ 4-0 victory against Pool Academy on the evening of Thursday 24th April was made all the more special and rewarding as a result of the team playing two consecutive games of football during the afternoon of Tuesday 22nd April, including a semi final match against Callington Community college.

Coach, Emma Gue, was full of praise for the team and the dedication they have shown over the past year. ‘The girls were understandably tired by the end of the Final having played 3 tough matches in the space of 48 hours, but their excellence shone through and they were worthy champions. Particular praise needs to go to Captain, Siobhan Ellyatt, who has now played in both the U16 and the U14 win- ning County Cup teams.’

For the boys’ team, it was a thrilling final which took place against a strong Penryn side on the evening of Thursday 1st May. With the score 1-1 after extra time, the boys went on to win 11-10 on penalties. Coach and Head of PE, Rob Hawkins said, ‘The whole squad performance was incredible. Ben Holter the captain, Reece Kyffin, James Green and Alex Easson in goal were outstanding. The desire and effort to win this game meant they had to be at their best for a full 90 minutes of football. They went 1-0 down in the first half, equalised in the second and finished the stronger team. To top it all off, as the penalties went into sudden death every member of the team had to take one and they scored eve- ry one! Penryn hit the post with their eleventh attempt, then Alex Easson the goalkeeper took his pen- alty and scored.’ U16 County Champions Sport INTER TUTOR SPORTS - Round 2

The results of the second round of inter tutor sports competitions (Boys Football and Girls Net- ball) have now been published. The scores have been added from the autumn term compe- titions to show the best individual tutor groups in each year group and also calculate the Olympic countries position in preparation for Sports day. Tutor groups will have competed for their adopted country during sports day on July 8th. Congratulations to TN in Year 7, HC, DA and MI in Year 8 and RR and WP in Year 9 who are leading the way after 2 rounds and 4 sports completed. In the countries competition Team GB are lead- ing, closely followed by Australia. Greece, Spain -Brazil have a bit of catching up to do! Sport A Sporting Triumph!

The whole school sports day, this year held on Tuesday 8th July, was another very successful and memorable occasion for students and staff at saltash.net.

Commencing with a parade of nations and ending with awards ceremonies galore, the students - competitors and spectators - excelled themselves from start to finish.

Whilst Years 7, 8 and 9 courageously undertook the full range of track and field events on the school’s lower field, Year 10 participated in an ‘alternative’ sports day on the middle field, watched enviously by primary school children from Bishop Cornish during their breaktimes!

The overall winners of Sports Day were Team Great Britain, with South Korea a very close second.

In such an inclusive school, it is always very pleasing to see such high participation rates. Many con- gratulations to everyone who took part and thank you to all staff and student sports leaders in- volved in the organisation, including the school’s canteen staff who served delicious BBQ food alongside Miss Noble and Mrs Wadsworth’s healthy eating fruit stall. ICT saltash.net Digital Champions run ‘Tech Coffee Morning’

Tech-savvy students at saltash.net have been involved in running a ‘Tech Coffee Morning’ to help members of the community get the most from their digital devices. As part of the BT Dig- ital Champions initiative, Head of ICT, Angus Reith, looked to the student population to pro- vide the skills necessary to coach attendees in all things digital. From guiding Margaret through the features on her new Motorola smart phone to helping Roy set up his Facebook ac- count, the Digital Champions provided a patient and friendly service and were only too happy to go through the basics.

Attendee Margreet van Waasbergen later praised the event saying, “I think this initiative is very good and a needed one for everyone who wants to stay independent and remain part of this digitalised society.

I was very impressed by the excellent behaviour of the three ICT wizards: Kailan, Harry and Tom who helped me. They were very patient and were able to pass information in a calm and under- standable way.

All in all this was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn how to use my new tablet.”

Mr Reith, Head of Curriculum ICT

Rock Assembly - Wembley Arena, London

As a reward for taking part in the scheme, the Digital Champions received free tickets to at- tend the Rock Assembly at Wembley Arena on July 9th, hosted by Radio 1’s Nihal and starring Professor Green, George the Poet, Conor Maynard, Ella Eyre, Misha B and many other acts, along with 10,000 other young people from across the country. This is all thanks to The Transformation Trust – a charity helping schools transform young lives. Theme Day Another successful day ...

A group of 15 Gifted, Talented & Interested students from Years 8 and 9 attended a production of ‘Twelfth Night’ at Re- gent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London. We enjoyed soaring temperatures and sunshine, and thankfully the fight scenes be- tween Cesario and Sir Andrew involved water pistols shooting into the crowd. The production involved lots of audience partici- pation, dancing and pantomime-esque calling out. After the production we had time to walk past literary hero Sherlock Holmes’ infamous 221b Baker Street residence, and explore many lines on London’s Underground. Our students represented saltash.net impeccably, and had an enriching experience that will help their GCSE study in the coming years.

Head of English, Kate Littledyke

The Summer Term Theme Day was another great day of learning, fun and adventure.

For year 10 it was a very early start to the day and a very late ending, but the trip to London, our captivat- ing and historic capital city, made it all very worthwhile. Not venturing quite as far afield, but still having a memorable experience, was the whole of year 7 for whom a day at the Eden Project was on the agenda.

For half of year 8, there was the challenge of Geography fieldwork on Dartmoor, made all the more ’exciting’ by having to contend with the elements … it was very wet! The remainder of year 8 participated in the Hats through History project, successfully delivered for a second time around, having been given much praise by Ofsted when they saw the other half of year 8 engaged in the event. Year 9 travelled to Bristol Year 10 Scientists visited the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum and for year 12 it was a thought provoking ’Ethics day’ to experience.

Thanks are expressed to Mr Romain and Mrs Feldwick for their organisation and coordination of all the Theme Days this year.

Year 10 Artists visited the Courtauld Gallery and the Tate Modern

Year 10 Scientists visited the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum Curriculum Enrichment Week What a week!

We climbed (almost) every mountain in Austria; celebrated internationalism on the borders of three different countries whilst in Holland; overcame our fears of the high wires at the River Dart adven- ture centre; traversed Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor; marvelled at the beauty of Snowdonia; made amazing willow sculptures; indulged in all sorts of competitive sport competitions; tried not to scare the local residents with Laser Battlefield; cooked, baked and ate our way around the world; cele- brated the Great British Bake off; developed our range of Art and Design skills; undertook a grisly forensic examination and then arrested Mr Lee; perfected our sand modelling techniques; admired Mrs Hind’s iceskating expertise; surfed more than a few waves; skied and sailed (but not both at the same time); rode horses; fought each other (amicably) in Robot Wars and Lan Gaming; looked after piglets; laughed, joked and enjoyed each others’ company … and then SLEPT!

Thank you to Mr Reynolds and all staff who organised an activity - it was a BRILLIANT week! Work Experience As an integral part of the year 10 and year 12 curriculum, students un- dertake a period of work experience during enrichment week. The main objective is to give each student a good experience of an adult work environment. It enables stu- dents to improve their employability skills and to put the knowledge and skills they have learnt in their Personal Development lessons in to practice in a real workplace situation. The process starts many months in advance but always comes together with the help and coordination of our amazing Work Related Learning Administrator, Mrs Tracy Boulton.

This year 215 year 10 students and over 90 year 12 students have found placements with employ- ers near and far.

Employer feedback ...

‘A fantastic job throughout the week, working well as a team, being creative with her ideas and listen- ing to instruction’ - Theatre Royal, Plymouth

‘I couldn’t have wished for a better student, was attentive towards customers, excellent use of initiative, excellent communication and manners’ - Upper Thirty Eight Hair & Beauty Salon, Plymouth

‘An excellent team member with an excellent attitude to work’ - Drake Primary School

‘One of the best we’ve had!’ - Newells Travel, Saltash

‘Has been very impressive in her work!’ - Noakes, Habermehl & Kerr, Saltash

‘An excellent addition to the team’ - Flying Start Nursery, Saltash

‘A confident student, who settled quickly and has taken part in all activities within this small team, working in a busy café’ - Petit Pain, Saltash

‘You’d think she’d been here ages, she fitted in so well. It was great to see a student immersed in all activities’ - Tip of Elegance, Saltash Charity Totals Fundraising

Amount Raised Macmillan Cancer Care £127.21 Blood Bikers £400.00 Jeans for Genes £450.73 Philippine’s Disaster money £1,675.00 Children in Need (Go ‘Bearfaced’) £5.25 Movember £1,254.00 Poppy Appeal £160.69 Breast Cancer Care £1,169.44 Kambeng Trust £150.00 Pearl Of Africa £200.00 CATS (Community Action Through Sport) £1,000.00 Sport Relief £2,318.65 Treliske Children’s Unit £264.64 School Fund £590.36 Pearl of Africa (William Ssegirinya) £100.00 Laura Jayne Hill - International Citizen Service Programme £216.00 Zoe James Voluntary work in Jamaica £216.00 NSPCC £334.55 World Challenge £225.00 Diabetes Detection Dog £100.00 K9 angels - rescue dog scheme £50.00 TOTAL £11,007.52

Calling all green fingers ...

We're establishing a woodland classroom at the back of our school and we need your help. The area is quite overgrown with weeds and stinging nettles at the moment but would be a perfect site for den building, wildlife awareness, natural habitat building and even space for a fire pit. We're going to be using the site with- in our Integrated Learning curriculum primarily but we also see it being used by many other subject areas once it's established.

We need any parents who would be willing to help clear the site or perhaps there's someone who owns a landscaping / groundworks company? If so, please get in contact with Mr Oakes at the school. We’d be very pleased to hear from you. Science STEM Club

Science Careers Talk It's been another great year for the STEM club, with more teachers involved, broadening “But when will I ever use this in normal life” is a cry the range of activities offered across the often heard when learning about the more ab- STEM subjects. Helen Ripper, Heather Crook, Kirsty Newberry and Stuart Eaglestone have stract concepts in science or maths. This got me all run sessions and attendance has remained thinking; how could I persuade the year 10 pupils high. Students have enjoyed everything from that science and maths are relevant? extracting their own DNA to dissecting aliens, with plenty of rockets, exploding pumpkins We arranged a talk that had 5 speakers from a and weird and wonderful experiments along range of different jobs; David Couch from Bab- the way. cock spoke about his work with re-commissioning the submarines in the dockyard; Jayne Buchanan worked with UTC helping design GPS systems for the fast jets; Martin Coath works in neuroscience research with Plymouth University; Clare Pengelly works with Ginsters and discussed how robots are used for weighing and packaging the food pro- duced, and finally Jill Schwarz spoke of her work with Marine Remote Sensing equipment and map- ping the sea bed.

The response from the pupils was fantastic, and it STEM club attendees have been treated to was lovely to see them engaged and inspired by visits, including some creepy crawlies and corn the outside lecturers. We hope to run this in future snakes. Students have also been building rock- ets and code breaking. Next year we're hop- years, and include more students, helping them to ing to build on this success by including at see how science is relevant. least one big project to take to the Big Bang Fair South West next summer. Mr Henderson, Joint Head of Science Sonia Cooper, Science Teacher

On Thursday the 5th and Thursday 12th June year 7 A and B populations went to Dartmoor for a science field trip. We looked at the different environments and habitats you can find on the moor with all the different flora and fauna. This included eating ‘wood sorrel’ and looking for flies in ‘sundew’. Both days had glorious sunshine, but this did not stop several students from almost losing their shoes in the bog. As we walked along the Devonport leat and up and over Leather Tor we also looked at some of the history and geography of the area. Both days were fantastic and great enrichment op- portunities for the students who as, always, were brilliant. Science Department Year 10 Students visit Eden

saltash.net community school values enormously the outstanding range of resources that exist in Cornwall to enhance students’ learning. Making the most of what the Eden Project has on offer recently was the Design and Technology Department who organised a day visit for Year 10 students currently engaged in a project to create innovative lighting designs and concepts for their GCSE coursework. Speaking after the visit, technology teachers Mr Chris Wells and Ms Jacqui Bartlett said, ‘We had a brilliant and very rewarding day at Eden to study all forms of interesting plants from around the world. This was part of the students’ investigation which it is hoped will lead to inspiring, original, creative and innovative lighting concepts. Eden welcomed our students and are happy for students to display their work at Eden at the end of the task, exam board regulations permitting. The year 10 students had experience of all four bio dome areas and had the opportunity to take photographs and sketches of the dynamic nature in the surroundings. Students were also congratulated on their excellent behaviour by the Eden Project staff and by Ron, our coach driver, from Cottons coach and taxi com- pany, based in Saltash.’

Students visit Oxford University saltash.net community school and the Saltash Gateway Community Interest Company combined to give Gifted and Talented students a taste of Oxford University, as part of a ‘pathway options day’.

The students, all high-ability students in Year 10, travelled on the ‘Saltash Hopper’ community bus driven by volunteers Derek Pilgrim and Colin Brown, and were accompanied by teachers Adam Killeya and Lydia Hawkins.

At Oxford, students had the chance to look around two different colleges: Exeter College which host- ed the event and Corpus Christi. They also visited the spot where three bishops were burned for heresy in 1555-56 (outside Mr Killeya’s old college of Balliol, but a few years before he studied there).

After lunch in Exeter College Hall students had a tour of Oxford including visits to various famous Oxford landmarks, before returning to Exeter College for a sample lecture on lasers. Congratulations Mr Wieprecht! Awards

saltash.net’s reputation for providing the highest quality teaching and learning opportunities for all students in its care was given a further boost recently as teacher of Maths and Integrated Learning, Mr Scott Wieprecht, was named the National Teaching Awards’ regional Winner for the Outstanding Use of Technology in Education.

Nominated by the students through their School Council, Mr Wieprecht received a visit from two nation- al Teaching Award judges at the start of the summer term. They had selected Mr Wieprecht as a finalist on the strength of what the students had written about their teacher, as well as what deputy head, Mr Buckley, had written in his endorsement. Their visit to the school did not disappoint and they enjoyed watching Scott teach, meeting with senior leaders, colleagues and parents and, of course, hearing from the students themselves why they felt Mr Wieprecht should be the regional winner.

A very special ‘surprise’ assembly event was held on the morning of Friday 16th May, the official ‘Thank a Teacher Day’ when an announcement was made to the school community that Mr Wieprecht had won a Silver Teaching Award making him eligible for the National Finals due to take place in October, as well as a prestigious visit to the House of Commons.

Attending the assembly to present the Award was Mayor of Saltash, Jean Dent, as well as Vice Chair of Governors, Brian Chalkley.

Alongside the presentation of the Silver Award to Scott Wieprecht, Certificates of Excellence from the National Teaching Awards were also given to Head of Year 8 and teacher of PE, Mr Mark Feldwick, the Maths Department for Team of the Year and Teaching Assistant, Mr Colin Stanbury.

‘On Tuesday 3rd June I had the pleasure of being invited to talk to BBC Radio Cornwall about my recent silver National Teaching Award.

David Whyte, whose show I appeared on, had spoken to me be- fore, with some of the OffPerts, about the amazing things we do here at saltash.net with technology. He was keen to catch up on everything the Offperts had been doing, and all they had accom- plished since. I do hope that my key point came across: the award was much less about me, and much more about the amazing work that goes on at the school. It recognised the incredible students and the opportuni- ties that both our young people and also the staff get offered at the school.’ Mr Wieprecht, Teacher of Maths and Integrated Learning Prestigious Parliamentary Reception Awards

To honour this year’s National Teaching Award regional winners, a prestigious parliamentary reception was held in Westminster during the afternoon of Tuesday 24th June. Hosted by Reading West MP, Alok Sharma, the event cele- brated the many successes and achievements of the teaching and support staff who were all Silver Award winners in 2014.

Making the journey to London from saltash.net community school was teacher of Maths and integrated Learning, Scott Wieprecht, accompanied by headteacher, Isobel Bryce. In addition to the reception held in the Members’ Dining Room, Mr Wieprecht and Mrs Bryce were given the opportunity to visit other places of interest within the Houses of Parliament, thanks to the hospitality of local MP, Sheryll Murray. Mrs Murray enabled her guests to view both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as Westminster Hall and Chapel and the Mem- bers’ terrace.

Speaking at the end of a very exciting day, Mr Wieprecht said, ‘I can honestly say being able to visit the House of Commons was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a privilege to be able to discuss all the amazing work we do at saltash.net with other teachers from around the country. For me the award has always been testament to the wonderful young people we have at our school and it’s so good that this is once again rec- ognised on this national level.

As a maths teacher, the figures always excite me, and to know that the work that we've been doing at saltash.net managed to fend off 22,000 applications to reach the final 55 awards just shows what an incredible and life chang- ing set of opportunities are available to our students.

I would like to thank all the students at the school for their support, and for nominating me for the award, in the first place, as well as all the other colleagues who have helped me along the way, including Mr Rowe, Mr Buckley and a huge number of others. I'd especially like to thank Mrs Bryce, for not only giving the OffPerts and myself the chance to attend these events, but also for looking after me on my “big day out in London”!’

Celebrating Mr Wieprecht’s success with Sheryll Murray, MP

With MPs on the terrace at the House of Commons In Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament Primary schools focus Primaries

One of the significant events in the life of our Year 5 Theme Day school this year was forming a Multi Academy Children in Year 5 at Brunel, Burraton, Landulph, Trust with Landulph Primary School on January Sir Robert Geffrey’s, St Germans and St Ste- 1st 2014. It has been brilliant to see the many phens Primary Schools took part in a very spe- benefits that working closely together have cial Theme Day at saltash.net on Wednesday brought and we look forward to strengthening 9th July. our partnership even further over the next aca- demic year. Organised as part of the primary secondary transition arrangements across the Saltash Asso- Congratulations to all Year 6 children at ciation of Schools, the year 5s were given an Landulph! opportunity to visit their local secondary school We were delighted to receive the news last for a fun and exciting day entitled ‘Have you week that Landulph’s Year 6 children had done got the learning bug?’ extremely well with their SATs results. There was a 100% success rate for Level 4 and above Activities organised by saltash.net staff and stu- across Reading, Writing and Maths and other dents included: a close encounter of the ‘bug very good results with Level 5 achievements and kind’; a visit to our farm; making ‘virtual’ insects; above. One student was successful in achieving and an exciting mystery team challenge. a Level 6 in Maths and another a Level 6 in Writing. Well done to all students, and class At the end of the day all children were present- teacher, Mrs John, and Teaching Assistants. ed with a goody bag and two lucky students be- came the proud owners of a Kindle. News of ex Landulph and saltash.net students One Year 5 pupil, Thomas Hollyman from St Ste- We are always thrilled to receive news of past phens, said, ‘The day was epic and I can’t wait students, but especially so when they have come to go to saltash.net - lessons are really good through both ‘SMART’ schools! So a very big fun!’ well done to: Head of Year 7 and Transition, Ben Rowe, said,  Phil Bartlett - recently appointed as Assis- ‘It was another successful transitional event. It is tant Director at The Theatre Royal, Plym- always great to see the primary children en- outh (after studying English at Oxford Uni- gaged and eager. The day really does help to versity) dissipate any anxieties they might have about coming to ‘big school’!”  Richard Williamson - appointed as a fully qualified pilot with Flybe, based in South- ampton

 Adam Riglar, ex saltash.net Head Stu- dent, appointed as a Hall of Residence. Student Ambassador for his second year at

Wolverhampton University, guaranteeing him a year’s free accommodation!

 Hayley Plumb - has graduated with a First Grateful thanks are expressed to all primary Class Degree in BA Primary Education and teaching and support staff who accompanied the Teaching Course - University of Chichester children to saltash.net.

Primary schools focus Primaries

Gifted & Talented again in September, when she will be visiting our youngest We hosted a Year 6 and 8 Gifted and Talented morning children in class one, lucky them!’ on Thursday 5th June between 9 and 11am, which includ- ed 12 Gifted and Talented students in Year 8 and 15 stu- dents from our partner primaries who came up for a tour of the PE facilities, Tennis and Rounders. They had the opportunity to meet other students and to pitch them- selves against other able students. The sun shone and all students involved had a thoroughly enjoyable morning. We hope all individuals from Year 6 will continue to thrive in PE when they come up in September.

Sports Festivals

Our Year 10 Sports Leaders ran a Key Stage 1 Sports Maths with Mr Gareth Jones Festival at Brunel Primary School in June. Our students managed to entertain 270 six and seven year olds for one ‘A huge thanks to Maths teacher, Mr Gareth Jones and half hours. The festival was extremely well received from saltash.net for helping our pupils get to the Jagu- and our students enjoyed the experience - some did not find it altogether easy as the little ones had very short ar Cars Maths in Motion finals.’ attention spans and just wanted to be hugged all the time!

Summer School saltash.net is once again hosting a summer transition school during the summer holidays to help students cope with the social and emotional aspects of transition from primary to secondary. This year we have 30 students joining us from across our partner primaries. Each day there will be a range of dif- ferent activities, some will include a focus on key areas of learning in Maths, English, Science and ICT. In addition, there will be opportunities to develop new skills in some fun enrichment activities which will be based around the Space Odyssey Dome. ‘We saw the commencement of SMART early in the year, and as we hoped, this has proved to be ex- News from Landulph Primary School tremely beneficial for our pupils; input from the sec- ondary school teachers has added a whole new learn- Exciting Science ing experience for everyone involved. We held an ‘Mrs West, a lead science teacher from saltash.net, has inspiring launch day in February at saltash.net where been amazing the children at Landulph Primary School our staff and governors were able to share experise with some fun and informative experiments. and knowledge and really get to know the whole team within SMART. We are very excited for the future and The staff and children would like to say a huge “thank you” appreciate all that the team at Saltash are prepared to Mrs West, and very much look forward to seeing her to share with us.’

Emma Forde, Chair of Governors, Landulph Prom Year 11

The annual Year 11 Prom for students from saltash.net community school was this year held on Thursday 3rd July at Boringdon Golf and Country Club.

A large crowd of family and friends gathered to welcome the students, cheering and clapping the fantastic modes of transport, which ranged from vintage cars to giant diggers.

The Prom goers had definitely ‘dressed to impress’ and they all enjoyed their moments on the red carpet. Be- fore settling down to an evening of fun, food, dancing and live music, the whole group gathered together for a photocall, with the summer sky, river and sea as the backdrop. A fond farewell to Year 11! Year 11

The traditional ‘Leavers’ Day’ for all Year 11 students at saltash.net community school took place on Wednesday 7th May. Although students continued to come into school for examinations and revision lessons, and many will be returning into the 6th Form, a special day of fun and more serious events was planned to celebrate the year group’s many successes and wish them all well for the fu- ture.

The Year 11 Pastoral Team dressed up for the occasion alongside the students who, as always, arrived at school in an incredible range of fancy dress costumes.

A special buffet lunch was prepared and served by the school’s canteen staff and ad- ministrative staff. Year Books were distribut- ed as well as many awards and certificates, which included a large number for excellent attendance records over the last five years.

During the school’s lunch hour, students were treated to a live outdoor concert, fea- turing bands who regularly perform at the school’s Real Live Music Club headed by Mr Angus Reith, Curriculum Lead for ICT.

At the end of the day, a special and moving assembly was held in the school’s main hall, to which parents and other family members and friends had been invited. Musical items were provided by two of the Year 11 GCSE Music students: Jacob Hunt and Shelby Ad- cock. A film made by two other Year 11 stu- dents, Jasmine Donovan and Joe Day, chroni- cling the year group’s journey throughout their time at saltash.net made a fitting con- clusion to the assembly. May Ball Memories 6th Form

A beautiful sunny May evening provided the per- fect backdrop for Year 13 students from salt- ash.net as they arrived for their 6th Form Ball at ‘The Duke of Cornwall Hotel’ in Plymouth. Organ- ised on an annual basis by a 6th Form student team, ably assisted by Sue Briggs, Administrator, and Head and Deputy Head of 6th Form, Nick Scantlebury and Laura Wilkinson, the Ball marks the end of the students’ time at the school and gives them a chance to relax with friends before their final A Level exams commence after the May half term.

Students were treated to a delicious three course meal and then it was time to dance the night away in the Duke of Cornwall’s grand Ball Room. saltash.net’s Design and Technology Technician, Darren McDonald, was on hand to provide a pho- tographic record of the hugely enjoyable event. Art

On Monday 16th June Year 12 Art students visited the end of degree art shows at University College, Fal- mouth. Accompanied by Mr Romain and Mr Charlton our students were able to see a variety of work from Fine Art to Illustration, Interior Design to Ceramics, to name but a few. The college also hosted an open day which allowed our students to interact with college students as well as visiting the college student accommodation. A very good impression of the college and its superb facilities was gained from this event. We were blessed with wonderful weather which allowed us to view some fantastic work in the lovely grounds of Fal- mouth’s Wood Lane and Penryn campuses. Our own Year 12 students are an exceptional year group with some very talented and gifted young artists amongst them and no doubt were well informed and inspired by opportunities available to them should they follow a higher education art path. Mr Charlton and Mr Romain

‘The best A Level Art exhibition yet’ was the verdict of Head of Art at saltash.net, Bob Charlton, as he reflected on the achievements of the Advanced Level students as they prepared their work both for moderation by the exam board, and as part of the annual display of work for the school and local community. Mr Charlton will be retiring this summer after almost 35 years of teaching, the last 20 years, as Head of Art at saltash.net. ‘Advanced Level Art re- sults at saltash.net are consistently high but this year they are exceptional,’ he said, reflecting on the work of the many talented artists from across years 12 and 13. Students studying Art at saltash.net are given many opportunities to develop their individual styles, through specific community projects, (for example Truro Cathedral), through a weekly life drawing class, visits to Art galleries in Cornwall and in London, and through the attend- ance at University degree shows. Maths Mд†ђ$ day at Plymouth University When we arrived we were given a booklet each which told us the aim for the day, the safety in- structions and where the different groups would be going at each point. It also had a few maths problems to work out while we waited for every- one to arrive, just to ease us into a whole day of numbers. There were students from schools as far away as Clevedon and Truro who had come ei- ther because they had done well in the UK Math- ematics Trust test or because they had excelled in the master classes throughout the past year. We were all from year nine and we spotted a few familiar faces from primary. Our favourite part of the day was the last class that we went to during which we learnt all about the Caesar cipher and how it can be used to encrypt and unravel messages but we also found out how easy it was to break the code as there were only 25 different possibilities for the key. Also, the prisoners in the POW camps could not use the Caesar cipher because , even if the Germans could not work out the code straight away, when they checked the letters they would see that the odd assortment of letters did not make up real words so therefore there must be a code of some sort. So we also looked at the code that they did use and how it could pass through the German security as it made sense in its code state, although the real message was hidden well. Overall it was a very interesting day out and a great opportunity to have a look around Plymouth Universi- ty.

By Year 9 students Tori and Eleanore

Mathematics marathon serves up three gold medals

With the commonwealth games fast approaching, it was an academic challenge rather than physical that students at saltash.net community school’s Mathematics Department were faced with last month, and one that many rose to the challenge of.

At the core of the learning strategy in the de- partment, is games based learning, and teachers use website ‘Manga High’ to aid this. “Manga High has been a great tool over the last year to encourage students to participate in extracurricu- lar Mathematics, to compete against friends in their class, across the school, and across the globe to achieve a position on the leaderboard,” explained Enrichment Coordinator, Mr Scott Wieprecht.

‘The site uses medals as rewards, with students having to answer questions correctly to advance in dif- ficulty from Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme levels. To achieve their virtual gold medals, students need to answer all 10 of the extreme questions correctly without any mistakes or hints.’ Three students from the school, however, not only made a valiant effort, but managed to complete the seemingly impossible, and received their Gold Medals. The students, Amelia Horne and Imogen James from Year 8, and Abigail Medland from Year 10, managed to secure the very lucrative award, and are amongst a very small number of students from across the whole of the UK. Maths Students rise to the challenge!

Eighteen students from across years 9 and 10 at saltash.net community school have achieved an outstanding level of success in the UK’s Intermediate Maths Challenge.

Year 10 students: Walter Stroud, Ed Gilford and Ryan Harvey performed exceptionally well in the challenge. As a re- sult, Walter was invited to participate in the Olympiad, the results of which were eagerly awaited. Ed and Ryan were given the chance to take part in the Kangaroo Challenge which is an extension to the Intermediate Challenge. It is also an international competition organised by Kangourou sans Frontieres with over six million school pupils from more than 50 countries throughout the world taking part at various levels. saltash.net was delighted to receive the news recently that Ed and Walter had both achieved a Merit in their International Challenges.

saltash.net and Landulph qualify for the Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion National Final

After two very hard fought semifinal races it was announced on the website that both saltash.net and Landulph had made it through to the national final. saltash.net finished 1st out of 35 entrants in their semifinal leading from start to finish having qualified on pole position. This is the 4th year in a row that saltash.net have made it to the national final and a 3rd for experts Ed Gilford and Walter Stroud who won their age range last year and were looking to defend their title.

The national final was held at the Heritage Motor Centre on Wednesday 25th June.

Ed and Walter were in 1st place after round 1 but then changed their strategy, and ended up finishing in 8th place. Unfortunately, Landulph ran out of fuel in heat 1 but Teacher of Maths, Gareth Jones fin- ished a respectable 2nd in the Teachers’ race!

A good day was had by all and it was a great expe- rience.

Congratulations to all involved. Students Celebration event for applied and vocational courses

Some of our students were in attendance at a cele- bration event at St Mellion Golf and Country Club recently. The Year 11 students, who have been stud- ying at Cornwall College, joined fellow students from Liskeard, Notre Dame, Eggbuckland and Marine Academy.

They were all pleased to receive certificates for com- pletion of their courses. Mrs Boulton, Work Related Learning Administrator at saltash.net, attended the event and was very proud to report that special awards were presented to saltash.net student Betha- ny Ball (Level 2 Hair & Beauty) for Learner of the Year and also to Liam Berry and James Easton, together with a student from Liskeard, for Construction Group of the Year.

14-16 Schools Prize Day Winner

Student Name Brandon Armitage

School Saltash.net

Curriculum Area Public Services

Rationale

A conscientious learner who attended regularly and always made valid contributions to the lessons.

He demonstrated maturity beyond his years in terms of academic content.

He was a model learner and a pleasure to have in the class.

Activities World Gig Rowing ...

Year 12 students Christopher Terry, Luke Thomas and Cameron Boyle who row for Caradon Gig Club all took part at the World Gig Championships on the Isles of Scilly in May. Chris and Luke rowed for the Caradon B team whilst Cameron rowed for the Caradon C team (along with the Caradon A team). All rowed superbly and managed to reach the world final. Twelve teams made it to the final out of a total of 140 teams. The B team finished 7th and the C team came in 11th - an amazing achievement for these young people, we could be looking at the next world champions …

Mr Jezz Pomfret, Head of RE

School Sailing Club

The school sailing club sailed to Rat Island recently on the River Lynher. Once they had beached their dinghies, a presentation was made to Teacher of Design and Technology, Mr Chris Wells, who retires this summer. This was his final sail with the school club. Thanks are expressed to Mr Wells and all of the other teachers and support staff members who regularly assist with this activ- ity. Activities Surf’s Up!

On the 14th and 15th of June Louis Seedhouse, Harvey Seedhouse and Alex Walsh competed in the British Schools Surf Championships at Widemouth Bay in Bude. We arrived at the contest at 7:30am to check in for our heats. Harvey was due to surf his heat at roughly 12:00 and Alex and Louis would surf in the heat after. This gave us plenty of time to practise, warm up and settle into the conditions. After we had all had a surf we were ready for our heats and Harvey paddled out into the waves for the start of his heat. He surfed very well, however did not manage to make the top two out of four surfers in the heat. Me and Alex paddled out for our heat, alongside two other competitors, not yet knowing how Harvey had done. We surfed our heat and both left the water afterwards feeling happy with how we had surfed. I (Louis) had managed to be placed second and Alex was placed fourth, meaning I went through to the quarter finals the following day. The next day I turned up at the beach hoping to be able to practise before I competed. However, I was in the first quarter finals of the day. I was placed fourth in the quarter finals meaning I did not progress any further in the competition. We all had a great weekend and would like to thank Cloudbreak for supporting the team and Mr Reith for putting the team together and making it all happen. Louis Seedhouse - Year 9

Table Tennis League Winners ... saltash.net community school’s table tennis teams completed a rare double by capturing both division 1 and division 2 of the South East Cornwall Junior Table Tennis League. The league is run annually by Crafthole & District Table Tennis Club and includes teams from across the area.

In a very tightly fought Division 1 the A team of Jack Wang (Yr 10) and Toby Northcott (Yr 8) de- feated Gunnislake/Callington A and Crafthole A both 3-2. In Division 2 Wes Hoey (Yr 10) and Seth Mawson (Yr 8) defeated Gunnislake/Callington B 5-0 and Crafthole B 4-1. The preliminary round of the competition also included teams from Torpoint and Calstock .

In addition to winning the titles Jack and Seth both won individual awards for winning over 75% of their singles games.

It has been a few years since a saltash.net team last won the league and, to my knowledge, we have never done the double. Both teams played extremely well against good opposition and should be very pleased with their achievement.

Adam Killeya - Head of Politics International Zimbabwean Visit

On Monday 9th June saltash.net had some Zimbabwean visitors who were visiting through a link with Wes- ley Church in Saltash.

The visitors had come on a 2 week trip to visit the local area and were interested to see what the school was like. They came in for the morning and worked with 9VH who asked some great questions to the group, as well as answering some questions about the subjects that they study and what they think of school.

The group then joined 7CS for an Integrated Learning lesson where the students and visitors were divided into small groups. The discussions that were taking place about all aspects of life in Saltash and Zimbabwe were brilliant.

Vicky Higgs - International Coordinator/Teacher of Geography

On Monday 16th June, saltash.net The French exchange was an incredible experience for English department hosted a visit by us students. We got to practise the French that we nine Polish teachers, funded by the have learnt in school, have fun with people that have European Commission Lifelong Learn- different cultures and gain new life experiences. Above ing Programme, who were exploring all we got to see Miss Yvinec have a laugh whilst nearly falling off a bridge. Mr Taylor enjoyed the land yachting pedagogies and practice with re- and ate a lot of cake! Although shopping in Quimpere gards to teaching English. was popular amongst the group, personally my favour- They visited a range of lessons to get ite part was meeting everyone on the exchange. a feel for the ways the school not only delivers curriculum content, but also Hollie - Year 9 develops skills for learning.

One visiting teacher commented that she was impressed with the mature topics chosen by the students and an- other that she was stunned by how articulate and well-organised the stu- dents were, managing a complex de- bate with no teacher input.

It was a really valuable day for all involved, sharing ideas and expertise and we look forward to further col- laboration in the future through our International Schools Programme.

Kate Littledyke - Head of English Bits ‘n’ Pieces Diary Dates

Wednesday 23rd July Last day of term (early closure at 1.20pm) Thurs 4th & Fri 5th September Inset Day (school closed to students) Monday 8th September Year 7 & Sixth Form only return to school Tuesday 9th September Whole school return for Autumn Term Wednesday 17th September Year 7 Gifted & Talented Evening Wednesday 24th September Year 8 to 13 Gifted & Talented Evening

Wed 1st and Thurs 2nd October Year 6 Open Evenings (Early closure on Wed 1st Oct at

Thursday 16th October Year 7 Bring Your Grown Up to School Day Wednesday 22nd October Theme Day Thursday 23rd October Year 7 Tutors Parents’ Surgery Mon 27th to Fri 31st October Half Term Thursday 6th November Sixth Form Open Evening Wednesday 19th November Year 10 Parents’ Information Evening

Thursday 20th November Year 11 Presentation Evening (for students who sat

Tuesday 25th November Year 11 Parents’ Surgery Thursday 4th December Year 12 & 13 Parents’ Surgery Monday 8th December Drama Production Week - ‘Oklahoma’ Wednesday 17th December Sixth Form Presentation Evening Thursday 18th December Last day of Autumn Term Friday 19th December Inset Day (school closed to students) Monday 5th January 2015 Whole school returns for Spring Term

New Head Student Team - 2014/15

Congratulations to Head Students: Laura Kelly Alex Tucker We would like to thank Lily Hemmett, Ciaron Jones, Lily Deputy Head Students: Blake and Megan Richard- Lauren Challen son for their time and sup- Lewis Virgo port this year as current head students and look for- ward to working with the new team next year. SPORTS DAY 2014

BOWLING TREATS FOR THE U16 & U14 FOOTBALL COUNTY CUP WINNERS 2014 IN MARCH AND APRIL