3rd March 2017 STANDING OUT

THE MAGAZINE FOR MOUNTS BAY ACADEMY

Cover: Chemistry at Penwith College

11th January 2019 PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

On the road to success, the rule is always to look ahead.

Welcome back to our first newsletter of the year. I think the New Year is rather like a blank book and the pen is in our hands. It is our chance to write a great story for ourselves by reflecting on the lessons we learnt last year and building on them to be happy and successful. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” -Albert Einstein It is also the time when our Year 11 students begin the final lap of their journey with us, as they finish their coursework and start preparing in earnest for their forthcoming GCSE examinations. The second (and last) set of mock examinations will begin next week and, once completed, everyone will have a good idea of what we all need to do to achieve the best results.

As one of the most important times of the year for students, parents and staff, it is The key to success is in our hands our job to support you all as much as we can. There are a range of learning and support programmes available whatever your needs, some of which are featured in this newsletter. There will be more to follow over the next few weeks.

The New Year has also given us some great news about two of our Mounts Bay Alumni; Horace Halling, who has been awarded a place at Oxford University and I had the pleasure of bumping into Molly Hocking when she visited this week to talk to our student media team about her experience on the TV talent show ‘’.

We are very proud of them both and I know they will Good Luck Molly thrive on the challenges ahead on their roads to success.

C.S. Lewis, the author of the classic children’s series ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ once said “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

2019 marks the beginning of some exciting new plans for us all and my colleagues and I are looking forward to sharing them with you. On the road to success, the rule is always to look ahead. May you reach your destination and may your journey be wonderful.

Happy New Year.

Les Hall - Academy Principal LEAP NEWS

Leading Edge Academies Partnership Sara Davey - CEO On behalf of the Trustees and myself I would like to wish everyone at Mounts Bay including parents, students and staff, a peaceful and prosperous 2019.

The Trustees of Leading Edge are pleased to officially announce that on the 1st January 2019, Five Islands School finally became an Academy. The process was a great deal more complicated than anyone anticipated but my thanks go out to all the different bodies who were involved. This includes representatives from the Local Authority, the Diocese, the Duchy, the Interim Executive Board, the Department for Education and the staff of Five Islands.

Five Islands Academy is formally joining the “Leading Edge Academies Partnership” to help the school move onto the next stage of its development and evolution. A significant reason for changing from LA control to a multi-academy trust has been to allow the sustained opportunity to work with a broader group of professionals from the mainland who share similarly high aspirations for the young people in their own schools.

The transfer to the new multi-academy trust would not have happened without the hard work, collective good humour and resilience of all the people involved. It was a great team effort.

This joint work and collaboration between the Leading Edge Academies has already enhanced educational opportunities for the young people and staff during 2018 and our new newsletter outlines some of the successes that were possible last year.

Please take a moment to read the newsletter online on our website here:

Click here to view the Newsletter for Winter 2018

I will be sharing the work of the new multi-academy trust with everyone in future in a monthly newsletter. In the January newsletter I will be focussing on some recent school improvement activities undertaken to help us move towards a world class educational offer.

In summary, 2019 begins a new chapter for us all and there are exciting times ahead. We will be continuing our work under our four priorities; “Top Performing Academy”, “Transforming Teaching and Learning”, “Talent Development” and “Team MBA”. We will also be extending the range of opportunities to all students at Mounts Bay, with many more collaborative experiences on the horizon.

Finally, I would like to say that I am very excited to have the opportunity to spend another year with the wonderful people of Penzance. I am honoured to have the privilege of being part of the team leading the journey to create world class education for the next generation of young people.

Best wishes

Sara Davey Chief Executive Officer Leading Edge Academies Partnership BE INSPIRED

Brilliant Club Trip

Twenty eight Year 10 students from Mounts Bay, Fowey River and Five Islands Academies visited Exeter University for the launch of the Scholars Programme. Students experienced a tour of the university campus and learnt useful study skills to support their learning. They attended their first tutorial and were set their first assignment. Supported by a PHD student from the University, they were asked to research the conflict in Kurdistan.

"I liked having a lesson on debating." - Caitlin "I can use the skills I learnt to help me learn more in other areas." - Tara “"I enjoyed seeing lots of aspects of university life." - Katie Report by: Mrs Masters ” BE INSPIRED

College Chemistry

This week Year 11 students from the Chemistry separate science course were able to sample the facilities and carry out some practical work at Penwith College.

The challenge was to prepare aspirin from the aromatic acid found in willow bark. The synthesis overlapped with some of the more challenging aspects of the GCSE course including properties of organic functional groups and esterification. Once aspirin crystals had formed they were purified through recrystallisation.

Report by: Mr Hoyle FOLLOW MOLLY

We were so pleased to see Molly Hocking appearing on last week’s edition of “The Voice UK” . Her performance was so entrancing that turned his chair for her after just six words!

By the end of the song he had been joined by and singing legend, Sir Tom Jones.

Molly is no stranger to the spotlight, having featured in many outstanding events here at Mounts Bay as well as performing at venues around Cornwall and making it to boot camp on “the X Factor” in 2017.

She will be taking part in the next round of the competition, ‘the battles’, so keep tuning in to ITV at 8pm on Saturdays to see how she gets on.

Despite her busy schedule, Molly also managed to pop into our TV Studio this week to talk to Lilia about her journey so far and what she hopes to gain form the experience.

You can see the interview on our website here: http://mountsbay.org/molly-sings-her-way-onto-team-olly

You can also follow her on social media here:

@molly.hocking.music @mollyhockingperformer @hocking_molly Inspiring IT This week’s Teach WoW was 'Inspiring IT'. At MBA we believe we need to prepare students for the future and what better way to do this than by using the fabulous IT facilities we have at our finger tips.

In Year 8 REAL Project, students used their iPads to record a 1940s style radio programme for their WW2 improvisation. After researching the era and listening to a speech delivered by 12 year old Princess Elizabeth, they understood how hard it would have been for children their age or younger who left their family behind when evacuated to the countryside.

In Graphic Design Year 9 student Amy has used photoshop and a wide range of iPad apps to develop a range of images based on her own photography, drawing and mixed media pieces inspired by artists Richard Hamilton and Paula Scher.

See the ‘Designer of the Week’ pages to see her amazing work.

In Year 8 Element students have been exploring creative writing through newspaper articles about The Great Depression. Many created their newspapers using their own drawings and handwriting but others got inventive with their iPads. Students found ways to format their articles using columns, embedding images and editing images so they looked ‘old’. BE CURIOUS

Magnetic Charm Year 8 were making a steel pin magnetic to make a compass in Science this week.

We started with a steel pin, a magnet, a petri dish and a small cork.

We stroked the magnet only one way down the pin shaft. After this we placed the cork in the dish on water to float and the magnetised pin was placed on the cork. It spun around and pointed in one direction.

We checked with a proper compass to see if it was going in the correct direction.

- Marcus 7 Warm

Charlie Jumps for Joy

Charlie was jumping for joy on Monday, happy to be back at the Academy after the Christmas break. She’s obviously looking forward to lots of walks around the site during the coming term.

Report by: Mrs Murray-Lambrou

Gardening Gear Wanted

We need gardening equipment for an exciting project here at MBA, involving the development of the poly tunnel area. If anyone has any unwanted garden equipment, anything from compost to pots… gloves… seeds… plants… tools… anything we would be happy to take it off your hands!

Report by: Miss Wheeler BE CURIOUS

Lego Oracy

In Oracy this week students took part in a fun task based on Lego. The main focus was on how people collaborate, talk to one another, listen and ask questions during a task.

Students worked in pairs, sitting back to back so they could not see one another. One student was given a bag of Lego pieces while their partner was given a picture of a Lego model. The aim of the task was to encourage effective communication skills. The student with the picture needed to communicate information to enable their partner to build a replica of the Lego model while the one building the Lego model needed to find out information to help them build it. Report by: Miss Dowrick

Channel Swim

Congratulations to Kingsley who has just swum the English Channel! His epic journey began 12 months ago when he volunteered to take part in the Aspire Challenge and raise money for people who have been paralysed by spinal cord injury. The Aspire Challenge requires participants to swim the distance of the English Channel over a set period of time. Participants schedule their swimming in their own time, fitting in blocks of the challenge as and when they can. Kingsley stuck to his target, put in the miles, and in the process has raised over £600 for the charity.

Aspire ensures that everyone with a spinal cord injury has the opportunity to live an independent and fulfilled life. They receive no statutory funding, so every penny raised through the Aspire Channel Swim helps their vital work. For more information, please visit www.aspire.org.uk BE CREATIVEBE INVOLVED

Winter Mixtape Launch To kick start the second half of the winter semester, the Mixtape Crew are holding a Year 7 only session on Tuesday 15th January at lunchtime. Please bring along all your friends to have a break from lessons. Keep your eyes on announcements in the newsletter and Daily Bulletin for further exciting updates. Enjoy great music, flashing lights and incredible beat drops on Tuesday lunchtime in The Locker. There will be edible prizes for the best dancers at the session!

Be there! Report by: The Mixtape Team

MBA Football Club Training

Boys Girls 3:15pm - 4.20pm Year 7 - Tuesdays All Years - Wednesdays 3:15pm - 4.20pm Year 8 - Mondays 3:15pm - 4.20pm Year 9 - Mondays 3:15pm - 4.20pm Year 10 - Mondays 3:15pm - 4.20pm

Important There may be some cancellations to training when the facilities are being used for fixtures. You will be notified of when any clashes occur. For the club you need PE kit, shin pads and footwear for grass/3G/sports hall as sometimes, due to weather and space, some year groups may be inside or on the grass. However, the 3G pitch will be used mostly for training. If you want to play for the school teams, you MUST attend training. We hope to see many of you at the football club. Report by: Mr Lawrence Girls’ Rugby Club

The Girls Rugby Club starts next Thursday 17th January 3.30 - 4.15. The club is open to girls in Years 7-10 and is for all abilities. We will be doing a mixture of tag and full contact rugby. Please wear PE kit (you can wear leggings) and meet Miss Tripp and Ms Page in the PE building. If you have football/rugby boots please bring them with you. If you want to play for the school team in upcoming fixtures you MUST attend training. Report by: Miss Tripp MBA FUTURES

Interested in Dance?

Jason Thomas Foundation College Open Day - possible option for our Year 11 Leavers. Anyone can come along and try out some of their basic classes and see what they think, followed by a question and answer session.

If anyone is interested in attending they can call Jason Thomas on : 01872 276365 or Victoria Tulley, one of our former students from last year who has completed her first year on the programme.

Anyone who would like to speak direct to Victoria Tulley please Email Lindsay Masters in the first instance who will forward your request on. [email protected] MBA FUTURES

Calling all year 10 and 11 students! This fantastic opportunity is not to be missed. We only have 9 spaces available!!!

Would you like to go to HM Naval Base Devonport to visit the major apprentice recruiter that does all this?

MBA FUTURES

THIS, is Babcock International!

And THIS, is one of the exciting experiences we will give you when you climb aboard Routes into STEM Plymouth!

So what’s it all about?

Routes into STEM is a fantastic opportunity that will help you to understand the wide range of career opportunities available in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and show you how you can get there. So if you already have an interest in these subjects, this is definitely for you!

We’ll show you a day in the life at City College, Plymouth University, and the amazing Babcock International at HM Naval Base in Devonport. You’ll meet apprentices, graduates and employees, meet fellow Year 10 and 11 students with similar interests from schools in your area and take part in fun, team building and challenging activities.

What’s more, you will also earn a Bronze level Industrial Cadets award, inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales!

And when is it?

18th-20th February 2019 which is during half term.

How do you apply? online: http://www.etrust.org.uk/routes-stem

Day 1 Monday 18th February – City College, Plymouth Day 2 Tuesday 19th February – Plymouth University Day 3 Wednesday 20th February – Babcock International

Cost of course £135 – There may be Bursaries available dependent on circumstances BE CREATIVEBE CREATIVE

Designer of the Week

Amy Jackson in Year 9 is studying on the GCSE Fastrack Graphics course and has made phenomenal progress! All Year 9 Graphics students have been encouraged and supported to develop their independent coursework projects based on social, moral, ethical or global issues.

Amy's area of focus and development has been how to visually communicate and raise awareness of the 'gender pay gap'. After much research and analysis around the subject of equal opportunities and fair and equal pay for women in the workplace, Amy started to focus in on how to communicate this important issue in a visually exciting and effective way. BE CREATIVEBE CREATIVE

Connecting nicely with this week’s TEACH WOW 'Inspiring IT' Amy has used photoshop and a wide range of iPad apps to develop a range of images based on her own photography, drawing and mixed media pieces inspired by artists Richard Hamilton and Paula Scher.

Moving forwards, Amy looked more deeply into using typographic design as the image, inspired this time by the typographer Alan Kitching. After much reflection and refinement of ideas, the final outcomes have resulted in authentic London Underground billboard designs, placed specifically at tube stations to maximise her target audience.

Well done Amy, a comprehensive coursework unit.

Report by: Mrs Dale BE CREATIVEBE CREATIVE

Christmas Song Writing Competition

We held our annual Christmas song writing competition in the last few weeks of term with the winning song being performed in the end of term assembly.

There were some really excellent entries with beautiful songs, comedy lyrics, rock songs and our first ever rap entry. Everyone demonstrated real creativity and accomplished song writing skills and it was a pleasure to listen to them.

The winning song was ‘This is our Christmas Song’ by Anna Brockman and Ella Goulder in Year 9 which they then performed in front of the school in the end of term assembly.

I am already looking forward to next year’s entries!

Well done to all of the participants, with a special mention to the following for outstanding songs: Jodie, Faye, Ivy, Liam, Layla, Ziji, Anna, Ella, Sienna and Iris.

Report by: Mrs Brown BE ADVENTUROUS

Creative Opportunity The English Department will be supporting the Fowey Festival by asking all Year 7 and 8 students to contribute a poem or a piece of creative prose beginning 'Last night I dreamt...'

There will be prizes for the work judged to be the most effective by the English Department. There will be three prizes awarded in each Year group. Lots of entries will also be forwarded to the Fowey Festival to hopefully win further prizes! For more details contact Mr Whiteman: [email protected]

Awards for Young Writers and Artists 2019

Create a picture of a dream or write a story or poem on the theme

“Last night I dreamt……….”

! Short stories up to 200 words

! Poems up to 20 lines on paper or card up to A3 ! Pictures estival ! Awards ceremony during Fowey F

! Prize fund totalling £600 is free! ! Entry will be displayed in ! Winning and commended entriesthe th the Fowey Church and Art at (May 11th – 18 ) Fowey River Gallery during Festival

8th March 2019 s 14thJanuary and closes Competition open

and rules available at: Entry form

www.foweyfestival.com

Open to young writers and artists up to 16 years living in Cornwall & Isles of Scilly.

Post entries to: 28 Lankelly Lane, Fowey, Cornwall, PL23 1HN

Or deliver to: Fowey River Gallery, 38 Fore Street, Fowey, Cornwall PL23 1AQ Open Monday to Saturday between 10am and 5pm

Prizes provided by:

The du Maurier Festival Society

The Arts Society Bodmin

Atishoo Gallery, Charlestown

Society Registered Office: 74 Lostwithiel St. Fowey PL23 1BQ The du Maurier Festival Company Limited by Guarantee No.7719529 Registered Charity 1143916 Tassomai Top 20

The Tassomai App has been used by our Year 11 students as part of their revision in preparation for their Science GCSEs.

Feedback from previous year groups has been overwhelmingly positive and statistics have shown that if students complete more than 80% of the Tassomai course, then they could achieve one grade above their target! Keep up the good work!

Top 20 for Tassomai this week:

Keep up the good work!

Amelia Kate Eleanor Mara Scarlett William Alfie Senara Jack Lilyjane Taya Demelza Ruby Jake Megan Ella Molly Shannon Archie Lloyd

This week's overall winner is Shannon Thomas from 11 Warm. Well done, keep up the good work.

Report by Miss Weightman BE CURIOUS

PiXL History App

The History PiXL app is now being used by our Year 11 students as part of a structured and varied revision schedule. The app allows students to concentrate on exercising their historical knowledge (AO1). This is critically important for students who wish to achieve the best grades possible as accurate use of Statistics, Terms, Events, People and Dates are the building blocks for a developed answer.

Practice makes perfect!

This Week’s Top Five:

Sam Joe Emily Sam Ann Lewis

Well done to Sam who has secured the top spot for the second consecutive week.

Remember that you need to be in the top 5 to get your name entered into the draw to win a Ball ticket.

Interesting History Fact of the Week

Officially, the longest war in history was between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, which lasted from 1651 to 1986.

Report by: Mr Floyd BE A WINNER

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle: House Competition

Green: 149 Points Blue: 147 Points Yellow: 101 Points Red: 89 Points Orange: 87 Points Purple: 67 Points

Click here to submit your answer

Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00 Win an Amazon voucher

Each entry (maximum 1 per week) Last week’s solution: will get your name into the prize draw at the end of the semester - 20 (Teddy = 2, Tree = 11, Present = 7) the more times you enter the greater your chance of winning! Could you write next week’s puzzle? If you would like to set the numeracy puzzle for POINTS MEAN PRIZES! a future week click here. You will win House

This Week’s House Totals BE A WINNER

This week’s word is: Invigorate

Definition: To give vigour to; fill with life and energy; energize.

Etymology: Mid 17th century: from medieval Latin invigorat- ‘made strong’, from the verb invigorare, from in-‘towards’ + Latin vigorare ‘make strong’ (from vigor ‘vigour’).

Competition

Congratulations to Layla.

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

Click here to enter the competition

MONDAY 14TH JANUARY 2019 GCSE Exams launch in Art, Photography, Graphics & Sculpture Year 9 & 11 Amsterdam Trip Parents Meeting @MBA 3:30pm

TUESDAY 15TH JANUARY 2019 Primary High Performance Programme @MBA 9:30-11:30

WEDNESDAY 16TH JANUARY 2019 Yr 9 & 10 Boys/Girls Football @MBA 4pm Yr 9 Finance Exam Warm-up @MBA rooms 14 & 16 2pm Yr 9 Finance Exam @MBA Gym 2:20pm Yr 11 Pre-public Exams Begin

THURSDAY 17TH JANUARY 2019 Penwith Primary Football Festival @MBA 3G Pitch 3:30-5pm

FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY 2019 @mountsbay.org

WINTER SEMESTER THIS WEEK