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ACADEMY NEWS 13th JUNE 2014 E X P L O R E 1st in County - 2nd in Country! Well done Harry Hocking! BE YOUR BEST Principal’s Report Today we said goodbye to our Year 11 students in a special celebratory Leavers’ Assembly. The class of 2014 have been a fantastic year and it has been a real pleasure to see the students grow and mature over the 5 years they have spent with us. There has never been a year group who have put in so much hard work and dedication into achieving the best exam results they can, and I’d like to thank them for their dedication, which I’m sure will be rewarded with a fantastic set of results in August. The students have also thrown themselves into all kinds of extra curricular activities from the Duke of Edinburgh Award to The Little Shop of Horrors and from Football matches to Surfing. Being open to new opportunities and experiences not only enriches MBA but also the students’ lives and can lead to interests and skills being developed that will carry on to College and beyond. Just look at Year 7 Harry Hocking, featured on the front cover, who took the opportunity to throw the discus at the County Athletics Championship despite only picking one up for the first time a week ago. Harry is now number two in the UK! With so many opportunities and so much talent Mounts Bay students continue to prove themselves as the stars of the future. The annual Acorn Theatre Gig on Tuesday was proof of this once again with music and organisation of an extremely high quality. We can look forward to a number of sporting and arts events coming up over the next few weeks including Golowan where we will be in both the 11 o’clock and 3 o'clock Parades once again. The Cornwall School Games will also be taking place soon with huge numbers of students competing in events from athletics to beach volleyball. Best wishes Sara Davey Academy Principal BE INSPIRED Private Peaceful Picture by Emily Bradley-Leah Students meet actor Paul Chequer On Thursday 12th June 35 Mounts Bay Academy students made a trip to the Hall for Cornwall to watch a stage adaptation of the book Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. All the students had read the novel in Year 7 and were looking forward to seeing a stage version. The story is about a boy called Tommo who, at the age of 15, goes to fight in World War One alongside his 19 year old brother Charlie. The show opens with Tommo alone and counting down the hours until the morning. We are not sure why until the shocking end. During these lonely hours he recollects his childhood and his relationship with his brothers Charlie and Big Joe and his friend Molly. We see him struggle with his feelings of shame when he is called a coward by an old woman for not 'taking the King's shilling' during a recruitment drive in the village square. However, he will not be separated from his brother Charlie and joins alongside him as his twin, despite being only 15 years old. Together they train under Sergeant 'Horrible Hanley' and are reunited with him during the trenches scene with inevitable tragic consequences. We were also invited to a Q and A session with actor Paul Chequer; most of the questions focused on how he managed to learn all his lines. He doesn't improvise at all, and says that now he knows the story so well it only takes up a small amount of space in his head. He has played the role of Tommo, on and off for the last ten years. We also wondered why the stage production ends differently to the novel and Paul explained he thought it had to end the way it does to show Tommo's journey into manhood. Some of us thought the new ending lacked the power and poignancy of the original novel- but to say any more would give too much away to those of you who are still to read it. Report by Emily Bradley-Leah and Jessica Davy BE INSPIRED Geography Field Trip Students point out the storm damage at Lamorna On Thursday 12th June the Year 9 Geographers embarked on the first of three field trips to local points of interest along the coast. We went to Long Rock, Marazion and Lamorna where we identified and evaluated the effectiveness of coastal defences. We spoke to several locals and visitors enjoying the scenery and recorded their opinions on the location. As well as this, we took note of all recreational, economical and environmental activity in the surrounding area. All this was in preparation for our GCSE coursework next year. It was a lovely, sunny day and we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It was a great opportunity to experience all we have been learning about first hand and was a really nice way to finish the ‘coasts’ topic. Mr Smith said, "Coastal Change and Conflict is a significant part of the GCSE Geography course. What an advantage we have over the majority of the country when the issues we are studying occur right on our doorstep. Adventure learning is not a separate entity but can occur right throughout the curriculum. The weather was delightful, the day was a great success and how nice it is for a teacher when members of the public take the time to compliment the school on the conduct of it's students. Well done year 9!" Report by Tean Manser BE CREATIVE Molly Makes Teenstar Grand Final Molly Hocking from St Ives has made it through to the Grand Final of national singing competition TeenStar! After taking part in auditions alongside thousands of other unsigned singers across the UK and impressing the TeenStar judging panel, Molly went on to perform in the TeenStar live showcases, battling through both the regional and area final heats. She is now set to perform at the TeenStar 2014 Grand Final at The NEC in Birmingham on 19th July 2015 where she will be fighting to win a £5000 cash prize to spend on the development of her act. Molly’s judges’ feedback from each of the three rounds she has gone through has been consistently positive – ‘amazing vibrato’, ‘totally nailed that song’, ‘such silky and well- controlled vocals – you have a beautiful voice’, ‘you made a popular song come to life – definitely one of the best of the day’……. TeenStar is a national talent competition for teens and pre-teens which travels the UK in search for the UK’s best singers, singer-songwriters, rappers and vocalists of all genres. TeenStar is organised by Future Music, the company behind the discovery of artists such as Luke Friend, Jacob Banks, Warner Music’s Birdy, and Lucy Spraggan, Union J’s Jaymi Hensley and Jahmene Douglas, all of which are now signed to Sony Music. Molly said, “I will use this to build up my profile in the music industry, learn as much as I can from it and continue to work hard with my vocals and songwriting, as this is ultimately what I would love to do. But I realise what a tough industry it is and have my feet firmly on the ground still!..The support from friends, family and Facebook/Twitter followers has been incredible and I thank you all so much – it means such a lot to have that genuine appreciation from people of something I love doing.” Molly will be travelling up to Birmingham on Saturday 19th July with a coachload of supporters and anyone wanting to go along is very welcome. Please contact Sarah on 07734591718 to book a ticket. You can read about Molly’s progress and see her music videos on her website – www.mollyhocking.co.uk- or follow her on Facebook and Twitter. BE CREATIVE Artist of the Week Ellie Wallis in Year 10 is this week's Artist of the Week. Ellie has focused her drawings and paintings on the the theme of portraiture and how composition can change the overall effect of a painting. Ellie has exceptional pencil drawing skills and she is able to capture the characteristics of a figure through the careful rendering of eyes in particular. Careful positioning of colour has emphasised the mood seen here in Ellie's paintings. Well done Ellie, great work! More fabulous work can be seen in the Art Department with a selection of GCSE work on show in classrooms and the Art Department foyer. BE CREATIVE MixX Jam 3 On Tuesday 10th of June Mounts Bay Academy hosted their third MixX Jam at the Acorn Theatre in Penzance. The event gave students an opportunity to showcase their musical skills in a professional environment. The evening consisted of many acoustic performances, groups and musical theatre acts. To begin the night the fabulous Maddie Thomas performed a remix of Summertime Sadness and Another Love. Next there was an amazing selection of acoustic performances for the first half of the evening. After a short break there was a selection of bands performing, from a rock band to Mounts Bay's very own Jazz Band. The evening was very successful with a lot of very talented performances. Audience member Naomi Thompson said, “I thought the gig was brilliant- such a high standard across the board. I loved the diversity of music and also the fact that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It’s a great idea to get out to a different venue.” Thank you to Will Rundell, Sabie Friggens and Jess Thompson for organising such a fantastic evening! Report by Callum Williams BE INSPIRED Sammy Dunn of 9 Yellow is this week's Accelerated Raffle winner.

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