Newsletter 9:9:2015
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ACADEMY NEWS 9th September 2015 E X P L O R E BEST EVER EXAM RESULTS! BE YOUR BEST Principal’s Report Another record-breaking year is being celebrated by staff at Mounts Bay with at least 65% of students gaining 5A*-C with English and Maths (first entry) making us, once again, one of the top performing schools in the South West. We continue to be the only school that has made at least 4% progress year on year for nearly a decade. This outstanding success has resulted in us being asked to support another school in Cornwall to help them move towards outstanding. A range of staff have been working with Fowey River Academy over the last few months in our role as a National Support School. This has included our brilliant timetabler, Lisa Webb, who has helped Fowey introduce a 4 period day to increase pace and variety in the learning. Early reports from Fowey students say that they are already very pleased with the new lessons. Mr Peters, our talented Premises Manager, has passed on his expertise in the safe opening of Sports facilities to the community. And this week, Mr Dale has been helping the Academy to improve behaviour and safety. In just two days students are reporting that the clear expectations are making a big difference to learning in lessons and break and lunch times are calmer. We are hoping to set up joint projects with Fowey including a formal debating team competition and adventure learning opportunities over the next few weeks. It is an opportunity to share ideas and help staff and students of both Academies to continue to make record breaking results in future years. The summer holidays have been a busy time for a number of other staff at Mounts Bay Academy. The premises team have worked very hard to set up our new Compass and Careers Centre that is based in the old Skills workshop. The plan is that this will very soon become the new student reception and entrance to the Academy. Also the new sports hall officially opened to the community during the summer break and over 100 of our incoming Year 7 students were the first students to use the sporting facilities as part of the Get Set Programme. A big thanks to Mr Eddy and his team for organising a great two weeks of opportunities and induction to help students settle into the secondary school. Teaching staff returned to the new academic year with two training days that focused on developing exciting and engaging schemes of work for all year groups. The day was led by Carl Jarvis who is working with a number of the schools in the Applied Minds Teaching School Alliance. He was both inspirational as well as provocative and this helped staff "think outside the box" ready for the challenges of our fast moving times. Also staff were trained by Cara Littlefield from High Tech High in San Diego, USA which is listed as one of the best schools in the world (according to research carried out by the Sutton Foundation). The next few weeks will tell if the days had an impact on student learning and I will (hopefully) be updating you on the many exciting projects and events that emerge. I was delighted to see so many students arrive prepared for their first Student Led Conference on Monday. Our aim is to make students "leaders of their own learning" rather than always expecting teachers to lead learning. It was a real success with some well-organised students presenting their learning professionally and other students emerging as newly confident student presenters. In all cases there were some very valuable conversations between parents, tutors and students and the next event will be even better I am sure. A big thank you must go to Mrs Frayne and Mr Yeates for the excellent organisation of this new event. Finally, may I take this opportunity in the first newsletter of the Best wishes year to welcome all the new staff and students who have started this week at the Academy and I will ensure that we have a short biography and photograph of all the staff next week. Sara Davey Academy Principal BE CURIOUS Best Ever Exam Results Mounts Bay Academy students, parents and staff are celebrating a fantastic set of exam results with almost 70% of all students gaining 5A*-C, including English and Maths (best entry), making 2015 yet another record-breaking year. The headline figure has increased by a pleasing 8% since 2014 which was already the 8th successive year of ‘best ever’ results in the school’s history. There are some remarkable individual performances with the Head Boy, Ben George and Head Girl, Eleanor Peters gaining 25 A* and As between them. Both are heading to Truro and Penwith College to take ‘A’ levels and have aspirations to move into careers in medicine and law respectively. Other noteworthy achievements include Lois Evans gaining a grade A at AS level in Art producing huge, eye-catching canvasses and beautiful portfolios. Also a group of Year 9 students opted to take an immersive GCSE French course in a year and the vast majority gained an A* or A with Lamorna Tregenza Reid achieving full marks for all the exams and coursework. Nearly all our Year 11 students will be leaving the Academy to begin the next stage of their educational journey with 10 or more GCSEs as well as an array of leadership qualifications, these include scores of students gaining a Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bronze or Silver level, an Arts Award Leadership qualification at Bronze, Silver or Gold level and a Sports Leadership Award. We also say goodbye to talented sportsmen and women including the Cornish U16 hockey and football champions and some great musicians who have auditions for Britain’s Got Talent. A delighted Mrs Davey said “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in our 2015 cohort. Once again our students leave us with not just great academic profiles, but fantastic employability skills and a broad range of leadership experiences that ensure that Mounts Bay students will always continue to stand out from the crowd.” BE INSPIRED Cornishman Community Awards The Academy were the proud sponsors of two awards at the recent Cornishman Community Awards evening held at the Carbis Bay Hotel. The evening was a celebration of everything that makes the community here in Penwith so special. Mrs Davey presented the Child of Courage Award to two special and inspiring children. Joanna Nankervis who after years of dialysis finally underwent a transplant and has since took part in the transplant games winning many medals. Joseph Elseworth, who is only 4 years old, was diagnosed with Treacher-Collins condition and has had many complex operations but despite all this remains a cheerful and happy boy. Mrs Davey said afterwards; ”We were delighted to be involved in such a high profile event. The evening was a fantastic celebration of our community and the two Children of Courage are an inspiration to us all.” Our Applied Minds Teaching School also sponsored the Teacher of the Year Award which was presented by former students Ben George, Isaac Blackbourn and Ellie Peters. Mr Hall, Director of the Teaching School said; “It was great to have the opportunity to sponsor the Teacher of the Year. Bilbo’s story is a wonderful example of how children love to learn in a variety of different ways and that it is up to us as teachers to give them as many opportunities as possible”. Mr Eddy also made a starring appearance collecting the Sportsman of the Year award for his fantastic Triathlon performances throughout the year. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated, you are all a credit to our community. BE INFORMED New Compass And Careers Centre The new Compass centre has been completely refurbished from the former Skills Workshop into a bright, welcoming and supportive environment for students to be referred into by their Tutors, or DOP's. It allows a comfortable and relaxing work environment with access to confidential space if needed. The Compass Personal Advisers include Lindsay Masters, Kate Morris and Val Richards and the department is overseen by Caroline Kennedy. Compass will be staffed all day to support students’ needs and will be available outside of school hours for specific activities including young peoples groups, parenting classes and Careers Workshops. They will be offering a wide range of internal support packages to address students’ issues such as: anger management, stress management, emotional support, self-esteem issues, behaviour support, motivation, personal development and re-integration back into full time education if they have been out of school for a while. In addition the department will be facilitating access with external agencies for support including the School Nurse and a range of programmes run through the Locality Early Help Team and other supportive agencies. Students will have a personalised support programme tailored to their individual needs. The Compass Personal Advisers will have regular contact with parents to update on progress and issues and can offer advice and support where needed to parents. There is a comprehensive careers library contained within the centre with information on colleges, universities and apprenticeships. There will be universal access to all students from Years 11 to Year 7 on careers information and support with choosing future options and pathways, work experience and impartial information, guidance and support on future pathways. Regular employer, college and university visits will be arranged within the centre to enable students to make informed choices about their future.