September 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,

Having now had two complete weeks of the school year, 2014-15, for all students at saltash.net, I am very pleased to be able to write to you and report that we have had an extremely positive start to the term. Not only have we welcomed all of our new Year 7 students to our school, we have also been pleased to receive 14 new students into Years 8, 9 and 10, as well as students from our own and other schools who have joined our excellent Sixth Form learning community, taking the total number of post 16 students to 214.

If you are a new parent or carer to our school, then we say a special word of welcome to you. There will be many opportunities throughout the school year for you to get to know the staff and students at our school and we hope you will soon feel an established part of our whole school community.

One of the first things I need to share with you in this newsletter is to do with school communication and the changes which have taken place to upgrade our ICT facilities. Our move to ‘Office 365’ and ‘The Cloud’ has meant a change to all staff email addresses. They now all follow the same pattern, which is a member of staff’s first name initial, followed by their surname and then @saltashcloud.net—so my address is [email protected] and my deputies are [email protected] (Mr Dan Buckley), [email protected] (Mrs Linda Griffin), and [email protected] (Mr Nick Scantlebury). Please note that I can still be reached on the [email protected] address and we also have [email protected] if there is something of a more general nature.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Mr David Jones, Network Manager, and his ICT support team, for all that they have done over the summer holidays, and, indeed, over the past year, to make sure our ICT provision at saltash.net remains ’cutting edge’ and continues to uphold Ofsted’s estimation of the school, last April, when they judged us to have ‘exceptional ICT practice’.

In addition to welcoming new students to our school, we have been busy helping our new staff settle into saltash.net. Those of you who received the end of summer term Community Newsletter will know that we said ‘goodbye’ to several longstanding members of staff who were retiring, as well as other staff members who were moving on to promoted posts in other schools. Joining us this school year are:

English: Miss Gemma Beacroft Miss Catherine Bailey Miss Lynne Jones Miss Natasha Bruty

Maths: Mrs Rachel Will

Science: Mr Nick Glanville West (from January). Mr Bryan Heighway will be taking his classes for the Autumn Term.

Music: Mrs Emily Venner (Head of Department)

Design & Technology: Mr David Jolly (Head of Department) Mrs Anna Porter for the Autumn Term. We are hoping to make a permanent appointment from January.

Art: Mrs Rose Stiling

Modern Languages: Miss Melanie Breforth

SEN: Mrs Lucy Gomer The Area Resource Base has been renamed ‘The Zone’

Science Technicians: Miss Rose Kennedy (Senior Science Technician) Mr Chris Fisher

School Mini Bus Driver: Mr Noel Hill

School Cleaner: Mr Phil Powell-Thomas

Other Staff Changes:

Mr Jim Romain is now Head of Art and Assistant Director of Creativity; Mrs Amy Feldwick is Direc- tor of Creativity; Mr Scott Wieprecht is Head of Year 8; Mr Alex Hunt is now an assistant to the SENCO, Mr Jeremy Skelton; Mr Dan Budd now combines a part time PE teacher post with his PE Technician role and Mrs Clare Hele is teaching some English alongside her Literacy ‘catch up’ role.

Pastoral Teams for 2014-15

Year 7 Head of Year: Mr Ben Rowe Assistant Head of Year: Mrs Emma Metters Leadership Group Link: Mrs Linda Griffin Year 8 Head of Year: Mr Scott Wieprecht Assistant Head of Year: Mrs Karen Snowdon Leadership Group Link: Mr Pete Bond Year 9 Head of Year: Mr Mark Feldwick Assistant Head of Year: Mrs Karen Snowdon Leadership Group Link: Mr Andrew Oldfield Year 10 Head of Year: Mr Dave Stokes Assistant Head of Year: Mrs Eileen Sloggett Leadership Group Link: Mr Ollie Lee Year 11 Head of Year: Mr Matt Oakes Assistant Head of Year: Mrs Eileen Sloggett Leadership Group Link: Mr Brendan Lee Year 12 & 13 Head of Year: Mr Nick Scantlebury Assistant Head of Year: Miss Laura Wilkinson Leadership Group Link: Mrs Isobel Bryce Also supporting pastoral provision at saltash.net are Mr Chris Armer - Parent Support Adviser, Mr Dave McKie - KS3 Mentor, Mr Grant Taylor - KS4 Intervention Officer, Mrs Lucy Gordon - Learning Mentor, Mr Dave Uden - Learning Mentor, Mrs Auriol Underhill - Student Support, Mrs Sue Briggs - 6th Form Administrator and Mrs Pasha Debeuc - SEN Administrator.

We are also extremely fortunate to have the services of Counsellors from ‘Psychology Associates’ as part of our student and staff support school team.

Start of term - Our students have commenced the new school year extremely positively. From my own learning walks and from feedback received from staff so far, I know that your sons and daughters are engaging well with their learning, are keen to participate in the numerous clubs and activities on offer and, almost without exception, are upholding our school uniform policy. Please can I ask for your continued help and assistance with checking uniform and also making sure that for students in Years 7-11, the planner is signed by you weekly. Your involvement and interest in your children’s education is absolutely essential to their learning, progress and overall levels of success. We have already welcomed a large number of Year 12 parents to a start of year Information Evening, and also scheduled for this term is a Year 10 Parents and Carers Infor- mation Evening (Wednesday 19th November). In addition there will be an evening for Year 7 parents to meet with their child’s form tutor on Thursday 23rd October—further details to follow. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with the school if there is any information you need to support your child’s learning.

Front entrance to the school We have very limited space at the front entrance to the school and it is essential that our con- tract buses and taxis are able to manoeuvre safely at the end of each school day. For this rea- son, please do not drive on to the school site to collect your children as it causes unnecessary congestion and can present a hazard to students exiting from the front entrance. Likewise, if collecting your children by car from the back drive exit, please do not park somewhere which will impede the flow of traffic, make it a problem for residents in the area or make it difficult for the service buses to pull in and park. Thank you for your cooperation with this request.

Adopted from care Schools are asked to include data in their termly census about children who have been adopted from care. We appreciate that this can be a sensitive question and so ask that, if you are pre- pared to share this information, you email Mrs Dickson, Data & Personnel Manager, via [email protected] There is no obligation to advise the school, but please be as- sured that the information will be treated with the utmost confidence.

School environment Our Site Manager, Mr Graham Drewery, and his team have been busy over the summer holidays. Many parts of the school have been repainted, including the upstairs Science and Maths corridors and some of the classrooms … we particularly like Mr Killeya’s rasp- berry pink wall in Room 51! In addition, a successful bid to the Big Lottery fund last year, by Head of PE, Mr Hawkins, and Business Manager, Mrs Lumbard, resulted in a £10,000 project to install a fitness Trim Trail in our grounds. Situated to the rear of our tennis courts, there is now no excuse not to keep fit whilst enjoying the most wonderful views at the same time.

Morrisons Vouchers We are collecting the Morrisons vouchers again this year, so please if you do shop in Morrisons can you collect the vouchers and either hand them in at Reception or there is a collection box just inside the School Library. We are currently replanting the school’s sensory garden and would like to use the vouchers to obtain some sensory plants. This will enable students to experience plants that offer stimulation of the five senses - taste, touch, sound, sight and smell.

Clubs and Activities: This year’s clubs and activities booklet is currently being collated and will be available soon. In the meantime, clubs are being advertised on the school bulletin. It is great to see so many extra- curricular and enrichment activities being made available to our students.

End of Summer term: It is always difficult at the end of the summer term to report on the many activities taking place. We try to report on as many as we can in the Community Newsletter but have limited time to do so. We have therefore included a few more articles for your perusal. See below:-

Going Dutch 2014!

We were so proud to take a group of 40 absolutely charming, polite and enthusiastic Year 9 students to Holland for Curriculum Enrichment Week 2014. Even the 15 hour coach journey across four countries to reach our destination couldn’t dampen their high spirits and good natures, and no- one was travel sick!

Staying in Valkenburg – a small and friendly town built above a vast labyrinth of caves – we enjoyed five fun packed days of activities including: tobogganing, swimming, underground La- serTag, Cave Adventures, a water maze, shopping, boat cruise along the Maas, evening bowling and a day at Phantasialand, Germany’s largest theme park. As a way of saying thank you for keeping their rooms so tidy, Rico, our wonderful hotelier, treated the students to a ‘Silent Disco’ on their last night which was fantastic fun, complete with dry ice, strobe lights and foam!

It really was a wonderful trip where the students were able to relax, have fun, gain confidence and also foster some independence in a very safe and supportive environment - even if they did hog the Jacuzzi! The group should be commended for their impeccable behaviour throughout the trip, making us very proud as we moved between activities and locations. It was an absolute privilege to be in their company and they impressed us with their good nature, maturity and natural instinct to care for and look after each other so far from home. The staff were also very well behaved, even Mr Pomfret, once he got over being annihilated by Miss Dunkey’s LaserTag team in the underground caves (picture attached).

I am indebted to my co-organiser, Vicky Higgs, for assisting with the smooth running of the experience, and also Jezz Pomfret, Jacqui Bartlett and Gareth Jones for being such amazing Team Leaders. Jennifer Dunkey, Trip Organiser and LaserTag Champion 2014.

A Level Literature

On Friday 11th and 2014 enrichment week: robot wars Saturday 12th July Robot wars has been a fantastic in- the A Level Litera- school activity and considering it was free, the week was well worth it. ture group went on We started off on Monday when we an exciting adven- had drag races; we needed to build ture to the big city - the robots in a hurry for the first London. As the sun race. The key was to build a light went down over the weight and rapid robot to out run Thames, we took the other contestant. our seats at the Next was Tuesday and we had tug of war competitions. This time the Globe Theatre for a performance of Julius Caesar. The key was opposite: big heavy and lots play opened and the whole audience found them- of grip. selves in the middle of the Festival of Lupercal, actors Wednesday consisted of sumo wres- weaving amongst the groundling audience members. tling. The key this time was being The production employed Renaissance costumes and creative and using your imagina- staging and gave the students a real insight into how tion to design the best robots with Shakespeare's plays were designed to be seen. features which would aid the robot in the competition. Thursday was mainly about the The sun shining the next morning, we returned to the bridge of doom, a cardboard bridge Globe Theatre for a tour and students were shown suspended over two chairs with an what life at the theatre was like in Renaissance Lon- alternative route. However, it was don. The students came away buzzing with the new a lot weaker and narrower. The ro- information they had about the context of the plays bots had to be light, but powerful they have studied at AS and will study at A2. which was a hard task to complete, but both teams did manage to get across and knock each other’s robots Finally, as a literary treat, we flew across London to the off the bridge. Warner Studios Harry Potter Experience where a magi- Then Friday was left to finish the cal afternoon was spent seeing how literature can be notice board for Mrs Bryce’s judging brought to life - and drinking Butterbeer! competition, to construct simple robots for the new year 7s and just celebrate the great week we had. We The students were impeccably behaved and a joy to ALL would recommend robot wars spend time with. A big thank you to Rachel Millar who for anyone, not just gamers and ro- co-led the trip. bot enthusiasts. Suzie Allen, Teacher of English By Jack Phelan—7BA

Harry Potter World

Enrichment Week: Snowdonia Dance Week with Ballaré School of Performing Arts

12 girls from years 7, 8 and 9 spent the week being inspired by Dance teachers Trina and Anna. The girls all worked hard and had an amazing but physi- cally demanding week which involved Jazz warm ups; “100`s” (ouch); technique classes to perfect jumps and kicks; dramatic sequences; singing sessions; “SPLAT” and lots of FUN!

Throughout the week, the girls really persevered to learn pieces based on “Legally Blonde – the musical” and developed a variety of skills and characteri- sations, culminating in a wonderful showcase performance (really showing off their teamwork skills) at the end of the week – eagerly watched and really appreciated by friends and parents. Friday was spent on dress rehearsals and excited “make overs” in preparation for the showcase.

A HUGE “WELL DONE” to Emily G, Lydia, Emily K, Patrycja, Maya, Isabella, Sophie, Amelia, Aeryn, Holly, Ella and Summer – it was fantastic to see you all work so hard, putting in so much energy and determination every day and having so much fun – you should all be VERY proud of everything you have achieved - I am! Mrs H West

Any unwanted fabric?

Our current project is recycling textiles. We would welcome any fabric that you do not need any more like an old duvet covers, sheets, pillow cases and any unwanted fleece fabric/tops as well. Thank you in advance for any donations.

Please hand into Ms Noble – DT department or Reception

Students enjoying a variety of Work Experience Placements End of Year Assembly Award Winners

English - ‘Twist in the Tale’ - Young Writers Tara Shearman Ella Smith Ellie Noonan Catherine Williams Maths Challenge Ed Gilford Walter Stroud Ryan Harvey Work Experience - top performers Steph Peck (Year 10)- Trethorne Leisure Georgia Gillespie (Year 12) - Pirate FM Music & Drama Megan Easton & Joe Day - Drama JJ Harding - Drama & Music Eliot Wearne-Gould - Music Sport/PE Awards Siobhan Ellyatt - Sports Personality of the Year Ben Holter—Boys U14s County Cup - Football Ryan Winfield - South East Cornwall Champions - Football Emily Hollister - Girls U16s County Cup - Football Cameron Copp & Sean Cleary - Boys U16s County Cup Football Siobhan Ellyatt - U14s Girls County Cup - Football Commendation Awards Libby Holmes - 7CI - £50 Holly Ratcliffe - 8MI - £100 Sailing Awards Callum Broad James Randall

Students excel at ‘Farewell’ concert

To mark the departure for university of one of saltash.net’s outstandingly talented young people, Jamie Pullan, a concert of music and songs from well-loved shows was organised for the evening of Friday 12th September.

Having secured the A Level grades needed to take up his place to study Music and Musical Theatre at Chichester Univer- sity, Jamie, along with current Year 13 students at saltash.net – Laura Kelly and Joe Lang - took full responsibility for arranging the concert which was performed to a large and appreciative audience in the main school hall.

Jamie, Laura, Joe and a friend of theirs from Plymouth, Georgia Parnell, delivered a wide range of musical numbers, including songs from Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar. Also performing were singing group ‘Limitless’, and other students from across Years 9-13, including Megan Kelly and Molly and Lydia Wilmot who delivered an engaging and humorous version of ‘Naughty’ from the musical ‘Matilda’.

At the end of the evening, the students presented Jamie with cards and gifts to thank him for all he had done to inspire them and contribute to the whole school drama pro- ductions over the past five years. They also thanked Year 10 student, Jonah Rich, for assisting with the technical production.

We wish Jamie every success at Chichester and, having recently seen him shine in the lead role of Sterts Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd, we have no doubt we will see his name in lights in the future.’

The sum of £264, which was raised at the concert, will be donated by the students to the Music and Drama departments at saltash.net to further develop performing arts at the school.

Passive Drug Sniffer Dog Assemblies

During the week beginning 22nd September, every year group in the school attended an assembly led by Devon and Cornwall Police representatives. The focus was on drugs education and the safe- guarding of all of the students within our school community.

Part of the assembly looked at the police’s use of drug detection dogs and students were able to meet one of the dogs trained specifically to identify the presence of illegal drugs.

Thanks are expressed to Assistant Head, Mr Bond for organising the series of thought provoking assemblies. Footballing Fundraiser draws record crowds!

This year’s ‘Eat my Goal’ competition attracted the big- gest crowd ever in its eleven year history. Organised by the Friends of saltash.net community school as an an- nual fundraiser, the staff versus parents football match is always a very popular community event, but this year, a combination of unseasonably warm weather and the players’ sporting reputations, brought supporters out en masse!

Thanks to the generosity of Saltash’s Kimberley Stadium management team, the school has been fortunate over the years to play its fundraising matches in a proper stadium. The school is also indebted to Plymouth Ar- gyle for the loan of their ‘home and away’ football kit and to Friary Mill for the donation of 200 pasties which helped to ensure that supporters did not return home hungry!

The large crowd which gathered was certainly not dis- appointed in the match itself. The full 90 minutes saw an exciting game unfold, resulting in a 5-2 victory for the staff on this occasion - Mr Carlton Farnham, Mr James Edwards, Mr Fionn Magnusson and Mr David Jolly being the scorers for the staff.

Speaking after the event, Assistant Head and ‘Gaffer’ for the staff team, Brendan Lee, said, ‘The teachers once again pulled out all the stops for another momentous victory. It's always nice to see teachers making their first appearances in this fixture. Our debutants this year, Nigel Lutey and David Jolly, were exceptional as was Adam Killeya with his first ever game outfield. It's always a superb evening with a great community spirit. However, this year was particularly successful and the team commented on the high quality support from the students as well as the 'feel good' factor on the pitch from both teams.’

Mrs Bryce added, “Eat my Goal is always a hugely en- joyable community event. The commentary by Mr Ro- main and Mr Rowe is very entertaining and as much a key part of the event as the football itself. I would like to thank the Friends of School for all their hard work in organising the event, as well as the help we were given by our ICT support team. It was excellent to hear that in excess of £1,000 had been raised for Friends of School funds as their big project this year is the installa- tion of a brand new audio sound system in our main school hall.” Outstanding Sports Day Students

Following the Sports Day report in the Summer Term Community Newsletter, we are very pleased to be able to share with you some outstanding student performances. The following students all broke school records:-

Event Name Result

Year 8 Boys 400m Ethan Cox 1:05:39

Year 7 Boys 400m Henry Bunning 1:10:64

Year 9 Girls 1500m Chloe Wood 5:56:09 Year 9 Girls 100m Lucy Kevern 13:60

Year 9 Boys 100m Matt Lawther 11:94

Year 8 Girls 100m Hannah Courts 14:12

Year 8 Boys 100m Louis Passmore 12:89

Year 7 Girls 100m Beth Moore 14:72

Year 7 Boys 100m Rhys Northcott 14:38

Year 9 Boys 800m Callum Moore 2:34:14

Year 8 Girls 800m Eleri Griffiths 2:55:45

Year 8 Boys 800m Aaron Goulty 2:27:39

Year 7 Girls 800m Danielle Spurling 2:44:21

Year 9 Girls 200m Chloe Wood 30:28

Year 9 Boys 200m Matt Lawther 28:52

Year 7 Girls 200m Dan Hill 27:91

Year 7 Boys 200m Henry Bunning 30:86

Year 9 Javelin Dan Chislett 28.45m

Year 7 Long Jump Emily Congo 3.45m

Year 8 Long Jump Mason Long 3.92m

Lucy Kevern 4.02m

Year 9 Long Jump Lucas Park 4.43m

Year 8 Shot Becky Jones 5.99m

Harry Lockley 11.13m

Year 9 Shot Holly Kiely 7.50m

Thanks are expressed to Mr Hawkins - Head of PE A Level Exam Results 2014 It was a morning of celebrations at saltash.net community school as 6th Form students arrived on Thursday 14 Au- gust to collect their A2 and AS results.

The overall picture for both year groups was extremely positive. In keeping with previous years, the overall pass rate re- mained very high at almost 99%, and the average points score per entry was encouragingly significantly higher than the 2013 figure, continuing the school’s up- ward trend in examination results.

Performing particularly well at A2 Level were the following students:

 Lily Hemmett who achieved Mathematics A*, Further Mathematics A, Business Studies A and will now be studying Maths at the University of Bath.

 Ollie Gilford who achieved Chemistry A*, Mathematics A, Biology A and will now be studying Chemis- try at St Andrews University.

 Lily Blake who achieved English Literature A, Geography A and Government and Politics A and will now be studying Philosophy and Politics at University of Bristol.

 Grace Sutton who achieved English Language A*, Biology A and Chemistry B, and will now be studying Medicine at University College London.

 Ella Fadida who achieved History A, English Language A and English Literature B and will be studying English Literature and History at Cardiff University.

 Rebecca Harrington who achieved Sociology A, English Language A and History B and will be studying English Language and Linguistics at The University of the West of England.

 Sam Church who achieved Mathematics A, Applied Science Distinction, and Physical Education B. Sam is hoping to now apply to become an Officer in the RAF.

 Also achieving highly were Ellie Kearns, Adam Brocklehurst, Alex Wright and Becky Hill who all secured three A levels at ABB.

At AS Level there were also many outstanding individual results including Janie Olver who secured a remarkable 5 A grades in Maths, Biology, Chemistry, French and German, Kathryn Price who achieved 4 A grades in Psychology, Biology, Chemistry and Art and Design and Jayme Lingowski who achieved 4 A grades in Maths, Psychology, Biology and Chemistry.

It has been particularly rewarding this year to know that 100% of students applying for Higher Education courses secured their first choice university as a result of their A Level success and the support and guidance they received from our 6th Form team.

Commenting on this year’s many successes, Deputy Headteacher and Head of 6th Form, Nick Scantlebury, said, “I am thrilled with the individual successes achieved by so many students this year across all grades and subjects, especially for those who have faced serious personal difficul- ties during the two year course. These results are deserved reward for the hard work of both the students and the staff supporting them. I wish all the students the very best as they embark upon varying degree courses, apprenticeships and employment opportunities.”

GCSE Exam Results 2014 Ellie Spencer 9A*, 2A plus a B in AS Level Maths saltash.net community school also had a great deal to celebrate st Lauren Armstrong 8A*. 3A on the morning of Thursday 21 August 2014 when it was the Ellen Hambly 8A*, 2A turn of Year 11 to collect their GCSE results. There were many James Duff 8A*, 1A wonderful successes across the full ability range, from the most Georgina Curtis 7A*, 3A gifted and talented young people, targeted A* and A grades, to Chloe Soltysik 6A*, 4A plus a C in AS students attending the school’s Area Resource Base for whom Level Maths learning and sitting examinations is a considerable challenge. Molly Stubbs 6A*, 4A Tim Pook 4A*, 5A At the top end, saltash.net’s Year 11 students excelled them- Paul Gerry 4A*, 4A plus a B in AS selves. They smashed their target of 12% achieving at least 3A* Level Maths or A grades, with a superb 21% gaining this particular outcome. Matt Seymour 4A*, 4A The top performing student was Ellie Spencer whose 9A* and 2A Jasmine Donovan 3A*, 7A grades at GCSE plus a B grade in AS Level Maths were made all Adelle Cragg 3A*, 4A the more remarkable as she had been receiving treatment Gabriel Crocombe 2A*, 3A plus a B in AS Level Maths throughout her GCSE years for the cancer she was diagnosed Marie Hall 2A*, 3A with whilst in Year 9. Freya Morrison 2A*, 2A Gemma Bennett 1A*, 5A Also achieving very highly were Lauren Armstrong 8A* and 3As, Mark Hall 1A*, 5A Ellen Hambly 8A* and 2As, James Duff 8A* and 1A, Georgina Cur- Jacob Hunt 1A*, 4A tis 7A* and 3As, Chloe Soltysik 6A*, 4As and a C in AS Level Matt Palk 1A*, 4A Maths, and Molly Stubbs 6A* and 4A grades. Lauren Pascoe 1A*, 3A Kate Kowalska 1A*, 3A For Trematon Area Resource Base student, Joe Russon, there was Cameron Ladlow 1A*, 3A also a significant success as he notched up an E grade for his Eng- Tom Easson 8A lish Language GCSE. The English GCSE results, overall, were par- Joe Mawson 7A ticularly strong, with 84% of the cohort of 224 students achieving Anna Davis 6A A*-C grades. James Cosgrove 6A Tom Manuel 6A It was a year of many challenges, both for the school and for a Emma Taylor 5A large number of our young people sitting exams this summer. As Jamie Shannon 5A a school, we were faced with a change of government policy part Lamorna Southern 4A way through the GCSE courses, regarding the publication of first Hannah Paull 4A entry results. We made the decision to proceed with our original Isaac Spencer 4A plans, allowing all of our students to sit their English and Maths GCSEs in November. We believe this was definitely the right decision as we placed the students’ interests above a concern with where our school would be placed in a performance table. It was really encouraging to see the positive impact this approach had on the students in our Year 11 cohort: success in November was a key motivator for some, whilst others had the chance to learn from their first entry and improve their grade in the summer, grades which will be life changing for some. We are very proud of all of our students and wish them every success with future plans.

The senior leadership team’s Year 11 link, Brendan Lee, said, ‘Having worked with numerous year groups, I have been particularly impressed with the commitment and perseverance demonstrated by the students in this cohort. Over the past two years, their self-belief and desire to achieve have been outstanding. I have watched them blossom into a wonderful group of young people and I am delighted that they are now in such a strong position to embark upon the next stage of their lives.’ School Fund - Friends of saltash.net community school

Our friends of school do much to support functions and events at saltash.net and also arrange fundraising events to improve areas within the school. In recent years, funds raised covered the cost of a canopied seating area in the Year 9/10 playground and pro- vided additional resources for several curriculum areas. This year they are hoping to raise enough monies to upgrade the sound system in the main hall.

Each year the Friends Committee welcome donations from parents of either £5 per an- num or £2 per term. This can be paid via Reception, in an envelope marked School Fund with your child’s name and tutor group recorded on the front or by ParentPay.

Thanks are given in advance of your support.

Governor Vacancy

The Directors of Saltash Multi Academy Regional Trust are looking to appoint a governor for the Local Governing Body of saltash.net community school.

The role of a school governor, which is a voluntary position, is to contribute to the work of the governing body in ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the school by:

 Setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction;  Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and  Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

Directors would like to strengthen the expertise of the Local Governing Body with regard to the final point. They are therefore inviting applications from any individual who is conversant with financial monitoring, budgetary control and costing. It should be noted that this does not necessitate a formal accountancy qualification; a general knowledge of the working practices for business finance is more than adequate.

If you would like to make a positive contribution to the education students receive at our community school, please complete the application form located on the school website - click on the governor link (www.saltash.net). Further information on the role of a governor can also be found here. Please return your application to the Company Secretary, Debbie Stoneman by email to debbiestone- [email protected] or post at ‘Flerswell’, Trehunist, Liskeard PL14 3SD by DATE. All applicants will be contacted in due course.

Theme Day - Wednesday 22nd October 2014

Year 7 Dragons’ Den Year 8 Leap of Faith Year 9 The Choice is Yours! Year 10 Health and Wellbeing Year 11 Maximise your Potential: Believe and Achieve - China Fleet Club Year 12 You’re Hired! Year 13 Study Skills The popular talent show which has raised thousands of pounds for local charities is returning soon for its 6th year. ‘WHO’S GOT TALENT’ will be searching for the next star in the making who could go on to win the coveted prize money of £250 plus a special trophy designed by Stylus Engravers. Singers, magicians, dancers, comics, musicians of any age are invited to audition in the next few weeks. The production team from Plymouth and Saltash will be holding auditions at the Future Inn, Derriford on Sunday 5th October and at the China Fleet Club, Salt- ash on Sunday 12th October, both from 11am to 4.30pm.

We have seen a huge amount of talent in our 5 previous shows and have auditioned over 250 acts in that time. You never know you could be a star in the making. The competition is open to any act and any age. Not only for the overall prize but for the Senior Winner, Junior winner and most promising act.

If you are interested in an audition you can call our hotline on 07845269825 for more information or booking your place. Entry forms are available on our Face Book page and a one off entry fee of £5 per act. If you are a singer you must bring an instrumental backing track with you to perform at the auditions.

If you are one of the lucky 14 finalists you will be performing live at the Grand Final which takes place at the Devonport Playhouse on Saturday 22nd November at 7pm. This year’s charity is in aid of ‘Call South West’ a local charity for children with hearing difficul- ties. So why not have a go, you’ve got nothing to lose!

Whole School Drama Production ‘Oklahoma’

Our whole school drama and music production this year is ‘Oklahoma’. Rehearsals are well underway and tickets will be going on sale sometime in October - so watch this space!

Venue: saltash.net Main Hall Dates: Tuesday 9th to Friday 12th December 2014

As with previous year’s, Year 6 pupils from our partner primaries will be invited to the preview during the morning of Tuesday 9th December.

Staffing Update:

Congratulations to Mrs Anna Edwards, Teacher of Science, on the birth of Niamh Eliza- beth born 25th July.

We would also like to congratulate the following who ‘tied the knot’ during the summer holidays:-

Grant Taylor, Teacher of Science Jennie Anderson nee Stimpson, Art Technician Emily Venner nee Watts, Head of Music Rose Stiling nee Hughes-Jenkins, Teacher of Art Gig Championships - Newquay

Last Saturday and Sunday proved to be a very successful weekend for Caradon- their A crew, with Chris Terry and Luke Thomas of Y13, finished second; their B crew, with Cameron Boyle of Y13, finished fifth; their C crew, with Kieran Stapleton (just left saltash.net) finished 39th and their D crew, with Ryan Bailey and Lee Welsh of Y11 (and ex-pupil Connor Griffiths), finished 36th.

Given that there was a field of about 90 boats and both days were hot ones, that’s great going! Well done to all involved. Mr Pomfret - Head of RE

saltash.net has invested in emerging 21st Century Technology

Having acquired our first 3D printer, we are very excited about being at the forefront of schools en- abling our students to test out their creativity, in exactly the same way as world class Product De- signers, Architects and Engineers.

The world is on the brink of a 3D printing revolu- tion and students at saltash.net will have the ad- vantage of being ahead of the curve, developing their design thinking and a mature attitude to- wards using technology to solve real problems.

We look forward to integrating the newest member of the Design Technology Faculty and look forward to printing amazing and inspiring designs from our students. David Jolly - Head of DT

Summer School - led by Roger Reynolds, Lead Practitioner P.E.

Up to 25 children per day attended the saltash.net summer school where a fantastic learning environment was created for pupils from our partner primaries.

‘I have really enjoyed working on the computers and going into the space dome. I enjoyed working on computers, because I would like to be a programmer when I am older, and every time that I went into the space dome because I always learned something new.’

Visits were made to the Space Odyssey dome and students took part in rock climbing and a Nerf war! Learning sessions were designed to encompass Maths, English, ICT, Creativi- ty, PE and team building using Science themes. Year 6 Open Evenings 2014

These will be taking place on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd October from 6.30pm. Teachers have been asking for student volunteers to assist with the evenings. As already communicated and in keeping with previous years, we will be having an early closure on Wednesday 1st October at the end of Period 4 — i.e. at 1.20pm. Anyone eligible for a free school meal will be able to collect it at breaktime. Buses will collect at the earlier time.

Diary Dates

Wed 1st & Thurs 2nd Oct Year 6 Open Evenings: Early closure at 1.20pm on Wednesday 1st October

Thurs 16th Oct Year 7 Bring Your Grown Up To School

Wed 22nd Oct Theme Day Thurs 23rd Oct Year 7 Parents’ Surgery Mon 27th—Fri 31st Oct Half Term Thurs 6th Nov 6th Form Open Evening

Wed 19th Nov Year 10 Parents Information Evening

Thurs 20th Nov GCSE Presentation Evening

Tues 25th Nov Year 11 Parents’ Surgery

Thurs 4th Dec Year 12 & 13 Parents’ Surgery

Mon 8th to Fri 12th Dec Drama Production Week - Oklahoma

Wed 17th Dec 6th Form Presentation Evening

Thurs 18th Dec Last day of Autumn Term

Mon 5th Jan 2015 Whole school returns for Spring Term

I look forward to meeting with as many of you as possible over the next school year. The staff here are excited by the opportunities which lie ahead and commit with me to providing the high- est quality learning for all children in our care.

With your ongoing support of our school and its wonderful young people, I know we will have another very positive year.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs I Bryce Headteacher