July 2014 Dear Parent/Carer, As I Write
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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.