27th JANUARY 2017
THE MAGAZINE FOR MOUNTS BAY ACADEMY
Some of our HPI English students BE YOUR BEST
Principal’s Report Celebrating Success At Mounts Bay Academy we are dedicated to giving our students the best learning experiences that we can and a major part of this is to celebrate their success when they achieve great things both academically and in their sporting/personal development.
This is one of the reasons that we have set up so many High Performance Institutes to encourage students to develop their skills in lots of different areas in an environment of people with like-minded interests.
You are all aware that we have a number of ways that we can reward students ranging from the popular Vivo Rewards System to our new Da Vinci Excellence Awards and it gives me great pleasure to announce that we will be showcasing some of their excellent work on the website and on the large screen displays around the campus.
Our Senior Leadership Team has been amazed at the quality of the work that we have seen and our front cover features some of the students from the English HPI. If you would like to take some inspiration from the work, you can view them on the “Discover” section our website here: http://mountsbay.org/discover/
GCSE Mock Examinations This week has also seen the start of the GCSE Mock Examinations for our Year 11 students. They have been working very hard preparing for them and you will have noticed the signage around the campus indicating when they are taking place. As ever, I am pleased to report that students are giving appropriate consideration to their peers by moving quickly and silently around the school to minimise any external distractions.
MBA Futures It is always great to hear about our Alumni who are pursuing successful careers after leaving us and news has just reached us that Tyler Gendall has just been signed by Harlequins as a prop to reinforce their front row. Elsewhere our Olympic Snowboard hopeful Rowan Coultas is competing in a World Cup event in Seisar Alm, Italy. I am also pleased to say that we have had an incredible uptake of local employers who will be attending our latest Careers Fair in February, I am looking forward to meeting them and discovering the wealth of opportunity available to our leavers who chose to enter the world of work.
Best wishes
Sara Davey - Academy Principal BE CURIOUS
Young Enterprise Revamp
All systems are go with the Young Enterprise team. A complete change in direction has occurred and the whole team are excited to share this. The new concept is to create a surf and skate clothing brand that is affordable and its target market will span across different age groups. ‘Kapital Clothing’ is now in its initial design and concept process in order to begin creating their logo and the items of clothing. John, the teams Business Advisor, has been working closely with the team to ensure they reach their maximum potential as well as offering his extensive business knowledge. The team are now in preparation for the Spring Trade Fair held at the Eden Project on Saturday 18th March. Keep your eyes peeled!! Report by Miss Walters
Digital Leaders
Yesterday morning the Digital Leaders met with Mr Hall and Mr Elliott to discuss the future of tablet devices at Mounts Bay.
They spent the previous evening writing some in-depth questioning and research in cases for the devices, along with comparisons of the models on the market today. Mr Hall found their opinions very helpful and this will be the first of number meetings building up to the Autumn roll out in which the DLS team will share their experience as students and end users.
If you wish to join the team and be known to staff and students as IT helpers please see Mr Jones. Report by Mr Jones BE INSPIRED
HPI English Club
Recently all HPI English students were asked to write a story with a maximum of 2,500 words based on the topic of 'memories', for the chance to win £1,000 and have their story published in a Litro Magazine and on iggy.net.
Iggy is an online community where bright 13-18 year olds collaborate, learn and share ideas. They host competitions with Litro to challenge young adults.
The competition we entered was, 'The Young Writers' Prize 2016/2017'. We all brainstormed a range of ideas in our HPI English sessions and helped each other with our starting paragraphs. Throughout the next few sessions, we worked hard on our individual stories and gave each other feedback on how to improve.
All of our stories, although all to do with memories, are very different. Examples are: Emily Rees' (Year 9) is about a young girl who has just lost her parents, whereas Kate Matthew's story is based upon a genuine memory of war which her cousin told her. Amber Sanders' story, however, is based around her grandfather's life. All of MBA's entrants have amazing plots and have been written extremely well.
An extract from Kate Matthew's story:
"Hazel and I huddled together to try and block out the horrific sounds coming from upstairs: the smashing of homes, screaming children, the thrum of planes. In nervous anticipation, we sat next to a carcass of meat in the butcher's cellar. My mum and Hazel's family were there too. Everyone was there, all terrified of what might be happening to their much-loved houses. Nobody spoke. An almighty crash came from nearby....." BE INSPIRED
An extract from Marlene Favata's story:
"I wake up to a cold, damp bed, the sheets flung to one side and my legs bared to the chilly breeze wafting through the open window. My hands shake as I wipe the cold sweat from my brow, and then flop back onto the lumpy pillows. I'm not going back to sleep... I might as well get some breakfast..."
HPI English is a very welcoming club that really boosts our ability to understand our language and create with it. Those of a higher ability are invited to come every other Wednesday after school to study harder texts and take part in wonderful opportunities like the Iggy and Litro competition. Our skills have really improved thanks to this amazing club!
Many students from varied Year groups have entered, and due to the fantastic stories, we believe at least one of our stories will be considered as a winner.
We find out who has been shortlisted on Wednesday 29th March 2017 and find out the winner of the whole competition on Wednesday 26th April 2017. Good luck to all who applied!
A special thank you to Mr Williams for helping us improve our stories and giving us some helpful tips!
To read the stories in full, click on the link:
http://mountsbay.org/category/ discover/hpi-institutes/
Report by Emily Rees and Kate Matthew BE INSPIRED
Key Stage 3 ELEMENT Project For the last couple of weeks, Year 7 and 8 ELEMENT students have been busy bringing their designs to life. Students have reached the stage where all of their hard research, investigating, planning and designing comes together in the form of a final product.
In the Year 7 ELEMENT Project, “Think Global, Act Local”, students are in the middle of re-purposing collected marine litter from a beach clean into a useful product to be used for beach cleans. Items such as broken pallets, ghost netting, and ropes are being transformed into sand sled boxes, bowls and framed nets.
Laboratory experiment using the Buchner filtration process to calculate what percentage of sand at low tide is marine litter.
Students working in teams to create their beach cleaning products. BE INSPIRED
In the Year 8 ELEMENT project “Eco-Architects”, students have been using the industry standard Computer Aided Design (CAD) software “Autodesk Fusion 360”, to create key components for an eco-town. This has been a challenging engineering project where precision and imagination are key to a successful project. The created objects vary in purpose yet are all fantastic examples of how a town of the future could be engineered in a sustainable way.
Students using Autodesk Fusion 360 to create their key components for an eco-town.
Report by Mr Lane and Mr Hopper BE INSPIRED
PiXL Maths App
The PiXL Maths App is a great revision app and website we are using with Year 11 during registration time each week.
It has proven results with students across the country and includes a combination of question, videos and help sheets.
All students have the app on their iPad automatically. They can obtain their login details and more information from: https://mountsbay.fireflycloud.net/mathematics/revision/pixl-app
Each week the top students using the app will be awarded a prize. This is not a prize for the students who get the most questions correct; it is an engagement score, as we want students to be challenging themselves.
The top 20 students are listed below.
Keep up the great work Year 11.
This week the top form using the PiXL Maths App was 11 Purple who win themselves a box of Cadbury's Heroes.
Well done to:
Niema Brandon Renae Jodie Alistair Jessica Anya Jamie Skylar Dillon Bonnie Isaac Louis Archie Mawgan Shannon Charlotte Alfred Jordan Archie
Report by Mr Kent BE CURIOUS
Library News
New Books
Not long ago I announced that we were delighted to have been successful in our bid for a Foyle Foundation grant in order to refresh our library stock. Now those books are in and as fast as they are being put on the shelves they are being taken out, which is fantastic.
It is lovely to see a steady stream of students come into the library at tutor time and lunch time to change their reading books. Upon student recommendations, I have bought in a whole set of Derek Landy's ‘Skulduggery Pleasant’, Michael Grant's ‘Gone’ series, Pittacus Lore's ‘Lorien Legacies’, Ransome Riggs's ‘Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children’ series, ‘The Hetty Feather’ series, more David Walliams books, local authors Liz Kessler and Helen Douglas' novels and lots more great books such as the Blue Peter Award winning ‘The Nowhere Emporium’.
If you haven't come in to see what we've got that's new, what are you waiting for? I look forward to seeing you next week.
New Word Millionaire Anya Hoyle Morales of 7 Purple is our newest Word Millionaire. Congratulations and welcome to the club. Anya has a fantastic success rate on her Accelerated Reader quizzes and has enjoyed reading a wide variety of novels.
Anya enjoyed ‘Last Chance Angel’ by Alex Gutteridge and ‘Terror Kid’ by Benjamin Zephaniah both of which were recent book club choices.
Book Club
Our next book club is on Friday 3rd February and we will be discussing ‘Nest’ by Kenneth Oppel; it is quite short so if you haven't read it yet and want to make Book Club there should be time to read it beforehand.
Report by Mrs Marsden BE CURIOUS
Pop-Up Penzance Assembly
This week, Rachel Martin from Pop-Up Penzance came in to talk to Year 10 students about the opportunity to take part in a Pop-Up Youth Market in Penzance. The event is being organised by the award winning Pop-Up Community Project, and hopes to replicate the success of their Youth Christmas Markets and continue to enable young people aged 12 to 25 to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
Students who want to take part in the initiative are mentored by qualified youth workers who help them develop a business plan and promote their idea. Projects can range from a craft stall, a musical performance, producing and selling T-shirts to raising money for a charitable cause: In fact anything conceivable and achievable by young people!
The next craft market is being launched over the Easter period and the first information session for young people is being held on 1st February at the Pop-up Shop on Market Jew Street from 5pm till 5.45pm. Please pop in if you would like to find out more - this is open to any student from Year 7-11. Parents also welcome to attend.
For further information Rachel and Maria can be contacted on: [email protected] or Facebook / Twitter: Pop up Penzance ; Instagram PzYouthMkt
Please let Lindsay Masters in Compass know if this is something your son or daughter would be interested in attending - [email protected]. BE CURIOUS
French Cookery Club
Every Tuesday from the beginning of the Winter Semester we have been meeting with Mr Bromfield and Miss Le Jean for a French Cooking Club.
We learnt about the geography of France, regional specialities and basic French vocabulary. We also learnt about mother sauces and had a go at making a Béchamel sauce, which we ate with pasta and last week we made the very famous Soupe à l'oignon. We also had a try of Galette des Rois, a traditional cake eaten on the 6th of January for the Epiphany - it was delicious! It has been very interesting overall and great fun! Next week: Crème pâtissière! Report by Iona, Olivia and Kensa
Why not have a go at cooking French onion soup at home. You can surprise and amaze your family with your cookery and language skills. We really enjoyed cooking it at the French Cooking Club and it was delicious! BE CURIOUS
Fitbit Step Challenge!
If you have a Fitbit or a similar Android version you can take part in a pilot House competition. From Monday 30th Jan to Friday 3rd February email a picture of the total number of steps you have completed on a day.
Email a picture showing the number of steps you have completed that day.
You also need to include:
Your name Year group House colour
Prizes for top scoring individuals and rank order of highest scoring house! Good luck and get moving! Report by Mr Strong BE ADVENTUROUS
Nepal Expedition Car Wash
Last week saw a committed team effort from the Nepal expedition team washing some wintery looking staff cars for a £5 donation. Fortunately, the staff being a generous bunch happily put their cars in for cleaning with many donating more than the suggested amount.
The expedition team worked extremely hard braving the cold, rain, wind and the sunshine to really pull together and help raise some funds towards their expedition in July. It was great to see the team giving up their lunchtimes to pull together in their common goal, preparing them well for the expedition ahead. Especially as the expedition lead, it was a real pleasure to see some of the team members taking real responsibility on ensuring the job was done on time, giving up lots of their free time!
Students Jasmine Baragwanath, Lamorna Tregenza-Reid, Molly Hocking, Stan Roynon, Josh Bainbridge, Josh Storey, Erin Neal and Shannon Hitchens will be venturing with Head of Geography Luke Hopper to Nepal in July, as a part of the HPI Geography team.
Students will be working on a 'real' geographical development project helping on the rebuilding effort at a school damaged in the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It is an amazing opportunity for the students to link their geographical learning with the real life relief effort that takes place when an area is affected by a devastating natural disaster.
Fortunately there will also be time for some R&R and the team will be trekking in the Himalayas as well as fitting in a day on the river towards the end of their expedition rafting. This opportunity will be opened up to both current Year 10s and Year 9s for the 2018 expedition in February, with the location yet to be decided. For further details on how to apply please speak to Mr Hopper. Report by Mr Hopper BE CREATIVE
Artist of the Week
Katie Trahair-Davies is pictured here with her beautiful set of watercolour/pen and ink illustrations that are based on her own photos and experiences of the Cornish landscape. BE CREATIVE
Katie was inspired by the illustrations of Sue Lewington and the mixed media work of Loui Jover. By combining the different techniques used by both artists Katie has created a series of three images that capture 'Beauty in Nature'. Katie has worked with real thought, reflection and consideration when working through the creative process. Well done Katie!
Report by Mrs Dale BE CREATIVE
Year 9 Graphic Designers 2017
There are 45 students in Year 9 currently studying on the fast track GCSE Graphics Communication course.
It is a fast paced course where students have to think as a designer would, always considering target audience, quality of communication and meaning through image and text and of course the extremely high expectation of presentation.
Every student has developed a Graphic Design display folder that any potential employer would be impressed by. Below is a selection of examples that show a range of outcomes so far on the theme of 'Urban and /or Rural'. Initially a tricky theme to work with but as the course has progressed, students have become more familiar and confident with their creativity and produced some amazing starting points and final products.Students have now also been introduced to their external examination unit which is due for completion in April. All are working extremely hard to communicate the new theme "Beginning and/or End'. BE CREATIVE BE CREATIVE
All work will culminate in a fantastic end of course show which will be held at MBA. Watch this space for details! Report by Mrs Dale BE CREATIVE
Dance Performance at Acorn Theatre
On Saturday 21st January, the Mounts Bay Dance Company, under the guidance of Suzie West, their dance teacher, performed a curtain raiser at The Acorn Theatre before the performance of professional dance company ‘The Mostly Everything People’.
The MBA dance piece, ’I’m only human’ had a menacing opening and explored relationships between victims and aggressors. The dance group,Tess Sawbridge, Daisy Sawbridge, Huck New, Dan Dunn, Brad Balding, Hannah Emerton, Elowen Wallis, Robyn Coatsworth and Lilia Rowe, have developed this work during several dance sessions, learning set pieces and choreographing their own duets and solos. The experience of performing live to a paying audience was a great learning opportunity and a good time was had by all. If you would like to see the recording of the event check out the MBA website: http://mountsbay.org/mba-dance-company/
Report by Shelley Claxton BE CREATIVE
Music News
Winter Concert
Last week saw a celebration of the vocal talent on offer at Mounts Bay Academy. There were vocal performances from students across every Year group with singers performing as soloist, duos, acappella ensembles and choirs. As well as some of the spectacular performances from our students, we were treated to some inspiring and jaw-dropping performances from our own singing teacher, Ben Hoadley, and local soprano, Hannah Pascoe.
Hannah was very impressed by the talent that we had on offer at the school and gave some of the performers wonderful words of support and advice.
Thank you to all who performed and supported the event. BE CREATIVE
RAF Regiment Band
A group of woodwind and brass players had the opportunity to watch some of the country’s best musicians with a performance by the RAF Regiment Band at Penwith College last week. The concert began with some traditional brass band music. They went on to perform arrangements of popular songs such as ‘Uptown Funk’ and ‘Bang, Bang’ by Jessie J. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were very impressed by the talent of the performers.
Report by Mrs Brown
Taiko Drumming
Recently Mr New led a session on Taiko drumming with the Year 7 Music group.
He explained about its culture and history and demonstrated how simple rhythms could be performed in unison to great effect. More complex beats were achieved by some experienced students who regularly attend the Taiko Drumming Club on a Monday after school.
"It's really cool because it's different - and playing altogether sounds great!" said Jasmine Davies Report by Mr Smith BE COMPETITIVE
Primary School Sport Bisi Badminton Primary Schools from across Penwith attended a Bisi Badminton multi-skill event at Mounts Bay Academy recently. A big thank you to the leaders who ran the sessions at the qualifying event, 5 of the 10 teams will now be training up for the Penwith Finals alongside the Cape Cornwall School event qualifiers in late February.
What a great event and thank you to Mounts Bay Badminton Club’s Jon and Cath for their support.
Athletics Sportshall is an exciting indoor programme of adapted athletics activities. Sportshall provides fun ways to build core skills. The Penwith Qualifier saw 183 Year 3/4 pupils attend the morning session and 149 Year 5/6 pupils attend the afternoon session. The pupils pariticipated in a variety of relays, throwing, jumping and other athletic core skills. A huge thank you to Adam from Eveque Sportshall and the 14 Mounts Bay Academy students who made the event so successful and created an amazing atmosphere.
The top two teams from each age group qualify for the Cornwall Spring Games on the 21st April. Congratulations to all teams, schools and teachers who attended, especially Mousehole who won both sessions. Year 3/4 - 1st Mousehole, 2nd St Mary’s CE, 3rd Alverton Year 5/6 - 1st Mousehole, 2nd Alverton, 3rd St Mary’s CE
Report by Mr N Eddy BE COMPETITIVE
Exeter Chiefs U15 Players
Year 10 students and HPP members, Toby Osborne and Perran Tustin recently travelled to the Newport Gwent Dragons purpose built facility at the Centre of Sporting Excellence Ystrad Mynach to play for Exeter Chiefs U15 Academy against the Dragons U16 team.
Both Toby and Perran have gone through numerous trials to be selected for the Chiefs U15 squad for this season and travel to train twice a month at Exeter's Sandy Park Stadium.
The match against Newport was the first proper outing for the U15 Academy side. Both boys were making their debut and the game saw them coming up against older and much larger opponents. They both acquitted themselves really well and both were a credit not just to their school, but also club and county.
Both Toby and Perran will now look to push on to try and gain selection for more upcoming games and tournaments.
Year 7 Football vs Humphry Davy
Well done to the Year 7 football team who played really well this week in a 4-4 thriller against Humphry Davy. The result is even more impressive considering that 10 regular team members were away at the 5-a-side SW championship!
Report by Mr Veal BE COMPETITIVE
Year 8 Football vs Humphry Davy
It was a cold afternoon at Mounts Bay. We were up against a good opposition (Humphry Davy).
The game started with Mounts Bay having most of the possession. In came our first goal by Jaime Nieto. A couple of minutes later Thomas Hosking scored from a tight angle. Jaime scored his second of the game minutes later after Thomas' goal. After a while, Humphry Davy began to settle into the game. They soon scored a looping goal which made it 3-1 to Mounts Bay. With five minutes to go before the whistle went for half time Mounts Bay were awarded a penalty as Humphry Davy hand-balled it. James Swan coolly placed it into the bottom right hand corner. 4-1 half time
The second half began with both sides having equally the same amount of possession. The match was end to end but Mounts Bay came out on top from a corner which was shouldered in by Dylan Jones. 5-1. The game ended with Mounts Bay winning the local derby 5-1! Well played boys! Team: Harvey Richings (GK), Jacob Pengelly, Aston Siney, Rosco Reid, Wes Eddy, Jaime Nieto (x2),Thomas Hosking (x1), Nathan Lewis, Angus McLeod, Eddie Roynon, Dylan Jones (x1) and James Swan (x1 and Captain)
Man Of The Match was Jaime Nieto as he put 100% effort into the match.
Report by James Swan BE COMPETITIVE
SW Regional 5-a-side Finals
The Year 7 boys football team competed at the ESFA South West Regional 5-a-side Finals on Wednesday 25th January in Torbay.
The boys qualified for the regional finals after winning the West Cornwall Schools FA District Competition.
The boys played four league games in total and had to finish in the top two teams to progress to the semi finals. Overall, the team competed really well but just fell short with losing two league games by the odd goal. The remaining games ended with one win and a draw.
A great effort indeed from the boys to reach the regional finals but the odd goal conceded cost us from progressing further.
Squad: Goal Scorers:
Tyler Dayus Oscar Halls - 8 Oscar Halls Joe Williams - 4 Leo Frost Jago Hills - 3 JJ Tomlinson JJ Tomlinson - 1 Jago Hills Leo Frost - 1 Tom Prowse Tom Prowse - 1 Leo Frost Joe Williams
Report by Mr Lawrence BE COMPETITIVE
County Cross Country
Mounts Bay Academy had some superb podium finishes at the Cornwall Schools Cross Country Championships at the weekend.
First race of the day was the intermediate (14-16) and senior (16-18) girls. Finishing first overall was Grace Brock, beating the all senior girls as well as those in her own age group. Shortly behind, in second place in the U16s, was Imogen Wood. Both girls were selected for the Cornwall Team.
Next up was Year 7 student, Abigail Jose, who finished in second place and earned another Cornwall team selection. In Year 8/9 there was a great run by Erin Bury, who is in the younger age of the combined age group. Archie Vingoe raced very well and finished in ninth place and was also selected for Cornwall.
There were some great performances all round, well done.
Report by Mr N Eddy BE COMPETITIVE
Year 7 Football Cup Win
Team:
Leo Frost Lucas Piff Oscar Halls (C)(x1) Luka Walker Joe Williams (x1) Dylan Spires Jago Hills (x3) Kempa Marks JJ Tomlinson Charlie Harvey Tyler Dayus Enzo Favata Tom Prowse
Score: Cape Cornwall 1-5 Mounts Bay Report by Mr Lawrence
Penwith Swimming Gala
Congratulations to all our swimmers who took part in the Penwith Swimming Gala this week. Mounts Bay Academy won the overall competition impressively.
Position Name Points
1 MBA 382 2 Hayle 250 3 Cape Cornwall 213 4 MBA 2 64 5 Humphry Davy 55
Report by Mr B Eddy BE COMPETITIVE
Year 10 Football vs Cape Cornwall
The Year 10 boys went up to Cape Cornwall on a windy afternoon this week. Mounts Bay started off strongly, grabbing two early goals from the smallest man on the pitch. We added another to end up at half time leading 3-0.
We started off the second half a bit shakily, and Cape grabbed one back but Ben added another. Andre scored late on, a half way line lob which found itself going in the top left hand corner (Andre only scores screamers). We added two more just before the end to make the final score 7-1. The standout being Andre and his world class finish. We have Humphry Davy next week.
SQUAD: Barney T, Matt R, Louis T, Noah B, Harley H, Gordon, Tom H, Pasha W, Harry R, Ben D, Andre (Screamers Only), Mark S, Ricky H, Ben W and Kieran M.
Report by Tom Hands
Penwith Indoor Cricket Champions!
The Year 7 team pulled victory from the jaws of defeat at the indoor cricket competition this week! They lost their first game to Hayle but managed to gain revenge in the semi final. They then played a very strong Cape team with two County players. The odds were stacked against MBA but with great resilience and a willingness to win the boys pulled off a big upset, winning the match and going through to the County Finals! Oscar Beckerleg hit a huge 6 in the final over to seal the win. This was assisted by a great innings from Jago Hills and Samuel Edwards. Great team effort from Matt Randall, Alex Williams, Kaiyan Wilson, Charlie Harvey and Oscar Halls.
Report by Mr Veal BE COMPETITIVE
Football vs Cape
The MBA girls football teams continue to excel with outstanding performances against Cape Cornwall School on Monday 23rd January.
The teams in action were the Year 7 and the Year 9 girls. Well done to both teams on their wins, the Year 7s are now through to the next round of the County Cup!
Scores:
Year 7 score : 0-8 win (County Cup)
Year 9 score : 0-3 win (friendly)
Report by Mr Lawrence BE A WINNER
Maths Quiz House Competition This Week’s Puzzle: Blue: 161 Points Green: 24 Points How many triangles can you Yellow: 18 Points count in this image of a cat? Red: 17 Points Orange: 11 Points Purple: 9 Points
Click here to submit your answer
Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00
Last week’s solution: 64 isosceles triangles. Win an Amazon voucher
Whoever submits the most correct answers over a semester will win an Amazon voucher – prizes are also awarded to the top scoring parent/carer/staff.
Could you write next week’s puzzle?
If you would like to set the numeracy puzzle for a future week click here. You will win house points.
This Week’s House Totals BE A WINNER
This week’s word is: Frosty
Definition:
• Frosty - very cold, with a thin layer of white ice covering everything. • Cold and unfriendly in manner.
Etymology: Old English forstig, fyrstig "as cold as frost".
Competition
Congratulations to Niamh Baldwin who wins 10 VIVO points.
To enter, simply write an original sentence correctly using the word frosty. Send in your sentence using the link below.
Click Here to enter the competition Wednesday 8th February - 12:30 Matinee to MBA students £1.50 with permission slip Thursday 9th February - 19:00 Adult £3.50 Child £2.00 Friday 10th February - 19:00 Adult £3.50 Child £2.00
Book Online email:boxoffi[email protected] 2 Adults and 2 Students * A 29p PayPal Booking Fee Applies Family Ticket Only £10 TAKE THE STAGE WITH 45 PERFORMERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
REGISTERTODAY!
PLACES STILL AVAILABLE
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Sail and live aboard a 65 foot yacht for a week. English Channel based – you could end up in France or the Channel Islands! Dates: 8th – 14th June 2017 Open to Year 9 and Year 10 only. Cost: £250pp See Mr Fish for more information.
Warning! Treat new Progress 8 league tables with caution... Written by: Pete Henshaw | Published: 25 January 2017 Article re-printed courtesy of SecEd www.sec-ed.co.uk
"Teething problems” with the progress-based school performance tables mean that commentators, parents and others must treat the new-look information with caution, it was warned this week.
This year’s secondary school performance tables are the first to be published based mainly on pupil progress rather than just raw attainment data and they look notably different to previous years – including the use of negative and positive scores.
The Department for Education has published a wealth of information, including school’s key stage 4 scores for Progress 8, Attainment 8, and the English Baccalaureate. Attainment 8 is a more familiar attainment measure based on pupils’ performance across eight subjects including English and maths. This is expressed as a score out of 80, with this year’s national average being 49.9 (girls scored 52.3 and boys 47.7).
The new headline measure of Progress 8 then compares this score to the average results of pupils nationally who started secondary school with similar key stage 2 SATs scores. A pupil’s Progress 8 score is the difference between their actual Attainment 8 result and the average result of those in their prior attainment group.
Progress 8 scores will be centred around 0 as the average with most schools scoring between –1 and 1:
A score of 0 means pupils in a school do on average about as well as pupils with similar prior attainment nationally. A positive score means pupils do better on average than those with similar prior attainment nationally. A negative score means pupils do worse on average than those with similar prior attainment nationally. However, while welcoming the shift in focus to progress rather than raw attainment, school leaders have warned this week that the structure of the new system means that a handful of pupils can have a dramatic affect on a school’s overall score.
Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “Progress 8 is a fairer measure of school performance than the old measure of the proportion of pupils achieving at least five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and maths. It better reflects the fact that children start their secondary school education at different levels of academic ability and it aims to judge schools on the progress that all their pupils make, rather than an arbitrary measure of GCSE attainment.
“However, Progress 8 has teething problems, and must be treated with some caution. Its biggest weakness is that the score of a school is disproportionately affected by as few as one or two pupils recording anomalous results.” Mr Trobe said that ASCL is aware of cases where Progress 8 scores have been badly affected by the fact that a very small number of vulnerable children have missed exams as a result of illnesses or other personal crises. He added: “We are concerned that schools are being judged on circumstances outside of their control. We are pressing the government to address this flaw in the Progress 8 system as a matter of urgency.
“Our message to parents is that no system of measuring school performance is perfect. It is their judgement which is most important and they should base that judgement on the whole picture of the school’s curriculum and culture and whether it is the best fit for their child.”
This year, the Progress 8 average for all pupils in state secondary schools was –0.03. However, girls scored an average Progress 8 score of 0.11, while boys made below average progress at – 0.17.
Pupil Premium remains a key priority and the new figures showed that disadvantaged pupils scored an average of –0.38. Each year the government will set a Progress 8 benchmark below which a school will be considered to be “failing”. This year, this benchmark is –0.5 – below which there are 282 schools (under the old five A* to C system last year, 312 schools were considered to be failing).
On the EBacc, the data shows that 39.6 per cent of pupils were entered in 2016 for at least five GCSEs that would meet the EBacc requirements – up one per cent on 2015. The number achieving A* to C grades in these subjects rose from 23.9 to 24.5 per cent.
Teachers’ unions have also urged caution in interpreting and using the new figures. Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Parents and schools should treat these performance measures with caution. The Attainment 8, Progress 8 and EBacc headline measures only paint part of the picture of how schools are performing.
“For years GCSE grades have been predicted on the basis of the SATs English and maths tests, despite this applying across all subjects, for example in art, history, geography and MFL. These same data are now being used for the Progress 8 measure. The SATs have been problematic for some years and are not a reliable source on which to base judgements on the performance of secondary schools.
Chris Keates, general secretary at the NASUWT, added: “It is incredibly important to treat progress-based accountability data with an appropriate degree of caution and not to use it to make sweeping crude judgements about the effectiveness of schools.
“Progress 8 provides just one perspective on the quality of work that schools undertake with their pupils and there are many other indicators that have to be taken into account to get a rounded and accurate picture.
“Accountability systems based on over-simplistic interpretations of pupil performance are not only crude, but also lead to unintended consequences that may be damaging to pupils’ education.”
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